‘I think we have a lot of work to do’ – Ian Evatt outlines areas where Bolton Wanderers need to improve

Wanderers of Bolton had a fairly steady start to the season League 1 campaign, as the Trotters currently sit last in the play-off spots.

Bolton headed into the game against Oxford United last weekend unbeaten in four in all competitions, but that run came to a halt as the U’s took the three points at the University of Bolton Stadium.

October was a busy month for the Trotters as they played a total of eight games in all competitions; consequently, time on the training ground was limited for Ian Evatt as he struggled with fixture congestion.

In their 16 matches in Ligue 1 this season, the Trotters have scored 19 goals, a significantly lower tally than the rest of the league’s top six. While Evatt’s men have only scored two or more league goals in just six times.

It will be alarming for Evatt because his team has a percentage of 64% shoot from inside the 18-yard penalty area, compared to 31% outside the box.

This did not go unnoticed, with Evatt saying after the club’s 3-1 loss to Oxford at the weekend that his side were often “be mistakenin the final third of the pitch.

Wanderers will now look to this weekend’s game against Barnsley in the FA Cup first round before traveling to a week-long tie against Cambridge United on Saturday. Evatt hopes that in these upcoming games he will see improvement from his attacking players.

Evatt said, via Bolton News“I think we have a lot of work to do over the next two weeks. I think we really have the opportunity now to impose certain rules on the players.

The training loads have been tough this month because of the number of games, so we haven’t had time on the grass, and I think we’re really affected when we don’t.

I think our details are affected, and we just have to remind players when we’re in certain positions, what’s required and what’s expected, especially in the final third, it’s a numbers game.

Evatt believes one area his side need to improve on is getting more players into the box when the ball is wide.

Quiz: In which foreign club are these 18 ex-Bolton Wanderers players currently playing?

He added“I don’t think we sometimes play the numbers game well enough. We have players who want to be short-footed and want to build around the box and then when we get to good crossing positions we don’t have enough numbers or bodies in the box.

We really need to drill down into some specifics of what is required, where we are around this box, what type of cross is needed, and then the positions, making sure we’ve covered all areas of the box – near, in the middle , away , and someone for the reduction.

At the moment we are not in the positions that we should be in, and we can give them all the video and data that we want, but sometimes you have to physically show them on the training ground, have the time to do it and move people around to work on things.

October has been playing and recovering and the whole group especially together has been tough.

The verdict

Evatt will know that if his team wants to stay in the play-off table, they need to start scoring more goals. As mentioned, their tally is considerably lower than their play-off rivals.

Bolton have several options in mind, with the likes of Dion Charles, Oladapo Afolayan, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Elias Kachunga. However, their top scorer this season is Charles, with just three goals, and after that there are a handful of players on two goals.

So you can see that even though the goals are split within the team, Bolton somewhat lacks that killer instinct in front of goal, and you could tell they don’t have that man who is going to score 20 goals for them. per season.

This will be a concern for Evatt as he knows putting the ball in the back of the net is what wins football games. The Trotters boss therefore hopes that more time on the training ground will actually help the team going forward.