Bolton 1-0 Blackburn

Triumph wrote:Lonergan, Ricketts, Dawson, Knight, Alonso, Spearing, Pratley, Kamara, Chung-Yong, Ngog, K Davies

Subs: Lynch, Wheater, Eagles, Holden, Sordell, C Davies, Odelusi

Wow what a game, 2 sides up for it and a brilliant atmosphere.
Lonergan. Yes at last we have a new keeper, never put a foot wrong and made some outstanding saves.
Rickets, Solid and getting forward more and more.
Dawson.Nothing spectacular tonight but did a job and did it well.
Knight. Confident display, where early season he was putting balls into touch he now passes.
Alonso. I love this guy, a class act again.
Spearing. DF says he has no intention of signing this lad, I think it's a wrong decision.
Pratley. What an engine this lad has, ran his socks off he must have been knackered,
Medo. Plays the game as it should be played, simple accurate passing and getting better.
Chungy. Back to his best the first half but they marked him second half, still a cracking performance.
N'Gog. Gets better and better as his confidence grows,Some superb ball control and turns. first choice striker now.
SKD. At least he looked interested tonight, some nice touches and an ok performance.
Subs Eagles, YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! poke in the eye for the Blackburn fans who gave him some grief.
Craig Davies. Well hard game to get into but full marks for effort.

HAPPY DAYS!!!!!!

Interesting analysis for several reasons:
Ricketts - still a great player, occasional cock up, but I'd have played him in the back four all season long - a "Mr Reliable" for the most part.
Knight - what a slagging off he's had - but as he showed when he partnered Ricketts when Cahill was injured he can be effective with the right people around him.
Alonso - coming good and it's a shame we're likely to lose him.
Spearing - He's got better and better, but there won't be a place for him at Liverpool. I reckon DF just said he won't sign him to stop Liverpool taking the piss on price. If he goes, Medo should be able to do the same job.
Medo - still getting up to speed. Probably not the genius we had hoped for but at least he's a soldier.
Pratley - we signed him as a box to box worker and it's just starting to happen at last. Hopefully he'll get the support from the fans he deserves.
CYL - getting back to form?
SKD - wringing the last bit of effort out for the team
Cavies - despite constant calls for him to start, it shows it has to be the right game for him to justify it
Dougie - last night's selection struggled a bit, but he came through and kept something back for Brighton. Working the squad rotation thing well IMO and his decisions have been justified lately. He could be a genius. He seems to be decisive, able to keep everyone interested and is getting the best out of this squad I reckon. Happy to trust him to do the right thing for now. Definitely not OC Mk 2.

Toss game between two toss teams.

I couldn't believe the team Dougie picked. Why would you bring back Kevin Davies to partner Ngog - they've played together countless times and been shit every single game.

It completely ruined our recent good football and once again we went direct and were fooking crap. Instead of playing the ball out of defence to the feet of the forwards we were hitting hopeful balls to no one.

I was starting to imagine a future without Davies but it's clear Dougie is scared to leave him out altogether.

On the plus side, Lonergan was ten times better than Bogdan and should keep his place for the rest of the season. And the defence was better than normal although Alonso did his best to give Rovers the point.

But the best thing for me was the fact I never for a minute felt we were going to lose. It's a long time since I've had that feeling at a game.

We're playing 2 games a week, rotation is just good management congratulations Dougie for another piece of astute management - keeping players fresh for the ‘must win’ against Brighton, we’ll see both Eagles and Craig Davies start I reckon.

Aye ....soon as I saw SKD back in the line up I thought goals would not be forthcoming & a good bit of hoofball will be on display.
For those at the game: what's this Medo look like overall ?
At least we have somat to play for now....gives interest to the season rather than mid-table boring stuff.

I read quite a few tweets from those actually at the game who said Davies was one of our better performers.

true?

Hipster_Nebula wrote:I read quite a few tweets from those actually at the game who said Davies was one of our better performers.

true?

He was ok, far from the worst player. But to be clear my problem isn't with Kevin Davies, my problem is the way we play when he is in the side. Too much long ball which doesn't actually suit anyone but Davies. It's crazy.

