Eastleigh 1-1 Bolton

luckyPeterpiper wrote:

wanderlust wrote:I do get the feeling that Lennon saying "we need to negotiate the tie" lacks enthusiasm. I do hope they aren't going to be overconfident.

Given that he's probably been told not to cup-tie certain players like Clough, Mavies and Vela I suspect he's trying to ensure we don't get overconfident lusty. 

I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see several players missing this one, namely the ones who might have a sale value on or after Jan 18th that would be hurt by being cup-tied. It wouldn't stun me to find out Lennon's been ordered not to play them for that very reason and he's going along with it because what choice does he or anyone else at the club really have under the circumstances?

If we are going to lose players like Clough, Vela and Mavies and short term contracts like Ameobi are going to be terminated, then this is the perfect opportunity to get real and start giving game time to the kids that will have to be drafted in.

I'm looking forward to see a really fresh and innovative selection and system on Saturday.

Why, what do you know that we don't? 

We will obviously lose.

Breadman wrote:Why, what do you know that we don't? 

Breadman I don't know anything. I am speculating (based on the current financial position) that Neil will pick a team based more on possible fundraising requirements than footballing ones. If I am right in what I think will happen then I expect to see Clough, Mavies, Vela and possibly Amos all missing from the team sheet this weekend to avoid them being cuptied and putting off a potential buyer this month. It may sound like a gloomy hypothesis because it is but it wouldn't surprise me if it came to pass. 

I think the team selection on Saturday will be a very clear signal as to the real status of any potential takeover bid. If Mavies and the rest are all playing then it's a sign we must be close to a deal or having some extra funding because we wouldn't cup-tie them otherwise. If they're all missing then we can probably take it to mean we have to sell them in order to survive.

I think bread was talking to lust to be honest.

On your point about cup tied players though, I really wouldn't attach too much significance to the selection in that regard. I seriously doubt that any of Clough, Velas, Mavies or Wheaters suitors (supposedly mid table champ sides) have big cup ambitions this year and as such whether or not said targets are eligible to play or not is unlikely to be an issue IMO. 

Should they not play id say it's far more likely to be giving them a rest, experimenting or giving squad players like Spearing a run out.

Yeah.....I was.

I always try to sniff out a cup upset at good odds, usually they oblige if i wasn't a Wanderer this match would appeal, you can't really see any positives from a Bolton standpoint. Bookies are wary as well offering a shade over 2/1 with Bolton a nervy 23/20.

Wouldn't back Bolton with someone else's cash. Be glad when this ones over.

Preview: Eastleigh v Bolton

SETTING THE SCENE
Bolton Wanderers’ Emirates FA Cup campaign starts away at Vanarama National League side Eastleigh on Saturday.

Yet to win on the road so far this season, Neil Lennon has said he will name a strong team for the third round tie as the Whites look to avoid a cup upset against the last non-league side left in the competition.

Meanwhile, Saturday’s game marks the first time Eastleigh have reached the third round of the FA Cup in the club’s history, with a record attendance expected at the Silverlake Stadium.

Yet to kick a ball in 2016 after seeing last weekend’s match with Bromley postponed because of a waterlogged pitch, the promotion-chasing Spitfires currently sit fourth in the Conference and have lost just once since the start of October.

TEAM NEWS
Shola Ameobi is available after missing the last month with a groin injury, while Liam Trotter also comes into contention following the end of his loan spell with Nottingham Forest.

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However, Emile Heskey (calf) is not yet ready to return, while Max Clayton (hamstring) remains a long-term absentee.


LAST EASTLEIGH XI (v Aldershot, D1-1)
Flitney, Partington, Reid, Harding, Evans, Payne, Reason (Fanimo 71), Cook, Drury, Constable, Midson (Odubade 77).

ONE TO WATCH
One of a number of Eastleigh players with Football League experience, James Constable represents the non-league club’s most potent attacking threat as they look to pull off a cup upset on Saturday.

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A former England C international, the former Walsall and Oxford United striker is the Spitfires’ leading goalscorer with 13 goals so far this campaign.

Also Eastleigh’s top marksman during the 2014/15 season as they reached the Conference Play-Offs, Constable was on the scoresheet in the Spitfires’ second round victory over Stourbridge.

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Lawro reckons we'll win 0-2 because we "don't have much quality but do have a lot of scrappers, which is what we need" apparently. Not sure Lawro watched the Rotherham game!

We might look like a decent side today, due to the pitch which is shite, it might bobble the ball into the correct players feet

Can't see it going ahead myself.

Breadman wrote:Can't see it going ahead myself.

Bad weather?

Last I saw the ground staff were piling sand onto a wing under the ref's direction. I think he's planning to let the game go ahead if they can sort that corner of the pitch but to be honest it's going to be a tough match if it does. Watching the pitch inspection on Football Focus and the ball didn't bounce at all anywhere. The ref and his assistants tossed it up in a lot of places and every time it hit the ground it stopped dead like they'd dropped a rock. They had a short kickabout on the wing where they're putting sand and the ball hardly rolled on the surface. In all honesty it's like a pitch from the seventies or eighties. It's green but it's so wet and soggy it's gonna cut up with every step on it and I bet it'll be a mudbath before half time if we play.

Hopefully it will go ahead as the club might not exist on the date they rearrange it!!

Blimey, it's officially on.

Very surprised.

No chance of this not going ahead.

'Neil Lennon says he's not picking the team until he's seen and walked on the pitch' - Marc Iles


FFS! What a mess we are in.

He better have Woolery and another youngster on the bench at the very least.

Boggersbelief wrote:He better have Woolery and another youngster on the bench at the very least.

He's worried about risking Heskey on a heavy pitch.
Don't know why- he'll be knackered after20 minutes and subbed at half time if he plays the oil tanker