Ian Evatt says that Bolton Wanderers have already planned team selection decisions for the opening stage of the season in a bid to keep players fresh and adapt to the different challenges they will face.
Wanderers begin the new League One campaign tomorrow afternoon against Ipswich Town. The Whites will make the long journey to Suffolk and Portman Road.
After that, Wanderers have their first home game of the League One season against Wycombe, before hosting Salford City in the first round of the Carabao Cup. From there, Wanderers travel to Vale Park to take on newly promoted Port Vale.
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Next up for Wanderers following the trip to Burslem are back to back home matches beginning with taking on Morecambe. The Whites then take on Sheffield Wednesday at the University of Bolton Stadium.
Evatt says Wanderers have looked at their opening fixtures of the season and planned teams accordingly for the challenges they will face. He believes the squad, though promising on paper, must now go out and earn the right for promotion.
He told the Manchester Evening News : "We have had to look at possibly the first four or five fixtures and try to plan teams accordingly in perfect scenarios. Obviously, things change really quickly in football and can overnight, so we have to be flexible and make sure we are ready to change and be adaptable.
"But we have tried to look at the opposition of the first four or five games - what to expect, what kind of game we think it is going to be – and try to manage and pick teams accordingly. There are going to be changes, there has to be.
"You don’t win divisions or win promotions with the same 11 players week in, week out. It just doesn’t happen. We are really fortunate now to have a strong group of players that we think are capable of good things. But it is only on paper. They have to go out there and earn the right to be at this football and be amongst the promotion candidates."
A new rule what has come into place this season is the ability for teams in the EFL to use five substitutes. It was last used in the Covid-19 affected 2020/21 season which took place behind closed doors.
And Evatt is looking forward to taking advantage of the new rule with the squad he has at his disposal. He referenced the aforementioned campaign in which Wanderers won promotion out of League Two as evidence of the impact it can have.
He said: "It is brilliant for me because I think we saw from the promotion season, that can have a huge impact on games, especially when you play with the intensity that we do. We play full press, high press.
"It is challenging for the front players and to maintain that level and intensity throughout 90 minutes is really difficult, so we can get five off and get five fresh ones on. And without the necessary drop off from the starting 11 to the next ones on. That is massive for us this season and hopefully we can utilise that in the right areas and it will gain results for us."
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