High Noon Cover up. V Rotherham away Sat 11th Jan 12-30.

[Bertie Wooster]

Coaches can sort tactics out. They can do training. But a manager needs to lead. It might be old fashioned but it’s still the key to most success. Pep might be a tactical wizard but his main asset was building a spirit and a setup where he could get players to do things they weren’t used to and want to do them.

Well our tactics are shite, we don't have any coaches & they hardly train (apparently) and the manager is an absolute narcissistic, egotistical, arrogant knob who doesn't lead or motivate, therefore it's quite easy to see why we are not successful and never will be with the current set up.

Add to that the fact that the manager is not accountable for anything at all, can say & do anything he wants and can do no wrong in the eyes of our chairman, who now needs to take her fingers out of her ears & take her head out of the sand and start to read the room.

[officer_dibble]

Something that occurred to me yesterday morning when i saw the postponements etc - Rotherham did their upmost to get the game on yesterday cos they knew our fannies wouldn’t be up for it on a cold hard pitch in the cold weather. Another mind game we’ll have lost before kick off.

[Bertie Wooster]

Something that occurred to me yesterday morning when i saw the postponements etc - Rotherham did their upmost to get the game on yesterday cos they knew our fannies wouldn’t be up for it on a cold hard pitch in the cold weather. Another mind game we’ll have lost before kick off.

That's because most teams in League 1 have worked Ian Evatt out, we are very easy to play against and set up against - we are a team of tippy tappy, sideways & backwards fairies with no fight in them who can't handle teams who press them and get in their faces.

They are an unorganised mishmash of a team who think that they are better than they are, with a predictable, robotic 'rinse & repeat' manager who keeps doing the same thing week after week, month after month even though everyone else can see that its clearly not working, a manager who surrounds himself with friends & ex team mates who won't challenge him on anything.

The team Evatt has built has a very soft underbelly, the team has no shape, no identity, no leaders, no fight, no bottle & absolutely no idea - all almost every opposition manager has to say in their team talk is 'get into them, press them, they don't like being kicked, get into their faces, they need time on the ball'.

[Bertie Wooster]

I also think that the players don't believe in Evatt's system & they are becoming more frustrated being asked to play it knowing that its not working.

[The_Gun]

Evatt’s been at Bolton for 4.5 years - if it were as simple as ‘his teams don’t like it up them’ he wouldn’t have achieved much at all. It wouldn’t take very long for opposition managers to work that out.

[officer_dibble]

Well it has been that way for at least three years? Can’t win at burton for example

[TANGODANCER]

I also think that the players don't believe in Evatt's system & they are becoming more frustrated being asked to play it knowing that its not working.

I'm beginning to wonder if I.E. actually has a system as such, Bertie. He seems to communicate with the players less than he did and the feeling of "Same old song" is becoming our anthem inside the first minutes of kicking off. If we kick off its usually a hopeful hoof over halfway to the odd glimpse of a white shirt getting savaged by the wolf-pack defenders. If Rick did other than flat foot roll the ball with all the enthusiasm of a turkey out for a December stroll, we'd all probably die of shock. As senior pro he hardly sets any trends for the younger set. Everything seems to have changed except a system that that doesn't exist. We have all the tools but no instruction sheet.

[nicholaldo]

Well it has been that way for at least three years? Can’t win at burton for example

We could even trace our wilting under pressure right back to losing at home to Exeter City in his first season, when supporters were gathering outside in anticipation of the win that would see us promoted.

[The_Gun]

Well it has been that way for at least three years? Can’t win at burton for example

Yeah, but mostly we were good. Now we’re not.

[Bertie Wooster]

To get out of league 1 you need to win the physical battles first and play 2nd, Evatt's team is the exact opposite.

We have so many sock round their ankles show pony's in the side and very few who will put a tackle in, get in the opposition faces and show them that they won't beat us physically, the team is timid which is why they get bullied so often.

Aaron Collins is typical of a few of them, a talented player who sometimes produces those 'moments' but he's a show pony who was totally anonymous yesterday, we may as well have played with 10 men.

Ian Evatt has had over 4 years to change the mentality of the team, bring in some leaders - fans have been saying for 2-3 years now that we need more physicality & steel in the side, so its a bit rich of Evatt to now come out and say that his team / squad is mentally fragile (after fans have been saying this for years), he's had ample time, opportunity and money over the years to bring in stronger, physical, mentally tougher players and has declined to do so in favour of bringing in more fancy, timid, tippy tappy smaller players to fit into his pound shop Pep mentality & agenda. This poor squad mentality and fragility rests entirely with the guy who signed them all.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Yeah sure. We have a number of players here who are here for the lifestyle. Out drinking frequently. Larging it up, posting on their social media burners. The fact they have to rock up and play or train is an inconvenience. Not all but some.

As someone that doesn't frequent social meeja. Who are you talking about?

[Bertie Wooster]

If Ian Evatt thinks that his team /squad are mentally fragile & lack fight etc, then why spend a decent wedge on Randall (who may be a good player) a few days ago when he could have used this money to bring a player or players in to address this fragility issue, surely close to £1M would get him a combative, physical leader type or even two to try and improve the mentality issue.

For him to come out and throw the players under the bus & admit that the squad are mentally weak after signing what 20 - 30 odd players and still having the same issue, is him admitting that he's failed as a manager.

