As the title suggests, I've seen some shite in my time as a BWFC fan but this has to be one of the worst I've seen since the early 80's and for those that don't know me I've been watching Bolton since the early 70's.

 

This is probably the worst collective bunch of players that we've had on the field since those dark days and if it continues, those dark days are just around the corner if not here already. The buck has to stop with the manager, it's his team, it's his selection and it's his motivation (what's that?), that said the players have to take some responsibility but there is not one single player rolling up his sleeves and getting 'stuck' in and fighting for the cause and the right to wear the white shirt.

 

I hear people bleating on about Lee and Holden being out injured but ffs 2 players don't make a team, they make a difference yes but there are another 9.

 

Since we have been a regular Premiership club we have had some very good players such as Campo, Djorkaeff, Okocha, Frandsen, Burgson, N'Gotty to name a few but year on year we have failed to replace these players with 'better' or similar and for me that's the failing. To survive in the Premiership you need players of quality throughout the side not players that could just about hold their own in the Championship. Well they will be able to pit their wits against those Championship players sooner than they think, well come next August.

 

I sincerely hope I'm wrong but we are doomed. My letter to Father Christmas goes like this.."Please Santa can we have a right back and a left back, 2 centre halves as Cahill will be gone a few weeks after you drop down my chimney. While I'm asking, can we have another central midfield player instead of the Warren Joyce one we have now. Sod it I'll be really cheeky, can we also have a right and left winger with another 2 forwards. I don't want much I know but as them busty blondes have never materialised from last few Christmas' so I think you owe me big time."

so...are we saying the blame is at the board in a failure to invest more ...or are we saying that what money this and the two previous managers have spent on have got us in this mess??

 

me i think we have bought a bit of good but a whole load of shite

Edited December 10, 201114 yr by Bobcat

Paul Robinson actually looked like a footballer today but that was because I was comparing him to the other fullback who could control the ball further than I could kick it and who had a penchant for passing to the opposition rather than to his own team.

 

You're right though HW, unless something happens; and soon; we're in a world of shit. He's had all season to realise things aren't going to plan and has done little so far to rectify any of the shortcomings. I worry then that if the board back him as they say they will, we will already be down by the end of March.

 

Just had a look at the relative tables of today after 15 games and the 2007-08 season when Derby ended the season on 11 points. This time in that season we were 17th on 11 points so we're not that far off. That was the first Megson + a few from Sammy Lee where we were equally demoralised.

so...are we saying the blame is at the board in a failure to invest more ...or are we saying that what money this and the two previous managers have spent on have got us in this mess??

 

me i think we have bought a bit of good but a whole load of shite

The board could have thrown more money in the ring but would it have been spent wisely? i.e. Pratley ffs. I'm still not convinced about Eagles, very lightweight and goes missing for 50% of the game.

I'm confused by team selections too although I know we have been thin on the ground but leaving the likes of Muamba out speaks volumes of a manager who doesn't know how to defend. How many goals have we let in so far? No player in his right mind would move to Bolton in the next transfer window and that means only one thing, relegation.

 

 

The midfield is the key area for a mediocre Premier side like Bolton (well I say mediocre, now we're plain shit). We can't compete for top strikers but if you've got players in the middle of the park to break up play, keep hold of the ball and create some incisive passes, you've won half the battle. I honestly don't know what's running through Coyle's mind when he analyses past games and selects the midfield.

 

The starting midfield was a recipe for disaster.

 

Pratley - box to box? aye right, he's always chasing shadows.

Tuncay - seen enough of this lad to know why Stoke and Wolfsburg fcked him off, he was playing out of position regardless.

Eagles - in an out of games but if you play him, you cannot have "flair" on the other wing. This isn't Div 3 in the early nineties, unless you're United/City, two wingers are a luxury especially if neither seem capable of going down the bye line.

M Davies - on his day when he used to dribble past players, he was great if the gap behind him is covered. Yesterday, I tracked him for a whole two minutes before the second goal when Villa were pressing. Barely stuck to a man. Coyle, watch the tapes and see where he is and how far away he was from his marker Petrov. That's assuming you or your backroom staff do that sort of thing.

 

With or without NRC, it was crying out of Muamba. More or less everyone is saying it, why doesn't he listen?

Just had a look at the relative tables of today after 15 games and the 2007-08 season when Derby ended the season on 11 points. This time in that season we were 17th on 11 points so we're not that far off. That was the first Megson + a few from Sammy Lee where we were equally demoralised.

 

Just looked at that season's stats, and harking back to what I said yesterday...at the half way point then we had 17 points; this year we've got a swine of a run of first 8 games for the 2nd half of the season, from which we'd be content with 7 or 8 points even if we were on form. Looking back that 07-08 one, we were on 25 points with 11 games left. Taking that as a benchmark for the lowest you'd to be on at that stage, it follows we need to match that 17 at half way. That's 8 points from the next 4 games.

Now even if we're generous and drop that to 7, can we do it? Well potentialy yes - Fulham are blowing hot and cold, Blackburn and Wolves are fundamentally shite and the wheels are comning off the Geordie bandwagon.

BUT if we're losing at home to a team with no away wins all season? If it's 13 months since our last back to back league wins? In those circumstances it's a heck of an ask. But them 4 games are going to determine the rest of the season...

and those next four will bring no more than four points

four points is optimistic

The players we've got are good enough to keep us up. Wether they can be arsed or not is another matter. If they're capable of beating Stoke 5-0, then they should be capable of beating Villa, Norwich, Everton, etc. You've got to question why they can only be bothered to turn it on when it suits them. Some of them are getting away with some piss poor performances far too easily in my opinion. Perhaps it's about time that the supporters let them know that their current 'efforts' aren't worthy of the shirt.

