To Hull with it, I'll start the thread. Hull 30/04 H

[Peter Thompson]

Lawrie Wilson - how the fck has he not played more games this season?

Wilson is the best RB at the club by some distance, I'm not sure what his salary is and whether he's still under contract next season, but for me he should be our RB next season.

He's a proper RB, he's experienced, reads the game well, can tackle & gets forward well.

[LeverEnd]

Lawrie Wilson - how the fck has he not played more games this season?

Wilson is the best RB at the club by some distance, I'm not sure what his salary is and whether he's still under contract next season, but for me he should be our RB next season.

He's a proper RB, he's experienced, reads the game well, can tackle & gets forward well.

He is contracted for another year and on low wages I believe.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Calm down, he's not Cafu. While the Vela-at-RB thing was weird – is weird: we were going to play him there till he pulled up lame in the warm-up, so it's not just a Lennon thing - I can see why we've tried various Academy lads there in the last few games and if Wilson were impervious to the odd wobble he wouldn't be playing (or more often, not playing) for us. You wonder why Lennon and indeed Phillips have looked past him so frequently. However, he seems a solid enough sort, not on a huge wage, presumably doesn't think he's above League One football and won't be on the priority list of People To Get Rid Of.

Speaking of which, telling responses in the post-match interviews with Wheater and Pratley. Each asked if they'd be here next season, Wheater basically said Well you never know, I love the club, so you never know, but I really f*cking doubt it. Whereas Pratley shrugged his shoulders and said I'm contracted for two years so until I hear otherwise, I'm a Bolton player. Those aren't verbatim quotes but the general drift. Reading between the lines, Wheater was surprised to be asked and didn't want to say no but his face said "As if they're going to be able to afford it." By the time Pratley was asked his face was set in a determined "it's not up to me" but he didn't say anything approaching "I would dearly love to lead this club in its hour of need".

I thought the younger half of the team did well today. Garratt looked young and imperfect but you'd expect that and he wasn't overawed. I'm bored of hearing people worry that players look slight - I'd rather have someone who can play that a meathead athlete - and he didn't mind getting stuck in. And it's not like he's a midget - if he were playing for the opponents I doubt our fans would be saying "look at that runt, I bet he's easily beaten". Holding looked very confident again. Derik's settling nicely into that role, although he sometimes had more time than he thought so he'll need to work on that awareness - that extra split-second can make a lot of difference to your creative decision-making. Clough shrugged off a couple of knocks and looked like our main creative hope. Newell isn't a target man but looked confident and clever in the way he was seeking space.

As for the older, richer fellas, they played pretty much to par. Wheater headed everything clear, Danns looked busy but a bit clueless, Pratley looked very busy and immensely clueless, Heskey let the ball bounce off him before having his afternoon nap, Davies looked like a bloke forced to play with the reserves. Credit to Amos for another clean sheet - obviously Hull hadn't had the memo about shooting from distance, although Amos almost compensated by getting underneath an early through-ball.

Credit to the management that our shape looked good without the ball, we fell back into position well. Basically playing the old Allardyce system with Derik as Campo behind two midfield scuttlers (Danns and Daz today), with Clough and Davies as the ersatz wide auxiliaries - a role that suits neither really, but they're having an admirable go at it while we tread water. Hopefully next season we'll be shut of Sparky's wages and we can play Clough in his best position, as a No.10 off another striker.

[irie Cee Bee]

Calm down, he's not Cafu. While the Vela-at-RB thing was weird – is weird: we were going to play him there till he pulled up lame in the warm-up, so it's not just a Lennon thing - I can see why we've tried various Academy lads there in the last few games and if Wilson were impervious to the odd wobble he wouldn't be playing (or more often, not playing) for us. You wonder why Lennon and indeed Phillips have looked past him so frequently. However, he seems a solid enough sort, not on a huge wage, presumably doesn't think he's above League One football and won't be on the priority list of People To Get Rid Of.

Speaking of which, telling responses in the post-match interviews with Wheater and Pratley. Each asked if they'd be here next season, Wheater basically said Well you never know, I love the club, so you never know, but I really f*cking doubt it. Whereas Pratley shrugged his shoulders and said I'm contracted for two years so until I hear otherwise, I'm a Bolton player. Those aren't verbatim quotes but the general drift. Reading between the lines, Wheater was surprised to be asked and didn't want to say no but his face said "As if they're going to be able to afford it." By the time Pratley was asked his face was set in a determined "it's not up to me" but he didn't say anything approaching "I would dearly love to lead this club in its hour of need".

I thought the younger half of the team did well today. Garratt looked young and imperfect but you'd expect that and he wasn't overawed. I'm bored of hearing people worry that players look slight - I'd rather have someone who can play that a meathead athlete - and he didn't mind getting stuck in. And it's not like he's a midget - if he were playing for the opponents I doubt our fans would be saying "look at that runt, I bet he's easily beaten". Holding looked very confident again. Derik's settling nicely into that role, although he sometimes had more time than he thought so he'll need to work on that awareness - that extra split-second can make a lot of difference to your creative decision-making. Clough shrugged off a couple of knocks and looked like our main creative hope. Newell isn't a target man but looked confident and clever in the way he was seeking space.

