What Dougie thought about the game -Nottingham Forest

Dougie Freedman praised a spirited performance, as Wanderers posted a point at Nottingham Forest, despite being reduced to ten men late on.

The Whites turned in a resolute defensive display and got their reward when Craig Davies levelled 15 minutes from time after Andy Reid had put the hosts in front.

Marcos Alonso was dismissed late on for a second bookable offence, but the Trotters stood strong to earn a share of the spoils.

Speaking after the game the Bolton boss said: “With the new manager, it was always going to be a difficult challenge coming to the City Ground. They had the crowd right behind him and there was a tremendous atmosphere and expectancy from the home supporters.

“We stuck at it and thoroughly deserved a point. At times we had to dig deep, but we showed our resilience and strength. I was very pleased with what I saw in terms of our performance against a very good team.

“When we equalised we began to dominate play and I felt we could have gone on and won the game.

“The sending off meant that we had to reorganise at the back. We were under intense pressure for a period, but again, we stuck together, remained strong and saw the 90 minutes out.

“We came with a game plan. We didn’t want to give too much away and I felt we stuck firmly to that plan. Later on in the game we became a handful for the opposition defence. We understand how to break teams down and I thought that after our goal we certainly had the momentum.

“On the pitch we reacted well to the sending off. We dropped Jay Spearing in at right-back and moved Tyrone Mears across to the left. The midfield did well and soaked up the pressure and defensively we remained strong.

“After our win against Burnley it is pleasing to begin this run of games by gaining a point on our travels.

“I’d like to thank the 1,500-plus fans who backed us today. They were fantastically loud and really got behind the team when Forest began to put us under pressure.

“It’s a quick turnaround now for another away game against Derby on Tuesday and we follow that up with Hull back at the Reebok.”

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Spirited performace? What, camping in your own box for 60 mins till they score is spirited?

Sorry Douglas but you got it very wrong today, the lack of energy and movement in midfield was pathetic and we couldn't keep the ball for love nor money until CD and Eagles came on.

We defended well to be fair and Bogdan put in a very good performance in the first half and dealt with the pressure well.

Bogdan was, without a doubt the best player on the pitch today.

Sluffy wrote:

“I’d like to thank the 1,500-plus fans who backed us today. They were fantastically loud and really got behind the team when Forest began to put us under pressure.

The writing is on the wall when managers start thanking the fans that booed them for 90 minutes.

We had a game plan to be cautious at the start

It's that quote that fucking pisses me off. He's even admitting he's a cautious wanker now.

Fucker off Dougie.

That was the game plan .... to sit back and have Boggers make save after save.
I'd cut our losses right now .....Doogie out ....followed by Fat Phil.

I guess the positives are that the phrase "resolute defensive display" is not one I've heard in connection with our team in the last 3 seasons - and that I have little doubt we'd have lost that game had it been played earlier in this season.
OK Dougie - you've done a lot to sort the defence out and make us hard to beat - and I agree it was absolutely necessary to avoid consecutive relegations because that's the way we were heading.
I know we're not out of trouble yet, but even so I think we'd like to see more going forward. We could possibly have got all 3 points yesterday if SKD had stuck his chance away and Alonso hadn't mounted the winger when we were finally in the ascendency so we're not far off being a strong team. We know we can do a reasonable job of containing teams if we have to, so why not gamble a little on a more aggressive approach - we can always come back to containment as a strategy if it doesn't work out. It would be nice to contain teams when we have a lead to defend for a change.

Wanderlust: Just because the ball did not go in the net does not mean we had containment.
Forest shooting at will and our goalie making fine saves and us parked in our own half is not containment. The luck of the bounce went our way yesterday that is all.

terenceanne wrote:That was the game plan .... to sit back and have Boggers make save after save.
I'd cut our losses right now .....Doogie out ....followed by Fat Phil.

let me guess Phil Brown or Big Sam back?

terenceanne wrote:Wanderlust: Just because the ball did not go in the net does not mean we had containment.
Forest shooting at will and our goalie making fine saves and us parked in our own half is not containment. The luck of the bounce went our way yesterday that is all.

