Pied and Prejudice, Wigan (A) 27/02/04.

[Mar]

Oh and the system isn’t working. It’s failed. Crisis and Evatt has to respond and change it. Or he will have utterly failed.

Our whole philosophy is working it out wide to the wing-backs so they can put in low crosses from the byline into a penalty area packed full of opposition players.

It's no wonder we aren't scoring.

That tactic is all well and good if there's not a completely packed box of defenders ready to clear every ball put in. Would've much preferred to see Sheehan or Thomason having pot shots rather than Ogbeta failing to find a man.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Quality problem for me. For how many opportunities we had to put the ball in to hard to miss goalscoring places, we barely managed any. The half decent opportunities we ballsed up. Seems a theme to me.

Nowt to do with bottle. We played a very poor side and failed to put them under real pressure. Most of our movement is to provide a safe pass. When shehan is turning no one is moving at anything other than walking pace. We need to vary the pace of our movement and passing to create better quality opportunities.

[nicholaldo]

Oh and the system isn’t working. It’s failed. Crisis and Evatt has to respond and change it. Or he will have utterly failed.

Our whole philosophy is working it out wide to the wing-backs so they can put in low crosses from the byline into a penalty area packed full of opposition players.

It's no wonder we aren't scoring.

That tactic is all well and good if there's not a completely packed box of defenders ready to clear every ball put in.

But too often there is.

[Mar]

Oh and the system isn’t working. It’s failed. Crisis and Evatt has to respond and change it. Or he will have utterly failed.

Our whole philosophy is working it out wide to the wing-backs so they can put in low crosses from the byline into a penalty area packed full of opposition players.

It's no wonder we aren't scoring.

That tactic is all well and good if there's not a completely packed box of defenders ready to clear every ball put in.

But too often there is.

Precisely the problem with our Plan A.

I'd've hoped a set piece coach would've resolved some of those issues when we saw Toal and Santos scoring earlier in the season, and yet tonight they were jumping into each other for the same ball. So clearly the set piece help was a short term thing.



Probably an entirely different complexion on the game if Sheehan puts his effort into the top corner, but alas, tis a bitter pill to swallow when yet again we've had the lions share of possession and failed to do anything meaningful with it.

[TANGODANCER]

Wonderful. We don't lose because they score a goal but because we can't. Their goalie was M.O.T.M.
I wish you good night.

Their keeper made one save all night. He had one of the easiest nights of his career.

Can I just come back to say "BXXXXXKS" . That was because we couldn't beat their defence. Defending your box and having a clean sheet got them three points and us an embarrassed Simon and Garfunkel. We weren't short of "bottle", nor did we play badly; we just didn't do what was needed, score. All anyone will remember is Wigan One, Bolton Nil.

[officer_dibble]

Quality problem for me. For how many opportunities we had to put the ball in to hard to miss goalscoring places, we barely managed any. The half decent opportunities we ballsed up. Seems a theme to me.

Nowt to do with bottle. We played a very poor side and failed to put them under real pressure. Most of our movement is to provide a safe pass. When shehan is turning no one is moving at anything other than walking pace. We need to vary the pace of our movement and passing to create better quality opportunities.

Agree on quality but it is a bit to do with character, or bottle - players forever passing up responsibility to pass or cross by going sideways again at 1-0 down cost us. We didn’t want it as much as they did - Evatt can’t win derbies or big games.

[nicholaldo]

I still can't believe that when they were sitting off us after scoring we brought Sheehan off for Jerome.

[Harry Genshaw]

Agree on quality but it is a bit to do with character, or bottle - players forever passing up responsibility to pass or cross by going sideways again at 1-0 down cost us. We didn’t want it as much as they did - Evatt can’t win derbies or big games.

This is key for me. Trusting the process is all well and good but if the default position is always, or invariably, a short sideways or backwards pass, it allows players to hide or shirk responsibility.

Occasionally a cross, a long throw, a speculative shot into danger areas etc can reap dividends.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Quality problem for me. For how many opportunities we had to put the ball in to hard to miss goalscoring places, we barely managed any. The half decent opportunities we ballsed up. Seems a theme to me.

Nowt to do with bottle. We played a very poor side and failed to put them under real pressure. Most of our movement is to provide a safe pass. When shehan is turning no one is moving at anything other than walking pace. We need to vary the pace of our movement and passing to create better quality opportunities.

Agree on quality but it is a bit to do with character, or bottle - players forever passing up responsibility to pass or cross by going sideways again at 1-0 down cost us. We didn’t want it as much as they did - Evatt can’t win derbies or big games.

I think that is down to the obsession with possession. They are playing the way they're told and evatt doesn't get that we too often lack the quality to put the final ball in and finish it. Even with Dion on song we're not clinical. Without Dion we're quite likely not scoring.

[irie Cee Bee]

We controlled the game and would have come away with an important point until Jones rush of blood running out of his covering position. What was he thinking? Hard to break down 10 men sitting on their 18 yard box. Their strategy worked to perfection.

