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FRESH from his best 90 minutes in a Wanderers shirt, Barry Bannan insists he has plenty to play for in the final stretch of the season.
While Neil Lennon’s side won’t be concerning themselves with the play-offs, and look unlikely to get involved with the relegation battle at the foot of the Championship, the stakes are still high for a handful of loan players, like the Scotland international.
Bannan has a year left on his contract at Crystal Palace and is still held in high regard by fans at Selhurst Park. But unless the Eagles are dragged into trouble over the next couple of months it seems a safe bet he will be available for transfer in the summer, to the right bidder.
Given his early performances for the Whites it would be a surprise if they were not in the market for the 25-year-old, who has worked well alongside Neil Danns in recent weeks.
Bannan refuses to get drawn into a discussion on his future but is certainly enjoying being in the thick of things in the centre of the Wanderers midfield.
“I’ve played a lot of games recently and feel like I’m right in there,” he told The Bolton News. “I’m at the top of my fitness and I probably haven’t had that for a while.
“The Reading game was probably my best for Bolton but I’m still not quite where I want to be – I’ve got more to show.”
Bannan was recruited in January more for his creative skills than his physical ones but the scrap he has added to the side over the last few weeks has made Wanderers fans sit up and take notice.
“My game is about trying to win the ball back high up and getting in midfielders’ faces,” he said. “Sometimes that changes away from home where you might sit in a bit.
“I don’t mind getting battered about, I’m Scottish, I was brought up that way. Football’s a physical game and you’ve got to be able to do both parts or you’ll never make it in the game.”
It was a similar all-action style which made him a popular figure at Palace, where he was a regular member of Tony Pulis’s midfield in the South London club’s fight for survival last season.
Since Alan Pardew went in, however, the Scot’s appearances became less frequent and he was loaned out to Wanderers with a strong emphasis on a summer move.
Such were the injury problems in the squad on his arrival, we are only now seeing the best of Bannan and Wanderers again.
Their revival has come too late to trouble the top six but the former Aston Villa man still thinks the team have something to aim at.
“We’ve set targets but we’ll keep them to ourselves,” he said.
“Of course we want to finish as high as we can up the league and it’s definitely not a case of ‘Oh, we’re in mid-table, we’re not going up, not going down.’
“We’ll work as hard as we can to get to where we want to be.”
Victory over Brighton last weekend coupled with another strong display against Reading in midweek have eased any fears Wanderers could be dragged towards the bottom three once again.
Bannan believes the team will continue in that vein for the remaining 11 games.
“There is a different mood than there was a couple of weeks ago,” he said. “I think that came as a bit of a shock.
“We’ve worked on it, had a few meetings as a team and tried to pull together because we were conceding too many goals. You can’t do that in the Championship.
“I think we’ve tightened up at the back and mentally we’re a stronger team now.”
Jamie Mackie’s late leveller for Reading on Tuesday night still stings Bannan, however, with the midfielder at a loss to explain how his side didn’t hold on to three points.
“It felt like a defeat in the end having been on top for so long,” he said.
“It was a strong performance up until the final couple of minutes but I think we can take a lot out of it.
“I’ve never seen three players go off before half time, it was so unfortunate, but thankfully we had a strong bench and I don’t think it really knocked us as much as it might have.
“I think Josh Vela was excellent at right back when he came on and Eidur gets the goal, so they all did their job well.
“It’s crazy how quickly football can turn – we looked like we had three points in the bag but one bit of bad luck and we’ve dropped two points.”
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/11840674.Crystal_Palace_man_Bannan_has_vested_interest_in_Wanderers__late_flourish/?ref=mr
While Neil Lennon’s side won’t be concerning themselves with the play-offs, and look unlikely to get involved with the relegation battle at the foot of the Championship, the stakes are still high for a handful of loan players, like the Scotland international.
Bannan has a year left on his contract at Crystal Palace and is still held in high regard by fans at Selhurst Park. But unless the Eagles are dragged into trouble over the next couple of months it seems a safe bet he will be available for transfer in the summer, to the right bidder.
Given his early performances for the Whites it would be a surprise if they were not in the market for the 25-year-old, who has worked well alongside Neil Danns in recent weeks.
Bannan refuses to get drawn into a discussion on his future but is certainly enjoying being in the thick of things in the centre of the Wanderers midfield.
“I’ve played a lot of games recently and feel like I’m right in there,” he told The Bolton News. “I’m at the top of my fitness and I probably haven’t had that for a while.
“The Reading game was probably my best for Bolton but I’m still not quite where I want to be – I’ve got more to show.”
Bannan was recruited in January more for his creative skills than his physical ones but the scrap he has added to the side over the last few weeks has made Wanderers fans sit up and take notice.
“My game is about trying to win the ball back high up and getting in midfielders’ faces,” he said. “Sometimes that changes away from home where you might sit in a bit.
“I don’t mind getting battered about, I’m Scottish, I was brought up that way. Football’s a physical game and you’ve got to be able to do both parts or you’ll never make it in the game.”
It was a similar all-action style which made him a popular figure at Palace, where he was a regular member of Tony Pulis’s midfield in the South London club’s fight for survival last season.
Since Alan Pardew went in, however, the Scot’s appearances became less frequent and he was loaned out to Wanderers with a strong emphasis on a summer move.
Such were the injury problems in the squad on his arrival, we are only now seeing the best of Bannan and Wanderers again.
Their revival has come too late to trouble the top six but the former Aston Villa man still thinks the team have something to aim at.
“We’ve set targets but we’ll keep them to ourselves,” he said.
“Of course we want to finish as high as we can up the league and it’s definitely not a case of ‘Oh, we’re in mid-table, we’re not going up, not going down.’
“We’ll work as hard as we can to get to where we want to be.”
Victory over Brighton last weekend coupled with another strong display against Reading in midweek have eased any fears Wanderers could be dragged towards the bottom three once again.
Bannan believes the team will continue in that vein for the remaining 11 games.
“There is a different mood than there was a couple of weeks ago,” he said. “I think that came as a bit of a shock.
“We’ve worked on it, had a few meetings as a team and tried to pull together because we were conceding too many goals. You can’t do that in the Championship.
“I think we’ve tightened up at the back and mentally we’re a stronger team now.”
Jamie Mackie’s late leveller for Reading on Tuesday night still stings Bannan, however, with the midfielder at a loss to explain how his side didn’t hold on to three points.
“It felt like a defeat in the end having been on top for so long,” he said.
“It was a strong performance up until the final couple of minutes but I think we can take a lot out of it.
“I’ve never seen three players go off before half time, it was so unfortunate, but thankfully we had a strong bench and I don’t think it really knocked us as much as it might have.
“I think Josh Vela was excellent at right back when he came on and Eidur gets the goal, so they all did their job well.
“It’s crazy how quickly football can turn – we looked like we had three points in the bag but one bit of bad luck and we’ve dropped two points.”
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/11840674.Crystal_Palace_man_Bannan_has_vested_interest_in_Wanderers__late_flourish/?ref=mr