Bolton 0-2 Brighton

Can't help wondering, will his insurance pay out if he's drunk?

luckyPeterpiper wrote:Can't help wondering, will his insurance pay out if he's drunk?

His insurance will pay out for your treatment and to repair the damage to your car etc but his insurance will be void for him.

karlypants wrote:

luckyPeterpiper wrote:Can't help wondering, will his insurance pay out if he's drunk?

His insurance will pay out for your treatment and to repair the damage to your car etc but his insurance will be void for him.

Cool. I can't really bring myself to pity the bastard at all. I dunno much about this cos I never had to make a claim, not one in twenty five years on the road. 

I'm letting Wendy deal with all this, she's much smarter than I am when my head's on straight let alone when I feel like it's been detached and now lives close to Whittam Towers. Gotaa say these painkillers are amazing, they work but boy do I feel a bit woozy or what?

Anyway, footie. Hoping for a 2-0 win, if DF goes back to the system that works.

That was dire.
The 442 was finally exposed as being too narrow which I thought was only a matter of time anyway.
The lack of quality in the midfield squad was exposed and it showed how vulnerable we are to injuries.
CYL showed why he is surplus to requirements.
Spearing's passing was back to it's worst.
Trotter and Hall showed that DFs signings aren't playing anything like the standard they are capable of.
Juke and Mason showed they aren't "the answer" and are dependent on good service.
But at least the back four looked good enough and Medo had a good game.

It could have been a lot worse though and perhaps the saving grace is that Brum, B'pool, Barnsley, and Yeovil all lost and Donny, Millwall and Charlton all drew so the gap hasn't narrowed too much.
Sheff W are flying though and have passed us. Others may find form too.

But we have to do better than that and a win against Yeovil is a must. Dougie needs to manufacture a silk purse out of a sow's ear, ignore the fans who can't see how poor the squad really is and focus on keeping us up (and I expect to see very defensive performances away from home, sadly) and lining up affordable players for the summer.

Apart from those out of contract who I assume are leaving, CYL should be sold and unless he improves dramatically, Trotter too - although DF might see that as an admission he was wrong (not his strongpoint)

I expect Beckford to get a game against Yeovil, but the main thing is that we need much better quality in midfield and both Spearing and Trotter deserve to be dropped.
I'd rather play Knight with Wheats at the back and move Ream alongside Medo with Danns in for Trotter. Won't happen, but I think it would help both on the pitch and in focusing the minds of those not selected:
               
Hutton Knight Wheater Baptiste
                 Medo
      Danns                 Ream
                 Mavies
         Juke         Beckford/Mason

We tried 4-4-2 earlier in the season and it didn't work, because the midfield was lousy. We had Medo, Spearing and Pratley or Ream in the centre with Lee in a free role which he's blatantly not suited to.

Today we had a midfield of Medo, Spearing and Trotter with Lee again in said role, and it was dire. Presumably Mark Davies was injured, but dropping Danns was unforgivable. There's also Moritz who's got tonnes of ability and is scoring goals, yet again got benched.

We got Bummed then by the Brighton Boy's.

What an awful game, yet more changes made by the wise one.

The whole midfield looked dis-jointed, Trotter didn't look like he knew what role he was playing, Lee was his usual anonymous self, Medo couldn't control a ball with his first touch if his life depended on it and Spearings passing was dire.

Mason was never really in the game, still not recovered from the illness i'm guessing.

I thought Medo and Spearing both worked hard honestly, definitely the two most committed out there. 

Spearing just lacks the quality to thread a pass or the ability to run with the ball and create for himself, same with Medo, thats why Mark Davies is important in this system, Hall isn't the answer in that position, obviously Danns is the man for me.

Chungy had a really poor game IMO, got into areas and was wasteful, similar story for the whole team. 

the game was actually extremely even, I can understand abuse if we were absolutely shat on but we controlled 70% of the game and had a couple of good chances, I would never drop Danns myself always stands out for me even just with his work rate alone, would he have been the difference? Maybe, maybe not.  Simple fact is this team seriously lacks quality and IQ, at the end of the day the manager will take blame obviously.

Report: Bolton 0-2 Brighton

IN BRIEF
 
Wanderers’ five-match was brought to an end as a brace from Will Buckley secured all three points for Brighton at the Reebok Stadium.
 
