Bolton Wanderers column: Huddersfield test and time to reset

However, when Evatt was asked about it this week in his pre-Huddersfield presser he brushed it off in typical fashion, as you would expect.

The gaffer said he does not feel the pressure in any way, shape or form and pointed to his history at the club, talking about where he picked them up and ultimately the position it finds itself in now.

It is a valid point because there is no disputing that Bolton are in a much better place as opposed to when he took over four years ago. On the flip side of the coin, however, he has been backed each year, but it is no easy feat to constantly remake and replenish a squad of players that has required constant turnover.

The rough start to the season has accelerated the inevitable criticism and pressure that would have come Evatt’s way regardless, mainly because of how last season ended. I wrote about this weeks ago and how the pitchforks were being sharpened. Unfortunately, today’s game against Huddersfield is about as tough as they come.

Michael Duff is a very capable manager and has had Evatt’s number in the past, just as Evatt has returned a few calls of his own. Huddersfield have a squad largely compiled of Championship standard players, and you would expect them to be fighting for automatic promotion throughout the season.

It is still very early in the campaign but you get the feeling that a third straight league loss would be huge, even at this stage. A draw would not be the worst result, but a win could very well change the narrative and at least get a bit of positivity going.

Bolton can beat anyone on their day, but as mentioned last week we know that 2024 has not been overly kind to them. The statistics back that up, and something does need to change.

The international break may have allowed Evatt to sit back and evaluate any tactical tweaks, or to get more players fit and up to speed. But in standard Bolton fashion it does not come without a negative, as Jordi Osei-Tutu is out of action for six weeks after picking up an injury against Barrow.

Aside from that, the squad is getting there with the likes of Scott Arfield, Victor Adeboyejo and Eoin Toal possibly ready to feature.

It is a long season and that is what I keep telling myself right now. I mean I could be positive, or I could just repost videos of Sam Allardyce on social media begging him to come back, figuring he can just pick up where he left off some 17 years ago.

This is where we are at already and then you realise how ridiculous the hysteria can be, but I did not expect anything different. Huddersfield are nothing to be sneezed at, but let’s not sit here and pretend they are prime Barcelona.

Can we also not act like our season is over after four games? That would be ideal.

Dear new CEO

by Lee Sidebotham

With current CEO Neil Hart set to leave the club shortly, it's time we start looking at changes not just at the top, but across our club.

Hart's time at our club will be looked back on with mixed reviews from fans, I’m sure.

He's overseen and implemented some key decisions during his time including the Wanderers bond, the five-year stadium naming rights deal and other financial dealings to help the club stay afloat and thrive. He’s also improved the club’s partnership with the BWFC Supporters Trust which led to the creation of the Fanzone.

Hart and the entire board must also be commended for the time and money invested into the stadium and facilities as a whole. Parts of the ground look brand new and the shop has benefited greatly from a makeover. I’d like to see the concourses get some work done to them next, we spend so much time there and they are unfortunately getting a bit run down.

Then there's some other changes that didn't go down so well. The introduction of parking charges is one that instantly comes to mind. The TV screens in both corners of the ground have had a mixed reception. Then the infamous £9 pie and pint deal and prices as a whole. While I'm sure they weren't solely the decision of Hart, he certainly has had a part to play.

I believe prices across the board need to be looked at by the incoming CEO. £30 for a one-off ticket for home supporters is highly unreasonable at the level we are currently playing at. Personally, I know many supporters who aren't currently season ticket holders, due to work or other commitments. They still want to come to the games when they can but are put off by the extortionate pricing. I just know we'd sell twice as many tickets if the cost of tickets were fractioned.

Don't get me wrong, the current regime has done wonders for supporters overall matchday experience but, unfortunately, right now not everyone can afford to experience and enjoy it.

I think the overall communication between supporters and the club could also be improved too. Are we getting safe standing? Will there be a points system introduced for away tickets? These are questions the club initially were transparent around but have now seemingly gone quiet on. No fan likes uncertainty, and even if the club has put its plans on hold, it’s always good to know where we stand.

There's no doubt whoever is next will have some big shoes to fill. Hart certainly put his own stomp on things, and whoever steps up next should do the same, with fans even more at the front and centre of key decisions.

