Prawn Sandwiches aren't Posh any more. At Home to Peterborough Sat, Oct 26th 3-o'clcock.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

If targets are being set then it is maximum points. it should always be maximum points, though that isn't to say it should always be an instant sacking when inevattably the target is eventually missed...however tempting that is right now.

[TANGODANCER]

Maybe he'd just like to be in the top six by the next break. It's still not top two though, is it....

Do you honestly feel we're good enough for top two in this League D.S.B.? Much as it's heart's desire, there are a few things missing from last season's team (Thomason plus other injuries not the least) and Brum have pulled a financial flanker on us all. That said, changes/improvements in opposition and attitude amongst the players and stubbornness by the gaffer all seem to have had a big downer on it all. We really need a tonic and pretty soon. Just my view.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Maybe he'd just like to be in the top six by the next break. It's still not top two though, is it....

Do you honestly feel we're good enough for top two in this League D.S.B.? Much as it's heart's desire, there are a few things missing from last season's team (Thomason plus other injuries not the least) and Brum have pulled a financial flanker on us all. That said, changes/improvements in opposition and attitude amongst the players and stubbornness by the gaffer all seem to have had a big downer on it all. We really need a tonic and pretty soon. Just my view.

No, I don't mate, and that's one of the problems.
Another of the problems is that we should be.
Another is that we were promised we would be.
Another is that we look worse than last season.

This time last year we'd just won 4-2 at Wycombe, our first win there. We went third and we looked like we were on the up. (We were: it was the second win in an 11-game all-comps run of W10 D1 L0.) Wycombe had been a bogey team and we'd firmly dealt with them – albeit in our usual with-a-wobble way.

Fast forward a year and it's Wycombe who are third. Wycombe who were on nobody's shortlist of the six or eight teams that might cause us a bigger problem this year than last.

[jimbo]

One of the more frustrating things is that while Birmingham are miles ahead, the race for second still seems quite open. There isn’t a clear standout you’d back to still be there come May. We’re not even that far out of it - if we win our game in hand, we’ll be above Huddersfield and Barnsley, who are teams we’d have considered rivals for that second spot at the start of the season. Our squad should also be capable of picking up more points than Wrexham, Mansfield, Exeter, Stockport etc over the next 34 games. We just seem so far off actually being able to do that though. Feels like even if we only had half of our shit together we’d be there or thereabouts at the moment.

[officer_dibble]

The race for second might be open, but every time I look Wrexham are there. Be pretty fecking galling if they run straight through this division.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

The race for second might be open, but every time I look Wrexham are there. Be pretty fecking galling if they run straight through this division.

And a point behind them with a game in hand - ie 6pts above us from same number of games - are Nigel Clough's Mansfield, another club I thought we'd progressed beyond. Galling is precisely the right word.

[jimbo]

Agreed. It’s really frustrating. A lot of the talk at the start of the season was how it would be really hard to go up automatically this year with all the good sides in the division. In reality, all we’ve needed to do so far is keep up with bloody Mansfield. If we’d have started this season even semi-competently, we’d be in prime position.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Agreed. It’s really frustrating. A lot of the talk at the start of the season was how it would be really hard to go up automatically this year with all the good sides in the division. In reality, all we’ve needed to do so far is keep up with bloody Mansfield. If we’d have started this season even semi-competently, we’d be in prime position.

True. In mitigation, not everybody that I thought would be fearsome have been. Rotherham I thought had a good chance of being top two under Steve Evans but they've got 14pts from 13 games. I thought Charlton might be better than 11th under Nathan Jones, but they've struggled for goals having lost May to Brum. But if those two managers, who know how to get promotion from this division, make their teams click then we're in an even bigger bunfight, even for the top six.

[Worthy4England]

The missus said "We're going here the weekend." Dutifully I concured. I now find I'm in one horse dorp, in anti-English, North Wales serving Robinsons and having packed a number of England rygbi tops...and thinking about football, I'm thinking maybe it's not too bad. You've done that, Ian. No one else.

[officer_dibble]

The race for second might be open, but every time I look Wrexham are there. Be pretty fecking galling if they run straight through this division.

Edit - be even more galling if Bodvarson gets the goals to get them up. I won’t be watching that series!

[TANGODANCER]

The missus said "We're going here the weekend." Dutifully I concured. I now find I'm in one horse dorp, in anti-English, North Wales serving Robinsons and having packed a number of England rygbi tops...and thinking about football, I'm thinking maybe it's not too bad. You've done that, Ian. No one else.

Not too advisable to wear the England tops in N.Wales mate (as you probably know). They have this awful hablt of talking to each other in some sort of daffodil language, and you just know they're taking the xxxx but can't prove it. Oh, just in case you think I'm biased, the wife's lot are all Welsh.

[Mar]

This has got to be a first for us at this stage of the season surely...

We're playing the Leagues Best Offence and Worst Defence after Peterborough have scored 25 and conceded 25.

