Freedman's view of the game - Watford

Dougie Freedman says Wanderers must learn to see out games from winning positions after his side were edged out by the odd goal in three against Watford at Vicarage Road.

Bolton took a first-half lead in Hertfordshire after Marvin Sordell converted a 32nd minute penalty against his former club, only for Matej Vydra to level four minutes later.

And in an evenly contested affair, the hosts bagged the all-important goal midway through the second period when Almen Abdi stabbed an effort through a ruck of players into the Bolton net.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Freedman said: “Our game-plan was to contain Watford and we certainly did achieve that in the first half. They are a very good side and are doing well at the moment.

“In the first half we limited their chances on goal, pressured them high up the park and frustrated them. Our passing and movement was good and quickly regained the ball when we lost possession.

“When we took the lead I don’t think anyone could say it was against the run of play. It was a good penalty from Marvin and my only disappointment was that we conceded an equaliser so quickly.

“In the second half we looked to build on our first half display. It was pretty even, and again, we dealt with their threats well.

“I believe we should have put more pressure on their goal. We didn’t do that in the second half as we would have liked.

“We need to believe in ourselves and kick on from winning positions to go and secure the points.

“I was able to bring on Craig Davies and Steve De Ridder, two of our recent signings, and I thought that they both looked lively.

“We know we are a team that are capable of picking up a run of results that can spring us away. Over the last four games we have performed well and we are showing signs of the side that I know we can be.

“We just need to make sure that we stay together and bring that consistency into our game week in week out. We are focused on what we have to achieve and we won’t lose that.”

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Utter, utter bollocks.

I swear that is the same script Coyle used to trot out.

It's a fairly trite response and probably scripted a bit, but I think it probably is a fair reflection on the game. Couple of points of interest though.

"Our game-plan was to contain Watford" - that always seems to be the game plan for away matches. It was exactly the same approach to the Palace game. Given the fact that we have the worst away record in the league, it would be nice to go away with a plan to attack and apply pressure from the off for a change. Coyle used to do that occasionally, but it left us very exposed however I think we have improved defensively a bit since OC was in charge so it may not be the suicidal tactic it once was and TBF we have little to lose by trying it.

“We need to believe in ourselves and kick on from winning positions to go and secure the points" That is possibly the understatement of the year. Even before this game we were far and away the worst team in the league (all divisions?) at dropping points from a winning position. You can add another 3 to the total after yesterday. There are 2 generic approaches to defending a lead and with our players I'm pretty confident that sitting back and inviting pressure isn't the one we should be adopting. Again, we've tried that, it hasn't worked and we have nothing to lose by going for the alternative.

WTF do you expect him to say ?

Natasha Whittam wrote:Utter, utter bollocks.

I swear that is the same script Coyle used to trot out.

Would you prefer him to say we are shit and that he doesn't know what to do?

I'm sure you'd be on his back if he did so.

She's trolling lads.

the "he's the same as coyle" line is the jumping off point for the muppets.

I don't expect him to come out and say "what a load of shite", but this bollocks about learning to see games out is just bullshit. Teams aren't taught to see games out when they go in front after 35 minutes, they are taught to go on and win games.

After so many defeats and being 3 points off the bottom I want to hear "this isn't good enough" and "it might be time for some changes" or perhaps a simple "I got it wrong" would go a long way to showing the fans he does acknowledge why we are losing.

The way Dougie talks we are close to being a top side - we aren't, we are worse than ever.

You don't lose your job because you tell the truth in interviews. Gartside knows we are shite, it wouldn't come as a surprise just because Dougie admitted it in an interview.

Fair point, to be honest.

Although the progress is slower than we would like, from what I saw yesterday we are better all-round than we were earlier in the season.Watching the games as often as you do Nat, maybe you don't see this. I know its a call of most teams, but if we had a finisher, the other parts of the jigsaw would fall into place. I agree with nearly all his comments, but passing it from one side of the park to the other isn't going to score us goals. Also, I agree that we shouldn't go to defend a nil-nil, we know it doesn't work in the long term, as Megson proved.

Natasha Whittam wrote:I don't expect him to come out and say "what a load of shite", but this bollocks about learning to see games out is just bullshit. Teams aren't taught to see games out when they go in front after 35 minutes, they are taught to go on and win games.

After so many defeats and being 3 points off the bottom I want to hear "this isn't good enough" and "it might be time for some changes" or perhaps a simple "I got it wrong" would go a long way to showing the fans he does acknowledge why we are losing.

The way Dougie talks we are close to being a top side - we aren't, we are worse than ever.

You don't lose your job because you tell the truth in interviews. Gartside knows we are shite, it wouldn't come as a surprise just because Dougie admitted it in an interview.

This is how I would prefer your points to be made from now on. Some substance and something to discuss/argue with. Your initial post was just utter shite.

For some reason DF seems scared of starting the new players, I know they have only been here a few days but it was the same with Butterfield and with C.Davies since he arrived. - he has used the same exuse for nearly every player we have signed ''not match fit yet'' - ''not at the right level of fitness I want them to be''

How are they supposed to get match fit and to the levels he wants if he doesn't play them!

By playing them in the development team - But at least they were brought on...

Biggie wrote:

This is how I would prefer your points to be made from now on. Some substance and something to discuss/argue with. Your initial post was just utter shite.

I no longer recognise you as a mod.

Don't see the problem with what he's said to be honest, the fact that he isn't publicly saying that its not good enough certainly doesn't mean he isn't saying it behind closed doors.

bwfc1874 wrote:Don't see the problem with what he's said to be honest, the fact that he isn't publicly saying that its not good enough certainly doesn't mean he isn't saying it behind closed doors.

Excellent point and I would add that we have no idea how players are shaping up in training so we also have to respect his selection and system even though we don't necessarily agree with it.

Which means that DF is taking full responsibility. So our poor results mean one of two things: Either he doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground and actually is playing the wrong players in the wrong system at the wrong time (as most of us armchair managers like to think) or he is putting out the best that we've got for a particular game and we're just shite

I'm currently thinking it's more of the second than the first, not necessarily shite but certainly inconsistent. Ngog for example had a blinder a few weeks ago and scored a couple and everyone was clamouring for him to start. So he did and was anonymous in the next game. Knight has been appalling but recently has played well. Pratley was our best player and then went crap again. Eagles was pants against Watford but otherwise good. I think DF has the unenviable task of picking a team wherein everyone has a good game at the same time - and then repeats the good performance every week.

Fact is we don't know what's going on and being said to the players behind the scene, but I hope he gets the formula right soon and that would be helped enormously if players were consistent.