Northampton Town (A)

[Cheese]

22 minutes ago, Greg_BWFC said:

@gonzo, couple of good posts above, not sure where this best squad in the league thing comes from either, we do have good strength in depth and sometimes it seems we have better on the bench.

Can I turn a couple of things around though ?

How many teams have we battered ?

Appreciate I only mostly see the home games (did Burton which was dreadful), but I can't remember the last time I sat through injury time without a feeling of low level dread 😄.

I'm watching us struggle mightily against teams we're meant to be better than.

Teams coming at us hell for leather.

Why don't we do that ?

Get on the front foot a bit quicker, when we do, any team struggles to cope with us. 

Again, appreciate its easier to destroy than create, but we don't half play into other teams hands by playing it so slow.

All that said, we've had really shit luck with injuries (unbelievable tbh), and if we're still in touch when we get our main players back, we're plenty good enough to knock out the wins needed. 

And Evatt et al have worked wonders to get us where we are from when he started.

Really hope he can finish the job 🙏 

COYWM

Depends what you consider "battered", but going off the logic that Carlisle "battered" us at home, I'll assume it's winning by 2 goals or more.

Bolton Wanderers    3–0    Lincoln City    
Cheltenham Town    0–3    Bolton Wanderers    
Bolton Wanderers    3–1    Fleetwood Town    
Wycombe               2–4    Bolton Wanderers
Charlton Athletic    0–2    Bolton Wanderers
Shrewsbury Town    0–2    Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers    7–0    Exeter City
Fleetwood Town    0–2    Bolton Wanderers
Carlisle United    1–4    Bolton Wanderers

Obviously, you can also "batter" someone and only win by 1 goal, or not even win. That's just football.

Edited February 11 by Cheese

[Greg_BWFC]

6 minutes ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

If you had a feeling of low level dread in jury time when we were 7-0 up against Exeter City it might be time to pack it in 🙂

😁, ok, since then 😄

[Greg_BWFC]

3 minutes ago, Cheese said:

Depends what you consider "battered", but if Carlisle "battered" us at home, I'll assume it's winning by 2 goals or more.

Bolton Wanderers    3–0    Lincoln City    
Cheltenham Town    0–3    Bolton Wanderers    
Bolton Wanderers    3–1    Fleetwood Town    
Wycombe               2–4    Bolton Wanderers
Charlton Athletic    0–2    Bolton Wanderers
Shrewsbury Town    0–2    Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers    7–0    Exeter City
Fleetwood Town    0–2    Bolton Wanderers
Carlisle United    1–4    Bolton Wanderers

I did say I mostly see the home games mate.

I missed the Carlisle home game but from all accounts, they didn't batter us 🤷‍♂️

Edited February 11 by Greg_BWFC

[Rizlar]

IE will stick to his 3 at the back he believes in it and proof his in the pudding as they say! As for best squad in the league don’t see how people come to that decision I haven’t got a clue of other teams squads. 
As for GT he needs to give his head a wobble 6 games now he will have missed due to inability to tackle. 

[paulhanley]

In the cold light of day we've had shit luck with injuries and the defensive signings are all young and would take time to bed in irrespective of the circumstances. As others have intimated I think neutrals would look at that table and say we're currently likely to finish 2nd in this league. 

Alongside the injuries, what we have to overcome is a tough set of away fixtures against sides in and around us and two awkward derby games. 

I'm slightly encouraged by Derby's little slip-up at home to Shrewsbury yesterday. Slightly discouraged by Barnsley's form, all along I've seen them as the dark horses. I've given over trying to predict Peterborough they are as eccentric as hell as exemplified by what they did in last year's play offs. 

All is certainly not lost with two straight draws. We've two home games now. Aesthetics go out of the window. We need wins. Check back to our promotions seasons - 77/8, 92/3, 94/5, 96/7 00/01, 16/17 and 20/21. Lots of examples of hard fought narrow wins chiseled out of an otherwise pretty forgettable 90 mins. A collection of them will do nicely.

Edited February 11 by paulhanley

[Cheese]

1 minute ago, Greg_BWFC said:

I did say I mostly see the home games mate.

I know, that's why I included the Away's.

[Rizlar]

Injuries every team get them it’s football .

[Greg_BWFC]

1 minute ago, Cheese said:

I know, that's why I included the Away's.

👍

[radcliffe white]

Sure Portsmouth have had some bad luck with injuries 

[masi 51]

32 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Maghoma is a holding midfielder?

Crikey.

Played there for Wimbledon....Played both holding and attacking midfield at MK Dons

 

[gonzo]

1 minute ago, radcliffe white said:

Sure Portsmouth have had some bad luck with injuries 

They have their form was shot at for a bit.

We've at least managed to claw some points in amongst the madness.

[Roger_Dubuis]

I didn't know that centre backs who couldn't play in a back 4 had become a thing.You learn something every day.

