Ian Evatt explained that Bolton Wanderers looked at a 4-3-3 formation in the FA Cup loss to Barnsley to give another string to their bow and give attackers Dapo Afolayan and Kieran Sadlier a system they like to play in.
The match was fewer than six minutes old when Bolton skipper Ricardo Santos inadvertantly put through his own goal from Nicky Cadden's dangerous cross to give the Tykes an early lead. Dion Charles appeared to have equalised not long after, but his header was chalked off for offside.
Barnsley doubled their advantage before half-time as Adam Phillips fired home a smart strike from the edge of the box. It gave James Trafford little chance.
READ MORE: Bolton Wanderers player ratings vs Barnsley - Jon Dadi Bodvarsson good in FA Cup exit
After the break, Charles again had the ball in the back of the net but it was once more ruled out for offside. But Jon Dadi Bodvarsson halved the deficit with 10 minutes to go with a powerful header which Barnsley's rearguard could not keep out on the line.
Despite continuing to press for an equaliser, it did not come for Bolton and the Whites exited the competition with a 2-1 defeat. Barnsley progress to the second round draw, which takes place on Monday evening.
Afolayan and Sadlier coming into the team were among four changes Evatt made to his starting line-up. Afolayan began the game in his preferred left-wing slot, with Sadlier lining up on the right flank of the attack.
The 4-3-3 was a difference from the usual 3-5-2 which Wanderers have lined up for much of this year. Evatt analysed the system and the positives and negatives from its initial outing.
He said: “Some players have been affected by the shape and Dapo and Sads are two of those players that have to find positions in a 3-5-2 or a 3-4-1-2. We decided to try and get another string to our bow by working and developing a 4-3-3 and it gets those two in their positions that they want and like to play in.
“I saw glimpses first half of what they can do and I thought with the ball, we were okay then. We looked a bit open in transition in particular and they capitalised. Second half we looked a lot more solid and it’s only when we put the two more physical forwards on that we started to play a bit more back to front, more direct, and they were sinking in and trying to defend a lead and we didn’t manage to pull it back.
“But there’s loads of things that I think we need to improve on from today and from this last month. Still very much a work in progress and it’s a long old football season and there’s lots of football to be played.
“It’s just been a bit of a theme of the last month really that we don’t score first and we need to score first. This week we’ve changed things, we’ve tried to have a look at a different shape.
“This cup we’ve obviously taken it seriously because we’ve worked really hard on this shape this week and we’ve picked a really strong team. We’ve seen things that have worked really well in that shape today, but other things that didn’t work so well and we need to find a mix of having that attacking prowess and numbers at the top end of the pitch, but also having that compactness, counterpress and press and the way we’re structured behind the ball and today in the 4-3-3, I thought we were a bit open defensively, especially in transition.
“But second half, the players didn’t know when they were beat and they had a right go and we all thought that it might come and it didn’t. But now we have to reset, refresh and we’ve got a really big month in the league coming up so we’re concentrating on that, which isn’t a bad thing.”
Wanderers have a quiet November ahead of them after a busy October where they crammed in eight games. Following the FA Cup loss to Barnsley, they have League One trips to Cambridge United and Fleetwood Town, as well as a clash in the next round of the Papa Johns Trophy.
Bolton sit in the top six in League One and though Evatt believes it is far from being in a poor position, he knows his side can play better and is aiming for a return to the performances shown earlier this campaign.
He added: “We need to improve. It’s not doom and gloom, we’re in a much better position than what we were at this stage last season. We’re in the top six, but we want and need to do better. There’s no denying that.
“We know we can be a lot better than what we’ve shown this last month and we’ve still got results, so that’s not a bad thing. But we want to get back to performance levels because I believe our philosophy, brand and identity is if we perform well and that we do the things that we train and coach them to do, then we get football results and we haven’t really done that so well the last month.
"But this month gives us an opportunity to get back on the grass, work really hard and get back to those performance levels that we showed earlier on in the season.”
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