Bolton (h) - Tuesday 1st October 2024

[west stand oap]

I thought any points tonight would be a bonus but 4 points from our first 4 home games against Exeter, Burton, Wycombe and Mansfield was very disappointing and ought to have been more like 8.

How did the referee only allow 7 minutes added time, 30 seconds allowance for each of the 10 substitutions is 5 minutes plus the time for treatment to their 'keeper and a long delay for Mbete's injury it should have been much more. We scored twice in the first 3 minutes and given the correct added time we could have salvaged a 4-4 draw.

They were clearly better than us and we get caught out with balls over the top (2nd goal) or threaded through for players running through. How did a corner come straight across the face of goal for their 3rd goal? You also have to remember that their 2 first choice strikers were on the bench. Up to 90 minutes we did not look like scoring and I don't recall their 'keeper having to make a decent save. I thought McCarron did very well when he came on and probably created more down the left flank than Fosu did.

Finally, where were the Bolton supporters? They took the full allocation of 1473 and had said they had sold the bulk of them yet they only brought 633.

[Manwork04]

Not sure what Roberts offered tonight?

He’s playing too deep for me, play him just behind Eaves.
Burge doesn’t seem to have a save in his body and just looks terrified, Mbete had a terrible game, totally at fault for their third.
McGeehan is a passenger and adds nothing, another shocker this evening.
Bolton were literally a league above us, we need to win our games against the teams in and around us.
Depressing night.

[tcobb]

Roberts looked OK, Fosu will probably not see the season out, Brady looked completely clueless as to what to do. Either just standing with his arms folded or hiding in the dugout. No encouragement of the players , no trying to get them to up their game, nothing.  Couchane looks poor, Pinnock is nowhere near the game , awful corners ,freekicks and throw ins but Brady won't drop him. Hoskins is finished as a League One player.  Too much deadwood including the Manager at the moment.

[Observing]

Brady has to stop being stubborn.

Accept we can’t go toe to toe with some teams and change our tactics accordingly.

[Mysterious Curle]

Why is anyone surprised? They are a very well funded, well supported side. Ignore the fact that they reside in the same league as use. Because that is where the similarity stops. We have to be realistic. We are not in their ball park. Slagging Brady off for not beating a Ferrari in is Fiesta is ridiculous…

When teams that well funded come alive you’re bòlloxed.

I don’t think anyone is surprised and expected to walk away with any points. The concern is the lack of application and fight, coupled with the inability to change and try something different as we sleepwalked into a hammering.

[Terryfenwickatemyhamster]

I don’t think anyone is surprised and expected to walk away with any points. The concern is the lack of application and fight, coupled with the inability to change and try something different as we sleepwalked into a hammering.

If any of the top funded sides turn up on their day, including Huddersfield we are in trouble. You are playing in effect against mid level championship players, due to the wages they attract. If the top funded side gels on that day, a team that is funded at lower league one level, is going to get opened up and exposed. If people can't understand the vast difference and gulf between us and them in quality, I'm not sure what else I can say. Losing is always disappointing. But we simply do not have the tools at our disposal to take on an on song Bolton side. At an estimation I would say they are funded at least six times above what we are. Occasionally we might give sides like that a bit of an issue, but on the whole we are real trouble if they are playing to their standard.

Their will always be rare exceptions. But generally the rule favours the better financed sides.

[west stand oap]

Quite true, if the top teams are on their game they are going to beat us and some times comfortably as happened last last season against Portsmouth and Peterborough.

I don't think you can level the accusation that the players "lack application and fight" we just came up against a much better team and if that statement was true it would have been 4-0 but they kept going to the end when there was no realistic chance of salvaging any points and were rewarded with the 2 late goals. Was there a "lack of application and fight" on Saturday against Mansfield when we played the best football of the season at home and but for poor finishing would have not been beaten. That game showed that we we are more than capable of competing against the teams in the division whose budget is not considerably more than ours.

[Manwork04]

If any of the top funded sides turn up on their day, including Huddersfield we are in trouble. You are playing in effect against mid level championship players, due to the wages they attract. If the top funded side gels on that day, a team that is funded at lower league one level, is going to get opened up and exposed. If people can't understand the vast difference and gulf between us and them in quality, I'm not sure what else I can say. Losing is always disappointing. But we simply do not have the tools at our disposal to take on an on song Bolton side. At an estimation I would say they are funded at least six times above what we are. Occasionally we might give sides like that a bit of an issue, but on the whole we are real trouble if they are playing to their standard.

