Rising in Wembley's Glow: A Bolton Wanderers Tale - Bolton vs Oxford. 18th May 2024, 4.15pm

[irie Cee Bee]

Jones, Santos, Sheehan, Maghoma, and Cogley were no shows today in terms of any positive contributions. Maghoma has an excuse and I was amazed that he came out for the 2nd half, and half surprized Santos did. Toal, Ogbeta, Thomasson and Dempsay when he came on tried, while the Charles and Collins were starved as were the midfielders in the first half as the defense never trusted them to give them the ball in tight quarters. We missed Williams and Evatt had no counter answer to Oxford's tactics. The usual 2 forward swich I am afraid, his usual tactic never worked today

[BWFC_Insane]

Bin off that prick at captain and start from there
Bottlejob.
I don’t think Sheehan turns up enough in games like that either.

Won’t go anywhere with soft Sheehan. Needs releasing. No fight. Our muscled by any half decent team.

He and Santos should never play for us again.

It was comical how many times Sheehan "showed" for the ball by putting their number 9 in a direct line between him and Santos. It was like he practised it all week.

‘Player of the season’ yet is the softest human being I’ve ever seen. No battle. Midfield is a scrap. He’s dreadful.

The idea you can just play ‘football’ without winning your battles is absolute idiocy. Promoted by modern football fools.

Man City, 4 massive centre halves. Two physical holding midfield players.

Evatt has once again failed to build a side that when it matters against half decent teams is prepared to fight.

They will own the tag of disgraces. Nothing else they can do.

Next season I hope we become a nasty efficient side that you need to be to achieve these things.

[Worthy4England]

I suspect losing Williams and Maghoma was a big blow. Can't carry players during the games if they're injured.

Hard to expect Thomason or Sheehan to step up to that midfield when they've not shown they're capable previously. Whenever things are going well they're good but when things aren't going well they're lost.

The fact Dempsey can come on and deliver more in 5 minutes than they did in the first half should say everything.

Weve dropped the ball all over this season. In the FA trophy, in the league, in the playoffs. Its a recurring pattern so we should hardly be surprised that it happened today.

Oxford got their tactics spot on. Soon as that goal went in it was game over. Their early frustrating fouls on the break killed any momentum we had.

Same can't be said for our approach to them. So many times they could quickly break on us and not get brought down.

So frustrating. All this time and money spent taking the family there and not even a shot on target.

It's up there with the Stoke defeat. These were a lesser opposition but the performance was just as bad.

Dunno after the first goal. Was pretty easy to see after 10 minutes. Said to missus, they got this, unless someone waves a magic stick.

[Harry Genshaw]

I'm not buying the Oxford shut down our midfield angle at all, I saw Thomason, Sheehan, Maghoma, even Ogbeta in plenty of space asking for the ball but it never came. The defense wouldn't take the risk of passing them the ball, so it just went back and forth then hoofed to no-one when it got too embarrassing to pass sideways again. You have to trust your ability to make the forward pass and the receiving players ability to take it, oh course Oxford are good at pressing and on transition but you either back yourselves or play a different way, we did neither, we did nothing at all, like rabbits in headlights. Honestly I've not been onboard with the "bottlers" tag at all because for me it's just not the case but today the defense bottled it completely, absolutely terrified of making a mistake to the point of deciding not to play at all. It's so telling to me that Iredale came on (a slightly worse defender IMO) and was a marked improvement on the lot of them, for whatever reason he played without fear, just played his normal game, and found midfielders in space who then turned and started playing (to an extent). Santos was shocking, he's put in a few stinkers in his time here, generally been exceptional, but today has to be his worst performance for us. It doesn't just stop with the defense but I can't be arsed digging 'em all out. Imagine having Dion and Collins upfront and not giving them anything to go at. feck me. Nothing to blame, no bad officiating, no major injuries, no major bad luck, I'm 100% certain we have a significantly better team than Oxford and they fecking outplayed us from first to last minute, we didn't even have a decent spell. Pathetic.

Agree with pretty much everyone here but that ^ nails it.

[Worthy4England]

Jones, Santos, Sheehan, Maghoma, and Cogley were no shows today in terms of any positive contributions. Maghoma has an excuse and I was amazed that he came out for the 2nd half, and half surprized Santos did. Toal, Ogbeta, Thomasson and Dempsay when he came on tried, while the Charles and Collins were starved as were the midfielders in the first half as the defense never trusted them to give them the ball in tight quarters. We missed Williams and Evatt had no counter answer to Oxford's tactics. The usual 2 forward swich I am afraid, his usual tactic never worked today

Yeah wasn't saying Maghoma had been good first half, just that he eventually dropped to show, whilst the invisible man went hiding.

