Vale of tears or happy valley? Port Vale (A) Sat 22 Apr 3pm

[BWFC_Insane]

Not be overconfident pricks like the past few weeks and proclaim promotion from the start. But concentrate on backing the players for 90 minutes. Cheer them on every second.

Whoa! (That's English for stop a horse)
That your fellow forumites you're talking about there. Harsh man.

What people say on a forum is of no consequence. I'm talking about fans at the games recently thinking Oldham and Bury were going to be walk overs then getting on players backs when we weren't 3 up after half an hour. That doesn't help. Every game is tough at this stage and those local derbies had difficult written all over them. Same at Port Vale who will be fighting for their lives. Have to be supportive and patient.

[LeverEnd]

Only kidding.

Key thing for me is the bravery on the ball. None of this head tennis nonsense when there's room to bring it down. That's where Henry comes in. He's been a disappointment this season when starting but can certainly make amends now.
As for Madine, the pragmatist in me wants him out there, but really I want us to do it without him.

[Burnden Paddock]

PS and me.

PPS we'll win 6 nowt

I see that your latest batch of home brew is ready! A nervy 94 minutes before 'Cockney' Fil fires another cross over with ALF rising like a salmon at the back post to nod in! Fleetwood concede a last minute winner and the promotion party finally commences.

[BWFC_Insane]

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/15 ... nts-anchor

Agree entirely with Iles here.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

A nervy 94 minutes before 'Cockney' Fil fires another cross over with ALF rising like a salmon at the back post to nod in! Fleetwood concede a last minute winner and the promotion party finally commences.

Or a last-minute equaliser. That might seem pedantic, but it's important: If we win tomorrow, anything less than a win for Fleetwood mathematically confirms our promotion. (Bolton win / Fleetwood draw would put them four points behind us; as for Scunny, they can only overtake us by winning both their games while we win neither of ours.)

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Per BN, Parky hints at changes. He's done that before and stuck rather than twisted, but he has also twisted a lot this season – and he raises an interesting point about ALF's partners.

The key at Port Vale is making sure we have a team which has enough energy in their legs. They have to be ready to go again on that big pitch. Those players like Karacan, Henry and Long – who are champing at the bit to play – might just get their chance.

Did it work [keeping the “Oldham formation” against Bury]? Well, we didn’t score. But I can only repeat what I have said before and that’s Josh Vela is a very clinical finisher. We have seen in training, we have seen it this season. He enjoys playing in that role but equally when we put James Henry in there he gave us a little bit more quality. In tighter games it’s important and James was certainly in my thinking for the Bury game. He was unfortunate not to start.

I just felt to change the front line again after Saturday it meant that Alfie has played with four different players in four games – I don’t want it to smack of desperation. I wanted to give it another go. We can get back on to the training ground now and decide which is the best path to take for the weekend.

You just want the games to come around, the days between the games are dragging on for all of us. The lads have been a bit down but I said to them that might be a good point for us. It’s another one closer to where we want to be. We would have taken this position at the start of the season, of course, the only disappointment is that we were in a stronger position.

Our ratio of hitting the target has been good over the course of the season but in the last couple of games it has dipped a little bit. Maybe it is that little bit of composure that we need to bring back into our game?

[officer_dibble]

No mention of Madine at all. He's done that before and thrown a surprise with the line up mind.

If Madines not in the 16 tomorrow and PP clearly doesnt think he is injured, is his Bolton career effectively over?

[TonyDomingos]

#BWFC supporters have until 2pm today to secure their ticket for tomorrow's big game at @OfficialPVFC. We have sold over 4,300 so far.

[Peter Thompson]

No mention of Madine at all. He's done that before and thrown a surprise with the line up mind.

If Madines not in the 16 tomorrow and PP clearly doesnt think he is injured, is his Bolton career effectively over?

If the manager has asked him to play & he refuses then yes it looks like his Bolton career would be over

However, I'll be very surprised if Madine doesn't play tomorrow, if the manager has spoken to the fitness coaches and between them all they think that he can play through the pain barrier, with injections etc and the manager asks Madine directly to play and he still refuses - then he's basically sticking 2 fingers up at the manager and the fans and must have something else lined up for next season

[BWFC_Insane]

No mention of Madine at all. He's done that before and thrown a surprise with the line up mind.

If Madines not in the 16 tomorrow and PP clearly doesnt think he is injured, is his Bolton career effectively over?

If the manager has asked him to play & he refuses then yes it looks like his Bolton career would be over

However, I'll be very surprised if Madine doesn't play tomorrow, if the manager has spoken to the fitness coaches and between them all they think that he can play through the pain barrier, with injections etc and the manager asks Madine directly to play and he still refuses - then he's basically sticking 2 fingers up at the manager and the fans and must have something else lined up for next season

Madine was telling people Tuesday night that he wouldn't feature again this season as he's unable to jump.

