Wigan Athletic chief Gary Caldwell has made a bullish pre-season assessment, insisting the team has shown 'massive progression from every game'. The Latics rounded off their summer friendly schedule with a 2-0 defeat at League Two Grimsby Town on Saturday, but Caldwell remains optimistic about their chances of being a competitive team in League One this season.
After kicking off last month with a 3-1 home loss to fellow fourth-tier outfit Port Vale, Latics won 3-0 at National League side AFC Fylde, before a team featuring a host of trialists and youngsters drew 0-0 at Southport last Friday. Arguably not the ideal preparation heading into Saturday's Carabao Cup first-round trip to Barnsley, but Caldwell's glass remains half full.
Assessing pre-season on the whole, he said: 'Ultimately in pre-season, yes you want to win. Results don’t matter until next week. But, as I explained to the players, if that is next week, then we’re out of the cup and we have to be better in certain areas.'
Caldwell has been in the game long enough to know not to read too much into pre-season 'form'. 'I’ve been part of brilliant pre-seasons when you haven’t conceded a goal, played brilliantly every game, then you lose the first game, and it’s a disaster,' he said.
The Latics finished last season in 14th place in League One, with 56 points from 44 games, and have scored 49 goals and conceded 56 so far this season. Caldwell is overseeing a constant evolution of the team, having returned to the club last February from Exeter City.
Phase one of the rebuild was secured, with Latics comfortably retaining their League One status last season, despite the precarious situation he inherited just after the midway point. The next step is already under way, which Caldwell admits is very much a work in progress.
‘It will be a constant evolution of the team, of how we want to play, of changes through the week, little details within our game that we have to get better, that never changes,' he said.
‘We’re obviously a very new group that’s still getting an understanding and coming together, so that work continues right through until the end of the season, and we will continue to do that next week.’
