Bolton (h) - Tuesday 1st October 2024

[Shoemender]

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

Own up!!  

And they certainly weren't trying to avoid any traffic congestion due to the rugby.

[west stand oap]

The traffic congestion was before the match due to only 1 gate being open at the north car park leading to grid lock around the stadium. I am usually parked and in the ground about 30 minutes before kick off last night the game was kicking off as I took my seat.

[Terryfenwickatemyhamster]

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.

4-2 is not a hammering. I could repeat what I have said ad infinitum. You're never going to allow anyone to cloud your views. There was plenty of fight. And plenty of application. There just wasn't the skill and ability to combat what Bolton turned up with last night.

[BackOfTheNet]

The traffic congestion was before the match due to only 1 gate being open at the north car park leading to grid lock around the stadium. I am usually parked and in the ground about 30 minutes before kick off last night the game was kicking off as I took my seat.

Ah, is that what it was? It took ages to get to the disabled car park last night and we only just got sat down in time for kick off.

[Zen Master]

And they certainly weren't trying to avoid any traffic congestion due to the rugby.

Guilty as charged. Pay my money, make my choices.
 Mbete’s injury looked bad and very much like a hamstring the way he pulled up and went down.
Bolton looked sharper in all areas and were the better team on the night.


 
 

[Manwork04]

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.

Seriously, Burge has been terrible this season, looks as though he lacks confidence has struggled to keep out shots and makes bad decisions.

[west stand oap]

After an excellent first season Burge's form has dipped significantly last season and this, I think it is time to give Tzanev his chance.

[DrillingCobbler]

Brady has to stop being stubborn.

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

Absolutely bang on. Im surprised someone else has precisely the same take on last night as I did literally after 10 minutes! 

I said to my lad why on earth are we playing with such a high line after less than 10 minutes of the game. That they were simply soaking up our possession and then playing long passes over/through our defensive players for their forwards to run onto. It just kept working. And working. And working.

We showed zero respect to a very decent opponent, our approach was 'arrogant' and we got properly punished for it. Like we did in a few games last season (eg Pompey home and way).

Nothing else to add other than I hope we do finally learn from it and consider the team we are playing a bit more with the tactics we employ on the day.

[1971cobbler]

Absolutely bang on. Im surprised someone else has precisely the same take on last night as I did literally after 10 minutes! 

I said to my lad why on earth are we playing with such a high line after less than 10 minutes of the game. That they were simply soaking up our possession and then playing long passes over/through our defensive players for their forwards to run onto. It just kept working. And working. And working.

We showed zero respect to a very decent opponent, our approach was 'arrogant' and we got properly punished for it. Like we did in a few games last season (eg Pompey home and way).

Nothing else to add other than I hope we do finally learn from it and consider the team we are playing a bit more with the tactics we employ on the day.

You weren't West stand, towards the back row of the lower tier, around seat 20 were you?

[CobblerForever]

For a flavour of the comparative financials (both year ended June 30th 2023 - the latest filed)

Turnover;

Cobblers - £5,147,380
Bolton - £19,429,171

Employee Costs;

Cobblers - £4,625,921
Bolton - £12,834,631

Operating Loss;

Cobblers - £1,030,919
Bolton - £5,169,037

Bolton's financial statements are here;

https://cdn.bwfc.co.uk/sites/default/files/2024-03/Football%20Ventures%20%28Whites%29%20Limited%20Consolidated%20Accounts.pdf

Ours can be obtained via the Company House website (I couldn't locate them on the NTFC website.)
 

[DavCobb]

For a flavour of the comparative financials (both year ended June 30th 2023 - the latest filed)

Turnover;

Cobblers - £5,147,380
Bolton - £19,429,171

Operating Loss;

Cobblers - £1,030,919
Bolton - £5,169,037

Bolton's financial statements are here;

https://cdn.bwfc.co.uk/sites/default/files/2024-03/Football%20Ventures%20%28Whites%29%20Limited%20Consolidated%20Accounts.pdf

 

Strange how these clubs deem a £5m loss as a good performance.
You'd never buy a football club as a way to make money.

"Despite the loss to 30 June 2023, the Group has a sound financial base from which to further improve the business.
The Group is reliant on funding from its shareholders and such funding has been and continues to be made
available from the shareholders when required."

Speculate to accumulate....debt.

[bungle]

Overall, in comparison to last season I would say that we have improved the squad from an attacking perspective but have declined in quality defensively.

The most obvious gap is the lack of an 'athletic destroyer' CDM like McWilliams. McWilliams enabled us to compete in midfield in games against the better sides last year, even if it sometimes meant that the overall central midfield mix was quite defensive. The addition of McGeehan gives us more goal threat, but it comes at the expense of pressing capacity and defensive screening when we're playing the better sides in the division. Sowerby is great and Choucanne has the potential to develop into a Leonard-esque deep lying playmaker, but neither of them can really play the CDM role in the McWilliams vein. 

