Creeping Northwards. At home to Crawley Town, Sat 8th FEB 3-0'clock.

[GhostoftheBok]

Can't say I'm even sure what system we intend to play on Tuesday, so it'll all be interesting.

[TonyDomingos]

FB_IMG_1739053335315.jpg (93.2 KiB) Viewed 1845 times

[DJBlu]

Sets us up perfectly for next week. Let's keep that momentum going...

You can build a club culture on the back of those kinds of results.

Quite. Results like this are just what we need to get people back.

Maybe the good news will even continue next week...

Julian staying on as a coach?

[TANGODANCER]

Happy as I am at this result, everything's changed and it isn't the same game as last year. Crawley, bottom or no, played some decent stuff and put three past us, that's a worry, but a sign of what we can expect every game mainly due to teams acquiring new players and staff. We need to work on set pieces in both attack and defence. "It's goals that count" has never been more relevant. Great day though and all's well that ends well..Behind three times and still won.. Good start Mr Schumacher.

[brommers95]

FB_IMG_1739053335315.jpg

Quality pic that

[TonyDomingos]

Happy as I am at this result, everything's changed and it isn't the same game as last year. Crawley, bottom or no, played some decent stuff and put three past us, that's a worry, but a sign of what we can expect every game mainly due to teams acquiring new players and staff. We need to work on set pieces in both attack and defence. "It's goals that count" has never been more relevant. Great day though and all's well that ends well..Behind three times and still won.. Good start Mr Schumacer.

I agree. But, we've all got a bit giddy over beating second from bottom with a goal in the 100th minute against 10 men.

[GhostoftheBok]

I agree. But, we've all got a bit giddy over beating second from bottom with a goal in the 100th minute against 10 men.

Yeah, but you've got to let yourself just enjoy these moments.

We've not actually played well, as a complete performance, since Evatt left (and obviously hadn't for a while under him). We've shown signs of what this squad can be, but it's always included issues that need to be coached.

If we'd not come back we'd be focusing on our absolutely dreadful defending, or the fact not playing a proper striker made us look a bit toothless. However, we did come back, so we can focus on the good bits - like a top class midfield display from Sheehan and Tutu slaughtering their fullback.

Schumacher is on a fact-finding mission at the minute. Who can do what and how will his players react to what he asks them to do? He's had one week of communication time, but also only one week to really get to understand the group.

Being crap at times is inevitable, but so long as we win that's fine.

Schumacher will know he basically has 3 games and 3 weeks to get a lot of work done, because after that it's going to be an absolute war given the run we have.

[TonyDomingos]

I'm definitely enjoying the moment!

[Worthy4England]

Delighted with a win. There will be zero doubt that our superior view of football will put Parky's aincient long ball shit to the sword. 4-0 Whites.

[irie Cee Bee]

Jones "goal" was awesome. That was an impressive turn of speed from him. I was starting to feel a bit annoyed with him and Johnston when they came on and reverted to the slow backward passing with space ahead of them to move forward into. Seems like Schuey picked that up and the message went out to great effect. He sprinted unto Morely's pass like a young 20 yr old. Superb.

[DJBlu]

Jones "goal" was awesome. That was an impressive turn of speed from him. I was starting to feel a bit annoyed with him and Johnston when they came on and reverted to the slow backward passing with space ahead of them to move forward into. Seems like Schuey picked that up and the message went out to great effect. He sprinted unto Morely's pass like a young 20 yr old. Superb.

The last replay on this shows how good the run was.

[TANGODANCER]

Happy as I am at this result, everything's changed and it isn't the same game as last year. Crawley, bottom or no, played some decent stuff and put three past us, that's a worry, but a sign of what we can expect every game mainly due to teams acquiring new players and staff. We need to work on set pieces in both attack and defence. "It's goals that count" has never been more relevant. Great day though and all's well that ends well..Behind three times and still won.. Good start Mr Schumacer.

