The frailities in defence have been exposed by agile strikers. We have gone into the championship thinking it is a poor standard full of big, physical, players lacking ability. It isnt. It is full of superb players, fighting for a chance to play in the worlds biggest league.
Who is having the least effect in our team? Our big physical players, as those with actual ability are far surpassing them.
The problem of the wings will be fixed, there is no need for our full backs to venture forward so much, meaning the defence will be more tight as a unit. Lee and Petrov provide the width our team is lacking.
Ngog is the leading man, he makes us tick. He will link everyone together, hopefully, the team will keep it on the floor which suits him.
Sordell is our finisher, Eagles can also play this role...he is a luxury man, but through the centre he is much more effective, just behind Ngog.
The removal of Knight and KD leads to a more fluid style of play, as we saw when neither of them played last season.
Statistical evidence: Bolton only won 9% of the games we won when they both started last season. That was the 4:0 victory against QPR on the first day of the season.
Big changes need to be made, we have the best starting 11 in the league...if we decide to pick it.
If I was an opposition manager and saw Mills & Ream were together in the centre I'd instruct my players to hit the long pass to the front man as I don't think either are very clever in the air.
Lee hasn't got back to anywhere near his best yet.
SKD needs a player to read his flicks - like Elmander did the season prior to him leaving.
9 months without a win? 2 and a half of those were the close season where we didn't play a competitive fixture.
Wholeheartedly agree.
Mark Davies is easily our best ball player, but he still goes missing in games far too much, even in the Championship. Impact player. Maybe start him against weaker opposition and Andrews against better teams. That's the purpose of having 2 players in every position, isn't it? Using your squad, unlike what we've done so far this season.
I'd say that it's really a toss up between Lee, Petrov, Eagles, and Sordell for three starting berths.
Ricketts/Ream should come in for Knight/Mills and, if we choose Ream, Ricketts should start at right back ahead of Mears.
Zat Knight-
Other teams are not using a big frontman like us.
Lee needs gametime, he was out for a whole year.
SKD heading is erratic, he heading it in all kinds of directions, none of which are going to another player. How about KD heads it to the player, rather than the player running to the non-aimed header?
Ok, 6 1/2 months without a Bolton win when Davies started? Is that any more positive...no, it isnt.
All this SKD bashing is getting right on my nerves! We have no one at the moment scoring regularly other than SKD and Eagles, we need someone to play alongside Davies not drop him!
N'gog is too injury prone and too similar to play with Kev
so either Sordell or Afobe need to step up and prove their worth.
Never said 6 1/2 months was more positive just correct.
What gets me is the fact nobody gambles on getting into the space where he looks to flick it anymore.
Norpig-
The point is, we dont play well with KD.
His only positive contributions are coming from set pieces...David Wheater scored twice in a game from set pieces last year..someone will replace that aspect if we dropped Davies. He is limiting us.
Zat-
Davies flick on, first touch, passing etc has been so erratic this season that im not surprised Sordell, Afobe etc havent been getting onto the end of them. He doesnt know where they are going to go himself, cant expect his team mates to either.
This Ream guy is meant to be a centre half right?
Has the guy ever made a tackle or got booked in English football yet?
Nancy boy ...
Agree with quite a bit of what you said but take out our two top scorers? I you do that NGog surely isn't the answer. I'd like to see Sordell and Afobe get a chance to just have at it and run at defences.
Great article HH!
I do have to agree with you and I think that you may have hit the nail on the head as to why OC picks the team that he does.
I think SKD is a huge talisman for the club, but I don't think that he should start. If we haven't be able to score for 60 mins then thats enough time to 'unleash the beast' to get that set piece goal.
Its so frustrating that OC doesn't even entertain this and that could be his undoing. He should've started blooding the kids from the off in this league.
I'd start Wylde instead of Petrov and play Riley instead of Mears with a back partnership of Mills & Ream.
HH, I generally have a lot of respect for you and your articles and posts. Unfortunately the stats that you have produced to rubbish SKD, are unimportant and mean absolutely nothing. It will never be meaningful because I'm quite sure that other playing personnel were changed in some if not all of the matches that KD, started in. So to single out one player and try to make out it is all his fault doesn't make sense.
How many games have we won this season when Davies has started? Can you see where I'm going? The other point I would bring to your attention is that he has scored four goals this season to date. correct me if I'm wrong but who else apart from Eagles has scored anything like that amount?
