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Although a third of voters in our online poll said the defence was the area most in need of strengthening last season's top performers were all defensive minded, and one, two or all could be a huge loss this summer.
Wanderers have already released David Wheater and may yet decide to cash in on Rob Holding. Ex- Madrid defender/defensive midfielder Derik Osede is contracted for two more seasons but may yet be moved on as the Whites cut their cloth in readiness for life in League One.
Losing any more of the trio – who, between them, dominated the club's end-of-season awards despite Bolton conceding 1.76 goals per league game – will mean a complete defensive overhaul.
From an inauspicious start against Burton Albion in the League Cup and a nervous league debut at Middlesbrough, Holding has graduated to become one of the club's most exciting finds for years.
Unlike Zach Clough or even Josh Vela, there had been little fanfare given to the Tameside defender as he made his way through the youth ranks to figure in Iain Brunskill’s Under-21 team, and now on the international stage with Gareth Southgate's Young Lions.
Although encouraging reports came back from a loan spell at Bury, his inclusion at the start of the campaign with Neil Lennon in charge still came as some surprise.
An injury to Derik in the final pre-season warm-up against Charlton Athletic opened the door for the 20-year-old at first. But when he struggled against Diego Fabbrini and co at the Riverside, some questioned whether it had been too early to throw him into a struggling team.
It was in the two months Holding spent out of the starting line-up that the youngster really showed his true colours. Back in the unglamorous surroundings of Leyland his performances improved week on week. Playing as a full-back or in the middle of the back four, he also gained a reputation for scoring some spectacular goals.
Holding had not been the headline grabber coming through the youth team and was described earlier this year by academy boss Jimmy Phillips as resembling “Bambi on Ice” as he struggled for form in his mid-teens.
But Wanderers kept faith in the defender they had reared from the age of seven and when he did return to the team against Hull City in December, his manager described his performance as “excellent”.
From there he didn’t look back.
Whereas a degree of inconsistency is expected when a young player comes into the team – let alone one suffering such a crisis of confidence as Wanderers were at the time – Holding cut a reliable figure.
Leading luminaries around the club began to heap praise on his shoulders. Ex-striker John McGinlay picked him out as a future club captain, while soon-to-be owner Dean Holdsworth believed, and has since been proved right, Holding could go on to play international football.
Despite all the attention, Holding’s performances have stayed steady with very little evidence the headlines have gone to his head.
Two defensive partners have stood out. Derik arrived from Spain with a flamboyant haircut, a Real Madrid pedigree and the fact Zinedine Zidane had been the last man to manage him.
His introduction to English football came at Morecambe and a mistake leading to the Shrimpers’ opening goal, followed by an injury sustained on the season’s eve, checked his progress but the Spaniard’s return to the team inspired the first win, against Wolves, at the seventh time of asking.
Derik suffered more than most in a drab 4-0 defeat at Huddersfield Town which also marked his first red card in the English game.
And by the time his suspension was served, Neil Lennon had grown tired of his existing right-back options and Derik became the latest square peg to be placed into the proverbial round hole.
That affected his confidence and it was not until the last few months of the season, when he was restored to centre-half alongside Holding and later into a defensive midfield role, we saw his real talent.
Derik is not, of course, the first bouffant-haired Spaniard to occupy the space in front of Wanderers’ back four. But his excellent reading of the game and the positioning – which improved greatly under Jimmy Phillips – gives plenty of reason for optimism.
The Whites' defensive triumvirate is completed with an old warrior who has had to say his last goodbyes at Wanderers this summer.
David Wheater, when fit, is a Premier League defender. Sadly for the club and the affable Teessider, that has been nowhere near regular enough in the five-and-a-half years he has been in the North West.
Though Wheater got his wrists slapped for a petulant gesture towards the club’s cameras before a late-season game at Brentford, that same cheeky humour will be extremely hard to replace. The online poll revealed that 46 per cent of the near-5,000 voters said he was the player they were most sorry to lose this summer.
Never the paciest defender, Wheater does the old-fashioned things well and in that sense blended well with Holding, who prefers to drop off a yard in order to pick and choose his battles.
