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Steve Bruce |
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Wigan manager Steve Bruce says Wigan made ‘glaring errors’ in the 4-0 defeat to Aston Villa on Sunday – but has warned Fulham to expect a backlash on Wednesday night.
Wigan were thrashed at The JJB Stadium at the weekend as they went down to a third consecutive defeat, and Bruce admits that his team were nowhere near good enough.
But Bruce insists his players will stand up and be counted when they travel to London to face fellow strugglers Fulham on Wednesday.
“This was the worst defeat I’ve had in The Premier League and that annoys me,” he told the Wigan Evening Post.
“We will put it right on Wednesday at Fulham. Maybe we were getting a bit carried away with ourselves and not doing the basics right.
“We certainly didn’t do the basics against Villa. There are no excuses as far as I’m concerned. We had a couple of players missing, but that wasn’t the problem.
“We made glaring mistakes for three of their goals and got punished by a really good Aston Villa side.
“Hats off to Villa, but we made it really easy for them with the goals we gave away.
“We now have to work hard over the next few days to put it right. I’ll be looking for us to fly out of the blocks at Fulham on Wednesday night.”
Meanwhile, Wigan assistant boss Eric Black says Erik Edman is close to returning to fitness after seven months out with a knee injury.
“Erik is right on course as far as his recovery is concerned,” he said.
“I have never seen anyone quite so professional in their determination to recover from an injury.
“It’s been a difficult time for him, with a lot of lonely training sessions for the last six or seven months, doing boring, repetitive exercises and stretches, but Erik has done that without complaining and deserves a lot of credit.
“Already he’s done a bit of training with the main group and was moving fine in those sessions.”