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Wanderers hope their road to recovery continues in Northampton tonight as they search for a third straight league win for the first time in 2024.
Ian Evatt admits his side are still some way off their best but after climbing into 14th spot with Saturday’s victory at Crawley, the Whites could be back in the top half of the table once again with a positive result.
After changing up the gameplan at the weekend, Evatt has not ruled out doing something similar at Sixfields in what will be the third away trip in less than a week.
But he is also optimistic that after a slow start to the season, Bolton are starting to show signs of improvement on all fronts.
“Are we back to our full selves? No. But we are making small steps forwards,” he said.
“There was context behind what we did at Crawley on Saturday, particularly after the game at Arsenal on Wednesday which required a lot of energy. I didn’t feel it was right to go hyper aggressive as we normally would, we had to be a bit more pragmatic.
“I like possession – you know I do – but the most important thing to me is the scoreline. I like winning more.
“It isn’t the way any of us want to play but it got us a result and that was what was most important. Hopefully we can see more of ourselves on Tuesday and take another step forward.”
Though the style change at Crawley took some by surprise, Evatt says there are elements of the performance that could become more familiar sights in the future.
He said: “It is probably a deeper tactical discussion but, number one, our confidence had taken a hit so we are not our most confident selves in-possession, and that will come back with results, momentum and time on the grass.
“Number two, there are different ways to win games. And for teams who are expansive, like Crawley were, but in front of us on Saturday. We knew they would struggle to create chances because of the bodies we had behind the ball. The number of bodies they commit high up the pitch means that when they are in that open, expansive shape then we can steal the ball fast and transition fast as you saw in the first half and definitely for the second goal, which was a great example.
“In other games we have looked at, when we are really aggressive and front-foot press, man for man, the likelihood is that teams will kick it long. But they will do that under pressure and take out a lot of our press.
“If we can invite some passes in front of us and get opportunities to steal and counter fast, maybe we should take those? Maybe that is the next stage of our development and the way we are evolving.
“The way I want the game to be played is us dominating possession, create loads of chances and score loads of goals, but it’s not a perfect world.
“We will continue to do that as best we can but if we need to change then we are also willing to do so.”
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