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Wanderers’ strikers to be in the right place at the right time has been one of the key themes of the summer for Ian Evatt.
With heavy focus placed on his attack to improve their goal return this season and spearhead a promotion push, the Bolton boss has placed emphasis on his front men’s positioning.
Dion Charles and Victor Adeboyejo started against Lincoln last weekend but Wanderers have tested and trialled all permutations of the five central strikers during pre-season. And Evatt says he is seeing signs that the hard work is paying off.
“We are always working with the strikers and different combinations,” he said. “They need to all be able to work as a partnership.
“We give them all the guidelines and the different rules and then it is down to them to have freedom within those rules. They know what is expected in any phase of the game.
“But it’s in between the posts and in the box is where the magic happens and it is sometimes an easy thing to say that strikers should be there but it isn’t always the case.
“Strikers who might not have had the experience of playing regular football sometimes lack that and some of the more technical strikers want to get too involved in the build-up.
“You sometimes have to remind players that the rest of the team are good at that, so trust them to get you the ball in the business area of the pitch.
“I think the strikers are starting to understand that more now, and Victor (Adeboyejo) in particular has really improved his box positioning over the summer, it has been exceptional.”
Meanwhile, Evatt is optimistic about his side’s second round draw in the Carabao Cup, which pits the Whites against Championship Middlesbrough.
In a recreation of the 2004 Carling Cup final, Michael Carrick’s team will come to town on August 28 after beating Huddersfield 3-2 in midweek.
“It’s an exciting challenge against a team which has been really good at the level above and really consistent,” Evatt said.
“They got into the play-offs last year and Michael has had a great start to his managerial career.
“They have a team which has a good reputation of being aesthetically pleasing. It’s a great test for us and a great test for them as well. I hope this place will be rocking and we can go all out to try and cause an upset.
“We’re looking forward to that but there’s a lot of business to take care of in between.”
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