Home
Ian Evatt has labelled efforts to stop players celebrating goals as “ridiculous”.
Premier League stars have been warned that “handshakes, high fives and hugs must be avoided” to minimise risk of Covid infection, while EFL chief executive Trevor Birch also contacted clubs this week to warn them to follow strict new protocols.
All unnecessary contact must now be avoided but Evatt - who hopes his players’ resolve will be tested with a few goals against Cheltenham Town this afternoon - believes the authorities have gone too far.
“First and foremost,” he said. “We have been tested twice this week and all our squad members have been negative, which is great news.
“If anyone is going to have contact then we’re probably the safest people to do it.
“In terms of goal celebrations - what are we doing here? If we can’t celebrate goals, just stop us playing as far as I’m concerned.
“If we are not safe to celebrate a goal with being tested twice a week and being in a bubble, then we shouldn’t be playing at all.
“What is the difference between a goal celebration and marking from a corner and marking from a set piece and marking in general play? You have to get that tight to people, so how do you differentiate from that to celebrating a goal?
“We are asking players to take all character and personality out of the game.
“And if we are doing that, it is not in the spirit of the game, and for me the competition should be stopped. I think it’s ridiculous to be honest.”
All of Wanderers players tested negative this week with the two un-named players who missed the Exeter City game through self-isolation now back in training and available to face the Robins.
Evatt once again expects a physical test and a thorough examination of his defence by Cheltenham’s strength at set pieces and, in particular, Ben Tozer’s long throw.
The Bolton boss joked that he would personally be removing all towels from the touchline and pushing the advertising hoardings closer to the pitch to limit the damage the visitors could do.
“The lad throws a ball like Steve Backley so I think he’d probably reach from the M61,” he laughed. “We know what we will have to deal with, what type of game it will be.
“This league is physically demanding and teams ask questions of you all the time and you have to be able to answer them. That means keeping concentration, being physical and standing up to your opponent.
“I think I upset one or two when I mentioned the long throws and the set pieces but, look, it’s a difficult thing to defend against. It’s a huge weapon for them and why wouldn’t they use it?
“It isn’t me being derogatory or disrespectful. It’s a massive weapon and we have to defend it. We have to win first contact, second contact, make sure when we get the ball we have the character and belief to hurt them.
“Can we deal with their forward players? Can we deal with their set pieces and long throws? And if we can, how can we hurt them, move the ball, create chances we’ll hopefully take.”
Evatt has also challenged his players to impose themselves on Cheltenham this afternoon and not - as has happened several times this season - wait until they have fallen behind in a game before playing their best football.
“It’s difficult because I think our record in the last 25 minutes of games is exceptional,” the manager said. “It shows you that we’re fit but it also shows you that there’s a mental deficiency there, because it has to be mentality, character and personality.
“We have to play like that from minute one. When we have done, we’ve got the right results and we’ve controlled games but too often this season we’ve waiting for someone to score against us and then play.”
Evatt believes that Wanderers have strayed away from the possession-based game he prefers in recent weeks and hinted that his team selection against Cheltenham will have ball retention in mind.
“We are not controlling games with possession the way I want us to,” he said. “We’re trying to score in one breath all the time.
“It’s kind of ‘you attack, we attack’ and we don’t have any control with possession, keeping the ball and in turn, wearing the opposition out for that last half an hour.
“We need to be better at that, we need to be braver, we need people to make better angles, and that’s what we’re working on.
“I’ll pick a team that I think will be brave, will have personality and help us control the game through possession.”
Evatt admitted that Tuesday night’s goalscorer, Arthur Gnahoua has made a strong case to start the game against Cheltenham after a strong showing in training this week.
The former Macclesfield Town man came off the bench to score at St James Park and has not started a game in League Two since October.
“Arthur has been exceptional since he’s been back from his shoulder injury,” he said. “He was out of it for a little while but he’s come back and he deserved an opportunity because of the way that he’s trained.
“There have been other people ahead of him in the pecking order, but all of a sudden, he has shown me in training what he can do.
“There is competition and believe me, there’s more competition coming through the door as well, so hopefully that’ll lead to us being more consistent and getting good results.”