If you are going to argue that other players have not had the opportunity to score because the ball get's lumped up to Davies all the time, I would say that there have been countless chances spurned by several players. So until we have a few more players contributing to goals scored on a regular basis, Davies should and will stay in the teram and in my opinion quite rightly so.
Can't really complain about that article, HH. I pretty much agree with everything.
well thought out article but i think there will have to be a lot of comings and goings before we will ever have a competent and balanced side.i blame this dratted transfer window.this squad crying out for a bit of wheeling and dealing.unfotunately we only have jan and everything happens late on and it may be too late by then.
The thing is though, I am sure everyone on this forum wants something to change. Whether it be the manger, the backroom staff or the players.
Now, it looks like Coyle will stay at least till Millwall, which means his backroom staff will too. So the only change we can ask for is to the starting 11. Now, the one thing that we cannot argue about, is that KD has remained pretty much constant in our starting 11 for the past decade. We have also played a pretty direct game, with him being the focal point for the last decade too. Now, most will admit that this 'hoofball' style is not efficient any more. So, the logical thing to do is to take the only remaining player of the successful hoofball days (the Allardyce era) out of the team, no?
Is that not logical? I think it is.
I strongly agree about Ngog/Davies. Davies kills our attacks with his poor technique, we need to stop playing him. Every ball to feet gets lost or played backwards. He has a role to play however, but it should be coming on with 5 minutes to go for defending/attacking long balls. Ngog is better in every area apart from heading. Mark Davies would excel in a free role behind Ngog I think.
It isnt a new thing though, I can remember years ago he was injured for around 5 games and we won them all. Diouf played up front on his own instead. I am not sure of the season but people with better memories will, we beat Blackburn 1-0 at Ewood in it. Yet he went straight back in the team.
He isnt a club legend, he is just a very average player with a fanbase I dont understand. Maybe it has something to do with his pub league challenges. If any player deserves legend status (and they dont) in recent times it is Jussi or ridiculously talented players like Okocha and Campo.
Does anyone actually believe we were a good team under Allardyce because of "hoofball"? It was our central midfield, Okocha/Campo/Nolan/Speed who had far more influence.
We weren't stylish, Aristodemus. But we were effective, for whatever reason, it isn't effective anymore and it makes KD's role almost extinct.
If we haven't be able to score for 60 mins then thats enough time to 'unleash the beast' to get that set piece goal.
-------------
Exactly JAH. Come off the bench when there defence is run ragged, and then Davies can rustle and bustle them.
Unfortunately the stats that you have produced to rubbish SKD, are unimportant and mean absolutely nothing.
-------------------
Not really, you can see a difference aesthetically. From knowing that, the results purely help to back up that we perform worse when he starts.
Do you not think there is a big enough difference between them for you to think that maybe it is true?
Have you seen Moneyball?
It would help express my idea slightly.
I'm sorry to sound harsh HH, but I had a boat load of your double injury excuses last season, with stats...
I've read your recent JA & Twitter comments about Davies....
What exactly is your current stance on what or who's to blame for the last 18 months.... ?!?
I only did injury talk during the first 2-3 months.
When Ricketts and Ngog came back, we kicked on abit...they made up for SH and CYL injuries by taking PR and KD out the team which added a little protection and fludity that was missing.
You were the only who brought it up constantly after that lol. Reminding me of what i had said.
As ive said in the past, our plight goes back further than 18 months...its been coming for 5 years! An accumulation stemming from poor signings(expensive ones at that!), spiralling wages, growing debt, poor board decisions...even an ounce of terrible, bad luck.
Are you in anyway offering Coyle as to blame & want him out our football club.....
Don't make me search every article you've blamed injuries!!! I'm dead in 45 years...!
Pretty sure I've stated that?
Plus this tactics article itself is a damning of a system he is using?
Already said I think he needs to go, I let him off last year, you know why..
This season though he has destroyed any faith I had in him. I understood decision last year..this year though..not at all.
I think I wasn't even in most articles, but you mentioned me and my double injury theory...that and the 252 weeks worth we had last season.. Second to only United and Arsenal
Answered beautifully bud...
Thanks, that's it
Let's be friends again.
Owen has been getting in the way all this time!
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Tic Tac Toe, Tactic Woe.
Page 1 of 3
posted on 4/10/12
The frailities in defence have been exposed by agile strikers. We have gone into the championship thinking it is a poor standard full of big, physical, players lacking ability. It isnt. It is full of superb players, fighting for a chance to play in the worlds biggest league.
Who is having the least effect in our team? Our big physical players, as those with actual ability are far surpassing them.
