Bolton Wanderers launch 'huge review' into injury problems

Ian Evatt has confirmed that his sports science department are analysing more than four years’ worth of available data to try and detect any reoccurring themes in the injuries picked up by the squad.

Eight first team players are currently out of action, and Evatt is keen to learn if there are any fundamental issues underpinning the problems experienced by the club over the last few years.

“We are currently undergoing a huge review of injuries since I have been at the club, really,” he told The Bolton News. “We are looking to see if there is any trend at all, anything in the data which is a red flag we can be aware of, or we can change and adapt to avoid.

“We are looking to see if there is anything in the gym we can do differently. We are always trying to get better and to learn.

“Some injuries are unavoidable – Klaidi Lolos, for example, we couldn’t do anything about that. But the muscular ones, we are looking into what we can do to help avoid them.

“There is an incredible amount of assessment that goes on every day on the training load, how much, what they do, distances covered, how many sprints they have done, have they reached max velocity to gain robustness to sprint consistently? All these things are part of what we do every day and there is a big review going on at the moment to see if there is anything linking the problems we have had to try and help us in the future. But when all is said and done, I think we have been unlucky.”

Wanderers missed out on promotion last season after losing several players to injury from the start of 2024, including Ricardo Santos, Nathan Baxter and Dion Charles.

The same problems spilled into the summer, affecting pre-season preparations, and the number of games missed to injuries is now regarded as a source of serious frustration inside the camp.

Evatt does have access to the biggest squad since he came to the club in the summer of 2020 but one that has not had a completely clean bill of health in the whole calendar year.

Wanderers are not alone – and even clubs higher up the pyramid like Manchester City and Arsenal have recently reported lengthy injury lists, testing even their considerable resources. But Evatt feels modern squads are being tested more stringently than ever, and is keen to find out why.

“This is probably a different conversation – but I go back to when I was playing, and it wasn’t a long time ago, even though it feels that way,” he said.

“I don’t remember this level of injuries for every team, every squad. I don’t remember playing in a team that had that many either. I don’t know if it is a mixture of robustness, because in those times you were just expected to get on with things, we didn’t have data monitoring, we didn’t worry about red flags and spikes, we trained until the manager said it was enough, then we turned up the next day and did the same thing.

“Now there is a huge focus on everything and everyone. Whether that has changed things, whether it’s a societal thing, the speed of the game, I don’t know. But it has changed.

“I don’t have the answer and we’re digging as deep as we can to try and avoid them. Maybe it is something that comes down to luck, I don’t know.”