Parky has asked IF he can play, not asked him to play.

Manager may feel he should try it. Player may feel there is too much pain. Ultimately I don't sense Parky will force him, so down to the player. Which is what the manager has said. And going off what a few have reported from Tuesday, doesn't seem like he'll feature again for us. Possibly ever.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Although it's understandable, this speculation and hearsay around Madine worries me.

If he doesn't play - which may be for valid medical reasons - he's a greedy pariah (and here comes the speculation again that he's signed for Real Madrid, for deffo, I heard from a bloke at the ground).

If he does play, he's going to get barreled into at every opportunity by the oppo, and if he doesn't play like some kind of target-man-style Pele he'll be pilloried again.

I was going to say I can't see a happy ending to this, but of course I can: he plays, we win.

[BWFC_Insane]

Although it's understandable, this speculation and hearsay around Madine worries me.

If he doesn't play - which may be for valid medical reasons - he's a greedy pariah (and here comes the speculation again that he's signed for Real Madrid, for deffo, I heard from a bloke at the ground).

If he does play, he's going to get barreled into at every opportunity by the oppo, and if he doesn't play like some kind of target-man-style Pele he'll be pilloried again.

I was going to say I can't see a happy ending to this, but of course I can: he plays, we win.

Yep. Think Parky misjudged it with his comments. Not sure they've helped.

Ultimately as Iles has alluded to, Parky clearly feels he's tried every combo without Madine and none have really worked. He probably is desperate for him to be back but if Madine feels he cannot do his usual role it might not actually make much difference.

My worry is that it has become such a psychological issue now that the squad have that monkey on their back. Can't win without Madine and those things are often more in the mind than anything else.

[Prufrock]

Can't stand the mard bastard but think Parky is out of line on this. Can't be pressuring him in public like that. If you think he's being a tart, sort it behind closed doors and bin him off in the summer. Shouldn't be happening in public.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Renowned mathlete @experimental361 has done his usual number-crunching ahed of the weekend, and According To Science there's no team in our division likelier to win (except Bradford, who can't catch us). Feel free to do the Blackadder Macbeth thing. More explanation here.

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[TANGODANCER]

Can't stand the mard bastard but think Parky is out of line on this. Can't be pressuring him in public like that. If you think he's being a tart, sort it behind closed doors and bin him off in the summer. Shouldn't be happening in public.

This....

[officer_dibble]

Can't stand the mard bastard but think Parky is out of line on this. Can't be pressuring him in public like that. If you think he's being a tart, sort it behind closed doors and bin him off in the summer. Shouldn't be happening in public.

Absolutely.

I think I am in the majority of reading Parkys quotes as Madine aint injured ergo he is being a bit of a fanny in not playing. Oh and we cant score without him.

He doesnt play again and he signs on for next season he will be getting pelters at the first oppprtunity.

Cant see how an injured shoulder would stop you jumping btw. Challenging effectively in the air of course.

[BWFC_Insane]

Renowned mathlete @experimental361 has done his usual number-crunching ahed of the weekend, and According To Science there's no team in our division likelier to win (except Bradford, who can't catch us). Feel free to do the Blackadder Macbeth thing.

Oh goody. More stats like "what are the chances we don't win any of our next 3 and Fleetwood win all theirs". Definitely worked well last time.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Renowned mathlete @experimental361 has done his usual number-crunching ahed of the weekend, and According To Science there's no team in our division likelier to win (except Bradford, who can't catch us). Feel free to do the Blackadder Macbeth thing.

Oh goody. More stats like "what are the chances we don't win any of our next 3 and Fleetwood win all theirs". Definitely worked well last time.

The universe doesn't care what we think... and that's OK.

http://bigthink.com/videos/lawrence-kra ... s-universe

[Jeux sans frontiéres]

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/15 ... nts-anchor

Agree entirely with Iles here.

I agree with both of you but he has definitely come in for a lot of stick from the BEN faithful.

Mind you, it's all really a semantic argument and boils down to the answer to the question, 'Do different formations = different tactics?'

[BWFC_Insane]

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/15 ... nts-anchor

Agree entirely with Iles here.

I agree with both of you but he has definitely come in for a lot of stick from the BEN faithful.

Mind you, it's all really a semantic argument and boils down to the answer to the question, 'Do different formations = different tactics?'

I think that is pretty irrelevant. They aren't ever happy. And sure it is about 3 people posting over and over under different names on a wind up.