It's been a long week since bolton's 100 % record was blown apart by a rampaging Wigan. A lot for management, players and supporters to think over. Back to football on the pitch today and we have a Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday schedule across 3 competitions to look forward to including a transfer deadline day before we have an international break. First up a jinx ground Burton's pirelli stadium. Bolton have never won there with 2 defeats and 2 draws there. Team news. With the 4 games in such a short period the full squad will be needed. The only injury is Johnston and Charles is back from suspension. I wouldn't rule out 2 separate sides, 1 for today and 1 for Tuesday against Middlesbrough. Possible starting 11. Baxter. Jones Santos Iredale. Dacres-Cogley Dempsey Sheeehan Morley, Williams. Charles Adeboyejo. Kick off 3pm.
posted on 26/8/23
Fair result. Could have won could have lost with the 1 good chance each side had. Too many over hit balls, free kicks and your not going to score with Nlundulu and Jerome up top.
posted on 26/8/23
I think it's time to watch a movie.
That game will be one of the easiest to forget about.
posted on 26/8/23
Benny, I was thinking that crosses and passes, there were too many balls over hit.
Is this team any better than last seasons? I though so but now, I'm not sure.
posted on 26/8/23
Last season we had Trafford and Bradley lost those 2. Dacres-cogley has been good replacing Bradley but he has no back up and has had to play every game. Baxter has had one bad game and coleman is better than Dixon was. Bit more depth at centre back with Forrester signed and Toal due back. Not happy with iredale his passing poor, badly missing Johnston. Personally I think John and Sadlier have roles to play but evatt obviously wants rid. In midfield a bit more variety and youth with Mendes Gomes and Maghoma. Disappointed with morley so far. Up top. Are victor, Nlundulu and Jerome better than Bakayoko and Kachunga? Waiting for böðvarsson to get fit as he seems to be 5th choice at the moment. Swings and roundabouts for me. Lost and gained in players. Waiting for them all to blend and click together.
posted on 27/8/23
Thanks Benny
That leaves the question, can IE get them to blend the way he wants them to win promotion.
Unless IE has some rabbits to pull before the window shuts. I'm putting my money on us needing another good January window.
posted on 27/8/23
Highlights.
https://youtu.be/oaMPiblmMYw
posted on 27/8/23
Has the defence improved? We looked sound for our first three league games. Last week against a good side we were well below par for what we need to achieve to win promotion and that was with Santos. It is up in the air now how long he is going to be out with yesterday's injury.
It looks suspiciously like Toal is still not fit as he wasn't on the bench yesterday. We were originally led to believe that he might be fit to play after the first couple of games. The games are now stretching out and without Santos, we desperately need him.
Yesterday's goal against us was a gift for them, nobody picked up the scorer who had acres of room. We don't put enough effort into closing teams down when they are attacking. Wigan had no problem with that last week.
That game was similar to the women's game against Spain. The Spanish team closed down our players and put pressure on England and there was no evidence of the English girls having the appetite to do the same. We were much the same yesterday.
As for Baxter, I can only hope that our goalkeeper coach can help him to improve quickly. He is definitely not the finished article.
As for our strikers. If Evatt thinks we have the tools to score enough goals this season, I hope that he is right, but the last two games look suspiciously like a re-run of last season, plenty of chances were created but we could only manage one goal against a team that was bottom of the division.
All the talk about new training methods pre-season to achieve more goals looks a little up and down now. I hope that Evatt can get it right because at the moment he has no intention of spending money on a clinical striker. Let's hope that he doesn't need to.
All in all a disappointing couple of games, The Burton game that we should have won if we had designs of going up this season.
It's early days but we need a vast improvement if we are going to stand any chance of promotion.
posted on 27/8/23
I think toal will play against Middlesbrough. Think a case of holding him back. Never the plan to play him yesterday. Hopefully he is fully fit and back in the side after the international break. Have missed him, a proper defender.
posted on 27/8/23
comment by Bennythedip - Living The Dream (U9359)
posted 2 hours, 54 minutes ago
I think toal will play against Middlesbrough. Think a case of holding him back. Never the plan to play him yesterday. Hopefully he is fully fit and back in the side after the international break. Have missed him, a proper defender.
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I hope that you are right Benny, the main thing is that he is fit and ready to go.
posted on 28/8/23
I can picture IE working in his lab today. He'll be working on an experiment for tomorrow night.