I still maintain the fact that the squad is more than good enough.

 

The manager and his staff are not

The players we've got are good enough to keep us up. Wether they can be arsed or not is another matter. If they're capable of beating Stoke 5-0, then they should be capable of beating Villa, Norwich, Everton, etc. You've got to question why they can only be bothered to turn it on when it suits them. Some of them are getting away with some piss poor performances far too easily in my opinion. Perhaps it's about time that the supporters let them know that their current 'efforts' aren't worthy of the shirt.

 

so, wtf are we paying coyle for?

The midfield is the key area for a mediocre Premier side like Bolton (well I say mediocre, now we're plain shit). We can't compete for top strikers but if you've got players in the middle of the park to break up play, keep hold of the ball and create some incisive passes, you've won half the battle. I honestly don't know what's running through Coyle's mind when he analyses past games and selects the midfield.

 

The starting midfield was a recipe for disaster.

 

Pratley - box to box? aye right, he's always chasing shadows.

Tuncay - seen enough of this lad to know why Stoke and Wolfsburg fcked him off, he was playing out of position regardless.

Eagles - in an out of games but if you play him, you cannot have "flair" on the other wing. This isn't Div 3 in the early nineties, unless you're United/City, two wingers are a luxury especially if neither seem capable of going down the bye line.

M Davies - on his day when he used to dribble past players, he was great if the gap behind him is covered. Yesterday, I tracked him for a whole two minutes before the second goal when Villa were pressing. Barely stuck to a man. Coyle, watch the tapes and see where he is and how far away he was from his marker Petrov. That's assuming you or your backroom staff do that sort of thing.

 

With or without NRC, it was crying out of Muamba. More or less everyone is saying it, why doesn't he listen?

 

Basically what you're saying is that, with the squad we have, we can't play 4-4-2 with two wingers.

 

But that is exactly Coyle's starting point for his team selection - even if he has to play players out of position. That can't possibly come out of any coaching school.

so, wtf are we paying coyle for?

 

Coyle's not allowed on the pitch. At some point the players have to take responsibility for their own performances.

its his team

 

theyre his players

 

his problem to sort

 

but, like you know, he's not up to it

I still maintain the fact that the squad is more than good enough.

 

The manager and his staff are not

 

 

Homo, I'm getting a bit sick of agreeing with you.

Disagree for the sake then, I do.

Coyle's not allowed on the pitch. At some point the players have to take responsibility for their own performances.

 

Go look up managerial responsibility.

 

I hate it when people with manager in their title are not held accountable for the thing they manager, same happens in loads of companies, normally there are other managers who carry the bad ones.

 

The team Coyle put out yesterday was weaker than the ale they serve in the ground.

 

Did we actually make a tackle ?

Yesterday while we were chasing the equaliser, the ball went out and rolled towards the dugout.

 

Coyle didn't twitch. One of the coaches eventually got up to get the ball.

 

May be sad, but that really annoyed me.

Go look up managerial responsibility.

 

I hate it when people with manager in their title are not held accountable for the thing they manager, same happens in loads of companies, normally there are other managers who carry the bad ones.

 

The team Coyle put out yesterday was weaker than the ale they serve in the ground.

 

Did we actually make a tackle ?

 

Mark Davies was booked for not being quick enough to tackle NZogbia and Pratley was lucky not to be booked for not being quick enough to tackle NZobgia.The match wasn't lost in central midfield though,their wingers and strikers were too much for us.

The worst non tackler was Robinson.Time and time again he couldn't keep up with Albrighton who is nothing special in this league.

Go look up managerial responsibility.

 

Yeh, heaven forbid that the players should actually give a shit. Apparently he had to ask them to show that they cared about the football club at half time yesterday.

Yeh, heaven forbid that the players should actually give a shit. Apparently he had to ask them to show that they cared about the football club at half time yesterday.

 

 

And (if true) maybe there in lies the problem in his style of 'management'.

 

At half time he should've been kicking the orange cordial off the table and telling them, not asking!

Yeh, heaven forbid that the players should actually give a shit. Apparently he had to ask them to show that they cared about the football club at half time yesterday.

 

 

I take you have nt looked it up.

Mark Davies was booked for not being quick enough to tackle NZogbia and Pratley was lucky not to be booked for not being quick enough to tackle NZobgia.The match wasn't lost in central midfield though,their wingers and strikers were too much for us.

The worst non tackler was Robinson.Time and time again he couldn't keep up with Albrighton who is nothing special in this league.

 

So we're dropping slow players now to bring in who exactly.

 

What a nonsense post.

 

Also "albrighton is nothing special" ? Are you taking the piss?

Coyle doesn't know his current best 11, that's the problem. He knows his fully fit best 11, but he's not got access to some of them and he can't get it right. He also doesn't know the best 11 to get him a result against the respective opposition.

 

He fucked up by not buying a decent left back, but apart from that, before injuries kicked in, we've got more than enough to get out of this in terms of squad depth.

 

We need to start grinding out results. We need a solid defence, we need a midfield backing up that defence and we need the forward players trying to nick goals. We don't need flowing football, nor do we need to be sticking out a midfield that can't put in a tackle between them.

 

I'd take goalless draws right now to build up confidence, stealing the odd win if possible. Transfer window - we need bodies. Starting with a left back.

So every defeat is the fault of robbo?

 

Utter, utter, utter shite

Edited December 11, 201114 yr by HomerJay

robinson isn't even the worst full back in our team