A Barrow-ful of silverware. Barrow, H, League Cup R1, 08/08

[BorsdaneWhite]

Seemed to play that high box with CMG and Paris playing very advanced. Worked quite well early on as they found some quick interplay in and around their box. Second half was terrible, really. Thomo trying to speed things up; Paris notably very frustrated at making several fruitless runs; that high box isolated our defensive players and seemed to frighten them into very safe sidewaysness. Balls into the box were poor; balls over the top were poor; finishing was poor; bit sloppy at the back. Thought the subs would change things, but it seemed to get worse.

I mean: we won with a simple clean sheet. But it seemed to go on forever.

[BWFC_Insane]

Win is a win but that was absolutely dire.

If you want to see progress from last season then I really hope you missed tonight because it looked entirely like all the problems we had last season still persist.

Bright start, couple of half chances and openings we don’t take. Then…mindless possession against a deep defensive line with no real progression, a pathological fear of putting the ball in the box and the most mindnumhingly dull football possible. Never looked like scoring. Then Ashworth pops up with a gem of a free kick….

But second half only gets worse as Barrow refuse to come out and Bolton refuse to…well so pretty much anything.

It doesn’t help that Nlunduku and Jerome are the worst striking pair I’ve ever, ever had the displeasure to watch. Absolutely bloody useless. Turning Nlundulu into anything approaching an acceptable squad player will be a minor miracle, let alone the joke of ‘sellable asset.Jerome looks like he’s here for a nice pay cheque. No idea why else he’d come here at this stage of his career.

Then we bought Victor and Charles on and Victor missed a sitter…the only chance we mustered second half.

As we go into extra time we end up hanging on as Barrow try to actually score a goal…by…shock horror…putting the ball into the box…and on one occasion probably should have at least got one on target.

If you are worried we still haven’t solved our attacking shortcomings from last season then tonight…wasn’t a good night for those with those concerns at all….

Hopefully it won’t be repeated.

[truewhite15]

Job done. Nothing more. Barely got out of 1st gear. On another day Nlundulu, CMG and Adeboyejo bury their chances and we're sitting here talking about us winning at a canter. We are creating chances; the goals will come.

Vic looked sharp when he came on. Forrester impressive at the back. Ashworth quietly efficient, if not as exciting as Randell. Maghoma looked good in midfield - we need to find his runs more frequently. CMG showed flashes of quality, but not regularly enough. Nlundulu proved on a number of occasions that there's more wrong between his ears than with his feet - some poor decision making. Thomason was the stand-out for me - strong, confident on the ball. He'll be a big player for us this year.

[BWFC_Insane]

Agree with the above. Thomason was the best player on the pitch tonight. Very assured performance.

[Harry Genshaw]

Dacres Cogley probably concerned me more than most. His default position on receiving the ball seemed to be "Who's behind me or at the side of me to pass to?" - shades of Brandon Comley, where possession stats were more important than actually running at the opposition occasionally or trying to beat his man.

George T and Forrester both played well I thought but a disappointing night despite the win.

[GhostoftheBok]

Evatt seems to agree with the consensus, controlled the game completely but didn't do enough in the final third.

His concern seems to be mostly about pass appreciation. Not just playing the ball. Hitting the correct foot at the correct speed to allow the attacking player to make a natural, progressive movement.

I'm hoping a replay or some extended highlights will come out.

We won. Nobody got hurt. We kept a clean sheet. A case of take it and move on.

[BWFC_Insane]

Evatt seems to agree with the consensus, controlled the game completely but didn't do enough in the final third.

His concern seems to be mostly about pass appreciation. Not just playing the ball. Hitting the correct foot at the correct speed to allow the attacking player to make a natural, progressive movement.

I'm hoping a replay or some extended highlights will come out.

We won. Nobody got hurt. We kept a clean sheet. A case of take it and move on.

To score a goal you need to put it into the box more often than not, and we almost entirely refused to do so. As above JDC was awful tonight, played like he was scared to lose it.

I can see why they are scared to cross it to stump one and stump two but then they chose to play into their feet which was even more comical.

[GhostoftheBok]

To score a goal you need to put it into the box more often than not, and we almost entirely refused to do so. As above JDC was awful tonight, played like he was scared to lose it.

I can see why they are scared to cross it to stump one and stump two but then they chose to play into their feet which was even more comical.

Looks from the highlights like we had half a dozen good chances.

I have no doubt you're right that we should have done much better and I expected us to take time to get things right this season, especially with the second string and some players working into fitness.

We'll see how it progresses.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Evatt:
https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... -reaction/

We shouldn’t take progression for granted – you have seen some strange results tonight and some big shocks, so I am delighted to get through to the next round.

Overall I thought it was comfortable. It is great credit to them that they managed to stay in the game and made it so tough, got bodies behind the ball, and then while they are still in the game they have the last minute push where anything can happen.

I am pleased to get through, and maybe we were not as productive enough in possession during the second half, however it is so difficult when they limit the space and opportunities like that.

We were a little bit safe in the final third again, I don’t think we took enough shots from outside the area or put the ball into space enough. Crossing against set defences is not really for us.

[BWFC_Insane]

To score a goal you need to put it into the box more often than not, and we almost entirely refused to do so. As above JDC was awful tonight, played like he was scared to lose it.

I can see why they are scared to cross it to stump one and stump two but then they chose to play into their feet which was even more comical.

Looks from the highlights like we had half a dozen good chances.

I have no doubt you're right that we should have done much better and I expected us to take time to get things right this season, especially with the second string and some players working into fitness.

