OWEN Coyle has shelved talk of last season’s FA Cup semi-final defeat to Stoke City as he attempts to turn the tide of poor results at the Reebok.

Wanderers’ 5-0 hammering at Wembley signalled a worrying downturn in fortunes for the Whites boss and his team, who have claimed just three league victories in the subsequent 16 Premier League games.

Coyle questioned the mental strength of some of his players after their nightmarish display in April, and the same problem seems to have dogged the team ever since.

But the manager insists he will not try to use the hurt suffered at the National Stadium as a motivational tool on Sunday afternoon.

“These players don’t need that as a motivational tool to be ready for Sunday,” he told The Bolton News.

“We’re sat in a position we don’t like being in. Our focus is on Sunday.

“You can go back through history looking for things that can motivate you but the bottom line is that these are very good players and they should want to push out of the bottom three and move up the table. If that can’t motivate them, there is something seriously wrong.”

Coyle was in a decidedly bullish mood as he previewed this weekend’s game, where his side will be looking to avoid extending a club record run of home defeats to eight games.

The Wanderers boss was in no frame of mind to discuss or deconstruct what went wrong at Wembley, focusing solely on his upcoming meeting with the Potters.

“It was a poor day and if you want to go and regurgitate the old quotes from last year, they are all there for you,” he said at yesterday’s Euxton press conference. “I don’t need to sit here and talk a day before we play Stoke.

“That was last season, this is now. I realise people have got jobs to do and stories to write, I’ve no problem with that, but we have to address what has happened this season.

“I’m not going to sit and make excuses for myself or the group, we know what we should be doing better.”