BOLTON v FOREST ....... match thread

I'm worried. Dougie knows more than most about our weaknesses. He signed them.

Not sure who's fit to be honest so selection is very tricky. With a bit of genuine width is Silva i'd be happy with Madine and Heskey. But will Silva/Feeney offer support to our novice full backs against probably the star player in the championship. His 5-3-1-1 formation failed so miserably at M'Boro but on paper and with the make shift defence it does have some plus points. But for me I say we trust our players to perform at the back and get as much support as we can to Madine.

Thank you ,Stephen Dobbie for lancing the boil of our goallessness. May he have infected the others with scoring skills.

This game was always going to evoke comparisons between Neil and Dougie but it was also very similar to the game at MK Dons. It also was reminiscent of some of Dougie's games for us. If honours ended even it was less than much of our play deserved. Again if Dervite could head a ball on target we would have been goals ahead. In the event we couldn't even score a penalty. I doubt Madine could have hit a worse one had he deliberately tried to miss.

If the game argued anything from the comparison of the two managers it's that there's little to choose. Dougie beat Neil to decive substitutions , the impact of both Burke and Vaughan being marked. Neil was in my opinion too slow with his , Silva, Clough and Madine being spent forces for 20 mins end.But for all that Feeney, the first deployed and then Heskey and Dobbie all made telling contributions from the bench.

Owdonlad was pretty close to the team. I, as usual was not. But we were both baffled by whatever alignment of the planets inspired him to play Walker on the right and Silva on the left. Presumably he thought Feeney had to be dropped (true) and Wilson protected. In the event Wilson in the first half did a great job on Antonio and Walker was painfully on the wrong foot. Silva was better. A wing swap seemed certain but no: Walker was hung out to dry and was as poor as Hall, Dougie's joker v Blackpool. Dougie changed that after 20. Neil could have done likewise

Defensively we were fine and Mark Davies supported by Danns did really well throughout the game in midfield. That Wilson and Moxey pushed up so often to ssupport them helped enormously. At the back Dervite was sound and ditto Prince.Both threatened blunders but escaped embarrassment A breakaway for the disenchanted Antonio all but embarrassed the team but he messed up when Wilson and Prince had confused each other. Not sure who let him go? But credit Wilson for neutering him earlier.


we were of course awful in front of goal for 94 minsI counted 4 shots on target including the penalty and I'm not sure the sitter Zach's missed after Mark D's side foot was even going in. Heskey got a header on target. I hope Madine was carrying an injury? If not he was off the pace throughout, clumsy and goal shy. That he took the penalty was similar to Garvan under Dougie at Wolves .Clough too is lightweight and has neither the speed nor physique to support an old fashioned striker. He needs to play behind a front two or one. At least Silva offered some pace

it pains me to say it : Feeney did really well for 20 mins or so doing the only thing he can do well. He ran down the line and instinctively fired crosses in. One won the penalty- much good that did!

But overall we played well . To lose in such circumstance twice in one week.a week in which Dervite missed 5 easy headers and Clough two unchallenged shooting chances- dwelling fractionally and placing...would have been really depressing.  As I say thank you Dobbie who just stuck his foot through the ball.

Amos 7 Wilson 8 Dervite 6 Prince 7 Moxey 7. Silva 6 Danns 7 Mark Davies 8 Walker 1 Clough 4 Madine 2. Feeney 7 ( Doobie and Heskey were both 8 but for very short cameos. In fact Dobbie messed one chance up before scoring)

Madine had a chance to steal the points at the end. But fell just short.. With confidence that could have been a winner

From BBC


Possession: 46% 54%
Shots
21 10
On target
3 3
Corners
8 3
Fouls
9 14

Dougloss still totally deluded " "It was always going to be a challenge for myself and the team coming back here. But no one can take away how hard I worked for the football club. No doubt the club was in decline and I couldn't stop that decline.

"Deep down most Bolton fans understood the circumstances. We missed out on the play-offs by one goal and they knew then it was going to be difficult for the next couple of years."

Although the points tally and goallessness are a concern and similar to last season there is some room for optimism: we are passing the ball better; Danns shocker yesterday was far more common previously not least because Spearing and Pratley struggled with passing for ages. Linked to this we punted from the back incessantly -Mills being the major culprit; in my opinion we have a better goalkeeper this season; young players are creeping through the ranks ( so what if Holding and Walker had bad games - at least they featured...) ; and we are making lots of chances!

My worries centre on the capricious selections , rash tactics and apparent opinions of our erstwhile saviour,Neil.! Maybe his ambivalence to Vela, distrust of Spearing, faith in Mark D's leadership skills are excusable? Being beaten to the punch by Dougie in terms of substitutions?-never thought I'd see Dougie do that. Identifying Dervite, in my opinion an accident in waiting every time he takes the field-and one of our poorest players in the air certainly in attack,as our best player to date? Maybe it's about motivation but Dervite? If it's not Neil's judgment can be questioned?;

Still, who'd be a manager?! I just hope all the experimentation settles soon and we start to convert good play into consistently successful results!

So what's changed from the very positive signs that emerged early in NL's tenure compared to now? At that time we played on the front foot, scored goals, looked sharp...and won matches! To my mind, there is one major factor: Lennon found an ideal role for Chungy, filled him full of a confidence that had been lacking since his injury and watched him, rejuvenated, inspire others, especially the younger players.

His sale has been disastrous and everyone has played more hesitantly, starved of the precise service Lee provided.

A neighbour of ours once told us that he had played centre forward at school and representative sides at area and county level, scoring a hatful of goals...... most served up by none other than Trevor Brooking whom he had been lucky enough to follow through the different grades. Then Brooking moved on and suddenly our neighbour's goals dried up, leaving him distressed and bewildered, until he realised that instead of running on to Brooking's beautifully weighted passes and lashing the ball in, he was now having to slightly adjust his stride or the path/pace of the ball. I feel that is perhaps similar to what is happening to Clough and co. Basically, Chungy was making the strikers look better than perhaps they were.

The other factor is the injuries to key players. It took Lee a long time to recover confidence and form after injury and I think the same is happening to Clough, Mavies, Moxey etc. We can't expect Pratley and Clayton to return to top form after injury either, so patience will be required.

It now looks as if Madine may be the one the fans begin to turn on to follow in the path of Dervite, Danns and Feeney who were not too bad yesterday. He and the younger players need encouragement and Neil, don't forget, is excellent at making players feel good about themselves. If only the fans would follow suit!! Some of Neil's signings look promising and let's hope he can find the best roles for each of them, as he did with Chungy, so that we can play positive, free-flowing football again.
By contrast, we could see how Dougie's inclination to suffocate games has not left him! I still remember Holloway's accurate, damning judgement on DF!! Poor Forest!