Bolton vs Aston vanilla (The official match thread)

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

theres an upside at least we kept a 11 men on the pitch

A several match ban for Pratley would do us and Coyle a few favours

[thebish]

theres an upside at least we kept a 11 men on the pitch

bravo!! little steps! onwards and upwards!

[Eborted]

Having read through this thread I agree with most of what has been said.

However I will stick up for Knight and Kev Davies.

Kev won a few in the air today and was not the shower of shite some people have had him down as. True his best years are long, long, long gone but who else are we gonna play? I doubt Klasnic and Ngog would work together as although there are 2 best strikers there's not enough work outside the box from the both of them.

Knight was turd today but he's far from the villian of the piece. The award goes to Mr Coyle for picking the biggest joke of a midfield I have ever seen. I was optimistic before the game as Villa are a very poor team with an almost as clueless manager but after seeing the teamsheet I put 3 bets on us to lose (I won btw, I may as well get something out of putting myself through that.)

Darren Pratley is the worst most pointless midfielder I have seen in the Premiership years pull on a whites shirt. He does feck all, is completely anonymous and the reason we get overrun there. Even at Wigan we got overrun there and were very lucky there strike force and defense were abysmal. Why drop Fabrice? I'm sick and tired of Muamba being Coyle's scapegoat!!! What a joke. Someone actually tried to tell me Pratley played well today, how does fecking running about the place and making one tackle constitute as playing well? If Pratley's putting in the effort he must be the worst premiership midfielder of the moment. If Owen keeps his job and Muamba's sold the final nail in the coffin will have been hammered in.

Tuncay- Wank and a pussy
Mark Davies- Continually looks like he's going to do something while it never actually happens.
Eagles- The Hollywood line from a previous poster sums it up quite well, how he and Robinson conspired to feck up our last opportunity as well I'll never know.

Now people must have seen that Petrov is not at fault for Robinson's defensive frailness, please give him another run as well! May be a lazy bastard defensively but offers creativity and decent balls into the box those aforementioned shitters don't.

Darren Pratley....feck me!!!!!

[Choppers]

Mark Davies won't do anything until he's given a good run of games in the middle of the park, with a competant (or maybe 2 competant) tackling midfielders.

Apropo of nothing, but Tuncay looks really odd to me, almost Crouch-like.

It's funny, but although we're missing Holden and Chung Yong, I actually think Ricketts is needed sooner. Get Steinsson back at the right, Ricketts at the left, Muamba, Reo-Coker and Mark Davies in the middle (THREE, not four), Petrov out left, N'Gog up top, Davies on the right (he's done it before in a front 3, well too!) and we might actually start to get some fecking solidity back in that team.

It'll never happen though, Muamba and Steinsson are clearly BOTH having an affair with Coyle's wife, whilst simultaneously being responsible for everything bad at the club. feck sake.

[One Hump Or Two?]

Having read through this thread I agree with most of what has been said.

However I will stick up for Knight and Kev Davies.

Kev won a few in the air today and was not the shower of shite some people have had him down as. True his best years are long, long, long gone but who else are we gonna play? I doubt Klasnic and Ngog would work together as although there are 2 best strikers there's not enough work outside the box from the both of them.

Knight was turd today but he's far from the villian of the piece. The award goes to Mr Coyle for picking the biggest joke of a midfield I have ever seen. I was optimistic before the game as Villa are a very poor team with an almost as clueless manager but after seeing the teamsheet I put 3 bets on us to lose (I won btw, I may as well get something out of putting myself through that.)

Darren Pratley is the worst most pointless midfielder I have seen in the Premiership years pull on a whites shirt. He does feck all, is completely anonymous and the reason we get overrun there. Even at Wigan we got overrun there and were very lucky there strike force and defense were abysmal. Why drop Fabrice? I'm sick and tired of Muamba being Coyle's scapegoat!!! What a joke. Someone actually tried to tell me Pratley played well today, how does fecking running about the place and making one tackle constitute as playing well? If Pratley's putting in the effort he must be the worst premiership midfielder of the moment. If Owen keeps his job and Muamba's sold the final nail in the coffin will have been hammered in.

Tuncay- Wank and a pussy
Mark Davies- Continually looks like he's going to do something while it never actually happens.
Eagles- The Hollywood line from a previous poster sums it up quite well, how he and Robinson conspired to feck up our last opportunity as well I'll never know.

Now people must have seen that Petrov is not at fault for Robinson's defensive frailness, please give him another run as well! May be a lazy bastard defensively but offers creativity and decent balls into the box those aforementioned shitters don't.

Darren Pratley....feck me!!!!!

Agree with a lot of this but you're putting up some real straw men as well...

Does anyone blame Knight for everything? Of course not. But he is a very, very poor player in a team that has more than its fair share. He constantly loses his man, gets outjumped (despite being 6'9"), mistimes tackles or misjudges when to step up, is caught ballwatching, etc etc. No wonder Villa bit our hand off for £4m, or whatever it was. I wouldn't blame them if they tried to sell us London Bridge next.

