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Ian Evatt hopes that life gets a little easier for Nigel Adkins at Charlton, starting on Wednesday morning.
The pressure is on the Charlton Athletic boss, whose side has won just one of their first nine games this season and sit 22nd in the table.
A 2-2 draw against Portsmouth at the weekend showed some glimpses of promise for Adkins but with new ownership and investment at the Valley enabling a raft of new signings this summer, there have been clear issues in bedding a squad down.
Adkins has made 18 changes to his line-up in the last three games, with Evatt managing to keep an unchanged XI for the most part.
And though there is also expectation on Bolton to start turning their enterprising approach play into a consistent supply of goals, Evatt admits the anxiety around Charlton could work in his favour.
“It isn’t nice but it is the situation we are in,” he told The Bolton News. “We have to go and play our way.
“It was a tell-tale sign on Saturday that when you dominate the ball the way we did second half even Sunderland’s fans were frustrated, they were winning the game 1-0 but they were angry and starting to turn.
“I think if we would have scored then the place would have been pretty toxic pretty quickly.
“That is what we do to teams when we have that much possession and dominance. It isn’t just about possession, we carry a final third threat as well, we don’t just build for the sake of it, we do it with a purpose.
“If that is to create space up the pitch, or deeper in the pitch, everything is for a reason.
“We had many opportunities on Saturday, we just didn’t take them, so we have to stop letting teams off the hook.”
Wanderers have also developed a concerning habit of conceding the first goal, slipping behind in seven of their opening nine league games.
Evatt believes preserving that clean sheet could be crucial on Tuesday evening as they try to create a negative atmosphere among the home supporters.
“My slight frustration at the minutes, as well as not taking chances, is the way we are starting games and giving teams a little bit of a leg up,” he said.
“We keep conceding that first goal and in the big games like Rotherham or Sunderland, Charlton too, you can’t really afford to go behind.
“We will back ourselves to come out of any scenario but you can’t go giving sides a head start, and that is especially relevant on Tuesday night. If they get the first goal then they will get confidence from that. The fans support the team.
“If we get the first goal that environment can turn toxic pretty quickly and make it more difficult for the home team.”
Grumbles of disappointment at Charlton may be growing louder but Evatt hopes the club back Adkins in the longer-term and allow him to bed down the squad he has created.
“Managers need time, it was the same with Paul Cook at Ipswich,” he said.
“Nigel is a very experienced manager, a good manager, and he will get it right.
“But at this minute in time we have stability, we have carried momentum through from last season and I think in terms of what we are producing I am very pleased.
“We need to go there and do what we do, really, and it should be good enough provided we start taking those opportunities in the final third.”
‘Turning’ a home crowd was not something Evatt had to worry about in his first season at Wanderers in League Two. And the Bolton boss admitted - with tongue in cheek – that he was glad to be playing to empty terraces in his early months at the UniBol.
“I certainly didn’t miss that early on last season because I would have been getting pelters. We weren’t very good then,” he smiled.
“Thankfully that has changed and we are pretty good now.
“Everyone is appreciating what we are doing, fans are appreciative and like what they see.
“Obviously there’s a frustration with results but when opposition managers, experienced people, are saying that we look a really good team then we have to take some heart from that.”
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