The Observer agrees with Jay on this one!

 

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/sport/story...2170172,00.html

 

"A cry from the Bolton fans of 'You don't know what you're doing' will have made unpleasant hearing for manager Sammy Lee as he continues to struggle to make the step up from being Sam Allardyce's assistant. They have only one victory to their name this season and already their position in the bottom three is beginning to have a look of permanency about it. Even so early, this match had the feeling of a struggle between two sides who will spend the season looking down rather than up. Birmingham can, at least for now, breathe slightly easier following their first home win of the season which catapulted them briefly into mid-table."

 

"As the Bolton fans expressed their lack of confidence in Lee's substitutions, Birmingham twice came close to rubbing salt into the wounds, Larsson hitting the bar from a free-kick in the 74th minute and then Johan Djourou having a header cleared off the line five minutes later."

For me there are 4 positives from this match.

 

1. Our crowd was very good and the atmosphere was decent considering the sh1te we were watching on the pitch.

 

2. Braaten looked very good when he came on and did more in those 20 or however many minutes than anybody else had done in the whole match, and he was unlucky to have been denied one of the goals of the season by a great tackle by Kelly.

 

3. Ricardo coming back just as Samuel looks to have picked up a bad injury.

 

4. It can't get any worse, or can it?

 

Oh and Nicky Hunt had a good game again, and he wasn't at fault for the goal.

 

 

Apart from that the rest of the day was sh1t.

 

It was the worst I have seen Bolton play since the division 1 days. We got outplayed by a very poor side who will probably go down.

 

The midfield needs sorting, Nolan needs dropping, I was watching him in the warm up and he seems to put in a lot of effort and he was firing in some goals, but then in the match I didn't see him until the second half.

 

I have always said I would give Lee time, but for me he should go now.

 

He hasn't got the balls to drop his captain, he is to stubborn to play Campo, and he obviously hasn't got a clue with tactics as he uss his last substitution to replace a defender with a defender when we are chasing a game. It also looked to me like the players had lost all confidence in him.

I was at the match yesterday and we looked utterly clueless. Our midfield were running around like headless chickens and achieving very little.

 

I think the chants to Nolan and Little Sam were entirely justified (especially having instigated 'You don't know what you're doing')

 

That midfield is crying out for a player like Andranik, so where the hell is he?? Same goes for Campo. Those 2 would bring much needed energy and flair, and hopefully some bloody enthusiasm!

 

I'd love Sammy Lee to explain why he brought Cid on instead of Davies and pushing for an equaliser.O'Brien was injured? So what? At 1-0 down with 10 minutes to go you're SUPPOSED to take a defender off for a forward.

 

Only 2 good things came out of yesterday:

1) good away crowd (cheap seats are always a draw!)

2) Nicky 'Football Genius' Hunt

He must go now or after the inevitable defeat to Spurs. Because after that the games against Fulham, Derby, Rabotnicki and Chelsea could provide some sort of false dawn, with possibly two or three wins and a battling display against Chelsea. That would convince everyone to give him a longer run, and seal our fate at the same time.

 

He clearly hasn't got the required qualities to be a manager. For me the following fundamental deficiencies stand out:

 

He absolved resoponsibilities for transfers and recruitment straight away. A leader of a group of men should surely want to know as much as possible about recruits asap - transfer negotiations can tell a lot about a players real motives and qualities and whether they will fit in with the existing group.

 

Linked to the above, his decisions in the transfer window, particularly around the defensive part of the team. Just bacause he became an international at 5ft 3 ins, does not mean you can be a successful premiership side without big strong athletic players. Gambling on Cid making a premiership centre half without any experience was folly.

 

His early declaration to play entertaining football, and subsequent kamikaze attempt at winning the first three games. The realisation that this particular dream wasn't reality resulted in the inept display yesterday where we sacrificed all attacking fluency in an attempt to shore up our porous defence.

 

His media interviews are terrible. He looks scared, troubled and offers no insight into how he plans to win games or develop the team through the season.

 

His substitutions have contributed to us losing to Everton where putting on Davies for McCann and them introducing Gravesen totally changed the game in their favour. Against Portsmouth we ended up with half a team of forwards but no one knew what they were doing. Yesterday, with O'Brien apparently injured, why not throw Davies on. Brum had handled Anelka all day so we needed something different up front. We may as well have lost 2-0 and gone for it. Putting Cid on increases the chances of them winning 2-0 or more anyway.

 

There have been few positives. I assume he played a part in securing Anelka and we looked good against a poor Reading side, but that is it.

 

Whoever comes in will have a difficult job. Not only are we rooted to the relegation area, I don't see a solution to the leaky defence with the personnel we have. We need to give the new guy time and patience and not expect results to turn around quickly. The January TW will be crucial.

I was at the match yesterday and we looked utterly clueless. Our midfield were running around like headless chickens and achieving very little.

 

That midfield is crying out for a player like Andranik, so where the hell is he??

 

I'd love Sammy Lee to explain why he brought Cid on instead of Davies and pushing for an equaliser.O'Brien was injured? So what? At 1-0 down with 10 minutes to go you're SUPPOSED to take a defender off for a forward.

 

A couple of points; if there is one player at the club with headless chicken tendancies it is Andranik. The defence obviously needs more support from the midfield and there's not many better than Campo at that role. Secondly Lee has explained that O'Brien was injured and that was subbed to prevent making the injury worse.

A couple of points; if there is one player at the club with headless chicken tendancies it is Andranik.

 

Admitted, he runs about a lot but he puts in tackles, plays some nice balls and scores goals. Also he looks bothered, unlike most of the team yesterday

. Secondly Lee has explained that O'Brien was injured and that was subbed to prevent making the injury worse.