The problem of the wings will be fixed, there is no need for our full backs to venture forward so much, meaning the defence will be more tight as a unit. Lee and Petrov provide the width our team is lacking.
Ngog is the leading man, he makes us tick. He will link everyone together, hopefully, the team will keep it on the floor which suits him.
Sordell is our finisher, Eagles can also play this role...he is a luxury man, but through the centre he is much more effective, just behind Ngog.
The removal of Knight and KD leads to a more fluid style of play, as we saw when neither of them played last season.
Statistical evidence: Bolton only won 9% of the games we won when they both started last season. That was the 4:0 victory against QPR on the first day of the season.
Big changes need to be made, we have the best starting 11 in the league...if we decide to pick it.
posted on 4/10/12
If I was an opposition manager and saw Mills & Ream were together in the centre I'd instruct my players to hit the long pass to the front man as I don't think either are very clever in the air.
Lee hasn't got back to anywhere near his best yet.
SKD needs a player to read his flicks - like Elmander did the season prior to him leaving.
9 months without a win? 2 and a half of those were the close season where we didn't play a competitive fixture.
posted on 4/10/12
Wholeheartedly agree.
Mark Davies is easily our best ball player, but he still goes missing in games far too much, even in the Championship. Impact player. Maybe start him against weaker opposition and Andrews against better teams. That's the purpose of having 2 players in every position, isn't it? Using your squad, unlike what we've done so far this season.
I'd say that it's really a toss up between Lee, Petrov, Eagles, and Sordell for three starting berths.
Ricketts/Ream should come in for Knight/Mills and, if we choose Ream, Ricketts should start at right back ahead of Mears.
posted on 4/10/12
Zat Knight-
Other teams are not using a big frontman like us.
Lee needs gametime, he was out for a whole year.
SKD heading is erratic, he heading it in all kinds of directions, none of which are going to another player. How about KD heads it to the player, rather than the player running to the non-aimed header?
Ok, 6 1/2 months without a Bolton win when Davies started? Is that any more positive...no, it isnt.
posted on 4/10/12
All this SKD bashing is getting right on my nerves! We have no one at the moment scoring regularly other than SKD and Eagles, we need someone to play alongside Davies not drop him!
N'gog is too injury prone and too similar to play with Kev
so either Sordell or Afobe need to step up and prove their worth.
posted on 4/10/12
Never said 6 1/2 months was more positive just correct.
What gets me is the fact nobody gambles on getting into the space where he looks to flick it anymore.
posted on 4/10/12
Norpig-
The point is, we dont play well with KD.
His only positive contributions are coming from set pieces...David Wheater scored twice in a game from set pieces last year..someone will replace that aspect if we dropped Davies. He is limiting us.
Zat-
Davies flick on, first touch, passing etc has been so erratic this season that im not surprised Sordell, Afobe etc havent been getting onto the end of them. He doesnt know where they are going to go himself, cant expect his team mates to either.
posted on 4/10/12
This Ream guy is meant to be a centre half right?
Has the guy ever made a tackle or got booked in English football yet?
Nancy boy ...
posted on 4/10/12
Agree with quite a bit of what you said but take out our two top scorers? I you do that NGog surely isn't the answer. I'd like to see Sordell and Afobe get a chance to just have at it and run at defences.
posted on 4/10/12
Great article HH!
I do have to agree with you and I think that you may have hit the nail on the head as to why OC picks the team that he does.
I think SKD is a huge talisman for the club, but I don't think that he should start. If we haven't be able to score for 60 mins then thats enough time to 'unleash the beast' to get that set piece goal.
Its so frustrating that OC doesn't even entertain this and that could be his undoing. He should've started blooding the kids from the off in this league.
I'd start Wylde instead of Petrov and play Riley instead of Mears with a back partnership of Mills & Ream.
posted on 4/10/12
HH, I generally have a lot of respect for you and your articles and posts. Unfortunately the stats that you have produced to rubbish SKD, are unimportant and mean absolutely nothing. It will never be meaningful because I'm quite sure that other playing personnel were changed in some if not all of the matches that KD, started in. So to single out one player and try to make out it is all his fault doesn't make sense.
How many games have we won this season when Davies has started? Can you see where I'm going? The other point I would bring to your attention is that he has scored four goals this season to date. correct me if I'm wrong but who else apart from Eagles has scored anything like that amount?