I don't think anyone has ever blamed Petrov for the fact that Robinson is slow and useless. However, it follows that if your least-worst LB (in the opinion of the manager) is slow and useless, you need your LM to be slightly better at defending than a traffic cone. As for Petrov's fabled creativity, all I've seen from him this season has been corners that don't beat the first man, free kicks into the wall, a pass completion rate of about - 97% and a couple of wanky little stepovers.

Bit harsh to call Tuncay wank when he has never once been played in the position where he has consistently looked good for a number of clubs and scored 22 goals at senior international level.

[Eborted]

Hump

Knight has had a few stinkers and struggles for consistency granted, your criticisms of him are true, but he often puts in a good performance for us. Is he better than Wheater or Cahill? Nope far from it but I don't think he's the most pressing concern. If he can go great but I think the midfield (or coyle's choice of midfield) was/is a lot bigger factor on why we were shite yesterday and why we have been shite all season. We've won plenty of games with Knight and I believe we have the potential to win more with him.

Understand what you're saying about Tuncay, was commenting on his performance yesterday, I was led to believe he is more than capable of performing on the wing as well as up front which he didn't.

Petrov has chipped in with a couple of assists and could have had a lot more if people had put away the chances he created (Boyata at Wigan for one). He has put far more dangerous balls in the box than Eagles and anyone else for that matter he also looks dangerous when running at defenders. I'm not going to defend his defensive play but I think he's a lot better player than you've given him credit for.

[One Hump Or Two?]

Yes, Tuncay was poor/anonymous yesterday, but with such a strange midfield selection I don't think he had much more of a chance to shine than the defenders behind him. Like you, I've seen him described from time to time as someone who can play wide midfield but I just don't see it. Whenever I saw him for Turkey, Middlesbro or Stoke he always seemed to in the hole.

[jmjhb]

With Sunderland getting a last-minute winner, we're now 5 points adrift.

Yet people still want Coyle in! Utterly deluded fools.

[Mar]

Why not keep it simple. Stick with the same formation for a couple of weeks and get other people trying to impress to get in the squad.

4-3-3 -> 4-5-1.

Jussi
Steinsson Knight Cahill Robinson
K.Davies Reo-Coker M.Davies Muamba Petrov
N'Gog

Tuncay or Klasnic super sub for N'Gog.
Eagles to replace K.Davies, M.Davies or Petrov (depending on effectuality)
Gardner on for Robinson if we need to be more attacking.

Stick with a set formation and build upon it. Let those players know who the first team is an make it their own.

[Prufrock]

Tuncay has played a large part of his career out wide. The reason he looked wank yesterday is because...well...I'm sure you can work that out. SKD had a decent game again. Did his part, but no mobility around him at all. He wouldn't be in my first choice XI but he did his job yesterday. Pratley is a black Kevin Nolan, and as such is always always going to look out of his depth in a midfield two. I don't think we have the players to play the system he would need, and I don't think he is remotely good enough to build a team around. What I will say for him is the amount of times first half Mark Davies got it, looked forward, and slowly played one-twos backwards was only ever changed when Pratley decided he was running forward, then we had options. Still no quality, but a start. We need a fecking plan. Villa knew all the had to do was get it to N'Zogbia and Albrighton, which, as ever, is a piece of piss with our non existent midfield that doesn't press, with and old man and a lazy f*cker up front.
Two games in a row we've been soundly dicked AND Jussi has been our best player. That is a BAAAD sign.

JJ
Steinsson-Cahill-Wheater-Ricketts
-------Holden---------Moo-----------
---Lee----------Mavies------------Eagles
------------------N'Gog.

Anyone know a witch doctor?

[Choppers]

I don't think anyone has ever blamed Petrov for the fact that Robinson is slow and useless. However, it follows that if your least-worst LB (in the opinion of the manager) is slow and useless, you need your LM to be slightly better at defending than a traffic cone.

Then why in the name of all that is sane, did Coyle sell Taylor?

Either he has no idea on how to operate a football team, or he was scared shitless of Taylor's "influence".

As for Knight, I don't see him as bad as others do. I'd rather him than say, Titus Bramble, yet Sunderland are above us in the league. So is Cahill that bad too? Our entire back four is incoherant and ships goals, I can't single out any one player, but if I was forced to, it'd be Robinson. Aren't full backs supposed to partner up with wingers? Overlapping runs, covering each other defensively? Never see him attempt any of this. All I see is a left back who is so slow he constantly pulls centre backs away from the middle to cover him, which in turn exposes the centre of defence, over and over. Then the bloke has the audacity to shout at other players (he was forever screaming at Petrov, who must have the patience of a saint in that respect) for a mistake he started/caused. If you get shouted at enough you start to think it is your fault, wouldn't surprise me if Robbo is a part of the problem confidence wise. Considering that Coyle wants us to be the Northern Barca, it's odd that he'd be so in love with a full back who has one move: punt it down the wing.

