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As he prepares for a welcome break from Wanderers’ current woes, Ireland’s Under-21s captain Josh Cullen believes better times for the club are right around the corner.
The midfielder, on loan at Bolton from West Ham United, will lead his country’s U21s in home games against Norway tomorrow and Israel on Monday.
With two wins from their two games, the Ireland U21s top Group Five in qualification for the 2019 UEFA European Championships, ahead of Kosovo on goal difference having played two fewer games.
And, while Cullen has been sitting out the last two games for the Whites in order to accommodate new signing Karl Henry in midfield, the 21-year-old feels he has seen enough during the side’s desperate barren spell to be able to look to the future with a degree of optimism.
“Obviously we haven’t got off to the start we would have liked but we are a strong group,” he said.
“We’ll stick together and we’re confident that we’ll start to climb the table soon.
“The majority of teams will have a sticky period during the course of the season. It just so happens ours has happened at the start.
“Hopefully, though, we’ll kick on sooner rather than later.”
Cullen and fellow Hammer Reece Burke joined the Whites in the summer on loan deals until the turn of the year, both having played under Phil Parkinson previously, during loans with Bradford City in League One.
Cullen has briefly experienced the Premier League and Europa League with his parent club. He and Burke recently came in for criticism by Parkinson, a man who knows their abilities only too well, for trying too hard, as he told The Bolton News: “We have been asking him to do a man’s job and covering a lot of ground in the centre of the midfield.
“At times he hasn’t had much help.
“Josh needs a Karl Henry to boss him around and tell him where he should be, rather than a young man having to take that all on himself.”
Cullen himself says there is a marked difference between League One and second-tier football but he is progressing and developing as he bids to help Wanderers remain in the Championship.
“It’s definitely a step up from League One, there’s no doubt about it,” he said.
“The quality and speed of the game has gone up a notch and it has taken me a bit of time to get used to that, as it would any player.
“I feel like I am doing that now and I can go from strength to strength, personally, and hopefully help the team to push on.”
Many fans at the London Stadium have been tracking their young stars’ progress, wondering when Slaven Bilic would give them a run in the first team and Southend-born Cullen, a Hammers fan at heart, admits his aim is to break into the first team, though he is wary of trying to run before he walks.
“I’m here until January at the minute and I don’t like looking too far ahead, I’ll take each game at a time,” he said
“If I take my eye off the ball I could slip up, and I don’t ever want that to happen.”
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The midfielder, on loan at Bolton from West Ham United, will lead his country’s U21s in home games against Norway tomorrow and Israel on Monday.
With two wins from their two games, the Ireland U21s top Group Five in qualification for the 2019 UEFA European Championships, ahead of Kosovo on goal difference having played two fewer games.
And, while Cullen has been sitting out the last two games for the Whites in order to accommodate new signing Karl Henry in midfield, the 21-year-old feels he has seen enough during the side’s desperate barren spell to be able to look to the future with a degree of optimism.
“Obviously we haven’t got off to the start we would have liked but we are a strong group,” he said.
“We’ll stick together and we’re confident that we’ll start to climb the table soon.
“The majority of teams will have a sticky period during the course of the season. It just so happens ours has happened at the start.
“Hopefully, though, we’ll kick on sooner rather than later.”
Cullen and fellow Hammer Reece Burke joined the Whites in the summer on loan deals until the turn of the year, both having played under Phil Parkinson previously, during loans with Bradford City in League One.
Cullen has briefly experienced the Premier League and Europa League with his parent club. He and Burke recently came in for criticism by Parkinson, a man who knows their abilities only too well, for trying too hard, as he told The Bolton News: “We have been asking him to do a man’s job and covering a lot of ground in the centre of the midfield.
“At times he hasn’t had much help.
“Josh needs a Karl Henry to boss him around and tell him where he should be, rather than a young man having to take that all on himself.”
Cullen himself says there is a marked difference between League One and second-tier football but he is progressing and developing as he bids to help Wanderers remain in the Championship.
“It’s definitely a step up from League One, there’s no doubt about it,” he said.
“The quality and speed of the game has gone up a notch and it has taken me a bit of time to get used to that, as it would any player.
“I feel like I am doing that now and I can go from strength to strength, personally, and hopefully help the team to push on.”
Many fans at the London Stadium have been tracking their young stars’ progress, wondering when Slaven Bilic would give them a run in the first team and Southend-born Cullen, a Hammers fan at heart, admits his aim is to break into the first team, though he is wary of trying to run before he walks.
“I’m here until January at the minute and I don’t like looking too far ahead, I’ll take each game at a time,” he said
“If I take my eye off the ball I could slip up, and I don’t ever want that to happen.”
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