Player Ratings: Bolton 0 Leeds 1

Wanderers slipped to a 1-0 defeat against Leeds United to stay second bottom of the Championship.

But how did the players fare? Marc Iles gives his verdict, and we also reveal the results of our fans' player rater feature.

WANDERERS (4-2-3-1)

BEN ALNWICK…6 His save from Alioski early on was first class but kicking failed in tough conditions and fans have asked questions of his positioning for the Leeds goal.

PAWEL OLKOWSKI…6 Linked up well enough with Noone when he got forward but didn’t get enough into the penalty box once he got there. Defensively sound.

DAVID WHEATER…7 Was coping with everything thrown his way until Leeds sliced through on 66 minutes. Unfair to pin blame solely on keeper/defenders for what was a good finish.

JACK HOBBS…7 Like Wheater, was mopping up danger left, right and centre before the game’s one moment of brilliance. Also went extremely close to scoring at the end.

ANDY TAYLOR…6.5 Looks sharper after an extended run in the team and more willing than most to take on possession. Probably happy to see Hernandez move infield in the second half, though.

JASON LOWE…6 Doing the job he’s been asked to do in the team, screening the back four, but the cautious approach in possession did bring some groans from the home fans.

JOE WILLIAMS…5.5 Also being asked to sit in – but on the occasions he broke, the wrong choice was made too often.

CRAIG NOONE…6 Plenty of running and a few decent crosses early in the game, which suffered for a lack of bodies in the box. Might have had a penalty, too.

JOSH VELA…7 Showed a good attitude on his return to the team. Pressed high and hassled mistakes out of the Leeds defenders. Only downside – did he do enough in attack?

WILL BUCKLEY…5 Largely anonymous, which is a shame given his form had picked up well in the last few weeks. Better than this by far.

JOSH MAGENNIS…5 Still looks short of the player who bossed the opening few weeks of the season. Lacked support, for sure, but Bolton need him back at his snarling best.

Subs: Wildschut 72 (for Buckley), Doidge 75 (for Magennis), Oztumer 80 (for Williams)

Not used: Donaldson, Wilson, O’Neil, Matthews

Leeds United (4-1-4-1): Peacock-Farrell; Shackleton, Jansson, Phillips, Douglas; Forshaw; Hernandez, Baker, Klich, Alioski; Roofe

Subs: Clarke 45 (for Baker), Bamford 61 (for Roofe), Halme 90+4 (for Hernandez)

Not used: Roberts, Huffer, Harrison, Davis

Referee: Rob Jones (Merseyside) 6/10

Attendance: 17,484 (4,577)

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How can Mark Iles give his verdict if he was banned?

We may as well have wanderlust doing the ratings from his armchair in deepest Norfolk.

After that performance, I feel about as motivated to go through and rate each player out of ten as I do to walk to Preston for a lap dance off Natasha Whittam. Instead I'll just talk about who was the biggest dickwad of the lot, and the smallest.

Our best player was Vela. Yes he's been off the boil for a long time but there's no point punishing him by completely ousting him, when we've got so many other talentless carthorses who don't deserve to be there.

Buckley is up there with some of the worst Wanderers players I've ever seen. The Leeds goal basically happened 5-10 seconds after Buckley has the ball in one of the only situations where we even looked like looking like scoring, and he's just given it away to the full back as easily as I think a ten year old fat kid would. Unbelievable to think somebody once paid a million pounds for him.

doffcocker wrote:I feel about as motivated to go through and rate each player out of ten as I do to walk to Preston for a lap dance off Natasha Whittam.

You'd walk through walls for that to happen.

Nobody scored higher than a 4

Natasha Whittam wrote:
We may as well have wanderlust doing the ratings from his armchair in deepest Norfolk.

OK then.

Leeds were nowhere near their best, but they still put out a bunch of talented players who were a threat and so some credit has to go to the back 8 for keeping them out for so long. They did OK until Bamford came on so I would say solid 5s all round for the defensive duties - duties that were made much harder than they need have been had the passing and ball retention not been so abject on the few occasions we were in possession.
Perhaps the only one who would get anything above that would be Vela who wasn't quite so profligate as the others, but him apart it's difficult to give anyone anything for forward momentum, distribution, control and passing.
The forwards worked hard but were isolated and easily controlled so they would get a four for effort but bugger all for outcomes as there were none i.e. zzero shots.

Can't be too disappointed losing to a top side as we all expected, but if the players want higher scores they are going to have to find a way of creating a credible goal threat without compromising the packed defensive lines. And that is Parky's ongoing dilemma.

On a personal note I'd add that after watching a decent fighting performance against Norwich, the disappointment in this performance was enhanced.