“What let them down” – Phil Brown highlights key Bolton Wanderers issue | OneFootball

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Football League World

·14 November 2022

“What let them down” – Phil Brown highlights key Bolton Wanderers issue

Article image:“What let them down” – Phil Brown highlights key Bolton Wanderers issue

Bolton Wanderers made it three games without a win this weekend as they drew 0-0 with Cambridge United.

The Trotters were hoping to finish the weekend in the top six, but the goalless draw dropped Ian Evatt’s side to seventh place, just outside the play-offs on goal difference and 10 points behind second-place Ipswich Town.


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Bolton have scored the fewest goals in League One’s top 10, with only 19 to their name. Wanderers’ top scorers are Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Dion Charles, both with four goals, with other players like Oladapo Afolayan and Conor Bradley on three.

Now former Bolton captain and coach Phil Brown believes the Trotters’ lack of an in-form goal scorer is costing Bolton points at this moment in time.

Brown watched the 0-0 draw at the weekend, and he felt Bolton were the better side, even after Kyle Dempsey was shown a red card. Wanderers had 14 shots on goal on Saturday, but only one was on target during the 90-minute period.

Brown believes this highlights the area that Bolton are currently struggling in. He told BBC Radio Manchester’s The Verdict, via The Bolton News: “The commitment of the team was outstanding. There are a lot of managers these days who want to dominate possession and there is nothing wrong with that, but you have to have an end product, and that is what let them down.

“There were a couple of really good chances, one came from a set piece where I think it was Gethin Jones at the back post. During open play, the best one probably went to Dion Charles, and both were in the second half.

“It looks to me like the manager has had a go at half time and said to his players when they get into the final third, they have got to compose themselves.

“When you go back to my day when you had John McGinlay, Owen Coyle, they didn’t work pretty, clever or tirelessly, they just knew where to be when the ball came into the area.

“At various times, McGinlay was a one in two striker, Coyle was one in two, Andy Walker was one in two. Bolton don’t have a one in two striker at the moment, there is nobody in form, it’s as simple as that.”

Evatt went to a 4-3-3 formation against Barnsley in the FA Cup, but at the weekend, Wanderers reverted to Evatt’s tried-and-trusted 3-4-1-2 formation, with Amadou Bakayoko and Dion Charles up front and Elias Kachunga starting in the number 10 role.

The Bolton manager made four changes to the team that lost in the cup, adding to the growing criticism in some quarters that too much squad rotation is negatively impacting performance. Brown feels this is part and parcel of life as a manager in 2022.

He said: “The modern-day squad, the whole game has changed. It isn’t the case that you have 11 and two or three subs, you probably have two sets of 11. I know the argument about not knowing your best team – but it is very difficult to get that team out there week in, week out. The modern-day game is that quick, there are injuries, all sorts of issues.

“Where Ian is concerned, I think he knows his best system, but he needs that second string to the system – a change at some stage to confuse the opposition or two win a game in the last five minutes. I don’t think we see enough of that.

“You are going to go through highs and lows, get teams that will work you out, tactically, and defensively, so when they do that, you have to try something different. I haven’t particularly seen a plan b or a plan c. He is strong in his views, strong in his opinions the manager, he wants to play a certain way and get on with it. Well played.

“But at the end of the day the proof of the pudding is winning games of football sufficiently to keep your job.”

Quiz: Which British club did Bolton Wanderers sign these 26 players from?

1 of 26

Article image:“What let them down” – Phil Brown highlights key Bolton Wanderers issue

James Trafford? (Loan)

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The verdict

Bolton made a strong start to the 2022-23 season, but results have started to slip away in recent weeks, putting pressure on Ian Evatt and his team.

Bolton have built a young, competitive squad in recent years, and now there are expectations that this side should be in League One’s top six. League One is a demanding division with lots of big teams in it, and there are times where you need to keep freshening up your side but sometimes too many changes on a regular basis can be a hindrance.

The team’s momentum and cohesion can begin to deteriorate, and as Brown stated, you are judged by winning games on the field, so when that isn’t happening, things like too many changes and formation switches will be brought to the forefront of everyone’s minds.

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