'This is a tough time' - Evatt calls for unity from fanbase

Ian Evatt says he can completely understand the restlessness in the Wanderers fanbase after a slow start to the League One season.

The Bolton boss has come under early pressure to improve results after his side took one win from their first four games, recently slipping to back-to-back defeats against Charlton Athletic and Exeter City.

This comes less than four months after a high-profile disappointment in the play-off final, which had intensified the need to start the current campaign well.

Evatt has been in charge for four years and has faced spells of disquiet among the supporters before, eventually finding a way to turn around results.

The loud jeers which met the final whistle in Saturday’s game came as no surprise as the club slumped to 18th in the table, its lowest position since the end of 2021.

Asked about the reaction and whether his players must be prepared to weather more after the international break, Evatt told The Bolton News: “We have to be. I don’t think it is helpful but I completely understand it.

“We are expected to win – and it is us that has provided that expectancy. We have given this clubs some good days, good times, good results, a lot of wins and people expect to win. There is an expectation to win football matches at this club, and so there should be.

“We have to be better to make sure that happens.

“We are where we are, the only way we get better is by sticking together. Pointing fingers or booing isn’t going to be helpful.

“We understand that people are disappointed, we are disappointed, but as a club we always need to stick together, especially in tough times. And this is a tough time.”

Wanderers did not hold a pre-match press conference for the Barrow game but Evatt said after the home defeat on on Saturday that he had “expected” performances to suffer after a summer in which very few of his first team squad avoided injury issues, both carried from last season and picked up in the pre-season campaign.

Eight new signings were also added – but the Bolton boss has argued that they will also take time to get up to the required fitness standard and match sharpness.

But Evatt insists he is not trying to justify poor results, nor has he lost any faith that his players can challenge for promotion this season.

He said: “I am not making excuses, we are where we are, and we should be good enough to win football matches. We haven’t been so far because we have won one out of four games, which isn’t anything like us.

“I thought the performance against Wrexham was good, in particular the first half, and then Charlton and Exeter were not. We need to get back to our level as quick as we can.

“I haven’t lost belief or faith in the players and they haven’t lost belief or faith in me, we just need it to come together and come together quickly.”

Wanderers go to Barrow tonight in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy without several first team players, including those selected on international duty such as Josh Sheehan, Eoin Toal, Dion Charles and Luke Southwood.

Evatt must select a side which falls within the competition rules, or face fines of up to £5,000.

Source

Give us something to cheer and get behind then Ian. Sick to death of watching our back 3 fannying around with the ball at the back and then eventually lumping it as the opposition are all well behind the ball and in position to stop us playing through midfield.

Norpig wrote:Give us something to cheer and get behind then Ian. Sick to death of watching our back 3 fannying around with the ball at the back and then eventually lumping it as the opposition are all well behind the ball and in position to stop us playing through midfield.

It's the way the game is developing these days - for example this is from how the new England manager plays the game (taken from an article printed just this morning!)

'Unbelievable manager' - what is Carsley's style of play?

There was one occasion when Chelsea defender Levi Colwill stood still on the ball for more than 30 seconds as he waited for the opposition to press him so he could draw in pressure, then initiate the attack - something the team had worked on in training.

Full article here -
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c3w6p8w0zjno


The thing for me, is that it is one thing to copy styles  but if you do it becomes predictable for the opposition to prepare for, counter, and nullify.

Evatt-ball had been 'found out'.

It's easy for me to say but what he needs to do is to find his own variations on tippy tappy football.

Tippy tappy is not going away anytime soon but he needs to work out how to play it HIS WAY rather just copy what other teams do.

Forget everything else for the moment - one of our obvious problems is that it simply takes us too long to get the ball up the field - that is highlighted by Santos stood like a lemon with his foot on the ball for what seems like hours at a time.

Santos can bring the ball out with his feet competently but he isn't much good at giving a killer pass and that's why Sheehan plays towards the back in a role as a quarterback, for Santos to pass to, and Sheehan then to split open the opposition defence.

That ploy has now been well and truly rumbled.

Why not the next time Santos is on the ball, if Sheehan instead of trying to make space to receive the ball breaks up field instead, takes his markers with him and thus create a space for Santos to bring the ball out himself?

It would then force the opposition to move towards him and 'draw in the pressure and initiate the attack' as the article puts it.

It's not rocket science, it may not work every time but it is different, unexpected and takes away the certainty from the oppositions game plan.  It makes them think, to be a bit more uncertain, puts them more on the backfoot for the next time it might happen.

