Bolton Wanderers: Ian Evatt has to chip into key pair to deliver League One promotion assault - View | OneFootball

The signing of John McAtee has excited Bolton supporters and his partnership with Aaron Collins could be key to any Wanderers success this season.

Highlights

Last season, Bolton Wanderers were so close to gaining promotion back to the Championship and there are only a few things that need tweaking to go again.

In fact, both Ian Evatt and Scott Arfield have pointed out just that.

The Whites missed out on the top two and the automatic promotion spots on the final day of the season before then losing the League One play-off final to Oxford United at Wembley Stadium.

Well, the key tweak that Ian Evatt has made over the course of this summer is moulding his squad, both stylistically and in terms of personnel, towards a 3-4-2-1 or 3-4-3 system with two number tens, shifting away from the flat 3-5-2 system, which was occasionally quite stodgy.

One of their summer signings, John McAtee, could be key to this shape and system but it is his potential partnership with Aaron Collins that could prove to be the difference for the Trotters this season.

Individual moments of magic

After a slow start to his career at Bolton Wanderers, Aaron Collins soon hit the ground running and netted nine times between January and the end of the season with moments of quality throughout and he has already created an excellent goal scoring compilation in his short stint at the Toughsheet Community Stadium.

Collins’ best moment arguably came in last season’s League One play-off final second-leg when, with Bolton wobbling, he struck from around 30 yards against Barnsley to set the Whites on their way to Wembley.

Evatt’s style of football, as a massive fan and disciple of Pep Guardiola, can often be too controlled and that is its strength and weakness with Wanderers often finding it difficult to unpick deep defences.

Collins has already shown an ability to do that and that will now also be the task of McAtee to show intricacy and precision around the edge of the box to get Wanderers over the line in games they should win but have often slipped up in.

McAtee and Collins have yet to spend any time on the pitch together with both being substituted for the other in their opening couple of competitive matches for the 2024/25 season but the dream for Evatt must be to get the pair playing together in behind Dion Charles.

Stylistically similar, there is now an abundance of quality and creativity in the final third for Wanderers with Collins already striking up good connections with both Victor Adeboyejo and Dion Charles, he must now do so with a player more similar and playing a similar role.

The excitement of all-out attack

Evatt discussed the need for Bolton to tweak some things tactically this season and the need to recruit for that but it was always going to be evolution rather than revolution.

That evolution, though, could be key and extremely exciting this season with Wanderers moving away from the flat and occasionally stale 3-5-2 system to more of a 3-4-2-1 or 3-4-3 shape that allows, simply, more attacking players to be on the pitch.

The idea of two number tens is, in theory, extremely intriguing and with the way in which Bolton attack in quite a sophisticated and fluent manner anyway, surely suggests they are going to be free scoring throughout the campaign.

The key to any success, though, will be McAtee and Collins finding a groove together. The concern will be that two players of such similar attributes may actually lead to a confusion and frustration growing – and frustration and patience are a couple of things that will not be afforded to Evatt after what was such a disappointing end to last season.

However, if the pair can find a way of playing together in behind either Charles or Adeboyejo then Bolton will be one of the most feared attacks in League One and their partnership could be what propels the Trotters into the second-tier for the first time since their relegation in 2019.