Stockport v Bolton FRIENDLY

Why is it behind closed doors? Are the Stockport players shy?

Its to stop fatty Sarcevic getting abused all game.

Norpig wrote:Its to stop fatty Sarcevic getting abused all game.

Makes sense although I had forgotten about him.

Norpig wrote:Its to stop fatty Sarcevic getting abused all game.

If that's your off-the-cuff description of our ex-captain, you are probably right given that you are one of the more reasonable fans. Goodness knows what the idiots would get up to.

wanderlust wrote:
If that's your off-the-cuff description of our ex-captain, you are probably right given that you are one of the more reasonable fans. Goodness knows what the idiots would get up to.

I lost all respect for him with his last twitter post when he was celebrating Plymouth beating us, he kind of brought it on himself in my opinion and he had to delete his twitter account.

Ended up 2-2, i hope Evatt gave Sarcevic a good hiding 

Norpig wrote:Ended up 2-2, i hope Evatt gave Sarcevic a good hiding 

Evans out.

I'm looking forward to his comments on the length of the grass.

Not a very encouraging result.
Did it tell us anything more about our defence?

MATCH REPORT: Stockport County 2 Bolton Wanderers 2

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Wanderers were made to work hard by League Two Stockport County as their unbeaten start to pre-season was preserved.

Elias Kachunga and Conor Bradley grabbed the goals at the Hatters’ Carrington training base but the League Two side earned a share of the spoils thanks to Will Collar and Miles Hippolyte.

Wanderers took a while to find their rhythm, with Stockport keeping them pinned in during the opening stages and looking confident on the ball.

Ollie Crankshaw was the main threat throughout the first half, finding plenty of space behind Kieran Sadlier. He pounced on a good flick from target man Kyle Wooton 10 minutes in to get a view of Joel Dixon’s goal but failed to get a good connection with his attempted lob.

The same man got the wrong side of Ricardo Santos a few moments later but delayed his shot just long enough for the Bolton skipper to get a challenge in.

After fending off the early pressure, Wanderers started to get a feel of the ball again in midfield. MJ Williams sprayed a fine pass out to release Declan John on the left, the Welshman working his way into the penalty box but unable to keep his shot down.

Amadou Bakayoko then had arguably the two best chances of the half. Dion Charles created the first with a well-timed pass but Mark Kitching managed to get just enough on his challenge to divert the ball over the bar.

Charles also had a say in Bakayoko’s second opportunity, working the ball with George Thomason on the edge of the box, but the Sierra Leone international could not keep his shot down.

The game opened up when both sides swapped virtually their whole starting line up, just after the hour. Before that, Joel Dixon had done remarkably well to keep the scoreline level, making excellent sdaves at close range from Crankshaw and Wooton.

Stockport grabbed the lead a matter of moments after James Trafford’s arrival on the pitch.

Will Collar fired low past the Bolton keeper after the Whites had struggled to clear the ball on the edge of their own penalty box.

Within a minute Wanderers were level. Kachunga seized on a loose back-pass and though his first shot was saved by keeper Ben Hinchcliffe, he headed into the empty net for a quick equaliser.

And almost immediately, Bradley produced an impressive finish in the bottom corner after being picked out by a fine pass from George Johnston.

Stockport would argue they deserved a draw – and they got one with another fine effort, Hyppolyte curling his shot around a defender to beat Trafford.

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MATCH REACTION: Ian Evatt gives his verdict on the 2-2 draw against Stockport

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Ian Evatt hopes Conor Bradley’s razor-sharp finish for Wanderers at Stockport was just the tip of the iceberg.

The Liverpool loanee scored Bolton’s second goal of the day as they drew 2-2 at County’s Carrington training ground in their third pre-season outing.

Bradley played the last half an hour and made an immediate impact at right wing-back in what has been an encouraging start to life with the Whites since his loan move from Anfield.

“It was a lovely pass from George Johnston and a wonderful first touch and finish,” said Evatt of Bradley’s 65th minute strike. “He’s a young player with huge potential but we don’t want to build him up too high.

“We’ve just got to keep working with him, enjoy his football and hopefully we’ll see a lot more things like that this season.”

Evatt admitted that County had been a tougher proposition than non-league sides Longridge and Chorley, who had made up the opposition in the first two friendly games.

And the Bolton boss said the performance had been somewhat of a mixed bag, with the League Two hosts still brimming with confidence after their promotion from the National League last year.

