Big one this  

First home game since the Doom 

5-0  is worth a £1

40 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Do folk reckon Evatt orders his players to start games really slow and pedestrian and not mark players on corners?

 

He could, theoretically, in which case all this bullshit about the tactics could turn out to be true at which point I’ll happily join in with the moaning about the manager.

But I would always have that nagging doubt about the fact that when the same players play the same tactics under the same manager - but at a higher tempo - it works.

Apart from not putting someone on the edge of the box for set pieces which has been my personal bugbear since Evatt arrived.

1 minute ago, paulhanley said:

About time we started showing it consistently then.

We do, and have done for the last 3 seasons.

5 minutes ago, Cheese said:

No shit. Currently we're a top end League 1 club, with top end League 1 players.

Fact check:

Currently we are a bottom half League 1 club.

And top end League 1 players don’t start games like they’ve already won it. If they want to be top players they should damn we’ll put the work in - every game.

46 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Do folk reckon Evatt orders his players to start games really slow and pedestrian and not mark players on corners?

In some form, yes.

He's the manager, head coach. He's, many times, boasted of the quality of his players and their control. He's mocked those of us who fail to appreciate the pitta-pat keeper to Santos, to full back to Santos, to Sheehan to Santos, to fullback, to keeper etc.,  etc.

He's the one who's devised this, purchased for it, coached on it. It's what he wants.

All well & good now & then. Not continuously, not without any clear intent to use it as a lever to break forward.

Regarding where players stand & how they defend corners .... absolutely. Do you not ?

14 minutes ago, paulhanley said:

If you want to get out of league 1 you need to be far better than those standard league 1 traits. We want to get out of league 1.

It's surprising but reading this message board it is clear that some Bolton supporters are happy enough for it to be a 3rd Division club.Mounts Kipper  posted that it was a good achievement for Evatt merely to reach the 3rd Division play offs.I guess you, like me, have higher expectations for the club and would sack a manager who loses 3rd Division play offs.Not everybody shares that view though

13 minutes ago, Wanderlust said:

Fact check:

Currently we are a bottom half League 1 club.

And top end League 1 players don’t start games like they’ve already won it. If they want to be top players they should damn we’ll put the work in - every game.

Touché, but you know what I mean.

5 minutes ago, Roger_Dubuis said:

It's surprising but reading this message board it is clear that some Bolton supporters are happy enough for it to be a 3rd Division club.Mounts Kipper  posted that it was a good achievement for Evatt merely to reach the 3rd Division play offs.I guess you, like me, have higher expectations for the club and would sack a manager who loses 3rd Division play offs.Not everybody shares that view though

I would like us to win every single game for the next 2 years, and get back in to the Premier League. Realism is not pessimism.

Edited October 7, 20241 yr by Cheese

 

19 minutes ago, Roger_Dubuis said:

It's surprising but reading this message board it is clear that some Bolton supporters are happy enough for it to be a 3rd Division club.Mounts Kipper  posted that it was a good achievement for Evatt merely to reach the 3rd Division play offs.I guess you, like me, have higher expectations for the club and would sack a manager who loses 3rd Division play offs.Not everybody shares that view though

Do you think you lot should change manager as well ? 
 

20 minutes ago, Roger_Dubuis said:

It's surprising but reading this message board it is clear that some Bolton supporters are happy enough for it to be a 3rd Division club.Mounts Kipper  posted that it was a good achievement for Evatt merely to reach the 3rd Division play offs.I guess you, like me, have higher expectations for the club and would sack a manager who loses 3rd Division play offs.Not everybody shares that view though

Yep. 

But you support United.

1 hour ago, Cheese said:

A few moonmen seem to reckon so.

It beggars belief that you think the players are supposed to mark at corners, you must be winding us up surely.

1 minute ago, Johnnyrotten said:

It beggars belief that you think the players are supposed to mark at corners, you must be winding us up surely.

Pardon?

3 minutes ago, paulhanley said:

Yep. 

But you support United.

I fund Bolton with a season ticket and want the club to do well. I wouldn't gve it money otherwise

We were never going to win every single game since our upturn in form.

We were always going to still play a possession based style of play which is always a hard watch against a low block and team set up to take a point and run.

I just don't get the big hysteria and need for micro analysis.

The managers going nowhere and we won't be turning into 90s Wimbledon anytime soon.

Just get on with it.

 

3 minutes ago, Cheese said:

Pardon?

I was referring to you saying a few moonmen seem to think that IE instructs his players not to mark players on corners.  He sets us up for zonal marking, not to mark players (as some other managers do too). 

I'm not referring to the starting games slowly bit which I agree he's not going to be asking for, that can happen without intention.

21 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

I was referring to you saying a few moonmen seem to think that IE instructs his players not to mark players on corners.  He sets us up for zonal marking, not to mark players (as some other managers do too). 

I'm not referring to the starting games slowly bit which I agree he's not going to be asking for, that can happen without intention.

I was discussing this with a neighbour earlier. 

If it is zonal, then what about the huge zone of around 12 yards, from the 6 yard line, to the edge of the box?

Obviously, a slight oversimplification, but you get my point- the second goal we conceded was remarkable. So many back, but so much space. 

Supposedly the players had been warned about their corners etc but didn't heed it.

