Aaaaaaaaanyway, Norwich at Home.

[Prufrock]

No-one is blaming the ref. We were shit. We deserved to lose. That bald prick made sure of it.

[Lord Kangana]

Who was the ref again?

[Wandering Willy]

Howard Ferguson.

[Lord Kangana]

That him?

[Hoboh]

The only person responsable for defeat today was Owen feckin' Coyle

[Prufrock]

How do you block people again?

That comment about injuring one of his players last week did make me laugh!

[CrazyHorse]

Who was the ref again?

Jeremy Kyle.

I think.

[Lord Kangana]

He's a massive c*nt too.

[William the White]

The challenge on Klasnic should have seen red. Didn't even get spoken to. Klasnic gets a red because of a cheating asshole and goes off. I was howling at both this afternoon and MOTD had me fuming all over again. Webb is a first class prxck.

Klasnic - stupid. Stupidity, not ref, led to his red card. Idiot, idiot, idiot. Webb may be a first class prick, but he did his job correctly when he sent Klasnic off. And we all know it. If we're honest.

As was my thought at first. But he didn't even nut him. Just squared up to him. It was unnecessary, and daft, but if that is a red card and the assault on him by Barnett is a talking to I fecking give up on the way the game has gone. Embarrasing fall to the floor. Shit.

Agreed Pru. There may have been minimal contact but to go down like that and roll around in the floor is shameful.

To paraphrase the Baird, Tierney cheated, and he knows it.

Yes - he cheated. And Klasnic allowed him to. There was a movement forward from klasnic and i think he made the lightest contact imaginable. The subsequent collapse was a total simulation. Well done Klasnic allowing that piece of ham acting to get you suspended...

The almost killed him 'challenge' on Klasnic was rash in the extreme and certainly a card - probably red... Webb had a dreadful game... But blaming him for the defeat - if any of us are - is clearly misplaced... They deserved it on the quality of their play - we deserved it on the lack of quality of ours...

[Wandering Willy]

How do you block people again?

That comment about injuring one of his players last week did make me laugh!

Can't remember, been a while since I've seen us do it.

LK - yep, that's him.

[P.O.S.]

We played well second half because we HAD to. Like in the Blackpool 2-2 and the Leicester 2-2 of years gone by we simply had to come out second half and try to get ourselves back in it against supposedly inferior opposition, but we cant let that paper over the cracks.

We have really struggled in our last three league games regardless of who we played against, we've looked short of ideas and short of spirit - and no matter who you play against you expect both of those at least surely.

There's players in our team right now who have helped to make the last few years absolutely amazing and beyond any dream I could ever have had about what Bolton could realistically do as a football club, but at some stage you have to make a decision and say we need to try something else. Kevin Davies is a prime example; I love him to bits and I believe he does still have a part to play for us, but not every game and not just regardless of the opposition. N'gog showed something today - and nearly even pulled off a Tony-Yeboah-shut-the-f*ck-up-Liverpool-fans piece of volleyed magic at one stage, a bit of the unexpected that no-one else in the team could do or think of.

Some people around me were complaining bitterly at the start of the second half because we took Davies off - but how could they seriously see him help to change the game?

[Prufrock]

The challenge on Klasnic should have seen red. Didn't even get spoken to. Klasnic gets a red because of a cheating asshole and goes off. I was howling at both this afternoon and MOTD had me fuming all over again. Webb is a first class prxck.

Klasnic - stupid. Stupidity, not ref, led to his red card. Idiot, idiot, idiot. Webb may be a first class prick, but he did his job correctly when he sent Klasnic off. And we all know it. If we're honest.

As was my thought at first. But he didn't even nut him. Just squared up to him. It was unnecessary, and daft, but if that is a red card and the assault on him by Barnett is a talking to I fecking give up on the way the game has gone. Embarrasing fall to the floor. Shit.

Agreed Pru. There may have been minimal contact but to go down like that and roll around in the floor is shameful.

To paraphrase the Baird, Tierney cheated, and he knows it.

Yes - he cheated. And Klasnic allowed him to. There was a movement forward from klasnic and i think he made the lightest contact imaginable. The subsequent collapse was a total simulation. Well done Klasnic allowing that piece of ham acting to get you suspended...