Bolton bombarded Tomasz Kuszczak’s goal from start to finish, but failed to find a way past the Pole on what was a frustrating day for Dougie Freedman’s side.
 
Medo hit the bar with a curling free-kick that was deflected onto the crossbar just before the interval, with what was the best opportunity for the Whites, while Joe Mason had the ball in net midway through the second half only to be denied by the linesman’s flag.
 
But Brighton held on claim victory despite limited opportunities in front of goal as they made the long trip back to the South Coast with maximum points.
 
TEAM NEWS
 
Chung-Yong Lee made his first start in over a month as Dougie Freedman made four changes to the side that secured a share of the points away at Derby County on Tuesday night.
 
Mason recovered from the ear infection that kept him against the Rams to lead the line alongside Lukas Jutkiewicz, while there were also recalls for Liam Trotter and David Wheater as Neil Danns, Andre Moritz and Zat Knight all dropped to the bench.
 
Meanwhile Alan Hutton made his home debut for the Whites while there was also a maiden place on the bench for 20-year-old defender Oscar Threlkeld.
 
FIRST HALF
 
With both sides eager to claim a maximum three points Wanderers looked to attack straight from kick-off, but it was Brighton who created the first opportunity of note as Adam Bogdan readjusted his feet well to palm a wayward Stephen Ward cross behind for a corner.
 
At the other end Lukas Jutkiewicz was only denied an early shot at goal when primed to pull the trigger by last-ditch Brighton defending, after a great individual run down the right-hand side.
 
Looking dangerous down either flank, Joe Mason came close to giving Bolton the lead after being picked out by Medo and Chung-Yong Lee crosses respectively, however, when under-pressure from the Brighton defenders the forward struggled to get his shot away on either occasion.
 
Freedman’s side were full of confidence as they looked to take control of the match in the opening 20 minutes, but any hopes of a third successive home clean sheet were quickly dashed as Will Buckley gave Brighton the lead.
 
Connecting with Leonardo Ulloa’s cross, only a superb reflex save from Bogdan denied the winger from point-blank range. However, reacting first to the loose ball, Buckley was given time in the box to turn and curl a cruel effort past the Hungarian into the top right-hand corner.
 
Bolton looked to hit back immediately when Jay Spearing came close to firing home an equaliser. Spotting Tomasz Kuszczak off his line, the Whites captain unleashed a powerful effort at goal from range, which the back-pedaling keeper was only just able to tip over the crossbar.
 
Wanderers continued to push for an equaliser as David Wheater nearly marked his return to the starting XI with a goal. 
 
Leaping highest to connect with Chung-Yong Lee’s corner, the centre-back powered a header at goal, but, with his effort straight at Kuszczak, the Pole was able to tip it harmlessly over the bar.
 
Spearing came close again for the Whites as he persisted with trying his luck from distance. However, after seeing his strike spilled by Kuszczak, no Bolton player was on hand to take advantage allowing the Gordan Greer to clear for Brighton.
 
The Whites continued to dominate and had only the woodwork to curse for not going in at the break level, when Medo’s curling free-kick was deflected onto the crossbar by the outrushing Brighton wall.
 
SECOND HALF
 
Wanderers started the second half how they ended the first as Liam Trotter raced onto a Tim Ream through-ball. However, despite being well-placed on the edge of the Brighton penalty area, the midfielder only managed to drag his shot wide.
 
It was to be his last contribution of the afternoon as Robert Hall was introduced to the action soon after in an attacking change for the Whites as they continued to press for an equaliser.
 
Jutkiewicz and Mason continued to link up well in attack for Bolton, and almost combined to create the sought-after goal, as the former came within inches of connecting with the Cardiff City loanee’s cutback across goal.
 
Moments after having a header deflected narrowly off-target, Mason thought he had levelled the scores when he managed to poke the ball home following a goal-mouth scramble, only to be denied by the linesman’s flag.
 
However, Bolton were soon made to rue their missed opportunities as Buckley notched his second of the afternoon against the run of play.
 
Breaking free of the Bolton defence, the winger ran clean-through on goal after cutting in from the right, before slotting the ball beyond Bogdan to double Brighton’s lead.
 
