Red cards and Red Kits, Bolton v Charlton - 17th Feb 2024 3pm

[BWFC_Insane]

Look at our remaining fixtures and Derby and Pompey’s form. Does anyone in heart of hearts have much confidence in us? To me we have a run of the exact sorts of games we struggle with even when we are at our best. And we are far from that right now.

Baxter is in a cast so sounds like he’s a long way off. Coleman is a bit hapless. Santos is a week off. Charles end of the month we hope.

I’m struggling to see autos. But obviously that doesn’t mean much. But I wonder if anyone is actually confident or thinks deep down we will do it?

[Worthy4England]

Yes. Ian is. Whilst I'm not rushing to change my pre-season guesstimate, it is all in our hands, as they say...

[TANGODANCER]

Midfield a major worry too. Dempsey might as well not have been on the pitch today for all the influence or not he had on the game.

What? Demsey worked his pills off today and was a big influence in getting us forward and into scoring positions. Either that or I was watching a different game. At the risk of boring, I repeat, there will be quite a few games like this. This is the norm for us and we need to accept that and do what we do better. It has to be that way or we'd be in the Premiership. Quite simply, we're not. But for some bits of individual brilliance from Maghoma and Bod we would have lost because we were matched, and all too often beaten to the ball. Alfie May shoots more often than Wyatt Earp and I'm glad they kept him off so long.

It's no sin to comment on the bad as well as the good. Doesn't mean I love the Whites any the less because they give me nervous indigestion at times. They sure did that today.

[DJBlu]

Look at our remaining fixtures and Derby and Pompey’s form. Does anyone in heart of hearts have much confidence in us? To me we have a run of the exact sorts of games we struggle with even when we are at our best. And we are far from that right now.

Baxter is in a cast so sounds like he’s a long way off. Coleman is a bit hapless. Santos is a week off. Charles end of the month we hope.

I’m struggling to see autos. But obviously that doesn’t mean much. But I wonder if anyone is actually confident or thinks deep down we will do it?

Just stop it. You're not what the club needs. 3 posts in a row to try and get people into your perverse negativity.

[BWFC_Insane]

Look at our remaining fixtures and Derby and Pompey’s form. Does anyone in heart of hearts have much confidence in us? To me we have a run of the exact sorts of games we struggle with even when we are at our best. And we are far from that right now.

Baxter is in a cast so sounds like he’s a long way off. Coleman is a bit hapless. Santos is a week off. Charles end of the month we hope.

I’m struggling to see autos. But obviously that doesn’t mean much. But I wonder if anyone is actually confident or thinks deep down we will do it?

Just stop it. You're not what the club needs. 3 posts in a row to try and get people into your perverse negativity.

I’m inviting people to offer the alternative view tbh. If you think we are going to do it and have the belief it would help. I don’t right now but tbh we’ve seen the swings in this league. It’s the fixture list and dropped points in games we really needed to be winning prior to a tough run in that is concerning me.

[DJBlu]

Look at our remaining fixtures and Derby and Pompey’s form. Does anyone in heart of hearts have much confidence in us? To me we have a run of the exact sorts of games we struggle with even when we are at our best. And we are far from that right now.

Baxter is in a cast so sounds like he’s a long way off. Coleman is a bit hapless. Santos is a week off. Charles end of the month we hope.

I’m struggling to see autos. But obviously that doesn’t mean much. But I wonder if anyone is actually confident or thinks deep down we will do it?

Just stop it. You're not what the club needs. 3 posts in a row to try and get people into your perverse negativity.

I’m inviting people to offer the alternative view tbh. If you think we are going to do it and have the belief it would help. I don’t right now but tbh we’ve seen the swings in this league. It’s the fixture list and dropped points in games we really needed to be winning prior to a tough run in that is concerning me.

Aye, course.

[Worthy4England]

Be fair to Collins, Insano, he's only been here 5 minutes. There's some place (I' thinking FGR?) Where his starting position was generally two yarda over the whitewash on the left? But Evatt ain't going to change his plan so we'll gave to wait until Collins adapts to ours, which is the other reason I'd prolly try JDB and Vic...

