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There is little more futile than an afternoon spent watching football repeatedly telling yourself that the score-line doesn’t matter.
Competition is kind of the point. Remove that element of jeopardy and you just have 22 grown men racing around a clammy pitch in late July being attacked by thousands of thunder-bugs, and it all seems kind of pointless.
In Bolton’s case, many of those running around in a natty dark green away kit in the last half-hour were not grown men at all, indeed, many of them were not even born when Bolo Zenden conned ref Mike Riley from the penalty spot in the Carling Cup final; many won’t even get the reference!
Ian Evatt had little choice but to throw the club’s kids on in the final half hour to avoid extending his injured list any further. The medical room at Lostock must be full to the brim now, so the next step would logically be hiring out a whole wing at Royal Bolton.
Kyle Dempsey made it eight unavailable players when he picked up a knee injury on the eve of the game, which would ordinarily be a headache for a manager, but especially so when you are trying to tinker with a tactical plan for a season that starts in three weeks.
To the minions and untrained eye, this sort of friendly might be little more than a public training session and a chance to drink lager from plastic glasses whilst leaning against a fence at pitch-side, but for Evatt and his coaching staff it is a chance to put the training ground theory into practice.
Plan A 2.0 sounds like a low carb subscription diet but will hopefully be the tactical tweak which gets Bolton out of League One at the fourth time of asking. We got a glimpse, nothing more, of a 5-2-3 formation which utilised, left to right, Aaron Collins, Victor Adeboyejo and Klaidi Lolos in attack, and turned up the physical demand on central midfielders George Thomason and Josh Sheehan.
In turn the two ball-winners would dip in, chase down the ball, drop back, and reset. When they did win back possession the attacking machine sprung to life, Lolos and Adeboyejo causing even more problems to Boro’s defenders than they had to the unprepared match announcer when he read out the team-sheets prior to kick off in the North East sunshine.
In the absence of any senior left wing-back, Max Conway was named from the start. For a couple of years the young defender has threatened to challenge the current impasse in homegrown talent at first team level, his technical ability regularly making him stand out in the wilds of the B Team. At 20 years old he barely squeezes by the Carling Cup test but there were signs that punchy loan spells at Rochdale, AFC Fylde and Buxton have helped him physically, and he deserves mention for giving Bolton good first-half balance, in tandem with Josh Dacres-Cogley on the right.
Boro were effective in bursts, given some encouragement with some rusty touches around the edge of the penalty box on a sticky pitch from Bolton’s starting back three of Eoin Toal, Ricardo Santos and Will Forrester.
Nathan Baxter made a couple of smart saves from Riley McGree and Josh Coburn but by the time a dusting of rain arrived to revive the playing surface and rid us of those damn thunder-bugs for just a few precious moments, Lolos, Collins and Adeboyejo were finding some rhythm and the Championship side had to drop deeper to preserve the status quo.
With his team in full flow, Evatt was in full commentary mode, snapping out orders and covering as much ground as most of his players. The show was played out to the amazement of some Boro fans in the Main Stand, potentially used to the more serene technical areas of the Championship where managers sit astride buckets, smoke pipes and read philosophy.
Half time arrived, probably to the surprise of the two scouts who had settled in front of the press box to discuss at great volume every single game they had been to so far this summer, where they were going, and which hotel chains did the best breakfast. Hardly a glance was cast towards the pitch, so if the professionals aren’t soaking in all the footballing minutiae, what chance do us mere mortals have, eh?
Zach Hemming replaced Seny Dieng in the Boro goal at half time, and before Wanderers did their grand disappearing act, he made a brilliant double save from Collins and Dacres-Cogley on the follow-up. Lolos, whose movement and use of the ball warranted at least an assist from the afternoon, deserved more.
Draw a line under the game at 0-0, 60 minutes played, and everyone goes home happy.
