What do you all think

What to do with Owen Coyle? Give him more time. Find him help. Get rid. There is no general consensus. If it’s the latter option, then Coyle could have no complaints. Six points from nine games is only one more than Sammy Lee got, prior to his sacking in 2007 and three wins (and twelve defeats) in fifteen league outings since the debacle at Wembley is unacceptable by any standards.
There’s also an unpleasing symmetry that has emerged. Last season Bolton had the worst away record in the four divisions. Now they have the poorest home results.
Criticism of the Whites boss should be tempered. Losing the two best players in Stuart Holden and Lee Chung-Yong from a squad that was ordinary in the first place, would be a crushing blow to anyone in that situation. In addition, his net spend in the transfer market over two seasons has been more or less nil, with Bolton so hamstrung for cash. But the lack of progress in rectifying what are glaring faults can not be ignored.
In Lee’s brief tenure, much attention was drawn to a desire to play more open football. The reality was that his failures came because of an inability to field a team capable of defending. With a back four containing Gerald Cid and Jlloyd Samuel at his most clueless, that was always a doomed venture.
The current side’s main problems lie further forward in midfield. For much of the time there isn’t one. The tendency to abandon that area when under pressure and camp out on the eighteen yard line is always costly. It gives better teams space to involve the wingers and stretch the back line, whilst more basic opposition can launch hopeful punts into the penalty area, knowing that there will be no one to contest the ball when it comes back – a fact that isn’t lost on Gary Cahill.
“When you are under pressure, there is only so much you can head out and defend. It is difficult because I was out there thinking, ‘Why are we under so much pressure?’ We were defending all the time," he pondered after Saturday’s game.
Too many of the personnel deployed in the centre of the park are not up to the job. Chris Eagles continues to demonstrate that effort is no substitute for ability, whilst Darren Pratley has shown why he played just one game at Premier League level before signing for Bolton at the age of twenty-six. Nigel Reo-Coker puts a ‘shift in’ to quote a certain departed ginger person, but he’s invariably half a second behind the pace of the game and can’t turn defence into attack. Martin Petrov isn’t a luxury that can be afforded.
Up front, David N’Gog has struggled, although it’s early to judge the former Liverpool man. He shows neat touches of skill and can hold the ball up, but he’s not blessed with great pace and doesn’t look capable of fashioning chances for himself, an essential requirement, given the creation free zone behind him. He needs a strike partner. One that isn’t Kevin Davies.
Another worrying factor is that Coyle appears to have lost the ability to influence his players. When a manager is reduced to using the press to put a rocket up his staff, it’s desperation time.
“There was a host of players who missed out from last week that who had four or five chances to claim that jersey," he told the Bolton News prior to the latest capitulation.
“I don’t put players out of the team, players performances put them out of the team. If you play well, you will stay in the team, it’s very simple."
It’s reminiscent of ex-Hull manager Phil Brown lecturing his under performers in the penalty area at Manchester City. That was the beginning of the end for him too.
Should Coyle stay or go? It goes against the grain with this fan to advocate a move that would bring yet more instability. Football history shows quite clearly that teams who change manager on a frequent basis underachieve. Yet he seems out of ideas, and out of his depth.
Sacking the manager now would be pointless. It would lead to one of the duffers recruited from Burnley taking charge. But the search for the next man must begin.
There are several unemployed candidates who would be keen on a return to the Premier League. Graeme Souness, David O’Leary, Steve McClaren, Gordon Strachan to name just a few. All should be avoided. There are reasons why they haven’t got a job.
But there is one exception and that is Mark Hughes. Not in a permanent capacity, his ambitions go beyond a club like Bolton – but in a caretaker role. It would be a no lose situation for him as the Wanderers are already a basket case. Avoid relegation and he’d look like a genius.
That would leave time to look for a man who can build a foundation for the future and be appointed at the end of the season. One thing is clear. Chairman Phil Gartside must never be involved in the selection of a Bolton manager again. He has now appointed three of them without due process.