[truewhite15]

Look at our remaining fixtures and Derby and Pompey’s form. Does anyone in heart of hearts have much confidence in us? To me we have a run of the exact sorts of games we struggle with even when we are at our best. And we are far from that right now.

Baxter is in a cast so sounds like he’s a long way off. Coleman is a bit hapless. Santos is a week off. Charles end of the month we hope.

I’m struggling to see autos. But obviously that doesn’t mean much. But I wonder if anyone is actually confident or thinks deep down we will do it?

Just stop it. You're not what the club needs. 3 posts in a row to try and get people into your perverse negativity.

This. Get behind them or piss off.

I've seen enough from us this season to be confident that we can and will go up, yes. But you and your ilk are like f*cking millstones around our necks. Stop booing, stop sitting on your hands, and make some f*cking positive noise for once.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Look at our remaining fixtures and Derby and Pompey’s form. Does anyone in heart of hearts have much confidence in us? To me we have a run of the exact sorts of games we struggle with even when we are at our best. And we are far from that right now.

Baxter is in a cast so sounds like he’s a long way off. Coleman is a bit hapless. Santos is a week off. Charles end of the month we hope.

I’m struggling to see autos. But obviously that doesn’t mean much. But I wonder if anyone is actually confident or thinks deep down we will do it?

My journalistic training teaches me to be disinterested. Not uninterested, as in bored; disinterested as in neutral, like a judge or a copper should be (different conversation, perhaps...)

So that's about separating the emotion from the intellect. And it's vanishingly rare to have positive emotions without negative emotions, the ups without the downs, which is why being scared or angry (which is usually only fear shouting) during and immediately after a game is fine and understandable and all part of being a fan.

Intellectually? I think there's a long way to go but I do think right now there's only three teams in it for the autos. Look at the form guide I posted earlier - everyone from Posh downwards is winning way too infrequently. Barnsley, in 4th, aren't far behind but they're very in and out.

Our big problem is that Derby and Pompey are doing very well. Since losing at home to Orient Pompey have gone WWDWWWW - and the D was only because our old mate James Henry equalised against them in the 90th. Derby have gone WWDWW and even more ominously have only conceded twice in that run: once in that first game at home to Cheltenham (they came back to win) and an 87th-minute equaliser in the draw.

In between those two form-schools sit us. As I said before the game, we have been on a bad run (Carlisle excepted) since the Jan 1st win over Burton concluded a run of 17 games (13 league) in which we won 14 (10 league). Hoovering up 30 points in 28% of a season will do wonders for you, as Pompey and Derby are threatening to find out. The long-term question is, was that the blip? Or is this it?

Our recent run has been disappointing but not terrible. Since Burton, the league results have been LWWDDWD - 12pts from 7 games, or 1.7ppg. Not terrible - 78pts over a season - and we keep finding ways to not lose, but draws won't keep the pace.

I suspect the games in hand have given some players and fans a bit too much optimism. I wouldn't call them a millstone - we're 9pts behind Pompey but with 3 games in hand, which is better than simply being 9pts behind them and looking at a two-way scrap with a well-paid Paul Warne side - but there may have been an element of presumptive chicken-counting.

What I would say, with intellect as well as emotion, is that history tells us Evatt's teams accelerate in the spring. That may well be needed, and if it helps us slay some of our rivals en route - imagine the emotional boost of a win at Wigan, for example - then it will all add to the momentum. Evatt is also historically good at system tweaks that bring results – long lovely streaks of them.

Where the analytical brain worries is the absences. No side can simply absorb the loss of a very good goalkeeper, a captain/centre-back crucial to the team's system, and a 17-goal striker. But few sides can expect to win while telling sob-stories. It is what it is, as the sweat-streaked stoical philosophers parrot into the big foam microphone covers.

We've underwhelmed for a while, and today's first half was the worst I've seen us play in a long time. The second half proved we're no quitters and we can find a way to get results, but we need those results to be wins and that will require fewer concessions. Rico's return will help, Baxter's arguably even more so.

It would be utterly galling to get a high-80s or even low-90s points total and not go straight up. It would require a huge mental reset for a quick scrap with a Stevenage, an Oxford or a Peterborough. You shudder at the thought. But that's emotion, not intellect...

