Rob Edwards: Bolton to be respected and taken seriously ahead of FA Cup Third Round clash
The Hatters' manager was buoyed on by the magic of the cup, yet ready for a challenge against Wanderers, who sit second in League One.
In the first of a trilogy of pieces looking over Rob Edwards’ early January thoughts, the focus is on Sunday afternoon’s game against Bolton Wanderers.
Within, and in near-transcript form, there’s the gaffer’s personal take on the tournament, team news, and a few familiar faces.
FA Cup romance, or rotational respite?
“It’s a great competition. December was extremely busy. We had a lot going on, on and off the pitch. But January does quiet a little bit with every game and the next one is the FA Cup which we’re really looking forward to. It’s an amazing competition.”
“I’ll pick the team that I’ll think can go and win a game of football. This now, is the most important game for us. I’ll pick the team with that in mind really. I have said it before, I think we’ve probably got 16, 17, 18 people that are genuine starters for us so it’s really tough. (...) Each game offers different opportunities for people. There’s different strengths and weaknesses for the opposition and we’ll look at that. I’m pretty confident in the group we’ve got.”
Squad news
"We’ve obviously got Locks and Marv out for the longer term. Other than that, everyone’s back and available or at least everyone’s back in training now. So, we’ve got as big a squad as we really could have at this stage in the season.”
"It’s probably too soon for (Dan) Potts, although he’s trained with us. Obviously it’s too soon to come straight into a game. Burkey’s been training a little bit longer than Pottsy but it’s still probably too soon to come into it from the start. It’s great that we’ve got them back with us and in full training now.”
(Despite AFCON) “He’s actually available (Issa Kabore). We’ve had this conversation as well, with the FA from Burkina Faso - so he’s someone that’s available for the game. He’s not going to their training camp. After that, he goes.”
The gaffer has an old friend in the opposition dugout in Ian Evatt
“I know Evo really, really well. Former teammate of mine and he’s done a brilliant job. He’s been building that club now for a number of years. He’s had time and he’s showed that with results. Already won promotion, came close again last year. They are a really dangerous team, a confident team. They’re in good form and yeah it’s a very difficult game.”
“We had three years together at Blackpool. It was a successful time as well. He’s someone who, as a player, maximised what he was and did really well. He was a really good player and he’s taken to management very well, as well. Promotion with Barrow, he’s got a really good style. Bolton are a big football club and he’s been tasked with helping them, to reshape and rebuild them. He’s doing a very good job of it. He deserves a lot of credit.”
“We will respect them and take them very, very seriously - as seriously as we take any team from the league that we’re in at the moment. They’re a dangerous team. Obviously in this game we’ll be favourites, so the pressure will be on us and we need to respond well to that.”
More familiar faces for Town and Edwards
"(Dion Charles) was actually in my first ever training session when I was going into coaching when I retired from playing. Richie (Kyle) was taking the session at Blackpool, he was in charge of the U18s and Dion was in that session. I was watching him, and we did some finishing with the forwards afterwards.”
“He’s gone on and done really well. He’s had to work really hard and earned it, Dion. He’s dropped down the levels and has fought hard to come back. He’s really excelling now. It’s nice to see."
"There’s also Jon Dadi Bodvarsson who I worked with at Wolves. There are others, they’ve got some real threats at the top end of the pitch. They obviously like to control the game with the ball. There’s similarities to a lot of what we’ve come up against in this league. I don’t see them changing their style, they’ll look to try and impose themselves, to try and play the way they do. So, we’ve got to be right at it to make sure they can’t.”
“It’ll be lovely to see Cam (Cameron Jerome), too. He was obviously brilliant for this football club in the time that he was here. It’ll be brilliant to see him.”
Thoughts on Locks’ recovery and Instagram statement
“He’s improving. There’s obviously more tests and things to come in the coming weeks. I’m going to go and see him after training tomorrow. I’m looking forward to that.
“It’s brilliant that he’s put that message out there. It’s good that he’s doing well, he finished off a big jigsaw puzzle, he keeps telling me. I was looking forward to trying and helping him finish that - so now we’ll have to find something else to do.”
Thoughts on Townsend #2026
“He’s got an amazing attitude, I’ve said this a lot. He’s very, very driven and really focussed. He’s worked tirelessly on himself. He’s gone and performed really well and he deserves it.”
“We’re delighted to make it longer term. He’s had a huge impact since he’s been at the club in a real positive way. Everybody can see that. The supporters love him already, he’s made a great impression with them as well. Really, really pleased for him.”
( The posts following this one will be more in depth! If you’ve got this far, thanks for reading :) Next up: Loan Updates and Teden-heavy Transfer Talk )