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Post by whiteofthesouth on Apr 17, 2021 20:35:10 GMT
A few observations. We did go long today as, indeed, we did at Salford on Tuesday. I wonder if this was as much about the state of both pitches as much as Grimsby’s pressing. Passing out from the back on a soggy or bobbly pitch is just too risky. However, we’re not a team suited to the long-ball game. We don’t have forwards who are dominant in the air or who can bring a ball down under pressure and hold up play. This is why our game is based around passing and slow build up trying to drag teams out of position. When conditions allow, this has been very effective. Other than his seeming reticence to try to save the shot that resulted in their early goal, Gilks performed well, making some excellent saves that kept us in the game for a long time. However, for me, our MOTM was George Thomason (again). He has not only great vision for a pass to switch play, but also the ability to execute it. I also noticed that our best corner all game, and maybe all season was taken by him towards the end after Isgrove and John had been subbed. As has become the norm, our shooting was appalling. Doyle is great when the ball is served up on a plate for him, but misses too many very reasonable opportunities. I thought Miller took his chance well, albeit too little, too late (not his fault). In our starting line up, despite Isgrove’s two recent goals, I don’t really have any expectation that anyone but Doyle will score, especially with Sarcevic out. I suppose we have to be realistic in that these are fourth tier players, but it amazes me how many of them blaze the ball over from 20 yards. At least make the goalie work! We don’t have a long throw full-back - a dangerous weapon. Did anyone else notice how far Williams threw the ball for the one throw-in he took quickly late on in the game because we were running out of time. Perhaps we do have a long-throw player! Anyway, promotion, although not the title, is still very much in our hands. Obviously, Carlisle next, but critically we must not lose to Morecambe, who seem to be scoring for fun, albeit they did also let in quite a few today as well.
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Post by whitesince63 on Apr 17, 2021 21:37:09 GMT
I think because we’ve got the results, even shakily, we’ve glossed over the weaknesses in the team. I don’t think I can recall a Bolton team, so incredibly inept in set piece execution. Free kicks, corners, throw ins, they produce nothing and more often than not result in us giving the ball to the opposition.As I’ve said before, we have to be realistic and accept that this is a team cobbled together from misfits and the not wanted and although the January signings transformed the performances, there are certain aspects they haven’t improved, namely up front. Doyle is woefully out of form at the moment as is Dapo but we just don’t have any serious replacements to bring in. We could swop Doyle for Miller but is Miller really any better and would he work as hard off the ball as Doyle does. Dapo flatters to deceive but do we have anyone who can replace him down the left? Delf? No thanks. Gnahoua? Again not consistent enough to start. When other players are off form as so many were today, it just illustrates how weak our squad is in certain positions. Hopefully we can scrape enough points to fall over the line but our last four results and performances raise serious concerns for me. They were all winnable games and we had more than enough chances to win them but they weren’t taken, so who’s to say they will be in the remaining four?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2021 1:14:30 GMT
They were all winnable games.
I blame you whites, 'anyone can beat anyone in this league' and they just did!
They are all losable games too, we've been very lucky in some games imo and perhaps we hold a false position.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2021 8:45:41 GMT
So in a nutshell will we have to settle for the playoffs and if so are we good enough to win them? Just wondering when are the playoffs as I might need time of work to watch them. Onwards and upwards stay safe one and all COYWM
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Post by whitesince63 on Apr 18, 2021 8:59:16 GMT
If we can’t beat lower teams now to get automatic Chip, there’s no reason to believe we could then beat the top ones in the play offs. Add to that the players deflation at missing out on automatic spots and personally I wouldn’t fancy our chances. It’s all about taking some of the high number of chances that we’re creating and currently we aren’t doing that.
Nobody’s to blame wots, it’s just where we are and the unpredictability is one of the main reasons we watch footy in the first place. We have had some lucky results and let offs but then so have others when we’ve missed chances, easy chances at that but we just need to hope the lucky ones continue for a little longer. I still believe we have the best squad in the league but one or two of our main eleven have gone off the boil just at the wrong time. I’m sure if Doyle gets one soon, he’ll be back on song but at the moment he just looks devoid of confidence. Sadly Miller doesn’t really look much better so for me it’s our major weak link in the squad. We really need others to step up but who? Nobody else looks capable of it, so it looks like being down to our defence to keep clean sheets and hope we steal one.
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Post by one2many on Apr 18, 2021 10:05:22 GMT
I now have confirmed that it is me causing the current curse on the team. I have watched 5 ifollow matches, and with the exception of Colchester, only seen us lose, and never score a goal. Yesterday, in the 90th + 3 minute, with us two down, i chose to disconnect rather than suffer more. We scored a minute or two later!! Nobody panic, I will not waste more money on ifollow this season and we will no doubt cruise to automatic promotion via a series of nail biting one nil victories.
