Stevenage (A)

[bolty58]

8 hours ago, Dr. Feelgood said:

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.

Wouldn't say I was one of his biggest critics but doubted his pyskological state for a while there. I hoped for the best and it seems that we are now starting to get it (without getting too carried away just yet).

[barrycowdrill]

26 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. 

I definitely thought that watching them both the other night. But as is often the case it’s more about how we perform. I’ve said it before that one of the main issues for me in those games is that we treat them as just another game. They, Wigan in particular don’t. So we come unstuck. 

[woolli]

10 hours ago, masi 51 said:

get our b team out...............Rest everybody unless any of the injured players are back and need mins

 

Saturday does not matter

Every Bolton game matters!

[masi 51]

11 minutes ago, woolli said:

Every Bolton game matters!

Not now we are down to our bare bones......Really should rest  Santos, Johnston, Cogley, Schon , Sheehan and Matete at a minimum

[Johnnyrotten]

10 hours ago, desperado said:

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. 

Agreed on that.  We are simply a better team than them and maybe we (me especially) get a bit rapped up in who should start/come on/what formation.  When we're playing bottom half teams for eg we've got the quality on most occasions to mean all that isn't too important.

[Johnnyrotten]

10 hours ago, desperado said:

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.

You weren't wrong IMO - if he'd started, we would have won, it would have been the right selection.  He didn't start, we won, and that was still the right selection for this game.

[gonzo]

The days of the starting 11 being the be all and end all are long gone. Especially with 5 subs.

Different players for different parts of the game.

Nobody can deny Dion fades during a game, which is understandable given the amount of running he puts in, the lads a joy to watch.

If it's better to have him absolutely bang at it for the last half hour rather the first half and fading in the 2nd then so be it. Either way the lad can rarely do a full 90.

All about utilising his, and others potential.

There's no better impact sub in this division. You'd be fucking wounded as a defender seeing him come on.

He will probably start next league game if the situation suits. Horses for courses.

Thank God we have the best front 4 in the division collectively. Any one of them is worth a start.

[Ani]

1 hour ago, woolli said:

Every Bolton game matters!

But some matter more than others. 
 

It is the Animal Farm of football. 
 

I am in the Midlands Friday and was thinking of staying down for the game, but can not be arsed. If it was a League game I would definitely go. 

[DazBob]

1 hour ago, woolli said:

Every Bolton game matters!

BGM

[Greg_BWFC]

2 hours ago, Eddie said:

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.

Exactly this.

We need to start treating these games as our cup finals.

I think we have better players but need to match their effort.

Like last night which was mostly excellent throughout.

[Greg_BWFC]

18 minutes ago, gonzo said:

The days of the starting 11 being the be all and end all are long gone. Especially with 5 subs.

Different players for different parts of the game.

Nobody can deny Dion fades during a game, which is understandable given the amount of running he puts in, the lads a joy to watch.

If it's better to have him absolutely bang at it for the last half hour rather the first half and fading in the 2nd then so be it. Either way the lad can rarely do a full 90.

All about utilising his, and others potential.

There's no better impact sub in this division. You'd be fucking wounded as a defender seeing him come on.

He will probably start next league game if the situation suits. Horses for courses.

Thank God we have the best front 4 in the division collectively. Any one of them is worth a start.

Didn't Fat Sam do this a fair bit with Ricketts when he first signed.

Seem to remember him coming on and bagging regularly. 

[Ani]

It is crazy to think 3 weeks ago if you suggested a fully fit Captain Legohead and Dempsey might struggle to get back in the team everyone, me included, would have called you crazy, but who would you drop ? 
 

Regarding Dion, his impact as a sub has been great last 2 games and despite Big Vic scoring I think DC gives something extra when he starts. 
 

Beating Stevenage and Peterborough away, both of whom were top 7 or 8 most of last season is great, but time to keep feet on the ground both are looking like mid table at best this season. The lad who scored 18 league goals for Stevenage last year has 0 this and Peterborough struggle to keep clean sheets. 

[Leyther_Matt]

Just now, Ani said:

It is crazy to think 3 weeks ago if you suggested a fully fit Captain Legohead and Dempsey might struggle to get back in the team everyone, me included, would have called you crazy, but who would you drop ? 
 

Regarding Dion, his impact as a sub has been great last 2 games and despite Big Vic scoring I think DC gives something extra when he starts. 
 

