FA Cup 4th Round

[thebish]

anyway - Coyle seems happy enough with it....

Bolton Wanderers manager Owen Coyle says he was happy with the response he received from his players in the FA Cup tie against Wigan Athletic following the match against Chelsea.

The Whites enjoyed large periods of possession, especially in the second period, and created a number of chances but ultimately it was to be an afternoon on which both sides' defences came out on top.

And in one of those defences was new signing David Wheater, who particularly impressed Coyle on his first appearance in a Wanderers shirt.

Speaking in his post-match press conference Coyle said: "I thought it was a game that both sides clearly wanted to win and we certainly felt we had chances in the game to do just that.

"Within ten seconds we've had a great chance through Johan who has been denied by a great block and Martin has fired narrowly wide in the first half, and on another day those could have easily gone in.

"Following the disappointment of Monday night against Chelsea I was looking for a response from the players and I thought I got exactly that. Although we've not won the game we'll look at the positives. We've kept a clean sheet and we've created a lot of opportunities.

"We'd have loved to have won the tie at the first time of asking, but it hasn't happened, and now we'll look to continue building and progressing for a massive game against Wolves on Wednesday.

"I thought David Wheater was terrific on his debut. He's slotted into the side with great ease and that's great testament to what a good player he is. We know he'll get better in time.

"Rodrigo has come on again and proved again what an exciting talent he is, and at the end of the day we're in the hat for the next round."

[Athers]

Wheater's comedy handball was probably the highlight of the game, along with his actual performance, he looked solid, fit in well.

With you on this.

[BWFC_Insane]

Wheater looked good, Robinson tried hard, Jussi did fine with a clean sheet.

Apart from that there is little credit to go round. Mark Davies and Elmander did their best to make things happen, Elmander should have scored after 30 seconds though, Petrov also should have scored later in the half. Petrov was a bit unlucky to come off, he was just about doing ok and Rodrigo offers little end product IMO.

I wonder when Kevin Davies will start trying again? Lots of shrugging of shoulders and head down stolls back to no mans land, very little else. Muamba was back to his uselessly inept for a professional footballer worst. Generally the whole team lacks spark, drive, desire and some of the things it had earlier in the season.

We're in trouble, lets not kid ourselves. We've gone from slump to full blown crisis in terms of form and performances. We could still be dragged down and fail to beat Wolves with Spurs away next and things could get a bit dicey.

I fully believe we'll stay up.

I also think currently there is a very strong case to say that come the end of the season we could well be no better off than if Megson was in charge!

[TANGODANCER]

So for me its make or break now for OC - he needs to finally decide how he wants to play and bring players in who fit in with that style, not continue to put square pegs in round holes.

Come on P.T. get a grip. Not having had aught but the commentary I can't argue about the display and won't try.. That said, we didn't lose and it's hardly noose, rope and pitchfork time yet for Own Coyle. Everything's determined by our financial situation (which is hardly mega-bucks right now) and I'm sure he's trying to get in who he can. Beat Wigan and Wolves and the world-ending is postponed at least until next time we lose, even for you,surely?

[hisroyalgingerness]

Yeah but TD it works both way the square peg, hole thing. We're clearly trying to do something with the ball that 4 or 5 integral players on the pitch are incapable of doing.

Muamba gets in such good positions with the ball but his ability is miles short of what's required, so we lose it or it goes back. Knight is inept and any period of possession which requires the ball to be passed around the back four invariably ends up in row Z, y'know for safety. And Davies doesn't seem to want to move for anything not gifted into his upper body or forehead.

They're only 3 players, and you could arguably put Taylor in with them too but such is the amount of play that goes through them we can't carry them.

Alternative is to focus on the strengths of the XI and create situations where we can use Taylor's crossing or dead ball ability; or to change the XI so that Muamba isn't relied on so much with the ball by having 3 in midfield.

[James B]

coyle has been hoisted on his own petard really. he's given us a glimpse of what can be achieved with our first eleven in that amazing run of form around november but even during the odd win since then we have been average at best. at the moment our lack of a backup in our squad is showing. we miss chung yong lee (who will likely be knackered after his exertions in qatar) who looks more important to our side with every passing match he misses.

if we lose on wednesday we are in a full thrown dogfight to stay up all of a sudden, albeit with about 10 other clubs, but with the form guide as bad as it is i would be panicking a little. as it is i think we'll get enough wins to hit that hallowed 40pts total (might need a few more this season?) but i don't think we should expect too much from coyle with the bare squad he has. flights of fancy about europe are now out the window and he shouldn't be blamed much if at all for that.

of course the likes of serial moaner peter thompson will query why he hasn't added to the squad in january. but nobody knows what is going on behind the scenes. the financial results for the year were hideous and i don't imagine there is too much cash sloshing about to fill the squad up with solid experience top flight personnel. he has picked up a player in the position where it was needed most but there isn't much point in getting players for the sake of it to add to the numbers if he feels they won't be up to the task.

