Coming to the end of the road?
by Liam Hatton
Years ago when I was a kid, my mum had a Vauxhall Nova. It was old, beat up, the engine sounded like it could go at any moment and it was not a reliable vehicle whatsoever. Basically, it broke down time and time again.
The engine eventually went and it was put out of its misery once and for all. Now why am I talking about a Vauxhall Nova that would be over 30 years old if it was still alive and kicking?
Ian Evatt’s Bolton Wanderers cannot be compared to a car from the 1980’s, because when the style of play is in full effect then it is far more deserving than that label. However, like that car was stop-start throughout the latter years of its lifespan, this season has felt the same.
A win on opening day was followed by a few disappointing results, a hammering by Huddersfield preceded a decent run of form in the league. Then up pop Shrewsbury at home, conceding goals from set pieces that were carbon copies of those scored by the same player for the same team in the same fixture last year.
You can talk about Tuesday’s defeat in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy against Aston Villa’s under 21’s on penalties. Context is important here - Yes it is a trophy that if Bolton were knocked out of tomorrow, most fans would not bat an eyelid.
That does not however allow you to just brush aside the result. A full strength team, which may have dominated the statistics but lost in the most important column, which was the final scoreline.
You may call it a ‘tinpot trophy’, but the nature of the tournament is secondary when it comes to the starting eleven that was put out there, and how a handful of players who had the chance to break into the first team struggled to impress.
This season has been up and down, we are in October and the jump leads are already raring to go to try and get this thing up and running again.
Look, I am probably going to catch grief in the comments saying that I am being too negative. We have spoken before about the run of form in 2024 and the defeat at Wembley, so we do not need to wax lyrical about that time and time again.
What matters is the here and now, so if Bolton were to return from the international break and continue that run of form in the league by climbing the table, then you can brush that defeat against Villa to one side.
There is a feeling however that this team is going through the motions at times. We can continue to talk about errors from set pieces or missed chances. We can talk about how the games against the better teams in the league loom large (I am looking at those fixtures against Birmingham, Peterborough and Stockport) which will really allow us to judge where this team is at.
There are more questions than answers right now, just like 5 year old me questioned why my mum persisted with a car that kept breaking down.
I do not think Bolton are at that stage under Ian Evatt, but I am far from convinced they are anywhere near the finished article either.
I am willing to eat all of my words though.
by Becca Ashworth.
The struggle with football is that it is a game of passions and fierce loyalties.
Moreover, it is a game tied inescapably to a battle rhetoric. The team is Ian Evatt’s Super White Army and, frankly, we’ve all wanted to see a bit more fight in them as of late. The problem is that the passion and ferocity in both team and manager has had a tendency only to come out after final whistle.
We all (unfortunately) remember Wigan, where an altercation likewise occurred after the whistle was blown, despite the match itself having lacked any of the bite that you’d expect from a derby.
‘Til I die means something different to the fans than the players and manager. For us, it’s a lifelong allegiance – a recognition that this team is a part of us, win or lose. As much as we’d like to inspire lifelong allegiances in our players (John McGinlay being a fine example), we have to admit that many are here only for short tenures before they head elsewhere. They can (and should) be unwaveringly loyal to the badge, but they do not necessarily share our lifelong fan connection to the club.
Of course, once a Wanderer, always a Wanderer, and this doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t embrace the same passion behind the words of the chant. For the players and manager, however, ‘til I die should be enacted on the pitch. It should be a recognition of the dedication to winning the battle: the game at hand. Anger and ferocity should be channelled into the drive to win the game, fully emptying the tank to do so. They should put everything into the game. If they do that, then there should be little energy for altercations at the end of the game.
For me, any violent conduct at the end of a game is a problematic sign that dedication to the club exists, but that it hasn’t been channelled right. Take Shrewsbury, for example: if we win the match, there’s no frustrations left, and no red card for Evatt. I’m grateful for the passion, but infuriated by the way it’s enacted, especially by a manager towards a player.
I’d like to make it clear that, whatever goading there was, Evatt’s actions were out of order.
The passion is admirable, but the response is not only wrong: it’s embarrassing. Not least because of what it says about us: Evatt’s response felt like a cupboard of skeletons bursting at the seams. It was a symptom of lingering frustrations, which are likely stunting our own performances.
I’m not sure if a good team psychologist is the answer, or if it’s something they can work on themselves, but Evatt needs to set an example to the team by channelling his frustrations better. Or else he risks continually losing his head again and losing more matches alongside it.
Long way to go for Wanderers,
by James Scott.
Bolton have picked up 10 points in four league games since the last international break, but have still recorded just one victory at home all season. It has been an ugly start to this campaign.
Thirteen goals in four league games marks a stark difference from the solitary pair Bolton managed in the first five league games of the season, and both of those came on the opening day. And yet a disappointing draw against Shrewsbury was compounded by a miserable 90 minutes against Aston Villa’s academy.
Any uplift in mood has quickly evaporated, and with tough tests ahead, the outlook for the Ian Evatt era is approaching another crossroad. After being backed internally by the board, the last thing Evatt wanted was for the atmosphere to dip.
Having pleaded the fans to get behind the team, they have responded – the reaction of the fans after Bolton went two down to Shrewsbury was quite different to that against Exeter. Instead of boos, the urge of encouragement ignited some of the players, most notably Kyle Dempsey.
