Stevenage (A)

[Johnnyrotten]

50 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Don't think it will remain the tactic going forward. 

Neither do I.  All those goals/games won relatively early last season:  Away at Cheltenham, Reading, P Vale, Charlton, Fleetwood, Posh, Barnsley.  Home v Derby, Stevenage, Northampton, Orient.  Compared to just 2 goals after the 50th minute (Exeter H, Burton A).

This season hat-trick v Reading and goal at Orient 1st half, and yes 2 welcome late goals but in games that were already won effectively.

No problem with mixing things up between 4 strikers to rotate/rest etc, but Charles is a big player especially away from home, he should start most games - just not as a lone striker!

[desperado]

10 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

he should start most games

Well…. It’s a debate, but not one you can categorically claim should happen.

I thought he should have started tonight, but I was wrong.

[victor meldrew]

It’s the hope that kills you

[London Wanderer]

He’s shown he is capable of turning things around for me. Delighted he’s proving me wrong.

All about winning some of the big games against the likes of Stockport, Blackpool & Wigan. If we can grind out some results there then the faith may return. 

[Johnnyrotten]

37 minutes ago, desperado said:

Fantastic that tonight.

Compare that to last years horrific game, then you can conclude we are learning and getting better.

I was very critical after Birmingham. I hope others who were, like me, can acknowledge how good a response that is, coming back with 2 wins.

Evatt could have been on to another hiding choosing not to play Charles tonight. Both him and @Casino called it right 😊👏👏👏

What are those train times to Walsall 😊

Yes another great midweek away performance (I'm ignoring last week as I wasn't in the country!).

Just playing devil's advocate, but we won that game at a canter, are you saying if Charles had started we might not have won?  The team selection is what it is but our squad is good enough to win games like that, its not always a right and wrong answer - Collins could have been rested and we still win that game.  But I would be hoping Charles would be starting in the tougher games that are coming up, simply because of his goalscoring record and pace, compared to most others.

[ianofcleveleys]

Great performance, much more ruthless in front of goal, solid in our defending, all in all a top night's work. 

Front three worked well again, as did Sheehan and Matete behind them. McAtee really good, lots of energy and graft but lots of quality too when finding those little bits of space just off the front. 

Shame for Toal, hopefully not too bad, but Forrester reminded us he was looking a very decent defender when he got that untimely injury last season. 

Charles burned off plenty of pent up energy in his cameo, good goal though their keeper poor on it. While that front three from Sat and tonight performs as well as it has though it's a role he might have to put up with for a week or two. 

[Big E]

Very happy again tonight long may it continue

[desperado]

5 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Just playing devil's advocate, but we won that game at a canter, are you saying if Charles had started we might not have won? 

No I’m saying I thought our best chance of winning that game was with Charles starting. I was wrong, there were other ways of winning that game tonight.

And maybe, as casino pointed out earlier, Vic playing brings the best out of that formation. You certainly can’t argue against that tonight. 

[Lostock Whites]

Upcoming games against Stockport, Rotherham and Blackpool will really show what this side is about.

We always think about ourselves as but the rest of this league is really poor.

Bar Birmingham there is no team we should really not be capable of finishing above this season. That 2nd spot is up for grabs.

Edited October 29 by Lostock Whites

[Dr. Feelgood]

Good stuff. I'm one of Evatt's biggest critics but 4-1 away is all that could be asked. Keep that up & I'll be looking silly. ... & I won't care.

[Farrelli]

21 minutes ago, Lostock Whites said:

Upcoming games against Stockport, Rotherham and Blackpool will really show what this side is about.

We always think about ourselves as but the rest of this league is really poor.

Bar Birmingham there is no team we should really not be capable of finishing above this season. That 2nd spot is up for grabs.

I was thinking the same about upcoming games but full credit to Evatt and the players for the post Birmingham response. They have played well last two games. 

[Cheese]

 

[Leyther_Matt]

Not long since back. Pleasure to spend the evening with @DirtySanchez as always and good for a post match pint with Tomski

Great result. Shame about their goal, especially as I had Bolton to win to nil & Charles any time! Got exactly what we deserved and hopefully a good starting block going to Walsall and most importantly Stockport.

Santos outstanding again and Charles in danger of playing himself back in to a super sub role.

Roll on Saturday. 

[tomski]

Let’s just keep winning. This is the gig when you make a slow start. It’s doable. 

Mcatee is the most Bolton player we’ve had for years. Please change the song to Mcateers though as it makes far more sense and is better
 

[gonzo]

5 hours ago, tomski said:

Let’s just keep winning. This is the gig when you make a slow start. It’s doable. 

Mcatee is the most Bolton player we’ve had for years. Please change the song to Mcateers though as it makes far more sense and is better
 

He's bloody ace. 

[masi 51]

Anybody else putting Santos good form down to a change in keeper.  I think Baxter is top notch and amongst the best in the division and is all round a better keeper than Southwood.

