Where is Bolton's biggest problem right now - defence or midfield or strikers?

I watched you play twice - against Burnley and QPR. They were shocking games. Unlike many people here, I don't believe the strikers are a problem, I just don't think any chances are being created for them. 
Personally I think the defence looks awful, to me Tierney and Knight look very poor and Wheater just looks so slow. 
But what alarmed me even more was just how clueless Bolton looked in terms of attacking and creating chances. There was no pace, no creativity, no flair, no good movement, no chances being made. Maybe when you get Eagles back it will help, Mark Davies would also be a big help but not sure when he will be back?
So where do you see the biggest problem for Bolton right now - defence, midfield or strikers?

Defence, Blackburn was some of the worst I've ever seen. A complete shambles.

I would say midfield and creativity too but at least we have the players coming back into the side that should help with that.

Our problem is we don't have a manager we have Freedman, the rest can be sorted with anyone with half a football brain.

Whitesince63 wrote:Our problem is we don't have a manager we have Freedman, the rest can be sorted with anyone with half a football brain.

Maybe you should be manager.

The problems on the pitch stem from midfield - lack of width and creativity going forward, lack of defensive cover, chasing back or an easy ball out when the opposition have possession.
Dougie should bear some responsibility for this in terms of playing a narrow system and predictable team selection that implies a lack of competition for places despite the squad size.
Ultimately, he is hampered by injuries etc, which result in not having enough quality in the right areas to play the system he'd like to - same problem OC had.
The first issue for me is that Dougie should be prepared to bite the bullet and adapt the system to play to the strengths of the squad rather than trying to force players to fit into the system which is not their natural game.
There may be a second issue in that I get the impression that he is unwilling to blood youngsters despite the performances to date. I'm sure he thinks that he wants to play senior players during our tough opening fixtures and then blood the kids later, but it's not working out so he should reconsider. (that's a sign of strength, not weakness)
If we can't throw money at the quality problem, then it could be resolved by using the whole squad, looking at where each player can excel and THEN deciding on a system to play to their strengths.

Quite right wanderlust as you've just confirmed Freedman is useless. Let's get someone in who can see what you, I and everyone else apart from Mr F can.

Who would you have 63? Let me guess, Jimmy Phillips or Phil Brown, If we couldn't get big sam back of course.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:Who would you have 63? Let me guess, Jimmy Phillips or Phil Brown, If we couldn't get big sam back of course.

Jimmy Phillips & Phil Brown have better win ratios as Bolton managers than Freedman. Or does winning not count anymore Hipster?

Good point you've got me there.

Yes Hippy I would certainly have JP and LSL back in charge in fact they should have been all the time. In a short period of 3 games they made more positives than Freedman has done in nearly a year here. Remember they took over a completely devastated team with no spirit and no leadership and immediately started doing all the things the supporters had been demanding. Gartside yet again rushed in an inexperienced, outsider who completely undid all the work about which nobody can ever deride as well as importing a barrel load of hangers on who seem to have no more idea than the no marks Coyle had inflicted on us. Now we're saddled with a bunch of second rate players he's imported which has only worsened our outlook. Why are you so against JP and Sammy two people with every bit as much experience as Freedman when he came but a love, knowledge and respect of our club Freedman will never have? They could not possibly have done worse than this clown we're now saddled with.

Whitesince63 wrote:Now we're saddled with a bunch of second rate players he's imported which has only worsened our outlook. 

C.Davies > K.Davies
Baptiste > S. Ricketts
Medo > Any midfielder we've had since Holden.
Spearing > See above.

I think Beckford will prove better than Sordell but jury remains out. Tierney's looked poor going forward, too early to write him off though.

Why are you so against JP and Sammy two people with every bit as much experience as Freedman when he came but a love, knowledge and respect of our club Freedman will never have? They could not possibly have done worse than this clown we're now saddled with.

Sammy had a summers experience of building a poor Bolton side. Freedman had about 18 months of building a side that got promoted for Palace.