The nearest best offence:
23 Wycombe
22 Birmingham
19 5 clubs
17 Bolton, Huddersfield

The nearest worst defence:
24 Burton
23 Shrewsbury, Blackpool
22 Crawley
19 Bristol Rovers
18 Bolton, Barnsley, Northampton



Surprisingly, Stevenage come close to the other record:
Best Defence Wrexham 8 (Stevenage on 9) and Worst Offence: Stevenage 9 (alongside Stockport)

[officer_dibble]

Team wise I’m assuming Dempsey is now out for a ‘Bolton 6 weeks’ (which in Tutus case is 8 now and rising). So Matete has to play doesn’t he? I suspect same team as Burton with Matete in for Dempsey, which if I was that Lolos chap I’d be a bit miffed at given a
Striker is being shoehorned into the position I was signed to play.

Baxter and Toal back in the side? So can’t cross/wont cross back to RwB?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Without a direct quote but quite clearly attributed, Ilesy says Evatt has set his players a target of seven points from the three league games before the next break (Posh, Stevenage, Stockport).

More on the above in this morning's BN content.
https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... sion-call/

At the end of the last international window we targeted this block of five fixtures and wanted 10 points, so two per game, which we know where that ends up. We have three league games to still gain that, one at home, two away, and if we can gain seven points from those fixtures then I think it is a good return. I know we’re a long way off from that yet but the opportunity is there, and we have a cup game too where we always want to progress, but Walsall are going well too. It’s a challenging run given the squad availability but we are where we are and we have to deal with it.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Baxter and Toal back in the side? So can’t cross/wont cross back to RwB?

If Toal is back - and I see Ian's raging against Norn Iron again - then for me it would make sense to have JDC rather than Randell at RWB. I like Randell and he can come on if we need it, but Posh's flying foursome up front worry me.

[Mar]

Baxter and Toal back in the side? So can’t cross/wont cross back to RwB?

If Toal is back - and I see Ian's raging against Norn Iron again - then for me it would make sense to have JDC rather than Randell at RWB. I like Randell and he can come on if we need it, but Posh's flying foursome up front worry me.

I'm hoping it's a high scoring game. We can't keep a clean sheet at the best of times, but it'll be far more interesting than a 0-0 if we end up finishing 4-4.

[Worthy4England]

Baxter and Toal back in the side? So can’t cross/wont cross back to RwB?

If Toal is back - and I see Ian's raging against Norn Iron again - then for me it would make sense to have JDC rather than Randell at RWB. I like Randell and he can come on if we need it, but Posh's flying foursome up front worry me.

I'm hoping it's a high scoring game. We can't keep a clean sheet at the best of times, but it'll be far more interesting than a 0-0 if we end up finishing 4-4.

I don't equate 4-4 with proper shit defending as interesting. It's just a function of the shit defending.

[Mar]

Baxter and Toal back in the side? So can’t cross/wont cross back to RwB?

If Toal is back - and I see Ian's raging against Norn Iron again - then for me it would make sense to have JDC rather than Randell at RWB. I like Randell and he can come on if we need it, but Posh's flying foursome up front worry me.

I'm hoping it's a high scoring game. We can't keep a clean sheet at the best of times, but it'll be far more interesting than a 0-0 if we end up finishing 4-4.

I don't equate 4-4 with proper shit defending as interesting. It's just a function of the shit defending.

Wins aren't inherently entertaining. Goals are. Success over the season is.

I'd be interested as to the why and how the goals come about but I'm rarely engaged with how a nil nil came about. Therefore 4 4 is more interesting.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Iles: "Looks like they will have Eoin Toal back in defence but still without Kyle Dempsey (knee), Nathan Baxter (calf), George Thomason (hamstring), Jordi Osei-Tutu (calf), Chris Forino (hamstring), Carlos Mendes Gomes (hamstring)."

No mention of Gethin, again. Where'd he go?

(For what it's worth I've got Baxter's problem down as thigh and JOT as knee, but I could be wrong.)

[Worthy4England]

Baxter and Toal back in the side? So can’t cross/wont cross back to RwB?

If Toal is back - and I see Ian's raging against Norn Iron again - then for me it would make sense to have JDC rather than Randell at RWB. I like Randell and he can come on if we need it, but Posh's flying foursome up front worry me.

I'm hoping it's a high scoring game. We can't keep a clean sheet at the best of times, but it'll be far more interesting than a 0-0 if we end up finishing 4-4.

I don't equate 4-4 with proper shit defending as interesting. It's just a function of the shit defending.

Wins aren't inherently entertaining. Goals are. Success over the season is.

I'd be interested as to the why and how the goals come about but I'm rarely engaged with how a nil nil came about. Therefore 4 4 is more interesting.

For you, mate, which is fine, and absolutely always take a win and success above all.

For me, there is skill in defending as well as attacking, so great defence nilling some great attacking, I find more enjoyable than dumping 5 past a defence that's all over the place with some poor attacks. A 4 4, for me isn't necessarily more interesting, it would have to be a 4 4, where the defending was good, but just got slightly outdone, because the attacking was great.