Owl we get on, on Saturday?

[EverSoYouri]

Literally not a single thing positive to say about the game.
I did however sit behind the man with the dodgy carpet coat that the TW massif sat behind in Crewe. What I thought to be a beaver on the back of his coat turned out to be a lion.

That young man has NEVER, ever had a beaver on his back. Believe me.

Ah, but did he have tiger feet today?

[jonnycooper]

Iv'e got a positive for you lever end! Huddersfield lost today so we can drag them into the relegation. Battle..

[EverSoYouri]

Okay. Positives:

Mavies looked pretty good on his return. We passed the ball around quite well, in patches. There was a period early in the second half when we finally got men forward in support of Mason and (briefly) looked threatening.

4-5-1 can work but, you have to have the right one (probably Craig Davies, not a talented player with no pace and little body strength like Mason) and (as Simon Charlton pointed out on Radio Manchester) you need to have runners in midfield willing to push past the one up front and break into the area. (Chung, Mavies, Feeney - none of them did this today).

Garvan looked competent. Dervite was better than he's been so far and Lonergan (bizarre positioning from corners aside) had a good game.

This was a point from a game we should have lost (kind of a positive).

Negatives:

Moxey awful. Feeney's crossing about as accurate as long balls from Mills. Even with 5 in midfield, only Mavies seemed willing to move and offer himself as an outlet. Can't see why Freedman brought on Pratley instead of Danns. Spearing played like he was still in Ibiza.

[Jugs]

Moxey has to be the worst defender to pull on a Bolton shirt for some time. At first I thought he was maybe lacking in confidence, but I have to conclude that this is just not his level. He was error strewn, and he ended up getting booked for lunging when his frustration at his poor touch got the better of him. It doesn't help when his home fans get on his back in just his second start for the club. Not pointing fingers but I do think there is a bit of a thing with Bolton fans atm where we're just getting on the players' backs really quickly.

That said, todays performance was tepid, limp and uninspired. I was willing to ignore the first half's shortcomings as long as things got better in the second. But they didn't. It was bland throughout, with only a short spell in the first ten minutes when we knocked the ball around beautifully offering a bit of brightness. Wednesday seemed to dominate possession in the first half, and their number 19 looked excellent, a really powerful, quick player, the type Bolton are missing. Honestly, it was like watching us match up against Chelsea in the Prem days. Every time we got hold of a loose ball, we lost it. They were better than us in each way, with only their finishing letting them down.

I was aghast when Pratley came on for Mavies. I didn't expect Mavies to last the full 90 but Danns was the obvious replacement. To go 4-4-2 but put Pratley behind the 2 strikers made the reversion to 2 strikers redundant. The service never came (it was NEVER gonna come from Pratters) and we may as well have just stuck to 1 up front for all it was worth. Dear me.

I'm not saying these are dark days atm. The club has been in worse states in terms of league positioning and attendances and atmosphere. But there was absolutely nothing on the field today to suggest we are going to have many moments - if any - of excitement this season.

Also, I was saying Garvan would be a good signing. Today he looked utterly lost. The game passed him by; he was harangued off the ball, he was casual, he looked docile. Bizarre performance, and a bizarre addition if he keeps it up.

[Jugs]

Just looked up Wednesday's number 19. A lad called Maghoma they got from Burton Albion. Our scouting system is pathetic when we miss out on genuine talent from the lower leagues, instead opting to revisit Dougie's old club for their ageing cast offs.

[William the White]

The consensus amongst our lot is that Moxey is giving Gerard Cid serious competition for worst ever start by a Bolton defender in living memory.

If I could think of a word lower than abysmal I would use it.

Actually, we did not plummet to new depths today. there were periods when we passed the ball around neatly, had possession and, briefly, in a 10-15 min spell in the second half 'threatened' - sort of - their goal. We didn't just lump it forward. I spent at least 20 minutes of the game feeling grateful for this.

But every game I've seen this season our opponents (including CREWE) have been better than us.

DF definitely should go. But those that think this solves the problem are, I fear, likely to be disappointed. This squad is very poor, I believe, and it will not be easy to mend it. But I've lost whatever shreds of belief I had remaining that this manager has the ability to improve it.

No more young managers, Please. someone who knows how to organise a team in this division. the first priority is to get out of the bottom three, the next to take us up to halfway. I'm not sure we have the players to make or score enough goals to do either.

God, I can't get over the fact that after Watford, Moxey got another game.

And I can never make sense of booing a player coming on as a sub - as happened today with Beckford. Yeah, that really will help us win the game. FFS!!!

[bobo the clown]

Though, Will, if the tactics are bollox ??

If the gap between defence and midfield are too small.
If the gaps between midfield and forwards are too large.
If no-one in midfield is able, or willing OR PERMITTED to get up & join the lone striker.
If the full backs are under instruction to stay in their ground.
If we play 2 defensive midfielders (which, thankfully we didn't today I see).
If we invite second wave attacks at corners and free-licks by having 11 players back.
If we have a mind-set that the players and staff are being picked on by the fans who are, clearly, seen as idiots.
If any disagreement with tactics is met by players being openly treated with disdain, ostracised and sold on.

Then these ARE things emanating from the manager and therefore should be improved by a change.

It's blooming clear enough it's not changing WITH him, we should see hat happens without him.

[William the White]

Though, Will, if the tactics are bollox ??

