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Wanderers are building towards a “busy” January – with Ian Evatt expecting of month of transfer trading in both directions.
The Bolton boss is making plans to improve his squad when the window reopens, and with a handful of players on their way back from injury he is confident the club will be in a better league position by the time 2024 ticks over to 2025.
Six league games remain between now and the end of the year, and Evatt has been working with recruitment chief Chris Markham to find the right plan of action.
“I think it will be busy, both in and out,” he told The Bolton News. “We are always looking to do business but I think we are in a position where we can do maintenance on the squad and we have a pretty clear idea of what we want and what we need. We will be working hard to make that happen.”
The likes of Eoin Toal, Kyle Dempsey and Carlos Mendes Gomes are on their way back for the Whites in December and Evatt is hopeful that a full-strength squad can help to alleviate some of the frustration that has built on the terraces over the last few months.
“I think so far this season we have been pretty unfortunate, especially with our main players, that we haven’t had the full group together at the same time,” the manager said.
“Hopefully that will start to be the case very soon but, even so, we have picked up results since the Huddersfield game. It went largely un-noticed, and I don’t think that is a bad thing sometimes.
“Emotions can be heightened and sometimes you can feel under pressure that you shouldn’t necessarily be under but the good thing for me is that I don’t think we are anywhere near to our best yet. That has to be a positive because we are still getting points and wining some games.
“If we can find that rhythm then I have no doubt this team can go on a huge run. We have shown and proved it in the past, so fingers-crossed we can do it again.”
Wanderers sit eighth and will entertain Mansfield Town on Tuesday night having had a free weekend following their FA Cup exit at Walsall earlier in the month.
Though many remain unconvinced of the validity of XG data and predicted tables, both forecast that Bolton’s fortunes should change for the better soon.
And while Evatt admits they are a hard sell for the general footballing audience, he believes strongly that his team will turn a corner.
“It shows it isn’t all bad,” he said. “Maybe we should be higher and the chances we are creating should bring more goals?
“We have conversations with other clubs all the time and they use data just as much as we go, and their algorithms have us very high as well.
“It is a positive for me because I don’t think we have hit the heights that we’re anywhere near capable of hitting. We will keep striving to do that, of course, and if we can hit the levels we think we are capable of hitting then I think we will be a match for anybody.”
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