Todays Games

[Eddie]

Just now, Rizlar said:

Alright having games in hand but I would sooner have the points.

23/24 Bolton Wanderers tells you all you need to know about games in hand! The mythical points that never actually converted.

[DirtySanchez]

2 hours ago, desperado said:

Can’t dispute any of your facts…

.. But to put a more positive slant on this..

I think only folk who don’t follow L1 would put Stevenage in the box seat, despite their games in-hand.

And both Stevenage and Cardiff have entered pockets of poor form.

But yes all very tight. 

The difference now, compared to a few weeks ago, is that we are bang in the mix and contention. 

According to the bookies… in the box seat. 😊

Stevenage fan i know reckons they'll drop down the league now 

Said their goals generally come from their central defenders and Jamie Reid and he usually has to come off after an hour as he's knackered 

He was definitely glad our game was called off 

[Wanderlust]

There will undoubtedly be twists and turns over the course of the season - which if anything amplifies the point I was agreeing with I.e. that it is a very, very tight league.

Folk can guess away to their hearts content about who will sustain their momentum, who will slip away and who will come from nowhere but we just don’t know do we?
 

Who, for example, tipped Stevenage  - or any of the current top six bar Cardiff and possibly us for that matter - get themselves into their current position at the beginning of the season? 
 

As it stands, Stevenage are the only team in the division who are guaranteed to win the league if they win their remaining games - it’s theirs to lose, hence they are in the box seat.

But of course I doubt they will win all their games because - as I was saying - it’s a tight league and no results are predictable. Equally, no team including us can count on any chickens. 

[Johnnyrotten]

5 hours ago, masi 51 said:

We are still a team/squad in transformation...Everything is not rosy despite our last three wins but we are going in the right direction.

Stevenage are a big unit who will only get so far., one or two injuries and they will implode the same as Lincoln and Wimbledon.

I see it only Stockport are currently above us who will be vying for the automatics come May.

Next Saturday Schumacher will have the strongest squad any Bolton manager has had at least in the last ten years to select from.

Vic and perhaps Toal every other player is fit and available......Some may say the Evatt team from two seasons back when we finished third was better, but that team had five six missing every week.  You say there are no easy games.

I say there are no hard games.....Promotion is there for the taking.

Agree with all that.  Lincoln are doing great but they won't be trying for top 2, I can't see beyond Stockport, Cardiff and Luton as our challengers.  Obviously if we under achieve, then the Bradfords, Lincolns and whoever else, become our rivals for the top 6.  But for now our target is top 2 and for me those 3 are the teams I'd be looking at to drop points.

And yes, whilst every game is a test and our away record remains poor, promotion is there for the taking in that we have nothing to fear, we've seen that Cardiff are not at the standard of some previous L1 winners in recent years.  Its just whether we can start to pick up those away wins.

Talk of us being in good form is based on home games and Huddersfield away.  We all know more evidence is needed, but that's hard to achieve when you go over 6 weeks without an away game.  By NY Eve we'll have played 3 away games in 2 and a half months (we're playing 3 homes in 10 days next month!).

For now all we can do is beat Bradford and put ourselves in an even better position.

[Johnnyrotten]

3 hours ago, Rizlar said:

Alright having games in hand but I would sooner have the points.

To be fair Cardiff and Stevenage do have the points.  And 1 or 2 extra games to play, its not like we're 2 or 3 points ahead, we're not even a goal ahead of Cardiff.  If you mean Barnsley then yes clearly we'd rather have 5 extra points in the bag than 2 games in hand.  On points per game we're 6th if my maths is right, and that's a fair reflection of where we're at, before the 93rd minute at Huddersfield we were 11th I think, so we've made great progress and more to come starting on Saturday.

[Duck Egg]

We'll have to win a couple more away games before I'll start thinking of us as potential challengers. 

[Tonge moor green jacket]

Definitely. 

They need to come quickly too. 

[Didledee]

Some effort from Ireland, what a way to get a playoff

[Tonge moor green jacket]

4 minutes ago, Didledee said:

Some effort from Ireland, what a way to get a playoff

Wow. 

They were losing last time I looked.