With Jimmy Phillips in charge we went 2-0 down at home to a side that got relegated, needed a last minute equaliser against another side that got relegated and got outplayed at Middlesbrough.  Why some people think he should have got the job full-time is beyond me.

Whitesince63 wrote:Quite right wanderlust as you've just confirmed Freedman is useless. Let's get someone in who can see what you, I and everyone else apart from Mr F can.

Not saying he's useless. I'm saying that he has a clear idea of what he wants, but isn't getting it from these players - so either the players buck up and start to deliver what the manager wants (and given the bollocking after Blackburn that looks to be Dougie's take on it for now) or Dougie will have to change the system to get the most out of what he has.
Way too early to be writing him off yet. We'll see what he dishes up next week, but if he goes for the same system and it fails again, he'll have to change things for the following game or there will be questions about his ability to respond.

Whitesince63 wrote:Yes Hippy I would certainly have JP and LSL back in charge in fact they should have been all the time. In a short period of 3 games they made more positives than Freedman has done in nearly a year here. Remember they took over a completely devastated team with no spirit and no leadership and immediately started doing all the things the supporters had been demanding. Gartside yet again rushed in an inexperienced, outsider who completely undid all the work about which nobody can ever deride as well as importing a barrel load of hangers on who seem to have no more idea than the no marks Coyle had inflicted on us. Now we're saddled with a bunch of second rate players he's imported which has only worsened our outlook. Why are you so against JP and Sammy two people with every bit as much experience as Freedman when he came but a love, knowledge and respect of our club Freedman will never have? They could not possibly have done worse than this clown we're now saddled with.

 

as i expected.

sentiment over everything is the way forward for some Bolton fans.

honestly they'd be happy in the Ryman league losing to Runcorn engineers as long as a former player is in charge.

OneFinFreedman wrote:With Jimmy Phillips in charge we went 2-0 down at home to a side that got relegated, needed a last minute equaliser against another side that got relegated and got outplayed at Middlesbrough.  Why some people think he should have got the job full-time is beyond me.

Hang on a minute....
1) it was better than what we'd been suffering before
2) The Dream Team weren't given any time to build compared to other managers.

Fact is we'll never know what they might have achieved if they'd had the backing of the Board.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:honestly they'd be happy in the Ryman league losing to Runcorn engineers as long as a former player is in charge.

You made them up.

leaky defence, a midfield lacking creativity and strikers who couldn't hit a cows arse with a banjo, all the above i would say

From the depths of the Championship to seventh place is disastrous 63, I'm with you on this one!

When any team kicks off the score is 0-0 obviously. If the game ends 0-0 then we get a point.

With our defence we can’t keep clean sheets - so that means we probably need to score one goal or more to draw and two or more to even hope to win.

The team then as to concentrate on shoring up the defence. That's why we have to play with two defensive midfielders.

If you have four defenders, two midfielders and the keeper concerned with defence - seven players - then you are only left with a maximum of four players to create chances and score them (set pieces not included).

If we only have a maximum of four players in an attacking role, then if we play with say a winger (or two) then that leaves just two or at the most three players to attack the ball from crosses.

One of the most notable deficiencies during the Coyle era was the lack of a tackling midfielder in front of our fullbacks, which thus allowed the opposition to attack down the wing. We were at one time the worst team for conceding goals from crosses - I don't know the stats these days but I suspect it is probably still not good.

We therefore need to stop playing with Lee and Eagles in the side together as neither tackle in midfield, and replace one or both of them with someone who does - which in turn makes us more solid but less creative.

Basically we then have two lines of four players, which makes us more solid but less attacking.

The more solid we become the less the need for both defensive midfielders which allows for box to box players who can then support the attackers.

As for attack we will need to work a great deal more on set pieces. Back in Allardyce's day we were feared for scoring from corners and free kicks - not anymore though - how many headers as the 7 foot 9 inch Knight scored for us for instance? He should have had a hat-full by now.

Summary - plug the defence, toughen up the midfield and concentrate vastly more on set pieces for goals.

QED.

So your for 442 or similar Sluffy? There is definitely a case for it with this squad, but they do need to up their workrate.