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Phil Parkinson hopes Saturday’s pre-season defeat at Fleetwood proves to be a “reality check” for Wanderers.
Jody Hiwula and Conor McAleny condemned the Whites to their first defeat of the summer at Highbury, leaving Parkinson a disappointed man.
“We’ve had a decent pre-season up to this point but I think here we were lacklustre and they played it like it was a full-on league game,” he told The Bolton News.
“We lacked the sharpness in our legs which we have had, which was disappointing, and we didn’t play anywhere near the levels we have in pre-season so far.
“Sometimes it’s a reality check in how much work we’ve got to do.
“You have no divine right to win games of any sort, and on our part we were half a yard slow in every part of the pitch.”
Parkinson tested a new 3-4-3 formation but admitted his efforts to get his attacking players into the game went by the wayside against Uwe Rosler’s men.
“We set a way of playing which we’d only worked on briefly in training. We wanted to look at that shape with a front three – Will Buckley, Gary Madine and Sammy Ameobi,” he said. “But we didn’t get enough quality into those players so they can show what they can do.
“A lot of the lads did 90 minutes, which we felt we needed, but equally we have to hold our hands up and say we were second best.”
Parkinson will rest the likes of Mark Howard, David Wheater and Josh Vela, who played 90 minutes at Fleetwood for the next pre-season friendly at Stockport County tomorrow night.
That will be followed by the visit of Premier League Stoke City on Saturday – and Parkinson is looking for his side to make some quick improvement.
“We weren’t sharp enough in possession,” he said. “And I think when there’s an intensity about your closing down it also spreads to the rest of your game. It was too slow.
“Sometimes that happens and it just gives us the chance to assess a few things and move on to the next game. I think last week we went to Mansfield Town and looked a bit sloppy but we bounced back quickly and started the season well.
“We have got a week to rectify it.”
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Jody Hiwula and Conor McAleny condemned the Whites to their first defeat of the summer at Highbury, leaving Parkinson a disappointed man.
“We’ve had a decent pre-season up to this point but I think here we were lacklustre and they played it like it was a full-on league game,” he told The Bolton News.
“We lacked the sharpness in our legs which we have had, which was disappointing, and we didn’t play anywhere near the levels we have in pre-season so far.
“Sometimes it’s a reality check in how much work we’ve got to do.
“You have no divine right to win games of any sort, and on our part we were half a yard slow in every part of the pitch.”
Parkinson tested a new 3-4-3 formation but admitted his efforts to get his attacking players into the game went by the wayside against Uwe Rosler’s men.
“We set a way of playing which we’d only worked on briefly in training. We wanted to look at that shape with a front three – Will Buckley, Gary Madine and Sammy Ameobi,” he said. “But we didn’t get enough quality into those players so they can show what they can do.
“A lot of the lads did 90 minutes, which we felt we needed, but equally we have to hold our hands up and say we were second best.”
Parkinson will rest the likes of Mark Howard, David Wheater and Josh Vela, who played 90 minutes at Fleetwood for the next pre-season friendly at Stockport County tomorrow night.
That will be followed by the visit of Premier League Stoke City on Saturday – and Parkinson is looking for his side to make some quick improvement.
“We weren’t sharp enough in possession,” he said. “And I think when there’s an intensity about your closing down it also spreads to the rest of your game. It was too slow.
“Sometimes that happens and it just gives us the chance to assess a few things and move on to the next game. I think last week we went to Mansfield Town and looked a bit sloppy but we bounced back quickly and started the season well.
“We have got a week to rectify it.”
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