Evatt effectively did so after the final whistle, focussing all his attention on what had gone right when he had his ‘league ready’ team on the pitch, grabbing at positives like the last Noisette Triangle in the Quality Street tin. Who can really blame him? Almost everything that came afterwards fed into a negatively charged narrative he could do without feeding for the next few weeks, at least.
Boro’s opening goal arrived liked a vivid flashback of PTSD from the darkest moments of last season. A straight ball out of midfield got Manu Latte Lath goal-side of Ricardo Santos but as the Bolton captain made up ground and wound up a challenge he appeared to hesitate. Joel Coleman, on for Baxter and now sporting a Fabien Barthez-esque shaven head, came hurtling out, the striker emerging from the panic with a simple tap in two yards from goal.
Being pre-season, and a friendly, it didn’t matter. Except, it did, a bit. We didn’t really need this sort of sloppiness this early in the piece. As the cool kids say on social media: “Too soon.”
Though Bolton had Scott Arfield, George Johnston, Dan Nlundulu, Aaron Morley, Luke Matheson and the aforementioned Coleman on the field, the influx of younger players made the final 20 minutes feel even less relevant than the continuing scouting conversation, which had now (probably) moved on to: ‘Top 10 Buddy Cop Movies’.
Sonny Finch prodded in a second goal after Latte Lath headed a corner back into the six yard box and then with five minutes left, Arfield tripped Dan Barlaser and ref Geoff Eltringham gave Delano Burgzorg the chance to score a third from the spot. He did, and took only one touch, too.
Hayden Hackney smacked another shot against the crossbar with virtually the last kick of the game, Evatt by now deep in conversation with first team coach Matt Craddock rather than barking out orders.
Nothing new was confirmed in Bishop Auckland, the last stop on the UK’s first passenger train line.
Wanderers need to make signings, there is a considerable gap between B Team and first team, there ‘may’ still be a couple of bruised egos, but also evidence that Evatt is giving himself a tactical alternative which still looked pleasing on the eye.
Not for the first time we were left asking the question: What purpose do friendlies really serve?
It’s a wonder they don’t play more of them behind closed doors…
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
There is little more futile than an afternoon spent watching football repeatedly telling yourself that the score-line doesn’t matter.
Competition is kind of the point. Remove that element of jeopardy and you just have 22 grown men racing around a clammy pitch in late July being attacked by thousands of thunder-bugs, and it all seems kind of pointless.
In Bolton’s case, many of those running around in a natty dark green away kit in the last half-hour were not grown men at all, indeed, many of them were not even born when Bolo Zenden conned ref Mike Riley from the penalty spot in the Carling Cup final; many won’t even get the reference!
Ian Evatt had little choice but to throw the club’s kids on in the final half hour to avoid extending his injured list any further. The medical room at Lostock must be full to the brim now, so the next step would logically be hiring out a whole wing at Royal Bolton.
Kyle Dempsey made it eight unavailable players when he picked up a knee injury on the eve of the game, which would ordinarily be a headache for a manager, but especially so when you are trying to tinker with a tactical plan for a season that starts in three weeks.
To the minions and untrained eye, this sort of friendly might be little more than a public training session and a chance to drink lager from plastic glasses whilst leaning against a fence at pitch-side, but for Evatt and his coaching staff it is a chance to put the training ground theory into practice.
Plan A 2.0 sounds like a low carb subscription diet but will hopefully be the tactical tweak which gets Bolton out of League One at the fourth time of asking. We got a glimpse, nothing more, of a 5-2-3 formation which utilised, left to right, Aaron Collins, Victor Adeboyejo and Klaidi Lolos in attack, and turned up the physical demand on central midfielders George Thomason and Josh Sheehan.
In turn the two ball-winners would dip in, chase down the ball, drop back, and reset. When they did win back possession the attacking machine sprung to life, Lolos and Adeboyejo causing even more problems to Boro’s defenders than they had to the unprepared match announcer when he read out the team-sheets prior to kick off in the North East sunshine.