Why not keep it simple. Stick with the same formation for a couple of weeks and get other people trying to impress to get in the squad.

4-3-3 -> 4-5-1.

Jussi
Steinsson Knight Cahill Robinson
K.Davies Reo-Coker M.Davies Muamba Petrov
N'Gog

That'd be exactly my team, unless someone else can play left back (Boyata or someone). It'll never happen, Coyle is shit scared of playing 2 defensive midfielders in case we all call him Megson or something.

[One Hump Or Two?]

I don't think anyone has ever blamed Petrov for the fact that Robinson is slow and useless. However, it follows that if your least-worst LB (in the opinion of the manager) is slow and useless, you need your LM to be slightly better at defending than a traffic cone.

Then why in the name of all that is sane, did Coyle sell Taylor?

Either he has no idea on how to operate a football team, or he was scared shitless of Taylor's "influence".

As for Knight, I don't see him as bad as others do. I'd rather him than say, Titus Bramble, yet Sunderland are above us in the league. So is Cahill that bad too? Our entire back four is incoherant and ships goals, I can't single out any one player, but if I was forced to, it'd be Robinson. Aren't full backs supposed to partner up with wingers? Overlapping runs, covering each other defensively? Never see him attempt any of this. All I see is a left back who is so slow he constantly pulls centre backs away from the middle to cover him, which in turn exposes the centre of defence, over and over. Then the bloke has the audacity to shout at other players (he was forever screaming at Petrov, who must have the patience of a saint in that respect) for a mistake he started/caused. If you get shouted at enough you start to think it is your fault, wouldn't surprise me if Robbo is a part of the problem confidence wise. Considering that Coyle wants us to be the Northern Barca, it's odd that he'd be so in love with a full back who has one move: punt it down the wing.

I agree with you on Robinson but I've probably said enough about him to be going on with for several lifetimes. I think he's within his rights to shout at Petrov, who is an outright liability in defence. The rest of the shouting is just transparent misdirection.

Yes, our back four doesn't get enough protection, but man-for-man they're not very good anyway. Apart from Cahill, we have one strictly average CB (Wheater), one mediocre one (Knight), a laughably bad left-back (see above) and an out-and-out problem position at RB in that Coyle would seemingly rather play anyone else than Steinsson - who used to be a pretty good player IMO but whose form and confidence are obviously shot. Boyata has shown enough talent in little flashes to make me think he may come good, but it's hard to shine on a sinking ship. None of this is helped by a keeper who is still a good shot stopper but has not been seen more than 10 cm off his goal-line since 2004.

So, short term injuries/suspensions resolved, I would go for

Jussi
Steinsson (or Boyata) - Cahill - Wheater - (oh dear god) Robinson
Eagles - NRC - Mavies (or Tuncay with licence to support the striker) - Muamba - Ricky
Ngog (Klasnic as impact sub)

SKD on a nice long retirement cruise
Knight dragged out round the back of the barn and chopped up to provide replacement parts for Ricky, Sean Davies and Sam Ricketts
Petrov to be allowed on the field if the opposition has no fit right-sided players

[Choppers]

I really really don't get the Steinsson hate. He's been no worse than Robinson.

Is it really that he had the balls to speak out? feck me, that's what we need isn't it? Some leaders, someone with some balls? Not the nicey nicey bullshit we're currently seeing!

[Dr Hotdog]

Wow. Don't think I'll be going again this season.
What I would say here has been said before so I'll save my fingers.
Darren Pratley is the worst central midfielder i've seen play in white at the Reebok since Franck Passi. Astonishingly poor.

As soon as I sat in my seat with 2 minutes to kick-off I was resigned to it when I heard the team. We played like a crap away side. It was embarrassing.

[dasher]

I am still not sure what sort of midfielder Pratley is supposed to be. He can't pass, tackle and doesn't seem to be any sort of a goal threat.

Robinson dear oh dear he is shocking

Boyatas passing at weekend was lazy and woeful

Mark Davies is like a 7 year old who thinks he can run past everyone on his own . Every now and again he gets past 1 or 2 but the rest of his game is woeful

Tuncay didnt look like a right midfielder last time he started there and guess what he still doesn't

Eagles is so frustrating he works hard and has some ability but his decsion making and final ball are terrible

The midfield Coyle started with always looked incredibly weak and so it proved.

[ratbert]

I know I'm being optimistic, but match report anyone?

[The Axman]

I know I'm being optimistic, but match report anyone?

No. Too depressing for words.

[boltonboris]

I can't remember most of it.. I'd throttled about 7 pints by the time the second half kicked off

[officer_dibble]

I can't remember most of it.. I'd throttled about 7 pints by the time the second half kicked off

|Thats the Bolton way!