If Wanderers could have found a way of keeping all three in their squad next season the new manager would have one less thing to worry about.
Source
Wanderers have already released David Wheater and may yet decide to cash in on Rob Holding. Ex- Madrid defender/defensive midfielder Derik Osede is contracted for two more seasons but may yet be moved on as the Whites cut their cloth in readiness for life in League One.
Losing any more of the trio – who, between them, dominated the club's end-of-season awards despite Bolton conceding 1.76 goals per league game – will mean a complete defensive overhaul.
From an inauspicious start against Burton Albion in the League Cup and a nervous league debut at Middlesbrough, Holding has graduated to become one of the club's most exciting finds for years.
Unlike Zach Clough or even Josh Vela, there had been little fanfare given to the Tameside defender as he made his way through the youth ranks to figure in Iain Brunskill’s Under-21 team, and now on the international stage with Gareth Southgate's Young Lions.
Although encouraging reports came back from a loan spell at Bury, his inclusion at the start of the campaign with Neil Lennon in charge still came as some surprise.
An injury to Derik in the final pre-season warm-up against Charlton Athletic opened the door for the 20-year-old at first. But when he struggled against Diego Fabbrini and co at the Riverside, some questioned whether it had been too early to throw him into a struggling team.
It was in the two months Holding spent out of the starting line-up that the youngster really showed his true colours. Back in the unglamorous surroundings of Leyland his performances improved week on week. Playing as a full-back or in the middle of the back four, he also gained a reputation for scoring some spectacular goals.
Holding had not been the headline grabber coming through the youth team and was described earlier this year by academy boss Jimmy Phillips as resembling “Bambi on Ice” as he struggled for form in his mid-teens.
But Wanderers kept faith in the defender they had reared from the age of seven and when he did return to the team against Hull City in December, his manager described his performance as “excellent”.
From there he didn’t look back.
Whereas a degree of inconsistency is expected when a young player comes into the team – let alone one suffering such a crisis of confidence as Wanderers were at the time – Holding cut a reliable figure.
Leading luminaries around the club began to heap praise on his shoulders. Ex-striker John McGinlay picked him out as a future club captain, while soon-to-be owner Dean Holdsworth believed, and has since been proved right, Holding could go on to play international football.
Despite all the attention, Holding’s performances have stayed steady with very little evidence the headlines have gone to his head.
Two defensive partners have stood out. Derik arrived from Spain with a flamboyant haircut, a Real Madrid pedigree and the fact Zinedine Zidane had been the last man to manage him.
His introduction to English football came at Morecambe and a mistake leading to the Shrimpers’ opening goal, followed by an injury sustained on the season’s eve, checked his progress but the Spaniard’s return to the team inspired the first win, against Wolves, at the seventh time of asking.
Derik suffered more than most in a drab 4-0 defeat at Huddersfield Town which also marked his first red card in the English game.
And by the time his suspension was served, Neil Lennon had grown tired of his existing right-back options and Derik became the latest square peg to be placed into the proverbial round hole.
That affected his confidence and it was not until the last few months of the season, when he was restored to centre-half alongside Holding and later into a defensive midfield role, we saw his real talent.
Derik is not, of course, the first bouffant-haired Spaniard to occupy the space in front of Wanderers’ back four. But his excellent reading of the game and the positioning – which improved greatly under Jimmy Phillips – gives plenty of reason for optimism.
The Whites' defensive triumvirate is completed with an old warrior who has had to say his last goodbyes at Wanderers this summer.
David Wheater, when fit, is a Premier League defender. Sadly for the club and the affable Teessider, that has been nowhere near regular enough in the five-and-a-half years he has been in the North West.
Though Wheater got his wrists slapped for a petulant gesture towards the club’s cameras before a late-season game at Brentford, that same cheeky humour will be extremely hard to replace. The online poll revealed that 46 per cent of the near-5,000 voters said he was the player they were most sorry to lose this summer.
Never the paciest defender, Wheater does the old-fashioned things well and in that sense blended well with Holding, who prefers to drop off a yard in order to pick and choose his battles.
If Wanderers could have found a way of keeping all three in their squad next season the new manager would have one less thing to worry about.
Source
