Looking for improvement
6 Aug 2024 03:13
IMPROVEMENT is the name of the game for Bolton Wanderers’ boss Ian Evatt going into the new League One campaign on the back of last season’s third-place finish.
The Whites are well into their pre-season work with a victory over West Brom and a defeat at the hands of Middlesbrough as they prepare for the big kick-off and another push at promotion.
Evatt told the club’s official website: “My main thing for the whole summer is how do we get better?
“We’re not going to make any claims about what we need to do, or how we need to do it, or where we need to finish, it’s just about improving and getting better and if we can get better, it gives us a great chance.”
Despite being on the end of a 3-0 defeat against Championship side Middlesbrough, Evatt was encouraged by what he saw.
He said: “I thought in the first 60 minutes there was a huge step forward and lots of positives to take.
“I thought we had control of the game really for large spells, so it’s a big step forward from what we’ve done so far in pre-season and big step forward from last season.
“We played Middlesbrough last season and even though the game was competitive at times we had large spells without the ball and suffered a little bit. I didn’t think there was any of that.”
There was also a slightly new-look Wanderers formation, with two central midfield players and a front three. Evatt said: “It’s just a slightly different shape and system and a different way of pressing and it was really successful against a good team. And that’s the next phase of our development and how we’re going to evolve.
“We’ve worked very hard and we’ve taken our medicine over the summer. We know we need to be better this season and we will be. I have full belief in that.
“So now is the time to keep our heads down, keep working hard, keep progressing week-on-week and come the first game of this season make sure we’re ready.”
You may be interested in