I'm not suggesting the containment plan worked especially well. I'm saying that it was the plan - and that we might try a different plan.

One year ago we would discuss if we could nick a draw away at Liverpool .....now some fans are happy about scrapping a draw at Forest .... and three points from another drop.
Amazing how expectations have fallen in a short space of time.
The Doog is not responsible for the slump but I'm watching him make the exact same mistakes as OC. Agreeing with Natasha on this one ....cut losses ....start over with a new manager and staff during the summer.

terenceanne wrote:
I'm watching him make the exact same mistakes as OC. Agreeing with Natasha on this one ....cut losses ....start over with a new manager and staff during the summer.

Bizarre comment this.

Coyle's mistakes were having zero tactical nous, sticking with 442 incessantly, not understanding how to defend, never acknowledging the need to shut up shop and mostly very poor signings. Can't say that about Dougie.

Dougie is cautious, no doubt and I understand why some fans are frustrated by this, but good teams don't concede a load of goals and Im hoping he wants to tighten up first and then build the attacking threat from there, he's made some good signings who will improve the team. To sack a manager after such a short period of time would be stupid especially considering our debt.

Yeah, they're completely different managers. Atleast we don't concede every game like we did under Coyle. Admittedly, this might have come at the expense of scoring more goals, but if we can keep thing tight at the back, and hopefully the team will develop that cutting edge.

Although I understand the idea of not sacking the manager too soon ....also the direct opposite to that is waiting too long to get rid before anymore damage is done. It's all your perception.
The football on the park is dire ....certainly no better than under OC. Doog's signings may turn out be good...yet to be determined. Recently we have not shipped as many goals .....however against forest nobody would have complained if we were 3-0 down at half time. Save after save from Boggers does not mean the defence is now fixed. That's my opinion anyhow.

bwfc1874 wrote:

terenceanne wrote:
I'm watching him make the exact same mistakes as OC. Agreeing with Natasha on this one ....cut losses ....start over with a new manager and staff during the summer.

Bizarre comment this.

Coyle's mistakes were having zero tactical nous, sticking with 442 incessantly, not understanding how to defend, never acknowledging the need to shut up shop and mostly very poor signings. Can't say that about Dougie.

Dougie is cautious, no doubt and I understand why some fans are frustrated by this, but good teams don't concede a load of goals and Im hoping he wants to tighten up first and then build the attacking threat from there, he's made some good signings who will improve the team. To sack a manager after such a short period of time would be stupid especially considering our debt.

Bizarre is one way of putting it, i'd have gone for complete bollocks.

Dress up all you like but there are many similarities between Coyle & Dougie:

1) Keep picking Kevin Davies despite him being past it for at least two seasons
2) Sign players but don't pick them
3) Pick Zat Knight every week despite him being the fucking problem. Ditto Bogdan
4) We play shit but the manager thinks we were ace
5) We never seem to "click" or play well
6) Most importantly, WE DON'T WIN MANY MATCHES

Natasha Whittam wrote:Dress up all you like but there are many similarities between Coyle & Dougie:

1) Keep picking Kevin Davies despite him being past it for at least two seasons
2) Sign players but don't pick them
3) Pick Zat Knight every week despite him being the fucking problem. Ditto Bogdan
4) We play shit but the manager thinks we were ace
5) We never seem to "click" or play well
6) Most importantly, WE DON'T WIN MANY MATCHES

You forgot to mention:
Both managers are Scottish
Both managers had to cope with a massive cutback in budget and salaries
Both managers had to work with a less talented squad
Both managers had to put up with a set of deluded fans that still have premiership expectations despite the bleeding obvious
And both managers still had to publicly show support for their players even though they know they are not necessarily premiership quality

More anti scottish bile.

MODS!

Hipster_Nebula wrote:More anti scottish bile.

MODS!

In what respect is it anti Scottish?
Is the fact that both OC and DF ARE Scottish somehow derogatory to Scots everywhere?