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FOLLOWING their rare blip in an otherwise-terrific start to the season, it is time for Wanderers to get back to the grittiness that has served them well.
That was Phil Parkinson’s assessment following their off-day at home to Sheffield United, who eased to their third straight win.
It was Bolton’s first league loss of the season and left the manager eager to get back to basics at Lostock this week.
“It’s disappointing because we’ve worked very hard as a team to do all the very basic things on a football pitch right at the start of the season,” said Parkinson following his side’s 3-0 defeat.
“Hence we’ve had two away wins, which we struggled to get last season. For whatever reason for the first 20 minutes we went away from that.
“That’s got to be a lesson we learn, you can’t go into a game and not be switched on mentally and physically and I don’t think we were switched on at the start.
“We have been gritty and resilient at the start of the season but that was a good lesson for us because we got punished.
“What we’ve done recently since the start of the season – staying with runners, being disciplined, making sure we stay in the game – we didn’t do.
“Before they scored Ben [Alnwick] has had to pull out an outstanding save, we were too slack in terms of that side of the game.
“People were running off us, little jobs we had to do to make sure we got a foothold in the game we didn’t do and we gave a good team a two-goal start.”
Just as feet had been kept firmly grounded during the first four games, no one at the club – still third in the table – will be despondent ahead of the trip to Preston North End, after which comes a chance to regroup during the international break.
And Parkinson is keeping his perspective, given what his squad has achieved so far.
“We’ve had a great start, a terrific start, and it’s a bit of a reality check for everybody that we’re not getting carried away,” Parkinson added.
“You get yourself a foothold in the game if you do things right. We were too slack and we got punished for it
“It’s back to the drawing board, we’ll be back in this week and ready to put in a more Bolton-like performance when we turn up at Deepdale next week.”
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/16600859.we-must-get-back-to-basics-urges-parkinson/
That was Phil Parkinson’s assessment following their off-day at home to Sheffield United, who eased to their third straight win.
It was Bolton’s first league loss of the season and left the manager eager to get back to basics at Lostock this week.
“It’s disappointing because we’ve worked very hard as a team to do all the very basic things on a football pitch right at the start of the season,” said Parkinson following his side’s 3-0 defeat.
“Hence we’ve had two away wins, which we struggled to get last season. For whatever reason for the first 20 minutes we went away from that.
“That’s got to be a lesson we learn, you can’t go into a game and not be switched on mentally and physically and I don’t think we were switched on at the start.
“We have been gritty and resilient at the start of the season but that was a good lesson for us because we got punished.
“What we’ve done recently since the start of the season – staying with runners, being disciplined, making sure we stay in the game – we didn’t do.
“Before they scored Ben [Alnwick] has had to pull out an outstanding save, we were too slack in terms of that side of the game.
“People were running off us, little jobs we had to do to make sure we got a foothold in the game we didn’t do and we gave a good team a two-goal start.”
Just as feet had been kept firmly grounded during the first four games, no one at the club – still third in the table – will be despondent ahead of the trip to Preston North End, after which comes a chance to regroup during the international break.
And Parkinson is keeping his perspective, given what his squad has achieved so far.
“We’ve had a great start, a terrific start, and it’s a bit of a reality check for everybody that we’re not getting carried away,” Parkinson added.
“You get yourself a foothold in the game if you do things right. We were too slack and we got punished for it
“It’s back to the drawing board, we’ll be back in this week and ready to put in a more Bolton-like performance when we turn up at Deepdale next week.”
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/16600859.we-must-get-back-to-basics-urges-parkinson/