I agree. But, we've all got a bit giddy over beating second from bottom with a goal in the 100th minute against 10 men.

Quite so, but their goals, though well worked, came as a result of our defensive lapses rather than superiority. It would have been so easy to just sit back and accept defeat. We didn't, but fought back from a hopeless situation and won. The attitude is the real winner. I'm happy to be proud of that.

[BWFC_Insane]

For the purposes of this I’m going to pretend we lost yesterday. Cold light of day I think had we lost we’d be reflecting on a pretty poor performance. Which is fair.

But he’s been here a week, I’ve listened and watched all his press ans interviews. And regardless of results I really like Schuey. He says the right things. Hes calm and composed. His view of the games are the same as mine, I don’t wonder what game our manager watched anymore. He is clearly an intelligent man who thinks a lot about the game but beyond that he clearly understands the scenarios he’s placed in and doesn’t push his view over that. When asked yesterday about it being great to see spirit and fight his immediate response was ‘yes but those are a given’. That’s absolutely what we need. Although he’s calm you can also see he has a spark so it’s not calm and lacking in motivation. He’s back in the home dugout as it was ridiculous not to have the manager there.

For me there is that gut feel that he knows what he’s doing and knows how to get there. He’s working it out. I think honestly that how he is wanting to play probably with what we’ve got gives us less chance of making the play offs this season than a Darby setup till the end of the season. I do think we could probably have Darby’ed our way to 6th, being very hard to break down and trying to catch teams out on the break. I get why we aren’t trying to build that model and Scheuy gets a lot of patience from me. I don’t expect us to be top 6, if we are it’s a nice bonus, I suspect he has a way to go to shape us in a way that he wants and we can play how he likes. But I trust him enough to suggest he needs that time.

Doesn’t mean it will work out. You never know with managers. But I don’t sense he was clinging on by his fingernails for a win yesterday. Had we lost he’d have said similar things and reacted in a similar way. Calm, composed and thoughtful. Focusing on the issues we have.

[DJBlu]

For the purposes of this I’m going to pretend we lost yesterday. Cold light of day I think had we lost we’d be reflecting on a pretty poor performance. Which is fair.

But he’s been here a week, I’ve listened and watched all his press ans interviews. And regardless of results I really like Schuey. He says the right things. Hes calm and composed. His view of the games are the same as mine, I don’t wonder what game our manager watched anymore. He is clearly an intelligent man who thinks a lot about the game but beyond that he clearly understands the scenarios he’s placed in and doesn’t push his view over that. When asked yesterday about it being great to see spirit and fight his immediate response was ‘yes but those are a given’. That’s absolutely what we need. Although he’s calm you can also see he has a spark so it’s not calm and lacking in motivation. He’s back in the home dugout as it was ridiculous not to have the manager there.

For me there is that gut feel that he knows what he’s doing and knows how to get there. He’s working it out. I think honestly that how he is wanting to play probably with what we’ve got gives us less chance of making the play offs this season than a Darby setup till the end of the season. I do think we could probably have Darby’ed our way to 6th, being very hard to break down and trying to catch teams out on the break. I get why we aren’t trying to build that model and Scheuy gets a lot of patience from me. I don’t expect us to be top 6, if we are it’s a nice bonus, I suspect he has a way to go to shape us in a way that he wants and we can play how he likes. But I trust him enough to suggest he needs that time.

Doesn’t mean it will work out. You never know with managers. But I don’t sense he was clinging on by his fingernails for a win yesterday. Had we lost he’d have said similar things and reacted in a similar way. Calm, composed and thoughtful. Focusing on the issues we have.

You're wired up wrong.

You don't have to imagine we lost as you can say all that even when we win.

[BWFC_Insane]

For the purposes of this I’m going to pretend we lost yesterday. Cold light of day I think had we lost we’d be reflecting on a pretty poor performance. Which is fair.

