The manager admits individual errors paid a heavy price for Bolton at Ewood Park.
Wanderers were beaten 4-1 by Gary Bowyer’s Blackburn Rovers, and despite Alex Baptiste’s first goal for the club, it was a disappointing afternoon for the men from the Reebok Stadium.The job for the Bolton squad now is to regroup and go again in two weeks time after the international break, with a double header at home against Leeds United and Derby County respectively.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, the manager gave an honest reflection on his team’s performance and revealed the whole dressing room is ‘hurting’ after the result.
The boss said: “It was a disappointing afternoon, individual mistakes cost us dearly. It was very hard to take conceding two goals inside a minute but we showed a bit of fight and determination to get ourselves back into the game.
“We managed to score just before half time and we had a few opportunities in the second half but we didn’t score a second and another individual mistake allowed Blackburn to grab a third.
“We threw caution to the wind and for the last 20 minutes we had four forwards on the pitch but we conceded the fourth goal. All in all I am disappointed with the result.
“We are only five games into the season. We have had a tough sequence of games but we have to look forward. We need to try our very best to recruit but it will be difficult.
“The problem is, is that we are making individual mistakes at key moments and we can’t afford to be doing that.
“You have to take both the ups and the downs, and we are currently on a down but that is what professional sport is like.
“I am hurting and the players are hurting because we know we are better than that. At 2-1, if we went on to score one of the chances we created, it would have been a different game but that is where we are right now.
“We are showing glimpses of what we can do but we are not showing it enough. The fans shouldn’t be happy after we get beat and I understand their frustration.
“We have to make sure we are fully prepared for the Leeds United game.”