Old foes at Home. V Middlesboro in't E.F.L Cup. 7-45 29-08 at the Toughsheet..

[TANGODANCER]

[DJBlu]

Don't want to say it but it sounds like that left side is an issue.

[officer_dibble]

better than expected
We’re defeated as soon as we go behind mind - nowts changed on that front.

[Mar]

better than expected
We’re defeated as soon as we go behind mind - nowts changed on that front.

Hardly surprising we conceded a third. We had to go for it I guess.

[Harry Genshaw]

Good game that. We were the better side until they equalised. 2nd half was pretty much 1 way traffic with the notable exception of Dion being played in, 1 on 1 with the keeper and not getting a shot away. He can be forgiven though because he was bloody magnificent in the 1st half, as were Ashworth & Sheehan.

Good rearguard stuff in the 2nd but JDB didn't hold anything up, Morley had disappeared and Geth was having a poor night. I was hoping for penalties and a sneaky win but it would have been an absolute travesty.

[truewhite15]

Defence vs attack in the 2nd half, really. Boro aren't a bad side, despite their poor start. Couldn't get out for the last half hour - midfield just totally vanished.

Having said that, a good performance in the 1st 45. Thomason very quickly makimg himself very hard to drop. And Charles could (should?l have put us ahead with 10 to go.

Not too disappointed on the whole, though it's frustrating to concede the 3rd in the way we did. We do need a good performance and a win vs Derby to end this mini-slump.

[BWFC_Insane]

Hard to know what to make of tonight. First half we edged against a very good Boro side and rarely looked concerned bar the odd moment where our defence doesn’t look too solid.

Second half though we got an absolute lesson all over the park. Couldn’t get out. They stepped onto us and absolutely murdered us and frankly could have been any score they fancied it being. We defended manfully if not quite desperately for almost all the second half. Last ditch doesn’t cover it. Toal was excellent. Jones and Iredale worked very hard but can’t help but feel they both looked exhausted after an hour so much running they had to do. Midfield completely non existent and not too dismilar to how Wigan went about it. When teams step up we look very short. Sheehan literally disappeared after being very good first half. A wag near me asked why we’d taken him off at half time.

But Boro are a good side. And Charles had one chance second half pretty much our only chance that really he should have scored and it might have been different.

I’d be lying if I said there weren’t some pretty worrying things though. Yes Boro are excellent and losing far from an issue. But there is a pattern when decent sides step onto us in midfield and we completely are lost.

[TANGODANCER]

Seems we have much to learn if we have Championship ambition. Good for our level, but Championship isn't. We might get there though.

[truewhite15]

Toal, Rico, Forrester as a back three might be the way forward, by the way. Impressed with both Eoin and Will tonight.

[BWFC_Insane]

Seems we have much to learn if we have Championship ambition. Good for our level, but Championship isn't. We might get there though.

Forget championship I’m pretty worried about having to face a very good side on Saturday. I feel we have problems right now that need to be solved but Derby is certainly not the ideal game to be facing next.

[TANGODANCER]

Seems we have much to learn if we have Championship ambition. Good for our level, but Championship isn't. We might get there though.

Forget championship I’m pretty worried about having to face a very good side on Saturday. I feel we have problems right now that need to be solved but Derby is certainly not the ideal game to be facing next.

Is this the man who said failing to get promoted was diabolically not acceptable..?

[BWFC_Insane]

Seems we have much to learn if we have Championship ambition. Good for our level, but Championship isn't. We might get there though.

Forget championship I’m pretty worried about having to face a very good side on Saturday. I feel we have problems right now that need to be solved but Derby is certainly not the ideal game to be facing next.

Is this the man who said failing to get promoted was diabolically not acceptable..?

I mean forget it right now…we have more urgent issues to sort to be ready to play Derby.

[BWFC_Insane]

Last night was a good opportunity to watch a competitive match without the stress of a result. For me there were a few things that were positive to note:
Charles is looking very good
Mendes Gomes looks rusty but I think he and Charles could be an excellent pairing
Toal looked outstanding
First half when we had a yard of space in midfield our midfield three looked excellent.
Ashworth is incredibly willing but I'm still not totally sure where he would play best. But seems to be learning the wing back role.
Coleman to me looks quite good. He may have been a bit quick off his line for the goal but definitely seems fine. Baxter made a couple of very good saves second half.

The more concerning things:
Baxter kicking long killed us second half - why did he keep doing that?
If our back up right wing back is Jones its a little worrying (mainly cos he's not) - he's trying very hard - clearly massively out of form. He was berating himself all game. Can't help but like him though - clearly wants it!
Watching their midfield vs ours you can instantly see one of our shortcomings - their players glide around covering ground effortlessly even when first half we dominated. Ours are working very very hard to get round the pitch. Yes its a quality issue but also a fact we don't have players who can cover ground in there naturally - it looks a weakness to me. Maybe Maghoma can - but I feel everyone else is working hard to do so.
When Boro stepped onto us second half and upped their game our entire midfield who had looked good until then completely disappeared. This, not unlike the Wigan game maybe reflects our one tone approach here. We probably needed midfield to give it back to them to scrap it out but our midfield just isn't doing that.
Fitness - yes Boro had the ball second half but it was noticeable how many struggled after 60 minutes. Morley, Jones, Iredale, CMG (fair enough) - I question whether we might need a little more fitness tuning.

[The_Gun]

Is it right that post game Evatt said the only incoming would be a goalkeeper (if Coleman is out for a while)?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Is it right that post game Evatt said the only incoming would be a goalkeeper (if Coleman is out for a while)?

Not per this.


https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... -deadline/

[BWFC_Insane]

Is it right that post game Evatt said the only incoming would be a goalkeeper (if Coleman is out for a while)?

Not per this.


https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... -deadline/

He did say to Derek Clark that as it stands only likely incoming would be a keeper if Coleman injury is bad enough to warrant it.....

[The_Gun]

Was he asked about Sadlier and John? Poor showing from the local journos if not.

[BWFC_Insane]

Was he asked about Sadlier and John? Poor showing from the local journos if not.

I assume he was but think the interview was cut at the point where he basically said 'think a keeper possibly is the only incoming we'll do'.

So one assumes he hopes for outgoings presumably those two...

I do feel that leaves us light - no wing back cover that is close to satisfactory and still the problem of an overly lightweight midfield.

Personally I think we're 5th/6th position at best with the squad as is.

[jmjhb]

Was he asked about Sadlier and John? Poor showing from the local journos if not.

I do feel that leaves us light - no wing back cover that is close to satisfactory and still the problem of an overly lightweight midfield.

I have to agree. A couple of injuries in the wrong position and we're in trouble.