[Tombwfc]

Indeed, as disapointing as the inactivity is.... if the board make the decision that we're £60mil in debt and not likely to go down, why go out and spend where there's no value, who's to say they are wrong? It's dull as a ST holder to see us surrender the rest of the season, but it makes sense from a business standpoint.

It looks like being a carbon copy of Megson's second season. Up to 7th with the MOTM in November, down to 12th by February, stabilise at around 13th by the end of the season.

[ratbert]

We're in trouble, lets not kid ourselves. We've gone from slump to full blown crisis in terms of form and performances. We could still be dragged down and fail to beat Wolves with Spurs away next and things could get a bit dicey.

I fully believe we'll stay up.

We still have 30 points. We are far from a relegation battle yet. It's just that some Bolton fans (not accusing you BWFCi) seem addicted to us being in relegation battles and even get a perverse pleasure from it.

[Mar]

Im hoping that Owen Coyle will start mixing up our team and mixing the formation and substitutions. 4-5-1 into a 4-3-3 instead of the 4-4-2 we have been using far too much this season. Confidence is obviously low at this moment in time but I don't think it helps when we're leaving those up front that aren't performing and those that are performing being brought off.

Kevin Davies should've been subbed this season yet its Elmo that almost always makes way. Petrov and Taylor are undoubtable getting a little annoyed at being subbed at exactly the same time. I know Coyle wants to keep spirits high but I don't think it would be too damaging to turn round and let those players know when its just not been a good afternoon at the office. Matt Taylor had a woeful game today and yet Petrov and Taylor both made way at the same time. Give Petrov a chance on the left wing with Moreno on the right. Don't let them keep thinking that come the 60 minute mark they'll be getting substituted at the exact same time.

I don't think there's much faith being placed in the likes of our backup strikers at the moment. Klasnic would've been nice to have started today but it wasn't to be.

On the plus side. I thought we played quite well today. I thought we bossed the game and had a lot of good passing moves that were only let down in the final third. Elmander didn't have enough service and Davies didn't get much either. I think Davies and Elmander could benefit from letting Elmander know that Davies' flicks are going to be going infield more often than not and not down the channel, seems that was the case but it was missing a few of the link up.

I don't think Coyle can be upset or annoyed with the team today. We should've won but didn't. We're still in the cup and we've still got a good chance against Wigan at the DW. Matt Taylor is the only one who could be annoyed with his performance but everyone is entitled to a bad game every so often. I'm just glad he's not making a habit of it.

[belfast_wanderer]

I think a draw isn't exactly the end of the world for us today, but do agree Wednesdays game is huge. We really could do with some new faces but doubt that we'll be able to bring in the quality that were so desperately lacking. K Davies has become to predictable with an awful touch of late and Elmander just looks plain knackered. So why didn't we start Klasnic today? On his day is a top striker with an eye for goal. Also thank god we have Lee back, maybe to early for the Wolves game, but brings that creativity that we are missing.

[Peter Thompson]

So for me its make or break now for OC - he needs to finally decide how he wants to play and bring players in who fit in with that style, not continue to put square pegs in round holes.

Come on P.T. get a grip. Not having had aught but the commentary I can't argue about the display and won't try.. That said, we didn't lose and it's hardly noose, rope and pitchfork time yet for Own Coyle. Everything's determined by our financial situation (which is hardly mega-bucks right now) and I'm sure he's trying to get in who he can. Beat Wigan and Wolves and the world-ending is postponed at least until next time we lose, even for you,surely?

TD - I can't see what's wrong with my post, its an honest assessment of one of the reasons why apart from '1 month of the season' we have been poor, I've played at a decent level and watched the whites for decades but its blatently obvious why we are struggling, and its worrying that Owen Coyle doesn't see what's not working and won't change a struggling, losing, low in confidence team - and I never mentioned noose, rope & pitchfork time so wind it in....

I'll say it again, he needs to decide what system & style of football he wants us to play and then bring in players who are comfortable playing that system, if he decides that he wants to go down the route of pass & move high tempo football as opposed to long ball / direct football then IMO he needs to get rid of the likes of K Davies, Knight, Muamba, Taylor (and others) asap and get in players who are comfortable on the ball & in possession, at the moment we have too many players who are clearly incapable of playing this way and its currently resulting in a very poor team on the pitch who look like they have no game plan & no idea what system/ style they are supposed to be playing.

