Kick off with a glass or two of claret!

[StaffsTrotter]

Is your house stacked full of items that you neither want nor need?

I imagine our training ground it full of unwanted table tennis equipment

there was a video clip the other week showing rio ferdinand and van persie playing TT to a decent standard. made me wonder whether coyle should actually be lauded as a pioneer in the training techniques of PL footballers.

[StaffsTrotter]

I was referring to him being a salesman's dream.

aah

[BWFC_Insane]

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/wa ... Wanderers/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For me this is just about spot on. In every respect.

[Prufrock]

I lose faith in his ability as a tactician. I see us a poor side that is flawed in several areas but the biggest worry for me is how few good chances we create. How many times have we dominated and outplayed an opposing team under Freedman? In how many games have we looked threatening all match? I don't think it's good enough, honestly. I think we should be better and I think we'll need to be if we are going to get promoted.

FFS can you for once just see things as half full rather than half or totally empty? You must be a real ray of sunshine to sit down and have a chat with

This transfer window has been the first chance Dougie has had a proper chance to shake things up, move players on and bring new ones in. I remind you that it hasn't closed yet. There will be more comings and goings. He managed to do a bit of business in January, but we all know that January is rarely a time you can really change things.

Dougie is the first to admit things aren't where they need to be. He's clearly restricted with funds and that makes it much harder to change the squad. He's (by the look of it) improved the full backs. We've 1 creative player fit (2ish when CYL turns up). He's brought Moritz in who hasn't had any proper training all season. He's addressed it, but we wont see if it works until he can play. We have a bunch of strikers that couldn't score in a brothel. He's brought one in that scores goals at this level.

There is more to do. We all know that. He's had tuppence and ha'penny and I think he's done a fine job with it. Better than any manager could have since we had Allardyce. Until we have a decent CB to partner Wheater of Knight we're going to struggle. Until we've got a midfielder that can genuinely sit and allow the more creative types and up and downers do their work, we're going to struggle. Beckford has been with us 5 minutes. Give Eagles et al a couple more weeks and you'll probably see them threading the ball into the right areas for him.

So, in summary. Cheer up. You'll feel better. Let Dougie get on with it without the doom and gloom and if things aren't improved by a couple of weeks after the window closes then by all means let the storm clouds gather...

Like I've said before, I would like us to bring in some more quality but those individuals we could bring in won't remove the flaws within the team. There's a problem with the tactics that are being used. When the rumours of Jordan Rhodes coming in were being bandied about, I think every Bolton fan was excited about that but when the service to our strikers is as poor as it currently is, what difference would a striker like Rhodes make? There were times last season when Sordell, as a lone striker, didn't receive one pass in a whole half, so lets not pretend that signing better individuals will make all the difference. It won't. It'll help, of course, but it's not like we don't have a talented squad in the first place. There isn't 1% of me which things Freedman is getting anything like the full potential out of this group of players.

The first thing we should be looking at doing is sorting out the tactics because they're just not good enough right now. We need to improve as a team and become better defensively and much better going forward. When that is the case, then you should start looking at improving certain positions.

I'd like us to sign Dawson and Spearing, with maybe a couple of wingers too. However, bringing these players in won't solve the fundamental flaws with us. We'll still be a side who are in a scrappy game every week, scoring if we get a bit of luck or an individual does something quality.

What do you mean the 'tactics' are wrong. Do you just mean, 'play 4-4-2'?

We need to improve as a team, defensively, and going forward? So not much then.

You're off your head you are! Play the right tactics and we'll be dominating teams every week, creating chances galore and pissing the league. How many times have you ever seen a team dominate everyone and create chance after chance, week after week?

[klasnicks]

One thing was evident, the team is shite at set pieces and corners, absolutely dreadful crossing into the box, each time it's a missed opportunity, usually with the other team breaking away, Chungy may be a lot of things, but a decent crosser of the ball he ain't.

[thebish]

One thing was evident, the team is shite at set pieces and corners, absolutely dreadful crossing into the box, each time it's a missed opportunity, usually with the other team breaking away, Chungy may be a lot of things, but a decent crosser of the ball he ain't.

this is supposed to be moritz's speciality! wasn't andrews supposed to be able to do that too?