The almost killed him 'challenge' on Klasnic was rash in the extreme and certainly a card - probably red... Webb had a dreadful game... But blaming him for the defeat - if any of us are - is clearly misplaced... They deserved it on the quality of their play - we deserved it on the lack of quality of ours...

Utterly stupid from Klasnic. No need to get involved, but he will now get a three game ban for violent conduct. That was not fecking violence. Aggression, yes, and he should have been booked. As should their player for simulation. But violence. Fook me. Send Howard Webb round Chorley on a Friday night with his cards and he'd have a field day. As for the 'challenge' on Klasnic, have you seen it again WtW? I only ask because at the time, from the other side of the ground I thought it was bad, but having seen a replay it is horrendous. Awful, thuggish, cowardly challenge. Definitely should have gone. And if he had, who knows, it would have been a different game; however, all that said, any result other than a defeat would have masked serious flaws. The manager picked the wrong team, and we were outplayed by, I thought a very good, very aware performance against out static, unimaginative poor performance. That we were shit doesn't mean Howard Webb isn;t a shithouse, and doesn't mean he got things right.

[Wandering Willy]

Shocking first half.

Better team second half.

That's with 10 men and Ngog instead of KD.

It's not a coincidence.

[Hoboh]

Shocking first half.

Better team second half.

That's with 10 men and Ngog instead of KD.

It's not a coincidence.

or herman the german

[William the White]

Utterly stupid from Klasnic. No need to get involved, but he will now get a three game ban for violent conduct. That was not fecking violence. Aggression, yes, and he should have been booked. As should their player for simulation. But violence. Fook me. Send Howard Webb round Chorley on a Friday night with his cards and he'd have a field day. As for the 'challenge' on Klasnic, have you seen it again WtW? I only ask because at the time, from the other side of the ground I thought it was bad, but having seen a replay it is horrendous. Awful, thuggish, cowardly challenge. Definitely should have gone. And if he had, who knows, it would have been a different game; however, all that said, any result other than a defeat would have masked serious flaws. The manager picked the wrong team, and we were outplayed by, I thought a very good, very aware performance against out static, unimaginative poor performance. That we were shit doesn't mean Howard Webb isn;t a shithouse, and doesn't mean he got things right.

Agree with all this, Pru. And, yes, i have seen the challenge - and think it was really a red... That Webb did nothing is disgraceful... as I said above - he had a dreadful game...

[aussie_wanderer]

atleast with klasnic suspended coyle will have to start ngog, coyle needs to wake up with team selection , cant see us getting any points out of our next four games

[Dujon]

I climbed out of bed some time after the witching hour to watch the start of the game and to record it. I couldn't record it (thank you FOXTEL). Nor could I stand it. The first (and only) 20 minutes that I did view put me into - almost - a state of apoplexy. Have we turned of a sudden into a team of disorganised cloggers? It looked like it to me. What the heck was the defender on our left flank thinking when, after been outfoxed in his attempted sliding tackle, decided that the calf of the Norwich player was the target of the year? How he didn't get a yellow baffles me.

I'm somewhat disappointed.

[Ianmooreslovechild]

Yes Webb was awful,Klasnic silly and the Norwich lad cheated. The fundamental worry here though is that we lost against Norwich at home and they generally looked better than us when they are no more than a well organised but average team who normally we would expect to beat.
The key things to come out of it for me are that teams(even ordinary ones like Norwich) target our left hand side,that Davies/Klasnic up front offers no space for our midfieldand no one to pass to and that none of our current wide players are effective enough to make 442 a successful starting formation.All this was evident before yesterday but maybe was ignored cos we were being ripped to shreds by big clubs.
If Coyle is half as good a manager as we have previously liked to believe he will have to address these points.Klasnic getting sent off will at least force his hand on the attack and Ngog/Tuncay would at least offer movement, Wheater has to come in for Knight,Robbo(who I like) is simply giving away too many free kicks which we cant defend so someone else needs a chance(is Ricky G fit?)
Jussi wasnt at fault directly yesterday but his body language to me suggests he's gone,he is terrified of crosses and no longer risks coming for the ball and he isnt getting any more agile as a keeper glued to his line.
As for the midfield,ReoCoker is the only player so far to make a place his own,with Holden maybe 442 could work but without him it isnt,Coyle has a number of options in midfield.It's time he took stock decided how best to use them and put an alternative plan in place. We've been hammered using 442 since Holden got injured and Coyle has blindly continued with the same failing system and square pegs in round holes.He has to do something different now or he will look like a naive idiot with misguided principles and a complete lack of flexibility.
Holden is brilliant but the messiah he is not and he is a little injury prone.That plan B needs sorting now or Coyle could end up managing the best Bolton squad ever to get relegated.

