Time to Steel 3 points but it won't be on a Weds - Sheff Weds (H) Sat 20th Aug @3.00pm

[BWFC_Insane]

My beef with Santos yesterday was the reaction. Like you say Mar, dealing with adversity. His body language afterwards was awful. I think the role of captain is overstated but if the lads were looking to him.for inspiration yesterday they would have found the opposite. Not that the rest of them are much better. They cave too easily.

Not sure I'd call it caving too easily. We were still competing against the opposition. Sort of a stalemate if you would.

I think the only difference was the mistake and subsequent shell shock which cost us two goals.

If anything I thought our problem was a lack of galvanising when we needed it. We played like we were still at 0-0.

Im sure the players consider there to be plenty of season left and this is a blip of a game. Understandable I guess but I'd suspect if this was a must win match the players would be found an extra gear. Symptomatic of early season of course.

For everyone looking at us capitulating or not doing enough the stats paint a different picture. We were a threat and weren't clinical enough. Two chances for Bradley which I suspect on a different day would've seen us get a goal.

This is a far cry from Parkinsons relegation season or the capitulation from Hills or Lennons teams.

Were considering this to be a bad performance. If we perform badly and get more passes, more possession and more shots then I'll not think it as disastrous a performance as others may suggest.

Football matches aren’t decided by passes or possession or even shots.

No, but these are the quantifiable metrics that are being used by the best teams in world football to improve their output. Its a sign of progress that the bookies are using to determine how successful teams are going to be over a season.

As far as I can tell we've got a scientific approach in play to help us win football matches and we've been getting good at it. Saturday we didn't match our high standards but based upon the metrics that are being used to track how successful we'll be over a season we're still on the right track.

I think we were second best yesterday. Not massively so but noticeably so considering we were at home. Mistakes opened the game for them but I thought what was telling was they were better in the final third than we were and had a better press especially through the midfield.

I'd argue second best for a 5 minute spell. Not much in it.

The trouble with metrics is they need context. Wednesday were happy to let us play as we created very little from it. The one real chance we created was the diagonal into Bradley.

Wednesday scored twice, once from our own error which obviously opened it up then a second and created the best chance of the game which they should have buried. They were in cruise control at that point. We carved out one real chance and beyond that SW gameplan worked beautifully in nullifying us.

They were the better team. Not Wigan style men against boys and I’m not sure they have better players all round. They were just a more effective unit of 11 all working towards the same objective. We were 11 individuals.

There is work for Evatt to do on the training ground and indeed in the market. But I still think we need to have a more effective press and don’t see why the players we have can’t do that.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Evatt on Santos:
“He’s human, he’s allowed to make mistakes. We will back him, pick him up and go again. We know how good he is.

“No-one should ever doubt how good he is, he is fantastic and he will go again. We will all go again, and bigger and better things lie ahead for us both I think.”

Evatt on the game:
“We have to be even more incisive from our play, even braver, even more detail with our possession and I thought at times we went a bit safe, a bit sideways too many times and didn’t see the patterns they were offering where we told them the space was.”

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... ton-villa/

[BWFC_Insane]

Evatt on Santos:
“He’s human, he’s allowed to make mistakes. We will back him, pick him up and go again. We know how good he is.

“No-one should ever doubt how good he is, he is fantastic and he will go again. We will all go again, and bigger and better things lie ahead for us both I think.”

Evatt on the game:
“We have to be even more incisive from our play, even braver, even more detail with our possession and I thought at times we went a bit safe, a bit sideways too many times and didn’t see the patterns they were offering where we told them the space was.”

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... ton-villa/

The sideways thing has been an issue in every game this season so far. Too much of it. We go direct when we shouldn’t and play sideways and backwards when we could slice through a team. That will come with time but I’d ask, do we have enough in midfield to have the confidence and secondly authority to play forward in the way we obviously need to? Are we risk averse because Morley can’t really impact off the ball, Dempsey is willing but no roadblock and MJ turns slower than milk?

I think our midfield quality is not there to really up the game and that’s what we need to look at. But it’s one of those where I think it’s hard to put your finger on exactly what’s missing until you see it. I think one player in there could transform this side. I’m fairly sure it’s not Sheehan either but we will see.

[Worthy4England]

I don't think Saturday in isolation is necessarily a problem. I was mentally using this game as a bit of a yardstick, and I think this game, combined with the previous ones is starting to point to "hopefully playoffs" rather than "1st or 2nd"....So I guess it's what we're measuring against. We also have a tough home game (of no particular consequence to the League) then a tough away. Within a week, me could be on three losses on the spin, and as Evatt says, losing is a habit...

[TANGODANCER]

I hope we win ......

