A Season Defining March
Having looked at our fixture list, there is no doubt in my mind, March WILL decide if we stay up or go down. That list is as follows:
-Bolton v Man City
-Bolton v QPR
-Aston Villa v Bolton
-Bolton v Blackburn
-Wolves v Bolton
A minimum of 10 from this lot are whats required to keep us in it imo, although I reckon a win at Villa is doable as well. I know this issue has been done to death but it all very much depends on what formation Coyle employs for the rest of the season.
We also have Chelsea in a week. Rumours are going around AVB has been sacked and their form has been dreadful. If we go and play as we did Vs Liverpool, I can see another upset.
There is another reason I feel March will be the make or break month and that reason is Chung Yong Lee. He has started light training on grass and should be with the team in a couple of weeks. If we can get him up to scratch before the QPR game then we could see our form improve dramatically. His assists and not to mention his goals could be the difference between us staying up and going down.
As well as him, we should have Alonso back in March as well as Ream and Myachi getting much more settled. Alonso looked great at LB before his injury which would free up Ricketts for RB. And if Ream is better then Knight and Wheater (hard not to be) then we could see a much better defense.
Our team could go from one that looks rather Championship-y to a top ten looking side in a matter of weeks:
-------------------------------Bogdan
Ricketts-------------Ream---------Knight-----------Alonso
------------------------Muamba---NRC
Lee--------------------------Mavies---------------------Ryo
--------------------------------Ngog
Depending on how Ream turns out, that is a very strong team imo.
Knight Vs Wheater Vs Ream
I never thought I'd say this but I'd much rather Knight in the team then Wheater. I have never seen a player turned so easily. Not a great quality when we play a line as high as ours. I live in hope that Ream is a good player because I feel if Knight and Wheater are our CB pairing for the rest of the season, we will go down. With any luck he will have a stormer against Millwall and go straight in Vs Chelsea.
Musings on Bolton: March and the CB Problem
posted on 17/2/12
So basically ...we should ignore the league table until 38 games have been played, because until it's complete, it provides us with absolutely nothing as to how well / poor a club is doing?
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Your taking it a bit literally there. In simple terms what I was trying to say was: It ain't over until it's over.
posted on 17/2/12
So basically ...we should ignore the league table until 38 games have been played, because until it's complete, it provides us with absolutely nothing as to how well / poor a club is doing?
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No ones saying that, all we are saying is that it is close at the moment, one week, we are above them, the next we are below them. We will get a more accurate description at the end of the season.
posted on 17/2/12
So basically ...we should ignore the league table until 38 games have been played, because until it's complete, it provides us with absolutely nothing as to how well / poor a club is doing?
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Yeah that's right, Firstof, you've got it spot on there. Of course we shouldn't look at the league table until thelast game has been played. It'll be like opening presents on Christmas day
Look, sorry for the sarcasm, but you're taking the mickey if you think anyone'e saying that. You know full well that's a ridiculous way to surmise Woody's point or my point.
posted on 17/2/12
Ridiculous, yes. But I'm no more impressed with the sort of attitude that goes ... ' Hey, two-thirds of the season has been and gone, we're struggling next to bottom of the league, with no consistency, even in our recent form - it's any 3 from 5 for the chop, and we're one of 'em, but..... what's the problem??? Chill out ...there's a third of the season to go yet! '
With apologies for the sarcasm upfront!
posted on 17/2/12
I haven't seen that attitude in this thread. I've seen a comment which says we've got QPR, Wolves and Blackburn coming up at home and those are more likely to yield points than a random configuration of any three fixtures. What's so unreasonable about that?
posted on 17/2/12
On it's own, no, it's not unreasonable to target those games for some points. I just question us averaging 2 points a game over the 5 games mentioned, when we've only managed to average not much over a point a game all season, or in our most recent 8 games. If we had ' turned the corner ' and were debating this straight after the Everton / Liverpool results, I'd be more optimistic.... but we're still looking for that corner to turn, after defeats to Norwich and Wigan. Many on here (quite legitimately) looked forward to 4 points at least from those 2 games, and we got none. So it's obviously not quite as simple as assuming lower opposition = a certain points return.
posted on 17/2/12
when we've only managed to average not much over a point a game all season
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Under you mean firstof.
It's 0.8 pts/game.
posted on 17/2/12
Yes sorry ...under a point a game for the season, and slightly over a point a game on current form (last 8 games)
posted on 17/2/12
I meant last 6 games!! 7 points from the last 6 games!!
posted on 17/2/12
From the five games mentioned above, we got 7 points first time around, its not too difficult to see us getting a win against Wolves. It could still go the opposite way, but lets be positive about these games.