OWEN Coyle has hit back at criticism of his tactics, claiming it was poor performances and not the formation that cost Wanderers points in the derby.

The Whites boss came under fire for sticking with a 4-4-2 system against the Latics after last week’s second-half collapse at Norwich City.

Goals from Gary Caldwell and James McArthur earned Roberto Martinez’s men a priceless win that brought them within a point of Wanderers at the foot of the Premier League table.

But Coyle defended his decision to bring skipper Kevin Davies back alongside David Ngog up front after seeing them pair up so effectively in the reverse fixture back in October.

“The skipper and David had played ever so well together at the DW Stadium and we had won the game with a bit to spare,” he said. “The same wide players also played, so they have all had opportunities, they can’t say they haven’t.”

He added: “It doesn’t matter who is grumbling, or who is not, whatever system you put out there it’s about players and whether they get to their maximum.

“If people are saying about 4-4-2, then it was 4-4-2 in the second half when we we had the ascendancy and battered them for about half an hour.

“Yes, it has a part to play, but the biggest thing is that when the players cross the white line they go and deliver on all the talk.”

The manager’s comments were echoed by defender Zat Knight, who refused to use the team’s formation as an excuse for the defeat.

“It would be easy to pick on little things like the formations and how it is changing from week to week, but, at the end of the day, it is still 11 v 11,” he said. “I believe if everybody performs at 100 per cent we can get something out of the game.”

Fabrice Muamba – the man left out of the side for Davies – remained ambiguous when asked why he had been dropped. Writing on his official Twitter account on Saturday night, he wrote: “I can’t really tell the reason why I wasn’t involved today, that will get me into much trouble but thanks for all your messages.”

Coyle had condemned his team’s defending at Carrow Road last weekend but found himself in a familiar position on Saturday evening as Caldwell and McArthur’s strikes arrived either side of Mark Davies’s thunderbolt.

“To say I’m not happy would be an understatement,” he told The Bolton News.

“The first half was nowhere near good enough. For the first goal, it’s a set play and David Wheater isn’t anywhere near Gary Caldwell, who gets a free header. That’s not good enough.

“The second goal we lost was farcical. Two players went up for the same header, we missed it again and the boy (Victor Moses) went through, then. when Adam Bogdan saved it, we didn’t help him out with the rebound.

“It’s individual errors that have cost us, and nothing else.

“Coming off the back of a poor defensive display last week, it has happened again, but I have got enough personnel now to make changes and that’s what is going to happen.

“I’m not going to sit through that again.”