Can Albion put us to the Sword? Home to Burton Sat Oct 19th 3-0' clock/.

[DJBlu]

Some of the football under Parkinson was depressing and we got results.

We won, onto Tuesday.

[Worthy4England]

Some of the football under Parkinson was depressing and we got results.

We won, onto Tuesday.

Different times. Different situations. Not sure they're a good comparison. The whole place was depressing as I think we all knew money-wise the writing was on the wall as Ken contrived amongst other things to stiff FGR. Despite everything we got back up.

Evatt's had investment every window. That display belied it for me.

[nicholaldo]

Some of the football under Parkinson was depressing and we got results.

We won, onto Tuesday.

Different times. Different situations. Not sure they're a good comparison. The whole place was depressing as I think we all knew money-wise the writing was on the wall as Ken contrived amongst other things to stiff FGR. Despite everything we got back up.

Evatt's had investment every window. That display belied it for me.

+1

[DJBlu]

League One to Championship had some dreadful games.

Everyone has made their mind up so it's pointless discussing anything positive.

Here's to the next dull 3 points.

[BWFC_Insane]

Some of the football under Parkinson was depressing and we got results.

We won, onto Tuesday.

Yeah but Parkinson is leagues above Evatt in terms of how good a manager he is. Parky was the only good thing in that era and worked against the odds to achieve results that Evatt can only dream of, inspite of the fact Evatt has had far more time he infinitely more resource.

I wish Evatt was only half as good. Sadly he’s not and never ever will be.

[DJBlu]

Some of the football under Parkinson was depressing and we got results.

We won, onto Tuesday.

Yeah but Parkinson is leagues above Evatt in terms of how good a manager he is. Parky was the only good thing in that era and worked against the odds to achieve results that Evatt can only dream of, inspite of the fact Evatt has had far more time he infinitely more resource.

I wish Evatt was only half as good. Sadly he’s not and never ever will be.

Aye.

[truewhite15]

A win was the minimum expectation, with all due respect to Burton. We achieved that. Great.

But that wasn't a good performance, aside from maybe 15 minutes - the first ten, and the five that encompassed our two goals. Other than that, it was slow, uninspiring, dreary fare that largely took place in front of their back line. Burton should have gone in a goal up - quite how their man blocked a goalbound effort on our line is beyond me.

We simply don't look a good side right now. And it was clear from the reaction of our fans - there was no outpouring of relief at the final whistle; instead, an air of general dissatisfaction permeated the place. The problem is that we've, by and large, been this poor since the turn of the year. It's been a pretty poor 10 months to be a Bolton fan.

Yes, there have been darker days. I've felt worse coming away from the stadium many, many times. But we've been sold a picture, from the board down over the the last 18 months, of a team for whom promotion is not just the target, but the expectation. There has been not-insignificant investment to try and make that a reality. And it feels like all we've done since January is regress.

Tuesday could be ugly, without the combative physicality of Thomason in the middle, with a back three who can't even keep the bottom sides at bay, with a strike-force lacking in confidence and invention. But Birmingham are supposed to be the target for us - if we want to achieve promotion, we need to be at least as good as them. It's over to Evatt and his team to prove that we can be. I could take losing to Brum if we show fight, desire, if we compete. If, however, Brum beat us easily without getting out of 2nd gear or, worse, we get tonked, then there needs to be action taken.

[jmjhb]

Having been a miserable sod for the last however long, I'm going to be glass half-full for a while.

We're actually top of the L1 form table.

[Worthy4England]

Having been a miserable sod for the last however long, I'm going to be glass half-full for a while.

We're actually top of the L1 form table.

Having put the bottom 5 of the bottom 6 to the sword! Wraaar.

[Worthy4England]

A win was the minimum expectation, with all due respect to Burton. We achieved that. Great.

But that wasn't a good performance, aside from maybe 15 minutes - the first ten, and the five that encompassed our two goals. Other than that, it was slow, uninspiring, dreary fare that largely took place in front of their back line. Burton should have gone in a goal up - quite how their man blocked a goalbound effort on our line is beyond me.

We simply don't look a good side right now. And it was clear from the reaction of our fans - there was no outpouring of relief at the final whistle; instead, an air of general dissatisfaction permeated the place. The problem is that we've, by and large, been this poor since the turn of the year. It's been a pretty poor 10 months to be a Bolton fan.

