Jaffka's gossip thread on the ins and outs at the 'Bok

[CrazyHorse]

Come on then - who's gonna get this on to page 100???????

[Lord Kangana]

F*cking cheating mods.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I also recall Riley having an absolute stormer against Stoke and was taken off with a minute to go for a standing ovation.

Imagine the reaction if he hadn't given the ball away three times in every five. Kid's got promise but he's also got lots to learn and I maintain that if any other full-back on the books had given it away that much – or if Stoke had been any use on the ball – he'd have been booed off. Mind you, Riley's a local lad so it'll only be half a season till opinion turns from "one of us" to "bone-idle bastard", no matter how hard he tries. Such is the life at Bolton. Good luck, Joe.

[BWFC_Insane]

I also recall Riley having an absolute stormer against Stoke and was taken off with a minute to go for a standing ovation.

Imagine the reaction if he hadn't given the ball away three times in every five. Kid's got promise but he's also got lots to learn and I maintain that if any other full-back on the books had given it away that much – or if Stoke had been any use on the ball – he'd have been booed off. Mind you, Riley's a local lad so it'll only be half a season till opinion turns from "one of us" to "bone-idle bastard", no matter how hard he tries. Such is the life at Bolton. Good luck, Joe.

But like Caps said on the day he looked the best attacking full back we'd had in ages. And defended well enough.

Certainly like a whippet going forwards!

[Lord Kangana]

I remember Stuart Whittaker's debut aswell.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

he looked the best attacking full back we'd had in ages.

I repeat: kid's got promise.

I repeat: imagine how much better he'd have looked if he didn't give the ball away three times in every five.

[Worthy4England]

he looked the best attacking full back we'd had in ages.

I repeat: kid's got promise.

I repeat: imagine how much better he'd have looked if he didn't give the ball away three times in every five.

DSB, you should note that BWFCI believes that strikers who score goals and nowt else are a relic from the past. We now have strikers that don't score goals, but apparently do "other things".

It's no surprise that being able to attack for a full back is an absolute key attribute. Probably over and above the ability to tackle, stop opposition's attacks, head and block the ball and when in possession, deliver it to a white shirt.

It's the future, do try and keep up.

[BWFC_Insane]

he looked the best attacking full back we'd had in ages.

I repeat: kid's got promise.

I repeat: imagine how much better he'd have looked if he didn't give the ball away three times in every five.

DSB, you should note that BWFCI believes that strikers who score goals and nowt else are a relic from the past. We now have strikers that don't score goals, but apparently do "other things".

It's no surprise that being able to attack for a full back is an absolute key attribute. Probably over and above the ability to tackle, stop opposition's attacks, head and block the ball and when in possession, deliver it to a white shirt.

It's the future, do try and keep up.

Are they not? Cos I don't see many top sides carrying them in their teams?

[Bruce Rioja]

Yeah, that Robin van Persie?! How lucky for Arsenal that he's doing one.

[BWFC_Insane]

Yeah, that Robin van Persie?! How lucky for Arsenal that he's doing one.

More than just a scorer though. He's hardly a Klasnic or a Michael Owen or a Robbie Fowler.

Works hard does Van Persie.

[Worthy4England]

he looked the best attacking full back we'd had in ages.

I repeat: kid's got promise.

I repeat: imagine how much better he'd have looked if he didn't give the ball away three times in every five.

DSB, you should note that BWFCI believes that strikers who score goals and nowt else are a relic from the past. We now have strikers that don't score goals, but apparently do "other things".

It's no surprise that being able to attack for a full back is an absolute key attribute. Probably over and above the ability to tackle, stop opposition's attacks, head and block the ball and when in possession, deliver it to a white shirt.

It's the future, do try and keep up.

Are they not? Cos I don't see many top sides carrying them in their teams?

That would be because top sides can afford to buy players that can a) score lots of goals and b) do other things.

If they had to choose between one or the other, they would buy at least one or two where goalscoring was the key attribute.

Please point out which top sides don't have at least one striker that scores a reasonable amount of goals?

[Puskas]

[quote="Worthy4England] Please point out which top sides don't have at least one striker that scores a reasonable amount of goals?[/quote]

Possibly playing Devil's Advocate, but: Spain.

As far as I can tell, they often don't seem to have a striker at all.

But then goals are over-rated.

[Worthy4England]

[quote="Worthy4England] Please point out which top sides don't have at least one striker that scores a reasonable amount of goals?

Possibly playing Devil's Advocate, but: Spain.

As far as I can tell, they often don't seem to have a striker at all.

But then goals are over-rated.[/quote][/quote]

Well I guess it depends on what you call "striker". But one of their strikers just got the Golden Boot at the recent European Championships...

[BWFC_Insane]

he looked the best attacking full back we'd had in ages.

I repeat: kid's got promise.

I repeat: imagine how much better he'd have looked if he didn't give the ball away three times in every five.

DSB, you should note that BWFCI believes that strikers who score goals and nowt else are a relic from the past. We now have strikers that don't score goals, but apparently do "other things".

It's no surprise that being able to attack for a full back is an absolute key attribute. Probably over and above the ability to tackle, stop opposition's attacks, head and block the ball and when in possession, deliver it to a white shirt.

It's the future, do try and keep up.

Are they not? Cos I don't see many top sides carrying them in their teams?

That would be because top sides can afford to buy players that can a) score lots of goals and b) do other things.