[BWFC_Insane]

Evatt’s been at Bolton for 4.5 years - if it were as simple as ‘his teams don’t like it up them’ he wouldn’t have achieved much at all. It wouldn’t take very long for opposition managers to work that out.

He’s mainly operated with greater resources than the teams we’ve beaten and better players. We’ve pretty much failed consistently when that hasn’t been the case or there has been any sort of pressure.

So whilst there are lots of factors it’s pretty much been the case. A half decent team that has more physicality than we do becomes a big problem. We might find ways around some of the poor sides who are full of big hulks but once they get a bit better we struggle.

Evatt has signed a side devoid of any physicality. Any real intent or drive. He says we lack ‘nastiness’ yet signs small diminutive midfield players continually none of whom address any of our issues. You need pace and power in the modern game and we have none. No pace. No power. Lack forward thrust. Can’t put balls into the box and lack any sort of half decent defence. But we are in the bottom 8 for goals conceded partly because the back three are woeful but also because midfield is lightweight and we have nobody who can retain possession up top. It’s not rocket science. This is all very apparent.

[boltonboris]

Yeah sure. We have a number of players here who are here for the lifestyle. Out drinking frequently. Larging it up, posting on their social media burners. The fact they have to rock up and play or train is an inconvenience. Not all but some.

As someone that doesn't frequent social meeja. Who are you talking about?

You often see our players on socials after defeats congratulating friends and family etc on goals and wins. Just stay off it and text them directly.

Can understand McAtee publicly congratulating his brother on a hat-trick for Man City, but others putting flame emojis on a repost because their old academy mate has scored an equaliser against FC Timbuktu

Another thing that pisses me off, is when players repost their goals and say “buzzing to be on the scoresheet again” after we’ve been beaten. This happens a lot.

I do think too many of our players aren’t that arsed about losing. It doesn’t really upset them and they won’t lose any sleep over it. That’s a problem.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

You often see our players on socials after defeats congratulating friends and family etc on goals and wins. Just stay off it and text them directly.

Can understand McAtee publicly congratulating his brother on a hat-trick for Man City, but others putting flame emojis on a repost because their old academy mate has scored an equaliser against FC Timbuktu

Another thing that pisses me off, is when players repost their goals and say “buzzing to be on the scoresheet again” after we’ve been beaten. This happens a lot.

I do think too many of our players aren’t that arsed about losing. It doesn’t really upset them and they won’t lose any sleep over it. That’s a problem.

Don't understand players being on social media full stop. You'll always get picked apart for something no matter how careful or PR orientated you try to be.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

is there a maximum number of players with socks rolled down / tiny shinpads? I can see this becoming a stylistic flashpoint.

Didn't take long...

We have so many sock round their ankles show pony's in the side and very few who will put a tackle in, get in the opposition faces and show them that they won't beat us physically, the team is timid which is why they get bullied so often.

(For the record I totally understand Bertie's anger at the "type", it just amuses me that it only took a couple of days)

[irie Cee Bee]

Well it has been that way for at least three years? Can’t win at burton for example

Yeah, but mostly we were good. Now we’re not.

We were good because teams thought we were the Man City of L1 and backed off. When they found out that Evatt was no Pep tactically, and that our players wilted under tackles, things changed.

[DJBlu]

Anyone else notice the Olés by the home crowd when we were passing the ball around the back 3 nil down?

That should be a sackable offence itself. They are coached to continue and trust the system. The players don't believe in it anymore. It doesn't matter how many times you tell them.

Ian Evatt has one style and expects the league to allow us to play it. We had 3 decent chances yesterday from this play.

The pressure on the defence is so obvious when we're attacking due to the counter. That's a formation issue. Having Santos exposed and expecting to fix the problem of us losing the ball isn't exactly confidence building.

Ian Evatt is expecting League One players to play like Premier League footballers and when they can't deliver he's surprised. This League isn't difficult if you have the players, set them up to play to the best of their abilities and you'll win more than you draw and lose.

He'll never do this because his ego and expectations override what is needed to succeed.

[jmjhb]

Anyone else notice the Olés by the home crowd when we were passing the ball around the back 3 nil down?

That should be a sackable offence itself. They are coached to continue and trust the system. The players don't believe in it anymore. It doesn't matter how many times you tell them.

Ian Evatt has one style and expects the league to allow us to play it. We had 3 decent chances yesterday from this play.

The pressure on the defence is so obvious when we're attacking due to the counter. That's a formation issue. Having Santos exposed and expecting to fix the problem of us losing the ball isn't exactly confidence building.

Ian Evatt is expecting League One players to play like Premier League footballers and when they can't deliver he's surprised. This League isn't difficult if you have the players, set them up to play to the best of their abilities and you'll win more than you draw and lose.

He'll never do this because his ego and expectations override what is needed to succeed.

That was actually our fans. Mind you, most weren't watching as they were more interested in an ever-increasing number of stewards trying to move a family in the home end

[GhostoftheBok]

That was actually our fans. Mind you, most weren't watching as they were more interested in an ever-increasing number of stewards trying to move a family in the home end

It was indeed.

The lad in the away end (presumably one of ours) jumped up with his arms in the air and got the loudest roar of the second half.

Then again the kids game at half time probably held more interest than the second half.