Bolton Wanderers manager Steven Schumacher provided his assessment after Middlesbrough’s 5-1 triumph.
Steven Schumacher claims Middlesbrough are the best he’s seen in the Championship since Enzo Maresca’s 2024 title-winning Leicester City team, following their 5-1 victory against Bolton Wanderers.
Will Lankshear added two more goals to his tally at the Toughsheet Community Stadium, while Aidan Morris, Amario Cozier-Duberry, and an own goal caused by Adilson Malanda’s header rounded out a great evening for Kim Hellberg’s team.
Bolton’s crushing defeat came after a very encouraging phase for the newly promoted club, which had lately defeated Norwich City and Wolves, lost only narrowly to Stoke City, and drawn at Southampton the previous time out.
“It was a tough night and a difficult game,” Schumacher stated afterwards. “We knew that was going to be the case before it started, and there was a clear divide in class tonight between the two sides.
“For us to say that for the first time in 12 games is impressive. We’ve been in every game this season, but tonight we’re playing against a better team.
“It’s four games that are extremely difficult and physically demanding, and if someone had told us at the outset of these four games that we’d get four points from them, we’d have taken it.
“Now, it’s probably one game too many tonight. I felt we were a touch off the pace, but we tried our hardest, but they were simply better.
“They outperformed us in terms of speed, physicality, and quality. I told you at the beginning that they’re extremely difficult to play against because individuals appear all over the place because they’re so well taught. So tonight, as I said, sometimes you just have to accept it.”
Whether Schumacher, supporters on social media, or frequent spectators of Bolton from the press box, the feeling from a Bolton standpoint was that Borough were the finest side they’d seen in a long time.
When asked if they were the best Championship side he’d ever faced, Schumacher replied, “We played against the Leicester team under Maresca, and they were outstanding.
“When Borough are really into it, and the confidence starts to flow, it’s very tough to stop.
When asked if they were the best Championship side he’d ever faced, Schumacher replied, “We played against the Leicester team under Maresca, and they were outstanding.
“When Borough are really into it, and the confidence starts to flow, it’s very tough to stop.
“We always strive to make sure you pack a punch into us and don’t accept defeat, which I don’t believe we did tonight. I believe we continued to try.
“Obviously, the last five or ten minutes were difficult because we just needed to restrict damage and try not to concede any more.
However, we were always a threat for the first 60 or 70 minutes of the game.
“The possibilities were plain; they were there; we just didn’t have the talent to seize them, and they went down the other end and got theirs. So it was a very nice performance against us.
Borough are expected to challenge for promotion this season, and they will do so on current form. The comparison to Maresca’s title-winning Leicester team would be a pleasant conclusion, as the Foxes finished 97 points behind in 2024.
Southampton will be one of the teams hoping to stop Borough, since the two clubs are still at odds following last season’s Spygate controversy.
Following Bolton’s goalless draw against Tonda Eckert’s team last weekend, Schumacher was asked about the difference between the two games.
“They were more clinical than Southampton were,” the Wanderers manager stated. “I believe they had more about themselves moving forward. We did our best to confine them, but it was tough.
“And when they get ahead in the game and we have to come out and try to take the initiative, especially at 3-1 when we have to go for it and commit numbers forward, there’s always the risk of being done on a counter-attack, as happened with the last two goals. They were top-notch, and we gave it our all, but tonight it wasn’t enough.”
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