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There is something of the old school about Lloyd Isgrove which has even his manager Ian Evatt pining for football’s days gone by.
After watching his return in the Papa Johns Trophy in midweek, fans were reminded of just how entertaining Bolton’s “forgotten man” can be to watch when he is in full flow.
Isgrove has been out of action for the better part of a year because of two serious hamstring injuries, suffered one after the other, but has now returned to fitness just in time to cover for the suspended Conor Bradley as a wing-back at Accrington on Saturday.
Evatt was delighted to see his first start for the club since last November go so smoothly and feels the former Southampton man has a lot to offer the side now he is fit again.
He said: “Izzy is able to beat a man one-v-one and is able to cross when he gets a yard or gets past the man. He crosses with quality as well, and I think we saw with the one for Jon against Leeds, it was a wonderful ball in. Great detail.
“He is game as well. He is one of those little lads who just never gives up. It is amazing how high he can jump. And for a winger – someone who can beat a man, jink inside, get people off their seats, he has got the ability to do both sides of the game.”
The Whites have a rich tradition of wingers – from Peter Thompson to David Lee to early Ricardo Gardner – but like the Jamaican, Isgrove has had to adapt his game to suit changing demands.
“Almost all the old school wingers have now become wing-backs,” Evatt said. “The way the game has evolved, it is very rare now that people play 4-4-2 and get balls in the box from every angle. Now it is about pockets of space, number 10s, wing-backs and attacking full-backs, and it is a shame, really, because I used to like watching them.”
Evatt’s preferred style of football is well known and firmly embedded after more than two years in charge at Wanderers. Drawing heavily from Premier League icons Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Marcelo Bielsa, it is fair to say he has embraced the ‘modern style’ as readily as anyone in the lower leagues.
But equally, the Bolton boss appreciates the game’s fad and trends, and that soon there will be another formation and playing style that is regarded as de rigueur.
“Nobody is reinventing the wheel, and as much as I admire Pep, football is football,” he said.
“Everyone has different ways of doing it but it is the same game. Coaching is just about being a magpie, stealing other ideas and making them your own. There is no right or wrong way.
“I am a self-confessed football snob but if you are getting results playing one way or another it is down to you, that is what it is all about.
“It is a modern thing to have wing-backs, number 10s, players that play in spaces – all those phrases that come to the fore nowadays. It is the same thing we used to talk about, just the terminology has changed with time. I guess that is like anything.”
One catalyst for that change could be the success of Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, a player Evatt feels is destined to break scoring records in the Premier League.
Powerfully built but technically brilliant, the Norwegian striker could make teams think more about the old fashioned centre-forward Evatt remembers from his youth.
“As soon as you see a 6ft 4ins striker who could run and head it, being aggressive, it takes you back to the 70s and 80s, “he said. “I used to watch Cyrille Regis playing for Coventry, that kind of strong number nine – Alan Shearer, Duncan Ferguson – Haaland isn’t like those players, but he is built like them.”
As a centre-half who made his way through all four divisions, Evatt can also vouch for the changing trends of centre-forwards down the years, particularly those who fought their battles in the air.
“Yeah, that’s why I have seven or eight scars on my face and my nose has been plastered over it s few times,” he laughed. “But you don’t really see those duels any more, nobody wears the Terry Butcher headband any more, the game has become more about speed and intensity, the ball is played more on the floor.
“I made a career out of heading and kicking it far – but maybe I’m doing myself a disservice. The game has evolved into everyone doing everything but I do miss those days of an old school number nine competing aerially, or having the big man v little man, Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn, they were great to watch.”
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