Manager looks for others to step up
Lee Johnson is looking for more leaders like James Tarkowski on the pitch.Latics' manager has cited the 20-year-old central defender (pictured) as a perfect role model in a squad lacking leaders.
He explained: "Tarky is an example for others to follow, the likes of David Mellor, Kirk Millar and Carl Winchester.
"They should all look up to him as he has taken on that leadership role.
"We have helped him, but he has done it himself. He still has a lot to learn, but he is going the right way."
Johnson added that Tarkowski's absence through suspension at Notts County "stood out like a sore thumb."
Tarkowski still made the trip to Meadow Lane to support his team mates.
Johnson continued: "Tarky needn't have come to the game, but the fact he did shows he wants to be a leader and he was rallying the troops at half time.
"That's why he is a class act and why he will step straight back into the team on Saturday."
Johnson believes his side is short of characters like Tarkowski who has gone from being a boy to a man.
He continued: "We have a young group of players, but characters have to be made.
"There is a lot of talent in the squad and, when that character comes out, we will be very good. It is just a case of fast forwarding it.
"Players develop differently. Sometimes you have a 25-year-old who is not a man and sometimes an 18-year-old who is one.
"If I knew how to get the boy to become a man, I would be a multi-millionaire."
"If I knew how to get the boy to become a man, I would be a multi-millionaire."