But he’s been here a week, I’ve listened and watched all his press ans interviews. And regardless of results I really like Schuey. He says the right things. Hes calm and composed. His view of the games are the same as mine, I don’t wonder what game our manager watched anymore. He is clearly an intelligent man who thinks a lot about the game but beyond that he clearly understands the scenarios he’s placed in and doesn’t push his view over that. When asked yesterday about it being great to see spirit and fight his immediate response was ‘yes but those are a given’. That’s absolutely what we need. Although he’s calm you can also see he has a spark so it’s not calm and lacking in motivation. He’s back in the home dugout as it was ridiculous not to have the manager there.

For me there is that gut feel that he knows what he’s doing and knows how to get there. He’s working it out. I think honestly that how he is wanting to play probably with what we’ve got gives us less chance of making the play offs this season than a Darby setup till the end of the season. I do think we could probably have Darby’ed our way to 6th, being very hard to break down and trying to catch teams out on the break. I get why we aren’t trying to build that model and Scheuy gets a lot of patience from me. I don’t expect us to be top 6, if we are it’s a nice bonus, I suspect he has a way to go to shape us in a way that he wants and we can play how he likes. But I trust him enough to suggest he needs that time.

Doesn’t mean it will work out. You never know with managers. But I don’t sense he was clinging on by his fingernails for a win yesterday. Had we lost he’d have said similar things and reacted in a similar way. Calm, composed and thoughtful. Focusing on the issues we have.

You're wired up wrong.

You don't have to imagine we lost as you can say all that even when we win.

Yeah but then it’s saying it after a win which is easy isn’t it? I just mean that we can all enjoy a comeback win and get carried away by it but I was trying to not do so and ground where we are at without the post result glow. The rest of this season I suspect is going to be pretty bumpy with ups and downs. It’s a journey now.

[Bertie Wooster]

What a breath of fresh air Schumacher is, everything about him and his management style & approach to the game is honest & positive - I'm looking forward to next season when he's had chance to bring in 3 or 4 of his own players, I think that we will be a much more balanced team next season and good to watch.

Great win yesterday and a decent supportive crowd, although very quiet 1st half they really got behind the side after our 2nd goal. It must be hard for Schumacher having no proper strikers in the squad, the way he wants to play would really benefit a proper goalscoring No9 and more physicality in central midfield - I thought Morley, Osei Tutu were excellent, and Sheehan had a really good game for once.

[TANGODANCER]

For the purposes of this I’m going to pretend we lost yesterday. Cold light of day I think had we lost we’d be reflecting on a pretty poor performance. Which is fair.

Why? Would you be happier if we'd lost? You could say that apart from bad defending when they scored we could pretend we won 4-0. Pretence is as make believe as Santa Claus and The Chronicles of Narnia. Truth is, Crawley didn't give it us and we won on merit. Why pretend otherwise? Last game we lost 1-0 to an extra time penalty; it's all part of the game.



Forgot to add, the "Lofty" pic should be framed in Bolton art gallery. Classic..

[TiredTrotter]

What a breath of fresh air Schumacher is, everything about him and his management style & approach to the game is honest & positive - I'm looking forward to next season when he's had chance to bring in 3 or 4 of his own players, I think that we will be a much more balanced team next season and good to watch.

Great win yesterday and a decent supportive crowd, although very quiet 1st half they really got behind the side after our 2nd goal. It must be hard for Schumacher having no proper strikers in the squad, the way he wants to play would really benefit a proper goalscoring No9 and more physicality in central midfield - I thought Morley, Osei Tutu were excellent, and Sheehan had a really good game for once.

Spot on, his positivity is so refreshing and just what we needed. We all know the reality of the situation is we're more likely than not to be in L1 next season, it's great to see he's embracing what he's got to work with with such optimism.

[BWFC_Insane]

For the purposes of this I’m going to pretend we lost yesterday. Cold light of day I think had we lost we’d be reflecting on a pretty poor performance. Which is fair.

