A few months ago, Ian Evatt voiced concerns about his future. According to social media, most Wanderers fans would now be content for the former Barrow manager to resign, saying he has done as much as he can to lead them.

That opinion would seem quite naive given the club’s growth in each of his three seasons in charge, even if it isn’t just based on Saturday’s loss considering the Trotters have only managed 11 wins in 29 games across all competitions since New Year’s Day.

From League Two automatic promotion to League One ninth, fifth, and third place finishes, Evatt has undoubtedly won himself another opportunity to move Bolton into the second division.

Even Evatt’s supporters will concur, though, that there needs to be greater tactical adaptability and that moving from the back three may be crucial to determining his future.

Ian Evatt needs to be more tactically flexible

There has been an odd inclination to switch both strikers for two more useless strikers throughout Ian Evatt’s insistence on playing a 3-5-2, nearly always regardless of the actual game status.

One memorable instance that will annoy Wanderers supporters indefinitely is in December 2022, when the team led 2-1 away against Shrewsbury Town. Evatt decided to replace both Dapo Afolayan and Dion Charles, who were giving the opposition a lot of trouble, by inserting Amadou Bakayoko and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson. Bolton fell 3-2 as a result of the Shrews’ defenders being able to rest and being under pressure. It was neither the first or the last time such a substitution confounded fans and had adverse effects.

The pinnacle of that kind of tactical substitution may have occurred at Wembley during the play-off final when Wanderers made a double substitution with 25 minutes remaining, substituting Cameron Jerome and Victor Adeboyejo for Dion Charles and Josh Sheehan.

Thus, the team’s leading scorer and Player of the Year were sitting on the bench with less than 30 minutes remaining in the season and a minimum of two goals needed. Evatt was unable to reform the system, so she was forced to say, “We needed to change something.” Maybe, but not that. Never do that.

When Evatt and his coaching staff are the ones with the statistics and understanding of when a player is entering the “red zone,” so there is sometimes wiggle room. It would be inconsiderate to blame Evatt for these kinds of subs without extending an olive branch to the former Blackpool captain. But with 25 minutes remaining in the season? Without a doubt, the so-called “red zone” is irrelevant.

Bolton needs to “grow up” now.

According to records, Ian Evatt, who appears to be a follower of Pep Guardiola, prefers the 4-3-3 system. In 2021, this style ultimately led to Bolton’s automatic promotion from League Two.

Midway through the 2021–2022 season, since Wanderers were having trouble adjusting to League One and important players like Antoni Sarcevic and Eoin Doyle were leaving the team, it made sense for the team to adapt to a back three. It was also reasonable to stick with that as they delivered a great couple of years.

But Bolton is an adult now. It is debatable whether the players he has are better suited to that style, but the players should be trusted to go back to the back four.

Josh Dacres-Cogley, for instance, is a right-back who is expected to be one of Bolton’s primary offensive threats despite receiving criticism for his attacking production. The views of the majority of supporters would undoubtedly have changed if he had played right-back during his recent season, which saw him named to the League One Team of the Season.

Regarding Jack Iredale, the same may be stated about the other side.The Australian was signed from Cambridge United, where he was their Player of the Year for 2021–2022, and he played left defender. Since then, he has only been utilised at left centre back or left wing back.

Defenders such as Gethin Jones, Eoin Toal, George Johnston, and even Zac Ashworth would undoubtedly perform better in a back four, while players like Carlos Mendes Gomes, Randell Williams, and Aaron Collins would have greater freedom to revert to the out-wide positions where they have historically been most effective. At Barnsley, Victor Adeboyejo even played as a winger for a squad that placed sixth in the Championship.

With a few intriguing acquisitions in crucial positions like the wing and central midfield, Bolton’s team does appear to thrive in a way that would promote greater fluidity and inventiveness.

It’s time for Wanderers’ house to be built after Evatt and Sporting Director Chris Markham laid the technical and tactical foundations over the past few seasons. The manager ought to stay, but he ought to modify some of his strategies.