Two points about todays game

1, We were absolute rubbish again (not bad for the first 15 minutes).

2, You need a new goalkeeper (or start Lonergan). Bogdan had very little to do but what he did do was effing awful. He can't keep the ball on the pitch when he kicks it and he shouldn't have been doing the YMCA for our goal.
Now I know why he gets so much stick from a lot of Bolton fans.

Also, I can see why you are where you are in the league but then you lot will see why there's not a chance of us getting into the play offs.

Bogdans confidence has been shot to pieces, fair enough he makes a few mistakes but to jeer him every time he caught the ball was a piss take to be quite honest.

He needs a break for a few weeks and let Lonergan show what he has to offer, though to be honest I don't see much difference between them both.

I didn't think Bogdan did too well on the goal tbh. He follows the ball from the corner and then is miles out of position when the ball gets headed back across goal. Not impressed with him today but the loud cheers when he caught the ball were a fucking joke.

We won't go down and Burnley won't go up.

Bogdan's kicking was poor and I agree he did nothing to prevent the goal got completely lost.

I doubt he'll ever make the grade for us but the fans who were jeering him are morons who haven't got a clue.

I thought the support today was appalling, no wonder we don't play with more confidence at home. Dougie should take Bogdan and Eagles out of the firing line for a few games for their own good as neither is playing well. Most people can see that that Eagles is struggling and out of form and he should probably have gone off instead of De Ridder but that isn't Eagles fault and booing him is really going to help isn't it.

Freedman made the right call today as the substitutes won us the game but why oh why don't we play from the start with the same drive and energy we showed after going behind. He might think that the criticism he got today was unjustified but he is making a rod for his own back by the style of play we employ until we have to go and chase the game.

I've said it for some time now, andi think DF is slowly acknowledging that our main problem is attack, or lack of it. I saw yesterdays move of putting extra attackers on not so much a desperate move to win an open game, but a sign of his confidence in midfield and defence. I think Bogdan will improve if someone tells him he doesn't have to hoof the ball as far as he can every time. throw it to someone, or direct a kick, but whatever you do, don't lump it anywhere up the park every time. That move alone shows his confidence is low, as it would seem that he feels that the sooner he gets it as far as possible, the safer he is. (Maybe its his way of showing he has no confidence in his defence?)

We should never have dispensed with the services of Fred Barber.

NickFazer wrote:I thought the support today was appalling, no wonder we don't play with more confidence at home. Dougie should take Bogdan and Eagles out of the firing line for a few games for their own good as neither is playing well. Most people can see that that Eagles is struggling and out of form and he should probably have gone off instead of De Ridder but that isn't Eagles fault and booing him is really going to help isn't it.

Freedman made the right call today as the substitutes won us the game but why oh why don't we play from the start with the same drive and energy we showed after going behind. He might think that the criticism he got today was unjustified but he is making a rod for his own back by the style of play we employ until we have to go and chase the game.

I thought the support we had yesterday was the best we have had since the prem. Cant speak for the rest of the ground but the ESL went fucking nuts when that 2nd goal went in....

RT, have to agree with you there. The lack of foresight from the management doesn't apply just to the players.

Fred worked wonders with Jussi and I think he encouraged Bogdan as well. Barber is well respected as a goalkeeping coach and I would have kept him seeing as how we chose to make Bogdan our number 1 choice.

Fred developed Jussi, Al Habsi and was bringing through Bogdan, not keeping him was a ridiculous decision.

I thought this:

Defence continues to improve and Dawson was good at finding space at attacking set pieces - just needs to do a bit more with it.

We looked a different proposition when we started playing with 2 strikers. Would have liked to have seen Sordell being given a chance to partner Cavies. DF only seems to be willing to play 2 strikers when we are behind but seeing as the lone striker system hasn't produced results it may be worth thinking about using 2 from the off.

Cavies - bargain at £300k. Looked a bit like a younger SKD and if DF insists on having a lone striker perhaps he might be it - although he hasn't got the legs of Ngog or Sordell.

De Ridder - looked a good loan, but not as sparkling as some folk are suggesting. His success came from the width Burnley allowed us and others may have done as well in that position, but overall looks like an astute move from DF.

Pratley - after some decent performances recently, looked a little off the pace as did Eagles. Clear case for squad rotation IMO. We have plenty of midfielders and I don't see the point of not resting them when they start to look jaded as these two did.

Medo not playing was significant. I don't believe he's injured and I do understand that DF likes to take his time when introducing new players, but even so if he's the powerhouse we have been led to believe I'd have thought they would have fasttracked him into the team.

The game overall? We could have been in big trouble at half time. The starting line up was more a show of confidence by the manager in those players rather than a tactically astute selection IMO. It was pretty even but as the home team I thought we should have gone with a more positive starting eleven. As it was, either team could have scored and as the home team we shouldn't have been giving Burnley that opportunity. Not comfortable with the "contain for the first 60 minutes" approach that seems to be DFs MO recently.

Talking to someone at the game who reckoned Medo hasn't played any football for 3 weeks. Not sure how true that is but it could explain why he was left out. The backroom staff will soon get him up to speed. It's been mentioned Sammy Lee might be in line for the Oldham job. I would rather him stay with us as a coach because I think he is a far better coach than a manager.