Why? Would you be happier if we'd lost? You could say that apart from bad defending when they scored we could pretend we won 4-0. Pretence is as make believe as Santa Claus and The Chronicles of Narnia. Truth is, Crawley didn't give it us and we won on merit. Why pretend otherwise? Last game we lost 1-0 to an extra time penalty; it's all part of the game.



Forgot to add, the "Lofty" pic should be framed in Bolton art gallery. Classic..

No - what I’m saying is that Schuey seems to be the thing we needed. And we need to give him time regardless of results. Let him build.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

After the exhilaration, the analysis. Chiefly for now, the formation.

Many of us longed for Evatt to try a back four, and Schumacher did so with a 4231 (Cogs-Forrester-Toal-Murphy; Morley-Sheehan; Schon-Randall-Tutu; McAtee).

The first half performance was sort of promising, up to a point, that point being pretty much the penalty box. Whether by correlation or causation, our worst two performers in the system were the No.9 (McAtee, still looking like a man of no fixed position) and the No.10 Randall, who has shown promising glimpses of late but yesterday looked worrying like a bobble-headed avatar of Evattian inefficiency and hubris.

Several others looked more promising, though, in their new roles. Cogley as an overlapping full-back is so much better than as the sole right-side outlet. Murphy showed assured touches and grew in confidence. Osei-Tutu can be a thrilling winger, can beat his man on either side. Schon was more mixed, a chaos engine; he looked keen to try things but unsure what they might be, and attacks frequently floundered on that uncertainty.

The second half was mad, a lot of noise amid the signal, but Crawley's second and third goals showed a weakness in the 4231 system, or rather in the "two behind a 10" midfield triangle. For the second, Crawley RWB Forster's cut inside and simple 10-yard diagonal takes out Sheehan, who then watches in hands-on-head horror as Crawley's LWB Swan ghosts in between Forrester and Cogley, in the gaping hole where a third centre-back would be, to put the visitors back in front. Watch at 0.40:
.

.
The Crawley went further in front with a horror of a goal. The clip doesn't show it but seconds earlier Randall had waved a limp leg at their mon, and neither Sheehan nor Morley was around to help Toal, who then looked about 60 years old as Hepburn-Murphy sprinted past him. Oh dear.

Six minutes later Murphy halved the deficit but it didn't stop Schuey and his lieutenants making a quadruple substitution. Both full-backs were replaced - Johnston on for Murphy, Geth for Cogs - and the front end was tweaked a little: Vic on for Randall, forming more of a front two with McAtee, and Lolos for Schon.

By the eye test it din't look to me like a reversion to the back three, and the player heatmaps back that up - Johnston's matches Murphy's, Geth's matches Cogs'. When Matete replaced Forrester in the 85th minute we did flip to more of a back three, if you can really even call it that when one of them is Aaron Morley, but Johnston's touches were if anything even further forward as we steamed after the opposition.

In such an attack vs defence situation, formations are largely moot anyway, but it raises an interesting point that Schumacher has been so willing to change - in-game and between games. A good thing, surely, not least as it keeps the oppo guessing and gives you more ways to win (although I'm sick of that sodding Einstein/insanity quote, which appears to have comprehensively beaten Robert the Bruce's spider).

I think there's a bright future in the back four, with some caveats (including the desirability of flexibility).
• We need the 10 and 9 to work well, separately and together.
• I don't know what McAtee is and he needs to show me.
• I suspect Randall is best as a No.10 but he didn't show it yesterday.
• I suspect Vic is our best no.9 in a single-striker system.
• I don't know quite where Collins fits in. I've said before I think he'd be lethal off the left in a 4231, but is that isolating him? (I'd be confident in Tutu on the right).

It's going to be an interesting few months. I don't know where it will end but it may (or may not) include a Wembley trip or two. I'm certainly looking forward to finding out - and to seeing what Schumacher can do for our club.