If the gap between defence and midfield are too small.
If the gaps between midfield and forwards are too large.
If no-one in midfield is able, or willing OR PERMITTED to get up & join the lone striker.
If the full backs are under instruction to stay in their ground.
If we play 2 defensive midfielders (which, thankfully we didn't today I see).
If we invite second wave attacks at corners and free-licks by having 11 players back.
If we have a mind-set that the players and staff are being picked on by the fans who are, clearly, seen as idiots.
If any disagreement with tactics is met by players being openly treated with disdain, ostracised and sold on.

Then these ARE things emanating from the manager and therefore should be improved by a change.

It's blooming clear enough it's not changing WITH him, we should see hat happens without him.

I pretty much agree with all this. I think there's a decent chance a decent manager could improve things. But I don't believe this squad can take us more than halfway in this division.

[TaraJayne360]

Should have got Gardner to put his boots on

[LeverEnd]

Should have got Gardner to put his boots on

I felt a bit sorry for those boxers doing the draw with him. Ignored while Ricky milks the crowd. I'm surprised he didn't get another club.

[wigan white]

Today's match was absolute garbage. Apart from the great passing move in the first couple of minutes we were hopeless. Tactics were all wrong, management team seemed to run out of ideas (if they had any to start with) and at one stage , Freedman actually did the Owen Coyle - stand up, clap and sit back down!!!!

Lonergan - did ok, kept us in the game with a couple of decent saves.
Ream - looked lost at right back, wasn't helped by Chungy..
Mills - lacked a little composure today ( although he was up against a beast of a bloke), not his worst game though.
Dervite - see Mills
Spearing - started off ok, but yet again spent too much time being pissed off at his team mates and letting his frustration affect his game, this is when his passing goes to pot.
Garvan - not quite sure what he offered that was different to our other central midfielders. Too lightweight and slow to have any effect.
Mavies - good when he had the ball but wasn't utilised enough and in the right positions. Looked a tad chunky to me (in an Andy Reid styley).
Chunky - FFS, stop going sideways and backwards. Also make runs forwards when you don't have the ball to give other players (Ream and Spearing) an option and to make space.
Feeney - looked uncomfortable playing on the left and having to cut back onto his right foot too cross the ball. Looked disinterested in the second half, definitely not as effective as he was in the 3 games last season.
Mason - a couple of good runs and touches, but lacked support and struggled on his own upfront ( as was evident in his first loan spell). Wasn't a goal threat at all.

Pratley - Meh!!!!
Beckford - did he actually do anything when he came on apart from go down like he'd been JFK'd in the head at every opportunity.
Cravies - won a couple of headers and a couple of free kicks but nothing of note.

and finally..... Moxey - WTF!!! How did this bloke ever play in the premier league??? For me he's worse than Cid was . He can't pass, can't tackle (properly), gets beaten every time, didn't run with the ball, didn't get forward in support if Feeney (Although that might have been his instructions). He was lucky to not get red carded today. I can't remember a player having 2 worse games for his first games in a long long while.

[TaraJayne360]

It was awful. As for Moxy I don't think anybody can answer that one.

[TANGODANCER]

If we invite second wave attacks at corners and free-licks by having 11 players back.

Which makes us look really silly when we just keep giving the opposition the ball back, and we just keep right on doing it. It's just a constant invitation to pressure us and then we get a goal kick to ease the pressure......and give it back yet again.

[LeverEnd]

Moxey may be the new Danny Butterfield, except we could ditch him after a month.
Seriously though, he played quite a few Premier League games last season, he can't continue to be so bad surely?

[twilight]

Moxey may be the new Danny Butterfield, except we could ditch him after a month.
Seriously though, he played quite a few Premier League games last season, he can't continue to be so bad surely?

Oh yes he can

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

It's OK ... "we're going to win a game of football. He doesn't know when, but we WILL win a game of football sooner or later".

What a fckg moron.

I love how we're ok now because we don't lie down...yet, when we apparently were lying down we were a bit better at winning points

[LeverEnd]

The false bravado in that interview was pitiful. Totally lost it.

[EverSoYouri]

Listened in to Radio Manchester post-match. What struck me was, when Simon Charlton was put on the spot by a caller (on whether Freedman should go), he didn't do the usual ex-pro thing of 'not for me to say'. His view was that the players don't seem to 'trust' (Charlton's word) the manager, and so aren't committing to his tactics.

As Si pointed out, 4-5-1/4-3-3 is only a viable system if you have midfielders willing to run past the striker (and, he might have added, get back and help the fullback). Ours tend to be standing around (hiding?) rather than finding space and wanting the ball. Sign of a team lacking confidence, of course, but also the sign of a team not willing to stand up and be counted.

Suspect he will cling to his job though. 0-0 is no use to anybody. Expect more of the same on Tuesday (though with a different line-up, of course). Reaching the state of affairs where a good tonking might be welcome - put us out of our misery and bring matters to a head?

[Prufrock]

Ream started at RB?! WTF?

Also, Liam 'knock it down the line and cross it' Feeney started on the left, whereas Lee 'come inside at every opportunity' Chung-Yong started on the right? Outstanding.

[TANGODANCER]

It can't be just me that's noticed our total game of laying off opposition runners and trying, and failing),to direct them? ( whilst constantly backing off and going ever backwards)It just can't happen because players find spaces and almost every team seems better than us at the passing game. They also harry us constantly whilst we (supposedly) play the patience game. Half the time we look frightened to death and, back off and then get forced into daft panic challenges that give away free kicks around our box. Our whole set up screams defensive instead of taking it to the opposition. Yesterday we looked like a poor away side and not the dominant homers. For Freedman, a professional manager, to say he thought we played well is just laughable. I've supported Bolton the whole of my life and whatever we've been we were never laughable.