Visit of the Valiants. Port Vale Home...29th Oct.

[LeverEnd]

agree that Clough should have been taken off earlier, as they were just after him as soon as they felt they'd lost the game. He was forced into a pretty poor pass to Derik that could have landed him in bother and their player decided to take a swing at him despite the fact the ball had gone. Luckily didn't catch him properly

Yes and that useless dirty bastard Ryan Taylor went straight through the back of him as well, probably frustrated at how off the pace he was. He kept giving us the ball though, which was nice.

[Worthy4England]

I agree whilst it's working, no point changing it. Shouldn't stop us looking for improvement though.

I'm not sure Madine is ebb and flow - he got to 1 in 4 for Sheff Weds - so 11 over a season, that was his absolute max, I reckon. He's currently sat at 1:5 for us which I don't see changing much.

[boltonboris]

agree that Clough should have been taken off earlier, as they were just after him as soon as they felt they'd lost the game. He was forced into a pretty poor pass to Derik that could have landed him in bother and their player decided to take a swing at him despite the fact the ball had gone. Luckily didn't catch him properly

Yes and that useless dirty bastard Ryan Taylor went straight through the back of him as well, probably frustrated at how off the pace he was. He kept giving us the ball though, which was nice.

Dirty shit cvnt, him. Forgot it was him actually

[bristol_Wanderer3]

Whilst it goes without saying we should shop around for a better striking option in the January TW, I am not optimistic we will get anyone who can do what Madine does as a target man, who can score more goals. Maybe we can get someone who is more of a proven finisher in to come off the bench and take a chance to settle tight games. I assume Odemwingie was going to have that role.

Strikers are generally poor in this league. In the last five league games, 3 of which I have seen the full 90mins, all against long standing league1 sides, would you take Delfouenso from Swindon, Vaughan from Bury or the 6ft 5in Cilica from Vale? I thought he was terrible. Millwall's strikers seemed fairly dangerous, but they are rated as the best strikeforce in the league. Oldham's strikeforce clearly doesn't function as they have scored 9 goals all season.

We might be able to attract a slightly higher standard I guess, but I can't think of anyone around who we could get who would be better. This may be a case of rose tinted spectacles, but I think Madine might get better. Parkinson has said he is fitter than he has ever been, and he seems to be in a good frame of mind and doing a good job for the team. As the team gets more settled he hopefully will improve his conversion rate if he can feed off the confidence from just taking a chance that is likely to come his way given how we are playing just now.

[TANGODANCER]

Think the terms Centre forward and striker are both redundant, or at least don't mean what they did as one position today. Kev Davies was a front man, but not an official striker and, whilst not in the same class, Madine is also a front man. Neither are there solely to score, but to dominate things in a forward role. If the guy at the front can score regularly in the bargain, bingo, but against decent defences the point guy is a battering ram to take the attention of the little, mobile guys (Zac Clough etc). As an up front players, Ameobi seems to get back and defend well, but their goal (as has been stated) rebounded off our front man who should, in the basic game set ups, be nowhere near his own goal. This shouldn't be. Getting bodies in front of the goal is fine, but the defenders know their jobs and surely too many bodies can only cause confusion..? Surely, eight men and a keeper are enough to defend the box? We're not the absolute fastest at breaking, but all too often clearances go straight back at a waiting defence. These are questions as I haven't won MOTM for a fair while now....

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

You might bring a centre-forward back to defend a corner if you think he's one of your best headers. No point having Zach in the box (hey, there's a phrase) if he can be more effective as the out-ball.

[Hoboh]

Madine being touted by some as the new Kevin Davies

Fcuk me, some need an injection of reality.

[nelson66]

have a read of this BEN article and the comments that follow it

not much wheat and lots of chaffe

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/wa ... nt_Parkin/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and before anyone says it - i already know that my comments always fit into the chaffe category

[Andy Waller]

Madine is doing ok for me. Yes, he keeps missing bloody sitters but he's part of a team that's second in the division so he must be doing something right?

If he was missing them and we were losing, he'd deserve all the criticism.

We're in Division 3 for god's sake, we're hardly going to be playing Messinaldo up front.

[BWFC_Insane]

Madine being touted by some as the new Kevin Davies

Fcuk me, some need an injection of reality.

Nobody has said that.