International reset

by James Scott

Jordi Osei-Tutu faces a spell on the sidelines (Image: CameraSport - Dave Howarth) After a disappointing four points in their first four league games of the season, the international break has given Bolton an opportunity to reset ahead of this weekend’s key home game against Huddersfield. The Terriers were beaten in their last league outing away at Rotherham, but have won their other three games and look dangerous.

Huddersfield are a well organised outfit led by Michael Duff, the manager who thwarted Ian Evatt’s men in May 2023 as Wanderers fell to a narrow loss in the play-offs. Although Duff has received a touchline ban and will not be on hand to manage his team from the dugout, Huddersfield will still be dangerous, mixing individual flair with a robust system.

Lasse Sorenson was impressive for Lincoln in League One last season, and will cause Schon and Johnston some headaches on Bolton’s left side. Huddersfield’s midfield trio can also cause Bolton some problems, threatening to overpower Wanderers.

The international break has come at a good time for Bolton, however. The players and manager will have analysed the shortcomings of the first few games, and Bolton are six points from where they want to be, with 126 points still up for grabs. Granted, the signs have been worrying at best for Wanderers, but Derby were slow to get going last season and Portsmouth dropped points in four of their opening seven games in League One on their way to the title.

Ian Evatt needs to find a way to get the most out of Bolton’s finest, and needs to do so quickly. Aaron Collins has been almost anonymous this season, which is a shock for arguably Bolton’s most influential player in 2024. A goal for both Collins and John McAtee against Barrow may have helped calm some early season jitters.

The defence does remain a concern, as does Wanderers’ ability in the wide areas. Bolton’s positive results this season have relied on individual brilliance from their goalkeepers, but this is unsustainable throughout a 46-game campaign. Too often the problems are self-inflicted, and the hope is that the break will allow Bolton to iron out this rustiness. Schon looked bright against Barrow on the left hand side but the injury to Jordi Osei-Tutu has hampered Wanderers’ attacking output on the right.

A result against Huddersfield in front of more than 22,000 would help ease some of the early season nerves and prove that Bolton can back up their aspirations to go one step further than last year. However, the response must be convincing, and immediate.

A Rock and a Hard Place

by Becca Ashworth

Okay, I get it, last week’s article might have swung a little too far in Evatt’s favour for many fans. So let it be known that I have also swung right back in the oppositive direction over the opening weeks of the season. Truth be told, I’ve been swinging back and forth between ‘Evatt Out’ and ‘Evatt In,’ like a pendulum, counting down the seconds on his time in the fans', and my own favour.

Most of the ‘out’ moments come right after a game: the immediate frustration of a lack of goals scored, or watching a misaimed pass glide into opposition possession. Honestly, after Charlton (let alone after Exeter), I thought my mind had been made up – that I was settled in the Evatt Out camp. And then, after the frustration settles, I bounce back in the other direction.

Within a couple days, I was ready, if not to forgive Evatt, to keep him around. Managerial switch-ups are never easy business and the fear surrounding the process has left me clinging to the familiar comfort of “let’s just wait and see,” as an escape from the threatening extremes of “out” and “in”: options that leave the club teetering between a rock and a hard place.

If the club is stuck between a rock and a hard place, then the Toughsheet is certainly feeling like Wanderers’ hard place these days. Moreover, if our home grounds have become the hard place, then the teams we race are the rocks pelting at it, threatening to tear it down. Watching the fortress crumble against Exeter, in a rare home defeat, was a sobering moment – one that left us scrambling to pick up the pieces.

Saturday will be when the hard place and rock collide to form our toughest challenge yet. With only one defeat so far (against Rotherham), Huddersfield have the sturdiness of a rock – a collection of solid, unyielding performances. Unlike our shaky start, they have, for the most part, maintained the stability expected from league favourites. It’s not all bad, mind: victory against them would be a reminder that we can indeed compete with the top teams in the league – if Evatt and his team can deliver.

It's not over yet. The team, like me, are swinging like a pendulum, struggling to settle into their new rhythm and the new formation (which I must say, I’m not warming to just yet). I just hope Evatt jumps in to settle the swinging, or else he might just get hit as it swings.

A welcome break?

by Chris McKeown

Dempsey and McAtee were among the scorers at Barrow (Image: CameraSport - Dave Howarth)

It’s back to business this Saturday and a stern test awaits. The question is, was the international break a blessing in disguise, a chance to re-assess, to breakdown what isn’t quite clicking and why? Or was it an unnecessary halt to the proceedings, stopping any chance to get ‘back on the bike’ straight away, so to speak!