The Whites responded by bringing on Andre Moritz in place of Chung-Yong Lee, having seen the midfielder often make an impact from the substitute’s bench this season. 
 
As the game entered its dying embers Wanderers continued to be bold as Neil Danns came on for Wheater, with Spearing dropping back into defence.
 
And the midfielder almost made an instant impacting when picked out by Mason, but he could only head wide when left unmarked in the box.
 
Alex Baptiste and Alan Hutton both came close late on as Bolton continued to push for a late consolation, but it was to no avail as the game petered out with Brighton hanging on to inflict a harsh defeat on the Whites.
 
FULL TIME

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Resign you cock.

There are two things in football that every manager strives for - confidence and momentum. Dougie had it after the Leeds game, then fucked it up by going defensive and tinkering with the team at Derby. Ditto today.

What an absolute cocksucker.

If Rob Hall ever kicks a ball for BWFC again I will kill someone - he is the worst excuse for a footballer I have ever seen.

And Dougie needs sacking just for leaving Danns out AGAIN - our best fucking player this season.

As usual, Dougie thinks it boils down to not taking chances.

It wasn't the worst performance of the season, we certainly weren't dominated, but this is just more nonsense.

The best chance I can think of was a shot by Trotter from just outside the box. We came close to scoring a few times but that's different to creating really good chances. Medo hitting the bar from a free kick isn't really a chance. Baptiste forcing a save out of Kuszczak from distance isn't really a chance. I can think of a few headers at goal we had, none of which warranted an "oh he should have scored there".

Just accept it Dougie, you fucked up again and we didn't have the same attacking consistency as against Watford, Blackburn and Leeds.

We had a ball right across the box which was guilt edge Juke couldn't get a touch, ball was across from Mason and a couple of clear cut headers, Juke missed one and Danns missed one near the end, both should have hit the target easily. 

We didn't pepper the goal or anything but we definitely had good chances to score. 

The game came down to them having a little bit more quality IMO, both teams were average.

Natasha Whittam wrote:Resign you cock.

There are two things in football that every manager strives for - confidence and momentum. Dougie had it after the Leeds game, then fucked it up by going defensive and tinkering with the team at Derby. Ditto today.

What an absolute cocksucker.

If Rob Hall ever kicks a ball for BWFC again I will kill someone - he is the worst excuse for a footballer I have ever seen.

And Dougie needs sacking just for leaving Danns out AGAIN - our best fucking player this season.

Please do not use cock and cocksucker when we refer to the Brighton game or someone will be offended (or as Seinfeld said, "Not that there's anything wrong with that").  Now that does not mean you can't call Dougie an Motherf**ker, or "F**kface or even "F**ken moronic... and I would encourage any or all of those terms. 

When you leave out Danns, who is possibly our player of the year and play Rob Hall and tinker with the defense every f**ken week, you get called names and rightfully so.  Why was Trotter on?  Did he know he was playing or just under the influence of drugs?  I'm not sure he was aware he was on the pitch in a game.  I understand Davies was ill, but it is Dougie who is making all of us ill now. Our finishing was woeful once again... missing two in the final five minutes that should have been put away.

You made the point earlier this year, that when a player does well, he gets pulled the next week.  As much as we hate Knightmare, he (posing as Knight) played two good games and was some people's Man of the Match last week.  A defense that keeps moving around is one that is going to get beat.  If every week you play with a different partner or in a different position, you will be lost at times... just like Dougie has been all season.

So now we play for survival once again.  We were fortunate that no one beneath us picked up more than one point.  The point here is that Dougie has lost the momentum and can't be trusted to take us forward.  I'm not sure we can find anyone who would even take the bloody job with the amount of debt and deadwood we have.  I think we regressed today back to our first ten games.  We had chances but never looked cohesive on offense or defense.  Let's get a starting eleven Dougie and cut out this nonsense.

Hi people. Just woke up and thought I'd check in on post match reaction. 

I thought we created plenty of chances today but wasteful finishing left a scoreline that flattered Brighton. 

I blame the players for a poor performance. HOWEVER, Dougie has some explaining to do. Starting with why Danns was dropped, why Trotter and Hall played and why, when we had three straight wins and confidence was up he decided to mess with things both at Derby and again today. 

