Gary Caldwell delivers verdict on Wigan Athletic defeat at Leicester City

Wigan Athletic boss Gary Caldwell says his side ‘have to do more in certain moments at both ends of the pitch’ after going down to a 3-0 defeat against Leicester City.

Caldwell’s side suffered a third consecutive defeat at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday night, with Emil Riis scoring twice before Bobby De Cordova-Reid added a late penalty.

Wigan had opportunities to get back into the contest in the first half, but were unable to take them as they remain bottom of the League One table.

Scott Hogan was denied by Leicester goalkeeper Alex McCarthy after going through on goal, before Dara Costelloe couldn’t connect with a good delivery from Connor Barrett.

Caldwell felt those missed chances, alongside a poor defensive moment from a corner, proved costly for his side.

“I didn’t think it was a 3-0 game,” Caldwell said. “I thought we were right in the game through the whole game, but (in the) first half especially, we created two amazing chances.

“We gave a really bad goal away from a set piece, which is really disappointing, but I thought we created the better moments in that first half and again, if we don’t take it one end and concede a sloppy goal at the other, it puts you on the back foot away from home.

“That being said, in the second half, I thought we came out again, tried to be aggressive, tried to press high, tried to go man for man and win the ball back high, which I felt we did at times, and then we didn’t play quick enough and pass forward quick enough.

“But we have to take it - it’s another defeat, and we have to do more. We have to do more in certain moments at both ends of the pitch to make sure that we can start winning games and win more consistently.”

Latics remain four points from the safety spots, with home fixtures against Bromley and Mansfield Town offering an opportunity to climb off the foot of the table.

Caldwell acknowledged the need for improvement at both ends of the pitch, but urged his players to remain upbeat with Saturday’s game against Bromley approaching quickly.

“We have to keep working,” Caldwell added. “We can’t be disappointed, we can’t be negative. We’ve got another game right around the corner, then another game next Tuesday - both at home.

“We know our home form has been better recently, so we have to make sure that it’s really difficult to come to the Brick and we can start to put some consistent results there, and we have to be ready for that.

“We have to recover, it’s a quick turnaround, so we have to recover and be ready for a big game at home on Saturday where a win is really important.”

The Wigan boss also stressed the importance of defending their penalty area better, while executing the opportunities they create in attack.

“The two chances we created are big, big chances,” said Caldwell. “I keep saying to the strikers, ‘we have to keep putting ourselves in there’. I don’t think we put ourselves in those positions enough.

“I still think we could create more chances, but we have to keep putting ourselves in those positions and keep working on the training pitch to turn that around, but we also have to keep clean sheets.

“It’s not one or the other - you need to do both if you want to be a successful team. You have to defend your box better - we conceded from a corner, we conceded by not marking the box, so these are the details we have to get better at as well.”