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Ian Evatt reckons Saturday’s clash with Wycombe will be “a good yardstick” for the standard of League One this season.
The Chairboys narrowly missed out on promotion to the Championship last term, losing out against Sunderland in the play-off final at Wembley.
Evatt says his side need to bring their “A game” and hopes they can show more composure in the final third than against Ipswich on the opening day.
“They’re a good yardstick for this division,” said the Bolton chief. “They got to the play-off final, they’re a team that is used to winning.
“We can speak about identities and philosophies, but the name of the game in football is to win and Gareth’s (Ainsworth) team are used to winning football matches, regardless of how they do it.
“We have to make sure that we do things our way and try and combat their strengths and they have many.
“They’re a good team and we must make sure that we’re on our A game and a bit better than what we were last week in possession.”
But Evatt was pleased with his side’s discipline out of possession against the Tractor Boys and feels their hard work over the summer is paying off.
He added: “We’ve done a lot more work on out of possession because we feel that can create opportunities as well.
“We’ve always tried to be a front foot, intense team and play and press aggressively - especially high up the pitch.
“We’ve just done some tactical tweaks in the formation and the shape to try and make sure we get more pressure on the ball, and more intense pressure, and then get ourselves in good positions for transitions. And I thought we did that on Saturday.
“It was just our first pass in transition wasn't crisp or good enough - our execution wasn’t there - but hopefully we can sharpen that up and progress throughout the season.”
Ahead of Saturday’s clash with the Chairboys, the Bolton boss hopes his side can keep evolving and deliver on the pitch.
“It’s something that we always want to do - evolve and improve. I think since I’ve been at the club, that’s what we’ve done,” said the manager.
“We’ve obviously had a promotion and a top 10 finish for a newly promoted team, which is tough to do. Our points total was pretty good.
“We didn’t get to where we wanted to get to, but it was another step in the right direction and now we have huge expectations and expectancy from outside the club, but also within.
“We have to back those expectations up and that comes from hard work and positive performances on the pitch.”
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