Bolton 0-0 Sheff Weds

Bwfc1958 wrote:What is the injury?

On the pitch the trainers were manipulating his shoulder- so it looks like he's injured that again.
But it looked like an innocuous tackle- he went down but it wasn't a bad foul.

At half time there was an announcement that we had some special guests, namely the Norwegian branch of the BWFC Supporters Association, who were celebrating their 20th anniversary.

Next thing I know there's a posse of old codgers making their way round the pitch who start throwing Strictly Come Dancing style moves in front of the East Stand.

I genuinely believed that the dancers were our Norwegian comrades putting on a show until it was pointed out they were just some random rumba-ists who'd nipped round from the local Palais. 

Confusing.

doffcocker wrote:It's amazing to think what a breath of fresh air he was when he first came to the club compared with the useless one trick pony we see now.

Yeah but that was back in the days when we had a good manager who knew how to get the best out of his players.

I miss Dougie so much.

On top of all this Mavies is now overdue for his annual injury.

We have a club that has no money due to mismanagement and we are trying to survive with lower league players and loaners. There's nowt Lennon can do about it in my opinion.  We will remain relegation favorites for most of the season I'm afraid.

terenceanne wrote:On top of all this Mavies is now overdue for his annual injury.

We have a club that has no money due to mismanagement and we are trying to survive with lower league players and loaners. There's nowt Lennon can do about it in my opinion.  We will remain relegation favorites for most of the season I'm afraid.

17th and only 5 points off the play-offs.  only lost two in seven and ceonceded less than a goal a game.  if we can actually get someone who can finish and stay fit i think we will be in touching distance.  i might be getting ahead of myself, but other than upfront and maybe wide right (where feeney is) we actually look alright.

Totally agree, Johnny

Natasha Whittam wrote:Defence looks decent which is something to build on. Unfortunately Lennon seems to have a hard on for Feeney despite him being a truly awful player. Why the fook can't a professional footballer cross a ball when under little pressure? The reason he couldn't even get in Millwall's team is there for all to see.

And it's time to get shut of Madine, he simply doesn't have the skills for this level. And as soon as Heskey comes on you know it's going to get even worse.

It worries me that Lennon is so loyal to out of form or simply shit players.

Loyalty is a good thing in many aspects of life but in footie I reckon it disincentivises competition and therefore performance. Imagine busting a gut all week in training to prove to the boss you're worthy of a starting place and then he picks the same guy who hasn't scored for ages instead of you.

With Madine though, I reckon Neil's loyalty is more to his system than the player although he keeps giving him time in the hope that he'll start scoring - when perhaps dropping him might improve his game and competitive edge. He brings Heskey on to do basically the same job but it clearly isn't working.

With Clough injured, and seeing as how he took the goal v Wolves, perhaps Lennon should consider scrapping the target man and playing Feeney down the middle? Then he wouldn't have to worry about Feeney's crossing but opposition defences would have to worry about his pace.

The target man thing is starting to annoy me a bit now and seeing as it doesn't work very well, perhaps Neil should start looking into different approaches to the front six - and give starting places to those putting in the most effort, regardless of age, past relationship with the manager or even position?

Like you, I'm slightly worried about his selection, but more worried about his dogmatic approach to playing style, but it's a big relief to finally have a defence that gives some degree of confidence. They ain't perfect but they're a lot better than what we've seen in recent seasons. Even Dervite looked solid for the most part until his stupid red card. Mjallby did a good job for us.

wanderlust wrote:

With Clough injured, and seeing as how he took the goal v Wolves, perhaps Lennon should consider scrapping the target man and playing Feeney down the middle? Then he wouldn't have to worry about Feeney's crossing but opposition defences would have to worry about his pace.

I have absolutely no doubt if he played Feeney down the middle we'd start punting long balls. The players really are that stupid.

He needs to get off his arse and sign a striker who can actually finish. If we had a finisher we'd be in the top 6 no doubt about it.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

wanderlust wrote:

With Clough injured, and seeing as how he took the goal v Wolves, perhaps Lennon should consider scrapping the target man and playing Feeney down the middle? Then he wouldn't have to worry about Feeney's crossing but opposition defences would have to worry about his pace.

I have absolutely no doubt if he played Feeney down the middle we'd start punting long balls. The players really are that stupid.

He needs to get off his arse and sign a striker who can actually finish. If we had a finisher we'd be in the top 6 no doubt about it.

with my sister

I appreciate every ones comments about a "Big" man up front. We have tried the smaller mobile strikers but they have created problems by being bullied losing possession and intense pressure being put on defense as they have no out ball.   I think we will play Madine, Heskey or both in most matches because it fits the system and we don't have the cash to buy better.

