What Dougie Thought - Rotherham

Dougie Freedman praised the performances of his strikers, Joe Mason and Craig Davies, as Bolton Wanderers came from behind to secure a 3-2 victory over Rotherham United.

Joe Mason hit a hat-trick as Bolton recorded their first league win of the campaign, while Craig Davies proved to be a constant thorn in the Rotherham defence throughout.

And while Freedman credited his whole side for the manner of the win, he picked out his two strikers for special praise.

“Tonight typifies the performance of the two strikers, who I thought were both outstanding,” said Freedman. “Joe has got a big future. Him and Craig Davies were immense tonight.

“Joe is still learning his trade but I believe when you give him game time he will get you goals and he showed that here tonight.

“Craig was a handful all night and his runs off the ball were very good. Our strikers were asking questions of the Rotherham defence all night.”
The Whites boss continued: “Overall, we showed fantastic character, great passion and great pride tonight to fight back.

“When they got it back to 2-2 we rallied and went again – that’s what this group of players gives us. In the end we could have won by more than the score-line suggests.

“I thought we actually played quite well in the first half. We were disappointed with the goal but in the second half it was a fantastic display from everyone in the team to get back in the game.

“We suffered setbacks but still showed character coming forward. I felt the whole stadium gathered in the celebrations towards the end which was fantastic to see.”

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I accept after such a shite start he has to talk up the positives - I just hope he's realised there needs to be a major change in defence.

Natasha Whittam wrote:I accept after such a shite start he has to talk up the positives - I just hope he's realised there needs to be a major change in defence.

I'm sure Dougie is aware of all the team's shortcomings, but it may take several months before his script writers catch up.

Has he ever left Mason out when he's had him? Genuine question.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:Has he ever left Mason out when he's had him? Genuine question.

I'm tempted to say "once or twice" as I have a feeling he might have done although generally the answer is no.
But why let the facts get in the way of a popular slur?

Freedman's got a problem here and can't win.

He's probably going to go with one up front against Wolves, in an attempt to stop the midfield from being overrun.

Last night by all accounts, Davies hustled and bustled and was roundly praised.

He is a stronger player than Mason, so would be the obvious pick for the lone-striker role.

However, Mason scored three last night and could have easily had six.

But, he's proved largely ineffective in the lone-striker role.

So who does he pick........?

Whatever he does, he'll get slagged off for it.

karlypants wrote:
“I thought we actually played quite well in the first half. 

Having watched that first half, I can now say that Douglas is deluded and full of crap.

I'm going to have to mention this again what I mentioned last night because I haven't seen anything like it.  Lonergan was taking a goal kick and three (yes that's three) Bolton defenders were on the edge of his box, accompanied by two Rotherham attackers. Lonergan then launched the goal kick.

If that ball comes back as quick as Lonergan had kicked it then you'd have been in the brown stuff. I've never seen owt like that before.