[hisroyalgingerness]

As long as we all remember that we only lost 5-0 to United because of the gulf in money spent, and that we remember it's important to have all 11 men in the box at a corner/free-kick because stats say you're less likely to concede. DON'T PANIC

This has to be a big wake up moment for Coyle. A big, big one. When teams breeze into our final third so often in games then it's only gonna be a matter of time before individual errors the likes we saw today from Cahill, Robbo (in the build up to the second) and Boyata creep in.

It's like this.

SKD has now had his day. He's too slow, can't play the slightly more difficult and clinical passes that gets good attacking moves flowing, defences have sussed him out and referees aren't interested in protecting him. When he got penalised for being two-handed wrestled off the ball by that Norwich player it sealed the deal for me.

Eagles might look like he plays well, but he doesn't. What he does offer though is balance, balance that we've lost when we've taken him off the pitch previously and balance we didn't have in the first half with Tuncay on the pitch. God speed Lee's recovery, or Kakuta best be bloody good.

The second half started with a midfield 4 completely built by Coyle. Feeding a striker bought by Coyle. And yet there were still moments of plodding, indecisive attacking play with no real intent as to how we were going to create a chance. That's scary.

Boyata retained possession well again today, didn't waste too many balls, but doesn't have that RB instinct in attack and we suffered for it big time in the first half, with no width on the right. Also, awful loss of concentration for second goal.

Piss poor result with no excuses now. Coyle has to react, he has to make changes in key areas and he has to develop a plan in terms of creating chances.

Oh and the ref. Shithouse. The Howard Webb show. At least the Premier League offers at least one global megastar each week. Started early on when he booked Jussi for rightly complaining about the "play-on" offside fiasco. And it wasn't even a 'kin penny, that's how bad he was.

[Peter Thompson]

Coyle's reputation has been built on being inspirational, being a motivator and generally building up confidence in certain players to get them to go out and express themselves. I don't however think anyone has ever said he's a great tactician or that he can outwit other managers with clever systems.

It was alarming several weeks ago on goals on sunday, when K Davies & Ricketts said that they don't do systems or tactics in training or prior to a game, and that they don't really study the opposition - Coyle just tells them to 'go out and play'.

If tactics and formations are not his thing, then fine but he can't just ignore it by constantly playing 4-4-2 - everyone knows that Tuncay plays just behind the central striker not right wing....square pegs in round holes just to suit his system - which clearly isn't working. We know he is very stubborn but he now needs to perhaps look at bringing in an experienced assistant (with proven prem experience) who's more clued up on tactics to help him, I don't think these ex Burnley coaches have got any idea....

It sounds like training is just a jolly, 7 a sides (with Coyle playing like an excited schoolboy), table tennis & darts - all done with a smile on their faces to raise team spirit - but I've seen no evidence of team spirit or fight in that team since Wembley (apart from the Arsenal game) - so perhaps he needs to start working on tactics in training because on the pitch we look totally disorganised and play like a team of individuals.

Yet again yesterday we gave away possession time after time by Jussi constantly kicking it long and KD or Klasnic not winning the ball, surely they can work on throwing the ball out in training, they can work on tempo moving the ball quicker etc....getting the strikers to be more mobile, running the channels to give the midfielders options - who knows they could even try not having all 11 back for corners.

Whatever Coyle has been doing since Wembley, needs to change quickly and he needs to try other things like actually coaching the players during the week, perhaps extra training sessions concentrating on how to pass the ball quicker (and preferably to a white shirt) - perhaps he also needs to toughen up and be less of a mate to the players.

Yesterday yet again our passing was very poor as was the movement, and the tempo was so slow - Coyle has a lot of work to do !