"I told the lads yesterday that you cannot concede three goals and win, it is impossible. That is how many we have been conceding and unfortunately we have done it again today. But in the first half apart from the last few seconds was the complete performance from us. That is as good as we can play."
"I thought we blew Blackburn away in the first half, but the goal from Santa Cruz gave them a lifeline and that was a big kick in the teeth. We needed to go through the first twenty minutes of the second half without conceding but we did not do that, and then we got edgy and nervous."
"I thought, here we go again, but to be fair to them, they responded when they could have easily surrendered. But in terms of attitude and application, I thought we were terrific and we need to show that again.
"We have worked extremely hard in the last few weeks to improve our intensity and it has been a difficult week after the bad result at Bolton, and the response was terrific. I also thought Ryan Taylor, who has had terrible luck with injuries, produced a fantastic performance."
Speaking about Emile Heskey's injury, Bruce said: "He is a big and influential player for us, and that is a big disappointment for today. He will have scans over the next couple of days. He has gone over badly on his ankle and he is on crutches."We hope it is not too bad as we have certainly missed when he has been away. It's taken the gloss of a nice afternoon because I cannot see him being fit for another few weeks that is for sure."
Mark Hughes
"I thought Roque Santa Cruz was absolutely immense. He lead the line fantastically well, got some great goals and showed the qualities that we know he has.
"What we must do is make sure that everybody shows those qualities of determination and desire to get something out of every game we play."
Robbie Savage
"I think Wigan 'out Blackburn'd' us. They got to the ball and they hassled and tackled. We find ourselves 3-0 down, we miss a penalty, but it shows what spirit we've got to come back to 3-3 but then we shot ourselves in the foot by playing in bad areas.
"In the first half we let ourselves down, but to get back into the game to make it 3-3 with ten men shows the character, we all had the feeling we could go on and win it, but we've lost the game 5-3, it is hugely disappointing.
"It must have been an amazing game to watch, but the contrasts, in the first half I thought we were terrible, in the second I thought we were magnificent."
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