No Jackett required?

[boltonboris]

I've seen Beckford quite a few times this season and have been far from impressed, but on Saturday he looked like a proper striker. You can see he has gained in confidence and his finish was great. Couldn't believe the miss, but it happens to the best of them. He was also involved in Hall's goal and was making runs all over the place and I bet Shittu and co didn't find him an easy opponent. He's never going to be a great all-round footballer but there were hints that he brings more to the team than just finishing. Whether he'll keep doing either thing remains to be seen.
.

His running off of the last man is as good as owt you'll see in this division.

Really plays on the shoulders

[Puskas]

And why are people defending Beckford?

I know what a striker is - I've watched SUPER Kevin Davies. For ten years. TEN YEARS.

So when Beckford traps the ball, I scream, almost incoherently, "YOU FOOL - YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO CONTROL IT. IT'S MEANT TO BOUNCE OFF YOU AND LAND TEN YARDS AWAY".

And when he makes sensible runs off the ball, I yell, "IDIOT! STAND STILL, WITH YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HIPS".

And when he looks for a team-mate to lay it off to, I shout "MORON! YOU'RE MEANT TO GIVE IT TO THE OPPOSITION".

I simply collapse and weep when he fails to shank it over, or tamely at the keeper, when unmarked and 5 yards out.

BOOO! RUBBISH!

[CAPSLOCK]

One clown near us shouted at him the other day 'Kevin Davies wouldn't have done that'

It was meant in a bad way

How strange

[Worthy4England]

One clown near us shouted at him the other day 'Kevin Davies wouldn't have done that'

It was meant in a bad way

How strange

He actually took a shot in the second half from near(ish) the half-way line, because he'd spotted the keeper wandering about near the edge of his area. It wasn't particularly close, but good vision to spot that the guy had gone walkabout.

[boltonboris]

One clown near us shouted at him the other day 'Kevin Davies wouldn't have done that'

It was meant in a bad way

How strange

What? Scored?

[Lord Kangana]

Yeah, cos the striker who spent his life in the Premier League and competing in Europe, getting an England cap and being instrumental in our 4 consecutive top-8 finishes is of course not a patch on a player who, basically, hasn't done any of that.

Whats it about not having an argument with an idiot?

[thebish]

And why are people defending Beckford?

I know what a striker is - I've watched SUPER Kevin Davies. For ten years. TEN YEARS.

So when Beckford traps the ball, I scream, almost incoherently, "YOU FOOL - YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO CONTROL IT. IT'S MEANT TO BOUNCE OFF YOU AND LAND TEN YARDS AWAY".

And when he makes sensible runs off the ball, I yell, "IDIOT! STAND STILL, WITH YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HIPS".

And when he looks for a team-mate to lay it off to, I shout "MORON! YOU'RE MEANT TO GIVE IT TO THE OPPOSITION".

I simply collapse and weep when he fails to shank it over, or tamely at the keeper, when unmarked and 5 yards out.

BOOO! RUBBISH!

bloody norah - puskas is back in the room!! is it a full moon???

[truewhite15]

Fcuk me. You wouldn't have thought we'd won 48 hours ago.

[Enoch]

Can we have a list of who's asked what questions and to who they've asked them.....

So many questions!!

Here's one, Ream looks like a reasonably intelligent footballer to me, what causes the kind of lapse he had for their goal and how does one go about preventing the like happening again ?

If it's about his ability to read the game, that can be coached.

If it's fitness or speed, then you can only be what you are once fully fit.

If it's about a mind which occasionally switches off now & again ... I don't think you can prevent that happening. I think, unfortunately, that it is this. The error on Saturday was due to that and, worse, his reaction once it happened suggested he remained switched off even as play continued.

I think he reads the game ok as a rule, though I'm not too sure how much of that can be coached. Things like spatial awareness and nous you either have or you don't, you can coach someone to fulfil a role, but only within the limits of who they are.

Like yourself I think he's prone to lapses of concentration. Like yourself I think that's a very hard one to address, Red Bull maybe!!