[officer_dibble]

A point wasn’t good enough tonight. - they are a poor team, a mess of a club this summer still in transition. We’ve lost 5-0 on aggregate to them. It’s a joke. Honestly those players out there tonight are mentally weak - continuously fail in derbies - we can’t keep being embarrassed as a fanbase.

[Mar]

We controlled the game and would have come away with an important point until Jones rush of blood running out of his covering position. What was he thinking? Hard to break down 10 men sitting on their 18 yard box. Their strategy worked to perfection.

Possibly trying to play the offside trap and then realised no one else was following suit?

Maybe just the lack of defending we had to do lured us into a false sense of security?


It'll be interesting to hear the comments after the match.

[BWFC_Insane]

Sheehan played well but was at fault for their goal. Again he moved the ball a lot. But never actually managed to do anything particularly incisive. But least he moved it.

Wigan were completely happy playing against our gutless wonders.

We play horrid turgid football. I think we’ve genuinely played well about twice since September. Rest of the time it’s turgid possession with little to get anyone excited. Soulless and gutless.

What an amazing following for a league one club. Bolton fans are special. Sadly this lot will only let them down time and time again.

[nicholaldo]

Vulnerable against teams that press high and now vulnerable against teams willing to sit in and hit us against the run of play.

[officer_dibble]

To cap it all off CMG will be out for the season and some of next I would guess - which is a massive miss given he was usefully unpredictable, unlike victors first touch which is worryingly unpredictable.

Honestly end the season now - save us the predictability of defeats to Barnsley, Derby, Stevenage, Portsmouth, a 0-0 at home to port vale etc

[BWFC_Insane]

Vulnerable against teams that press high and now vulnerable against teams willing to sit in and hit us against the run of play.

Collins looks lost. And Vic looks…well like Vic…never very likely to do much other than lose control of it.

I think basically we look like a team who isn’t going to score many goals if a team can defend their box. We don’t have any plan to break teams down.

But it’s more than that. Nobody wants to roll their sleeves up and make stuff happen. Shift the ball on and hope someone else does it.

Cogley is also playing…..well….like you’d expect of an average league two full back…after a good start he’s faded to way off the level needed. And that’s a problem in this system. And why the system must change now. Before it’s too late. We need to try something else now because we are rapidly running out of games.

[BWFC_Insane]

Evatt pleading in his interview ‘you guys must see it that was a strong performance’. He’s completely lost it. Wigan were rubbish. Yet we forced their keeper into one save and that was a 30 yard blast for a. Centre back.

Desperate, desperate stuff. To come out with that rubbish afterwards. Good god. I mean we had possession because Wigan let us. It was their game plan. We did nothing with it at all. And they executed their game plan perfectly. To say we played well is complete fiction.

[Prufrock]

Tonight's the first time I've doubted him. I don't know how you can lose that game against that team, even if we hadn't been spanked at the weekend.

The third game in a row we've played how you'd want to play on the ball, dominated possession and got in ok areas but not had the final ball. But the decisions. Whether it's from the players. You're set up to get in behind but at least four times tonight the early low ball across the box, the entire thing we're trying to do, is on, and three times we didn't take it and the fourth Ogbeta shinned it into the post.

But what is he picking. I've always thought the no keeper thing was mental but the bench he keeps picking. You're entirely reliant on the WBs for attacking threat. But each game we shag them out with nothing off the bench (don't worry lads, you're off entirely for a week before doing a full 90 again). Instead we've got a fifth choice semi retired striker and for some god foresaken feck knows why reason, both Iredale and Forrester. What is Iredale supposed to add to that? It can't be LWB because Ogbeta was shagged after 65 and stayed on.

And if anyone can figure out why, after everything good we did running through him (again!) he took Sheehan off for that carthorse while we left three centre halves on the pitch?? Cue an unsurprising 20 mins where we got in good areas, passed back into midfield for...?

I can't believe we've lost that game. At least Derby lost but it doesn't look like it matters right now.

And people talk about bottle, it was all about "oh can we match their fight" well they didn't even fight. But bottle is trusting yourself to play the proper pass. We're oh so comfortable when no-one presses in our half, but as soon as it matters everything is safe. Not in a recycle the ball is soft way, but in a cowardly hide the ball way. I saw that Geth graphic. It's easy to make a load of passes when everything you do is 5 yards behind Cogley's left foot. He was far from the only one, but when you go you have to go, and everything at the moment is don't be the one to give it away. That's bad enough when you play with two wingers you can hope to find some magic. When you're all about the system and keep the ball it's criminal. No-one is going to make it happen if you don't, and the last three weeks only Sheehan, CMG and Thomson have had the nuts to play. Ones now dead, another is eligible for 40% of our games, and the best one is getting dragged for someone who's taken a wrong turn on his way to play for Luton Vets.

Awful.

[Mar]

I don't think we deserved to lose it, but we definitely didn't deserve to win it.

[BWFC_Insane]

Yeah taking Sheehan off (though responsible for their goal) for Jerome was greeted with the derision from the away fans it deserved.

I’m starting to think if there are any sos managers we could bring in to save the season in the same way Sunderland binned off Johnson when they were third and it was very apparent they were fading….