The battle for Premier League survival is as fierce as ever this season and no team in the bottom of half of the table can consider themselves safe by any means.
One club in the thick of the dogfight at the wrong end of league is Bolton, and the Trotters now find themselves with only Portsmouth below them following Sunday’s 2-0 home defeat against Arsenal.
However, Wanderers’ fans will be hoping the arrival of new boss Owen Coyle will coincide with an upturn in fortunes and one player intent on leading from the front is captain Kevin Davies.
What did you make of the performance against Arsenal?
Everyone is down, but not overly so. We have to keep our heads up because I think when we look back at the game we will take a lot out of it. We are in a difficult position and that’s a big challenge for myself and the team.
Do you feel extra responsibility because you are the skipper?
I am the captain and I will be the one who gets the boys going, get them to roll their sleeves up and get on with the battle. It’s about getting Bolton out of the bottom three. It would have been nice to have got something out of the game against one of the top sides going at the moment but there are some really important games coming up and we have to make sure we are right for them.
What are your early impressions of the new manager?
I have been really impressed with the way the players have responded to him and I think that is a credit to him. Speaking to the players individually, they have been impressed with his management skills. I had a phone call out of the blue on Saturday night for a brief chat, I thought that was a nice gesture. He said he wanted me to carry on leading the side, which was a nice touch.
I suppose it’s a clean slate for the whole squad now?
From what I have seen everyone has been working hard to get into his plans. There were certain players frozen out under the previous manager and you could see their confidence draining away. Now I have seen some big changes in some of the players – from the lads who have been starting to those on the fringes and training with the reserves.
Do you expect there to be a change in the team’s style of play?
We have not overly worked on the shape because the manager recognises our strengths and does not want to take that away from the side. He’ll look to incorporate the way he wants to play over the coming games and I imagine we’ll be working on things at the training ground. But he says he wants us to go out there and express ourselves the way we can.