I know that...but why not bring on Davies for O'Brien?? that was my point

Yesterday was the turning point in my support for Sammy Lee.

 

2 weeks ago, I was thrilled as we tried to play football and attack a very good Everton side. Sure, the results have been poor, but I had every faith in the attacking brand of football bearing fruit.

 

Yesterday, with 1 up front in isolation, a back 4 who have no idea who they are meant to be marking, and a midfield slower than a bunch of snails, I think that Sammy Lee has buckled under the pressure and resorted to the old Fat Sam hit and hoof tactics.

 

To bring on Cid instead of Davies was a schoolboy error. Would love to hear his reasons for this, and the positives he always seems to find.

 

The Bolton fans made good noise, but the passion did not rub off on a number of the boys on the pitch.

 

Some fans were having a go at Anelka for 'not showing interest'. Well, when up front on his own, dealing with hoof long balls, I would be pissed off too.

 

Jussi 6 - Some good saves, the tip over from McSheffrey's shot was sensational. Think he made a mess of the goal though.

 

Hunt 7 - Best defender on the pitch for us

 

Samuel 5 - Injury may be a blessing in disguise. He has no positional sense what so ever

 

Meite 5 - Was he this bad last season? Unable to man mark anybody on set pieces

 

O'Brien 6 - The only one who seems capable of organising the back 4

 

Nolan 2 - Offers nothing yet again. He looks fat, and is 5 yards off everything that passes him by

 

Speed 6 - Few good tackles but part of the ineffective middle 4

 

McCann 5 - Didn't get involved in much

 

Alonso 4 - Did he touch the ball? Waste of a position

 

Diouf 4 - Easily his worst game for us. Had more of the ball than any other BWFC player, yet his crossing/corners hit the first man or the keeper every time

 

Anelka 5 - Poor but what else do you expect when we just hoof long balls up to him

 

 

Braten did ok when he came on, but he really must learn to try to go round the defenders instead of through them

 

Cid ha ha. The near post flick on header that went straight up in the air sums up this statuette defender

 

Ricardo did ok, let's hope he is back to his best this time

Yesterday was the turning point in my support for Sammy Lee.

 

I'm afraid to say I agree with you; I thought there had pretty much improvement in every game, but that was dreadful - the body language of the players was awful (none more than even Gary Speed) - they don't appear to have confidence in the tactics etc, which is the odd thing seeing as Lee is supposedly an excellent coach.

 

I'd backed Lee until now, but I've seen enough to say we need a change ASAP - the squad is surely good enough, but we need a spark from outside the club to get them going again.

He was one of the favourites for the sack before the season even started.

The bookies rarely get things wrong.

and his robotic quote of "as i said before" is beginning to piss me off now

oh, do come on

 

allardyce was a fcuking embarrassment behind a mic

 

i'm not getting into judging managers by how they deal with the media

it was hunt fault for the fukcin goal! how can he be the best defender on the pitch!

 

i fukcin dispair, i really do!

it was hunt fault for the fukcin goal! how can he be the best defender on the pitch!

 

i fukcin dispair, i really do!

 

Sorry, but you are talking utter shite as per usual.

 

Watch the goal, in slow motion; Samuel lets the cross come in too easily but both the centre backs have a man, Hunt is covering the player with blonde hair who moves into space hoping for a rebound - yes Hunt let him go. However, he was never marking the goal scorer, he was O'Brien's man all the way. O'Brien left him, completely misreading the flight of the ball I assume. Samuel and O'Brien take all the blame for me.

Sorry, but you are talking utter shite as per usual.

 

Watch the goal, in slow motion; Samuel lets the cross come in too easily but both the centre backs have a man, Hunt is covering the player with blonde hair who moves into space hoping for a rebound - yes Hunt let him go. However, he was never marking the goal scorer, he was O'Brien's man all the way. O'Brien left him, completely misreading the flight of the ball I assume. Samuel and O'Brien take all the blame for me.

Totally agree, it wasn't Nicky's responsibility to stop Kapo.

as ive read on here, i was of the opinion to give the man ten games then judge but as each game goes by i dont see anything improving at all (im not using the word positive cause im sick of that word!!) i am starting to jump on the bandwagon that he has to go and go now. we have a squad at this football club that can quite comfortably IMO finish mid table, with the right manager and a couple of astute january buys we could kick on again.

 

yes it does all sound easy in theory but its staring everybody in the face that LSL is out of his depth. PG has to be man enough to accept he made the wrong decision and start looking who will come to our football club as mext manager.

LSL has to go before it's too late, if you're second bottom by november your in for a relegation fight. It's that desperate I'd have phil brown in.

Also the board have to take some blame. Everyone spent money in the summer barring us and Reading and look where we both are now. it should have been a case of your the new manager, heres my backing to bring in some quality players to suit your new ideas and style of play.

Must admit I thought the team was making positive strides with each game they played.

Then there was this.

It was bloody awful and we could have lost by 3 or 4.

The only players that came out with any credit for me were Diouf, O Brien, Hunt and

Speed.

Gardener showed a few positive signs also.

Make no mistake - Birmingham were a POOR team and will be down there.

We need at least 4 points from Spurs and Derby otherwise I feel LSL has to go.

 

On this sort of form we can't rely on taking a few points from the top teams. We have to beat

the teams that will be near the bottom.

However, we have now already lost to Fulham and Birmingham who both look destined to suffer.

 

Batten down the hatches and prepare for a long slog.

 

 

(lets all make the most of thursday, get wasted, get behind them and hopefully it might

kick start the season)