[bobo the clown]

One thing was evident, the team is shite at set pieces and corners, absolutely dreadful crossing into the box, each time it's a missed opportunity, usually with the other team breaking away, Chungy may be a lot of things, but a decent crosser of the ball he ain't.

this is supposed to be moritz's speciality! wasn't andrews supposed to be able to do that too?

I honestly don't know what Andrews is supposed to be able to do.

[Mar]

One thing was evident, the team is shite at set pieces and corners, absolutely dreadful crossing into the box, each time it's a missed opportunity, usually with the other team breaking away, Chungy may be a lot of things, but a decent crosser of the ball he ain't.

this is supposed to be moritz's speciality! wasn't andrews supposed to be able to do that too?

I honestly don't know what Andrews is supposed to be able to do.

He's meant to do defensive holding role ala Gary Speed.

[TKIZ!]

One thing was evident, the team is shite at set pieces and corners, absolutely dreadful crossing into the box, each time it's a missed opportunity, usually with the other team breaking away, Chungy may be a lot of things, but a decent crosser of the ball he ain't.

110% better crosser from corners than Eagles. One of the reasons I think we need Spearing back, much better corner taker

[officer_dibble]

Moritz is a set piece man i think?

[SmokinFrazier]

What do you mean the 'tactics' are wrong. Do you just mean, 'play 4-4-2'?

We need to improve as a team, defensively, and going forward? So not much then.

You're off your head you are! Play the right tactics and we'll be dominating teams every week, creating chances galore and pissing the league. How many times have you ever seen a team dominate everyone and create chance after chance, week after week?

No, 4-4-2 got us better results last year but there were still fundamental problems within that team, even when we went on that impressive streak. I don't think we were good enough defensively because far too many balls came into our box, too many balls bounced inside the box, we allowed the opposition way too much time outside our area and our lines were too deep. It all invited pressure, which is why every Bolton game was more tense than it should have been. Going forward, we've never created anywhere near enough chances under Freedman largely because he is overly reliant on individual players, whether it's Zaha at Palace or Eagles/Davies/Moritz here, to produce something themselves. We are incapable of keeping hold of the ball and controlling the game, we don't threaten down the wings, our wing backs don't overlap properly, our strikers don't know where to run to, the midfielders don't create space for themselves, and whilst I could carry on listings the problems with our attacking play, the basic problem is a lack of direction. I don't think our team know what they're supposed to be doing when we're attacking. Our defenders constantly booting the ball up to a lone striker, who isn't ever going to be able hold up the ball, is another thing which proved absolutely pointless countless times against Burnley and reeks of the same confusion.

Defensively, I think we invite too much pressure but I can at least see why Freedman is trying to do. Going forward though, we are woeful at times. I keep on mentioning this point but when a team fails to pass to a striker once, in an evenly matched game, in over 45 minutes of play, there's an issue there. We are very poor going forward and rely heavily on pieces of individual skill rather than teamwork to create our chances. This is why we saw such good performances when Mark Davies, our best creative player, returned from injury last year. Our entire midfield has never provided enough chances for our strikers under Freedman.

I know the obvious answer to all these complaints are that we did have a good finish to the season last year. That's true, we did, but how many of those wins could have been draws? How many of those draws could have been losses? We were clearly the better team on so few occasions last year, we need to improve because you can't always rely on other teams not taking their chances. Plenty of sides played us last year and went away kicking themselves because they didn't get what they deserved. It's a good sign to win when you play poorly but it's a worrying sign when you play poorly week in, week out because that'll be hard to replicate in the future. Sometimes things just go against you, like what happened with Boro last year, and sometimes they go for you, as it did with us. If we're going to challenge for promotion this year, I think we need to improve tactically, especially going forward because what we've seen under Freedman so far hasn't been good enough, I don't think.

Random question to anyone who managed to make it through this post without falling asleep; how many games did we win last year when we were clearly the better side over 90 minutes, deserving of all three points?