As for the older, richer fellas, they played pretty much to par. Wheater headed everything clear, Danns looked busy but a bit clueless, Pratley looked very busy and immensely clueless, Heskey let the ball bounce off him before having his afternoon nap, Davies looked like a bloke forced to play with the reserves. Credit to Amos for another clean sheet - obviously Hull hadn't had the memo about shooting from distance, although Amos almost compensated by getting underneath an early through-ball.

Credit to the management that our shape looked good without the ball, we fell back into position well. Basically playing the old Allardyce system with Derik as Campo behind two midfield scuttlers (Danns and Daz today), with Clough and Davies as the ersatz wide auxiliaries - a role that suits neither really, but they're having an admirable go at it while we tread water. Hopefully next season we'll be shut of Sparky's wages and we can play Clough in his best position, as a No.10 off another striker.

Couldn't have said it better. Davies looked classy with the ball but needed better players around him in the midfield. Hope we dont have Pratley and Danns in this team next season. They are past it. Was very disappointed to see Clough go off when he did because though not having the best of games, seemed our best outlet. But the manager knew best and credit to him for making that change. Heskey busted a gut and was everywhere until "him buss". Gave his all. Wheater and Holding look a very solid pair with Derik in front of them. It would be great to have all three back with us but cant see Wheater taking such a significant drop in wages. A win against Fulham would put JP / PR back in the frame for the job next season. The shape did look good and with better players in the middle of the park, we may be in for a surprise.

[BWFC_Insane]

DSB- we lack physicality. To ignore that would be folly. Going with underdeveloped or weak kids isn't going to cut it in league one. Having a few good ones is ok but you need to physically compete. We struggle most weeks to do that. Has to change next season and that means recruiting some stronger players.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I'm not ignoring it. I'm arguing with the basic premise of it.

Nobody is saying we should have a team of five-stone weaklings - all teams need balance, even Barcelona have got a player over six foot tall - but every time we promote someone folks seem to prefer a meathead athlete.

From where I sit, as a youth coach, it's short-sighted bollocks and if allowed to flourish it will kill youth development.

[BWFC_Insane]

I'm not ignoring it. I'm arguing with the basic premise of it.

Nobody is saying we should have a team of five-stone weaklings - all teams need balance, even Barcelona have got a player over six foot tall - but every time we promote someone folks seem to prefer a meathead athlete.

From where I sit, as a youth coach, it's short-sighted bollocks and if allowed to flourish it will kill youth development.

Depend what you promote them into. When Clough broke through he was a breath of fresh air, adding class into a fairly workmanlike team.

But now he's struggling because we have nobody to lead the line and he's not that sort of player.

Newell look decent. But absolutely can't be the man to lead our line in league one next season because he's simply not going to be strong enough. In my view. If we find a decent target man then we will have some options to play off him.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I agree, Newell isn't a target man or a line-leader. Nor is Clough, so I'd be interested in making that one of those spinal signing priorities. I've said on many occasions that we need some experience in each department. I just hope we give the academy graduates time to settle in - financially, we have to.

[Bijou Bob]

I was really pleased with our performance today, although Clough was poor IMO and I'd forgotten Mavies was playing in the second half after he did his usual disappearing act. Great debut from the left back. There is hope.

[DJBlu]

Say what you like but that team just won 1 nil.

George Newell looked handy enough as well - he was unfortunate to not get more time at nil nil - his hold up play and touch looked reasonable when we were attacking.

His movement off the ball was good too.

He can be proud of his performance today.

If we get close to that performance every time he plays then he'll be a great addition to an already anorexic squad.

As for Clough, there are offers in the pipeline and he doesn't know what is going on. Either that or he's trying too hard.

Needs to get back to realising he's only 21 and he's still learning his trade otherwise I fear he could be another what could have been.

[thebish]

also - it's possible that Max Clayton might be fit again one day...

[Armchair Wanderer]

Speaking of which, telling responses in the post-match interviews with Wheater and Pratley. Each asked if they'd be here next season, Wheater basically said Well you never know, I love the club, so you never know, but I really f*cking doubt it. Whereas Pratley shrugged his shoulders and said I'm contracted for two years so until I hear otherwise, I'm a Bolton player. Those aren't verbatim quotes but the general drift. Reading between the lines, Wheater was surprised to be asked and didn't want to say no but his face said "As if they're going to be able to afford it." By the time Pratley was asked his face was set in a determined "it's not up to me" but he didn't say anything approaching "I would dearly love to lead this club in its hour of need".

From Pratley, I got a feeling of "they signed up to pay my wages for 2 years, so pay my wages they will".

[Prufrock]

Man, I hate that duck.

[thebish]

Man, I hate that duck.

yeah - how very dare someone expect his contract of employment to be honoured! booooooo!

[jonnycooper]

Performance related pay!!! Now there's an idea!

[TonyDomingos]

We beat a premiership team. It'll be reet.