AS the pressure piled once more on Ian Evatt following Saturday’s dismal 5-0 defeat at Stockport County, the Bolton boss has delivered a damning verdict on “underperforming” players in his squad.
Wanderers dropped to 10th as a result of the heaviest defeat of his four-year and four-month reign, which left some supporters calling him to be sacked after the final whistle.
Though Evatt apologised for the result and the performance, he also referenced issues within his squad, and areas of behaviour on the training ground which require improvement.
“We have had an honest conversation in there, which initially the players led, and it is about time they started telling each other the truth,” he told The Bolton News. “It is about time.
“There are some players in there that are underperforming and some players in there that aren’t doing what are required to do, day-in, day-out, as a professional football player. It is your job to do the right things.
“In football sometimes, and I was one for 21 years, everyone wants to make excuses, everyone wants to look at everyone else and play the blame game. You have to be honest with yourself, that is where it starts.
“I will ask myself, the staff will ask themselves, the player should ask themselves, are they doing everything within their power to make sure we are doing the right things on a daily basis because it all has a material impact.
“The standards in training, the standards on the training ground, the standards off the pitch, it all relates and correlates to Saturdays and some need to do it better, simple as that.”
Asked if he would look towards January to try and rectify the problems he had highlighted, Evatt added: “We will have a look at that and see if we can get better and improve the squad because, clearly, there are parts of the squad that need improving.”
Wanderers had won six of their previous seven games, which also came after a heavy home defeat to Huddersfield Town in mid-September.
Prior to the game, Evatt had hoped to meet his target of 10 points from a five-match block but ultimately fell one short as his side produced a wretched display against another neighbouring club.
He said: “We talked before the game about having tried to build some momentum into the season and to build some confidence and that takes a long time to do – but it can leave you in a heartbeat, in a moment, and today it clearly left us and it feels like all the hard work we have done over the last six or seven weeks has gone back to square one again.”
Addressing the section of supporters who stayed after the whistle to voice their displeasure and call for him to be removed from the job, Evatt added: “All I can do is stand here and apologise for that performance, apologise for that result. It isn’t good enough or accepted.
“But singing about the football that we play, we have had a lot of success over five years, so I find that a bit strange. I understand people are frustrated and very disappointed and I am at the front of that queue. We apologise, it is not good enough, it is not what we have built over time here, and we need to reflect and come up with solutions to get better.”