[Montreal Wanderer]

One thing was evident, the team is shite at set pieces and corners, absolutely dreadful crossing into the box, each time it's a missed opportunity, usually with the other team breaking away, Chungy may be a lot of things, but a decent crosser of the ball he ain't.

110% better crosser from corners than Eagles. One of the reasons I think we need Spearing back, much better corner taker

I only saw brief highlights with poor video and no real audio. It looked to me like Chungy crossed the ball to Pratley for his goal and later took the corner that almost allowed Wheater to snatch the winner (though it could have been some other short skinny dark haired chap I suppose).

[Prufrock]

What do you mean the 'tactics' are wrong. Do you just mean, 'play 4-4-2'?

We need to improve as a team, defensively, and going forward? So not much then.

You're off your head you are! Play the right tactics and we'll be dominating teams every week, creating chances galore and pissing the league. How many times have you ever seen a team dominate everyone and create chance after chance, week after week?

No, 4-4-2 got us better results last year but there were still fundamental problems within that team, even when we went on that impressive streak. I don't think we were good enough defensively because far too many balls came into our box, too many balls bounced inside the box, we allowed the opposition way too much time outside our area and our lines were too deep. It all invited pressure, which is why every Bolton game was more tense than it should have been. Going forward, we've never created anywhere near enough chances under Freedman largely because he is overly reliant on individual players, whether it's Zaha at Palace or Eagles/Davies/Moritz here, to produce something themselves. We are incapable of keeping hold of the ball and controlling the game, we don't threaten down the wings, our wing backs don't overlap properly, our strikers don't know where to run to, the midfielders don't create space for themselves, and whilst I could carry on listings the problems with our attacking play, the basic problem is a lack of direction. I don't think our team know what they're supposed to be doing when we're attacking. Our defenders constantly booting the ball up to a lone striker, who isn't ever going to be able hold up the ball, is another thing which proved absolutely pointless countless times against Burnley and reeks of the same confusion.

Defensively, I think we invite too much pressure but I can at least see why Freedman is trying to do. Going forward though, we are woeful at times. I keep on mentioning this point but when a team fails to pass to a striker once, in an evenly matched game, in over 45 minutes of play, there's an issue there. We are very poor going forward and rely heavily on pieces of individual skill rather than teamwork to create our chances. This is why we saw such good performances when Mark Davies, our best creative player, returned from injury last year. Our entire midfield has never provided enough chances for our strikers under Freedman.

I know the obvious answer to all these complaints are that we did have a good finish to the season last year. That's true, we did, but how many of those wins could have been draws? How many of those draws could have been losses? We were clearly the better team on so few occasions last year, we need to improve because you can't always rely on other teams not taking their chances. Plenty of sides played us last year and went away kicking themselves because they didn't get what they deserved. It's a good sign to win when you play poorly but it's a worrying sign when you play poorly week in, week out because that'll be hard to replicate in the future. Sometimes things just go against you, like what happened with Boro last year, and sometimes they go for you, as it did with us. If we're going to challenge for promotion this year, I think we need to improve tactically, especially going forward because what we've seen under Freedman so far hasn't been good enough, I don't think.

Random question to anyone who managed to make it through this post without falling asleep; how many games did we win last year when we were clearly the better side over 90 minutes, deserving of all three points?

Most of the games we won last year we were the better side over 90 minutes! We weren't the better side for 90 minutes but no-one ever is. We didn't dominate possession, or score six, but that isn't the same as being the better side!

You keep talking about 'tactics', but what you are talking about isn't 'tactics', it's 'trying to be Barcelona'. Yeah, we defend deep. You're likely to want to do that if you've got combinations involving Zat Knight, David Wheater, Matt Mills, and Marcus Alonso at the back. Our wing backs don't get forward because we don't have any wing-backs. Personally, I much prefer it when full-backs get involved and over-lap, but plenty of sides have been successful playing full-backs who are there only to defend.