[LeverEnd]

Madine being touted by some as the new Kevin Davies

Fcuk me, some need an injection of reality.

Nobody has said that.

Of course they haven't , there was just too much praise and positivity on the thread, that's all.

[malcd1]

Marc Iles tweeted Josh Vela picked up his fifth booking of the season and will miss the next game. Only the FA Cup so a bit of good luck?

[officer_dibble]

Assuming it is saturday he misses we could be short on centre mids? Only Trotter and Derik?

If he got booked sat and missed the checkawotsit would we be further restricted on players we could 'drop'?Bullshit rules.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Assuming it is saturday he misses we could be short on centre mids? Only Trotter and Derik?

Iles says that it is indeed Saturday's game he misses, and that Spearing is unlikely to be risked.

Could be Derik-Trotter in midfield. Might even see Jack Earing get some time, although I'd guess he's more likely to play next Tuesday at Cheltenham in the Sherpa Van.

Worth remembering that in the current formation Vela is in a more advanced role, and although whoever replaces him will be expected to work hard - who isn't, under Parky? - we are playing a lower-division side at home, so it could be a more attacking player.

We're going to ask Wolves and Newcastle for permission to play James Henry and Sammy Ameobi; as they're window-to-window loanees whose temporary contract with us expires in January, the parent clubs have the right to say no - unlike season-long loanees Tom Thorpe, Keshi Anderson and Andrew Taylor.

Iles also notes that on Monday night, Chris Taylor scored twice for the U23s and Max Clayton played 81 minutes. Alnwick will probably start; Buxton has been on the bench for the last two games; so has Alex Perry, and even Dorian Dervite was named as a sub against Millwall, Oldham and Blackpool (the home one we won).

We will have enough bodies, and hopefully they will have enough motivation to beat Grimsby, even without Mixu Paatelainen.

[Prufrock]

This Chelters business....as I understand it, the team we can only make 5 changes from will be last week's no? We can't play the kids in the FA Cup then say we haven't made any changes when we play them in the Boycott Cup?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

This Chelters business....as I understand it, the team we can only make 5 changes from will be last week's no? We can't play the kids in the FA Cup then say we haven't made any changes when we play them in the Boycott Cup?

Good question. We discussed the rules last time round and they're not very clear. Seems to be five of the previous game or five of your top XI (I guess). As you note, curious if the previous game is an FA Cup game.

It's a proper spreadsheet job, added to the spreadsheets Parky presumably pores over for fitness data (he's always talking about "the numbers" from training). However, over the course of the two games he should be able to rest pretty much every first team player.

[officer_dibble]

Did luton get fined for playing an under 21 team that beat a "big clubs" under 21 team?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Did luton get fined for playing an under 21 team that beat a "big clubs" under 21 team?

Not yet. According to this piece from their local press, fines would be levied after the group stage.

Manager Nathan Jones (youbeengonetoolong) has offered to pay the fine himself - it could be up to £5000, although it's not clear if that's per digression: Luton have twice played lots of kids and twice won, including against West Brom.

All a bit ridiculous, and ridiculed it has certainly been, but it might be worth noting that this "five of the 11" rule is not new for this season: it's been around in the variously-titled Associate Members Cup for a while, precisely because teams were picking players which some paying customers might deem as "understrength". I agree with the argument Jones and others have made about this being the perfect competition in which to blood youngsters, but then I'm not forking over cash to watch the thing. And neither are many others, judging by some of the attendances, but despite the Twitter-spitters' bunched-panties boycott I don't think they're shockingly lower than last season. This competition has never been a money-spinner early doors, it's only further down the road to Wembley that teams and fans get interested.

[Nicko58]

This Chelters business....as I understand it, the team we can only make 5 changes from will be last week's no? We can't play the kids in the FA Cup then say we haven't made any changes when we play them in the Boycott Cup?

On the subject of Cheltenham and the Boycott Cup, how on earth have they ended up in the northern section?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

This Chelters business....as I understand it, the team we can only make 5 changes from will be last week's no? We can't play the kids in the FA Cup then say we haven't made any changes when we play them in the Boycott Cup?

On the subject of Cheltenham and the Boycott Cup, how on earth have they ended up in the northern section?

They're the 12th most northerly League Two club, and the cup's structure ensures that each group has at least one club from each of the lower two tiers.