Bolton 1-1 Swansea City

OC has just been on Sky, and actually said that we have the strikers to keep us up ! With an outlook like that, we could well be putting ourselves down, regardless of how the others play.

Pompey and Cov relegated to league one today... just shows you what can happen.

FWIW i don't see us getting anything at Villa, a point max, i definitely don't see us getting anything away at Sunderland.

West Brom? - You'd like to think we could win that, but going off todays performance a draw might be more likely. Stoke away? Not a chance, Spurs at home? Who knows they don't play well at the Reebok usually.

Honestly i can see us getting 4/5 points if we're lucky.

QPR winning at home to Spurs. If it stays like that we're 4 points from safety. I think our time in this league is coming to and end now.

Mich, are we REALLY missing three key players though - or is this a myth by the pro Coyle brigade?

If you looked at the stats for Muamba he was the player most taken off from games by Coyle, dropped by Coyle several times - once out of the squad altogether for not being good enough for the team - Coyle's view, not mine - and in a war of words on twitter about Coyle about him picking his favourites and not Muamba - before his heart attack.

Similarly with Lee - check out his stats from Christmas onwards for last season and you will find he was often 'rested' for being too 'tired' - in other words 'shit'.

As for Holden good player granted - but unlucky with injury - how many leauge games has he actually played for us since he signed in January 2010?

The answer - it may surprise many - is just 28!

Are they really so key after all?

I think Holden would be described as "key" but i agree with you about Lee, (apart from the "shit" bit, he certainly isn't shit IMO) there isn't much difference between him and RYO though.

I can't think of any games where i've thought "if it wasn't for Lee, we'd have lost"

I do think Holden is a glue guy for us though.

Quite simply players we needed to step up in his absence like Mark Davies, Prats, even Reo-Coker haven't been able to and it's hurt us.

Sluffy - yes I think those 3 players are key. I think all 3 would be starting games for us if they were fit right now. But who knows if we would be any better with them, we have been horrible for over a year now.
With QPR winning against Spurs I think its all over for us now, we just don't have any quality to win games. Even our 3 wins on the bounce against Blackburn, QPR and Wolves (3 really crap teams) we were lucky to win each of them. We are pathetic. When I look at our team line ups I just feel depressed and know we won't win. If I can see that why can't Coyle? At least giving it a go for god's sake and play an attacking, exciting formation that will get the fans excited. Playing 1 up front and that being Kevin Davies at home to Swansea is just ridiculous.
I will be sad when we go down but I just feel like the players don't care and Gartside doesn't care because if he did he would have sacked Coyle long ago when it was clear he was tactically inept. So why should I care?

You care mate, just like most of us do - because it's our club - our little tribe.

I shouldn't be bothered about a game of football at my age and the life experiences that I have had - but I do.

It's not rational, its not sensible but it's part of me and no matter how much I pretend otherwise , I will always care.

Stupid isn't it!

Why were people not at today's game then?

Sluffy wrote:Mich, are we REALLY missing three key players though - or is this a myth by the pro Coyle brigade?

If you looked at the stats for Muamba he was the player most taken off from games by Coyle, dropped by Coyle several times - once out of the squad altogether for not being good enough for the team - Coyle's view, not mine - and in a war of words on twitter about Coyle about him picking his favourites and not Muamba - before his heart attack.

Similarly with Lee - check out his stats from Christmas onwards for last season and you will find he was often 'rested' for bleing too 'tired' - in other words 'shit'.

As for Holden good player granted - but unlucky with injury - how many leauge games has he actually played for us since he signed in January 2010?

The answer - it may surprise many - is just 28!

Are they really so key after all?

I should probably avoid a difference of opinion with you Sluffy, after last time, but there is so much pure garbage in your post that I can't resist. I tried, but I can't.

Yes, we are really missing three key players.

CYL was rested during that period you describe because he had been playing football continuously for nearly two years. If you are a supporter of the club as you appear to be you will damn well know that, it was widely known enough. The idea that this makes him "shit" is frankly, laughable. It reminds me of the kind of rubbish people shout out at the Reebok when we're 3-0 down.

If you have a look at the stats for Muamba yourself you will see the dramatic difference in our results with him in and out of the team. Don't just look at the stats you want to look at, look at all the stats.

It doesn't surprise anyone that Holden has only played 28 league games for us as he has only been fit for 9 months. On what planet this stops him being a key player, I don't know. He ran the team for every one of those 28 games. You think we can just pull another one like that out of MLS or something?

There is no "pro Coyle brigade", either. There is only a "pro Bolton Wanderers brigade".

Michael B, Holden is the only 'key' player and know this, had he been fit and played from last August he would have been sold in January.

If we are dependant on Muamba then we really are in trouble. He is average at best (but peronally I think he's a donkey).

Sluffy - but the truth is that over the last decade or so I have lost a huge amount of interest in Bolton. Back in the 90s I loved Bolton, I could tell you the score and who scored from every game from each season and I had favourite players, I was really keen. Now, I couldn't even tell you a score from most games this season against teams. I am just bored of the club. I can't put my finger on why. Is it because we lose so many games, we aren't competitive, we have so many ordinary unexciting players, is it because the players don't care? I saw highlights of the Wolves game and when Petrov scored he didn't even look over at the Bolton fans or run that direction. After the QPR game Pratley didn't even know who we played the following week in the post match interview. We have so many players who don't give a monkeys toss. Maybe its because so many of them are out of contract in the summer and know they won't be here.
We don't seem to have players who care for the club. What happened to players like Frandsen, McGinlay, Thompson, Diouf, Bergson, etc and a manager like Big Sam who seemed to be one of the fans and give everything.
Thank god most of this shower of shite will no longer be at the club after the summer.

