Aaaaaaaaanyway, Norwich at Home.

[BWFC_Insane]

No doubt that Alonso is a lot worse than Robinson. Which is why spending 2M on him is all the more baffling!

[Worthy4England]

Aye, not seen anything from Alonso yet to convince me he'd be an improvement.

Edit: but £2m was what we allegedly shelled on Robbo too.

[Wandering Willy]

Some more reasonable posts now.

I've said earlier that Robbo is a limited player - there's just a tendency on here to label players as shite and then the hyperbole kicks in and they are suddenly responsible for all errors.

There's no doubt that the Robbo/Knight pairing is weaker than the Cahill/RB pairing but you'd expect that with an current international in there. It seems clear to most on her that there is an exposure down our left due to lack tracking back by Petrov and it needs addressing. If we can see it then surely OC can?

[Lord Kangana]

You can't have it all ways.

Taylor was painfully ponderous on the left. He wasn't alone in slowing down our midfield, but he was one of the causes. And hyperbole works in both directions. He really wasn't that good, and we didn't have a single clean sheet the season before last when he was a shoo-in. There are no panaceas here.

And lets face it, if the full back needs a defensive midfielder, then I'd suggest its the fullback you need to be looking at first. Its why Megson used to play defensive midfielders on the right, to protect Steinsson. It didn't work then, it won't work now.

Better defending as a team might help, a change of formation, a bit of a f*cking work ethic...which pisses me off the most. At least under Megson they were ponderous one-speed players. These lot are not, but are doing a great impression. They need a kick up the arse, some discipline and tactics wouldn't go amiss. Frankly.

[Prufrock]

The full back only needs a defensive midfielder coz the winger is clueless. Despite all the stick, Steinsson with Lee was never targeted in this way, and I'm not having that Steinsson is particularly better than Robinson. With Lee out, I can see the merit in the argument we need Petrov, because no fecker else will make stuff happen, but if we are going down that road, then someone needs to cover his defensive responsibilities because you cannot leave fullbacks exposed. Ashley Cole, whoever, would look shit playing for us atm.

It is a systemic problem, and it starts up top. If you have no movement up front then you invite the sort of pressure that leaves Robbo exposed. N'Gog was a breath of fresh air on Saturday, just to have that mobility. We'll look a lot better as a team once Holden is back with Reo Coker, and even better Lee on the right, and some movement up top. But without that we look utterly shite.

[Holden midfielder]

4-2-3-1 ffs!

[BWFC_Insane]

You can't have it all ways.

Taylor was painfully ponderous on the left. He wasn't alone in slowing down our midfield, but he was one of the causes. And hyperbole works in both directions. He really wasn't that good, and we didn't have a single clean sheet the season before last when he was a shoo-in. There are no panaceas here.

And lets face it, if the full back needs a defensive midfielder, then I'd suggest its the fullback you need to be looking at first. Its why Megson used to play defensive midfielders on the right, to protect Steinsson. It didn't work then, it won't work now.

Better defending as a team might help, a change of formation, a bit of a f*cking work ethic...which pisses me off the most. At least under Megson they were ponderous one-speed players. These lot are not, but are doing a great impression. They need a kick up the arse, some discipline and tactics wouldn't go amiss. Frankly.

I think that the truth lies somewhere between this and what Pru is saying. There are always going to be times that a full back will be isolated against a winger and needs to be able to deal with that better than letting them cross unopposed.

Equally when Petrov lets the full back go, without checking the run, time and time again, leaving Robinson 2 on 1 and pulling Knight out of position then there is not much Robinson can do in those situations. Jones exploited that for Man Utd expertly.

For all the criticism Taylor got for not being great going forwards, what he did do was give you a player who'd keep shape and maintain a solid bank of four. And we could do with that now for a start. A good example being Arsenal at home, last season, after we'd been murdered in the semi, Taylor came in, worked his knackers off to get up and down, yes he mainly helped out when we didn't have the ball but sometimes you need that player, and we won 2-1. He helped allow us to maintain two banks of four, which if you're playing 4-4-2 against a team like Arsenal is crucial for solidity.

I accept that Petrov has been our main outlet, but we've yet to find a way to properly accomodate him without leaving us unbalanced when we don't have the ball. Fine perhaps against the weaker sides home and away. But god what I'd give for having Taylor available for Saturday, to give some balance to the system. Petrov would be fine if we put an extra midfield player in to help cover, but in the high pressure 4-4-2 that Owen likes, then Petrov away at Arsenal etc could leave us badly exposed and too open yet again.

To that extent we also miss Elmander, a lot of whose work went unnoticed. But he worked hard to drop into midfield when needed to make an extra man, and also worked across the pitch to help out the wide players by getting across to challenge full backs. Again, we've missed his industry in making the system Owen wants to play work. Hopefully NGog can compensate somewhat for that.

[Ianmooreslovechild]

4-2-3-1 ffs!

Reckon so and surely if it's ever going to happen it will happen next match.No Klasnic and I cant see Davies and Ngog working as a pairing.I think Ngog came as Davies replacement not partner. Ngog can play up top alone and with our defensive frailty 2 defensive midfielders able to cover and make things tighter is theoretically a good idea.