Source
Premier League stars have been warned that “handshakes, high fives and hugs must be avoided” to minimise risk of Covid infection, while EFL chief executive Trevor Birch also contacted clubs this week to warn them to follow strict new protocols.
All unnecessary contact must now be avoided but Evatt - who hopes his players’ resolve will be tested with a few goals against Cheltenham Town this afternoon - believes the authorities have gone too far.
“First and foremost,” he said. “We have been tested twice this week and all our squad members have been negative, which is great news.
“If anyone is going to have contact then we’re probably the safest people to do it.
“In terms of goal celebrations - what are we doing here? If we can’t celebrate goals, just stop us playing as far as I’m concerned.
“If we are not safe to celebrate a goal with being tested twice a week and being in a bubble, then we shouldn’t be playing at all.
“What is the difference between a goal celebration and marking from a corner and marking from a set piece and marking in general play? You have to get that tight to people, so how do you differentiate from that to celebrating a goal?
“We are asking players to take all character and personality out of the game.
“And if we are doing that, it is not in the spirit of the game, and for me the competition should be stopped. I think it’s ridiculous to be honest.”
All of Wanderers players tested negative this week with the two un-named players who missed the Exeter City game through self-isolation now back in training and available to face the Robins.
Evatt once again expects a physical test and a thorough examination of his defence by Cheltenham’s strength at set pieces and, in particular, Ben Tozer’s long throw.
The Bolton boss joked that he would personally be removing all towels from the touchline and pushing the advertising hoardings closer to the pitch to limit the damage the visitors could do.
“The lad throws a ball like Steve Backley so I think he’d probably reach from the M61,” he laughed. “We know what we will have to deal with, what type of game it will be.
“This league is physically demanding and teams ask questions of you all the time and you have to be able to answer them. That means keeping concentration, being physical and standing up to your opponent.
“I think I upset one or two when I mentioned the long throws and the set pieces but, look, it’s a difficult thing to defend against. It’s a huge weapon for them and why wouldn’t they use it?
“It isn’t me being derogatory or disrespectful. It’s a massive weapon and we have to defend it. We have to win first contact, second contact, make sure when we get the ball we have the character and belief to hurt them.
“Can we deal with their forward players? Can we deal with their set pieces and long throws? And if we can, how can we hurt them, move the ball, create chances we’ll hopefully take.”
Evatt has also challenged his players to impose themselves on Cheltenham this afternoon and not - as has happened several times this season - wait until they have fallen behind in a game before playing their best football.
“It’s difficult because I think our record in the last 25 minutes of games is exceptional,” the manager said. “It shows you that we’re fit but it also shows you that there’s a mental deficiency there, because it has to be mentality, character and personality.
“We have to play like that from minute one. When we have done, we’ve got the right results and we’ve controlled games but too often this season we’ve waiting for someone to score against us and then play.”
Evatt believes that Wanderers have strayed away from the possession-based game he prefers in recent weeks and hinted that his team selection against Cheltenham will have ball retention in mind.
“We are not controlling games with possession the way I want us to,” he said. “We’re trying to score in one breath all the time.
“It’s kind of ‘you attack, we attack’ and we don’t have any control with possession, keeping the ball and in turn, wearing the opposition out for that last half an hour.
“We need to be better at that, we need to be braver, we need people to make better angles, and that’s what we’re working on.
“I’ll pick a team that I think will be brave, will have personality and help us control the game through possession.”
Evatt admitted that Tuesday night’s goalscorer, Arthur Gnahoua has made a strong case to start the game against Cheltenham after a strong showing in training this week.
The former Macclesfield Town man came off the bench to score at St James Park and has not started a game in League Two since October.
“Arthur has been exceptional since he’s been back from his shoulder injury,” he said. “He was out of it for a little while but he’s come back and he deserved an opportunity because of the way that he’s trained.
“There have been other people ahead of him in the pecking order, but all of a sudden, he has shown me in training what he can do.
“There is competition and believe me, there’s more competition coming through the door as well, so hopefully that’ll lead to us being more consistent and getting good results.”
Source