In the absence of any senior left wing-back, Max Conway was named from the start. For a couple of years the young defender has threatened to challenge the current impasse in homegrown talent at first team level, his technical ability regularly making him stand out in the wilds of the B Team. At 20 years old he barely squeezes by the Carling Cup test but there were signs that punchy loan spells at Rochdale, AFC Fylde and Buxton have helped him physically, and he deserves mention for giving Bolton good first-half balance, in tandem with Josh Dacres-Cogley on the right.
Boro were effective in bursts, given some encouragement with some rusty touches around the edge of the penalty box on a sticky pitch from Bolton’s starting back three of Eoin Toal, Ricardo Santos and Will Forrester.
Nathan Baxter made a couple of smart saves from Riley McGree and Josh Coburn but by the time a dusting of rain arrived to revive the playing surface and rid us of those damn thunder-bugs for just a few precious moments, Lolos, Collins and Adeboyejo were finding some rhythm and the Championship side had to drop deeper to preserve the status quo.
With his team in full flow, Evatt was in full commentary mode, snapping out orders and covering as much ground as most of his players. The show was played out to the amazement of some Boro fans in the Main Stand, potentially used to the more serene technical areas of the Championship where managers sit astride buckets, smoke pipes and read philosophy.
Half time arrived, probably to the surprise of the two scouts who had settled in front of the press box to discuss at great volume every single game they had been to so far this summer, where they were going, and which hotel chains did the best breakfast. Hardly a glance was cast towards the pitch, so if the professionals aren’t soaking in all the footballing minutiae, what chance do us mere mortals have, eh?
Zach Hemming replaced Seny Dieng in the Boro goal at half time, and before Wanderers did their grand disappearing act, he made a brilliant double save from Collins and Dacres-Cogley on the follow-up. Lolos, whose movement and use of the ball warranted at least an assist from the afternoon, deserved more.
Draw a line under the game at 0-0, 60 minutes played, and everyone goes home happy.
Evatt effectively did so after the final whistle, focussing all his attention on what had gone right when he had his ‘league ready’ team on the pitch, grabbing at positives like the last Noisette Triangle in the Quality Street tin. Who can really blame him? Almost everything that came afterwards fed into a negatively charged narrative he could do without feeding for the next few weeks, at least.
Boro’s opening goal arrived liked a vivid flashback of PTSD from the darkest moments of last season. A straight ball out of midfield got Manu Latte Lath goal-side of Ricardo Santos but as the Bolton captain made up ground and wound up a challenge he appeared to hesitate. Joel Coleman, on for Baxter and now sporting a Fabien Barthez-esque shaven head, came hurtling out, the striker emerging from the panic with a simple tap in two yards from goal.
Being pre-season, and a friendly, it didn’t matter. Except, it did, a bit. We didn’t really need this sort of sloppiness this early in the piece. As the cool kids say on social media: “Too soon.”
Though Bolton had Scott Arfield, George Johnston, Dan Nlundulu, Aaron Morley, Luke Matheson and the aforementioned Coleman on the field, the influx of younger players made the final 20 minutes feel even less relevant than the continuing scouting conversation, which had now (probably) moved on to: ‘Top 10 Buddy Cop Movies’.
Sonny Finch prodded in a second goal after Latte Lath headed a corner back into the six yard box and then with five minutes left, Arfield tripped Dan Barlaser and ref Geoff Eltringham gave Delano Burgzorg the chance to score a third from the spot. He did, and took only one touch, too.
Hayden Hackney smacked another shot against the crossbar with virtually the last kick of the game, Evatt by now deep in conversation with first team coach Matt Craddock rather than barking out orders.
Nothing new was confirmed in Bishop Auckland, the last stop on the UK’s first passenger train line.
Wanderers need to make signings, there is a considerable gap between B Team and first team, there ‘may’ still be a couple of bruised egos, but also evidence that Evatt is giving himself a tactical alternative which still looked pleasing on the eye.
Not for the first time we were left asking the question: What purpose do friendlies really serve?
It’s a wonder they don’t play more of them behind closed doors…
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]