We came from behind and won, whilst playing badly.

That's the only positive from yesterday.

Reebok Trotter wrote:Talking to someone at the game who reckoned Medo hasn't played any football for 3 weeks. Not sure how true that is but it could explain why he was left out. The backroom staff will soon get him up to speed. It's been mentioned Sammy Lee might be in line for the Oldham job. I would rather him stay with us as a coach because I think he is a far better coach than a manager.

The last time kammy played competitive football was a few months back when the Serbian league ended. (I think)

But read that DF was impressed with his fitness levels so I just can't understand why he wasn't even on the bench.

Boggersbelief wrote:

The last time kammy played competitive football was a few months back when the Serbian league ended. (I think)

If that is the case then I can quite understand his exclusion. We only signed him at the end of January so there is no way he can be match fit.

wanderlust wrote:I thought this:

Defence continues to improve and Dawson was good at finding space at attacking set pieces - just needs to do a bit more with it.

We looked a different proposition when we started playing with 2 strikers. Would have liked to have seen Sordell being given a chance to partner Cavies. DF only seems to be willing to play 2 strikers when we are behind but seeing as the lone striker system hasn't produced results it may be worth thinking about using 2 from the off.

Cavies - bargain at £300k. Looked a bit like a younger SKD and if DF insists on having a lone striker perhaps he might be it - although he hasn't got the legs of Ngog or Sordell.

De Ridder - looked a good loan, but not as sparkling as some folk are suggesting. His success came from the width Burnley allowed us and others may have done as well in that position, but overall looks like an astute move from DF.

Pratley - after some decent performances recently, looked a little off the pace as did Eagles. Clear case for squad rotation IMO. We have plenty of midfielders and I don't see the point of not resting them when they start to look jaded as these two did.

Medo not playing was significant. I don't believe he's injured and I do understand that DF likes to take his time when introducing new players, but even so if he's the powerhouse we have been led to believe I'd have thought they would have fasttracked him into the team.

The game overall? We could have been in big trouble at half time. The starting line up was more a show of confidence by the manager in those players rather than a tactically astute selection IMO. It was pretty even but as the home team I thought we should have gone with a more positive starting eleven. As it was, either team could have scored and as the home team we shouldn't have been giving Burnley that opportunity. Not comfortable with the "contain for the first 60 minutes" approach that seems to be DFs MO recently.

Was thinking of starting a thread on Sordell playing up front on his own. He is incapable of this role in my opinion and has as been mentioned would probably perform better with Craig Davies at the side of him, bruiser and finisher combo. My mate is adamant that SKD will be off at the end of the season, it will be a sad day but alas I think he could be right.

Soul Kitchen wrote:

wanderlust wrote:I thought this:

Defence continues to improve and Dawson was good at finding space at attacking set pieces - just needs to do a bit more with it.

We looked a different proposition when we started playing with 2 strikers. Would have liked to have seen Sordell being given a chance to partner Cavies. DF only seems to be willing to play 2 strikers when we are behind but seeing as the lone striker system hasn't produced results it may be worth thinking about using 2 from the off.

Cavies - bargain at £300k. Looked a bit like a younger SKD and if DF insists on having a lone striker perhaps he might be it - although he hasn't got the legs of Ngog or Sordell.

De Ridder - looked a good loan, but not as sparkling as some folk are suggesting. His success came from the width Burnley allowed us and others may have done as well in that position, but overall looks like an astute move from DF.

Pratley - after some decent performances recently, looked a little off the pace as did Eagles. Clear case for squad rotation IMO. We have plenty of midfielders and I don't see the point of not resting them when they start to look jaded as these two did.

Medo not playing was significant. I don't believe he's injured and I do understand that DF likes to take his time when introducing new players, but even so if he's the powerhouse we have been led to believe I'd have thought they would have fasttracked him into the team.

The game overall? We could have been in big trouble at half time. The starting line up was more a show of confidence by the manager in those players rather than a tactically astute selection IMO. It was pretty even but as the home team I thought we should have gone with a more positive starting eleven. As it was, either team could have scored and as the home team we shouldn't have been giving Burnley that opportunity. Not comfortable with the "contain for the first 60 minutes" approach that seems to be DFs MO recently.

Was thinking of starting a thread on Sordell playing up front on his own. He is incapable of this role in my opinion and has as been mentioned would probably perform better with Craig Davies at the side of him, bruiser and finisher combo. My mate is adamant that SKD will be off at the end of the season, it will be a sad day but alas I think he could be right.

I disagree, Sordell can play up front on his own, but he needs better support from whoever is playing AM, Eagles wasn't running beyond him or getting close to him at all when he had the ball.

Sordell impressed at the olympics playing as the lone striker and he can do for us, he's a willing runner but too often he was having to drop deep with his back to goal because there was no support and forward drive from midfield.

Having said that I'd still like to see him paired with C Davies of N'gog at some point, particularly at home I think they could cause problems.

bwfc1874 wrote:

Having said that I'd still like to see him paired with C Davies of N'gog at some point, particularly at home I think they could cause problems.

This is what I am looking forward to seeing.