I hope this week is spentworking on how to defend set plays from wide positions without a keeper tho because regardless of team or formation that is how opponents can easily look to beat us.

Robbo does what he can within his limits.Its this that makes him likeable I suppose. The reality is though that left one on one he will usually be done for pace and facing a long high ball he will be done on height. He is a solid tackler but its his physical limits that are the problem and he can do nothing about that so either more cover or a change is needed.

With Robbo in the team we will always conceed lots of dead ball and throw in situations from wide positions. That is why he is targetted.To go back to the allardyce percentage days anything down our left leads to set play attacking positions and you only need a couple to come off to go two up as Norwich did. If Coyle isnt working on that this week then he isnt doing his job properly. The open game approach is commendable but ultimately a massive gamble. We arent good enough to be needing 2 goals a game to get a point and as someone said earlier there's a balance to be had between Megson negativity and Coyle optimism just as there is a balance between tippy tappy overplaying and a little directness.

The other worry from Saturday was the overplaying. Nobody seemed capable or confident enough to take responsibility and have a go(Petrov aside perhaps).I dont think we had an effort on goal first half and not many second. It's turning into a poor mans arsenal at present,cant defend set plays,spells of pretty stuff and lots of potential with no end product and a general lack of guts in taking the risk of creating the end product or taking responsibility when we're defending.Jussi wont come for crosses and KNight/Cahill dont attack the ball with any real conviction.

We have turned into a team of nice boys!Bin Knight and feed the squad on raw meat!
Oh and a complete ban on sex and dope smoking except on Saturday nights!

[elfil76]

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/wa ... ch_defeat/

“It was probably harsh on the skipper and Tuncay because you could see that's not where the problems were in the first half. It was the fact we conceded two soft set-plays.

so i think he will start in the next match.. bummer.

[Choppers]

He really is a strikers's man isn't he.

Infallable Davo = a bad, bad thing.

[boltonboris]

Bloke on the bus on the way home, started singing "If you need a win, or you just can't score. Who ya gonna call: Bolton Wanderers"

Was childish, but made me laugh. It was also pretty spot on.

[Lord Kangana]

I think in Coyle's own inimitable way, he's paving the way to drop Davo there. Because of course dropping him would have nothing to do with his form. See.

[thebish]

Better defending as a team might help, a change of formation, a bit of a f*cking work ethic...which pisses me off the most.

This is what dismays me most... In our pomp we harry - we spoil - we chase - we "get in faces" - we don't let teams settle on the ball - we're snapping at their heels to get the ball back.

too often nowadays - we stand off and watch them stroke it around waiting for them to make a mistake...

[jimbo_bwfc]

As much as Klasnic deserves any critisism that comes his way for his stupid rush of blood, it strikes me as a bit hypocritical of Coyle so OTT with it when he barely said two words after Jussi did a similar thing in the Birmingham game last year.

The difference? Coyle needed an excuse to drop Klasnic.

"What I would say is that Jussi saved us last week when he was the architect of the three points against West Ham.

"He knows he's done wrong but he's made a mistake and he will bounce back."

“The skipper and Tuncay both had to be sacrificed because of Ivan’s folly in getting himself sent off,” Coyle said. “Will I fine him? He certainly knows my feelings on the subject.

“Sometimes, you can understand it when a young boy gets caught up in the heat of the moment, but he is an experienced player. He is a seasoned international who has played at the very highest level all his career.

[Prufrock]

Not sure it is that Jimbo. I've said I don't know how that can ever be called violent conduct, but Coyle has taken the view that Klasnic is fecking dim to have even given their lad the opportunity to show off his acting skills. In that case, it is hardly the first time is it? Jussi's was an out of character thing. He's always had a paddy whenever anyone has gone near him, and always been a whinging fecker, but he'd never lamped anyone before. Klasnic has somewhat of a track-record for getting off for stupid shit.

[BWFC_Insane]

Think its more a sign of the pressure Coyle is under.

Also noted him blaming Boyata for a goal in his post match interview.

Last year we claimed a thrilling draw, had more points on the board and had made a solid start. This time its different and coupled with the Wembley debacle, the back end form of last season, Coyle obviously knows that big questions are being asked of him. Probably for the first time in his managerial career.

His criticism of Klasnic and to a lesser extent Boyata is a sign that he is feeling that pressure.

[TANGODANCER]

Any meat for the theory that we could shift the focus on defensive problems by learning to keep hold of the ball a bit more? Just a thought.

[boltonboris]

Any meat for the theory that we could shift the focus on defensive problems by learning to keep hold of the ball a bit more? Just a thought.

Yep.. But for that we must drop your favourite frontman...

[thebish]

Any meat for the theory that we could shift the focus on defensive problems by learning to keep hold of the ball a bit more? Just a thought.

that'd be a start - along with some more energetic harrying and closing down when he haven't got it...

[BWFC_Insane]

Any meat for the theory that we could shift the focus on defensive problems by learning to keep hold of the ball a bit more? Just a thought.

We had 60% possession on Saturday according to the opta data in the 442 app.

We can have 80% possession and it still wouldn't matter if we're the disorganised rabble we are at the minute when the opposition have the ball.

Our problem is a side can be totally out of the game against us, but we know that with just 1 or 2 attacks they are likely to create a decent chance against our woeful back line!