That, or something else imaginative is how I believe Evatt should be thinking.

The problem is getting the ball forward without losing any momentum, not having Santos stood like a stone whilst seven players surround Sheehan, cutting off any pass to him.

The answer is certainly not taking Sheehan off the pitch and replace him with Matete, as that won't help Santos one bit whilst he's stood like a statue with his foot on the ball will it???

Then again what do I know.

More than Evatt by the sounds Sluffy 

Norpig wrote:More than Evatt by the sounds Sluffy 

Thanks mate!

I'm not claiming to know more than anyone but it just seems to me that if you have a problem then you need to fix it the best you can.

It clearly is the fashion to stand with your foot on the ball and invite the press but that doesn't mean it will work for us and the players we have, does it?

We all know (even Evatt) that what ever instant momentum we might have had is immediately lost if we have Santos looking for a safe pass up the field that isn't there for him.

Is that what Evatt wants, slow and ponderous build ups from the back - maybe he does?

Seems to me why not come up with something different for a change - if nothing else it makes the other team think about such options to defend against rather what they've all come to expect from Bolton.

Dapo and Paris have arguably been Bolton's most valuable players over the last few seasons simply because they do the unexpected and don't confirm like the rest of the team does.

I'm not advocating for a team of mavericks, just players, playing within a system but doing something different when they see an opportunity to do so.

Santos is good at playing the ball out but not so effective as finding the pass to the man marked Sheehan.

So how do the opposition cope when Sheehan bolts forward and Santos plays out with the ball?

What the worst that can happen, we lose the ball in a dangerous place - well isn't that what Santos has been doing finding a pass out of defence that isn't on?

Ok I don't get sacked or have the morons on social media have a wankfest  slagging me off for doing something different like Evatt would but isn't it his job to be creative and sometimes take chances?

I'm not saying my suggestion is even much good - but it is different, it gives another option, takes away the need for Sheehan to play quarterback all the game, gives the other teams manager something to think about which he hadn't planned for.

Just my thoughts though.

I think most people have got fed up after our loss against Oxford in the play off final with Santos pissing around with having his foot on the ball looking like he has no clue who to give it to.

This is still happening this season where the defence are constantly passing the ball round the back and also with Santos having no clue what to do with it (he stands out like a sore thumb imo).

The thing is that when we do eventually get the ball up top they are passing it around as if the lads are frightened of taking a shot at goal. We are not a big club that can play like Man City/Barcelona/Liverpool either.

Tonight will be interesting to watch if Evatt continues this trend and if he does then I have come to the conclusion that he really is a one trick poney and is rather clueless at changing the game.

Evatt has said before he likes the defence keeping the ball as it tires out the opposition and then leaves gaps later in the game when they are tired. All fine in theory but what happens when we go behind in games? He has no plan B, which i know he is tired of hearing, but it is true! 

We have the likes of Adeboyejo to go upfront and be more direct if needed but he won't try it as its against his principles it seems. It does look like he is arrogant and stubborn enough to believe his way is the only way 

Norpig wrote:Evatt has said before he likes the defence keeping the ball as it tires out the opposition and then leaves gaps later in the game when they are tired. All fine in theory but what happens when we go behind in games? He has no plan B, which i know he is tired of hearing, but it is true! 

We have the likes of Adeboyejo to go upfront and be more direct if needed but he won't try it as its against his principles it seems. It does look like he is arrogant and stubborn enough to believe his way is the only way 

That is all well and good if the opposition is actively trying to close play down BUT the reason Santos IS stood on the ball is because they aren't - he's having to wait for someone TO close him down.

If I was the opposition manager (particular if I was playing Bolton at the Reebok) I would specifically order my plays NOT to close Santos down, let him stand forever with his foot on the ball, until his nerve breaks or the crowd gets on Santos back and force Santos into a pass he doesn't want to really make.

You are right though Evatt has no Plan B and doesn't seem to me to be capable of changing the flow of the match often if at all by tactical changes on the pitch in the way we play or through substitutions.

He seems more to me as someone who makes a plan off the pitch and sticks with it no matter what on the field - for example he should have hooked at least two players at half-time against Exeter just to make a point to the rest of the team that their first half performance was unacceptable - that's what I would have done fwiw.

I've also long said Santos should not be the captain.

I've no doubt he's a good bloke and popular at the club but a captain needs to be a motivator and take charge when things are going wrong on the pitch - including bollocking his mates if he needs to.

Nice guys finish last - as the saying goes.