What's really got me, any manager would have spent some time contemplating what Oxford would need to do to beat us. Most would have come up with something like we saw from them. Don't let us breathe, on the biggest pitch in England. Our counter to that was? Well - nothing. Plan A.

But we don't know nowt about football. Yesterday's supporters. I know that team lets in too many goals and has a few too many switch offs in some big games. Not we got shaded 1-0, we just didn't compete in too many...

[TANGODANCER]

Pretty much every post is saying the same thing, and none of us getting paid a lot of money for knowing where it all went wrong.
Can't condone Oxford's tactics as I don't want us to play like that, but we didn't learn a thing. Those who said it was all over once they scored, were spot on. Charles, Collins and Jerome got fed less than Oliver Twist and we won less airily than the Wright Brothers. I had to laugh in the warm ups seeing a staffer playing vaulting horse whilst the players blatantly held him down, and the play acting was Shakespeare Society level. None of it matters as football doesn't have plots or plans, only goals and we neither scored or prevented either. How can an attacker throw himself between two opposition players by accident; he was never going o win the ball yet we got a yellow card. Well done ref. It would be hilarious if it weren't so sickening.

Ah well, pick up, dust off and start again next season. We were so near, yet miles away.

[nicholaldo]

I'm not buying the Oxford shut down our midfield angle at all, I saw Thomason, Sheehan, Maghoma, even Ogbeta in plenty of space asking for the ball but it never came. The defense wouldn't take the risk of passing them the ball, so it just went back and forth then hoofed to no-one when it got too embarrassing to pass sideways again.

The reluctance was because every time they did we lost possession as a result of their pressing.

[nicholaldo]

And I can't agree there was much movement in front either.

[Mar]

Jones, Santos, Sheehan, Maghoma, and Cogley were no shows today in terms of any positive contributions. Maghoma has an excuse and I was amazed that he came out for the 2nd half, and half surprized Santos did. Toal, Ogbeta, Thomasson and Dempsay when he came on tried, while the Charles and Collins were starved as were the midfielders in the first half as the defense never trusted them to give them the ball in tight quarters. We missed Williams and Evatt had no counter answer to Oxford's tactics. The usual 2 forward swich I am afraid, his usual tactic never worked today

Yeah wasn't saying Maghoma had been good first half, just that he eventually dropped to show, whilst the invisible man went hiding.

What's really got me, any manager would have spent some time contemplating what Oxford would need to do to beat us. Most would have come up with something like we saw from them. Don't let us breathe, on the biggest pitch in England. Our counter to that was? Well - nothing. Plan A.

But we don't know nowt about football. Yesterday's supporters. I know that team lets in too many goals and has a few too many switch offs in some big games. Not we got shaded 1-0, we just didn't compete in too many...

Agree with you here.

Not once did I think we were gonna sit back frustrate Oxford and catch them on the break. It felt entirely like they knew our game plan and we made it really easy for them.

We weren't inventive enough in our passing to actually make it work leading to the eventual conceding of possession.

Weve had 60 percent of the possession and done sweet fk all with it.

We had Charles and Collins up top with nothing to do. No service. We would've been better with an extra body in midfield.

Overload the midfield let them know were in a game and when the spaces start appearing then tweak it to bring on our additional striker.

Perhaps we sack off the double wingback approach given that all the balls seemed to be going down the left and none on the right.

I'm sure Evatt will look at it and know exactly where it went wrong in terms of how he wants us to play. Trouble is we need those changes in the match and it's clear they're not coming.

I'm sure Evatt wouldn't have expected our midfield to go missing as much as they did today.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Thankful to have been working and missed it. had it on my PC and stuck my head round the office door to check the score every now and then. Even from that I could tell it was going to be a summary of our season minus the good bits. A lot of work to be done this summer...

[Mar]

Wish idve missed it.

Bottled every game that mattered this season.

[BWFC_Insane]

The failings today are systemic. They are Evatts. He’s had three seasons to build and the problems remain. To get out of this division playing like we are needs considerably better players than we have. You can’t do it.

We need a manager who is actually successful - knows what it takes to win and will build a team that has real desire, fight and most of all bottle.