Their will always be rare exceptions. But generally the rule favours the better financed sides.

Very sensible post Tel, there is two leagues within a league, there’s us, Crawley, Burton, Cambridge, Shrewsbury and Stevenage etc and then the likes of Bolton, Birmingham, Charlton, Wrexham etc like you say the disparity in quality of players is vast.
Having said all that, getting pumped 4 at home is never good.

[lordjord]

A very disappointing night all around. A heavy home defeat in awful conditions and with what looked to be a really bad injury for Mbete, would be staggered if he is not out for several months as he looked in real pain (speedy recovery Luke!).

Im not going to go too over the top after a defeat to a clearly really good side who played some slick football at times (there first goal looked offside in real time though?).

The Baldwin / Guthrie partnership does really lack pace and playing such a high line against so many deep runners seemed suicidal. I think Willis is more of a natural fit for Guthrie due to better athleticism he can offer. Losing Mbete is a huge loss, no idea what Guinness is like as a player but otherwise I guess its McCarron there.

A huge positive to see Eaves feature and score, clearly a physical presence up top we have missed in recent seasons and can offer us something completely different. I thought Roberts showed grit and quality yesterday, others were clearly not on the same wave length. That being said I dont think hes a natural number 9 and think with Eaves back it could allow Roberts to drop a bit deeper and get on the half turn like McAtee did for them.

One criticism I will lead at Brady and its something I have noticed over the whole of his tenure is the lack of bodies in the CM position when we have the ball. Both wingers, the striker and then often a midfielder tend to push right up against the defence. It tends to leave almost a straight line of our defenders and a midfielder (Chouchaine / Sowerby) and then a straight line of forwards and wingers. It inevitably means the ball goes long at some point as no one drops in to receive it and no one prior had the physical tools to do a huge amount with it when it came long.

It would leave a chasm of space of say 25 yards in the centre of the pitch and it happens ALL the time. I can only put that down to coaching and its something that has frustrated me for some time. I hope that if we see Roberts in more of a number 10 role that I think will suit him he can help us alleviate that problem slightly.

I still think we will be ok this season. I think the quality we have further forward will see us stay up. But giving away goals with such ease and already quite a poor home record this season does not bode well. Tough run of fixtures coming up also!

[DavCobb]

I think we will be OK. The slight frustration is that there is no sign that they'll ever be an 'easy' L1 and unless it's because we don't experience it enough, it feels as though there is a growing elite element....a bit like the Prem I guess. So much for FFP! Maybe it has always been there but have never noticed it as much.

Whilst the top 8-10 rotates, could be become the next Everton?! We have always demonstrated that we can pretty much beat anyone in the same division as us on our day, so it is not as though the likes of Bolton, Birmingham and co are like us playing Man City. All of the 'big' teams are going to have blips and off days. We just have to make sure we have the odd win against the likes of Huddersfield (and hopefully the P*sh!) and then get better results against the mid table and lower teams. If we start losing at home to the likes of Cambridge then we are going to have bigger problems.

Certainly no need to panic. 

[Rushdencobbler]

That was simple case of us not doing our homework and them doing theirs and executing it too perfection.

We didn't press enough like we usually do let Bolton pass it around, Bolton played very wide meaning our wingers should have tracked back, they didn't so the full backs had to close, leaving our 2 CB exposed on every attack, needed 2 holding midfielders as Sowerby was over run, if we aren't pressing we should be back in position stopping that. 2 x we pressed their No5 he fell over and gave the ball away.

They pressed us every time we had the ball, then doubled up on our FB or winger when we had the ball going forward so we had to turn back, they worked extremely hard on and off the ball, we had acres of space the previous to games Bolton made the pitch small when we had the ball like a 5 a side pitch, then when they had it they found acres of space and us all over the shop.

Midfield three were dominated by Bolton, they did not get on the ball enough, but again Bolton closed the space down well.
Roberts and Fosu were clearly targeted by Bolton as they stopped them getting the ball and surrounded them every time, nullified anything going forward.

Pinnock is a myth, great first season, set pieces, throw ins and crosses were brilliant, now he is a liability, does not compete for anything his delivery for corners and free kicks is woeful and his long throws are shocking.

