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Ian Evatt is still on the hunt for attacking options despite adding another striker to his ranks.
The Wanderers boss brought in ex-Sheffield United and Crewe front man Shaun Miller just 90 minutes before their Carabao Cup game against Bradford City.
The 32-year-old made his debut off the bench and could be plunged in from the start in the EFL Trophy tie against Crewe on Tuesday night.
But Evatt maintains he is still a striker short – and is keen to ensure his big name strikers Eoin Doyle and Nathan Delfouneso have adequate competition to keep them on top form.
Speaking of his new arrival Miller, the Bolton head coach said: “We were light at the top end of the pitch – and we still are. I think we probably need one more. We’re working on that.
“Shaun is a fantastic player in his own right and he’s had a good career at this level. He’s had promotions and adds good competition for places.
“We’ve got a front two who, it’s well documented, are top players at this level. But they need pushing. They need to know if they are not producing that regardless of any names, there are players behind them ready to step in and Shaun is one of those.”
Doyle had a frustrating debut against his former club Bradford with Evatt admitting after the final whistle that his marquee signing might have “tried too hard” to grab a goal on debut.
But he is confident there are plenty of better times ahead for the Irishman, who was League Two’s top scorer last season at Swindon.
“Eoin Doyle is a human being and even though he scored so many goals last season he’s at a new club, got a very good contract and he’s earned it,” Evatt said. “He doesn’t have anything to prove to me, our fans or anyone else. He’s a fantastic football player and when he does what Eoin Doyle does he’s more than good enough to score us 20-25 goals and fire us towards the top of the league.”
A patchy performance against Bradford was not the way Evatt wanted to kick-off his managerial career at the UniBol but he feels there were aspects of the performance which bode well for the future.
“We are improving but the things I have seen on the training pitch are better than I saw today,” he said.
“They understand now why we drive standards on the training pitch, even in the passing drills, there has to be an importance to it and a detail to it. It’s not just passing from A to B, it’s passing it with the right weight, the right tempo, which foot, can the player you are passing to turn? It’s that information which needs to put into practice.
“If you put that together I think we can play through teams really easily and we did that at times against Bradford, just not often enough.”
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The Wanderers boss brought in ex-Sheffield United and Crewe front man Shaun Miller just 90 minutes before their Carabao Cup game against Bradford City.
The 32-year-old made his debut off the bench and could be plunged in from the start in the EFL Trophy tie against Crewe on Tuesday night.
But Evatt maintains he is still a striker short – and is keen to ensure his big name strikers Eoin Doyle and Nathan Delfouneso have adequate competition to keep them on top form.
Speaking of his new arrival Miller, the Bolton head coach said: “We were light at the top end of the pitch – and we still are. I think we probably need one more. We’re working on that.
“Shaun is a fantastic player in his own right and he’s had a good career at this level. He’s had promotions and adds good competition for places.
“We’ve got a front two who, it’s well documented, are top players at this level. But they need pushing. They need to know if they are not producing that regardless of any names, there are players behind them ready to step in and Shaun is one of those.”
Doyle had a frustrating debut against his former club Bradford with Evatt admitting after the final whistle that his marquee signing might have “tried too hard” to grab a goal on debut.
But he is confident there are plenty of better times ahead for the Irishman, who was League Two’s top scorer last season at Swindon.
“Eoin Doyle is a human being and even though he scored so many goals last season he’s at a new club, got a very good contract and he’s earned it,” Evatt said. “He doesn’t have anything to prove to me, our fans or anyone else. He’s a fantastic football player and when he does what Eoin Doyle does he’s more than good enough to score us 20-25 goals and fire us towards the top of the league.”
A patchy performance against Bradford was not the way Evatt wanted to kick-off his managerial career at the UniBol but he feels there were aspects of the performance which bode well for the future.
“We are improving but the things I have seen on the training pitch are better than I saw today,” he said.
“They understand now why we drive standards on the training pitch, even in the passing drills, there has to be an importance to it and a detail to it. It’s not just passing from A to B, it’s passing it with the right weight, the right tempo, which foot, can the player you are passing to turn? It’s that information which needs to put into practice.
“If you put that together I think we can play through teams really easily and we did that at times against Bradford, just not often enough.”
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