[Rival Son]

19 minutes ago, Didledee said:

Some effort from Ireland, what a way to get a playoff

Some effort from Troy Parrott. Double on Thursday to beat Portugal 2-0, and a hattrick today to beat Hungary 3-2.

Can’t imagine he’ll need to pay for a Guinness again!

[Rival Son]

https://x.com/MatchdayMonitor/status/1990090354830323753

[Johnnyrotten]

1 hour ago, Rival Son said:

Some effort from Troy Parrott. Double on Thursday to beat Portugal 2-0, and a hattrick today to beat Hungary 3-2.

Can’t imagine he’ll need to pay for a Guinness again!

First player ever to score a hat-trick for them away from home! (competitive games)

[Johnnyrotten]

1 hour ago, Rival Son said:

https://x.com/MatchdayMonitor/status/1990090354830323753

That's a great watch.  The co-commentator saying he didn't want to see a replay of the goal in case it looked offside 😀

[bolty58]

Disappointing. Hoping they get Italy in the playoff.

Is it only myself who is a Denmark and North Macedonia supporter this week?

Ireland, Scotland and Wales all at home watching England play in Canada/Mexico/US the best result for me.

[Zico]

10 hours ago, bolty58 said:

Disappointing. Hoping they get Italy in the playoff.

Is it only myself who is a Denmark and North Macedonia supporter this week?

Ireland, Scotland and Wales all at home watching England play in Canada/Mexico/US the best result for me.

Proper big game Scotland v Denmark 

Won't watch it like

But Might be compelled to check in on the score, on the Sky Sports app

Would like to see Josh Sheehan at the world cup

[Dr. Feelgood]

12 hours ago, bolty58 said:

Ireland, Scotland and Wales all at home watching England play in Canada/Mexico/US the best result for me.

Yep. This. Adding BOTH Irelands.

Much as I like Sheehan I do not want to see Wales in the WC finals.

[Zico]

I was a lot younger but I was proud as fuck seeing McAteer at the WC in 94, then Frandsen in 98

[Rival Son]

Not World Cup but, for me, nothing beats watching Stelios celebrate Greece winning the Euros, while carrying his young son, who was wearing a Wanderers top. ❤️

[Alf Hartigan]

10 minutes ago, Rival Son said:

Not World Cup but, for me, nothing beats watching Stelios celebrate Greece winning the Euros, while carrying his young son, who was wearing a Wanderers top. ❤️

He was one of Greece’s top players at the time but ended up not featuring much in that tournament. Think he was coming back from injury if I recall correctly. Absolutely loved Stelios. Won a pub quiz shootout once for being the only one to spell his surname correctly. 

[Rival Son]

7 minutes ago, Alf Hartigan said:

He was one of Greece’s top players at the time but ended up not featuring much in that tournament. Think he was coming back from injury if I recall correctly. Absolutely loved Stelios. Won a pub quiz shootout once for being the only one to spell his surname correctly. 

That is correct. He missed a couple of matches and was a sub as he came back from injury. However, he was in the starting lineup for the final, highlighting how key he was to that team.

[Zico]

6 minutes ago, Alf Hartigan said:

He was one of Greece’s top players at the time but ended up not featuring much in that tournament. Think he was coming back from injury if I recall correctly. Absolutely loved Stelios. Won a pub quiz shootout once for being the only one to spell his surname correctly. 

I seemed to think similar 

been having a look and seems he featured a lot but didn't start two key games in the knockout phase

started the opening game v portugal

started second game, rested 3rd already through

didn't start v france, didn't even get on)

came on a sub v czechs

stared the final v portugal and came off on 76 mins

[Rival Son]

[Zico]

I used to work with a Greek Cypriot girl, who knew him from the "Greek Manchester scene"" and said he was a dirty bastard who tried it on with everyone

[jeep]

2 hours ago, Zico said:

I used to work with a Greek Cypriot girl, who knew him from the "Greek Manchester scene"" and said he was a dirty bastard who tried it on with everyone

They're all like that, Turks as well.....

[Marc505]

Watching that Arsenal 4-4 Tottenham game on Sky at moment, 18 years ago unbelievable. Its like watching a different sport to current PL, the game is flowing so quickly, ball has barely been out of play for the half an hour or so I've seen of it!

Can't believe 2008 is now retro.