Whilst this pair have made a difference to our defensive vulnerability, we still don't have anyone back there that can run the game. As for his starting position in the lead up to their goal, I've never before known a coach suggest getting yourself on the wrong side of an opposition striker to be a good thing.

It was a very poor error.

[Enoch]

His running off of the last man is as good as owt you'll see in this division.

Really plays on the shoulders

Great movement, not afraid to finish either. Assuming he stays fit, it will ultimately be the end of our using the hoof ball. Not least because my dog heads the ball better than Beckford, that doesn't bother me too much, I like the ball on the ground.

[TKIZ!]

Oh don't start with the poppy Nazism .

And as for Ream i'd still be picking him, I just think it's important that, for all the recent improvements, we remember there's a liability in there trying to come out if he doesn't concentrate!

This is not meant as criticism of anyone but I can't think of one Bolton player in my watching lifetime who wasn't prone to "switching off" at least once during a game. Not one

[Prufrock]

Apart from when he cost us another goal by being a bit of a pansy and get arsed off the ball akin to a 6 year old.

Made up for that with the pass, but it's still startling that he gets 'done' by such poor opposition so often.

I don't understand what you have against Ream.You constantly have a go at him and it's not just comments saying "he's not good enough" or whatever, there's always an accusation of him being weak, a coward or something like that. It seems personal, for whatever reason.

Ream's 'mistake' wasn't that bad, anyway. He was initially in a good position but when the pass was struck, it went past a Millwall player who tried to stop it but it had too much pace on it for him, so that caused the pass to go onto their striker very quickly. Ream had no time to adjust his body position and he lost his man. That's not a big deal, certainly nothing like you'd think reading some comments on here. It wasn't good defending but these things can happen. I think Ream probably expecting the first Millwall player to stop the ball but because he missed it, Ream was wrong footed. It was a minor but costly mistake and, unfortunately, these things happen. I'd be more worried about defenders missing tackles or being in the wrong place altogether than these minor things which are very hard to prevent.

Firstly, he tried to nick a ball he was never going to be able to nick. Secondly, he did it by trying to go the wrong way meaning he got rolled AND the striker was clean-through facing goal. It'd look shit in a Sunday League game.

He's got form for making a number of horror mistakes. He's also, rightly, been taking the plaudits recently for defending well and adding something on the ball. If you're going to recognise one, you have to recognise the other. Hopefully this will be a one-off and he can get back to how he has been. I do worry that he hasn't really been tested in this good run though.

[bobo the clown]

SF in "give the guy a break" shocker !!!

[thebish]

SF in "give the guy a break" shocker !!!

aye - and when he does - people STILL jump on him!

[Wandering Willy]

And why are people defending Beckford?

I know what a striker is - I've watched SUPER Kevin Davies. For ten years. TEN YEARS.

So when Beckford traps the ball, I scream, almost incoherently, "YOU FOOL - YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO CONTROL IT. IT'S MEANT TO BOUNCE OFF YOU AND LAND TEN YARDS AWAY".

And when he makes sensible runs off the ball, I yell, "IDIOT! STAND STILL, WITH YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HIPS".

And when he looks for a team-mate to lay it off to, I shout "MORON! YOU'RE MEANT TO GIVE IT TO THE OPPOSITION".

I simply collapse and weep when he fails to shank it over, or tamely at the keeper, when unmarked and 5 yards out.

BOOO! RUBBISH!

Genius

[Enoch]

He's decent around a half chance, but genius is stretching it!

[CAPSLOCK]

Yeah, cos the striker who spent his life in the Premier League and competing in Europe, getting an England cap and being instrumental in our 4 consecutive top-8 finishes is of course not a patch on a player who, basically, hasn't done any of that.

Davies would not have scored any of the goals Beckford has scored recently and 'basically' that's all that matters

[Lord Kangana]

You're right, as he never played in the Championship for us.

[CAPSLOCK]

Spot on

Glad to see you didn't fall for his 'efforts' to steal a living last year

[Lord Kangana]

And the converse is also true, that at his peak Beckford is plying his trade for a lower mid-table Championship make-weight side.

But like I said, its a bit pointless arguing with someone who would even start to make the comparison.