Bolton vs Crystal Palace

[Bruce Rioja]

but needed crowd encouragement to both look for the ball (from Boggers) and advance forward. Contrast that with the eagerness and speed of Warnock on the other side.

Yes, and how many times did Bogdan roll the ball out to Warnock? That'll be no times whatsoever then. Mears is clearly wiser to this, him having been here longer. Again, you're just having a pop at Mears for the hell of it without thinking about anything. Let's see how many times Warnock drops off for the short ball tomorrow night shall we?

[Wandering Willy]

Beg to differ Bruce. From what I saw Warnock was looking for the ball from Boggers and dropping back (didn't get it mind), whereas Mears had his back to Boggers demonstrating to me he didn't want the ball.

Not sure where the animosity is coming from - I'm not having a pop at Mears for the sake of it. It's my opinion that he is a very poor footballer and certainly not the the best for that position at the club.

[m_taylor]

If we are fair their at not many players that started saturday that are playing well at the moment, Andrews, Mills, Mears etc. So I think Mears isn't the only one.

The frustration comes when you have players like Lee, Ricketts and Riley in the squad which personally I think are better that what is out there. Move Mavis into the center (where he can be move affective - on his day) and put Lee on the wing. Play Ricketts in the center like we did when Cahill was absent the other season, and play Riley instead of mears who has been impressive every time I see him.

[thebish]

Beg to differ Bruce. From what I saw Warnock was looking for the ball from Boggers and dropping back (didn't get it mind), whereas Mears had his back to Boggers demonstrating to me he didn't want the ball.

Not sure where the animosity is coming from - I'm not having a pop at Mears for the sake of it. It's my opinion that he is a very poor footballer and certainly not the the best for that position at the club.

(psst.. time of the month...)

[boltonboris]

Mears didn't really do owt wrong in my opinion.

Warnock had a good game, but left Knight a bit exposed for the penalty.

As a side issue: The Beeb had us down for 3 shots on target... I only recall one. At home. To Crystal Palace.

Not good enough... By a feckin' long stretch

[Bruce Rioja]

Mears didn't really do owt wrong in my opinion.

Warnock had a good game, but left Knight a bit exposed for the penalty.

As a side issue: The Beeb had us down for 3 shots on target... I only recall one. At home. To Crystal Palace.

Not good enough... By a feckin' long stretch

Well you saw one more than me then, Chief, because I can't remember any!

[boltonboris]

That fat 'keeper of theirs made an awkward save from N'gog I think

[89bwfc89]

Beg to differ Bruce. From what I saw Warnock was looking for the ball from Boggers and dropping back (didn't get it mind), whereas Mears had his back to Boggers demonstrating to me he didn't want the ball.

Not sure where the animosity is coming from - I'm not having a pop at Mears for the sake of it. It's my opinion that he is a very poor footballer and certainly not the the best for that position at the club.

Just picking up on this....not sure if it's just me but Mears doesnt look like he wants the ball at all, not sure if it's down to confidence or what but he doesnt look hungry for it in my opinion.

[m_taylor]

Davies Header from Eagles free kick. (On Target)
Eagles Free kick,
N'gog from about 2 yards out - well saved. (On Target)
Davies from inside the box when he was on the floor. (On Target)
Eagles just before that happened - (On Target)
Mark Davies shot that was saved by the defender! (On Target)

Thats five just of the top of my head.

[boltonboris]

If he was told to come short and offer for it, he would do. Our centre backs should spread out too and provide an option for a midfielder to get it, but we're more interested in just getting the thing as far up the park as quickly as possible so our slow centre backs can get up and play a higher line than they really should do..

There's so much wrong with so many aspects of our game, it's untrue.

[Athers]

Palace are not up to much, they had little in the way of a pro-active approach to passing the ball through the midfield and just sat back waiting for counters with their quick wingers. They're perfectly entitled to do this though as the away team and they probably thought player-for-player we are better, which we are.

If they'd done their research they'd know we've not scored a goal in a few games which wasn't from a set piece or pouncing on a mistake (M.Davies goal) so they reasonably figured they could do this.

So we end up looking like the better team yet the best chances were probably Zaha early on, Murray's header and the penalty.

Frustrating.