He keeps saying that we are a 'work in progress' - well Owen when are you going to change it, because for me you can only get away with saying this for a while and he's now had over 12 months and 2 full transfer windows.

Yes he was a breath of fresh air when he arrived after doctor death, and he brought a feel good factor back to the club which resulted in us over achieving in the 1st quarter of the season....but this is much more than a slump its 2 full months of awful un creative football, (with very few goals scored) and at times even in our so called good spell we were lucky....but he keeps on playing the same old players, same formation week in week out and doesn't appear to have a clue on how to change things.

All I'm asking for is a sign of real progress....which we had until late November, but since then we've gone backwards and we may as well have had Megson in charge because currently OC isn't showing any signs that he's much better (apart from putting an arm round a few fragile multi millionaire shoulders), is a 14th / 15th position finish really progress ?

[Bruce Rioja]

See what you've done, Tango? Everyone else had ignored the trolling prick! Back over to you.

[Peter Thompson]

See what you've done, Tango? Everyone else had ignored the prick! Back over to you.

Ah same old constructive retort I see....usual name calling is all your capable of, I think its you who's the prick sunshine....had a shandy have you ?

[Hoboh]

See what you've done, Tango? Everyone else had ignored the prick! Back over to you.

Ah same old constructive retort I see....usual name calling is all your capable of, I think its you who's the prick sunshine....had a shandy have you ?

mastered in drama Peter?
Give Coyle a break he probs thought he would have had a bit more cash when he signed on the dotted line for starters and injury/lack of form will have stood in the way of progress. Even I struggle to see how much he could have done differently except maybe benched Davo of late and give Petrov licence to roam aka stelios

[Bruce Rioja]

See what you've done, Tango? Everyone else had ignored the prick! Back over to you.

Ah same old constructive retort I see....usual name calling is all your capable of, I think its you who's the prick sunshine....had a shandy have you ?

No. no. It's you. See, most of us post on here regardless of how we're doing. You only show up when we're not doing very well. So this 'same old constructive retort' that you bang on about is actually more than you're worth. You only ever turn up when we haven't done very well. Ergo: You are an absolutely tedious c*nt. How else would you like me to word it? I'll happily say this to your face anytime you like. Where are you when we're doing well?

[Hoboh]

See what you've done, Tango? Everyone else had ignored the prick! Back over to you.

Ah same old constructive retort I see....usual name calling is all your capable of, I think its you who's the prick sunshine....had a shandy have you ?

No. no. It's you. See, most of us post on here regardless of how we're doing. You only show up when we're not doing very well. So this 'same old constructive retort' that you bang on about is actually more than you're worth. You only ever turn up when we haven't done very well. Ergo: You are an absolutely tedious c*nt. How else would you like me to word it? I'll happily say this to your face anytime you like. Where are you when we're doing well?

too pissed to type?

[Peter Thompson]

See what you've done, Tango? Everyone else had ignored the prick! Back over to you.

Ah same old constructive retort I see....usual name calling is all your capable of, I think its you who's the prick sunshine....had a shandy have you ?

No. no. It's you. See, most of us post on here regardless of how we're doing. You only show up when we're not doing very well. So this 'same old constructive retort' that you bang on about is actually more than you're worth. You only ever turn up when we haven't done very well. Ergo: You are an absolutely tedious c*nt. How else would you like me to word it? I'll happily say this to your face anytime you like. Where are you when we're doing well?

I explained on here a few week ago, when someone else asked why I don't post when we are doing ok. and in terms of the 'saying it to my face' all I can say is 'like wise'....

[Wandering Willy]

[aussie_wanderer]

didnt see the game but im guessing elmander is back to his normal poor self, if we dont sign anyone b4 window shuts we guna be in trouble,

[Verbal]

See what you've done, Tango? Everyone else had ignored the prick! Back over to you.

Ah same old constructive retort I see....usual name calling is all your capable of, I think its you who's the prick sunshine....had a shandy have you ?

No. no. It's you. See, most of us post on here regardless of how we're doing. You only show up when we're not doing very well. So this 'same old constructive retort' that you bang on about is actually more than you're worth. You only ever turn up when we haven't done very well. Ergo: You are an absolutely tedious c*nt. How else would you like me to word it? I'll happily say this to your face anytime you like. Where are you when we're doing well?

I explained on here a few week ago, when someone else asked why I don't post when we are doing ok. and in terms of the 'saying it to my face' all I can say is 'like wise'....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... PBFA#t=57s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;