Wigan Athletic lost in their opening EFL Trophy fixture – a 2-1 defeat to League Two’s Morecambe. Shaun Maloney was left angry with his team’s performance.
Last night, the Latics featured in the lower league’s domestic trophy and were left bitterly disappointed. Two goals from Harvey Macadam and Lee Angol cancelled out, and bested, a successfully converted penalty from Wigan’s Joe Hugill. Maloney – Wigan’s current manager – has had some important words to share with his Lancashire side.
With apparent inconsistency in the Latics’ game at the moment, the 2013 FA Cup winner has explained that his side underestimated Morecambe, but wants to continue the club’s rebuild regardless. The Scot played for Wigan between 2011 and 2015, featuring 91 times. This is an obvious reason behind Maloney’s motivation for his club’s future success.
Speaking to Wigan Today, here is what the 41-year-old had to say on the League One side’s recent loss, and what he will demand from his players in the future:
“Moments like this always give me more clarity on where we are. So we had a brilliant performance at Birmingham, where we’re very close to winning the game against a top team.
“But in these sorts of moments, I always think the real culture of a club or a team seeps through.
“We’re having to bring players through our academy, and it’s a fine line between giving them that opportunity, and not allowing them to feel comfortable that they’ve made it into the first-team environment.
“Where actually, when it comes to games like this… Morecambe have eleven senior players, fighting and scrapping for a win bonus; to play in the next game; to progress in a cup.
“I haven’t got that balance right. That performance shows you I haven’t got that balance right. I haven’t got that culture right.
“Tonight was absolutely nothing to do with tactics. We can have 80% possession, playing 1,000 passes, playing like Roberto’s teams, but it was all about the mentality and the culture of the team. It was miles off it.
“The foundation of winning games and being a really good team just wasn’t there. But that’s on me, the performance of the club is on me. The culture of the club is on me. That’s not the players.
“Nights like this hurt, but it makes me more angry at myself than the players. I’ll always look within first. Nights like this always make me think bigger picture.”
Away from this defeat, Maloney’s side are currently sitting in the relegation zone after four league matches. One win and three defeats have taken the 41-year-old’s overall win rate to 40% with the Latics. However, with a plethora of injuries and absences hampering Wigan’s squad selections, the signs of an upturn in fortune are still there if changes are enforced.
“Looking at the season as a whole, I think there’s 11 or 12 players who didn’t do pre-season with us. I think that tells you that whatever plans we had at the start of the season, and trying to be as stable as possible, just hadn’t happened.
“I think nights like tonight show that we’ve still got a lot of work to do. I’ve got a lot of work to do. I just need to be very careful that mediocrity is not seeping into our club, where people are comfortable and think we’re doing okay when we’re not.”
Writer’s View
Wigan have been rather inconsistent as of late, but it is true that mediocrity cannot find a place at the Lancashire club. Maloney has had to deal with plenty of players out, due to injury or international involvement. Despite taking a lot of the blame in a very humble manner, the 41-year-old should still expect more from his players against a League Two side.
When key players start to return to the club, Wigan can hopefully expect a bounce-back in their results. The performance against a record-spending Birmingham side should be a benchmark for the Latics’ players to continue to try and replicate in future fixtures.
A disappointing defeat nonetheless, but last night could be the best possible thing to happen to Wigan, with Maloney now aware that there are gaping holes in the team’s mentality. This can also be used as a turning point, as well as the Blues fixture, to spur the team on and avoid underwhelming run-outs.
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