Barryjw wrote:I appreciate every ones comments about a "Big" man up front. We have tried the smaller mobile strikers but they have created problems by being bullied losing possession and intense pressure being put on defense as they have no out ball.   I think we will play Madine, Heskey or both in most matches because it fits the system and we don't have the cash to buy better.

I think you are right Barry - much more in line with Lennon's thinking to date.

But it's so bleedin' obvious and defences will mop that up all day long, plus neither seems to be able to finish when the chances do come along. In order to be able to play Feeney down the middle we'd need to change the front 6 system. It's time for Lennon to think outside the box - literally.

The out ball would be in the space behind the defenders instead of hoofing it towards the front man and we'd need quicker support, pushing up a lot faster than we have been doing. Little guys are no use receiving the ball with their back to goal so the passing needs to explore the spaces around and behind the opposition and that requires superior pace and stamina from 4 or 5 of the front six. Really think it needs looking at because we have to find a cutting edge from somewhere.

y2johnny wrote:

terenceanne wrote:On top of all this Mavies is now overdue for his annual injury.

We have a club that has no money due to mismanagement and we are trying to survive with lower league players and loaners. There's nowt Lennon can do about it in my opinion.  We will remain relegation favorites for most of the season I'm afraid.

17th and only 5 points off the play-offs.  only lost two in seven and ceonceded less than a goal a game.  if we can actually get someone who can finish and stay fit i think we will be in touching distance.  i might be getting ahead of myself, but other than upfront and maybe wide right (where feeney is) we actually look alright.

I'll give you credit Johnny for being optimistic. Hope you are right. Not many outside of Bolton will be looking at us as a top six team...including the bookies. Now Clough is done for to boot....If players come in then predictions can change but as it stands today I wouldn't bet my mortgage on it.

Isn't Gudjohnsen on a short term deal right now elsewhere?  Maybe we can coax him back to poach a few?

terenceanne wrote:

y2johnny wrote:

terenceanne wrote:On top of all this Mavies is now overdue for his annual injury.

We have a club that has no money due to mismanagement and we are trying to survive with lower league players and loaners. There's nowt Lennon can do about it in my opinion.  We will remain relegation favorites for most of the season I'm afraid.

17th and only 5 points off the play-offs.  only lost two in seven and ceonceded less than a goal a game.  if we can actually get someone who can finish and stay fit i think we will be in touching distance.  i might be getting ahead of myself, but other than upfront and maybe wide right (where feeney is) we actually look alright.

I'll give you credit Johnny for being optimistic. Hope you are right. Not many outside of Bolton will be looking at us as a top six team...including the bookies. Now Clough is done for to boot....If players come in then predictions can change but as it stands today I wouldn't bet my mortgage on it.

i know a striker wont score every game but look at all our results barring the middlesborough one and one goal in each of those games would have got us 1 or sometimes 2 points.  The defence is solid.  Amos has made me forget bogdan and lonergan already.  (Although lonners pulled off a top save at weekend.......where as bogdan looks settled and his arse imprint is nicely settling on the liverpool bench)  with a goalacorer we could of got an extra 9 points with an extra goal in each game.  That would put us 2nd two points clear of boro in 3rd.  Its not that much of a stretch of the imagination

Somebody mentioned that we need a striker who can finish. I really think we ought to think about actually creating chances before we think about finishing them...

We create plenty. Especially through silva.

y2johnny wrote:We create plenty.  Especially through silva.

Indeed. But that doesn't stop biggie

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Gary Madine goal machine

just to back up my argument a little bit we are currently 12th in the table with chances created.
we are 10th in terms of number of shots we have taken, 66 inside the area and 26 from outside the area.
shot accuracy 33% which puts us in 22nd.  like i said, we need a goal scorer.

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y2johnny wrote:just to back up my argument a little bit we are currently 12th in the table with chances created.
we are 10th in terms of number of shots we have taken, 66 inside the area and 26 from outside the area.
shot accuracy 33% which puts us in 22nd.  like i said, we need a goal scorer.

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Is there a stat for "shots on target that actually have a chance of beating the goalie"?
This looks like a record of not getting behind the defence so being forced to take a hopeful punt that dribbles towards the goalie or hits any one of the 8 defenders they have between us and the goal. Or given the shot accuracy stat, sails high and wide.

What we need are good chances and good execution.