6 games in 3 weeks means there has to be some squad rotation and who is selected determines how we play as Nat points out. It is surely common knowledge by now that Dougie is willing to use more of the squad than his predecessor and isn't frightened of changing a winning team if in his opinion, the game (and upcoming games) require it. But above and beyond all of that, we got the 3 points (just) and can look forward to the Brighton game with a degree of optimism. Perhaps we should show a little more trust? I think the manager has earned it recently.

terenceanne wrote:Aye ....soon as I saw SKD back in the line up I thought goals would not be forthcoming & a good bit of hoofball will be on display.
For those at the game: what's this Medo look like overall ?
At least we have somat to play for now....gives interest to the season rather than mid-table boring stuff.

He did ok, simple stuff really,he will need to up his game though and start to create for our strikers, not scared to tackle and he will pick up plenty bookings.

wanderlust wrote:6 games in 3 weeks means there has to be some squad rotation and who is selected determines how we play as Nat points out. It is surely common knowledge by now that Dougie is willing to use more of the squad than his predecessor and isn't frightened of changing a winning team if in his opinion, the game (and upcoming games) require it. But above and beyond all of that, we got the 3 points (just) and can look forward to the Brighton game with a degree of optimism. Perhaps we should show a little more trust? I think the manager has earned it recently.

But he had other strikers on the bench who could hardly be tired - and Sordell & Craig Davies fit our style better.

Triumph wrote:

terenceanne wrote:Aye ....soon as I saw SKD back in the line up I thought goals would not be forthcoming & a good bit of hoofball will be on display.
For those at the game: what's this Medo look like overall ?
At least we have somat to play for now....gives interest to the season rather than mid-table boring stuff.

He did ok, simple stuff really,he will need to up his game though and start to create for our strikers, not scared to tackle and he will pick up plenty bookings.

Simple stuff is good if we keep possession. Winning possession without getting sent off on top of that is a bonus. The occasional killer pass from him would be the whipped cream on Lady Luck's nipples. It has to be said that for £300k we seem to have a decent Championship player with the potential to be a decent Premiership player - what a far cry that is from our transfer dealings in recent years.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

wanderlust wrote:6 games in 3 weeks means there has to be some squad rotation and who is selected determines how we play as Nat points out. It is surely common knowledge by now that Dougie is willing to use more of the squad than his predecessor and isn't frightened of changing a winning team if in his opinion, the game (and upcoming games) require it. But above and beyond all of that, we got the 3 points (just) and can look forward to the Brighton game with a degree of optimism. Perhaps we should show a little more trust? I think the manager has earned it recently.

But he had other strikers on the bench who could hardly be tired - and Sordell & Craig Davies fit our style better.

Saved for Brighton?

He's not going to create much, he's a similar player to Spearing.

I have always been a staunch supporter of SKD but time is against him. Alan Shearer retired at 36 and I think SKD should do the same. Better to remember him as our swashbuckling talisman than to criticize him for his lack of mobility.

Time waits for no man. It's time to look at the Young Guns like C. Davies, Sordell and Ngog. Hang up your boots and retire gracefully Kev. You will always be a legend in my eyes. ( The Randy Couture of football.)

terenceanne wrote:For those at the game: what's this Medo look like overall ?

He was average last night imo.

Some good tackles and nice passes but he also got out muscled a few times and did some poor passes.

Room for improvement but a decent start.

the problem for me last night is that Spearing and Medo are both holding midfielders and we were crying out for a bit of creativity, we did seem quite negative as opposed to the last few games,but we won so i can't really have too much to complain about!

I'm hoping that DF reverts back to the 4-1-3-2 formation for the Brighton game

I think because it was a local derby with the added spice, Dougie felt we needed to be more solid in the middle. I expect us to be more attacking against Brighton.

Eagles will come in for Medo against Brighton IMO

Natasha Whittam wrote:
But to be clear my problem isn't with Kevin Davies, my problem is the way we play when he is in the side. Too much long ball which doesn't actually suit anyone but Davies. It's crazy.

We were supposedly just as route one at Barnsley where Davies didn't feature. It's not that we tend to play more direct when he is there, it's that we can't play the football we need to be playing when he is there.
I'm sick of reading "he won everything". Big deal. If you lack the basic requirements of a centre forward at this level or indeed any level, that you can head the ball not necessarily in a useful direction is of little compensation.

If we had more players willing to gamble and get on the end of the flick ons, we might have more success. When that ball is played up to him, 9/10 he is winning it, so we need to have runners running in behind.

Holden used to do this very well. If we play with Kevin Davies, we need to be have better understanding.