Beating Stevenage and Peterborough away, both of whom were top 7 or 8 most of last season is great, but time to keep feet on the ground both are looking like mid table at best this season. The lad who scored 18 league goals for Stevenage last year has 0 this and Peterborough struggle to keep clean sheets. 

Where were you on Saturday? 😊 

[Stig]

47 minutes ago, gonzo said:

The days of the starting 11 being the be all and end all are long gone. Especially with 5 subs.

Different players for different parts of the game.

Nobody can deny Dion fades during a game, which is understandable given the amount of running he puts in, the lads a joy to watch.

If it's better to have him absolutely bang at it for the last half hour rather the first half and fading in the 2nd then so be it. Either way the lad can rarely do a full 90.

All about utilising his, and others potential.

There's no better impact sub in this division. You'd be fucking wounded as a defender seeing him come on.

He will probably start next league game if the situation suits. Horses for courses.

Thank God we have the best front 4 in the division collectively. Any one of them is worth a start.

The only thing we should never do again is start him up front by himself

[DazBob]

Great win.  Absolute chalk and cheese versus our game there last season.

Santos is back to his best again and dominating strikers.  Matete has been excellent these last couple of games.  I also thought Forrester did really well when he came on and that'll do him the world of good after Birmingham.  We'll be needing him for a few games if Toal's hamstring is as bad as it looked to be last night.

After all the doom and gloom recently, the league table is looking a lot healthier now.

Hopefully we push on now and keep up this run of form.  Stockport away, as depressing as this feels as I type it, is absolutely huge for us.  After our no-show at Birmingham, this is a game that gives us a chance to put a marker down and rid ourselves of the tag of not showing up in the important games.

[Rival Son]

If we’re sticking to Dion as an impact sub - which I don’t agree with - then the auto switch at 70 minutes has to change. He’s too good to only use for 20 minutes.

[peebles]

Do we get that result / performance if we didn't bundle it in Saturday?

We'll never know but I doubt it. 

Fine margins etc but were getting going now confidence wise.

Like Dion off the bench but I'm sure he doesn't. Works for me though.

[Ani]

1 hour ago, Leyther_Matt said:

Where were you on Saturday? 😊 

I live in Leeds, every game is an away game 😂👍😀👍😘

[Gonk]

DC played in both NI Games during the International break, one as sub, one starting - this may well have some bearing on him not starting to not burn him out

[Johnnyrotten]

5 hours ago, masi 51 said:

Not now we are down to our bare bones......Really should rest  Santos, Johnston, Cogley, Schon , Sheehan and Matete at a minimum

I've no problem with rotating the team with most of the changes you suggest.  But we do only have 2 league games in the whole of November.  On Monday I'd hope we are still in the FA Cup and looking forward to the 2nd round draw, and that we haven't handed a win to them.  I don't think we will, IE usually plays strong teams in the cups, they are all getting enough "rest" in November surely.

[Johnnyrotten]

7 hours ago, Wanderlust said:

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.

I think he's effective against fresh legs too!  Which of our strikers don't play better when coming on as a 2nd half sub?

I don't have strong feelings on it, happy with the rotation and picking up wins, but if its a play off game or a promotion 6 pointer I'd still want him starting as a general rule.  Mainly because he has a habit of scoring first half goals, especially away, and we nearly always win those games.  

[desperado]

46 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

But we do only have 2 league games in the whole of November

It’s 3

Stockport, Blackpool and  Cambridge 

[Eddie]

13 minutes ago, desperado said:

It’s 3

Stockport, Blackpool and  Cambridge 

Is Rotherham definitely moving? Pretty sure it’s been mentioned on here, but I wasn’t sure whether it was confirmed or just expected to be.

[desperado]

4 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Is Rotherham definitely moving? Pretty sure it’s been mentioned on here, but I wasn’t sure whether it was confirmed or just expected to be.

In the extremely likely and expected to be category.

[Ratwhite]

6 hours ago, gonzo said:

The days of the starting 11 being the be all and end all are long gone. Especially with 5 subs.

Different players for different parts of the game.

Nobody can deny Dion fades during a game, which is understandable given the amount of running he puts in, the lads a joy to watch.

If it's better to have him absolutely bang at it for the last half hour rather the first half and fading in the 2nd then so be it. Either way the lad can rarely do a full 90.

All about utilising his, and others potential.

There's no better impact sub in this division. You'd be fucking wounded as a defender seeing him come on.

He will probably start next league game if the situation suits. Horses for courses.

Thank God we have the best front 4 in the division collectively. Any one of them is worth a start.

This -  with big ringing bells on