[BWFC_Insane]

I don't think Saturday in isolation is necessarily a problem. I was mentally using this game as a bit of a yardstick, and I think this game, combined with the previous ones is starting to point to "hopefully playoffs" rather than "1st or 2nd"....So I guess it's what we're measuring against. We also have a tough home game (of no particular consequence to the League) then a tough away. Within a week, me could be on three losses on the spin, and as Evatt says, losing is a habit...

Saturday was a crystal clear example that we aren’t short on quality. Wednesday didn’t come and outplay us because their players are better individually. They were just more effective as a unit and had a clear gameplan they executed well.

Our problem is not the raw quality but the balance we have and ability to execute our gameplan and impose it on others. And I feel rather than just missing quality we just miss the balance.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

the phone went saying the daughter had gone into hospital. So a quick dash to collect the grandkids and wait for the news.

Hope all's well, mate.

[Harry Genshaw]

It just felt to me that we were outnumbered in midfield on Saturday. Dapo seemed too far forward at times and with Morley, Charles and Dempsey all having off days, we were always going to struggle against a side with Bannan, Iorfa etc.

I've no worries about the players abilities, although another holding midfielder would be good, just the game management needs stepping up against superior opponents.

[Worthy4England]

It just felt to me that we were outnumbered in midfield on Saturday. Dapo seemed too far forward at times and with Morley, Charles and Dempsey all having off days, we were always going to struggle against a side with Bannan, Iorfa etc.

I've no worries about the players abilities, although another holding midfielder would be good, just the game management needs stepping up against superior opponents.

Yeah, I think the question is, whether we can step up that game management with what we have, consistently enough - we weren't at our best v Morecambe but apart from a tough last 10, it was still good enough. Difficult to tell whether we were at our best v Port Vale, so at the moment, we've got Wycombe and Salford where we've probably performed as we could do. Wycombe have picked up points since first couple of games, so that's looking a better result, and a point at Ipswich isn't looking bad...

[BWFC_Insane]

It just felt to me that we were outnumbered in midfield on Saturday. Dapo seemed too far forward at times and with Morley, Charles and Dempsey all having off days, we were always going to struggle against a side with Bannan, Iorfa etc.

I've no worries about the players abilities, although another holding midfielder would be good, just the game management needs stepping up against superior opponents.

Yeah this. Though Morley and Dempsey don’t impact the game enough off the ball and that’s what I mean by balance. Lee does but obviously won’t be selected all the time. I think we need another option in midfield and I felt that way during the summer. Dempsey has had one good game so far and is far less effective when a team is able to impose themselves on us. Morley needs two strong off the ball types with him as he’s only really useful on the ball.

[LeverEnd]

Yeah was disappointed with Dempsey. Have high hopes for him though. I wonder where Sheehan will slot in. Barely seen him so no idea.

[sonicthewhite]

Well what a sh1t 24hrs. Settled down for an afternoon of Livescore and BN updates when the phone went saying the daughter had gone into hospital. So a quick dash to collect the grandkids and wait for the news. By the time I got 5mins to myself we'd lost 2-0. Bah!

Jeez man hope your daughter is ok. The football score is literally irrelevant in that scenario.

Thanks for the thoughts guys. Turns out it was only gall stones, and yes I do know how painful they are, and nothing heart related. She needs to have an op to remove them so we'll be busy with grandkids while she's mending.

And I think I'll stay away from starting match threads in future

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Well what a sh1t 24hrs. Settled down for an afternoon of Livescore and BN updates when the phone went saying the daughter had gone into hospital. So a quick dash to collect the grandkids and wait for the news. By the time I got 5mins to myself we'd lost 2-0. Bah!

Jeez man hope your daughter is ok. The football score is literally irrelevant in that scenario.

Thanks for the thoughts guys. Turns out it was only gall stones, and yes I do know how painful they are, and nothing heart related. She needs to have an op to remove them so we'll be busy with grandkids while she's mending.

And I think I'll stay away from starting match threads in future

"Grandma, why does Grandad drink so much tea on Saturday afternoons?"

Good to hear it's not as bad as feared, and good luck to Sonicessa with the op.

[sonicthewhite]

Well what a sh1t 24hrs. Settled down for an afternoon of Livescore and BN updates when the phone went saying the daughter had gone into hospital. So a quick dash to collect the grandkids and wait for the news. By the time I got 5mins to myself we'd lost 2-0. Bah!

Jeez man hope your daughter is ok. The football score is literally irrelevant in that scenario.

Thanks for the thoughts guys. Turns out it was only gall stones, and yes I do know how painful they are, and nothing heart related. She needs to have an op to remove them so we'll be busy with grandkids while she's mending.

And I think I'll stay away from starting match threads in future

"Grandma, why does Grandad drink so much tea on Saturday afternoons?"

Good to hear it's not as bad as feared, and good luck to Sonicessa with the op.

She'd tell them "because he's a feckin idiot"