Yes, there have been darker days. I've felt worse coming away from the stadium many, many times. But we've been sold a picture, from the board down over the the last 18 months, of a team for whom promotion is not just the target, but the expectation. There has been not-insignificant investment to try and make that a reality. And it feels like all we've done since January is regress.

Tuesday could be ugly, without the combative physicality of Thomason in the middle, with a back three who can't even keep the bottom sides at bay, with a strike-force lacking in confidence and invention. But Birmingham are supposed to be the target for us - if we want to achieve promotion, we need to be at least as good as them. It's over to Evatt and his team to prove that we can be. I could take losing to Brum if we show fight, desire, if we compete. If, however, Brum beat us easily without getting out of 2nd gear or, worse, we get tonked, then there needs to be action taken.

Decent reflection TW.

[Spartan2]

This team could put a crack addict to sleep.

[irie Cee Bee]

What can I say. I definitely have a problem. I should be happy with a win, but I am not. The usual start out well, then fade after 20 mins, lose control for the rest of the half, start fast in the 2nd half, score a goal, then lose control of the game, then wait for the inevitable goal to be scored against us, then hang on. This against the bottom side. We did and are now just a point off the top 6, but we are looking at the moment anything but a top 6 side. I believe we have the players to get us in the top 6 mix but the team needs coaching help. MoTM.. Dempsey.

[dave the minion]

Having been a miserable sod for the last however long, I'm going to be glass half-full for a while.

We're actually top of the L1 form table.

Having put the bottom 5 of the bottom 6 to the sword! Wraaar.

You can only beat the teams in front of you. What more do you expect then to have done over those last 5 games?!?!!

[jmjhb]

Having been a miserable sod for the last however long, I'm going to be glass half-full for a while.

We're actually top of the L1 form table.

Having put the bottom 5 of the bottom 6 to the sword! Wraaar.

You can only beat the teams in front of you. What more do you expect then to have done over those last 5 games?!?!!

A win over Shrewsbury

[dave the minion]

Having been a miserable sod for the last however long, I'm going to be glass half-full for a while.

We're actually top of the L1 form table.

Having put the bottom 5 of the bottom 6 to the sword! Wraaar.

You can only beat the teams in front of you. What more do you expect then to have done over those last 5 games?!?!!

A win over Shrewsbury

Quite! I was waiting for that as soon as I typed it!!!

[BorsdaneWhite]

Weird game: they should’ve scored maybe two more; we should’ve scored maybe five more. Burton threw bodies—as you’d expect from a nearly bottom side—in front of several goalbound efforts. I can take positives from that performance, despite a nervy win against a dross side. If we don’t take such chances against Brum, as we didn’t last season against Pompey and Derby, we’ll get soundly beat. But there were chances…

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Having been a miserable sod for the last however long, I'm going to be glass half-full for a while.

We're actually top of the L1 form table.

Having put the bottom 5 of the bottom 6 to the sword! Wraaar.

You can only beat the teams in front of you. What more do you expect then to have done over those last 5 games?!?!!

I think the issue is that it feels like there is something broken about the team and the belief has been sucked out of the players and fans. I have zero confidence that we're going to perform/produce or even look likely to beat any of the half decent teams in the division. That is quite the fall in 12 months when I'd have fancied us against anyone in the division.

I've lost any remnants of confidence that Evatt knows how to fix whatever is broken. I think we're going to stumble through the season leaving no one satisfied we've made a decent fist of it. I can feel the apathy already and its only going to get worse until someone can fix whatever it is that is broken.

[TANGODANCER]

For "chances", an indefinite word ,use "opportunities" and take them. It's been our inability to put way said opportunities that has us where we are. Were clumsy with the last domino and collapse the lines every time. Add to that an ability to understand that "park the bus" doesn't mean do nothing, stop our soft running off players in favour of some aggressive tackling and we'll soon turn it around. Not sure why every manager but ours seem to understand this.?

[officer_dibble]

I won’t quote TW15 in full again but I think that’s an excellent summary from one of the most positive posters on here.

For me there is absolutely nothing about the last two home games that suggest we have made giant leaps forward in chasing down the better teams in this league, and bucking the trend of failed play off finalists being a bit meh the following season.

What it needs is for us to accept where we are and now try and scrap some points from the next three fixtures. Set the team up like teams come to our place. Go solid, defend the box and try to nick something. If we play like yesterday Birmingham won’t need to get out of second gear after we’ve run out of ideas.

[officer_dibble]

Any word on Thomason btw? Not one who is usually injured?