Great. Not only do we confirm our relegation but Mich Caine starts posting on Nuts. I'm off to kill myself.

Well if that's the level of performance we get from this sorry bunch of bastards after being in Dubai for a week then fuck knows what would have happened if they had been to Butlins.

I was expecting us to not see much of the ball against a very good passing team today but the lack of quality when we did have it was a shambles, apart from NRC not a soul looked comfortable with the ball and like so many times this season panicked when we got the ball.

If QPR win tonight it's as good as over IMO, obviously Villa are not firing on all cylinders and we COULD nick a point but for the level of performances we have turned in at home this season coyle and everybody in his backroom staff can have no complaints about us finishing 19th this season.

I don't really have the energy to go into a long post about where we went wrong so I won't.

To cut a long story short the manager is clueless, the players he has signed can't hold onto the ball for more than 2 seconds, and no one seems to really care which division we are in.

I almost went to a non-league game today, I really wish I had.

Wasn't Hyde Utd by anychance was it?

largehat wrote:

Sluffy wrote:Mich, are we REALLY missing three key players though - or is this a myth by the pro Coyle brigade?

If you looked at the stats for Muamba he was the player most taken off from games by Coyle, dropped by Coyle several times - once out of the squad altogether for not being good enough for the team - Coyle's view, not mine - and in a war of words on twitter about Coyle about him picking his favourites and not Muamba - before his heart attack.

Similarly with Lee - check out his stats from Christmas onwards for last season and you will find he was often 'rested' for being too 'tired' - in other words 'shit'.

As for Holden good player granted - but unlucky with injury - how many league games has he actually played for us since he signed in January 2010?

The answer - it may surprise many - is just 28!

Are they really so key after all?

I should probably avoid a difference of opinion with you Sluffy, after last time, but there is so much pure garbage in your post that I can't resist. I tried, but I can't.

Yes, we are really missing three key players.

CYL was rested during that period you describe because he had been playing football continuously for nearly two years. If you are a supporter of the club as you appear to be you will damn well know that, it was widely known enough. The idea that this makes him "shit" is frankly, laughable. It reminds me of the kind of rubbish people shout out at the Reebok when we're 3-0 down.

If you have a look at the stats for Muamba yourself you will see the dramatic difference in our results with him in and out of the team. Don't just look at the stats you want to look at, look at all the stats.

It doesn't surprise anyone that Holden has only played 28 league games for us as he has only been fit for 9 months. On what planet this stops him being a key player, I don't know. He ran the team for every one of those 28 games. You think we can just pull another one like that out of MLS or something?

There is no "pro Coyle brigade", either. There is only a "pro Bolton Wanderers brigade".

Firstly and most importantly - to me anyway - is that I hope you (or anyone for that matter) can feel that you can disagree with me at anytime without the fear of sanctions or anything being taken against you.

Contrary to popular believe I've banned exceedingly few people over my years of being a mod - despite loads of abuse - and those I have banned were done fairly and honestly.

Anyway, Muamba, I have seen the stats (compiled by Keveh off tw) and they are very impressive reading indeed BUT that doesn't change the fact that Coyle continued to not pick Muamba, or when he did - sub him!

Indeed the only reason Muamba played 'that' match against Spurs was that it was a cup match - and he wanted to rest a few legs for the next Premier game - Muamba was at the time Twittering against Coyle for NOT playing him and playing others (Coyle's favourites) instead!

Muamba might be the next best player to Messi but that can't make him a KEY player if the manager doesn't play him! How could Muamba influence games from the bench?

Lee - again how KEY can he be if the manager doesn't pick him or if he does subs him?

Lee could be the next Christiano Ronaldo but that ain't much use if the manager doesn't pick him does it?

Finally Holden - good player, would definitely love to see more of him on the pitch but 28 games in two and a half years leaves doubts about how key he really is able to be over a full season. There are simply too many footballers who look world beaters over the start of the season only to fade away to nothing at its end.

Coyle KNEW Holden and Lee were unavailable to him when the season kicked off - he's never got anybody in for Holden and went with Eagles for Lee - that's how KEY Coyle thought they were to the side!

That was the worst game of the season for me. I arrived with loads of optimism, but left thinking that's the end of us in the top flight. Natasha is right in what she says above, too many of the team simply can't keep the ball even when they're under no pressure. A Campo-like player would have controlled that game.

Natasha Whittam wrote:Great. Not only do we confirm our relegation but Mich Caine starts posting on Nuts. I'm off to kill myself.

Don't worry, I won't be sticking about. I am off to support West Brom again.

Michael Bolton wrote:

Natasha Whittam wrote:Great. Not only do we confirm our relegation but Mich Caine starts posting on Nuts. I'm off to kill myself.

Don't worry, I won't be sticking about. I am off to support West Brom again.

Much more fun and very much busier on here than Bolton Banter or Burnden Aces - but it's up to you where you post.

You're welcome anytime.

For me Coyle made a royal fuck up in January by not dealing with the amount of centre mid players we have, when playing a 5 man midfield you have to have at least 2 centre mid players on the bench in case one gets injured and the other is tired.

Instead of buying a centre forward who he isn't going to play he should have bought a centre mid player with that money instead.