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Josh Sheehan refuses to accept Wanderers’ style makeover at the start of the season was a wasted exercise.
Efforts were made over the summer by Ian Evatt and his coaching staff to change the shape of the team, chiefly as a response to the patchy form experienced since the start of the year and the play-off final defeat in May.
The new 3-4-3 shape yielded just one win from the opening five games and heaped serious pressure on the Bolton boss before the last international break.
A decision was then taken to revert to the tried-and-trusted 3-5-2 formation, which has yielded an upturn in results, with 10 points taken from the last 12. Evatt has since claimed he was “made to feel” like a change was necessary post-Wembley and that “not a lot was wrong” with the way his team had previously set-up.
Sheehan’s own performances have improved over the last few weeks, culminating in a man-of-the-match display for Wales against Montenegro in Cardiff on Monday.
Asked whether the tactical change has benefited him at club level, Sheehan feels flexibility could be an important tool for Bolton this season.
“It has potentially helped, but it is hard to say, really,” he told The Bolton News. “The way we have been playing it is hard to argue that it suits us more. I think everyone knows their roles and responsibilities in this formation because we did it all last year, everyone is aware of how we do it.
“I think with the one we used at the start of the year we didn’t click with it straight away but that doesn’t mean that we should just forget about it. I think, moving forward, if someone does something different in a game we should be able to move as a team. We need to be clever enough as a team to know that we need to switch it sometimes.
“We are more than capable to have two formations up our sleeves, so even if we do start with one, we should be able to shift and be flexible.”
Wanderers did visibly alter their plan again for the away win at Crawley last month, a game which in Sheehan’s belief proves they are now more tactically flexible.
He said: “At Crawley, they were very good on the ball, to be fair to them, they had some good rotations and kept possession well. I felt like we had a good shape and we were really comfortable letting them have the ball.
“We know if you have that shape how difficult it can be to break down because teams have done that to us. That is us evolving as a team, I think. It can benefit us.”
In the 3-5-2 system, Sheehan has moved to a deep-lying role, which has also seen him receive more possession. He feels the biggest factor in improving results, however, has been the team’s overall performance, rather than his own.
“Maybe I see more of the ball, but maybe that is partly because of the way we have played. I don’t think we did play well – all of us – at the start of the season,” he said. “Maybe if we had started the season better we wouldn’t be having this conversation, I could have been on the ball more, but we just didn’t perform.
“It is difficult for me to say exactly why it didn’t work, or even what didn’t work at the time. For me, just being on the pitch and getting into the game is important. Over the last few games I feel like I have been able to do that but if it’s coincidence, I don’t know, it’s for other people to say.”
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