WANDERERS must recapture belief in their style of football to turn around a wretched start to the season, says George Thomason.

Ian Evatt’s side will attempt to bounce back from a dismal run when they host Reading this weekend amid escalating pressure from supporters unhappy at seeing the club sitting fourth bottom of the table after five games.

Criticism of the possession-based brand of football Evatt has instigated throughout his four-year stay with the Whites has also spiked in the last few weeks, in which Bolton have failed to score a league goal since the opening day.

Thomason accepts that Bolton’s squad is arguably tasked with mastering the most complicated style of football in League One, something which Evatt insists will future proof his team if they got promoted to the Championship.

But against calls from some quarters to shift to a more pragmatic approach, the midfielder reckons the responsibility lies with the players to make the gameplan work.

“It is on us,” he told The Bolton News. “We are coached in a way that a lot of League One football teams are not, and it does take belief and confidence to make it work.

“We don’t try and pass the ball around for the sake of it. We understand there are times to play and when to be more direct.

“In general, we are being asked to do more complicated patterns of play than the teams in this division who go front to back quickly, win second balls, duels, play for set plays.

“That’s all fine but we don’t want to do it. We are trying things that are a little more intricate, trying to create different types of chances.

“And I get that we are not doing it at the moment. But I think a lot comes down to confidence and belief in the things we are doing. Without it, this system is a tough thing to do.

“I think that when things are not going well you need to believe even more. And I don’t think we are doing that at this moment in time.

“If you can believe in yourself when things are not going right then it is usually a good sign, but I don’t know if there is a bit of that at the moment, things are not going right so I’ll look after myself. It can’t be like that. We are not only letting ourselves down, the manager down but the people who come to support us and spend their hard money to watch us play.”

The pressure to improve will be even greater on home soil this weekend, and Thomason says the home support will have a big role to play, as ever.

Reflecting on the anger and frustration seen around the terraces after the last couple of defeats, the 22-year-old says players must understand what impact their own successes and failures have on the public.

“We have to dust ourselves down, stay quiet,” he said after Saturday's game. “I understand the frustration when we get beat.

“Football is an escape for a lot of people but there is a lot we can be happy and proud about in everyone’s lives. We have to play a part in that.

“It’s what we need to bring against Reading. We need positivity, not just from within but from everyone coming to the ground too because it is something that can really push us on. But as I have touched on before, it’s on us to make that happen.”