5 minutes ago, gonzo said:

I'll never understand the issue with him

 

Cogley?
Me neither. Yeah he's fairly one-dimensional and limited, but he's a Division 3 wing back FFS not Cafu/Maldini.

He's no worse than Conway the one we're not allowed to criticise.

25 minutes ago, Traf said:

Cogley?
Me neither. Yeah he's fairly one-dimensional and limited, but he's a Division 3 wing back FFS not Cafu/Maldini.

He's no worse than Conway the one we're not allowed to criticise.

This isn't a serious statement surely?

Conway can have a poor game.  But his performance last night, without being near his best, was way ahead of any by JDC in all the time he's been here.  JDC is steady enough, I've never once come away thinking he was our MOTM.  And in his favour I've never seen him play as bad as Christie v Rotherham, he's between 5 and 7 out of 10 every game, with great energy/fitness.

Conway was our best player in many games earlier in the season, and would have been last night without Sheehan playing so well.  We see stand out moments from Conway, JDC doesn't have it in his locker.

Back to transfer business, the BEN are reporting that we're in for a Tottenham attacking midfielder for the 10 spot (Jamie Donley) if he gets recalled from Spurs.

Did the business with Leyton Orient last season, but hasn't managed the step up to championship or just not clicked at Stoke. Could be exactly the player we've been missing.

But it is another loan and you can only play 5 at once so whose loan is being ended early?

TSL - I'm not convinced but then I can't see us sending him back and having to find another goalie 

ACD - not by us that's for certain 

Burstow - gone off the boil, but cutting ties would seem harsh

Forss - Donley would seem a direct replacement, so I think this is the one we'll move back

Cissoko - could also see him being sent back to make some space in the squad

Edited December 31, 2025Dec 31 by Stig
Goddamn autocorrect

46 minutes ago, Stig said:

Back to transfer business, the BEN are reporting that we're in for a Tottenham attacking midfielder for the 10 spot (Jamie Donkey) if he gets recalled from Spurs.

Did the business with Leyton Orient last season, but hasn't managed the step up to championship or just not clicked at Stoke. Could be exactly the player we've been missing.

But it is another loan and you can only play 5 at once so whose loan is being ended early?

TSL - I'm not convinced but then I can't see us sending him back and having to find another goalie 

ACD - not by us that's for certain 

Burstow - gone off the boil, but cutting ties would seem harsh

Forss - Donkey would seem a direct replacement, so I think this is the one we'll move back

Cissoko - could also see him being sent back to make some space in the squad

We might carry all six with just five making the squad.
Players will get injured/suspended, lose form, not fit the system required on that day etc etc.

But yes, the Forss/Cissoko experiments don't seem to be working, which is a shame because you can see they've both got ability. Similar to the Joel Randall situation, I suppose.

31 minutes ago, Stig said:

But it is another loan and you can only play 5 at once so whose loan is being ended early?

You don't have to send them back, the only issue is the wages we're covering.

Is Elliot Moore still available on a free, the mountain that was Oxfords captain last season? 

Get him in, stick him up front and have sheehan rain hail Marys in at him for 90 minutes. 

12 hours ago, Johnnyrotten said:

This isn't a serious statement surely?

Conway can have a poor game.  But his performance last night, without being near his best, was way ahead of any by JDC in all the time he's been here.  JDC is steady enough, I've never once come away thinking he was our MOTM.  And in his favour I've never seen him play as bad as Christie v Rotherham, he's between 5 and 7 out of 10 every game, with great energy/fitness.

Conway was our best player in many games earlier in the season, and would have been last night without Sheehan playing so well.  We see stand out moments from Conway, JDC doesn't have it in his locker.

Both Conway and JDC have reasonable pace and good engines to get up and down the pitch, but neither have the ability to finish or consistently provide good crosses or service for the strikers. Christie can and does provide decent service but isn’t as energetic getting forward. The problem is that none of them defend well which piles pressure on our back 2 who have to block, tackle and generally throw themselves about when we’re under attack and they get dragged out of position when the full backs are beaten or allow crosses - which makes them look bad - but in reality they are just plugging gaps or at least trying to.

SS is so committed to attack, we finished the last game with just 1 CB - Toal - holding the fort. Whilst that is exciting and entertaining to watch, the balance isn’t right. 
Switching to having 3 or 4 proper defenders at the back would resolve the defensive problem but we’d sacrifice position and possession doing it - not necessarily a problem IMO if we’re solid.

But whether we stick with the set up we already use or change it to a more defence minded approach, both approaches will only work if we score more goals when we get the chance, so for me the ONLY major problem is up top. 
If we had strikers and midfielders with an eye for goal and a striker’s instincts our appalling conversion rate would rocket and we’ll climb the table no problem.

Address our XG v Actual goals - an appalling MINUS 0.54 !!!! - and everything else will take care of itself.

#		Team	MP	xG	xGA	xGD	GF	GA	xG vs Actual
1		Bolton Wanderers FC	22	1.90	0.96	+0.94	1.36	0.95	-0.54

 

8 minutes ago, Wanderlust said:

The problem is that none of them defend well which piles pressure on our back 2 who have to block, tackle and generally throw themselves about when we’re under attack and they get dragged out of position when the full backs are beaten or allow crosses - which makes them look bad - but in reality they are just plugging gaps or at least trying to.

Anyone would think we’ve been an absolute shambles at the back this season! 😂

30 minutes ago, Wanderlust said:

Both Conway and JDC have reasonable pace and good engines to get up and down the pitch, but neither have the ability to finish or consistently provide good crosses or service for the strikers. Christie can and does provide decent service but isn’t as energetic getting forward. The problem is that none of them defend well which piles pressure on our back 2 who have to block, tackle and generally throw themselves about when we’re under attack and they get dragged out of position when the full backs are beaten or allow crosses - which makes them look bad - but in reality they are just plugging gaps or at least trying to.