Southwood does not play soft balls out to Santos like Baxter and in turn forces Santos into errors that have cost us goals

This also applies to Sheehan.

Is it a coincidence that Both Santos and Sheehan has improved since Baxters injury

[gonzo]

I'm hoping it's more of a directive from the coach. There were a few times Southwood ushered our players out last night.

There was no, slow, ponderous taking too many touches etc.

Great to see. Tempo is the key.

[barrycowdrill]

7 hours ago, Lostock Whites said:

Upcoming games against Stockport, Rotherham and Blackpool will really show what this side is about.

We always think about ourselves as but the rest of this league is really poor.

Bar Birmingham there is no team we should really not be capable of finishing above this season. That 2nd spot is up for grabs.

Absolutely. 
 

whilst the league is more open the standard is lower in my eyes. All of the early season favourites are yet to do anything that backs up that claim (aside from Birmingham) 

yes we have won 6 of 8 but on paper we would’ve expected us to do that. Particularly if we expect to go up. It’s whether we can now elevate our results against the teams challenging and our nemesis teams. 
 

that will be the true indicator as to whether the gaffer and the team have really turned a corner 

[CambridgeBWFC]

43 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

Anybody else putting Santos good form down to a change in keeper.  I think Baxter is top notch and amongst the best in the division and is all round a better keeper than Southwood.

Southwood does not play soft balls out to Santos like Baxter and in turn forces Santos into errors that have cost us goals

This also applies to Sheehan.

Is it a coincidence that Both Santos and Sheehan has improved since Baxters injury

I think in general Southwood has better distribution than Baxter. You also notice him talking with his defence more, something you don't see Baxter obviously do. But yes those suicide balls are not happening as often, and we seem much calmer passing it around the back.

[Whitesince63]

14 minutes ago, CambridgeBWFC said:

I think in general Southwood has better distribution than Baxter. You also notice him talking with his defence more, something you don't see Baxter obviously do. But yes those suicide balls are not happening as often, and we seem much calmer passing it around the back.

Agree. Don’t know him but Baxter always seems a bit of a misery and I think he’ll be off in either January or the summer when his contracts up. I was doubtful about Southwood initially but he’s impressed in the last few games both with his saves and integration with the defence.

[ianofcleveleys]

55 minutes ago, barrycowdrill said:

Absolutely. 
 

whilst the league is more open the standard is lower in my eyes. All of the early season favourites are yet to do anything that backs up that claim (aside from Birmingham) 

yes we have won 6 of 8 but on paper we would’ve expected us to do that. Particularly if we expect to go up. It’s whether we can now elevate our results against the teams challenging and our nemesis teams. 
 

that will be the true indicator as to whether the gaffer and the team have really turned a corner 

This might come back to bite me on the arse but I'm not sure that a couple of those nemesis teams (Blackpool and Wigan) are as good this season. Stockport could be a trickier proposition. 

[Eddie]

9 minutes ago, ianofcleveleys said:

This might come back to bite me on the arse but I'm not sure that a couple of those nemesis teams (Blackpool and Wigan) are as good this season. Stockport could be a trickier proposition. 

Neither of them were any good last season and we got 3 points from the 4 games.

I don’t think any of Wigan, Blackpool, Stockport or Wrexham are as good as us, but we need to learn to play an occasion because you can guarantee that all 8 of those games will seem like different games to Crawley and Stevenage away.

Crack it and I’m starting to think we can do it. It’s a big question though that we’ll soon get some answers to.

[Wanderlust]

6 minutes ago, ianofcleveleys said:

This might come back to bite me on the arse but I'm not sure that a couple of those nemesis teams (Blackpool and Wigan) are as good this season. Stockport could be a trickier proposition. 

Dangerous thinking that. Despite all the rhetoric earlier in this thread, any team in this league can turn us over if we don’t perform - and the “nemesis” teams will be especially up for it.

Last night was an excellent performance but it was built on a work rate and a level of defensive coordination and discipline that has been missing at times earlier in the season. Our players have the ability, but that alone is nowhere near enough to win consistently as we need to do to have any chance of going up. Their heads were in the right place last night and that needs to happen every game.

On the Dion thing: I can’t understand folk saying he should start when he is so effective against tired legs. Collins, Vic and McAtee ran their socks off set the stage for his entrance and he should be grateful for that. Dion is too good an instinctive finisher to be used as a workhorse IMO.

[bolty58]

9 hours ago, Big E said:

Very happy again tonight long may it continue

Says everything I wanted to say.

[Stig]

9 hours ago, London Wanderer said:

He’s shown he is capable of turning things around for me. Delighted he’s proving me wrong.

All about winning some of the big games against the likes of Stockport, Blackpool & Wigan. If we can grind out some results there then the faith may return. 

Start winning these big games coming up and I'll start to believe again. 3 years of bottling it has left me too scarred to get overly excited about these wins against the poorer teams in the division (Peterborough excepted).

That said 6 wins in 8 and performances on the last 2 starting to come good also is not to be sniffed at. Critical tests coming up