Michael Duff ordered his Huddersfield players to “look in the mirror” after their Sky Bet League One play-off hopes took another dent with a 2-1 defeat at Wigan.
First-half goals from Dale Taylor and Owen Dale were enough to give Wigan three deserved points, although they had to dig in during the second half after Callum Marshall pulled one back five minutes after the restart.
Injury-hit Huddersfield remain in fifth spot in the table, but will drop out of the top six if teams below them win their games in hand.
And Duff wants his side to find the answers to their current problems from within.
“We had a decent enough team out on paper, but I just think we looked a bit disjointed and maybe lacking a bit of confidence,” he said.
“The best teams suffer from injuries…you’ve only got to look at Manchester City, who have had a lot of injuries – and we’re definitely not Manchester City.
“We just have to keep grafting and we’re still fifth in the league, which is unbelievable really. But we do need a reaction to this, and find something….maybe for a goal to go in off someone’s backside, something like that.
“We need to be better in every department and not be looking for excuses and turning on each other. I need the players to look in the mirror now, because footballers being footballers they blame everyone else and I was one so I can say that.
“There are some good players in the group, but the performances need to be better. I thought the two goals on the night were terrible, I will say that.
“For the first one, we’ve let the ball go under a foot and the second one…there’s three men out there on the touchline, and we’ve allowed the winger to get his cross in.
“That should never happen and, when you add individual mistakes to being disjointed to lots of injuries, it becomes a difficult evening.”
For Wigan boss Shaun Maloney it was a welcome three points as Latics celebrated only their second win on home soil since the end of November.
“The first half was amazing. The fluency of how the team played was as good as anything we’ve produced this season,” he said.
“And we were clinical, although I would have loved the game to have been dead by half-time because after 50 minutes, the game was definitely not dead.
“I’ve always felt the performance levels have been there, it’s just been how clinical we’ve been and we did that in the first half.
“We’ve not really had that for a lot of this season, but I do feel the squad is a lot stronger than it was four or five months ago and hopefully the more time these guys spend together, on the training ground and on the pitch, we’ll have more games like that.
“Once they scored there was definitely a 10-minute period when I think the game maybe could have got away from us, so I have to credit the players for that.
“The goal I didn’t like, we tried to fix that problem at half-time and obviously we didn’t, but in fairness to the players, we adapted tactically and how they adapted to that was all on them.
“We gave up the ball in the last 25 minutes, but we defended the space well and the substitutes all came on and made an impact.”
[(Gangwon FC) Strength]: 1. Last season in the Korean FA Cup, Gangwon FC were eliminated in the Round of 16. This season, the team have made a breakthrough so far and have advanced to the semi-finals. In this second leg, they will play at home and have a strong desire to win.2. Lee Ji Ho, a forward of Gangwon FC, has had limited playing time this season. However, he has maintained high offensive e...
[(Everton F.C.) Strength]: 1. On August 24th, in the 2nd round of the Premier League, Everton F.C. secured a comfortable 2-0 home victory over Brighton & Hove Albion F.C., with Jack Grealish providing two assists and putting in an impressive performance.2. Everton F.C. kept unbeaten in the last 3 Premier League home games with 2 wins and 1 draw, showing excellent performances.3. Everton F.C. h...
[(Nagoya Grampus) Strength]: 1. Nagoya Grampus are on a 2-game losing streak. They are motivated to win this home game to boost their morale.2. Soichiro Mori scored a goal and made an assist in the last game, showing outstanding form.3. Nagoya Grampus secured a 3-game winning streak in their last 3 encounters between both sides, giving them a better mentality.[(Nagoya Grampus) Neutral]: 1. Nagoya ...
[(Grimsby Town F.C.) Strength]: 1. Grimsby Town F.C. player Jaze Kabia scored in the last game, with reliable form.2. Grimsby Town F.C. drew 1-1 against Accrington Stanley in the last game, but they still kept unbeaten among all events in the new season, being in stable form.3. Grimsby Town F.C.'s home performance was outstanding. They won all the last 3 home games.4. Grimsby Town F.C. have a good...
[(FC Machida Zelvia) Strength]: 1. FC Machida Zelvia are undoubtedly motivated to win this home game to qualify for the semi-finals.2. Yuki Soma scored 10 goals and made 6 assists across all competitions this season, being important on the team's offense.3. FC Machida Zelvia drew 0-0 with Yokohama F. Marinos in the last game. They were unbeaten with 11 wins and 1 draw in the last 12 games, showing...
[(Reading F.C.) Strength]: 1. Reading F.C. are playing in the EFL League One this season and are on a 3-game winless run lately. They need to return to winning ways, indicating full motivation in this game.2. Lewis Wing scored a goal and made an assist in the last game, helping the team tie with Wycombe Wanderers F.C.3. Reading F.C. won the last 2 games in AH, revealing recent performances in line...
[(Sheffield Wed) Strength]: 1. Sheffield Wed have a rather impressive track record in the EFL Cup. In the first round of this season, they defeated Bolton Wanderers F.C., another team from the EFL Championship, and have posted 3 wins and 2 draws in their last 5 EFL Cup games.2. Sheffield Wed lost only 1 of the last 5 games in AH with stable performances. They ended all the last 4 games with OVER.[...
[(Eintracht Braunschweig) Strength]: 1. As a 2. Bundesliga side, Eintracht Braunschweig have made a solid start to the new season. Having been eliminated in the first round of the DFB-Pokal in each of the past two seasons, the team will undoubtedly be eager to achieve a better performance when they compete in the tournament again this season. Therefore, they will be full of determination when faci...
[(Sturm Graz) Strength]: 1. Sturm Graz suffered a crushing defeat in the first leg on the road. In this home match, they have to go all out to attack, with full motivation to win.2. Sturm Graz midfielder Otar Kiteishvili scored 4 goals in three league games this season, performing excellently in the league. As the starting forward of the team, his performance in this match is worth keeping an eye ...
[(Burnley) Strength]: 1. Burnley's key midfielder Josh Cullen not only opened the scoring for the team in the last game but also provided an assist, emerging as the biggest contributor to the victory with an outstanding individual performance.2. Burnley claimed a comfortable 2-0 win over Sunderland in their last game, securing their first victory of the new Premier League season and boosting the t...
- 1 Ruben Amorim gives cryptic response when asked about Andre Onana returning to starting XI for Fulham clash after Altay Bayindir blunder handed Arsenal victory
- 2 'Victory Bodes Well for Future' – Gasperini Delighted with Roma’s Opening Day Win
- 3 TIPS - Eintracht Frankfurt VS Werder Bremen
- 4 Transfer rumors, news: Arsenal could turn to Lyon's Fofana
- 5 Antony’s Man United Exit Hopes Rest on Fresh Real Betis Bid Within 'Next 24 Hours'
- 6 TIPS - Cerezo Osaka VS Vissel Kobe
- 7 TIPS - Gamba Osaka VS Yokohama FC
- 8 TIPS - Schalke 04 VS VfL Bochum
- 9 TIPS - Sunderland A.F.C. VS Huddersfield Town A.F.C.
- 10 TIPS - Olympique de Marseille VS Paris FC