[athywhite1958]

1 hour ago, tomski said:

Be interesting to see if we go to 4-4-2 when situations arise. I actually thought the 2 banks of 4 looked incredibly comfortable in their ‘new roles’

CMG looked excellent.

Iredale looked good as part of a 2 man cb.

Geth at RB.

Collins looks a menace on wing also.

 

Getting better each time he plays

[MickyD]

19 hours ago, Whitesince63 said:

How poor is this though, not even a shot yet and they’ve even got a sub keeper.

I’m another who hadn’t realised they’d subbed their keeper at half time. 

19 hours ago, Bryan458 said:

Shocking Ref Absolute homer!!! C@#s like him have no place in football 😠

Someone said he was a Wigan fan. Looked on Google for info and he comes from West Lancashire so it’s quite possible he could be but he could be a supporter of just about any other team as well.

I note that he’s also down to ref Oxford v Wigan on Tuesday. 
 

Added - Seems strange that he commenced reffing in Lancashire but refs two Lancashire teams in Northants and Oxford. Seems to be inviting accusations of bias.

Edited February 11 by MickyD
Added info

[tomski]

25 minutes ago, athywhite1958 said:

Getting better each time he plays

Agree mate. Think he’s decent

[Leyther_Matt]

Don’t forget to get your delay repay claims placed everyone. Especially if you were supposed to be 18:42 from Rugby to Wigan via Crewe as you’ll be entitled to a 100% refund 👍 

[Casino]

17 hours ago, desperado said:

Didn’t realise until @Casino’s mob started chanting Bolton reject to him 🤣

 

Hes my lads mate

I suspect one or two conversations will be had

[deeane Koontz]

40 minutes ago, Roger_Dubuis said:

I didn't know that centre backs who couldn't play in a back 4 had become a thing.You learn something every day.

Aye. If a centre back can't play in a back 4 they're either a geriatric or just shit.

[tomski]

Any idea what was said with Caleb Taylor at the end. Seemed to be having convo with the crowd. No idea if something up or he had some mates in crowd etc?

[Casino]

13 hours ago, DirtySanchez said:

AHM?

 

A bus?

Like fuck

[jeep]

1 minute ago, tomski said:

Any idea what was said with Caleb Taylor at the end. Seemed to be having convo with the crowd. No idea if something up or he had some mates in crowd etc?

He was talking to a bloke with a flag. See him at Walkden CC, so he may be one of the Wogden Whites? I don't think it was negative chat....

[jeep]

1 minute ago, Casino said:

A bus?

Like fuck

Looks like the little sprint from you when we scored backfired! You were walking back with a limp.....

[tomski]

Just now, jeep said:

He was talking to a bloke with a flag. See him at Walkden CC, so he may be one of the Wogden Whites? I don't think it was negative chat....

Spot on. Couldn’t work it out good or bad. Just hoped it wasn’t bad. Saw a chap at Stoke took a bit of flak from theirs at Blackburn 

[deeane Koontz]

1 minute ago, tomski said:

Any idea what was said with Caleb Taylor at the end. Seemed to be having convo with the crowd. No idea if something up or he had some mates in crowd etc?

Thought it was a 'are you having a pint' gesture.

[desperado]

4 hours ago, wanderer1984 said:

 

 

💦  🩲

 

I’m really hoping this is a cleverly constructed ironic post? 

Because it sums up the 4 -3-3 debate perfectly.

If I was playing FIFA or football manager which I did between the ages of 8-20, then going 4-3-3 would be exactly what I’d do. 

But in the real world, you (should) understand it’s not that simple and just because it works in a one-off unique circumstance, you can’t apply that formula to the next game.

I admit on paper and yesterday it looked good. But you’d be dismissing a whole host of factors - below only captures part of it. 

Our tactics/style of play/set-up;

- has had immense success over the last 3 seasons

- it’s what the squad are used to

- it plays to the strengths of a large part of our squad and players have been recruited accordingly (with variation on this like CMG)

- and a big one which seems to get overlooked by some (and Evatt/Markham have reiterated this on numerous occasions) the formation can be fluid in game-play and formations/rotations/fluidity, is part of the way we play.

Now if we come out with 4-3-3 Tuesday not only would I be extremely surprised but I’d accept I’ve got it wrong and my points above would be questionable.

But if as expected it’s back to normal then the above points have merit and while change of formations is a good debate, we shouldn’t be hearing the style of posts which claim “He should have done this” “I don’t understand why” “Did he not watch the 2nd half vs Northampton”

I’ve shied away from some of the IE isms of recent, I know they used to get trudged out and laughed off.

But it really is a case of trust the process. FV haven’t backed him, his staff, players and recruitment because they have doubts about his footballing decisions. They know he’s the right man. Just wish we had a few more fans who thought the same way.