Eddie

Frustration comes from the fact it’s our fault that we’re losing a key game, again. They didn’t beat a few players and put it in the top corner, they didn’t whip a decent ball in and win a header, we’ve shot ourselves in the foot again. Recent history says that we don’t do well against top teams away from home, it also tells us we very rarely get a result when losing, other than Cambridge who are fucking woeful. The outcome is too predictable which is why people are pissed off. If we do manage to get something then it’s completely against what results from the last few seasons tell us. And again, it’s our fucking fault. Hope they prove me wrong but if I was putting any money on it it would be ending Barnsley more than 1, Bolton 0

Yeah fair question. All part of the ‘philosophy’ innit.

He called for it, there was nobody in the screenshot when he received it, he then put his first touch about 5 paces ahead of him and took 3 weeks to catch up with it and try and turn a ball round the corner - any of Sheehan, Maghoma or Dempsey in that position and it’s still 0-0.

Anyone that says he can play at the base of the midfield - there’s why he can’t. Shite first touch, turns like a ship, can’t trust him with that pass into midfield with opposition nearby. Somehow losing yet another key game we have been the better team in.

There you go. He’s been off the pace since the first minute

He’s also having a stinker, not a good combination.

But he was good at it. Coleman with confidence is a great thing, as witnessed at Cambridge. Coleman with too much confidence is showing not to be. He came off his line 3 times at Blackpool when he didn’t need to. The one mentioned above was a free kick from the half way line, it was so far out from his goal that when he finally got close to it he realised it was outside the box and he had to try and head it! He also made some cracking saves and I thought he was alright with his feet (his long range distribution is better than Baxter and Trafford put together) just for balance. I wouldn’t mind him trying harder to be a bit more sensible tonight though, it doesn’t do much for the nerves.

Yeah good point. Doesn’t seem to be any mention of it anywhere in terms of timings so I suppose it’ll just be a case of let’s see who’s on the team sheet. If he is playing then I hope he’s looking a bit sharper than on Saturday!

When will we find out? Is it the same rule that’s currently allowing Evatt to be on the touchline - I.e if you’ve appealed and not yet had a decision then you’re free to play? (How long does it take to confirm Evatt’s charge by the way!!? Fucking useless the lot of them)

Bunch of fucking drama queens cause we lost at a place that we always have and always will lose 😀 Win 2-0 tomorrow, 4,200 whites serenading them off the pitch sitting in 2nd place and another 3 points to come from Cambridge at the weekend. Soon forget about that dogshit covered seaside town and our weird mental block up there.

Girls in the ticket office have a lot to answer for as to why we can’t win at Blackpool!

It’s a pen. Not having it that it’s a red card for being a nasty tackle though, one-footed and clearly trying to hook the ball and hence catching the guy with his laces rather than studs. I imagine the ref will have to state what the red was for, whether it was denying a clear goal scoring opportunity or dangerous tackle and that will determine how we appeal (and also length of ban because isn’t one 1 game and the other 3?) Either way, I think it gets rescinded because it’s a genuine attempt at playing the ball and isn’t a dangerous tackle.

But we’re the Barcelona of the league Tomski, obviously it will impact us more and that’s the only reason we lost 4-0 😏

You’re probably right mate, I just remember thinking at the time that Jones had fucked up which led to us being in the position where Bod was required to do his best impression of a right back. I might be being harsh on him, but regardless he got ripped a new one today.

Watching this rugby league game. They’re going to have to work miracles on the pitch in 3 days for it for it to be anything other than shit. Playing neat football through the middle of the pitch might not be the most advisable tactic

Geth was at fault for the 2nd and for the 3rd. He got done on the half way line which led to them getting in, Coleman having his 3rd rush of blood of the day and Santos trying to save the day. Not Geth’s best game for us, that’s for sure! Talking of shit. I’ve never had to dodge so much dog shit walking from the stadium back to the car. That walkway the first left out of the ground was covered in the stuff, and then even the pavements along the main roads had plenty on. Horrible place.

We have some proper whoppers that follow us. None of this “they’re at least 50% alright cause they support Bolton”, for some of them it’s just not true, absolutely braindead. It’s only when you do an away day sober that you really clock it. Certainly not saying that I expect everyone to be on their best behaviour but some of the shit that you see just doesn’t make sense to a normal person - and I’m not just talking about the 14 year olds ballooning about.

If you try and analyse that game sensibly you’ll tie yourself in knots. It says it all when pretty much our best player (Sheehan) was almost the worst player on the pitch - closely followed by our usually stronger right hand side. I’m not usually one for blaming refs because they’re usually just as shit for both sides, but this cunt was 100% a beneficial factor for them. It wasn’t just the big decisions either, someone else has mentioned it but every little niggle from us was given as a free kick whereas they were allowed to play on, it just stopped any momentum. Up until their goal I thought we’d started as well as any game this season. Obviously the goal but we had other chances as well, we looked to be carving them open. Then the big moment that swung it - a soft free kick but then something that we are just so shit at. FUCKING STAND ON IT, stand right next to the fucking ball and block any quick attempt to play it. We are so naive it’s unbelievable and it cost us, let them play it quickly, defence was half asleep and their lad pings one in the top corner because he slipped when he hit it. All so avoidable if you don’t make the stupid tackle (Sheehan) and then when the free kick is given you just have a bit of gamesmanship, like so many others in this league have. Less said about the rest of the game the better. It’s like they woke up and we shrank. They nailed their game plan and didn’t give us any time or space with either wing back, coupled with us just being poor all over the park. Even so, there are 2 point blank chances in the first half that would see us go in level and reset at half time, how we missed both I’ll never know but it just felt like a day where everything would go against us. Positives from a player perspective - CMG, starting to see just how good on the ball he is and Toal for me played well (albeit he was part of defence that conceded 4). Other positives - no damage done from the table perspective (other than Barnsley closing in). In terms of expected points dropped today, I’d say Pompey have dropped 2, Derby 1 and us probably 1 if we were being realistic. The Cambridge win means this game can be forgotten about if we win on Tuesday - we’d all have taken 6 points from those 3 away games. Just need to beat those twats on Tuesday now!

