Bolton 3-1 Birmingham

BoltonTillIDie wrote:Good result today! 3-1 winners, 3 points and marching up the table

Hardly marching - more like snakes and ladders at the moment. Interview implies no sizeable budget for DF, so I guess he's accepted 2 things: 1) we have to take the time to develop young talented players and 2) no confidence that the young players we already have will be ready to participate this season.

Also heard some talk in another interview about getting players familiar with this league - which if Mills is anything to go by could be very risky. Looks like he's set his stall out to start rebuilding and is indirectly asking the fans to be patient.

A very solid performance today. A crowd of just over 17,000 which was higher than expected. The early goal by Birmingham didn't help matters but the lads heads didn't drop.

Alonso scored with a peach of a header and Chungy's goal was bloody brilliant ( well worth viewing on the FL show) If Bale had scored it the pundits would have hailed it as one of the goals of the season.

Chungy had his best performance today since returning from injury and Pratley and Ream both had very good games as well. Hard to fault anyone today but Knight had his work cut out with Zigic who is a real handful for defenders.

Andrews is now three penalties out of three as well.

SKD??? What is there to say ? Love him or hate him but you couldn't fault his performance today. He chased everything and inspired the rest of the team.

We can only hope the same team turns up for the trip to Leeds.

Hard to add anything to what RT said.

Lee seems to have a nack of scoring when it matters against Birmingham and looked more like his old self today, took his goal very very well.

When I saw Pratleys name on the team sheet I was worried but fair play to the lad he made himself a real handful for their defenders, worked well alongside SKD and read some of his flick ons well too.

My MOTM was Alonso, he had a superb game at left back and was surprised to see him on the end of what was a great cross from mears for our 1st goal.

I heard the line-up and thought "...is this the worst first 11 ever?" but to be fair it was one of the better displays of the last 18 months. Totally dominated midfield which is why we won.

Credit to SKD who played well, but it will all be rendered meaningless if we don't win at Leeds.

Natasha Whittam wrote:I heard the line-up and thought "...is this the worst first 11 ever?" but to be fair it was one of the better displays of the last 18 months. Totally dominated midfield which is why we won.

Credit to SKD who played well, but it will all be rendered meaningless if we don't win at Leeds.

Agreed... finally need to get a brace this season.

Cant remember last time i walked away from the reebok feeling pleased with what ive seen!

Two things worry me for the game on wednesday;

1. DF decides to ring the changes again

&

2. We just can't seem to put a run together at the moment hence the inconsistancy.

aaron_bwfc wrote:Two things worry me for the game on wednesday;

1. DF decides to ring the changes again

&

2. We just can't seem to put a run together at the moment hence the inconsistancy.

I'd be more worried about turning up a day after the match.

All in all a good game, there were points during the first half where we just weren't going for it thought, just passing around waiting for something to happen which just wasn't. But we well deserved the win overall and there were some good moments in play.


Bogdan - 5, wasn't tested really apart from their goal

Mears - 6, got the assist for Alonso (thanks Jonny), otherwise would be 5, apart from that a very average performance, need a replacement.

Alonso - 8, attacking play was good, great finish (of course headers don't count though).

Ream - 6, did his job well

Knight - 4, didn't look like he gave a crap as usual, wouldn't be surprised if 50% of his passes went to them, tried ridiculous things out of his capability like a 35 yard shot and half a pitch long through ball, was marking Zigic for their goal..

Eagles - 7, looked dangerous as he always does

Andrews - 7, got stuck in, worked his socks off

Spearing - 7, same as Andrews, got vocal as well, telling players to get the ball forward.

Pratley - 6, was alright, better than in the past, but still only alright.

Lee - 8, been saying all year that hes one of our most creative players, him and Eagles are our only players currently who could make something from nothing, fantastic goal.

K Davies - 7, good game, just like almost every game, the slatings he gets on here are ridiculous, our best striker at the moment no question and thats clear to see in the games he hasn't played (I know thats not many ) where our attacking play disappears.



I wouldn't get over excited at the performance though, Birmingham wern't good and any half decent side in the Championship would have beaten them, to be honest they were there for the taking. They gave us a lot of space and didn't close down well, neither did they have much to show when they attacked. Having said that obviously it was a well deserved win and the team deserves credit.


One more thing I will add, although Alonso had a good game we still need Warnock back, Alonso is good moving forward, always has been, but when pressured as a defender hes shit. Made a few tackles today but nothing of huge note, and when he was pressed at the end by Redmond he wasn't up to it letting Redmond get past easily. His good performance was a result of Birminghams lack of pressure on him, allowing him a bit more freedom, he won't get that against a lot of teams.

How about Alonso at defensive midfield?.. just a thought.

Natasha Whittam wrote:I heard the line-up and thought "...is this the worst first 11 ever?" but to be fair it was one of the better displays of the last 18 months. Totally dominated midfield which is why we won.

Credit to SKD who played well, but it will all be rendered meaningless if we don't win at Leeds.

Nat, who the fuck has stolen your PC??? wait till she sees this!

Amazing what a win can do. Im elated.

Rebel is a happy boy!

Jager time...


COYWM!

Premier League here we come!!!

Well we're at least 3 points further away from League One anyway! Motd & FL Show will be good watching tonight!

aaron_bwfc wrote:
We just can't seem to put a run together at the moment hence the inconsistancy.

We can't put a run together because what's good enough against one team isn't against another.

Once Wednesday nicked their goal on Wednesday, they shut up shop - packed their midfield, scrapped for everything and allowed us no way back into the game. Birmingham came with no such strategy and we were consequently able to attack with considerable freedom.

We have enough quality to do occasional damage, but are generally found wanting against the less exploitable teams.

When we travel to Leeds we need to play like we did away against Blackburn. I can see the same team that played today starting against Leeds who have conceded six goals in their last two games.

Aaron still has his time machine so don't worry. It once got him from Bolton to Oldham in 7 minutes.

I heard that Pratley had a good game, one like used to have with Swansea in this division.

Natasha Whittam wrote:Aaron still has his time machine so don't worry. It once got him from Bolton to Oldham in 7 minutes.

Don't go over the top.

It was 10.

Andrews penalty:

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Lofty_Love wrote:

Mears - 5, didn't do anything of note, need a replacement

Created the first goal. He crossed the ball in for alonso to head. I'm not his biggest fan but to me thats pretty note worthy.