Bolton fought back from 1-0 down to beat Leyton Orient on Saturday, bringing their total points rescued this season to 20, only surpassed by leaders Birmingham City.
Coach Schumacher emphasized the importance of team unity at half-time as he made tactical changes to improve the team’s performance. He also emphasized the importance of not conceding first, which has happened in each of his previous five games.
“Doing it once is amazing, then again, and once you start doing it all the time, you realize it’s fine; there’s no need to stress.
You don’t want to be a goal behind, but you must learn how to do it correctly.
“That was my message to the players at halftime (against Orient). Okay, they controlled the final 10-15 minutes of the first half, but that’s how we repair it.
“They were good with their full-backs and kept jumping really high onto our full-backs, denying us space, so we just adjusted our shape slightly.”
“We thought we could cause them a problem in the second half, and we did. I said, don’t panic, we’ve been in this situation before, so let’s get the next goal and see where it takes us.”
Wanderers go to Wrexham this weekend with a chance to break into the top six but know Phil Parkinson’s side have been strong at home this season, losing just twice in 17 games so far.
Schumacher was happy at the way his side defended under pressure in the latter stages against Orient at the weekend and believes his players will need to roll up their sleeves again and realize there would be periods where they won’t be on top.
“There has never been a game of football where you control it for 90 minutes solid and you have it all your own way, it’s just very rare,” he said.
“Orient had a 10-15 minute spell in the first half where they were better and on top but for the first half an hour I thought we were the better side.
“Second half we controlled it and went ahead but then we had to defend well, as you’d expect against a side up there like Orient are, and that is what it is going to take. There are ebbs and flows in games, especially against the elite teams in our level.
“It is the small moments that are deciding results at the moment, so we just have to keep going to the next three points.
“We know Wrexham is a tough game, we have seen them up close in the Vertu Trophy where those moments were not on our side. We have got to make sure they are this time.”
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