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Wanderers won’t be making sympathetic changes against Salford City in the Carabao Cup tonight.
Unlike previous seasons, Ian Evatt has refused to confirm whether he will be making wholesale changes for the first round game at the University of Bolton Stadium.
The likes of Joel Dixon, Elias Kachunga, Kieran Sadlier, George Thomason, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Will Aimson did not start in either of the first two league games – but Evatt says he plans to pick a side based purely on getting a result, rather than dishing out chances.
“We are at a stage of the season where I don’t ‘have’ to do anything,” Evatt maintained. “I don’t have to make changes and I don’t have to pick the same team.
“Like always, I will pick a team that I think will hurt Salford and their weaknesses, and also be able to cope with their strengths. That is what we have always done, and we will do for every game.
“There is no rota here where someone is due minutes that they definitely play. You have to go out there and earn the right to play.
“We will pick a team which we think is the right team to beat Salford. What that looks like, whether that is 11 starters from Saturday or none, I am not going to tell you. But we will pick a team that we think is capable of winning that game.”
Competition for places in Evatt’s starting XI is as strong as it has been at any stage of his two years at the club and he says that has been reflected in the players’ work on the training ground.
“The training has obviously been a better standard because I think we have got better players – the two go hand in hand,” he said.
“There has been a huge transition in the two years I have been here and we have got, I believe, a really strong group of players right now.
“There is no wastage and very little drop off, regardless of what team I pick, so I expect the training to be of a good standard.
“They can always improve. They are still getting better with understanding and giving the importance to simple passing drills and the relevance that has to games, but we are a work in progress.
“Fundamentally, we are a quite a young team as well, a young squad. We are working hard, we are developing all the time. We are relatively happy with where we are but we also know there is more to come.”
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