We'll see how it progresses.

Maybe. New lads will get better and clearly showed they have quality if not full fitness nor understanding yet.

But Nlundulu and Jerome are absolute bobbins. I can’t remember watching such utter dross up front. Neither offer us anything at all.

[Prufrock]

You make that many changes it's basically pre -season. Meaningless at a fan level.

[Mar]

Dacres Cogley probably concerned me more than most. His default position on receiving the ball seemed to be "Who's behind me or at the side of me to pass to?" - shades of Brandon Comley, where possession stats were more important than actually running at the opposition occasionally or trying to beat his man.

George T and Forrester both played well I thought but a disappointing night despite the win.

Do you reckon JDC was doing that before the goal, after the goal or both?

Flags were being raised about people feeling tight hamstrings so it's best not to strain too much in a game that could just be an exercise in getting through rather than going for the jugular.

Winning 1-0 against Barrow isn't bad. It's not great, but it's a result that moves us on in the cup without any additional injury concerns.
Nice to see Ashworth getting off the mark, not sure whether he'll be a consistent free kick specialist but it's a good start.

With regards to line ups and squad usage. It's probably the wrong front pairing to win that game comfortably. N'lundulu looks like a player that can run at people, but when Barrow are sitting so deep it'll make that extra difficult. Jerome I think suited it more, but thats only if we use him as a foil for midfielders striking the ball, or crossed onto his head, which again gets extra difficult due to pace concerns.

Just seems like the squad Evatt picked was good enough to do the job and so it seemed. That's the main thing and where last season we might've come unstuck with a low block, now hopefully we've got more adept at set pieces to make it that much easier.

[Mar]

Evatt:
https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... -reaction/

We shouldn’t take progression for granted – you have seen some strange results tonight and some big shocks, so I am delighted to get through to the next round.

Overall I thought it was comfortable. It is great credit to them that they managed to stay in the game and made it so tough, got bodies behind the ball, and then while they are still in the game they have the last minute push where anything can happen.

I am pleased to get through, and maybe we were not as productive enough in possession during the second half, however it is so difficult when they limit the space and opportunities like that.

We were a little bit safe in the final third again, I don’t think we took enough shots from outside the area or put the ball into space enough. Crossing against set defences is not really for us.

These Evatt quotes make me wonder why he's adverse to cross against set defences. Surely its not that successful a tactic against teams that break on you, but if we're confident in our ability to drown out any quick breaks then why not lump the ball into the danger zone onto Jeromes head and play off the knock down. We can play it safe after we've got the goal.

[GhostoftheBok]

[GhostoftheBok]

These Evatt quotes make me wonder why he's adverse to cross against set defences.

Because we don't have the players to make the most of it and it makes the game too transitional.

Their assessment will be that it costs us more than we gain from it.

Most top sides make the same calculation, they only allow that kind of delivery from certain players and usually not even then. If the opposition are set the ball doesn't go in.

[Mar]

These Evatt quotes make me wonder why he's adverse to cross against set defences.

Because we don't have the players to make the most of it and it makes the game too transitional.

Their assessment will be that it costs us more than we gain from it.

Most top sides make the same calculation, they only allow that kind of delivery from certain players and usually not even then. If the opposition are set the ball doesn't go in.

I understand the reasoning, and the argument is we'd be playing in to some teams hands, but when we've got the opposition pegged back in their own half and they're reluctant to attack us then its an extra option. Failing that they may end up attacking us and then leaving themselves exposed when trying to counter attack quicker.

Just retaining the ball and passing sideways and backwards should be alright for grinding a result out, but if we're at 0-0, we need to get them to either open up, or find a way of causing problems.

[jmjhb]

It's easy to focus on the negatives but we were utterly dominant throughout and didn't have to get out of first gear.

[Harry Genshaw]

but if we're confident in our ability to drown out any quick breaks then why not lump the ball into the danger zone onto Jeromes head and play off the knock down. We can play it safe after we've got the goal.

Agreed. For 85 minutes they were no threat at all and we immediately snuffed out any attempt at the odd counter attack they tried. What I found maddening was this constantly slow, sideways passing up the pitch while Barrow got all 11 into their half and then eventually we'd lose possession by a 'percentage ball' towards a very crowded box.

I know we're a possession based side but what's wrong with the occasional early percentage ball to get in behind them? (As per GTs pass for the 3rd on Saturday)

[Harry Genshaw]

And to be fair, having watched the highlights again we were actually pretty decent those first 15 minutes. The utter tedium of the following 85+ minutes made me forget that start

[BWFC_Insane]

It's easy to focus on the negatives but we were utterly dominant throughout and didn't have to get out of first gear.

I think that it depends on your definition of dominance. Yes we were never going to lose that game but mainly that's because Barrow seemingly had very little interest in trying to win it.

We had according to the BBC 78% which reflects our total dominance in that aspect. The problem is that for all that complete dominance of the ball we managed 3 - yes 3 shots on goal. One of which was a set piece that was the goal.

The thing for me is - how is that any different to our issues of last season? It looked almost identical to the way we played against such teams last season. On the night against a league 2 side we won the game and ultimately that is all that matters. But we don't want to be playing like that against league one sides. And for me it highlighted that we still have weaknesses in this side - not least up front but probably more pertinently (given we are still in a window) we need that exciting wing back who will really be able to help us open those packed defences up. You can add Maghoma and CMG but we still aren't ever going to pick these sides apart through the middle - you just need far too much quality for that. So we need more thrust out wide. That has to be the takeaway from last night. We need to add that player or players to the squad.