Ahead of tomorrow’s clash with the Royals we speak to Vital Reading
After the international fortnight, Bolton are back in action at home to Reading. We spoke to Luke, the editor of our sister site Vital Reading, to get the lowdown on the Royals.
You sacked Steve Clarke not long after we played you at the Madejski in November, and brought back Brian McDermott for a second spell as boss. How have things gone?
We sacked Steve Clarke in December when we were just four points off the play offs. However, we’d only won one in seven and after him talking to Fulham, the board felt his head wasn’t in the game. Our U18s coach took charge of the next two and lost them both so after that it was a tough, tough ask for Brian to come back and change the mentality and boost their confidence. We’ve had spells where we’ve played well but the problem seems to be scoring goals.
How will you set up tactically?
Well, last time Brian was here, he was a 4-4-2 man, but he seems to like 4-5-1/4-3-3 with Matej Vydra or Yann Kermorgant as the lone striker with Ola John and Hal-Robson Kanu either side and a midfield three of Stephen Quinn, Oliver Norwood and Michael Hector just sitting in front of the back four. This may change to a 4-4-2 on Saturday as I see it as a must win.
Who should we be watching out for?
If Ola John, our left winger, turns up your right back could be in for a long afternoon. John is a quick, tricky winger that causes all sorts of problems for the majority of defenders.
And a prediction?
Well obviously Bolton are in big, big trouble at the bottom of the championship, but Reading have been shocking away from home. A loss for Reading on Saturday really drags us down into a relegation fight. I think we’ll just scrape a win. 2-1 away win.