The Battle of Stamford Bridge

[Worthy4England]

Norm the Jedi - not sure i approve of your signature.

I will change it.. ARSENAL - The new West Ham ...

whaddya think

Thats even worse! How about...

'Arsenal - my favourite premier league team'

You can start using that next season

Are the other 19 Prem teams off somewhere else next season?

[norm the jedi]

No, a new manager may change that, and yes I agree we've often punched above our weight.

If we generally looked like we had half a clue about formation and tactics (how to defend at a corner etc. how to get the ball past the first man when taking a corner/free kick) things you would expect any team to do, in any division, then I'd be with what you're saying - just too many better teams with more money.

It's when we're not managing the basics that I start to point to the manager...

At the risk of a cheap point, you may be right about changing managers but... Mark Hughes and QPR - hows that working out..

Much is made of organisation, tactics etc... I played football for about 30 years.. once past age 13 -I pretty much had the idea..
Do we really think the bloke on the sideline can teach Zat Knight to defend a corner..at this point in his career, If you can drop him it might improve his concentration, but if he's the best you've got ? cliche drivel alert, it's 11 against 11 if you win your personal battle generally you win..
You can have a great system .. but if the players aren't good enough it makes no difference.. If you haven't got anyone better in reserve there's a lack of insentive and if half your squad are out of contract at the end of term... How does that help motivationally..

[Gooner Girl]

Norm the Jedi - not sure i approve of your signature.

I will change it.. ARSENAL - The new West Ham ...

whaddya think

Thats even worse! How about...

'Arsenal - my favourite premier league team'

You can start using that next season

Are the other 19 Prem teams off somewhere else next season?

[norm the jedi]

Norm the Jedi - not sure i approve of your signature.

I will change it.. ARSENAL - The new West Ham ...

whaddya think

Thats even worse! How about...

'Arsenal - my favourite premier league team'

You can start using that next season

Are the other 19 Prem teams off somewhere else next season?

Arsenal my second favourite team in North east London... better ?

[Gooner Girl]

Norm the Jedi - not sure i approve of your signature.

I will change it.. ARSENAL - The new West Ham ...

whaddya think

Thats even worse! How about...

'Arsenal - my favourite premier league team'

You can start using that next season

Are the other 19 Prem teams off somewhere else next season?

Arsenal my second favourite team in North east London... better ?

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(and i am always so nice about Bolton!)

[norm the jedi]

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(and i am always so nice about Bolton!)

That'll learn you - Loved them in the 90's still think Dennis was best player i ever saw in the flesh...

but a combination of EMIRATES, your myopic manager and Alan DAVIS and his celebrity Gooner chums..
Have laterly been more chucklesome..

feck me I need some light relief.. and anyway Spurs are very good..
What will you spend the Van Persie transfer cash on?

[Worthy4England]

At the risk of a cheap point, you may be right about changing managers but... Mark Hughes and QPR - hows that working out..

At the risk of a cheap one-all, not as well as Martin O'Neill at Sunderland.

[norm the jedi]

At the risk of a cheap point, you may be right about changing managers but... Mark Hughes and QPR - hows that working out..

At the risk of a cheap one-all, not as well as Martin O'Neill at Sunderland.

[thebish]

What do you reckon it is Bish? You've made a point of it not all being 4-5-1. A point overly made, but fair enough. You also said it is down to the players. Not trying hard enough, or not being good enough? Having chosen one, how is that not the managers fault.

I've said it is a combination of things - poor manager decisions - players not delivering as they could.

the manager chooses within his budget - which hasn't been great - so I'd hesitate to blame Coyle too much for the squad.

I still think the squad we have is good enough to survive - that'll be down to them AND coyle AND other clubs doing worse AND us not having too much shoite luck AND no more major injuries... - as it pretty much always is.

not really sure what your point is....

2 weeks ago it was argued that it was NOT the players - JUST the formation. My point has always been that it is just never as simple as that.

do you disagree or something?

yeah - coyle chose pratley - but at the time - even BWFCi was saying that having Pratley would mean that Holden was not such a big loss... on the budget we have you have to take gambles on players - Pratley was one - there will be others... sometimes it'll come off - sometimes it won't.

PS - not sure where you get the idea that I think Coyle is not performing poorly
PPS - saying we are opunching above our weight is NOT the same as "accepting our place"
PPPS - I was personally one of the people who delivered that challenge to Lawro and subsequently watched live (along with DSB) as he had his tache removed - where were you???

[thebish]

At the risk of a cheap point, you may be right about changing managers but... Mark Hughes and QPR - hows that working out..

At the risk of a cheap one-all, not as well as Martin O'Neill at Sunderland.

or terry connor at wolves....

[Worthy4England]

At the risk of a cheap point, you may be right about changing managers but... Mark Hughes and QPR - hows that working out..

At the risk of a cheap one-all, not as well as Martin O'Neill at Sunderland.

To be honest Norm, I'm not expecting that OC can tell any of our players too much to suddenly make them all into Messi's. That said, most sports I played a lot of (and football wasn't one of my main sports - maybe 6 seasons of Sunday League), I never stopped learning new stuff.

The managers job is to make the 11 individuals into the best team he can, so formations, tactics, getting his best available 11 on the park at any one time (the best 11 at working together).

I think where OC is lacking - and absolutely down to the manager - is things like when he's had us sometimes playing a high-line defence, sometimes not, whether we're 4-4-2 or 4-5-1, where we need to be landing corner kicks, which side of the effing post to stand from a corner and so on.

It's the fact that we seem to be fairly evidently missing some of those elements, that's frustrating me.