Evatt has proven demonstrably he can’t do that. You can’t let him persist with telling us santos and Sheehan et al are the answers. We’ve asked the question a lot of times and each times we know they aren’t it.

We need pride restoring into the club. We’ve had a torrid time and bar a promotion from league two the last three seasons haven’t been good. It’s dire. I want to see player who know what representing Bolton Wanderers means. Week in week out. These ones don’t.

[DJBlu]

The failings today are systemic. They are Evatts. He’s had three seasons to build and the problems remain. To get out of this division playing like we are needs considerably better players than we have. You can’t do it.

We need a manager who is actually successful - knows what it takes to win and will build a team that has real desire, fight and most of all bottle.

Evatt has proven demonstrably he can’t do that. You can’t let him persist with telling us santos and Sheehan et al are the answers. We’ve asked the question a lot of times and each times we know they aren’t it.

We need pride restoring into the club. We’ve had a torrid time and bar a promotion from league two the last three seasons haven’t been good. It’s dire. I want to see player who know what representing Bolton Wanderers means. Week in week out. These ones don’t.

Just been talking with my brother in law about how everything has to be perfect for Bolton to succeed.

Santos will be gone. Think it's too early for Thommo but I'd be looking at getting someone with broad shoulders who can carry the team through the bad times as there is nobody who'll grab the game by the bollocks and turn it round.

As a side, can someone explain how we've become one of the most hated teams in the leagues?

Evatts arrogance or our fans?

[nicholaldo]

As a side, can someone explain how we've become one of the most hated teams in the leagues?

Evatts arrogance or our fans?

Both.

Our Twitter hashtag is currently reaping everything it's sown.

[BWFC_Insane]

As a side, can someone explain how we've become one of the most hated teams in the leagues?

Evatts arrogance or our fans?

Both.

Our Twitter hashtag is currently reaping everything it's sown.

It’s absolutely embarrassing. Kids who don’t know better.

In the ground today our fans were sound. No ballooning. Plenty of absolute anger. Lots of realism.

Funny thing - 5 minutes in had a chat with row behind and we agreed this was going to be a bad afternoon. You could tell by then. We weren’t turning up and they had. Everyone was in agreement.

[Worthy4England]

When you spout about being the best team in the league and your fans post HMS PisstheLeague posts everywhere - then I suspect it's a combo of both. Fans have long memories (or short ones when it suits)

[BWFC_Insane]

When you spout about being the best team in the league and your fans post HMS PisstheLeague posts everywhere - then I suspect it's a combo of both. Fans have long memories (or short ones when it suits)

Yeah we need honesty from a manager going forwards. Create a much tougher and stronger culture. Stop telling players lies.

Start by telling the ‘captain’ some home truths.

[Mar]

When you spout about being the best team in the league and your fans post HMS PisstheLeague posts everywhere - then I suspect it's a combo of both. Fans have long memories (or short ones when it suits)

I suspect half of that is just people enjoying the moment, tongue in cheek.

Every club has these types and I wouldn't consider them a level headed representation of what we're actually likely to achieve.

Not saying we were the best team in the league this season but given where we are and what we've expected to achieve this season, not getting promoted is underachieving despite being a step up on last season.

Weve scored more goals than anyone else in League One this year, caveat that with including the playoffs as part of the campaign of course. So to not get promoted and put up numbers like that just show how much of a missed opportunity it was.

[Harry Genshaw]

I'm not in the Evatt out camp yet but if he walks, & I think he might, I hope we'll be giving Alex Neill a look. We've known all season that they're a talented bunch but with no bollocks between em. 5 or 10 minutes in and you knew we were fecked.

[Mar]

When you spout about being the best team in the league and your fans post HMS PisstheLeague posts everywhere - then I suspect it's a combo of both. Fans have long memories (or short ones when it suits)

Yeah we need honesty from a manager going forwards. Create a much tougher and stronger culture. Stop telling players lies.

Start by telling the ‘captain’ some home truths.

Maybe time for a new captain.

Santos hasn't ever really pulled off drag people over the line and give them a kick up the ass moment. I feel Sarcevic had it in him. Those Bergsson esque moments. Maybe we need a big money CB bringing in.

Santos can be a good player and can lead by example, but all to often were seeing him make mistakes or put us under pressure. If anything we need someone upping Santos' game and not the other way round.

I'd rank Santos as one of the best in the league on his day and one of the worst in the league when not. Sloppy passing and deflected headers over the keeper today certainly doesn't help his cause. There's definitely a player there, but these moments are way too frequent for us.