Time Cheltenham men please....At HomeV,Cheltenham at the completely Bolton Stadium Sat 4th feb 3-0'clock.

[BWFC_Insane]

I'm not overly confident.

As opposed to your usual unwavering optimism?

Its well established that confidence is an illusion. Whenever I feel confident we start to lose.

[GhostoftheBok]

Its well established that confidence is an illusion. Whenever I feel confident we start to lose.

A few injuries and we're in the crapper. I don't think that's a change from where we've been as a club for my entire time as a supporter. We've always been on the edge with squad depth - whether it's numbers or quality.

The difference now is we're considerably better (by the standards of the league) when we are fit than we usually have been during that same period.

We're not the luckiest club in the world, so I'll let you crack on under the thunder cloud. For me, the listed group of available players is capable of beating Accy.

So long as Kachunga is available we have a chance.

[truewhite15]

Sorry, how is this different from any other team in the league? Even the top teams are one or two unforeseen injuries away from hand-wringing and proclamations that the sky is falling. Only the best of the best of the best (i.e. those that you'd expect to compete for the Champions League) have enough players in the back to cope with any and all circumstances.

[Worthy4England]

Sorry, how is this different from any other team in the league? Even the top teams are one or two unforeseen injuries away from hand-wringing and proclamations that the sky is falling. Only the best of the best of the best (i.e. those that you'd expect to compete for the Champions League) have enough players in the back to cope with any and all circumstances.

I'm generally with this view. Be delighted to be always "optimal." I do have some concerns about the amount of muscle strains we seem to accumulate. Can't do much about unlucky breaks..

[GhostoftheBok]

If we're looking for media omens about who will start, "Vik" makes the front cover of the program.

[DJBlu]

I'm not overly confident.

As opposed to your usual unwavering optimism?

Its well established that confidence is an illusion. Whenever I feel confident we start to lose.

Don't break the ritual. Ignore the influence. Keep up the pessimism.

COYWM!!!

[GhostoftheBok]

I have an image of an Arsenal-supporting distant cousin of Insane saying "We are getting decent now" 37 games into the Invincibles season.

[officer_dibble]

Cheltenham boss seems to be having a pop at how we have managed Nlundulu’s hamstrings:

When asked about his absence, Elliott added: “It's not good news for me and I am a bit gutted if I am being honest. He's a good kid.

“When we signed him we did a deep dive into his history. He has had a horrible time with hamstrings and we managed him really well.

“We had him available for every minute of every game and we got him playing to a level he's never reached before.

“To see him regress and pick up the hamstring injury, I don't take any pleasure in seeing him miss out, even though he's a good player and he's not available to play against us.”

[BWFC_Insane]

Cheltenham boss seems to be having a pop at how we have managed Nlundulu’s hamstrings:

When asked about his absence, Elliott added: “It's not good news for me and I am a bit gutted if I am being honest. He's a good kid.

“When we signed him we did a deep dive into his history. He has had a horrible time with hamstrings and we managed him really well.

“We had him available for every minute of every game and we got him playing to a level he's never reached before.

“To see him regress and pick up the hamstring injury, I don't take any pleasure in seeing him miss out, even though he's a good player and he's not available to play against us.”

It does raise some questions about our sports science. We’ve had a lot of injuries in the last two years and I feel some of the soft tissue ones might be through overworking and overtraining.

[GhostoftheBok]

“When we signed him we did a deep dive into his history. He has had a horrible time with hamstrings and we managed him really well.

“We had him available for every minute of every game and we got him playing to a level he's never reached before.

“To see him regress and pick up the hamstring injury, I don't take any pleasure in seeing him miss out, even though he's a good player and he's not available to play against us.”

[/quote]

I saw that, yes. Our issues with keeping players fit is a fairly obvious one. We sign lads with known issues and they always seem to recur, even if they've been clear for a good while. Iredale and Nlundulu are examples from this year's crop of transfers.

We try and push fitness limits so lads can run more during games (Evatt saying Nlundulu needs to be fitter). That will lead to more injuries, but avoiding players who can't do that without getting hurt should be part of our recruitment profile.

On Nlundulu, we need to give the team time to demonstrate that they can keep him fit once they've worked with him. It might be that Cheltenham have "managed" him by just letting him slack in training, rather than doing to work necessary to have him both fit and injury free.

I have concerns generally, though.

[Bruce Rioja]

Maybe it's just me, but I get the distinct impression that Elliot's having a bit of a snarky pop there.

[The_Gun]

On a stag do in Nottingham, so can’t watch this one today unfortunately.

I think Johnston is a big loss and hope Mbete will be able to step up quickly, but perhaps safer to go with Jones again today.

Traff

Jones Santos Toal

Dempsey Morley

Bradley John

Shoretire

Adeboyejo Charles



2-0 Bolton

[The_Gun]

Called it spot on for the first time in a while!

[nicholaldo]

Maybe it's just me, but I get the distinct impression that Elliot's having a bit of a snarky pop there.

It's not just you.

[Mar]

Maybe it's just me, but I get the distinct impression that Elliot's having a bit of a snarky pop there.

It's not just you.

Given the amount of game time he was getting at Cheltenham, I suspect it would be rather annoying to lose him and have that happen.


Started off the game a bit meh so far. Good looking line up and nice to see we've got Khumbeni on the bench. The B team hasn't really kicked on so hopefully it'll be a nice starting point for integrating them going forward.

[DJBlu]

No rythym so far.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

iFollow's become a tricky dick

[Mar]

Bradley penalty shout looks for a legitimate call for a free kick and not a pen. Ref's pussied out of that call from the looks of it.

[DJBlu]

Bradley penalty shout looks for a legitimate call for a free kick and not a pen. Ref's pussied out of that call from the looks of it.

Looks like Bradley was on the way down before the nudge and deffo outside the box.

[sonicthewhite]

Busy day. Just popped home to put the kettle on for a quick brew