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Attack may be, for some, the best form of defence but Bolton fans should not an expect all-out siege in Monday night’s game against West Bromwich Albion.
Phil Parkinson goes into the Baggies game insisting a healthy degree of attacking intent is there as his team battles to get clear of the relegation zone.
A popular criticism doing the rounds suggests Wanderers are too cautious, and a lack of ambition going forward is restricting their chances of success.
While Saturday’s defeat at Bristol City did little to persuade supporters otherwise, the manager says each line-up is set out to give the Whites the best possible chance of success against various opponents.
“It’s horses for courses, people don’t see their own club in the true light,” he told The Bolton News. “If you’re watching a Premier League game, for instance, and you’re a team down at the bottom of the table against a top team and you go too expansive you are in big trouble. So you’ve got to make sure you don’t leave the team exposed in any given game.
“It’s about picking the right team for each game to give yourself the best chance of winning.
“At Bristol City, with the greatest respect, we had Buckley, Noone, Ameobi and Magennis on the pitch, that’s a bit of an attacking team, let me tell you. “
The Whites boss added that seeing two front-line strikers together is something of a rarity these days.
“People go on about 4-4-2 but no one really plays two number nines any more, the majority of the time it’s one number nine with another player just off him,” he said.
“And that’s going back years and years with combinations of strikers, one of them will have a bit of depth, whether it’s away from home or against a better team, and in terms of how we set up at Bristol City a neutral would say ‘that’s a very open team to try to go and get something at Bristol’. On the back of that, Bristol probably had more chances than I would have liked, so it certainly wasn’t a defensive team, it was probably a bit too open where we made it a bit too easy for them.”
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Phil Parkinson goes into the Baggies game insisting a healthy degree of attacking intent is there as his team battles to get clear of the relegation zone.
A popular criticism doing the rounds suggests Wanderers are too cautious, and a lack of ambition going forward is restricting their chances of success.
While Saturday’s defeat at Bristol City did little to persuade supporters otherwise, the manager says each line-up is set out to give the Whites the best possible chance of success against various opponents.
“It’s horses for courses, people don’t see their own club in the true light,” he told The Bolton News. “If you’re watching a Premier League game, for instance, and you’re a team down at the bottom of the table against a top team and you go too expansive you are in big trouble. So you’ve got to make sure you don’t leave the team exposed in any given game.
“It’s about picking the right team for each game to give yourself the best chance of winning.
“At Bristol City, with the greatest respect, we had Buckley, Noone, Ameobi and Magennis on the pitch, that’s a bit of an attacking team, let me tell you. “
The Whites boss added that seeing two front-line strikers together is something of a rarity these days.
“People go on about 4-4-2 but no one really plays two number nines any more, the majority of the time it’s one number nine with another player just off him,” he said.
“And that’s going back years and years with combinations of strikers, one of them will have a bit of depth, whether it’s away from home or against a better team, and in terms of how we set up at Bristol City a neutral would say ‘that’s a very open team to try to go and get something at Bristol’. On the back of that, Bristol probably had more chances than I would have liked, so it certainly wasn’t a defensive team, it was probably a bit too open where we made it a bit too easy for them.”
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