Very few teams score a large number of their goals from lovely flowing moves from midfield. You need to take advantage of mistakes, be good on set pieces, create things from nothing, and try to score team goals too. Our goal on Saturday came from a nice move through midfield. Burnley's came from a hopeful punt upfield. They were both worth the same. From what I've seen of Dougie he likes direct wingers who get at people and hit the by-line, that's not in anyway tactically naive, it's just a different way of playing the game.

You say our strikers don't know where to run to, I think that's a matter of personnel. No manager Kevin Davies worked with managed to get him to make good runs. I'm not having, giving how good he was at winning headers, no-one tried. It is coachable, but I'm not sure it's that easy once you get a player in his mid-twenties. There are different types of 'run' too. It's rare now you get players who get slipped in behind 30 yards out to run on goal (mainly because tactical idiots like Dougie defend deeply). That said both Sordell, and what I've seen of Beckford, have great movement inside the box. I know Sordell had plenty other flaws, but I was impressed by Beckford on Saturday. He hit the near post when he needed to, and our goal came when another of his runs created space for a midfield player to (finally) break into the box.

A lot of the games you referred to last year, we scored early goals and then 'controlled the game without the ball'. I'm not a fan of that phrase, and I would like to see more ambition sometimes, but it's a fine line to walk. If you site back on a one-goal lead, you have a long time to defend a narrow lead. If you try to build on it, sometimes you'll have more comfortable games, sometimes you'll get pegged back.

Your idea of 'tactics' appears to be 'play free-flowing pass and move football'. No doubt we'd al like to see that be successful, but everyone doing that is the very thing tactics aren't. One of the things that makes football great IMO, is the variety of approaches you can take to playing the game. Other games have variety, but not to the same extent, I think. From what we've seen of Dougie's teams so far; they try to get early goals, they break with quick direct wide players, they defend deep in numbers and crosses are 'defended' rather than 'stopped'. It's seemed pretty tactically astute to me so far.

I'm not saying he'd perfect like, but I reckon he's better at 'tactics' than you or me, or in fact, any manager we've had since Big Sam.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

One thing was evident, the team is shite at set pieces and corners, absolutely dreadful crossing into the box, each time it's a missed opportunity, usually with the other team breaking away, Chungy may be a lot of things, but a decent crosser of the ball he ain't.

110% better crosser from corners than Eagles. One of the reasons I think we need Spearing back, much better corner taker

I only saw brief highlights with poor video and no real audio. It looked to me like Chungy crossed the ball to Pratley for his goal and later took the corner that almost allowed Wheater to snatch the winner (though it could have been some other short skinny dark haired chap I suppose).

Wrong Monty. Twas Eagles what passed for Pratters to slot home. How the hell Pratley manufactured all that space was miraculous, but the pass itself was sweet as a nut.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

What do you mean the 'tactics' are wrong. Do you just mean, 'play 4-4-2'?

We need to improve as a team, defensively, and going forward? So not much then.

You're off your head you are! Play the right tactics and we'll be dominating teams every week, creating chances galore and pissing the league. How many times have you ever seen a team dominate everyone and create chance after chance, week after week?

No, 4-4-2 got us better results last year but there were still fundamental problems within that team, even when we went on that impressive streak. I don't think we were good enough defensively because far too many balls came into our box, too many balls bounced inside the box, we allowed the opposition way too much time outside our area and our lines were too deep. It all invited pressure, which is why every Bolton game was more tense than it should have been. Going forward, we've never created anywhere near enough chances under Freedman largely because he is overly reliant on individual players, whether it's Zaha at Palace or Eagles/Davies/Moritz here, to produce something themselves. We are incapable of keeping hold of the ball and controlling the game, we don't threaten down the wings, our wing backs don't overlap properly, our strikers don't know where to run to, the midfielders don't create space for themselves, and whilst I could carry on listings the problems with our attacking play, the basic problem is a lack of direction. I don't think our team know what they're supposed to be doing when we're attacking. Our defenders constantly booting the ball up to a lone striker, who isn't ever going to be able hold up the ball, is another thing which proved absolutely pointless countless times against Burnley and reeks of the same confusion.

