"Choppy waters" - EFL pundit delivers Bolton Wanderers warning | OneFootball

Bolton Wanderers have started the season poorly despite being one of the favourites to achieve promotion from League One.

Unsurprisingly, many would have had Bolton Wanderers as favourites for promotion this season, but the start of their campaign has not gone to plan.

Having lost the League One play-off final to Oxford United last season, Bolton were among the favourites to achieve promotion this time round, along with Birmingham City and Wrexham.

However, things have not gone to plan for Ian Evatt's side and after four matches, they find themselves in 18th position, with only one win from their opening four games.

Considering it is early days, the Trotters have time to turn their fortunes around, but they must stop the rot fast if they want to succeed.

Sam Parkin highlights Bolton's lack of goals as a major issue

With only two goals scored in their opening four games, there is an obvious issue for Bolton. Furthermore, both those goals came in the Lancashire club's opening games of the season against Leyton Orient.

When asked about Bolton's poor start on the 'What the EFL?!' podcast, EFL pundit, Sam Parkin, discussed the Trotters' struggles in front of goal. Speaking on the podcast, Parkin said: "Well, I think this is the start of a massive couple of games for Ian Evatt.

"There seems to be a lot of criticism from various quarters. When you look at the results, it’s understandable because of the expectation at a club like Bolton.

"He’s probably not encountered such choppy waters, maybe, for the seasons that he’s been there, where there’s been constant improvement.

"Me and Clarkey saw them earlier on in the season against Wrexham. They shaded that. They had a really good spell in the first half, but they’re just not scoring goals.

"They’ve scored two goals in the league this season, and if you remember, it was opening day at Leyton Orient, both goalkeeping howlers really, certainly the second one for Adeboyejo, a goal scored from outside the box. The keeper could have done better on that.

"With the forward players that they’ve got, I’ve named four decent front players there: McAtee, Collins, Charles, Adeboyejo. They should be taking more chances and should be a bigger goal threat."

Bolton need to strike a balance within their side

In Bolton's opening games of the season, Ian Evatt experimented with different formations in order to get the best out of his team. However, Parkin highlighted that none of Evatt's systems have worked thus far.

"The balance of the team, I’d say, is a bit of an issue, and we could be talking about a few changes ahead of this weekend.

"The game me and Clarkey saw they played with two tens (McAtee and Collins), did not really work.

"Went with a front two last time, and a kind of midfield three. The midfield is Sheehan, who we know is a really good kind of midfield anchor and getting on the ball and progressing it wide and up the pitch, but Thomason and Dempsey are the other two. "There’s not a lot of guile there and maybe similarities to Charlton the other day, there’s probably just a little bit of lack of creativity, maybe someone to cut through a deep lying defence. "I think that’s something that they’re probably wrestling with, the coaching staff there, do they go with two tens or do they go with a front two? What is the personnel going to be? Again, similarities to Charlton, watching Schön and Dacres-Cogley in the flesh give them a nice balance. "Not a great deal of oomph going forward, so I think that’s probably the two areas, you know, getting a little bit more of a creative spark for Bolton, a little bit more creativity in the centre of the pitch.

Having gone into the new League One season as one of the favourites, Bolton have surprised everyone with their poor start.

As stated by Parkin, the Trotters have an array of issues they must sort out if they are to get back to winning ways, with two key fixtures ahead.

It must be noted that it is still early days and Evatt has plenty of time to turn his side's form around, but if they fail to win either of their next two games, then it could spell trouble for the manager.