10 Post-Match Points: Bolton v Nottingham Forest
After a game that had a little bit of everything, I’m just going to condense my thoughts in to 10 post-match points that jump out at me or irked me on the drive home from the game on Friday.
1) The standard of refereeing in the Championship is atrocious! I thought this league allowed players to get away with a little bit more than in the top flight, but yellow cards are banded about for seemingly any level or type of challenge.
The officials seem particularly poor at spotting handballs and other minor infringements that at times are glaringly obvious, and adopt a baffling approach to dealing with defender/attacker long ball challenges. I wouldn’t say they are a particularly biased bunch, although SKD’s reputation clearly goes before him, so in fairness their incompetence is meted out relatively consistently – it just doesn’t half get frustrating.
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It’s Simple; Win And We Stay Up! (Oh Yeah… And QPR Have To Lose Too)
I simply do not have the energy or the inclination to write any kind of analysis or match report after the 2-2 draw against WBA.
Three empowering relegation survival points reduced to one solitary point. Only a minute earlier, QPR take the lead and ultimately all three from Stoke.
We floundered and QPR seized the initiative.
We can still stay up if we win, but QPR must lose.
We know that we can beat Stoke, but it won’t be easy.
We know that Manchester City should beat QPR, but the Premier League isn’t like that.
This is everything that everyone loves about this league, but it’s completely gut wrenching to be in and amongst it.
I remember the relegation dog fight with West Ham in 2003 and the joy of coming out on top there was truly exceptional.
It is still achievable.
We have sold out our away allocation down at Stoke.
We have to believe that we can do it.
Chung-Yong to score and keep us up! You heard it here first. COYWM!
P.S if any of you have got an financial interest in Barclays then I’d get it out now, because the share price is going to take a beasting if next season their number one spokesman starts saying NPOWER every other word instead.
Tactical Gamble Doesn’t Pay Off
Well with the resounding sense that we’d seen that type of performance all season long, we get nothing from the game in hand against Spurs and it’s down to a two game shoot out with the other relegation battlers!
Realistically a win against a side in the top four was highly unlikely, but tactically I think we’ve been far too naive and this all or nothing strategy that we’ve employed all season has proved very high risk indeed.
It was clear from the off that we we’re going for all three points. The 4-4-2 was in place and SKD had been backed to start after his recent goal scoring return to the side. The danger was always going to be that by going toe-to-toe the game would become too open and the opposition’s quality would prevail, but with Blackburn’s negative performance being thoroughly punished by Tottenham at the weekend, Owen Coyle clearly decided to risk it for a survival biscuit.
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Coyle Looks To Bolton’s Future
“It would be very easy to look for a quick fix and sign ready-made players at 31 or 32 who you are guaranteed to get a good two years or 18 months from, but then you are back to square one”, says Owen Coyle speaking to the Bolton News.
“I have never had that way of doing things. My belief has always been in investing transfer fees on younger players. I rarely, if ever, spend money on a player over 24 years of age.
It has been something of a whirlwind for Bolton Wanderers under the control of Owen Coyle; beating the drop in his first season, drawing the plaudits but fading away in the second, and a wretched dog-fight to avoid relegation in the third.
The results and the style of play are always thrust in to the spotlight, but it’s clear that Owen has been keeping himself busy behind the scenes and has spent considerable time implementing his long term plan to revamp the first team squad and club as a whole.
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Wanderers Silence Wolves (Despite 4-4-Flippin’-2)
What an absolutely massive result! The Wanderers march on to claim all three points away at Molineux and nudge ourselves one point clear of Blackburn. That’s the first time we’ve recorded 3 consecutive wins since December 2006!
In truth the score line does little to reflect the way the game was played, but does go some way to show the spirit in this Bolton team at the moment.
Wolves could well have put the game to bed in the first half as they enjoyed long periods of dominance and produced a number of crosses into the box. Fortunately for us, Adam Bogdan is in a rich vein of form and continued to build on his impressive performance earlier in the week against Spurs.
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Episode 3 of ‘No Holden Back’
For those of you following the series you’ll be pleased to hear that the latest episode has been uploaded to YouTube!
This time round, we get to go behind the scenes and look at Stu’s eating habits and cooking skills. If you’re less interested in the food and more interested in the aesthetic appeal of the young American, keep your eyes peeled towards the end of the video for an eye full of thigh!