Defensively, I think we invite too much pressure but I can at least see why Freedman is trying to do. Going forward though, we are woeful at times. I keep on mentioning this point but when a team fails to pass to a striker once, in an evenly matched game, in over 45 minutes of play, there's an issue there. We are very poor going forward and rely heavily on pieces of individual skill rather than teamwork to create our chances. This is why we saw such good performances when Mark Davies, our best creative player, returned from injury last year. Our entire midfield has never provided enough chances for our strikers under Freedman.

I know the obvious answer to all these complaints are that we did have a good finish to the season last year. That's true, we did, but how many of those wins could have been draws? How many of those draws could have been losses? We were clearly the better team on so few occasions last year, we need to improve because you can't always rely on other teams not taking their chances. Plenty of sides played us last year and went away kicking themselves because they didn't get what they deserved. It's a good sign to win when you play poorly but it's a worrying sign when you play poorly week in, week out because that'll be hard to replicate in the future. Sometimes things just go against you, like what happened with Boro last year, and sometimes they go for you, as it did with us. If we're going to challenge for promotion this year, I think we need to improve tactically, especially going forward because what we've seen under Freedman so far hasn't been good enough, I don't think.

Random question to anyone who managed to make it through this post without falling asleep; how many games did we win last year when we were clearly the better side over 90 minutes, deserving of all three points?

Are you talking about the Burnley game?
Beckford had the ball delivered to his very toes on a minimum of three ocassions that I saw, (although his first touch let him down twice, and superb defending robbed him the third time), but there is no way it makes sense to say that the team failed to pass to the striker once, no way at all.

[Andy Waller]

For christ's sake, what do people want?

We're one point better off than we were at this time last season.

We were crap for the first part of last season and we were a whisker away of getting in the play offs.

There's some right moaning bell ends out there.

[ChrisC]

What do you mean the 'tactics' are wrong. Do you just mean, 'play 4-4-2'?

We need to improve as a team, defensively, and going forward? So not much then.

You're off your head you are! Play the right tactics and we'll be dominating teams every week, creating chances galore and pissing the league. How many times have you ever seen a team dominate everyone and create chance after chance, week after week?

No, 4-4-2 got us better results last year but there were still fundamental problems within that team, even when we went on that impressive streak. I don't think we were good enough defensively because far too many balls came into our box, too many balls bounced inside the box, we allowed the opposition way too much time outside our area and our lines were too deep. It all invited pressure, which is why every Bolton game was more tense than it should have been. Going forward, we've never created anywhere near enough chances under Freedman largely because he is overly reliant on individual players, whether it's Zaha at Palace or Eagles/Davies/Moritz here, to produce something themselves. We are incapable of keeping hold of the ball and controlling the game, we don't threaten down the wings, our wing backs don't overlap properly, our strikers don't know where to run to, the midfielders don't create space for themselves, and whilst I could carry on listings the problems with our attacking play, the basic problem is a lack of direction. I don't think our team know what they're supposed to be doing when we're attacking. Our defenders constantly booting the ball up to a lone striker, who isn't ever going to be able hold up the ball, is another thing which proved absolutely pointless countless times against Burnley and reeks of the same confusion.

Defensively, I think we invite too much pressure but I can at least see why Freedman is trying to do. Going forward though, we are woeful at times. I keep on mentioning this point but when a team fails to pass to a striker once, in an evenly matched game, in over 45 minutes of play, there's an issue there. We are very poor going forward and rely heavily on pieces of individual skill rather than teamwork to create our chances. This is why we saw such good performances when Mark Davies, our best creative player, returned from injury last year. Our entire midfield has never provided enough chances for our strikers under Freedman.

I know the obvious answer to all these complaints are that we did have a good finish to the season last year. That's true, we did, but how many of those wins could have been draws? How many of those draws could have been losses? We were clearly the better team on so few occasions last year, we need to improve because you can't always rely on other teams not taking their chances. Plenty of sides played us last year and went away kicking themselves because they didn't get what they deserved. It's a good sign to win when you play poorly but it's a worrying sign when you play poorly week in, week out because that'll be hard to replicate in the future. Sometimes things just go against you, like what happened with Boro last year, and sometimes they go for you, as it did with us. If we're going to challenge for promotion this year, I think we need to improve tactically, especially going forward because what we've seen under Freedman so far hasn't been good enough, I don't think.

