STEVEN Schumacher has been impressed by Wimbledon’s return to League One and insists these days they are more culture club than Crazy Gang.
The Dons returned to the third tier this season after a play-off final win against Walsall and have so far given a good account of themselves over the first six games.
Lincoln City, Reading and Barnsley have already found out that Wimbledon won’t just be making up the numbers – and Schumacher reckons they are unlucky not to have picked up even more points in the opening month.
And furthermore, he has warned his own side that this afternoon’s visitors can mix up their approach and play the Whites at their own counter-attacking game.
“I think they have some good players,” he told The Bolton News. “They have had a really good start to the season, really impressive. They lost against Luton with an own goal, which was really jammy because they’d played well.
“They lost last minute to Cardiff. Lost last minute to Bradford, who were both doing really well.
“And they've managed to win three games. So, they've shown a real spirit. They play some football, they have a front three in Hippolyte, Stephens and Brown who are a real threat.
“And they're really good on transition and counter-attack. So, we obviously have our idea of how we're going to go about it. But we have to be mindful of what their strengths are, because they're good.
"And if we don't get it right, we'll get punished. So, it's a tough game.”
Schumacher remains confident that Bolton can pick up their points-per-game ratio if they continue to play in the manner they have over the first month of the season.
One win out of six is not where the Bolton boss wants to be - but he feels there is deeper context to be considered.
"I'd say the performances have been good in general," he said. "We've made the odd mistake here and there. A couple of the goals that have gone in against us we would like to have done better with.
"A couple of them have been a bit of misfortune which has gone against us with deflections and ball ricocheting off the post. But that's football, it happens. And I think what the players just keep drawing back on is what we set out to from the start of the pre-season.
"We spoke about being really tight and compact and organised as a unit to limit the opposition to as few chances as possible on our goal. And we're top of all the metrics at that at the moment. When you know you're not open and you're not conceding big chances, then it's just a matter of getting back to it.
"And we've been really good with the ball as well. So the only thing that we're missing is the victories that our performances have probably deserved."
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