Fleetwood can't cope with injuries admits Rosler

Fleetwood’s head coach stressed the need for recruitment after the 2-0 defeat at Wigan, where Town were rocked by another injury as key man Kyle Dempsey was forced off with concussion.

He is now a doubt for the FA Cup second-round replay at non-league Hereford on Thursday, while fellow midfielder Aiden O’Neill also missed the DW Stadium clash due to injury.

They join star summer signing Conor McAleny (ankle) and Bobby Grant (knee) on the treatment table.

McAleny, 25, has been able to rack up only 248 minutes all season due to a niggling ankle injury.

Town have slipped to 14th, after winning only one of their last 10 League One games, and Rosler admits his current side is no match for last season’s fourth-place finishers due to those injuries.

And that’s something he wants to address next month. Rosler said: “Some people measure us on last season. We are not the team of last year, definitely not at this moment in time, when we have key players out and some key players who have not even kicked a ball for the whole season. We need to make sure we have the right realistic view of the situation but I’m sure we will be all right as soon as we get a few players in.”

Rosler’s point was clearly made by looking at Saturday’s benches: Wigan could throw on the experience of Max Power, whereas the Town boss had to dip into his development squad and hand a Football League debut to Harrison Biggins when Dempsey departed.

Rosler said: “We had to take Kyle Dempsey off with concussion. When we are missing three or four players we cannot cope.

“That is what everyone is seeing now. That has to be addressed in January.

“We are having players now who have come from non-league, being in the development team and now stepping up against players who have played Championship football.

“They are doing well but in those decisive moments Wigan had far more quality.”

Wigan won the game with two set-piece goals as Lee Evans twice undid Town’s defence from a short corner routine and then a free-kick.

He teed up Nick Powell for the opener after seven minutes and then Dan Burn eight minutes before the break. During the half-hour between the goals Town were the better side

But despite Ash Eastham hitting the bar and Jack Sowerby wasting a two-on-one situation as the snow tumbled, Fleetwood could not score the equaliser they deserved on Rosler’s first return to the club that sacked him in 2014 and Burn put the game to bed before the break.

Rosler promised the Cod Army his squad are focussing on defending set-pieces at Poolfoot Farm.

He said: “I promise you we spent a lot of time on this but it is a great delivery and we got caught sleeping.

“If my team hadn’t tried, then I would have a problem. That is definitely not the case and I think Wigan were very fortunate to come in at half-time with a 2-0 lead.

“We played some decent stuff, especially in the first half, but the goals decide games and I was fearing for our young team when the second goal goes in.

“With their quality, I was fearing we could go under but we did not and that is obviously a positive for us.

“There were some very good performances at Wigan – George Glendon was very good.”