[truewhite15]

Also, I saw Baxter on the way into the stadium today. What I didn't see was a cast. Bit of strapping, maybe.

[irie Cee Bee]

I don't care what Derby, Posh or any other team is doing. Win our games and we go up. Right now, we are not playing well because our best players are either injured or suspended. Baxter, Santos, Thomason, Charles. Few teams are able to win games without their best players. We need them back.

First half today was dreadful.. both teams looked awful. Maghoma played the Sheehan role while Sheehan was completely lost out there as a result. It did not work. Our midfield was non-existent.

2nd half we were better as Paris moved ahead of Sheehan. JDB made a difference when he came on and we fought back for a draw. Not much more to say. We need our big players back to get our groove back.

[BWFC_Insane]

Look at our remaining fixtures and Derby and Pompey’s form. Does anyone in heart of hearts have much confidence in us? To me we have a run of the exact sorts of games we struggle with even when we are at our best. And we are far from that right now.

Baxter is in a cast so sounds like he’s a long way off. Coleman is a bit hapless. Santos is a week off. Charles end of the month we hope.

I’m struggling to see autos. But obviously that doesn’t mean much. But I wonder if anyone is actually confident or thinks deep down we will do it?

My journalistic training teaches me to be disinterested. Not uninterested, as in bored; disinterested as in neutral, like a judge or a copper should be (different conversation, perhaps...)

So that's about separating the emotion from the intellect. And it's vanishingly rare to have positive emotions without negative emotions, the ups without the downs, which is why being scared or angry (which is usually only fear shouting) during and immediately after a game is fine and understandable and all part of being a fan.

Intellectually? I think there's a long way to go but I do think right now there's only three teams in it for the autos. Look at the form guide I posted earlier - everyone from Posh downwards is winning way too infrequently. Barnsley, in 4th, aren't far behind but they're very in and out.

Our big problem is that Derby and Pompey are doing very well. Since losing at home to Orient Pompey have gone WWDWWWW - and the D was only because our old mate James Henry equalised against them in the 90th. Derby have gone WWDWW and even more ominously have only conceded twice in that run: once in that first game at home to Cheltenham (they came back to win) and an 87th-minute equaliser in the draw.

In between those two form-schools sit us. As I said before the game, we have been on a bad run (Carlisle excepted) since the Jan 1st win over Burton concluded a run of 17 games (13 league) in which we won 14 (10 league). Hoovering up 30 points in 28% of a season will do wonders for you, as Pompey and Derby are threatening to find out. The long-term question is, was that the blip? Or is this it?

Our recent run has been disappointing but not terrible. Since Burton, the league results have been LWWDDWD - 12pts from 7 games, or 1.7ppg. Not terrible - 78pts over a season - and we keep finding ways to not lose, but draws won't keep the pace.

I suspect the games in hand have given some players and fans a bit too much optimism. I wouldn't call them a millstone - we're 9pts behind Pompey but with 3 games in hand, which is better than simply being 9pts behind them and looking at a two-way scrap with a well-paid Paul Warne side - but there may have been an element of presumptive chicken-counting.

What I would say, with intellect as well as emotion, is that history tells us Evatt's teams accelerate in the spring. That may well be needed, and if it helps us slay some of our rivals en route - imagine the emotional boost of a win at Wigan, for example - then it will all add to the momentum. Evatt is also historically good at system tweaks that bring results – long lovely streaks of them.

Where the analytical brain worries is the absences. No side can simply absorb the loss of a very good goalkeeper, a captain/centre-back crucial to the team's system, and a 17-goal striker. But few sides can expect to win while telling sob-stories. It is what it is, as the sweat-streaked stoical philosophers parrot into the big foam microphone covers.

We've underwhelmed for a while, and today's first half was the worst I've seen us play in a long time. The second half proved we're no quitters and we can find a way to get results, but we need those results to be wins and that will require fewer concessions. Rico's return will help, Baxter's arguably even more so.

It would be utterly galling to get a high-80s or even low-90s points total and not go straight up. It would require a huge mental reset for a quick scrap with a Stevenage, an Oxford or a Peterborough. You shudder at the thought. But that's emotion, not intellect...

