Parkinson keeping players' feet on the ground ahead of Fleetwood visit

Phil Parkinson has no concerns Wanderers’ superb start to the season will go to their heads.

A midweek victory over Bristol Rovers kept up the Whites’ 100-per-cent record, unparalleled in the whole Football League after three games.

Fleetwood Town are next up at the Macron tomorrow, buoyed by their own win against Oxford United on Wednesday night.

But though Parkinson is delighted to lead the way in the early league table, he has been quick to impress upon his players the need for focus.

“I’m delighted with how we have started the season in the league but it’s important we don’t get carried away with it,” he told The Bolton News.

“Watching Sky Sports go round and seeing the club topping the table is fun. It doesn’t mean that much at this stage but it’s nice to be up there.

“We have got to keep our feet right on the ground and discuss the qualities we have shown in the first three games.

“I think we’ve got enough experience in the dressing room to not let this get to them.

“We needed the confidence lift, especially away from home. And you could see with the extra bits of quality we showed at Bristol that we’d improved from the Wimbledon game.

“We need to be confident now but a quiet confidence, a steely determination to keep going.”

The one negative point among all the euphoria at Wanderers is concern over the fitness of Max Clayton, who pulled out of the squad at the Memorial Stadium with more swelling in his knee.

Though the young striker moved to ease fears last week with a message on social media detailing a “very minor issue” which was “nothing to worry about,” his lack of football after an encouraging pre-season has led to questions.

Conor Wilkinson stepped in at Bristol to make his first appearance for Bolton in 19 months as a late substitute.

“Max Clayton is having ongoing problems with his knee and I wanted to have three strikers,” Parkinson explained of the former Ireland Under-21 international’s inclusion. “I thought he made a good contribution.”

Parkinson will assess any knocks in his squad this morning when the players report back for training but believes a successful start to the season should ensure fatigue is not a problem.

“Fleetwood played on the same night, which is a bonus for us,” he said.

“We need to regroup, refuel, rest up and come in ready to go again.

“These games come thick and fast but it’s a lot better when you are winning them.

“We’ll run out with a spring in our step on Saturday.”

Source

karlypants wrote:Phil Parkinson has no concerns Wanderers’ superb start to the season will go to their heads.

Cockiness been a perennial problem at BWFC and it's caused our downfall on many occasions, but it's still there in the squad as evidenced by Trotter overplaying to give away the free kick that led to Bristol's goal - which then put us under pressure for the rest of the game.

How you take the smugness out of the likes of Spearing I don't know but good luck Parky.

I don't see Spearings attitude as a problem, other than Ibiza gate which I thought was blown out of all proportion I think his attitude has been excellent.
Whenever he has been on the pitch he has always look like one of the few who actually cares, the whole contract fiasco where he couldn't play more than half the games and the fact this information was held back meaning we didn't know why he was shipped out to Blackburn or was suddenly dropped wasn't down to him.
If we were looking at the high earners of Spearing, Pratley and Mavies then without doubt the one I would choose to keep would be Spearing, and now he's getting more confidence back he's showing he can play and importantly has added goals to his game.