P.S. Mills - Jesus Christ man, uncultured is one word for him, can't pass a ball whatsoever, is a phrase for him.

[boltonboris]

Palace executed their game plan well.. Fair play to them. But that was as much down to our ineptitude than a good performance by them.

The worrying thing is though, this squad of ours probably cost about 25 x what theirs did. Yet they knew we wouldn't even trouble them if they just stayed compact.

[Bruce Rioja]

Not sure where the animosity is coming from

Sorry mate, I don't mean it to come across like that, I just don't think that Mears is deserving of all the shite that he gets on here. I'll tell you summat about players not wanting the ball though, in front of me in the second half we had a throw-in Every single one of the players within the vicinity was pointing for Mears to throw it to a different player. Not a single one of them wanted it. I was fecking blazing. Still am!

[Athers]

They might have played better but my neutral mate at the game and I couldn't believe they'd got 13 points from 15 in September, including beating Cardiff.

[marshall_42]

I was at the match on Saturday and have read the thread on my mobile. Now I am back at my keyboard there is not much to add to the conversation, but i will do so anyway.

Defence
Bogdan was ok. The team looked much more threatening when he threw the ball to Mears.
No decent ball distribution from CB's. Mills had a couple of panicky clearances when he had time to do something with the ball. Knight caught out a few times, but managed to recover in all but the penalty shout.
Mears was ok, but looked much more useful when given the ball from the GK. A better fullback would have done more with the opportunities that he had. Warnock was a class above the rest with some good touches and a couple of meaty tackles. Best player on the pitch IMO.

Centre mids were chasing the ball and never once ran the game. Spearing was better than Andrews, who was pretty anonymous all game. Mavies played quite centrally and had a few mazy runs...usually in the wrong direction. Eagles looked tricky but was singled out as our danger man and closed down pretty quickly. He seemed to line up higher up the pitch and it looked more like a wide man in a front 3, compared to Mavies who played deeper and centrally.
I though Davies was ok up front, but his abilities were nullified by the ref giving free kicks agaisnt him every time he won the ball. He tracked back well and put in some good tackles and interceptions. i remember him trying to to thread the ball through for Ngog a couple of times unsuccessfully.
Ngog was better at hold up play with the ball at feet, but he looked very sluggish off the mark when a through ball was played.

I couldnt be arsed commenting much on the subs. Too little too late and the removal of a central midfielder won't have helped us defensively for the goal. Petrov and Lee looked sharp enough and could do with a longer run out. Sordell needs to start up front. He can't be any worse than the 2 that started on Saturday.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Davies Header from Eagles free kick. (On Target)
Eagles Free kick,
N'gog from about 2 yards out - well saved. (On Target)
Davies from inside the box when he was on the floor. (On Target)
Eagles just before that happened - (On Target)
Mark Davies shot that was saved by the defender! (On Target)

Thats five just of the top of my head.

You're David N'gog's coach and I claim my £20

[plymouth wanderer]

[quote="boltonboris"]That fat 'keeper of theirs made an awkward save from N'gog I think[/quote]


God that just makes it worse

[BWFC_Insane]

Palace executed their game plan well.. Fair play to them. But that was as much down to our ineptitude than a good performance by them.

The worrying thing is though, this squad of ours probably cost about 25 x what theirs did. Yet they knew we wouldn't even trouble them if they just stayed compact.

Hitting the nail very firmly on the head there BB.

Palace are maximising the very limited squad they have.

We have a vast array of riches in comparison yet are not utilising them correctly.

In many ways weve turned into West Ham before Allardyce got hold of em!

[boltonboris]

Thr financial gulf in terms of what we've spent in the last few years compared to Palace is probably even bigger than ourselves & Man City / Chelsea / United.

But we wrote those games off last season as unwinnable and moaned how unfair it was that they could afford such a better squad.

Yet, here we are. Getting rolled by sides with by far and away, inferior resources..

[Harry Genshaw]

Has football ever really made anyone angry? I mean really? Pissed-off, depressed, nervous, impatient and a whole other gamut yes, but angry? Come on.

Every single one of the players within the vicinity was pointing for Mears to throw it to a different player. Not a single one of them wanted it. I was fecking blazing. Still am!