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Ian Evatt says Saturday’s heavy defeat against Wigan Athletic will not send him back into the transfer market for answers.
The Wanderers boss concedes that a disastrous derby did highlight areas of concern within his squad, in particular the lack of a “horrible, nasty edge” which enables them to better cope against the most aggressive sides in the division.
But having built a team from top to bottom which is geared towards an expansive possession-based brand of football, Evatt says simply importing more physical players would not necessarily work.
“It is really difficult because the ones who have that edge are normally the ones who are not great, technically - and if they have both, they are in the Premier League. We are in League One,” he told The Bolton News.
“We have a philosophy we want to stick to, so we need to try and improve our mental capabilities ourselves. That is going to happen from experiences like that, we just need to respond in the right way.
“I learned a great deal about some of our players and we just need to make sure that one bad result doesn’t define our season. We are still in a strong place, a good place, and we can be a good team when we put it together, we have shown that. Nine points from four games is still title-winning form.
“We have to hurt, we will hurt, but we have to use it to drive standards.”
Wanderers have dominated possession in every game this season, and even put more shots on goal than Wigan on Saturday – but their vulnerability against physical teams is now becoming a stigma from which they are struggling to escape.
Rather than a wholesale change of tack, Evatt wants to be able to adjust tactics in-game which allows them to be more robust. And he is well aware that Saturday’s opponents Burton will have been looking on with interest.
“We have answered those questions all along but we have had the same conversation with the players – they have had everything their own way this season, they have completely dominated, blown teams away, but for the first time a team has counteracted that and punched back,” he said. “We didn’t cope but what we have done is put a blueprint out there to the rest of League One which says ‘put it on these, let’s see how they respond and react.’ “We have to find the answers. I believe we can. I don’t think we should read too much into the overall result – Wigan won it, of course – but it wasn’t a 4-0 game. We had large periods where we were dominant but – and Shaun (Maloney) admitted the same to me – we just lost every moment. Sometimes that happens.
“We have to hurt, take it on the chin, we have to be criticised, but we have to make sure we grow.”
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