If they had to choose between one or the other, they would buy at least one or two where goalscoring was the key attribute.

Please point out which top sides don't have at least one striker that scores a reasonable amount of goals?

That may be so, but Man Utd played Welbeck ahead of Owen and Berbatov, not cos he would score more goals, but cos he ran his knackers off and stretched teams with runs down the channels.

If you are dominating games then you can maybe carry a Klasnic.....if you're not then picking him is just like playing with 10 men, as we found out all too often last season!

[Worthy4England]

That may be so, but Man Utd played Welbeck ahead of Owen and Berbatov, not cos he would score more goals, but cos he ran his knackers off and stretched teams with runs down the channels.

If you are dominating games then you can maybe carry a Klasnic.....if you're not then picking him is just like playing with 10 men, as we found out all too often last season!

That appears to have completely ducked the question. Wayne Rooney scored 27? goals for them last season, so maybe they could afford to have Welbeck running the channels etc. for a second attaker (Rooney) to pop in and score lots of goals.

The point is you need goals to win matches. Having a couple of midfielders and a second striker, running them ragged down the channels, if no one manages to take the benefit of that and put the ball in the net doesn't work at all, it's pointless.

You need a goalscorer.

[BWFC_Insane]

That may be so, but Man Utd played Welbeck ahead of Owen and Berbatov, not cos he would score more goals, but cos he ran his knackers off and stretched teams with runs down the channels.

If you are dominating games then you can maybe carry a Klasnic.....if you're not then picking him is just like playing with 10 men, as we found out all too often last season!

That appears to have completely ducked the question. Wayne Rooney scored 27? goals for them last season, so maybe they could afford to have Welbeck running the channels etc. for a second attaker (Rooney) to pop in and score lots of goals.

The point is you need goals to win matches. Having a couple of midfielders and a second striker, running them ragged down the channels, if no one manages to take the benefit of that and put the ball in the net doesn't work at all, it's pointless.

You need a goalscorer.

3 top ten finishes with Kevin Davies up front on his own most of the time says otherwise........

[ohjimmyjimmy]

Folks get ready to say hello to page 200...!

[Worthy4England]

That may be so, but Man Utd played Welbeck ahead of Owen and Berbatov, not cos he would score more goals, but cos he ran his knackers off and stretched teams with runs down the channels.

If you are dominating games then you can maybe carry a Klasnic.....if you're not then picking him is just like playing with 10 men, as we found out all too often last season!

That appears to have completely ducked the question. Wayne Rooney scored 27? goals for them last season, so maybe they could afford to have Welbeck running the channels etc. for a second attaker (Rooney) to pop in and score lots of goals.

The point is you need goals to win matches. Having a couple of midfielders and a second striker, running them ragged down the channels, if no one manages to take the benefit of that and put the ball in the net doesn't work at all, it's pointless.

You need a goalscorer.

3 top ten finishes with Kevin Davies up front on his own most of the time says otherwise........

No it doesn't, but perhaps I phrased it badly - you need goalscorers and there has to be some balance.

Putting aside last season, our 3 top ten finishes all coincided with our highest scoring seasons in the Prem. So people were putting the ball in the net from midfield (and defenders were scoring from set-pieces). So in short we had goalscorers. Without them, we wouldn't have finished in the top 10.

Season before last season we bagged 52 - our highest tally in the Prem, so lots of goals, but we contrived to let a lot in too. One result going a different way would have seen us top ten again.

[BWFC_Insane]

That may be so, but Man Utd played Welbeck ahead of Owen and Berbatov, not cos he would score more goals, but cos he ran his knackers off and stretched teams with runs down the channels.

If you are dominating games then you can maybe carry a Klasnic.....if you're not then picking him is just like playing with 10 men, as we found out all too often last season!

That appears to have completely ducked the question. Wayne Rooney scored 27? goals for them last season, so maybe they could afford to have Welbeck running the channels etc. for a second attaker (Rooney) to pop in and score lots of goals.

The point is you need goals to win matches. Having a couple of midfielders and a second striker, running them ragged down the channels, if no one manages to take the benefit of that and put the ball in the net doesn't work at all, it's pointless.

You need a goalscorer.

3 top ten finishes with Kevin Davies up front on his own most of the time says otherwise........

No it doesn't, but perhaps I phrased it badly - you need goalscorers and there has to be some balance.

Putting aside last season, our 3 top ten finishes all coincided with our highest scoring seasons in the Prem. So people were putting the ball in the net from midfield (and defenders were scoring from set-pieces). So in short we had goalscorers. Without them, we wouldn't have finished in the top 10.

Last season we bagged 52 - our highest tally in the Prem, so lots of goals, but we contrived to let a lot in too. One result going a different way would have seen us top ten again.

I agree you need people to score goals.

But I don't agree that equates to necessarily carrying Klasnic or Michael Owen through a season just because they score a high proportion of their chances.

Clearly we've got to hope Sordell, NGog and Davies get enough between them, but Andrews and Pratley both have decent scoring records in the championship at various points in their careers. So we could get some from midfield too.

And I'd expect Eagles, Lee, Petrov to also chip in as well.

[truewhite15]

Given given previous scoring records from our players in the Premier League and the Championship, I'd say that our squad has more than enough goals in it. The concern, as has been the same for the past year or more, is keeping the opposition from scoring goals. I still think we've got by far the strongest squad in the league.