MARK Hughes has faced some big challenges since he made the transition from player to manager eight years ago.

In his first post as a rookie boss in charge of the Welsh national team, Hughes faced the daunting task of having to restore a nation's pride after he inherited the mess left by Bobby Gould.

Then, having served a tough apprenticeship in the international arena, Hughes made the step into club management with Blackburn Rovers, where he was handed the job of saving the club from relegation.

Now the straight-talking Welshman faces another major test of his managerial mettle as he seeks to address what can only be described as a worrying slump in Rovers' fortunes.

After the club's best start to a league campaign in more than a decade, all that early season optimism is now in grave danger of ebbing away, unless Hughes can find some answers to some pretty searching questions.

Like, why are Rovers suddenly shipping goals at such an alarming rate at the back?

Why are key players such as Ryan Nelsen, Chris Samba and Stephen Warnock, all rocks at the back earlier in the campaign, suddenly making elementary errors?

And what has happened to match-winners like Benni McCarthy and Morten Gamst Pedersen, who are having little or no impact where it matters in the final third?

Suddenly, the wheels have come off Rovers' European bandwagon, at a time in the season when the manager was looking to kick on.

After seven straight wins in the months of September and October, Rovers have taken just five points from a possible 21 in the seven games since.

This defeat was Rovers' third in four games and undoubtedly the most alarming so far, because it came at the hands of a Wigan side that was without a win in 13 league outings prior to Saturday - the longest winless sequence in the Premier League.

This was also the first time Rovers had shipped five goals since they were beaten 6-2 by Arsenal at the Emirates 12 months ago.

But, while conceding six to the Gunners can happen to any side when Arsene Wenger's boys are in the groove, there can be no excuses for shipping five at a place like the JJB, where Rovers had cruised to 3-0 victories with the minimum of fuss on their two previous visits.

In fact, Hughes went one step further and branded his side's first half performance as unacceptable' in his post-match press conference - a term the Rovers boss does not use lightly.

To be fair, he had every right to feel let down after his players had a collective nightmare in the opening 45 minutes.

With their team trailing 3-0 inside 37 minutes, some Rovers fans were seen heading for the exits before the interval, and rightly so, because what was happening on the pitch was unacceptable.

Unable to cope with the power and pace of Emile Heskey and Marcus Bent, some of the defending was lamentable, not least for the second goal, when Nelsen and Warnock were both guilty of individual errors before Bent slammed in the first of his treble.

Then, having worked hard to get themselves back in the game, courtesy of a hat-trick from the outstanding Roque Santa Cruz, Rovers promptly committed hari-kari once again at the back, and Bent gratefully accepted the gifts.

Hughes was later scathing in his criticism of referee Mark Clattenburg, claiming the official contributed to Rovers' demise by failing to spot Wigan's fourth and fifth goals were both offside.

But, in his heart of hearts, even the Rovers boss knew his players were ultimately the masters of their downfall, on a day when Santa Cruz was the only Blackburn player to emerge with any real credit after this crazy, and often chaotic, eight-goal thriller.

"The first half was unacceptable," said Hughes, with brutal honesty.

"Defensively we were all over the place. You can't win games if you only defend for 45 minutes.

"We are shipping goals at the moment and that is something we certainly have to look at."

Aside from the recent events on the pitch, Hughes also has problems off it that need to be addressed, before they have a destabilising effect on the dressing room.

In the days leading up to this game, Jason Roberts became the second player in a matter of months (the other was Aaron Mokoena) to slap in a transfer request, which was instantly rejected by Hughes and the Rovers board.

At a time when the manager needs everyone pulling together, Roberts' timing was poor to say the least, and he paid the price by being axed from the 16 altogether for this clash with his former club.

It remains to be seen what the long-term future holds for the striker, but it's fair to say he has done little to endear himself to the manager over the last week and his days could now be numbered.

On top of that, several of Hughes' key men will now be missing through suspension for the tough assignments against Arsenal and Chelsea.

For the fourth time in six games, Rovers were reduced to 10 men, Brett Emerton becoming the latest player to see red.

Harshly booked in the first half, Emerton then became embroiled in a shoving match with Ryan Taylor at a time in the game when Rovers were in the ascendancy, leaving Mr Clattenburg with little option other than to reach for his top pocket.

Also facing a suspension is Samba, who needlessly picked up a fifth caution of the season for dissent: another unwanted headache for Hughes.

The tone for the afternoon was set after just 10 minutes, when Denny Landzaat raced clear of the Rovers defence and coolly slotted a neat finish under Brad Friedel.

Then two minutes later, Bent made it 2-0 after poor defending from Nelsen and Warnock had presented him with a shooting chance.

McCarthy should have halved the deficit when Mr Clattenburg awarded a penalty for a foul on Samba, but Chris Kirkland comfortably saved the South African's poorly struck spot-kick.

In a game of unrelenting drama, Paul Scharner made it 3-0 with a thumping header from a Ryan Taylor free kick.

At that point, Rovers looked dead and buried, but Santa Cruz then gave the visiting fans hope with a wonderful shot on the turn on the stroke of half-time.

Santa Cruz struck again in the 50th minute, pouncing from close range after Kirkland could only parry a Steven Reid header.

Even after Emerton's dismissal, Rovers kept pouring forward and another slick counter-attack resulted in an equaliser for Santa Cruz, the Paraguayan heading home a Warnock cross.

But back came Wigan again and another mistake from Warnock led to Bent making it 4-3.

Even then, Santa Cruz had the chance to rescue Rovers again but, six yards out and completely unmarked, he planted his header over.

It was left to Bent to have the final say, the former Rovers striker arriving again at the far post to complete his hat-trick in the 81st minute.