“I think there was positives and negatives and you’re going to get that at this stage of pre-season and this stage of our preparation,” he said. “It’s just a work in progress and I saw some things that we’ve been working on, some really good things and obviously some that are not so good.

“But it was a much more competitive game, number one, and number two, just our sharpness really in front of goal especially. I think we had some really good opportunities first half that we created really well. Some of our combination play was good and sharp, but then just that composure to finish.

“It was a fair result and a good exercise for both teams.”

Dion Charles was the player who caught the eye in the first-half, linking up well with Amadou Bakayoko to create two good scoring opportunities.

The Northern Ireland international has returned from Nations League duty looking sharp and Evatt feels his overall game is also improving.

“He does so much good work in and out of possession, the way he sets the press, he’s aggressive with his work. He’s becoming more reliable in possession.

“Some of his hold up play is really good, and then it’s just to simplify his game after that initial hold up play, but I’m really pleased with him.

“Jon was carrying a bit of a niggle so managed himself just to get minutes in his legs. Kacha and Baka also did lots of good work, so I’m pleased with the front lads at the minute.”

Elias Kachunga also made it three goals in three friendly games with a header to bring his side level in the second half.

“The most pleasing goal for me was the first one because that’s kind of the way we press together and the way the front players in particular and the two strikers and the 10 work as a unit to contain their back players,” he said of Kachunga’s goal.

“When to jump, how to jump, with what intensity and I think we got it spot on there. A couple of times in the second half when young Conor came on, you could see the way he reads the jump and the timing of the jump and then is so aggressive and intense with it, he’s a good prospect.”

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It seems like we're going into the new season with virtually the same squad, the same squad that was nowhere near the play offs and lost to the majority of the teams above them.

And yet the happy clappers seem to think we'll be going up.

The failure to sign a no-nonsense midfielder is baffling.

Natasha Whittam wrote:It seems like we're going into the new season with virtually the same squad, the same squad that was nowhere near the play offs and lost to the majority of the teams above them.

And yet the happy clappers seem to think we'll be going up.

The failure to sign a no-nonsense midfielder is baffling.

Surely MJ should be doing that role, do you not rate him Nat?

If anybody cares you can watch the whole game on youtube with the stockport commentators.
Anyhow we look about the same as last season so far. Not many ideas in the middle and plenty of sideways passing. Almost caught at the back several times with the daft playing out tactics when clearing the ball was in order. Hard to comment on the new lads yet - not seen enough.

Norpig wrote:Surely MJ should be doing that role, do you not rate him Nat?

League 2 player at best. He's been a good signing for us but if we want to progress we need a Karl Henry like midfielder who isn't scared to put a foot in. Too many times last season, especially away, we lost the central midfield battle.

Comes down to money, the club aren't paying for Championshp standard players.Last season when Wigan hammered us 4-0 Jordan Cousins was a class above Williams in the midfield. Cousins who has spent most of his career in the Championship was no doubt on much bigger wages than Williams.Wigan finished top of the league because their owner would pay big wages for a few  Championship players, we finished mid table because we had a team  on div 3 wages

Growler wrote:Comes down to money, the club aren't paying for Championshp standard players.Last season when Wigan hammered us 4-0 Jordan Cousins was a class above Williams in the midfield. Cousins who has spent most of his career in the Championship was no doubt on much bigger wages than Williams.Wigan finished top of the league because their owner would pay big wages for a few  Championship players, we finished mid table because we had a team  on div 3 wages

Not sure your argument holds up when we were dicked at Burton, Fleetwood, Accrington & Stockport. I can assure you that none of those clubs are paying Championship wages.

Central midfield is absolute key to any progress in the coming season.

Natasha Whittam wrote:It seems like we're going into the new season with virtually the same squad, the same squad that was nowhere near the play offs and lost to the majority of the teams above them.

And yet the happy clappers seem to think we'll be going up.

The failure to sign a no-nonsense midfielder is baffling.

Other teams are strengthening. Derby have today signed 3 very experienced players of decent quality in Hourihane, Chester and McGoldrick and we can't afford to be lightweight against the likes of them.
However, we have got plenty of young prospects and I hope we can add the Irish lad to that list in the next 50 odd hours. We may even get one or two of the B team progressing and staking a claim for a starting spot - we'll see.
But like you I'm concerned about our defensive capabilities.

9th