It was obvious we needed to match their width with 3 at the back and 2 wide players get crosses in then pack the middle to stop them, we did that and we get 2 goals.

I'm not going to get too upset over this based on our other performances, and the fact Bolton look a very good team, we were just out run and out done tactically.

Tough league this year, but we have the squad to match most in this division easily bar the top 9/10 teams.

[Mysterious Curle]

If any of the top funded sides turn up on their day, including Huddersfield we are in trouble. You are playing in effect against mid level championship players, due to the wages they attract. If the top funded side gels on that day, a team that is funded at lower league one level, is going to get opened up and exposed. If people can't understand the vast difference and gulf between us and them in quality, I'm not sure what else I can say. Losing is always disappointing. But we simply do not have the tools at our disposal to take on an on song Bolton side. At an estimation I would say they are funded at least six times above what we are. Occasionally we might give sides like that a bit of an issue, but on the whole we are real trouble if they are playing to their standard.

Their will always be rare exceptions. But generally the rule favours the better financed sides.

Take 2

I don’t think anyone is surprised and expected to walk away with any points. The concern is the lack of application and fight, coupled with the inability to change and try something different as we sleepwalked into a hammering.

[Worthless Recluse]

Very sensible post Tel, there is two leagues within a league, there’s us, Crawley, Burton, Cambridge, Shrewsbury and Stevenage etc and then the likes of Bolton, Birmingham, Charlton, Wrexham etc like you say the disparity in quality of players is vast.
Having said all that, getting pumped 4 at home is never good.

I see Mansfield are on for the autos.

[WadeyCobbler]

Had to watch online as have man-flu (picture quality good on the Sky Sports app) but as others have said we were against a top budget experienced side who were on their game. We will have these encounters this season. I’ve seen enough of us to think we will be ok and get enough points to survive. Eaves will be a big plus, a target man striker we’ve been missing for a while. With him, Roberts and Fosu and McGeeehan we should pose enough threat. Losing Mbete is a hammer blow and gives us a problem. Maybe we miss Magloires pace at centre-back on occasions? I actually thought Pinnock had a good game! Had chances of his own. Burge doesn’t inspire confidence and Odimayo has rarely looked confident when I’ve seen him.
Unfortunately it doesn’t get any easier these next couple of weeks. Any points picked up at Wrexham or Wigan will be a bonus. We must then find some home form against Orient and Crawley. They are the games we must be winning.

[tcobb]

Nobody's expecting us to beat the top teams, what everybody is expecting is a bit of fight, Brady struggles in some games to adapt to the opposition, that's he's biggest weakness.
Home form will be the key to staying up, we will always pick up some points away , but , Mansfield,  Burton,  Exeter and Wycombe can be considered similar with similar budgets and we have gained 4 points from 12 against those at home and that will be what gets us relegated.

[EB Claret]

It seems harsh to criticise our players for 'lack of fight', I thought the one thing they had got last night was 'fight', they were just beaten by a better team on the night.
The Bolton manager accused his players of being unprofessional for conceding two late goals. Swing that around and we can praise our team for their professionalism.
For Bolton's 1st,2nd and 4th goals they basically outpaced our defence, for their 3rd Mbete was blocked and the Bolton player is unmarked to score.
Take Bolton's 2nd goal, a chip over our defence and their player races away to lob over Burge, so easy. At least twice in the first half Tyler Roberts makes similar forward runs, the ball never arrives. It's this sort of understanding our team still have to build, there were signs of it against Mansfield so let's hope we keep improving and just like the team don't give up. UTC.

[west stand oap]

There is only 1 person who is accusing the players of "a lack of fight" which clearly is untrue. As I said earlier if that was true we would have lost 4-0 but the team kept going to the end, as they usually do, and were justly awarded for doing so with the 2 late goals.

[Deepcut Cobbler]

I didn't see a 'lack of application and fight' from last nights perfomance?

[Pablo69]

Dont know why people are knocking Burge. He could not have done anything about the 4 goals and did make 3 good saves.
Bad day at the office but I do think the bottom 4 of Burton Cambridge Shrewsbury and Crawley have poorer squads and will keep us up.

[DavCobb]

I'm assuming a decent proportion of our fans (who went to the game) didn't witness our goals live last night?

Own up!!