Random question to anyone who managed to make it through this post without falling asleep; how many games did we win last year when we were clearly the better side over 90 minutes, deserving of all three points?

Are you seriously moaning about when we was the form team in the league and won 7 or 8 games on the spin? It just shows that you are not happy unless you are moaning.

You never come on here to cheer the lads on or predict the outcome and join in with banter in the days leading up to a game. You just appear when you get chance to piss and moan and act like your some masterful tactician. Well your not, your just a member on a forum and Freedman is a manager of a real football club in a real job. Go and get coaching and come back when your managing a football club in the football league.

If we won the fecking champions league you would come on saying the formation was wrong and that we should have defended better by not letting them in our half and we should have won by ten.

[Norpig]

What do you mean the 'tactics' are wrong. Do you just mean, 'play 4-4-2'?

We need to improve as a team, defensively, and going forward? So not much then.

You're off your head you are! Play the right tactics and we'll be dominating teams every week, creating chances galore and pissing the league. How many times have you ever seen a team dominate everyone and create chance after chance, week after week?

No, 4-4-2 got us better results last year but there were still fundamental problems within that team, even when we went on that impressive streak. I don't think we were good enough defensively because far too many balls came into our box, too many balls bounced inside the box, we allowed the opposition way too much time outside our area and our lines were too deep. It all invited pressure, which is why every Bolton game was more tense than it should have been. Going forward, we've never created anywhere near enough chances under Freedman largely because he is overly reliant on individual players, whether it's Zaha at Palace or Eagles/Davies/Moritz here, to produce something themselves. We are incapable of keeping hold of the ball and controlling the game, we don't threaten down the wings, our wing backs don't overlap properly, our strikers don't know where to run to, the midfielders don't create space for themselves, and whilst I could carry on listings the problems with our attacking play, the basic problem is a lack of direction. I don't think our team know what they're supposed to be doing when we're attacking. Our defenders constantly booting the ball up to a lone striker, who isn't ever going to be able hold up the ball, is another thing which proved absolutely pointless countless times against Burnley and reeks of the same confusion.

Defensively, I think we invite too much pressure but I can at least see why Freedman is trying to do. Going forward though, we are woeful at times. I keep on mentioning this point but when a team fails to pass to a striker once, in an evenly matched game, in over 45 minutes of play, there's an issue there. We are very poor going forward and rely heavily on pieces of individual skill rather than teamwork to create our chances. This is why we saw such good performances when Mark Davies, our best creative player, returned from injury last year. Our entire midfield has never provided enough chances for our strikers under Freedman.

I know the obvious answer to all these complaints are that we did have a good finish to the season last year. That's true, we did, but how many of those wins could have been draws? How many of those draws could have been losses? We were clearly the better team on so few occasions last year, we need to improve because you can't always rely on other teams not taking their chances. Plenty of sides played us last year and went away kicking themselves because they didn't get what they deserved. It's a good sign to win when you play poorly but it's a worrying sign when you play poorly week in, week out because that'll be hard to replicate in the future. Sometimes things just go against you, like what happened with Boro last year, and sometimes they go for you, as it did with us. If we're going to challenge for promotion this year, I think we need to improve tactically, especially going forward because what we've seen under Freedman so far hasn't been good enough, I don't think.

Random question to anyone who managed to make it through this post without falling asleep; how many games did we win last year when we were clearly the better side over 90 minutes, deserving of all three points?

Are you seriously moaning about when we was the form team in the league and won 7 or 8 games on the spin? It just shows that you are not happy unless you are moaning.

You never come on here to cheer the lads on or predict the outcome and join in with banter in the days leading up to a game. You just appear when you get chance to piss and moan and act like your some masterful tactician. Well your not, your just a member on a forum and Freedman is a manager of a real football club in a real job. Go and get coaching and come back when your managing a football club in the football league.

If we won the fecking champions league you would come on saying the formation was wrong and that we should have defended better by not letting them in our half and we should have won by ten.

