Once more unto the Bridge dear friends...Chelsea..

[NiceHotCuppaTea]

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[a1]

Especially for Pratley? Probably not. Especially for someone whose job is football? Yep. Again. It's what he symbolises as much as anything else though. I'm sure he's a nice lad but I can't wait till he's gone!

dangerously close to " yeah , but what have you done for me lately ? "

what does he symbolise that , say, petrov didnt ?

if he had a gay haircut or a foreign accent , folk'd be making excuses for him.

[Prufrock]

I'm pretty sure I said something similar about Petrov too! He was a useless f*cker who I was delighted to see the back of. Symbolised a different kind of wrong, but did so all the same.

Though, tbf, it's been pretty much downhill since Pratley joined.

I'm not that fussed about paying to watch someone do stuff I could do, only more athletically.

[SmokinFrazier]

Pratley isn't a terrible player but it's obvious that he isn't someone who can seamlessly come into the squad and deliver. In 12/13 he was good for us because it's the only time in his Bolton career that he's been given consistent games. Last year, the most consistency he had was 3 games in a row, which happened three times and in one of them, he was only a sub. It's just not enough for any footballer to constantly come into the team and expect to hit their best form, after being on the bench for a couple of weeks. The same thing has happened this season, with the most consistency he's had being two successive games. You can't judge players off that.

[boltonboris]

He doesn't get a run of games though, because he's shit

[Lord Kangana]

How did he manage it at Swansea though? I'd just like to know, cos clearly he did. Am I getting mixed up, but weren't we chasing him from the Megson days onwards?

[boltonboris]

They were a division below the standard we're playing at now when he was doing well for them, which is probably his level. When they got promoted to the Championship, he became a bit part player..

[LeverEnd]

It's true that Freedman's team meddling doesn't help players get a run of form, but that can't excuse Pratley not even being able to do the simplest things, like control a football and pass it to a teammate. He's been dreadful.

I hope he comes good, as I like an underdog, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Worthy4England]

It's true that Freedman's team meddling doesn't help players get a run of form, but that can't excuse Pratley not even being able to do the simplest things, like control a football and pass it to a teammate. He's been dreadful.

I hope he comes good, as I like an underdog, but I'm not holding my breath.

Spearing gets in every week...

[boltonboris]

Yeah but he's world class at staying 30 yards behind where the ball usually is.. Which is exactly where the manager wants him!

In fairness, it's probably best that he stays out of the way

[Lord Kangana]

They were a division below the standard we're playing at now when he was doing well for them, which is probably his level. When they got promoted to the Championship, he became a bit part player..

39 appearances and 11 goals in the Championship in 2010-11. Which is when we bought him.

I'd happily settle for a midfielder that looked like a dray horse if he delivered nearly one-in-three in a season.

[LeverEnd]

It's true that Freedman's team meddling doesn't help players get a run of form, but that can't excuse Pratley not even being able to do the simplest things, like control a football and pass it to a teammate. He's been dreadful.

I hope he comes good, as I like an underdog, but I'm not holding my breath.

Spearing gets in every week...

Haha! fair point, but he's not quite as bad as Pratley. I'd drop him for Medo at the moment though, definitely.

[boltonboris]

They were a division below the standard we're playing at now when he was doing well for them, which is probably his level. When they got promoted to the Championship, he became a bit part player..

39 appearances and 11 goals in the Championship in 2010-11. Which is when we bought him.

I'd happily settle for a midfielder that looked like a dray horse if he delivered nearly one-in-three in a season.

Well fair enough then... that's some return!

[bobo the clown]

I'm sure he retired and his brother turned up. He's never once looked like a footballer since joining us.

[coffeymagic]

Isn't Pratley's problem that he's the ghost of Coyle past?

He'd often keep out better players for no discernable reason and any mistake he made was compounded by this fact.

As for Petrov I quite liked him* He'd run down the wing knock it past his man and then it was coming in the box first time. That's what a winger should be doing (if you boil it down to the basics). It wasn't his fault that no matter how many times they'd seen him do this our attack either didn't know what to expect or couldn't be arsed trying to get on the end of that cross.

*until he said he'd sign my lad's autograph book at Hamilton and then walked away. From that moment he was dead to me.

[Mar]

As for Petrov I quite liked him*

*until he said he'd sign my lad's autograph book at Hamilton and then walked away. From that moment he was dead to me.

We had a similar situation with Paul Robinson whilst in Florida before the match. Except Paul Robinson made the effort to come back to us at half time and sign our autograph. Very nice gesture.

As for Pratley. I'd agree with the ghost of Coyle's past. I think he's the sort of player that would thrive in a team doing well because he gets about the pitch a lot, but I think in a team like ours without the willingness to drive forward its clear he's likely to get shown up and criticized.