Frankly I am tired of the false dawns and the way he keeps on whittering nonsense anyway, now I just want this season to be over and him to be gone.

luckyPeterpiper wrote:Hi people. Just woke up and thought I'd check in on post match reaction. 

I thought we created plenty of chances today but wasteful finishing left a scoreline that flattered Brighton. 

I blame the players for a poor performance. HOWEVER, Dougie has some explaining to do. Starting with why Danns was dropped, why Trotter and Hall played and why, when we had three straight wins and confidence was up he decided to mess with things both at Derby and again today. 

Frankly I am tired of the false dawns and the way he keeps on whittering nonsense anyway, now I just want this season to be over and him to be gone.

Not sure he'll be gone Pete, I honestly think they will give him start of next season, and only then if there are no improvements will they take action, by this time there will be very little left on his contract to pay up.

I think you're right Martin but I hope not. After the start we had this season does the board really think it's an acceptable risk to keep this clown in place for another start to a campaign? Pray God they see sense.

Tinkerman strikes again. Trotter in and Danns out. Go on then Duggie, explain that one to me, I'd love to hear it,I really would. Soon as I heard the team I knew Trotter would be dragged off after about an hour after doing sod all. The bloke shows all the passion,commitment and enthusiasm of a large bag of cement. Built like a brick sh1thouse but strolls around and tackles like a big girl.Has the first touch of a baby giraffe and spends his time hiding and avoiding the ball wherever possible. Nice work if you can get it eh Liam!
Danns has worked his socks off for the cause and been our best player in several recent matches. It was crying out for his skill and creativity up front in that first half. But what do I know, duggie is the master tactician isn't he.
We're going nowhere under this stubborn arrogant idiot, he's got to go.

I've been away all weekend so don't know much about the game. Madness to remove Danns for Trotter though, it seems he just can't resist tinkering which is worrying really.

It's starting to sound like nobody is prepared to accept that we have a poor squad just to have a moan about the manager.
The same posters seem to be jumping on to one anti-manager bandwagon after another.
First it was the "we were pre-season favourites to go up" i.e. the squad is quality so the manager must be crap. The squad is not quality and if it were, then you can't then argue that the players brought into the team are not good enough. If the squad was quality then there shouldn't be any complaints about "tinkering".
Then it was the system - play 442 and all our problems will be solved. Yesterday showed that quality teams can easily play around it.

Whatever system he plays it's up to the players to deliver and very few have done consistently this season - in fact I can think of one who has performed well every game and that includes Juke, Danns and Mason.

Sooner or later it will be recognised that we have an average squad at best and that is by far and away the main reason we are where we are - not the manager.

Bring on the summer.

wanderlust wrote:It's starting to sound like nobody is prepared to accept that we have a poor squad just to have a moan about the manager.
The same posters seem to be jumping on to one anti-manager bandwagon after another.
First it was the "we were pre-season favourites to go up" i.e. the squad is quality so the manager must be crap. The squad is not quality and if it were, then you can't then argue that the players brought into the team are not good enough. If the squad was quality then there shouldn't be any complaints about "tinkering".
Then it was the system - play 442 and all our problems will be solved. Yesterday showed that quality teams can easily play around it.

Whatever system he plays it's up to the players to deliver and very few have done consistently this season - in fact I can think of one who has performed well every game and that includes Juke, Danns and Mason.

Sooner or later it will be recognised that we have an average squad at best and that is by far and away the main reason we are where we are - not the manager.

Bring on the summer.

I don't know about any of that.

My anti-Freedman argument in it's most condensed form is that we could have picked up in August where we left off in May, but Dougie in his innate stubbornness wanted things doing differently.

Some people seem to think he's had to build this team on a shoestring. Do you think the average Championship club can attract players of Beckford's, Spearing's, Baptiste's, Medo's calibre? Liam Trotter's a highly respected player at this level (for whatever reason), I can't imagine that signing costing us a pittance. West Ham wanted Rob Hall to stay, yet we persuaded him to drop down a division and sign a three year contract. Even the money we've spent on loan signings may be collectively more than a lot of clubs could afford.
There's a number of managers under the same transfer market constraints as Dougie and more, that have managed to put together a well-balanced team.