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Ian Evatt is correct to say Wanderers have progressed in 12 months – the trouble is, so have supporters’ expectations.
Taking a snapshot of the table after 16 games last season, his team has improved in just about every column, with the exception of goals scored.
The most important rise has been in the points tally, which has increased from 19 to 27 out of a possible 48. That equates to 1.6875 points per game – or roughly 77 points for the season – which would be enough to seal a top six spot for the vast majority of the last decade.
Wanderers’ goals against column is also in a much healthier state than it was last year. Still equal with Derby, Barnsley and Fleetwood at time of writing as League One’s lowest, Evatt’s team have shipped 14 goals – five of which have arrived in the last two games. They have also kept seven clean sheets, a total bettered only in the division by Sheffield Wednesday’s eight.
Goalscoring issues seem to have come a full circle. At this stage last year it was being questioned whether Eoin Doyle could adequately lead a League One attack, and now similar doubts are being cast over his replacements, Dion Charles and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, and those who carried on from last year, Amadou Bakayoko and Elias Kachunga, who have helped the team score 19 goals so far, three fewer than they had at this stage last season.
All comparisons with last season are only contextual. While it can clearly be argued that Bolton are in a better place than they were on November 1, 2021, when they were soon to meet a grisly demise in the FA Cup to Stockport County, none of last year’s data has any impact on what happens this time around, every season being its own ecosystem.
Moreover, the way Evatt’s side finished last season has raised expectation to the point where even a minor improvement on ninth – i.e. seventh or eighth – would almost certainly be met with a negative reaction. This time, play-offs are the bare minimum, seventh would not be good enough for most.
As a newly promoted club, Evatt made his ambition to make a ‘double step’ towards the Championship abundantly clear. And, with hindsight, he might have kept some of that bravado in-house.
This time the manager’s targets have been more moderately expressed but make no mistake he remains aware that Bolton’s demanding fanbase will not be happy to tread water at this level of football.
Historically, his situation may be compared to that of Phil Neal, who had brought the club back into Division Three and stabilised with a 10th placed finish alongside the distraction of a Sherpa Van Trophy win at Wembley.
Play-offs were then the target and, ultimately, the step over which he could not climb. Ennui grew among the supporters and, eventually, he made way for Bruce Rioch.
Even the great Jimmy Armfield’s team had to get their bearings after dropping into the third tier for the first time in Bolton’s history in 1971, however, emulating their championship-winning sophomore year already looks out of reach for the current crop.
Back at the end of August, Evatt revealed that he had been flooded with offers to loan or sign Premier League class players but had passed up on the opportunity, both to keep financial stability at the club and as a show of faith to the squad he had assembled. Were Bolton’s inconsistency in front of goal to continue, it would be interesting to see if the same faith is shown in the upcoming January window.
With no confirmation as yet on the rescheduled game against Portsmouth, Wanderers have seven league matches remaining before they are able to sign players again – home games against Bristol Rovers, Exeter City and Derby County, and away games at Cambridge United, Fleetwood Town, Shrewsbury Town and Lincoln City.
With 10 first team regulars out of contract next summer it may not be overly dramatic to say those games could decide their immediate future with Wanderers, as Evatt is known to trade well at that time of year, assuming he is given the funds to do so.
Despite the irregularities in a hectic October, Evatt and Bolton are still roughly on course for where they need to be. The manager insists his players are capable of more and as the schedule smooths out to roughly one game per week over the next two months, fatigue nor lack of time on the training ground can be considered a valid excuse.
Can Wanderers now prove beyond all reasonable doubt that they have improved as a team, or will we be ticking off each of the seven games before January 1 when remedial work can begin again?
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Ian Evatt is correct to say Wanderers have progressed in 12 months – the trouble is, so have supporters’ expectations.
Taking a snapshot of the table after 16 games last season, his team has improved in just about every column, with the exception of goals scored.
The most important rise has been in the points tally, which has increased from 19 to 27 out of a possible 48. That equates to 1.6875 points per game – or roughly 77 points for the season – which would be enough to seal a top six spot for the vast majority of the last decade.
Wanderers’ goals against column is also in a much healthier state than it was last year. Still equal with Derby, Barnsley and Fleetwood at time of writing as League One’s lowest, Evatt’s team have shipped 14 goals – five of which have arrived in the last two games. They have also kept seven clean sheets, a total bettered only in the division by Sheffield Wednesday’s eight.
Goalscoring issues seem to have come a full circle. At this stage last year it was being questioned whether Eoin Doyle could adequately lead a League One attack, and now similar doubts are being cast over his replacements, Dion Charles and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, and those who carried on from last year, Amadou Bakayoko and Elias Kachunga, who have helped the team score 19 goals so far, three fewer than they had at this stage last season.
All comparisons with last season are only contextual. While it can clearly be argued that Bolton are in a better place than they were on November 1, 2021, when they were soon to meet a grisly demise in the FA Cup to Stockport County, none of last year’s data has any impact on what happens this time around, every season being its own ecosystem.
Moreover, the way Evatt’s side finished last season has raised expectation to the point where even a minor improvement on ninth – i.e. seventh or eighth – would almost certainly be met with a negative reaction. This time, play-offs are the bare minimum, seventh would not be good enough for most.
As a newly promoted club, Evatt made his ambition to make a ‘double step’ towards the Championship abundantly clear. And, with hindsight, he might have kept some of that bravado in-house.
This time the manager’s targets have been more moderately expressed but make no mistake he remains aware that Bolton’s demanding fanbase will not be happy to tread water at this level of football.
Historically, his situation may be compared to that of Phil Neal, who had brought the club back into Division Three and stabilised with a 10th placed finish alongside the distraction of a Sherpa Van Trophy win at Wembley.
Play-offs were then the target and, ultimately, the step over which he could not climb. Ennui grew among the supporters and, eventually, he made way for Bruce Rioch.
Even the great Jimmy Armfield’s team had to get their bearings after dropping into the third tier for the first time in Bolton’s history in 1971, however, emulating their championship-winning sophomore year already looks out of reach for the current crop.
Back at the end of August, Evatt revealed that he had been flooded with offers to loan or sign Premier League class players but had passed up on the opportunity, both to keep financial stability at the club and as a show of faith to the squad he had assembled. Were Bolton’s inconsistency in front of goal to continue, it would be interesting to see if the same faith is shown in the upcoming January window.
With no confirmation as yet on the rescheduled game against Portsmouth, Wanderers have seven league matches remaining before they are able to sign players again – home games against Bristol Rovers, Exeter City and Derby County, and away games at Cambridge United, Fleetwood Town, Shrewsbury Town and Lincoln City.
With 10 first team regulars out of contract next summer it may not be overly dramatic to say those games could decide their immediate future with Wanderers, as Evatt is known to trade well at that time of year, assuming he is given the funds to do so.
Despite the irregularities in a hectic October, Evatt and Bolton are still roughly on course for where they need to be. The manager insists his players are capable of more and as the schedule smooths out to roughly one game per week over the next two months, fatigue nor lack of time on the training ground can be considered a valid excuse.
Can Wanderers now prove beyond all reasonable doubt that they have improved as a team, or will we be ticking off each of the seven games before January 1 when remedial work can begin again?
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