THE pristine white shirt with a canny commercial nod to the heroes of the 1923 FA Cup final, the smart branding plastered across the front of a cleaned-up stadium, the promise of a modern, expansive brand of football.

Cosmetically, there is plenty to like about Bolton Wanderers right now. Even a few hours after a deeply unsatisfying performance against Barnsley, a slick drone-filmed video was released on social media showing the majestic floodlit pitch shrouded in Bonfire Night fog – a visually edifying bit of video that managed to get likes from fans who sounded otherwise thoroughly browned off with their weekend.

The team is sixth in the League One table – roughly on-par with where they want to be – and the Whites’ defence has been as tight as anyone’s in the division.

From the outside, it may seem a little churlish to be complaining, even after a fourth straight season of watching the four-time winners of the FA Cup fall at the first hurdle. But to those who have trapsed from Plymouth to Ipswich, Forest Green to Tranmere, it is hard to escape the feeling that something just feels a little… off.

The simple fact is that football clubs can portray whatever image they like off the field, it is a Saturday afternoon that will dictate its success. The meal always looks tastier on the menu, and Wanderers are not serving up what is so often being described.

Ian Evatt allegedly has the deepest squad of his 28 months in charge but has gone from having sleepless nights over which 18 players to pick on a matchday, to struggling to piece together 11 players in reasonable form.

In many ways, Saturday’s cup game was a free hit. The manager could afford to experiment with a 4-3-3 formation which pandered to the masses, including Dapo Afolayan and Kieran Sadlier in their preferred wide positions. But we quickly discovered that while the team looked well-balanced on paper, it lacked substance out there where it mattered.

Barnsley blustered into a two-goal lead. Nicky Cadden’s left-wing cross was bundled into his own net by Ricardo Santos, then Adam Phillips blasted a second after the visitors had positively been beckoned into Bolton territory with non-existent pressure on the ball.

Wanderers produced a response in the second half after another five players were thrown into the mix from the bench. Jon Dadi Bodvarsson headed home from Gethin Jones’s cross to set up an interesting last 15 minutes, where suddenly a Tuesday night game at Oakwell was gaining some appeal. The small crowd bought readily into the idea of another Bolton comeback… But once again, the reality was a complete and utter let-down.

To make matters worse, Evatt appeared to refuse a handshake from his opposite number Michael Duff as he marched petulantly on to the pitch after the final whistle to confront someone, presumably an official. Not for the first time this season Barnsley had got under his skin – and the wry smirk etched on Duff’s face was enough to make your stomach sink.

Evatt had struggled to keep his cool through much of the second half, referee Carl Boyeson could be audibly heard above a very quiet UniBol shouting: “Calm down, Ian,” or “sit down, Ian,” and it is fair to ask if the manager can’t keep focus, can his players?

Barnsley did not disrupt the game quite as blatantly as they had done a few weeks ago – as to give experienced referee Boyeson credit, he managed it well enough. The Yorkshiremen did not need to reach far into their bag of trick because they held a two-goal lead for so long, and goalkeeper Jack Walton was rarely called into action.

Wanderers ripped up their initial 4-3-3 plan at half time, reverting to 3-5-2 because Evatt wanted to ensure his side stayed in the game. That neutered Sadlier and Afolayan, however, and it was only when Bodvarsson, Amadou Bakayoko and Kyle Dempsey came on that Bolton’s tempo ever got close to what it should have been.

The problem for Evatt, however, is that even if he names all three of those players at Cambridge United next Saturday, he is not guaranteed the same level of energy.

With the possible exception of goalkeeper James Trafford, every member of the Bolton squad has allowed their performances to dip in the last month. And Evatt must shoulder part of that blame, as the custodian.

It is often said by the manager that his team have not looked like themselves – but the longer these erratic, unreliable performances go on, they become the norm. This IS Bolton right now.

We have been here before, of course, and at this time of year, too. Bolton experienced a bad dip last year after injuries exposed a shallow squad and suffered for form in the League Two campaign when it became apparent that recruitment the previous summer had not been nearly good enough for a promotion push. On each occasion, the January transfer window arrived just in time to correct the course.

So much was said at the start of the season about the competition for places, which was driving standards on the training ground way beyond where they were this season. A couple of months on, holes are being picked in that bombastic rhetoric, and they are getting bigger with each passing week.

Evatt has found answers before – indeed, his instinct for riding out these mini-dramas is quite admirable. But he needs to find another winning formula quickly.

The grumbles at full time from 5,999 on Saturday evening were but a whisper. Wanderers fans can quickly smell when things are not going right and have never been shy about saying so.

No more bells, no more whistles. Bolton need to start showing they deserve the big build up.