Ian Holloway wants Blackpool's players to show they are the "hungriest dogs" left in the Premier League survival battle after losing to Wigan.
The Seasiders fell behind in just the third minute at Bloomfield Road when Hugo Rodallega slotted through Matt Gilks' legs, and Charles N'Zogbia made it 2-0 in first half stoppage time.
Mohamed Diame sent in a third for the visitors via a deflection off Neal Eardley midway through the second period, rendering DJ Campbell's late reply a mere consolation.
The result meant the Latics leapfrogged their opponents into 17th and Blackpool now have five matches left to get themselves out of trouble.
With only one win in their last 13 games, a revival is needed quickly and Holloway wants to see his team fighting for their lives in their remaining fixtures.
"I don't think at this level that you can give two goals away like that and get back," Holloway said.
"We had a go, we huffed and we puffed, but we didn't get a goal early enough and it didn't give us the momentum.
"Momentum is a hell of a thing at this level and we just can't grasp any of it at the moment - when we had it against Arsenal for five minutes, we needed that chance of a penalty (when a Laurent Koscielny challenge on Gary Taylor-Fletcher went unpunished in last week's 3-1 loss).
"But we have to start again now, because you are not given anything in life - you have to take it.
"This suits us now. We are like a wounded animal and we know we are the dirtiest in the dog zone and we have to come out fighting for every scrap that is left.
"I think we are normally pretty good like that, so that is what I will be talking about (to the players) tomorrow.
"We should be the hungriest dog left in this and we have some scrapping and fighting to do. I am just about ready to snarl."
With Wigan starting the day bottom of the table, this home fixture presented Blackpool with what appeared to be a golden opportunity to boost their bid for survival.
The Seasiders did not help themselves, though, giving away possession in the build-up to both of the Latics' first-half goals.
The mistakes left Holloway "baffled", but he was keen to stress the importance of encouragement when setbacks occur.
"If they choose to do those things at this level I strongly worry about everybody, but I don't think they will do that again - I think they will take that on the chin and learn from it," Holloway said.
"Who from our camp said we were better than Wigan anyway? We should be miles adrift, but we're not, so let's have a go at it.
"When you get in a run like this, it's really difficult to stop it, whoever you put in.
"Someone makes a mistake, and you need some encouragement. Was there enough of that from each player? Who knows, but I will be (giving some). We are in tomorrow and we will be talking about it."
Holloway revealed that he would be shunning Sunday's Professional Footballers' Association awards ceremony - despite his captain Charlie Adam being nominated for the player of the year prize - so he can focus on trying to ensure Blackpool's remarkable maiden Premier League campaign does not end with a return to the Championship.
"Now we are in where we don't want to be and everybody will be saying I told you so," Holloway said.
"The facts are probably right - that we are one of the worst teams in the league, and we might even be the worst team at the moment, because they (Wigan) were bottom, they have given us a whipping and they deserved their win.
"But that is not us - that is not my team, and we need to stick together and do a lot better."
Wigan manager Roberto Martinez was delighted to see his side take maximum points from the contest with a display he felt built on their efforts in last week's 1-0 defeat at Chelsea and the 0-0 draw with Tottenham before that.
"I said it before that I felt we played really against Chelsea and Spurs and it was disappointing not to get a win out of that," Martinez said.
"But today I felt that with the way Blackpool played, we had to be even better tactically than against the last two teams and I was extremely proud of the tactical awareness of the players.
"I thought we coped with Blackpool really well. Obviously we are disappointed to have conceded the goal, but overall we looked a real threat, worked really hard and we looked like a team."
