Let's not berate players like Liam Feeney who are still fighting for us

At the recent home match against Ipswich Town, and before and after on social media, I sat in complete dismay as I heard and read some of the criticism directed towards Liam Feeney.

He was man of the match and goalscorer in our previous home game, and the one player whose fitness levels and workrate are there in black and white for anyone who cares to look at the statistics.

And yet, there are some Bolton fans who seem to have an inherent dislike of Feeney that biases them towards the negative and blinds them to the good work he puts in.

Yes, Feeney is no midfielder to rival the likes of Okocha, Djorkaeff, Petrov, Hierro, Campo, but he is trying his best. And whilst things don’t always come off for him, there is quality in some of his play and on his day he can cause no end of trouble to the opposition.

The enthusiasm he elicited when he first came on loan from Millwall, and the clamour and outrage when we didn’t sign him up immediately, seems almost unbelievable now in the face of some of the extraordinary abuse directed his way.

Without Feeney’s pace and fitness, I think we would have been in an even worse position than we currently find ourselves. He works tirelessly to run from box to box, plays wherever he is asked without complaint, reaches misplaced passes that no other player would, and is capable of worrying full-backs with his pace.

And yet, he his criticised.

Game after game he delivers dangerous crosses into the box, but these are labelled “aimless” by his critics. However, such crosses would be heralded as “inch perfect” if any of the players had taken the initiative and adopted an attacking position.

In stark contrast are the likes of Mark Davies who receive comparatively little criticism from those same fans who criticise Feeney.

I think it is a sad indictment that fans criticise some players whilst others, who are doing less for the team, fly under the radar. Surely, it is better to try and fail, than not to try at all?

If more of our players were willing to try, to show the spirit and drive that Feeney has showed on a weekly basis, I have no doubt we wouldn’t be in the pickle we are in now.

My plea is a simple one. As relegation looms large, let us not berate our players who are at least still fighting for us. In a few short months they may be playing in a different shirt and we may be left casting an envious eye in their direction, drawing rueful comparisons between them and whatever players we may be left with.

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karlypants wrote:
Game after game he delivers dangerous crosses into the box, but these are labelled “aimless” by his critics. However, such crosses would be heralded as “inch perfect” if any of the players had taken the initiative and adopted an attacking position.

I don't think up the first defender's arse constitutes an attacking position, at least not in a sense that's useful to us.

Agree with this entirely. Feeney is one of the few who would be on my (very short) retained list.

Totally agree the lad gives his all, ok his delivery is not always the best but he worries defenders, i agree that the number of times our midfield fail to get up in support makes his crosses look bad,

All season our midfield have failed to get up and support the man on the ball.  they make a pass and stay static. to some extent this reflects badly on the manager surely he can see this week in week out

Agree 100% Feeney has probably been one of the best performers all season, certainly the pick of the midfielders. Puts a shift in every game, closing down the full backs when we don't have the ball and always looks dangerous going forward, chipped in with goals and assists more than the other midfielders like Mavies and silva who should be contributing going forward.

However Mavies seems to get away with not getting any flack, I don't get it.

I think everyone gave up on Mirage Mavies a long time ago and that's why he is continually allowed to fly under the radar. Several managers have failed to get more than 10 minutes per game out of him and he seems content with that level of effort. He is on too much money and obviously has very little ambition putting him among the worst offenders IMO. The sooner he is gone the better.

Re: Mark Davies, I keep coming back to this but I still remember Wolves fans telling us on 606 when we signed him that he was an injury prone knob who only ever managed to play one game in three because of his tendency to break his toenails or strain his hair.

And they also said that, whilst it was clear that he had some innate ability, his attitude wasn't the best.

"Bit of a cripple who flatters to deceive and goes missing far too often" was the consensus.

We've paid this twat nearly six million quid over the years and what has it got us?

A couple of dynamic runs into the box which resulted in goals but not a lot else.

Another tattooed wanker who struck it lucky when his agent got the call from the least financially astute chairman on the planet and thought all his birthdays had come at once.

Strong candidate for expedient euthanasia.

NickFazer wrote:Agree with this entirely. Feeney is one of the few who would be on my (very short) retained list.

He's out of contract this summer and we won't be able to resign him so basically Feeney is gone and IMO Lennon should drop him immediately and start looking for the system and players that will eliminate this team's dependency on him.

Nothing wrong with Feeney recently - it's just that he's gone at the end of the season so we need to plan for life without him.

Feeney is obviously one of the least droppable players in the side, I just think some of the claims there are OTT.

For a start, you can't automatically blame it on the strikers - stumps though the lot of them are - for not having the ingenuity. For every nine crosses that don't beat the first man, there's one that goes into the area with speed, granted, but half of the job is looking up to see that you're not just playing it into thin air.

For me Feeney has been one of the best players this season. His work rate is excellent and his crosses regularly go in the mincer, unfortunately we lack players to get on the end of them for various reasons.
As for Mark Davies, I'd like to say he's shite, but he's not that good!