[Worthy4England]

At the risk of a cheap point, you may be right about changing managers but... Mark Hughes and QPR - hows that working out..

At the risk of a cheap one-all, not as well as Martin O'Neill at Sunderland.

or terry connor at wolves....

Aye better record this season, than OC so far. Not lost a match.

Even gives teams a two goal start, just to take the pi$$.

[norm the jedi]

At the risk of a cheap point, you may be right about changing managers but... Mark Hughes and QPR - hows that working out..

At the risk of a cheap one-all, not as well as Martin O'Neill at Sunderland.

or terry connor at wolves....

Hardly new is he - more the feck me no one wants the job lets appoint the assistant...
Or are you advocating for Steve Davis ?

[wanderers_on_tour]

Just got in it from the work. Result doesn't surprise me one bit, before seeing it was all even at the half I was actually quite relieved at 3-0 The demise of AVB was all a bit of media hoo-har as will his apparent 'resurrection' .

From the highlights i've seen, reading some of the posts in this thread, and talking to my old man who was on the train back from the game I hope that's the end of Pratley as far as league appearences go...send him out on loan next season if we're still in the topflight, but definitely isn't good enough for the week to week. Same applies to Tuncay although he'll be off no matter what.

Also it seems Ryo is good (and will no doubt be great!) but is not the saviour we may have thought, cracking lad for the last 20 but seems a bit harsh throwing him to the dogs against the big boys away in a relegation scrap. Hope Coyle takes this on board for Saturday.

Having not had to sit through the game I just feel abit 'meh' about this one..

Didn't expect alot, didn't get alot, bit like Citeh next week..

[Il Pirate]

It's fvcking shit and we know it. Lost again, don't matter if it's Chelski, DMB's, Bin Dippers, Canaries, Swans, Massives et al. Point is we lost again. Fu Coyle & your sh*tty players you've brought to the club. No backbone, no fight. I saw Abdy Faye play for Wet Spam today, feck, what I'd give for a player like him back at the 'Bok.

[TANGODANCER]

So, after recovering slightly from not being the happiest man on the planet:

Coyle was responsible for nothing today, except maybe starting Pratley, but again, With Mark Davies injured....
The players were too slow to react, too slow in passing the ball (as well as being totally inept at it most of the time), too slow in build up that looked like a slow motion film, too clueless to see that passing the ball to marked players doesn't work and looked totally afraid of ever taking men on (Sam Rickets and Miochi apart), and just too pedictable in walloping long balls to the lone ranger up front. Our speed and energy added together had less fizz then a bottle of Lucozade and against the opposition it was Premier League versus somewhere between the Boys Federation and the Sunday pub League. What attacking we did we were allowed to do by a team defending a two goal, then three goal lead. Sixteen shots at goal to our one at one stage must be a clue I think. Not our best ever display then. Cech was stealing money today.

Oh, and Lampard should have been carded for an elbow in the face and Drogba knew he'd get yellow so did the dying swan and got away with it. What's the betting he's fit for their next game?

[Whookam]

[

Answer then why we sacked Lee and Megson then?

Might as well have accepted the 'inevitable' then and saved a lot of money in the process.

You may as well talk to a brick wall. There are some Bolton fans who are more than happy to see Coyle take us down, that's been evident since the beginning of the season, they're hardly likely to see sense now are they? The legend of Coyle lives on it seems.

FWIW I didn't expect much today and don't blame Coyle for the loss. I just won't accept the shifting of blame from Coyle to Megson.

[BWFC_Insane]

[

Answer then why we sacked Lee and Megson then?

Might as well have accepted the 'inevitable' then and saved a lot of money in the process.

You may as well talk to a brick wall. There are some Bolton fans who are more than happy to see Coyle take us down, that's been evident since the beginning of the season, they're hardly likely to see sense now are they? The legend of Coyle lives on it seems.

FWIW I didn't expect much today and don't blame Coyle for the loss. I just won't accept the shifting of blame from Coyle to Megson.

And I'll bet my mortgage that if our current manager hadn't played for us, and wasn't quite such a big self promoter that all those bleating how 'it's not Coyles fault' would be screaming for him to be sacked like they were with our previous two bosses.

Cos he used to play for us and is a nice bloke is not a reason to let him get away with incompetence and destruction of the last 11 years hard work.

As much as I can't stand him, I know we'd not be in this position were Allardyce managing us with the same players. We'd be playing god awful football, but we'd be scrapping our way to points. And when you aren't flush with money, and not one of the big boys in the league, that is what you must do. Megson for all his faults knew it. He might have fallen out with half the playing staff and cut his nose of to spite his face, but he knew you had to scrap as Bolton.

Lee didnt know it and Coyle doesn't seem to either.

I give Coyle credit for raising confidence when he came here and putting smiles back on players faces, that were lost under the previous manager. He did that gave some confidence and that was enough. But it's not always going to be enough, sometimes you have to accept you're in a right scrap and show some street savvy. Thats what we are really lacking.

Even just 4 extra points would give us a good chance from where we are. We've thrown away a lot more than that already chasing football ideals, when we should be trying to be that nasty side that is well organised and scores from set pieces......

[norm the jedi]

How many of our current squad [ leaving aside who's at fault for their presence here]
would get in the BSA first team...

allowing for the fact that this team can't go man for man against Norwich in midfield, when they've lost both starting centre halfs! or is it halves..

[the-Bowtun-Warrior]

The thought of what we has with Sam compared to bow peeves me.
And I'm not even getting onto the team he had. Just him & his set up.

Under Sam, this lot wouldn't be where they are. They might be a damn sight poorer than his lot where, but Coyle is the reason we're sat were we are.
I'd give my bloody legs to have Sam back until May.