Crewe Friendly Game...

[Harry Genshaw]

How many games has he had? Strikes me as a player low on confidence.

Get a run and he's got goals in him.

Personally I think he could be a much more effective player than Mark Davies....

I was thinking exactly the same thing. He left a club who were on the up, and played in games where his side were so dominant he probably got more than his fair share of chances in front of goal. He left that to join a struggling side playing anothe level up.

Julian Darby and Kevin Nolan were great predatory midfielders when things were going their way but looked like passengers and were frequently barracked when their form dipped. Lets hope Pratley is doing it the other way round!

[Ianmooreslovechild]

How did Mark Ellis get on for crewe? He's just signed for them.Was gutted when he didnt make it at wanderers as I taught the lad for a year.

[Tombwfc]

Pratley started 21 games last season, and came on as a sub in 12 more.

I used to defend him on the basis of his record at Swansea, but there comes a point where you can't deny what you see with your own eyes. He doesn't look like a good player. He doesn't even look like a good player playing badly. He just looks poor.

I'm not saying he'll never ever turn it round, but at the minute he is very deserving of the opinion most have of him (although not deserving of any abuse, he didn't give himself a four-year deal).

[boltonboris]

Pratley started 21 games last season, and came on as a sub in 12 more.

I used to defend him on the basis of his record at Swansea, but there comes a point where you can't deny what you see with your own eyes. He doesn't look like a good player. He doesn't even look like a good player playing badly. He just looks poor.

I'm not saying he'll never ever turn it round, but at the minute he is very deserving of the opinion most have of him (although not deserving of any abuse, he didn't give himself a four-year deal).

He made 33 appearances last season? I can't believe that!

Edit: I do believe you.. Just struggling to get my head around that stat...

[Nicko58]

Similar to Nolan when he was at Bolton, Pratley seems to be reliant on good, ball-playing midfielders playing around him to be effective. He made that many runs into good positions last season, only for the ball to be knocked long to Davies, played backwards, kicked out of play or to the opposition players, that I started to have a little sympathy with him.

Based on what I've seen, and it is only a hunch, there's the potential for a decent player there, I reckon. Though I doubt we'll see it until he gains some confidence and Holden comes back into the team.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

In other words, Nicko, he needs to play in a team with passing accuracy and awareness... Insert your own Bolton/Swansea joke here.

[Wandering Willy]

Up there somewhere I saw the words " Nolan" and " predator" in the same sentence.



Stop it, you're hurting me.

[H. Pedersen]

Lost a lot of patience for Pratley when he injured himself with a jaw-droppingly awful tackle and took himself out of contention for our last few games.

[BWFC_Insane]

Up there somewhere I saw the words " Nolan" and " predator" in the same sentence.



Stop it, you're hurting me.

If only Mark Davies was half as effective as Nolan, we may well have stayed up next season.

It's fine laughing at Nolan but he's a premiership player next season. And has been most of his career. Would have him back in a heartbeat.....

[H. Pedersen]

Nolan wouldn't fare well in a Coyle team.

Neither would Messi, to be fair.

[Harry Genshaw]

Up there somewhere I saw the words " Nolan" and " predator" in the same sentence.



Stop it, you're hurting me.

ignoring his form in his final season with us, you dont think his record in front of goal for a midfielder is good?

[Turkish Trotter]

Nolan wouldn't fare well in a Coyle team.

Neither would Messi, to be fair.

Coyle to go then and Nolan and Messi in ???

[Andy Waller]

Up there somewhere I saw the words " Nolan" and " predator" in the same sentence.



Stop it, you're hurting me.

ignoring his form in his final season with us, you dont think his record in front of goal for a midfielder is good?

I agree, I always thought he was a cracking player for us. He had a massive dip in form towards the end of his time with us but he still was far better than Pratley will ever be. He scored plenty of goals for us, headers, 20 yarders, tap ins. Christ, I doubt Pratley could get it into an open goal from 20 yards.

[boltonboris]

After the crap we had on offer last season, how anybody can criticise Nolan for his performances for Bolton is beyond me

[Bruno3]

After the crap we had on offer last season, how anybody can criticise Nolan for his performances for Bolton is beyond me

It never got as good as that