He should have got an extra game for a ridiculous appeal. He’s literally on camera whacking Iredale in the back of the head - what did he think the outcome would be?

I haven’t got much of a sample size but he was stood in front of me at Carlisle and I can’t say he didn’t anything to act like a clown, plenty round him were but other than just filming a few times he was just stood there watching like any other (whilst getting his ear chewed off by 50 year olds off their nut). Like I say, doesn’t mean he’s always like that but that was my experience of him.

Coleman JDC Jones Santos Iredale Ashworth Dempsey Sheehan GT Vic CMG I think that’s what I’d go with, although Ashworth and GT could easily be Ogbeta and Maghoma, I just thought they’d be better having a rest after Tuesday night and both could come back in against Wigan. God knows up front, you could make a case for any combination of those available. Think I’d prefer bod off the bench and I haven’t seen enough from Collins yet to suggest he should be starting ahead of CMG (and they’re very similar so probably not going to play alongside each other). 3-1 Whites - the curse is broken. Dempsey, CMG and a late Collins pen.

It was shite, strangely looked dry (the irony) and was therefore proper bobbly. I thought they all did really well with their first touch actually, plenty of times it was fired into them and they made it look easy on what was actually a poor surface. It also looked like they’d really shortened it from the amount of space behind the goal at our end - assume that’s for the full season, rather than just to reduce the space for us to play in a one off game.

Problem is, every game now starts to seem critical - especially with Pompey and Derby continuing to win. Whereas earlier in the season picking up a point would be a reasonable result, games like last night all feel like ‘must win’ now. I completely agree with your view of the first half. If CMG gets more on the follow up to Bod’s shot in the first 5 mins then it should be plain sailing. Likewise, if their goal doesn’t get a flukey deflection and we go in 0-0 then you’d be relatively happy and know they’re there for the taking. Unfortunately, because of our record (or lack of) for coming from a goal down it looked like we’d fucked it at half time and people will pick things to pieces because of the pressure on every win - which seemed unlikely at the time. I keep saying this but it will only get worse and worse as we get closer to the end of the season - rationality is going further and further out of the window. Nerves are going to be fucked, every goal conceded will feel like the end of the world, every half of football will be scrutinised and over exaggerated. As long as the team get the backing in the ground, as they did last night, then people letting off steam on a forum, no matter how irrational, is just going to have to be accepted to a certain degree.

No offence but that’s exactly why you’re not a football manager. Pushing Sheehan forward is an absolute no no, no other player can play that role, especially not GT (as proven earlier in the year). We don’t have a 10, so playing Collins in midfield would essentially give us 1 less midfielder and Sheehan and GT would be pulled all over the place! There will be changes but I can guarantee that Sheehan will play exactly where he has for the last 25 games and neither Collins nor CMG will be in midfield.

Massive 3 points - which is the most important thing. Unlike others, I don’t think we were that bad first half. If you go in 0-0, which we would have if it wasn’t for a flukey deflection, then you’d say it was ok for a first half and we never looked in any danger. Obviously we weren’t at our best but I’d say it was pretty average rather than poor. Second half we had intensity from the off and actually managed to keep the pressure up until we got the breakthrough, which I don’t think I’ve seen us do for so many ‘phases’ of play. We nearly scored 2 or 3 times just before that first goal and I just thought in classic Bolton fashion our chances were gone, but we wouldn’t let them out and looked like a team on a mission. The crowd were up and the team were feeding off it and you could see it coming - once we got one it was almost inevitable that a second was coming, we felt so dominant and it’s a sign of a good team. What a fucking pass by Sheehan though, and the finish wasn’t bad either! Some nervy moments in the last 10 but a makeshift defence stood firm. Fair play to all of them but especially Iredale who put in a massive shift and never took a backwards step in that last 10-15 minutes - especially considering Ogbetta next to him was basically playing with 1 leg! Coleman looked really assured with his actual keeping, and not too bad with the ball at feet to be fair - you could see he was absolutely buzzing with the reception he got at the start of the game - “he’s one of our own…” and he looked confident throughout. He was absolutely pumped at the end of the game in front of the fans too. Dempsey class - he never stops running but was also a lot better on the ball than he has been lately. Sheehan is a joke in these games. If you can’t mark him out of the game then he just controls everything - he was too good for them and as with other teams they just resorted to kicking him up in the air. Shoutout for Jones too. Typically steady and assured, it’s fucking good to have him back! Fans class, you could hear the relief at the end and you could see what a massive result it was for the players. Massive boost going into 2 massive away games - full belief we will win on Saturday and then let’s see what we can do at Wigan off the back of 2 big wins!