Roberto Martinez says his side need to show more resilience in the wake of their defeat to Birmingham.
Wigan boss rues second-half collapse
Wigan manager Roberto Martinez has called on his side to show more resilience after a "mad" second-half spell sent them crashing to defeat against Birmingham.
The Latics controlled the opening 45 minutes at the DW Stadium but came away with nothing after the visitors struck three times in quick succession after the break.
Martinez claimed that some bad luck contributed to Wigan's downfall but was still disappointed with the way his team collapsed.
"I think we started the right way with our approach, we controlled the game, we created chance after chance, we scored a very good goal," he told
Sky Sports.
Better lead
"Then you felt that, probably, we should have taken a better lead into half-time.
"But there's a few things that didn't go our way, obviously the injury to Chris Kirkland and then the free-kick that Birmingham scored from is not a free-kick.
"That, in a way, affected us a little bit and we had a mad 15-minute period where we really got punished and we didn't show any understanding (about) how to weather that disappointment.
"The reaction we showed in the last 15-20 minutes, it was a little bit too little, too late."
Sebastian Larsson scored two free-kicks as Birmingham took a 3-1 lead on 72 minutes, leaving the former Swansea boss rueing Wigan's set-piece defending.
Defending
"(It's) extremely disappointing because obviously the first one, as I say, is not a free-kick," Martinez added.
"But even then we need to defend that better. I think the third one is a cheap way to concede another direct free-kick.
"In that respect it's very, very hard to take. The way we performed in the first half, we should have had resilience or character to get through that period."
Wigan have suffered from a lack of consistency so far this season, having failed to string back-to-back victories together at any point during the campaign.
Martinez believes that the Latics' hot-and-cold performance against Birmingham typified their unpredictable performances this season.
He said: "We showed that (inconsistency) within the game today. That's were the work has to be done and we need to address that situation.
"When we are focused and we are in the game, we're capable of competing against anyone and that's a great strength to have.
"But when we show the inconsistent side we're not at our best and we don't show enough character to get through games and sometimes you need to do that."
