Bolton Wanderers’ 2023–24 season would come to an unsatisfactory end if they lost to Oxford United in the League One play-off final, even though it’s difficult to argue that the players performed well.

Ian Evatt’s men gave a remarkably bland performance; maybe the occasion had worn them down. Although it’s commonly said that promotion through the play-offs is the finest path to advancement, losing out and going through heartbreak may undoubtedly have a very negative impact.

It will be important to keep an eye on Bolton’s start to the upcoming season as they will now need to avoid suffering from a play-off “hangover” when they return to the third division. They need to get off to a strong start if they want to be in the running for promotion once more because League One appears to be very open for grabs the next season.
It’s not surprising to see an irate fan base after missing out on promotion to the Championship despite finishing in the top three for the bulk of the season and holding the automatic promotion slot for a considerable amount of it.

 

The Trotters would suffer mightily in big games this season, even though the final might have been the worst of the three, which might indicate a problem inside the squad. Evatt’s team would win just two of their 10 games against the other five top-six teams, not counting the play-offs. That is another reason why they didn’t receive an automatic promotion, and they just need to do better the next term.

The players are aware of this as well; Wanderers defender Gethin Jones emphasised to The Bolton News that the team has had difficulty in high-stress situations for a while.

After the game, we said to each other, “I don’t know if it’s a mentality thing, but in my four years here, there have only been a handful of occasions where we really came through with a performance when the pressure was really on.”

“The games you need to win are Crawley, Blackpool, Derby, and the Papa John’s final versus Plymouth Argyle last year; other than those, it has been awful. And all of the criticism we’ve received is justified; we haven’t performed up to par in the important games. As a group, we must perform better than that; we cannot lose so many games and hope to advance.

The most crucial thing is that we examine ourselves and consider what more each of us can do; it cannot be a matter of assigning blame and pointing fingers. People often criticise a particular player after every game you lose. We’re no better than the players; we also do it.

To be honest, though, none of us gave it our all in the play-off game. We all have more to offer than that, and to be really honest, none of us can explain why we weren’t able to do it that day.

Regarding the modifications, we’ll have to wait and see what transpires.

Author’s Perspective

Bolton’s failure to rise to the occasion was one of the many talking points from the League One play-off final, which included a number of surprises. Given that the team was predicted to win the play-offs and that the players would be under a lot of pressure to perform well the next season, it is not surprising to see some discontent among the supporters.

They won’t, by any means, have the season all to themselves because it appears like a very strong third tier renewal; therefore, in the upcoming window, recruitment must be done with precision.

Undoubtedly, the team needs natural leaders to help them to victory in crucial games, but adding a few seasoned players this summer might greatly increase their chances of getting promoted before the start of the next campaign.

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