SS is so committed to attack, we finished the last game with just 1 CB - Toal - holding the fort. Whilst that is exciting and entertaining to watch, the balance isn’t right. 
Switching to having 3 or 4 proper defenders at the back would resolve the defensive problem but we’d sacrifice position and possession doing it - not necessarily a problem IMO if we’re solid.

But whether we stick with the set up we already use or change it to a more defence minded approach, both approaches will only work if we score more goals when we get the chance, so for me the ONLY major problem is up top. 
If we had strikers and midfielders with an eye for goal and a striker’s instincts our appalling conversion rate would rocket and we’ll climb the table no problem.

Address our XG v Actual goals - an appalling MINUS 0.54 !!!! - and everything else will take care of itself.

 

#		Team	MP	xG	xGA	xGD	GF	GA	xG vs Actual
1		Bolton Wanderers FC	22	1.90	0.96	+0.94	1.36	0.95	-0.54

 

Assuming we are #1 in a table, can you link / paste the entire table, for context? Cheers.

JDC is a decent L1/2 operator in the right system. From RWB he has the pace and energy to get to the by line and pull balls back. He could get beyond ACD as a RB but his defending in a four isnt good enough. 

Conway's entitled to a dip in form here and there but from his starting point on day one (a lad who'd done well in L2 mostly as a LWB and who had questions about his defending / positioning) he's done pretty well. An odd goal or two so far he could have done better on but also some steady improvement in his defending and two manful back post efforts v Rotherham to stop Nombe and Hugill heading in

My issue, such as it is, is the cover for Conway's dips doesn't look up to it and Christie isnt sustaining his early promise of being classy and reliable. Resorting to Tutu as a RB in a 4 isnt the position a top two candidate team should be in

2 hours ago, Jol_BWFC said:

Assuming we are #1 in a table, can you link / paste the entire table, for context? Cheers.

SS appears to have squashed the Donley rumour, according to Iles

5 minutes ago, ianofcleveleys said:

SS appears to have squashed the Donley rumour, according to Iles

John McAtee is back fit. Like a new signing

I still think Randall can do the job at No10 if we give him something more to deliver to than one striker and greedy wingers.

1 hour ago, Traf said:

Thanks 👍🏻

I noticed our expected goals against is 0.96 - the best in the league by some way. Our actual GA is 0.95. So our defence / goalkeeper are actually doing slightly better than expected GA.

It’s our inability to put the ball in the back of the net that’s the problem - which I think we all knew.

Stevenage’s defence - the reason they are where they are.

Let’s not sign any forwards from Port Vale in the transfer window.

Give Mcatee a run at no10 no other fucker can nail down that position.

Force someone to buy Randall for a 1/4 of what we paid for him and buy a proper L1 striker

2 hours ago, Traf said:

Stand up for the XG champs.

Night lads and lasses.

Time to party!

Have a good un.

See you tomorrow x

6 hours ago, jmjhb said:

John McAtee is back fit. Like a new signing

 

5 hours ago, deeane Koontz said:

Give Mcatee a run at no10 no other fucker can nail down that position.

Force someone to buy Randall for a 1/4 of what we paid for him and buy a proper L1 striker

Jesus. 

We must be getting closer to putting Victor back up top for goals then

4 hours ago, desperado said:

Stand up for the XG champs.

Night lads and lasses.

Time to party!

Have a good un.

See you tomorrow x

We are actually worst performers based on actual XG return. Am i reading that right?

Edited December 31, 2025Dec 31 by Mounts Kipper

4 minutes ago, L/H White said:

 

Jesus. 

We must be getting closer to putting Victor back up top for goals then

We've been playing bingo machine in the 10 position lately. Mcatee will be more of a goal threat than what have shown up recently

17 minutes ago, Mounts Kipper said:

We are actually worst performers based on actual XG return. Am i reading that right?

Aye, I think so, we should be scoring far more than expected but we're scoring far less than expected

I think

Let’s be honest here,we couldn’t have played much better than we did against Mansfield, some of our play was outstanding but even allowing for missing a few glorious chances we’ve also been incredibly unlucky with hitting woodwork, shots blocks, keepers just getting feet and hands to it and I think that goal they scored, I knew more about it that their mon did, just hit his head as he fell back and ended up going in. When did we last have luck like that, or any luck for that matter? Let’s hope we twat Donny tomorrow because one of these days it’s going to turn and somebody’s going to get the brunt of it.

2 minutes ago, Whitesince63 said:

Let’s be honest here,we couldn’t have played much better than we did against Mansfield, some of our play was outstanding but even allowing for missing a few glorious chances we’ve also been incredibly unlucky with hitting woodwork, shots blocks, keepers just getting feet and hands to it and I think that goal they scored, I knew more about it that their mon did, just hit his head as he fell back and ended up going in. When did we last have luck like that, or any luck for that matter? Let’s hope we twat Donny tomorrow because one of these days it’s going to turn and somebody’s going to get the brunt of it.

Barring maybe 1 or 2 games I'm struggling to recall a game where we played badly this season. 

Sorry - just typing whilst having my final plop of 2025

2 minutes ago, kent_white said:

Barring maybe 1 or 2 games I'm struggling to recall a game where we played badly this season. 

Sorry - just typing whilst having my final plop of 2025

Totally agree, enjoy your tipple and all the best for 2026 🥳

7 hours ago, Jol_BWFC said:

Thanks 👍🏻

I noticed our expected goals against is 0.96 - the best in the league by some way. Our actual GA is 0.95. So our defence / goalkeeper are actually doing slightly better than expected GA.

It’s our inability to put the ball in the back of the net that’s the problem.

Exactly the point I was making.