Either way it's not good enough, and needs sorting rapidly. 

Zonal marking doesn't mean leave players completely unnaposed and not close down.

 

16 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

I was discussing this with a neighbour earlier. 

If it is zonal, then what about the huge zone of around 12 yards, from the 6 yard line, to the edge of the box?

Obviously, a slight oversimplification, but you get my point- the second goal we conceded was remarkable. So many back, but so much space. 

Supposedly the players had been warned about their corners etc but didn't heed it.

Either way it's not good enough, and needs sorting rapidly. 

It's a mix of zonal and man

11 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

I was discussing this with a neighbour earlier. 

If it is zonal, then what about the huge zone of around 12 yards, from the 6 yard line, to the edge of the box?

Obviously, a slight oversimplification, but you get my point- the second goal we conceded was remarkable. So many back, but so much space. 

Supposedly the players had been warned about their corners etc but didn't heed it.

Either way it's not good enough, and needs sorting rapidly. 

That zone isn't marked, is the simple answer. It will be done on statistical analysis i.e. the percentage chance of someone controlling a ball to the edge of the box and shooting well from distance before being closed down is low, so you're better off packing all the higher percentage scoring chances in the 6 yard area.

Just looks completely wrong to me though, and as has been said on the other thread, I'd bet it leads to more second and third phase goals because we don't have anyone covering the edge of the box, not just the goals scored directly from that area.

Anyway the proof is in how many we are conceding from them, needs a general re-think. 

1 hour ago, Cheese said:

 

It will cost him but I'm all for a bit of argie from the gaffer. Take your punishment but don't be sorry.

2 hours ago, Cheese said:

 

No doubt, of course, that the player said something to wind him up. Evatt has created his own reputation which makes him a sitting duck in scenarios like that. He’s failed, as I expected, to fully take responsibility and recognise that HE is the core issue. He simply needs to walk down the tunnel at full time and that’s the end of it.

He’s a pretty good football manager (despite what some say) but by God he lacks any ability to self reflect and accept fault. Genuinely baffles me. 

38 minutes ago, thebells said:

No doubt, of course, that the player said something to wind him up. Evatt has created his own reputation which makes him a sitting duck in scenarios like that. He’s failed, as I expected, to fully take responsibility and recognise that HE is the core issue. He simply needs to walk down the tunnel at full time and that’s the end of it.

He’s a pretty good football manager (despite what some say) but by God he lacks any ability to self reflect and accept fault. Genuinely baffles me. 

You see I like this flaw, if that's what you want to call it. It's like having a midfield nutcase who sails close to the wind every time he walks on to the pitch. I don't want someone who shakes hands with the opposition at full time and says well played and asks how the wife and kids are.

I'm disappointment that he's being contrite after the event. I wish he had said that he didn't regret what happened. 

The game needs more Warnocks.

Fuck me has have everyone gone soft or what?

We've spent decades eulogising over John McGinlay punching David Kelly in what was probably the most reckless action ever seen by a Bolton player. 

We've got the battle of Burnden, Andy Todd smashing Stan Collymore, Diouf spitting in folks faces.

Everybody loves Warnock and Jose having a go at refs, Souness planting flags in the ground etc etc.

Evatt shows a bit of emotion and confronts a player who was being a total shithouse and he's clearly lost the plot and all that caper.

What a bunch of soft arses. What happend to backs to the wall, us against them?

Someone needs to stop Evatt getting involved in shit. He’s not going anywhere so we need him on the sidelines 

2 hours ago, gonzo said:

Fuck me has have everyone gone soft or what?

We've spent decades eulogising over John McGinlay punching David Kelly in what was probably the most reckless action ever seen by a Bolton player. 

We've got the battle of Burnden, Andy Todd smashing Stan Collymore, Diouf spitting in folks faces.

Everybody loves Warnock and Jose having a go at refs, Souness planting flags in the ground etc etc.

Evatt shows a bit of emotion and confronts a player who was being a total shithouse and he's clearly lost the plot and all that caper.

What a bunch of soft arses. What happend to backs to the wall, us against them?

It's not a good look, a manager doing the rutting stags bit with a player, but arguably been magnified because it was at the end of the game, cameras under the noses of those involved etc. In reality it wasn't much different to many kick offs that happen round the technical area in a game, if a bad foul's happened in front of it, or if a manager's held onto the ball when a player wants to grab it to take a quick throw.

Modern day of social media and intrusive filming of what goes on at end of game have a lot to answer to, I always make a run for it as soon as whistle goes and only found out about it later that night. In those days gone by, of Todd, Battle of Burnden etc, we wouldn't have known much about it till the day after and the Sunday papers. 

Their shithousing was of pantomime proportions, right up with some of Cheltenham and Barnsley's from a couple of seasons back, thought we'd seen the back of it with tweaks to the rules last season. Ref did add that 8 mins on and didn't let trainer on a couple of times when they were playacting but could have been a lot quicker to dish out a few yellows for it. 

I was more concerned on Saturday with the lack of Evatt's 'passion' in the players when they crossed the line and kicked off, given Atherton's post match comment that they'd been sent out to start as they'd done in last few games. It's more of an issue for me that, as a group, they can hear such a team talk beforehand then walk out, have their little huddle, and do the opposite.