The gulf between Bolton and the division’s top sides was laid bare at a packed Toughsheet Community Stadium on Friday night.
Middlesbrough deservedly moved to the top of the Championship with a 5-1 masterclass, peppering the Bolton goal with 31 shots.
Scarily, they could have had even more. Gavin Bazunu, one of Bolton’s best signings this year, produced countless top-class saves to keep the scoreline down.
Yet, despite all that, I don’t think Bolton played particularly badly. We are persisting with our all-guns-blazing approach. It’s sometimes to our own detriment, and it played right into Boro’s hands on Friday. They picked us off with alarming ease, pouncing on openings as though they were plucking low-hanging fruit.
Boro were clinical, delivering several sucker punches in the immediate aftermath of genuine Bolton goalscoring opportunities.
While I remain a fan of our approach, Steven Schumacher has to find a way of making us less vulnerable when a chance goes begging or a pass goes astray. We cannot keep leaving ourselves so exposed.
That said, I believe it is precisely this gung-ho attitude that has helped us get wins over the likes of Wolves and Norwich.
We could, of course, adopt a low block, sit deep and try to frustrate the opposition. But there is no guarantee we would stop conceding goals, and then what? Much better to lose having had a go than be left wondering what if?
Our solitary goal came through Theo Bair, who once again had to feed off scraps. Credit to him, though. He is proving himself to be a clinical finisher in the glimpses we have seen of him so far, and that is an encouraging sign given the limited opportunities he has had to work with.
It has been a difficult run of fixtures, and taking four points from Wolves, Southampton and Middlesbrough is hardly a disaster.
But the next few games are crucial. This is where Schumacher will really be judged.
The challenge now is to retain the attacking intent that has brought us success while finding a way to minimise our vulnerabilities that were ruthlessly exposed on Friday night.
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