SPOT ON!!

[BWFC_Insane]

I don't think there is anything wrong with a discussion of tictacs. I like the orange and green ones myself....

Anyhow, for me the system and way we set up at Burnley was absolutely spot on. They had three shots on target. When you go away from home and restrict the home side to that you know you're well organised and set up correctly. They scored from a cock up between the two centre backs. Nothing to do with a system or an organisational issue but a problem with the players on the day.

We were setup to counter and barring poor finall balls or mis-controls would have had a few decent chances. Again perfectly to plan barring a lack of quality in some areas that you can't do anything about.

We also had spells where we stepped up and dominated, again only a lack of real quality at times on the day let us down.

I don't think anyone minds a bit of tactical discussion. But if the contribution is "we should defend and attack a lot better" it's just bollocks.

[LeverEnd]

What do you mean the 'tactics' are wrong. Do you just mean, 'play 4-4-2'?

We need to improve as a team, defensively, and going forward? So not much then.

You're off your head you are! Play the right tactics and we'll be dominating teams every week, creating chances galore and pissing the league. How many times have you ever seen a team dominate everyone and create chance after chance, week after week?

No, 4-4-2 got us better results last year but there were still fundamental problems within that team, even when we went on that impressive streak. I don't think we were good enough defensively because far too many balls came into our box, too many balls bounced inside the box, we allowed the opposition way too much time outside our area and our lines were too deep. It all invited pressure, which is why every Bolton game was more tense than it should have been. Going forward, we've never created anywhere near enough chances under Freedman largely because he is overly reliant on individual players, whether it's Zaha at Palace or Eagles/Davies/Moritz here, to produce something themselves. We are incapable of keeping hold of the ball and controlling the game, we don't threaten down the wings, our wing backs don't overlap properly, our strikers don't know where to run to, the midfielders don't create space for themselves, and whilst I could carry on listings the problems with our attacking play, the basic problem is a lack of direction. I don't think our team know what they're supposed to be doing when we're attacking. Our defenders constantly booting the ball up to a lone striker, who isn't ever going to be able hold up the ball, is another thing which proved absolutely pointless countless times against Burnley and reeks of the same confusion.

Defensively, I think we invite too much pressure but I can at least see why Freedman is trying to do. Going forward though, we are woeful at times. I keep on mentioning this point but when a team fails to pass to a striker once, in an evenly matched game, in over 45 minutes of play, there's an issue there. We are very poor going forward and rely heavily on pieces of individual skill rather than teamwork to create our chances. This is why we saw such good performances when Mark Davies, our best creative player, returned from injury last year. Our entire midfield has never provided enough chances for our strikers under Freedman.

I know the obvious answer to all these complaints are that we did have a good finish to the season last year. That's true, we did, but how many of those wins could have been draws? How many of those draws could have been losses? We were clearly the better team on so few occasions last year, we need to improve because you can't always rely on other teams not taking their chances. Plenty of sides played us last year and went away kicking themselves because they didn't get what they deserved. It's a good sign to win when you play poorly but it's a worrying sign when you play poorly week in, week out because that'll be hard to replicate in the future. Sometimes things just go against you, like what happened with Boro last year, and sometimes they go for you, as it did with us. If we're going to challenge for promotion this year, I think we need to improve tactically, especially going forward because what we've seen under Freedman so far hasn't been good enough, I don't think.

Random question to anyone who managed to make it through this post without falling asleep; how many games did we win last year when we were clearly the better side over 90 minutes, deserving of all three points?

This is very true, and he admitted that. It's about keeping things tight and giving individuals a platform to go out and win games. He's a pragmatist unlike Coyle and most of us were crying out for that this time last year. We're not going to be seeing total football under Dougie but if he's getting results like he did in the last third of last season I'll take that. He's also a young manager who is bright and open minded so there's every reason to believe he'll evolve tactically over time. For now I want guts and points with a bit of skill thrown in here and there. I think you are expecting too much all at once. I advise lowering expectations, take the positives! Works for me in life as well as the Reebok.