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Carlos Mendes Gomes should get a chance to reboot his season in the FA Cup this weekend, with Wanderers taking notes on his recovery from a hamstring injury.
The former Luton Town attacker has sat out the last nine games after limping out of September’s win against Salford City in the EFL Trophy, an hour after scoring his first goal for the club.
Fans are yet to see exactly how the 24-year-old fits into the gameplan and losing both him and fellow summer arrival Paris Maghoma robbed Bolton of much of their midfield dynamism – a deficiency that was highlighted in last month’s home defeat to Carlisle United.
Evatt is excited by the prospect of bringing Gomes back, however, and feels the versatile 24-year-old who he coveted from his days at Morecambe can have a genuine impact on the Whites’ promotion hopes.
“We haven’t got unlimited money and we haven’t got unlimited squad places when we are recruiting, so when we bring players in it is really important that they can fill multiple roles,” he told The Bolton News.
“Carlos is one of those players. In my opinion, his best role is as an eight or a 10, but he can play nine, especially say – for instance – the worst possible thing should happen and Dion Charles got an injury. We would need that final third speed and back line threat, and Carlos offers us that.
“He is a player who can unlock doors. In some games this season we are going to need people to do that.
“I felt that was the biggest problem against Carlisle, for example, second half, against a really deep, low block. We needed someone with the X Factor and Paris (Maghoma) and Carlos were signed for that reason and we had both of those players missing in that game.
“I was really pleased we got him in over the summer and I have been a massive fan of his for a good few years now. I’m looking forward to getting him back in one piece and giving this side an extra string to its bow.”
Just as with Maghoma, Gomes is unlikely to be stringing together 90-minute performances just yet.
Indeed, the fact both players picked up muscular injuries so early in their Bolton career has prompted a rethink in Wanderers’ medical and sports science departments on how new signings can be phased into the required workload.
To see the very best of Gomes, Evatt reasoned, will take a little time.
“We have to manage his load, the minutes he spends on the pitch, and make him robust enough to play for us,” he said. “That is something we are trying to get better at, being honest, because most of the players we have signed have broken down, became injured. And that is down to the intensity we play at, the load we put on the players in training.
“It is something we need to review, especially when we are integrating new players into the squad.
“We understand the level they have been at, what they have been doing at their previous club, and then try to more gradually bring them up to speed to what we do.”
Wanderers feel they have made good progress on the training ground, adapting their training routines to suit individuals, minimise injuries which are deemed ‘preventable,’ and improving the overall fitness levels within the squad.
The one area they hope to improve, however, is how they integrate new signings, many of whom have suffered minor injuries which have hampered their early days at the club. “All we can go off is the data we are given by other clubs – but each one and every manager is different. That is the problem,” Evatt said.
“Whether it gym strength, core strength, or actual physical load or minutes on the grass, it is a challenge to get that right.
“There is a long conversation to be had on managing the individual load for players, what each person requires and needs. People perceive that word ‘load’ as meaning ‘hard work’ and the danger or risk or injury whereas actually it is the opposite, it is making them more robust and making them able to cope with the physical demands of football. In this division you can be playing 50 or 60 games in a season.
“Players need, for example, exposure to high speed running and sprinting in training to prepare hamstrings for matches and match situations.
“All these things we are trying to monitor and bring ourselves up to scratch with in that department.
“There are big improvements happening in lots of areas of this football club, and that area is certainly one of them.”
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