Steven Schumacher should have made up his mind on Bolton Wanderers duo - it's bad news for John McAtee | OneFootball

Steven Schumacher should have had his mind made up on both Max Conway and John McAtee after Bolton Wanderers' opening day defeat.

Much like pre-season, reading too much into a sample size as small as the opening day of the season is often foolish; but for Bolton Wanderers, it may well have made a big impact for Steven Schumacher, with regard to two starters.

After a busy summer transfer window as they seek to rebuild and go again in their pursuit of League One promotion this season, Wanderers stuttered on the opening day against likely fellow promotion contenders Stockport County.

Following a bright start to the game from the Whites, Stockport, who are one of the pre-season title favourites, got their noses in front via club record signing Malik Mothersille, before the experienced Kyle Wootton sealed a 2-0 win for the Hatters at Edgeley Park late on.

Wanderers had seven debutants in the eleven and there were only two players that started the game that started their 2-1 defeat of Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road on the opening day of last season.

One of those debutants, Max Conway, may well have put the left-back debate to bed, whilst someone who was a part of the squad last year, John McAtee, could be set to relinquish his spot in the starting eleven.

Conway thrived for Schumacher and should remain

Having been the Player of the Season for Crewe Alexandra last year whilst on loan from Bolton, 21-year-old Max Conway has returned and shone in pre-season for the Whites.

Occasionally marauding forward from defence, he showed an impressive fearlessness as he sought to take the game to a strong Stockport side in what was his first appearance in the third-tier.

His attacking prowess and ability to drive forward is what earned him such rave reviews at Crewe, and he showcased some of that on the opening day, especially with a driving run that resulted in him striking the post mid-way through the second-half as Wanderers pushed for an equaliser.

The concerns about whether he could compete at a higher level revolved around his defensive attributes, and Schumacher has talked of how he showed him some clips of where he could’ve been better defensively at Crewe.

Schumacher now believes he is more than ready to be a fulcrum of the first-team, with new signing Richard Taylor expected to be the man who occasionally fills in at left-back, too, with the former Saint Mirren player also able to play centre-back.

It had been expected that Wanderers would add competition for Conway at left-back, but Schumacher has now said the priorities lie elsewhere, with a need for a player up-front as well as out-wide, and Conway’s performance at Stockport will have gone a long way to solving the left-back problem in Schumacher’s mind, as proven.

McAtee continues to underperform for Bolton

In contrast, Wanderers lacked any potency up-front, despite getting into some excellent areas of the pitch and creating some brilliant chances that were not taken.

The most glaring miss of the afternoon came moments before Conway’s effort that hit the post, as John McAtee forced himself to a swivel after pouncing on a loose ball in the box with a poor first touch, and then firing an ugly left-footed effort high over the County crossbar.

The former Luton Town man has shown he is capable of putting up reasonable numbers in terms of goal scoring in League One, hitting double figures in a loan stint with Barnsley and then with Wanderers last year.

However, despite the Walkden-born Shrewsbury Town academy graduate expressing a desire to play as the number ten, his best position remains a mystery, and his consistency remains non-existent.

He was deployed in the ten against Stockport, but often found the game bypassing him with Wanderers’ best attacks emanating from those around him, such as Mason Burstow, Carlos Mendes Gomes and Amario Cozier-Duberry.

He clearly has a reasonable level of technical quality, but Wanderers have already wasted too much time attempting to accommodate him as he continues to figure his own game out.

In the wings is Joel Randall, who joined from Peterborough United in the January transfer window but endured a difficult start to his career at Wanderers, with the manager who craved his arrival, Ian Evatt, departing about a week after he had signed.

After a positive pre-season and then a spurt of quality and energy shown when he came on off the bench at the weekend, Schumacher should be hasty in his decision-making and ensure Randall is giving the attacking midfield role ahead of McAtee until he relinquishes the shirt.