I'd like to see Brady sign another CDM option to rotate with McGeehan in games when we are likely to be under cosh.
I'd also say that a front three of Fosu, Roberts and Pinnock lacks pressing capacity, which is another important facet of competing against top sides who like to play it out from the back. Pressing is a strong point of Hoskins' game and I'd also like to see him recalled in games against the more dominant sides in the division.
I agree with others who have said that Willis is probably a better bet at CB against sides with pace up front who want to run in behind. Baldwin was immense at Huddersfield, so it may well be that Brady needs to use the squad and rotate in order to combat the specific threats offered by the opposition.

Lastly, those who are criticising Brady should do one IMO. The guy has assembled a cracking squad on a shoestring and players like Eaves, Roberts and Fosu look a  cut above anything we've had up front for a long time. The football we played against Huddersfield was a joy to watch and Brady has a genuine chance of  achieving a third successive season at this level, something that no Cobblers manager has done in 20+ odd years. As TFMAH says, when the moneyed sides like Bolton/Birmingham etc show up at full throttle then all we can do really is be organised and compete as best we can - we need to stick with them and show a bit of patience and pragmatism.

[west stand oap]

The own goal at Huddersfield was caused by our front 3 pressing which was Fosu, Roberts and Pinnock so they done it very effectively that day.

[WasRambo]

I see / know a bit about Bolton as the entirety of the in-laws are Trotters.

Even I know three basic facts about them; Sheehan runs the show, Thomason is a walking yellow card and they have a very decent forward line.

Tactically Brady got a few things wrong. Someone needed to be hustling Sheehan all night, even at the sacrifice of providing any attacking threat, just snuff him out. Someone needed to be in Thomasons face too, especially after his yellow. You could even throw Schar in the same category too.

The forward line is harder to deal with. They brought off nearly £2m worth of talent and could still bring on two strikers who are better than anything we have. That said, Guthrie needed to do a lot better for their fourth. I've seen milk turn faster.

My point is, Brady should have known all this basic stuff and planned accordingly. I'd say we were more naive than arrogant and the tactics reflected.

On a positive note, from their second to half time I actually thought we moved the ball well and made them look very ordinary but as ever, no end product.

Let's hope we can get and keep Eaves fit as currently (or until Marvo says otherwise) he's the best Cobblers striker ever based on goals per minute....

[Terryfenwickatemyhamster]

So... In a nutshell.

Brady got his tactics wrong.....  What he should have done. Is reduce them to the economic status of a minor league one side. Whilst employing the 20+ different versions of tactics suggested on here. I can't imagine how daft he must feel, after accumulating and honing his skills for years, that he neglected to consult with the footballing geniuses on social media. 😂😁

[Madrid Cobbler]

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.

Great post. I only saw part of the Bolton game on ifollow, but I've seen enough of us playing the better teams to know this is true. I never understand those posters who slam the team as if everything depends exclusively on how we play. My version of us playing the top teams is:

We play well and they play badly = possible win (e.g. Huddersfield)
We play well and they are average = maybe a draw
We play well and they play well = they win
we don't play well = we lose
we don't play well and they play well = we get hammered

[Harpole Cobbler]

4-2 is not a hammering. I could repeat what I have said ad infinitum. You're never going to allow anyone to cloud your views. There was plenty of fight. And plenty of application. There just wasn't the skill and ability to combat what Bolton turned up with last night.

I so agree with this!
The facts are clear.
We're one of the poorer clubs in the league.
So - our skill and athleticism levels will match that relative poverty.
It doesn't matter. It's OK.
What does matter is that I saw our players performing to the maximum of their ability.
That's what I pay to see ...and that's what I enjoy seeing.

[Merry Comrade]

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

Own up!!  

I didn't witness our goals and I was watching on SKY. Car trouble meant I couldn't get to the game but I turned over to watch bake off after the fourth went in. I was amazed when I saw the final score and I certainly feel that a 4-2 loss seems a lot better than a 4-0 hammerring. Let's hope Eaves starts on Saturday with a possible start for McCarron as well.

[SC Cobbler]

Great post. I only saw part of the Bolton game on ifollow, but I've seen enough of us playing the better teams to know this is true. I never understand those posters who slam the team as if everything depends exclusively on how we play. My version of us playing the top teams is:

We play well and they play badly = possible win (e.g. Huddersfield)
We play well and they are average = maybe a draw
We play well and they play well = they win
we don't play well = we lose
we don't play well and they play well = we get hammered

To add to this - I always hate people who moan about 'fight' or 'passion' against teams that have 11 better players. It's really hard to look good when you're chasing shadows for a full 90 mins!

[CobblerForever]

Don't take this comment too seriously but;

We've just lost two games in a row without Hoskins starting. Something of an inconvenient truth perhaps (at least for some).