MY first trip to Craven Cottage was in August 2004.
As usual away at Fulham, we lost, but there was a ray of hope. One of the greats of modern European football made his Wanderers debut.
Even though he only played a season with us, Fernando Hierro is probably my favourite ever Wanderers player.
He brought experience, prestige and a passing ability as good as anyone in world football.
He was, of course, the latest in an impressive line of foreign stars brought to the club by Sam Allardyce.
And the one thing the likes of Hierro, Campo, Okocha and Djorkaeff had in common was class. They were comfortable with a football at their feet.
As I watched Saturday?s meek surrender I pined for just one of those players to inject some joy into the experience. When did creativity become such a dirty word at Bolton?
On Saturday it was clear as soon as we saw the teamsheet that the manager didn?t want to see any creativity from his team.
Instead, he relied on graft, grit and ?putting in a good shift? (whatever that actually means).
A team that involves Joey O?Brien, Nolan, Muamba and McCann will not create and score goals.
Was it 4-4-2? Was it 4-5-1? In either case, players were out of position.
The fact that the fans were shouting for Riga from about 20 minutes into the game shows what the vast majority thought of the stale and rigid starting 11.
Why a creative midfielder wasn?t signed during the window is beyond me, and Megson must realise that Saturday?s starting team will get us relegated.
Not even Elmander will save us if he has no service.
This team is desperate for a spark, and if the likes of Riga and Smolarek are to provide it, they need to start and we must sacrifice two of the defensive midfielders.
The fact is that Megson doesn?t think there?s an issue ? this was proved at half-time on Saturday when he chased down the referee and angrily confronted him.
Incidentally, the ref should have given two penalties against us and allowed the goal to stand when a foul was wrongly given in favour of Jaaskelainen.
Instead of looking at himself and his woeful selection, he blamed the referee.
The only players to get any credit are Jaaskelainen, Samuel, Davies and Gardner ? and four players performing isn?t good enough.
B.E.N. Think its spot on.
Creativity has become a dirty word
2:40pm Monday 15th September 2008
By Staff Sports Reporter ?
MY first trip to Craven Cottage was in August 2004.
As usual away at Fulham, we lost, but there was a ray of hope. One of the greats of modern European football made his Wanderers debut.
Even though he only played a season with us, Fernando Hierro is probably my favourite ever Wanderers player.
He brought experience, prestige and a passing ability as good as anyone in world football.
He was, of course, the latest in an impressive line of foreign stars brought to the club by Sam Allardyce.
And the one thing the likes of Hierro, Campo, Okocha and Djorkaeff had in common was class. They were comfortable with a football at their feet.
As I watched Saturday?s meek surrender I pined for just one of those players to inject some joy into the experience. When did creativity become such a dirty word at Bolton?
On Saturday it was clear as soon as we saw the teamsheet that the manager didn?t want to see any creativity from his team.
Instead, he relied on graft, grit and ?putting in a good shift? (whatever that actually means).
A team that involves Joey O?Brien, Nolan, Muamba and McCann will not create and score goals.
Was it 4-4-2? Was it 4-5-1? In either case, players were out of position.
The fact that the fans were shouting for Riga from about 20 minutes into the game shows what the vast majority thought of the stale and rigid starting 11.
Why a creative midfielder wasn?t signed during the window is beyond me, and Megson must realise that Saturday?s starting team will get us relegated.
Not even Elmander will save us if he has no service.
This team is desperate for a spark, and if the likes of Riga and Smolarek are to provide it, they need to start and we must sacrifice two of the defensive midfielders.
The fact is that Megson doesn?t think there?s an issue ? this was proved at half-time on Saturday when he chased down the referee and angrily confronted him.
Incidentally, the ref should have given two penalties against us and allowed the goal to stand when a foul was wrongly given in favour of Jaaskelainen.
Instead of looking at himself and his woeful selection, he blamed the referee.
The only players to get any credit are Jaaskelainen, Samuel, Davies and Gardner ? and four players performing isn?t good enough.
You couldn?t imagine Hierro putting up with it.