I suspect we need somewhere around 33-36 more points.

11-12 wins. Or 10 wins and some draws.

It’s a big ask but it’s what simply has to be done.

I do think we will get stronger but I think we’ve absolutely run out of track now and Tuesday has to be a win.

[Harry Genshaw]

Look at our remaining fixtures and Derby and Pompey’s form. Does anyone in heart of hearts have much confidence in us? To me we have a run of the exact sorts of games we struggle with even when we are at our best. And we are far from that right now.

Baxter is in a cast so sounds like he’s a long way off. Coleman is a bit hapless. Santos is a week off. Charles end of the month we hope.

I’m struggling to see autos. But obviously that doesn’t mean much. But I wonder if anyone is actually confident or thinks deep down we will do it?

Just stop it. You're not what the club needs. 3 posts in a row to try and get people into your perverse negativity.

This. Get behind them or piss off.

I've seen enough from us this season to be confident that we can and will go up, yes. But you and your ilk are like f*cking millstones around our necks. Stop booing, stop sitting on your hands, and make some f*cking positive noise for once.

What about those of us who do sing and shout positively throughout games? Cos I can't see us winning at Blackpool, Wigan or Barnsley. Thought I'd be ok to voice my doubts on here though!

[Worthy4England]

Look at our remaining fixtures and Derby and Pompey’s form. Does anyone in heart of hearts have much confidence in us? To me we have a run of the exact sorts of games we struggle with even when we are at our best. And we are far from that right now.

Baxter is in a cast so sounds like he’s a long way off. Coleman is a bit hapless. Santos is a week off. Charles end of the month we hope.

I’m struggling to see autos. But obviously that doesn’t mean much. But I wonder if anyone is actually confident or thinks deep down we will do it?

Just stop it. You're not what the club needs. 3 posts in a row to try and get people into your perverse negativity.

This. Get behind them or piss off.

I've seen enough from us this season to be confident that we can and will go up, yes. But you and your ilk are like f*cking millstones around our necks. Stop booing, stop sitting on your hands, and make some f*cking positive noise for once.

What about those of us who do sing and shout positively throughout games? Cos I can't see us winning at Blackpool, Wigan or Barnsley. Thought I'd be ok to voice my doubts on here though!

I thought so too, in fact it's pretty much what I'd expect from a forum where people put opinions.

[DJBlu]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... ier-league

Beginning to think he had a point.

[BWFC_Insane]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... ier-league

Beginning to think he had a point.

Wonder what he would say about slagging off half time subs who go on to score?

Hmmmm.

[DJBlu]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... ier-league

Beginning to think he had a point.

Wonder what he would say about slagging off half time subs who go on to score?

Hmmmm.

That's the issue with you, blinded by hate of a player you failed to see he took our off our scorer and assumed I was having a dig at JDB.

It's pointless engaging in conversation as you have your agenda. We didn't lose today, are 3rd with a chance to get into the top two and yet I really can't be arsed with it.

It's supposed to be fun watching a sport.

[BWFC_Insane]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... ier-league

Beginning to think he had a point.

Wonder what he would say about slagging off half time subs who go on to score?

Hmmmm.

That's the issue with you, blinded by hate of a player you failed to see he took our off our scorer and assumed I was having a dig at JDB.

It's pointless engaging in conversation as you have your agenda. We didn't lose today, are 3rd with a chance to get into the top two and yet I really can't be arsed with it.

It's supposed to be fun watching a sport.

You’ve been on a crusade against BOD. It’s your right I don’t always agree but you have a lot of posts criticising him.

And your posts during matches are hardly a sea of tranquil positivity.

Bottom line is whether I think we will storm this league and finally get out of it or am worried about it won’t change the outcome. We are still handily placed points wise but it’s the fixture list I was asking for opinions on.

[officer_dibble]

Barnsley away
Wigan away
Blackpool away
Derby away
Peterborough away
Portsmouth home
Stevenage away even
At least 4 of those have to be must wins… I can’t pick which ones I put us as favourites in. That’s my fear - today just added one to the total.

[BWFC_Insane]

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

Coleman will have to improve at a serious rate of knots if we are still going to be in contention.