Home
Wanderers have to regain their composure – and that applies everywhere from the penalty box to the technical area.
Ian Evatt says he has tried to dial down his own touchline histrionics in recent weeks, aiming to be a calmer presence in the dugout.
And the Bolton boss hopes that serenity can also spread on to the pitch, where his players are too often struggling to convert the chances they create.
“I’m working really hard on myself to stay composed, stay calm and focus my energies on my team, simple as that,” Evatt explained. “I think once I lose my focus with the opposition, with the referees, with the fourth official, the team are getting a lesser and weaker version of myself.
“I’m trying to really focus on supporting the players, giving them the right information at the correct time and for me to be able to do that, I need to be calm. I’m trying really hard with that.”
Getting a message of tranquillity across to the players is proving tricky for Evatt, who watched a handful of good chances wasted in Friday’s 1-1 draw against Bristol Rovers.
“That’s the one thing I would say I was most disappointed with was our real composure in the final third,” he said.
“We are trying to recreate these chaotic situations that you find in the opposition box in training and it is just taking that extra second and sometimes the players have more time than they actually think.
“It’s not just the centre forwards, it’s a shared responsibility but other than that, there’s so much right about what we’re doing. We’re doing a lot of good things, we just have to keep our faith, keep our belief, stick to them and work extremely hard on the training ground to put things right.”
Dion Charles had initially joined in with the wastefulness in front of goal when he joined the action as a substitute on Friday night.
But the Northern Ireland international came up with his seventh goal of the season to rescue a point deep into injury time, much to his manager’s delight.
“It was a great strike and I’m really pleased for him because he’s really felt the pressure,” Evatt said. “This is a huge football club with massive expectation and when you’re the number nine, that expectation pretty much lies on your door.
“But he kept going, he missed a big opportunity but the pleasing thing for me was that could have easily rocked him, but it didn’t. He kept on going and got what he deserved in the end.”
Source