Why it's been business as usual for Wanderers in their play-off preparations

TRY as he may to keep preparation familiar for his players and a lid on their play-off nerves, Steven Schumacher accepts that tonight’s play-off semi-final cannot be described as a “normal” type of game.

The ever-studious Bolton boss has sought opinion from former team-mates, managers and friends with more experience in the play-off game as to how best to tackle this week’s planning.

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And though the general consensus has been to keep processes as normal as possible on the training ground, there is little escaping the fact that this is a big week in the recent history of Bolton Wanderers.

As such, Schumacher has worked hard to ensure that his players go into the first leg as prepared as they can possibly be.

“We try and cover all bases with the planning and the preparation we go into,” he told The Bolton News. “The word we’ve had this week has been consistency, because that’s the advice we have been given by everyone we have spoken to with regard to the play-off experience.

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“That is what we decided to do, keep it as normal as possible.

“But of course, just before kick-off I’m sure there will be a few butterflies.

“The adrenaline will be kicking in before the game, of course it will, because that’s normal. We know this is a big game, followed by another one on Thursday night at Bradford.”

Even after a 46th game of the League One season, Schumacher and his staff picked out the details of the 3-2 defeat to Luton Town and presented them to the players as usual.

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“It's not something that we change week in, week out. We're always looking for things and analysing games and figuring out how we can get better.

“These next two games give us an opportunity to do that,” he added.

The original gameplan for Bradford should still be fresh in the mind, given the two sides met at Valley Parade only a fortnight ago. But Schumacher insists it won’t be a case of just ‘going again’ with the same information.

“There are certain things that we've tweaked and certain things that we've looked at to try and give us an advantage going into the play-offs,” he said. “Stuff in and around the training ground.

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“But the training plan and the training regime has been the same. We have to think about the details a little bit more, I suppose. What did we do really well against Bradford last time? What areas of the game did we need a little bit of help with? But yeah, most of it has been pretty normal.

“I think that's what the players like. The players like routine. We like to make sure that we cover all bases like we do every week.”

Chris Forino was put up for the local press on Thursday, suggesting that the “best version” of Wanderers would provide stiff opposition for any of the three sides taking part in the play-offs this season.

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Schumacher was in agreement with his defender: “I would say so, yeah. We've played some really good football. The data and the evidence backs that up.

“We do create chances and when we get it right defensively we have got one of the best defensive records. We have one of the lowest XG against.

“So, the best version of us is enough to challenge every team in this division, as we've proved. And that's what we need to do. We are coming up against a team who are really good.

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“Let’s bring the best version of ourselves and see where it takes us.”

Graham Alexander was the Fleetwood Town boss for Schumacher’s only experience of play-off football so far – and left the Bolton boss on the bench as his side beat Burton Albion at Wembley.

Thankfully, there were no grudges held, and win, lose or draw over the next five days, he is sure a drink will be shared in the office after each match.

“Graham has done an excellent job this season,” he said. “I don’t know how many games he must have managed now but he’s really experienced and his teams are always very well prepared.

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“We have played Bradford three times this year, so we have a good idea what we will need and we know we’ll have to do both sides of the game.

“In every game they have been competitive. They've been physical. But also, you've got to play your football.

“We don't want to just become a scrap because that suits them more than it suits us. So, spread out, pass the ball, fight and compete when we need to compete.”

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