It’s difficult to say, but, despite my own dislike of the mini breaks so soon into the season, this may have given Evatt and Co the opportunity to step back and find a solution to our slow start, to work with the squad to find the rhythm that seems to have gone missing.

The promise of the team and the strength of the squad from the opening day at Orient seems to have diminished a little over the first four league games. Injuries have reduced the options available but with certain players due back, the quantity should soon match the quality that Evatt can choose from.

The elephant in the room is the lack of league goals. Take the Barrow game, especially the second half, it showed the damage our strikers can inflict once we impose ourselves on a game.

The fact that all the forwards are now off the mark should hopefully be a monkey off the back. We know they are all are proven scorers, they will come good, but for them to do that takes a team effort.

The new formation, or the set up, are all worthy talking points. Yes, we needed an alternative from last season but there isn’t a need to chuck the baby out with the bath water!

What we did and how we went about it for large parts of the previous campaign worked, the 'Plan B' many asked for was just that - a contingency plan for certain opposition or times in a match we needed to shake it up .

The key factor for me is PACE. We seemed to have lost the fluidity (certainly since Orient) in our play. We are picking passes out but it’s almost easy to read and even when we do find the gaps, the moment for the ‘killler pass’ goes away and gives the opposition time to regroup or even press.

When we move the ball quickly, we are a team that not only puts the opposition on the back foot but we thrive off it, I believe. The lack of ability isn't a problem, but confidence could be.

You can see the link ups, the movement off the ball, the quick switches that get us up the pitch fast - they are there! If we can do that regularly, it’s at that point Collins, Charles, Adeboyejo and McAtee can shine.

It could lead to a variety of different goals by different players, all eager to get on the front foot and show the level they can get to. Not only that, it will get fans on the edge of the seat again.

I hope and I do think that this can be turned around, but it must start this weekend and continue into the Reading game. Arsenal is a separate story and can give us a boost but, for me, the supporters really need some positivity thrown our way, and to be upbeat, by the time the final whistle goes on Saturday.

If we can find the way to making every team we face look at the fixture list and think, ‘Oh no, we’ve got Bolton this week’ then we are back on the right track. By the time the next international break comes, I sincerely hope we are back in the mix at the right end of the table and ready to push on.

The next few weeks will test the team and Evatt. If we can weather the storm, the Winter may well lead to brighter things!

A chance to change the narrative,
by Harry Crosland.

Huddersfield manager Michael Duff has often clashed with Ian Evatt in their encounters over the years, leading to the Wanderers manager joking that it “made a change” when the pair managed to get through the 2023 play-off semi-finals without having a frank exchange of views. 

While the Terriers’ boss is serving a touchline ban for this weekend’s game at the Toughsheet Community Stadium, his absence certainly doesn’t rid Evatt of any of the adversity that he is currently battling against.

In fact, this week’s fixture threatens to expose many of the vulnerabilities his side has been accused of suffering from: a big home crowd with a sizeable away following; a crunch match against one of the better teams in the league and a more physical opponent, who are likely to be effective at set pieces. All the old foes are seemingly out to play in the same game, at a time when pressure on the manager, and the players, is mounting.

While some will be expecting the Whites to crumble, Ian Evatt and his squad should embrace the challenge for what it is: a golden opportunity to change the narrative. While three points wouldn’t move Bolton to where they would like to be in the embryonic league table, a win and a valiant performance would demonstrate that this team can battle, stand up to the big occasions and compete with the best teams in this division.

If instead Bolton succumb to their old fragilities, they can expect a frustrated reaction from a fan base that is losing its patience after a slow start to the season. A victory, however, may provide a much-needed psychological boost to both players and fans. Bolton face Reading – a dangerous opponent – the following week but are then afforded a month of relatively kind league fixtures, albeit with something of a “free-hit” cup clash at the Emirates in the same time frame. This presents the perfect chance for the Whites to build momentum through a strong run of form, using the Huddersfield match as a springboard. Doing so would lift a clearly talented group of players into a league position that is more reflective of their abilities, as well as more palatable for the fans.

Three consecutive victories at the start of the last campaign may have given the Wanderers an over-inflated sense of superiority. With the team languishing in 18th just over a year later, there should be a feeling in the camp that, now more than ever, they have a serious point to prove. Against Huddersfield, the Whites have a glorious chance to do just that.