LAWRIE Wilson believes the sense of calm coming from manager Phil Parkinson can help create some consistency at Wanderers this season.
Players gathered at Lostock yesterday to analyse their shortcomings at Bloomfield Road in the EFL Cup and begin preparation for this weekend’s trip into the unknown at AFC Wimbledon.
There were no fireworks, no examples made of players whose mistakes had led to the 4-2 defeat, just as there were no verbal lashings at the final whistle.
The dressing room these days at Wanderers is a much more stable environment.
Wilson was one of the players who found himself black-balled by previous manager Neil Lennon following a 4-1 defeat at Huddersfield Town last September. His exile lasted five months.
Back in the team and back in favour under Parkinson, the Romford-born full-back believes players will respond better to the new manager’s more measured character than they did in the boom and bust reign of Lennon.
“I think the different approach works,” he told The Bolton News. “Some people react to being shouted at but most people don’t.
“We sit down and the gaffer analyses things very well. He gets to the point.
“There is no point shouting and balling at people’s mistakes, there is a time and a place for it, and after games things get said that people don’t mean.
“It’s a good approach. Look back on the videos and then when we come back into training highlight to the players what needs to be improved. It’s a lot better.”
Highs have been few and far between for Wanderers of late but last weekend’s victory over Sheffield United certainly counts. Rather inevitably it was followed by a low, defeat at Blackpool, but Wilson feels there is no need for drama after the cup exit.
“We’ve got to start looking for what we can take from every game rather than being up and down about things all the time,” he said. “We have to try and progress.
“If you are going to do well in this league it can’t be highs and lows, you need some consistency.
“If you keep making chances like we did in that game, you have to hope they’ll eventually go in. I’m sure there will be plenty of practice done before the AFC Wimbledon game to sharpen things up a bit in that final third.”
Parkinson made seven changes to his team at Blackpool but is expected to revert to something like the side he put out against Sheffield United when Wanderers make their first-ever trip to the Cherry Red Records Stadium.
Wilson accepts rotation will be par for the course in a season which could top 60 games.
“The gaffer needs players to get minutes, so it’s understandable,” he said. “Some of the players who played on Saturday weren’t ready to play again on Tuesday and so you have to make some changes.
“You have rotation because you have a squad. He picked a team which was capable of going and winning that game, so whether you’re not playing on Saturday or Tuesday you give everything you’ve got. If you’re in the team, you are good enough to be playing.”
Wilson has form at Wimbledon and was part of a Conference title-chasing Stevenage team who trounced the Dons 3-0 in April 2010.
“I scored as well,” he recalled. “It’s a very tight stadium, compact, and the crowd are right on top of you.”
He returned in Stevenage colours a few months later to claim another win – this time in the FA Cup to set up a memorable third-round meeting with Newcastle United, also won by the Hertfordshire club.
The surroundings will not necessarily be what Wanderers have become accustomed to in recent years but Wilson believes the welcome will be better than many people think.
“I think as experienced players who have been in that situation before we need to be telling the rest exactly what they are going to be coming up against,” he said.
“It isn’t quite the old Crazy Gang, they have probably grown up since then. They did really well to come up from League Two last year and I’m sure they will be confident as a result.
“They are a team we can’t take lightly at all.”
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