It is not the fault of the fans that Bolton have left Jordan Shipley unmarked on the edge of the box for two games in a row, and both times have paid the price. The naivety of the situation is almost comical. It almost feels like Wanderers are going backwards.
The two Shrewsbury games in the last six months have felt very similar. Both times a midfield maestro has injected life into Bolton after humiliating defensive errors. Paris Maghoma’s role has been adopted by Kyle Dempsey, and both times the substitutions have stalled Bolton’s progress and relieved the immense pressure.
Ian Evatt also lost his head against Shrewsbury, and I was not surprised. As soon as he powered towards the referee after the whistle, I was expecting him to receive a red card. It is not the first time this has happened, but it might be the most significant.
Evatt will be judged on results, but the sending off against Shrewsbury amplifies the wider frustrations with how Bolton are going. Witnessing Wanderers’ leader fume at the officials and lock heads with Shrewsbury’s captain when his team had only themselves to blame for an abject first half was not a good look.
As tougher tests await, Evatt remains on thin ice with the fans, and perhaps with that powers that be. Ironing out naivety is not something that will happen overnight, but Bolton must use the international break to regroup (again), and hit the ground running immediately (again).
The optimist in me hopes that something twigs, and Bolton are able to make a significant turnaround in the next few weeks. And yet the realist in me knows that Evatt’s opportunities are running thin. It is surely now or never in this era of Bolton Wanderers.
By Lee Sidebotham
Despite the impressive comeback, I couldn’t help but come away from the Shrewsbury match rather disappointed.
Yet another opponent we could and should have beaten. And the less said about the Aston Villa U21s game the better. I think it’s clear to everyone by now that there are three obvious patterns in our game that are costing us.
On the first we can only blame ourselves. Why against Shrewsbury were we continually weren’t marking anyone on the edge of the box, especially after conceding that second goal? Basic plays are constantly being missed and our defenders are making too many errors in areas they can’t afford to. Maybe it’s nerves, or it could be our style of play to which they just can’t seem to adapt. We are the victims of our own downfall and need to work on these silly mistakes, I’m sure Evatt already knows.
Most errors have come from passing the ball around too much needlessly. That brings me onto the second point we need to address. We need to start playing less possession-based football. Too many teams have found us out. That’s not to say we can’t dominate possession in any game, because that won’t always be the case. but we need to start doing more with the ball.
Even play direct if we must. Sure, it’s not the most attractive football in the world, but neither is passing around the back just to give the ball away and concede like against Huddersfield.
It almost seems like we do more with the ball when we have it less. Take the last two away games. Fifty two per cent possession against Northampton then just 30 per cent against Crawley. Whether this was our plan going into the two games I’m not sure, but it seemed to work. I mentioned last week how playing this way seemed to suit the likes of Schön to a tee, and you could argue that for several other players too. McAtee and Collins were running riot playing on the break against the Cobblers last Tuesday.
We become more ruthless when we have less of the ball which brings me onto the final issue we need to address. Evatt commented on our ruthlessness in front of goal on Tuesday against Aston Villa, and it’s something that has massively been letting us down. How we had 14 shots in the first half and didn’t come away with a goal has us all still guessing. We have the strikers to finish, but as soon as the ball gets into the final third it’s as if we’ve forgot how to hit the target.
If we truly want to get back into the promotion race, we need to start working on these big three issues hindering our game. Let’s use the international break to work on avoiding complacency, using the ball more wisely and start becoming more ruthless in front of net. I think everyone agrees we have the squad; we now just need to start doing so.
Evatt's biggest challenge,
by Chris McKeown
Well, where do you start with this?
At the last International break things looked pretty bleak. The fans seemed divided on what direction BWFC needed to go to and improve.
Then came a very different looking Bolton after the return to action. I mentioned last week, we showed resilience, an alternative approach, and from that, most importantly we had maximum points in the bank, from three very different games but all ultimately with successful conclusions.
All was looking so much better and a win against the struggling Shrewsbury would surely have been the icing on the cake of a very productive month of football.
However, has as often been the case with this Bolton team, nothing seems to go in a straight line, as revealed in the contrast from the first half and second half Saturday's game.
I think everyone in the stadium was in shock at the performance of the first 45 minutes. Now, every team can have bad moments but, because confidence was still fragile (although returning) ,the timing couldn’t have been worse
On the flipside, our approach after half time was much more in line of what we’ve seen since the resurgence, (Dempsey in particular has been leading the charge and is certainly a contender of player of the month for me), but we left ourselves with so much hard work to do and even though to gain a point from a losing position is admirable, in essence, we have dropped points and the home form especially continues to be a concern, the fortress has been breached and the defence needs to be stronger.
It must be said that, points-wise, we are still in a very much better position than we were just a few weeks ago, but the mood seemingly took another downward spiral from that game. Added to this, the Bristol Street Motors Trophy match has done nothing to improve things.
That particular fixture wasn't that high up on the list of priorities, but, naming a strong side, I think Evatt alongside everyone connected to Bolton Wanderers, expected more.
So, we entered another international break with a lot of good work feeling like it’s been undone, but in the reality if Bolton can find continued form and have another spell undefeated after the return, we should be in a very healthy position.
However, I think it shouldn’t be understated, the next batch of games before another international interruption, are vital to get right. The start of the season may have put us behind in the table, but that can be caught up.. for me it’s the supporters' enthusiasm that needs to be kept high and keeping the belief alive-
Perhaps that’s Ian Evatt's biggest challenge over the next few weeks?
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel