Freedman offers his thoughts ahead of the weekend's clash with Middlesbrough
Dougie Freedman believes that Wanderers are more than ready to tackle a hectic schedule over the festive period, with the manager confident that the team can start as they mean to go on against Middlesbrough this weekend.
With Bolton entering the clash on Teeside on the back of three consecutive victories, the Scot explained that his side are better prepared than they have been previously to capitalise on their impressive form of late and push themselves into the top half of the league table.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Freedman said: "We’ve got a lot of games coming up, but this year I feel that we’ve got the experience, the youthfulness and the energy to get through these games.
"Last year was difficult, but now I feel that we are better equipped to cope with it – we’re in good form and we’re ready for the pressure that is going to be put upon us and the challenges in front of us."
With the Whites currently eight games unbeaten, the Bolton boss admitted that the collective effort of everybody involved with the football club has been pivotal to recent results on the pitch.
"We had moments in games that we really let ourselves down, but I didn’t want to overreact because it was nobody’s fault," he said. "Collectively we can do better and we’ve still got a long way to go.
"I believe we’re coming through that – a lot of teams will go through similar spells and we were just unfortunate that it was during the first ten games.
"We stayed together strong, we battled on and put the results behind us."
He added: "We are moving forward and we are making sure that we keep our feet on the ground.
"We have a responsibility to the fans to keep ourselves committed on Saturday against Middlesbrough and that’s what my aim is.
"At the start of the season, I felt that we had the capabilities to get into the top six and I maintain that right now.
"I work over three games, and I believe that we’re capable of getting some good results out of our next couple of matches.
"If we do that, it will put us in a great position to strike over the Christmas period and if we can get into the top half, my prediction at the beginning of the season is still very capable of happening."