Plymouth 3-0 Bolton

Could not watch it tonight but sounds like the same as usual.
Is it safe to say that this possession plan does not seem to work against the better teams.
Not panic time but it looks right now that we are a mid table outfit --- and based on where we came from that is not entirely a bad thing. Maybe we are all getting ahead of ourselves regarding back to back promotion.

terenceanne wrote: Maybe we are all getting ahead of ourselves regarding back to back promotion.

"We"???

Not sure anyone on here was ever daft enough to suggest we would Terence.

I know Evatt suggested it was the club's "ambition" but that's like saying "we have to believe we'll win every game we go into" - which is a good attitude but not the same as saying "we will win every game".

That said, with a bit of flexibility in the system, consistently good performances, no more injuries, some luck and a fair wind, we could be around the playoffs at the end of the season.

And it would take a f*** up of cosmic proportions to get relegated looking at the teams currently near the bottom.

As regards tonight's game Evatt rested Sarce and Doyler which suggests that with the other suspensions and injuries he didn't expect a win and for the first half it looked like we'd ship a bucket load, but with the wind behind us in the second half and Plymouth protecting their lead it seems he thought there might be a chance to nick something so he threw them on.

Annoyingly he didn't try  to change the system to suit the game though. Probably a step too far for him.

What a waste of a tenner that was! Poor defending gifted them 2 early goals and we never recovered, the third was just comical and embarrassing in equal measure.

We have failed to score in 7 of our last 10 games i've just read which is the biggest problem. Bakayoko up top didn't work and Brockbank had another poor game. Dapo flitted in and out of the game and got frustrated again and we just looked off the pace all through the team.

We need to bounce back and win on Saturday to steady the ship, i can't see Evatt changing the formation so i would bring back Doyle and Sarc for this one.

boltonbonce wrote:I'm in my sick bed. Can I take it I didn't miss much?

Sorry to hear you're unwell, Boncey, but that margarine poison's not going to help. Get well soon.

No you didn't miss much.

 I might have mentioned this before but little old Plymouth have got a bit more spending power than us. Here's the reason:

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Honestly this is so frustrating now. We are 2 nil down in the first half last night and we get a corner. We take it short and within 2 passes we're back on the halfway line ready to build from the back for the 700th time in the last 2 games. It's a joke. Swapping a legitimate goalscoring chance to try and build from the back. I hate to say it but we're actually turning into a bit of a laughing stock in this league now with Evatt morphing into Keith Hill talking absolute garbage about how good we are. Wigan fans couldn't believe we were tapping it about round the back 4 in the 90th minute at 4 nil down.

Norpig wrote:What a waste of a tenner that was! Poor defending gifted them 2 early goals and we never recovered, the third was just comical and embarrassing in equal measure.

We have failed to score in 7 of our last 10 games i've just read which is the biggest problem. Bakayoko up top didn't work and Brockbank had another poor game. Dapo flitted in and out of the game and got frustrated again and we just looked off the pace all through the team.

We need to bounce back and win on Saturday to steady the ship, i can't see Evatt changing the formation so i would bring back Doyle and Sarc for this one.

Don't quote me on this but I think we've conceded first in something like 13 out of 15 games which is just not good enough. Can't build on defending like that.

And that third goal by the way was a fucking farce. Looked like something Benny hill came up with.

boltonbonce wrote:I'm in my sick bed. Can I take it I didn't miss much?

Hope you feel better soon Boncey, chatbox wasn't the same without you last night.

There seem to be a lot of Bolton fans repeating "In Evans I Trust".

I don't get it.

What has he actually done that makes him any better than the long line of failed managers that came before him?

He has done a good job in general, he got us promoted last season and we started off well this season. 

He is a decent manager but seems hesitant to change his way of playing even when its plainly not working. We are having a mini bad patch but will come out of it. 

The main issue for me is Bolton fans on social media who are clueless and think we have a God given right to get promotion again. We've been on a downward spiral for years and its going to take years to put on back on an even keel and even think about going up the divisions again.

Why so many Bolton fans were so confident we would go up straight away is a mystery to me. I read somewhere we had the biggest retention of players from last season so that means we are essentially still a club with a lot of league 2 players.

We will be ok this season and i would happily take a mid table finish if it means we can stabilise more and then look to push on over the next year or two.

Norpig wrote:He has done a good job in general, he got us promoted last season and we started off well this season. 

He is a decent manager but seems hesitant to change his way of playing even when its plainly not working. We are having a mini bad patch but will come out of it. 

The main issue for me is Bolton fans on social media who are clueless and think we have a God given right to get promotion again. We've been on a downward spiral for years and its going to take years to put on back on an even keel and even think about going up the divisions again.

Why so many Bolton fans were so confident we would go up straight away is a mystery to me. I read somewhere we had the biggest retention of players from last season so that means we are essentially still a club with a lot of league 2 players.

We will be ok this season and i would happily take a mid table finish if it means we can stabilise more and then look to push on over the next year or two.

Tbh Norpig I'm more frustrated at the lack of urgency to change something that doesn't work in any given game. I hear a lot from Evatt about how the players need to figure things out on the pitch and work out where the space is etc but he is robotic in his set up week on week. The players have no choice but to try and figure it out whilst using a formation and tactics that are being run all over by the opposition. You need to give them the tools to change the game. The players need to do better yes, but I still believe the questions should be asked. No way I'm paying my money and not commenting on what's right in front of my face.

Bwfc1958 wrote:
I'm more frustrated at the lack of urgency to change something that doesn't work in any given game. I hear a lot from Evatt about how the players need to figure things out on the pitch and work out where the space is etc but he is robotic in his set up week on week. The players have no choice but to try and figure it out whilst using a formation and tactics that are being run all over by the opposition. You need to give them the tools to change the game. The players need to do better yes, but I still believe the questions should be asked.

Last season he stuck with his system (back 3) until we were in the relegation zone even though it was obvious that the way most L2 teams play we needed a back 4 so he's a pretty stubborn bugger.
Totally get the idea of having the whole club play one way but there has to be ways of mixing it up in a game when Plan A isn't working and a variation on his original system could work in this division - and it's hardly something he's unfamiliar with.
And it's got to the point where whenever we have injuries or suspensions he's having to shoehorn players into positions that don't suit them.
Baka was a prime example - sticking him out on the wing was a pointless exercise when it's obvious he could do more damage through the middle despite his limited ability. And IMO he could do plenty of damage if he played in a strike partnership with Doyler.
Two up top is not in Evatt's book though - even though we are desperate for goals.
When we're up against it, a high press and 352 is the way forward IMO - it's slightly riskier, demands a high workrate but if we're getting battered what is there to lose?