If you are going to argue that other players have not had the opportunity to score because the ball get's lumped up to Davies all the time, I would say that there have been countless chances spurned by several players. So until we have a few more players contributing to goals scored on a regular basis, Davies should and will stay in the teram and in my opinion quite rightly so.
posted on 4/10/12
Can't really complain about that article, HH. I pretty much agree with everything.
posted on 4/10/12
well thought out article but i think there will have to be a lot of comings and goings before we will ever have a competent and balanced side.i blame this dratted transfer window.this squad crying out for a bit of wheeling and dealing.unfotunately we only have jan and everything happens late on and it may be too late by then.
posted on 4/10/12
The thing is though, I am sure everyone on this forum wants something to change. Whether it be the manger, the backroom staff or the players.
Now, it looks like Coyle will stay at least till Millwall, which means his backroom staff will too. So the only change we can ask for is to the starting 11. Now, the one thing that we cannot argue about, is that KD has remained pretty much constant in our starting 11 for the past decade. We have also played a pretty direct game, with him being the focal point for the last decade too. Now, most will admit that this 'hoofball' style is not efficient any more. So, the logical thing to do is to take the only remaining player of the successful hoofball days (the Allardyce era) out of the team, no?
Is that not logical? I think it is.
posted on 4/10/12
I strongly agree about Ngog/Davies. Davies kills our attacks with his poor technique, we need to stop playing him. Every ball to feet gets lost or played backwards. He has a role to play however, but it should be coming on with 5 minutes to go for defending/attacking long balls. Ngog is better in every area apart from heading. Mark Davies would excel in a free role behind Ngog I think.
It isnt a new thing though, I can remember years ago he was injured for around 5 games and we won them all. Diouf played up front on his own instead. I am not sure of the season but people with better memories will, we beat Blackburn 1-0 at Ewood in it. Yet he went straight back in the team.
He isnt a club legend, he is just a very average player with a fanbase I dont understand. Maybe it has something to do with his pub league challenges. If any player deserves legend status (and they dont) in recent times it is Jussi or ridiculously talented players like Okocha and Campo.
posted on 4/10/12
Does anyone actually believe we were a good team under Allardyce because of "hoofball"? It was our central midfield, Okocha/Campo/Nolan/Speed who had far more influence.
posted on 4/10/12
We weren't stylish, Aristodemus. But we were effective, for whatever reason, it isn't effective anymore and it makes KD's role almost extinct.
posted on 4/10/12
If we haven't be able to score for 60 mins then thats enough time to 'unleash the beast' to get that set piece goal.
-------------
Exactly JAH. Come off the bench when there defence is run ragged, and then Davies can rustle and bustle them.
posted on 4/10/12
Unfortunately the stats that you have produced to rubbish SKD, are unimportant and mean absolutely nothing.
-------------------
Not really, you can see a difference aesthetically. From knowing that, the results purely help to back up that we perform worse when he starts.
Do you not think there is a big enough difference between them for you to think that maybe it is true?
Have you seen Moneyball?
It would help express my idea slightly.
posted on 4/10/12
I'm sorry to sound harsh HH, but I had a boat load of your double injury excuses last season, with stats...
I've read your recent JA & Twitter comments about Davies....
What exactly is your current stance on what or who's to blame for the last 18 months.... ?!?
posted on 4/10/12
I only did injury talk during the first 2-3 months.
When Ricketts and Ngog came back, we kicked on abit...they made up for SH and CYL injuries by taking PR and KD out the team which added a little protection and fludity that was missing.
You were the only who brought it up constantly after that lol. Reminding me of what i had said.
As ive said in the past, our plight goes back further than 18 months...its been coming for 5 years! An accumulation stemming from poor signings(expensive ones at that!), spiralling wages, growing debt, poor board decisions...even an ounce of terrible, bad luck.
posted on 4/10/12
Are you in anyway offering Coyle as to blame & want him out our football club.....
Don't make me search every article you've blamed injuries!!! I'm dead in 45 years...!
posted on 4/10/12
Pretty sure I've stated that?
Plus this tactics article itself is a damning of a system he is using?
Already said I think he needs to go, I let him off last year, you know why..
This season though he has destroyed any faith I had in him. I understood decision last year..this year though..not at all.
I think I wasn't even in most articles, but you mentioned me and my double injury theory...that and the 252 weeks worth we had last season.. Second to only United and Arsenal
posted on 4/10/12
Answered beautifully bud...
Thanks, that's it
posted on 4/10/12
Let's be friends again.
Owen has been getting in the way all this time!
Page 1 of 3