On a more serious note, I had to smile every time we had a corner and the commentator said "this was an opportunity for us to bring our big men up". Sure, Santos & co trot up into the box, then watch as the rubbish corner either hits the first defender or is played short and goes nowhere before sprinting back to their positions. Agree with those who are frustrated at our lack of threat from set pieces.
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Post by andyl on Apr 18, 2021 11:03:43 GMT
I agree with whoever it was up the thread who pointed to the disruption of the Lee Williams holding pairing. I totally get why Thomason is in the team. He's our best player ( Lee notwithstanding) and has the most energy. It's great to see him haring up in support of breakaways, reminiscent of Jason McAteer? I think that if we hang on to him he will score 5-10 goals next season.
But he is not the quick footed, quick turning Lee. Now that teams are stationing sentries to stop Santos and Baptiste picking the ball up, the roll to Lee is a vital ingredient. We need to restore this even if Thomason has to go the bench.
Without Lee playing deeper. all too often Williams gets the ball and he is nowhere near so safe or alert and we almost always lose it.
It all stems from the loss of Sarcevic. We need him in that secondary striker role. Lee gets in position and will get the odd goal but he also misses too many. I doubt Thomason can play it but he could perhaps go wide left instead of Dapo and that might just allow Miller to play.
In addition to our set piece issues we also have no through ball to runners option. Doyle plays on the last man because of a lack of speed and always risks offside. Delfouneso prefers ball to feet and does not run at speed ( and so often we hear that commentator's favourite x is looking for Delfouneso. If we don't want to put Miller in and I see that he is too Doyle like without the effort then Elbouzedi has searing pace. Maybe play him centrally/
Dapo and Isgrove tend to flicker and fade. On problem with Dapo's decline is that has rather taken John with him. And again this flows from the Williams Lee break up. He likes to come inside and pass to Lee which in turn leaves space for John. If he stays put it's a bit like early season John has nowhere to go if Dapo is ahead and as often as not ends up playing backwards.. Also the one set piece we have improved on immeasurably is the throw in and that's 80% down to Lee who shows for almost all and a bit Thomason. But it's Lee who moves us forward and reads the game so well linking up defence and attack with short passes. He was clearly tired yesterday but it's also very noticeable that further forward he is more tightly marked.
End of season is so hard to predict psychologically. If I had to guess from past experience I'd go for a 0-0 draw with Carlisle, a 1-4 win at Morecambe, a win over Exeter and a draw at Crawley. That would probably get us an automatic promotion spot but it will be very nervy
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Post by kenglowhite on Apr 18, 2021 13:59:58 GMT
While I prefer a midfield three of Williams, Lee and Thomason, I agree that the deterioration of John's performances are linked to the positioning of Afalayon. He is usually heavily marked out of the game there on the wing, but more importantly he is stifling John's forward runs and maybe causing him to be out of position defensively as well. I also think it is time to rest Jones and replace him with Brockbank. He is a better attacker, and probably marks his winger a bit closer than Jones. I would also like to see us giving fewer throw-ins away at the back, as these so often lead to penalty area pinball and often goalbound shots with our centre backs not in control. I remember some of our promotion pushes to get out of the old Second Division in the Seventies. We were always favourites to go up. Carlisle came to Burnden and spoiled that ambition one year, while we also suffered a similar fate with a 1-2 defeat by York City on another occasion. I hope the Carlisle game doesn't turn out to repeat that unhappy experience. With the right adjustments, say including Brockbank, playing Arthur at number 10 in place of Afalayon, ensuring Lee plays defensively, and subbing at the right time with the right players, I feel sure we can still do it, but take great care against Carlisle.
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Post by whitesince63 on Apr 18, 2021 21:42:45 GMT
I think we may be analysing this too much. If we had taken any of the numerous, really simple chances we had against Colchester, Newport, Salford and Grimsby, we wouldn’t be demanding change so much. There isn’t a lot wrong in my opinion and in fact we’re creating more good chances now than we have all season but we just aren’t taking them. I’m not sure how changing the team can actually improve that because we don’t have any goalscorers in the squad, other than Doyle and Miller, to improve it, so we have to rely on the players we have to deliver more. I think if we panic and make too many changes, we’re likely to throw the baby out with the bath water, so I don’t expect IE to do that. I think we all agree that Lee should move back to partner Williams because it seems to be affecting others in the team when he doesn’t. If it means George has to return to the bench then so be it because I think next year is George’s time, maybe not right now, so for Tuesday, I wouldn’t be looking to change that much from the start and would actually begin with the same team other than Thomason, probably bringing back Delf instead. I know I’ve been hard on Delf this season but I can’t deny that our best results have been with him in the side. Obviously, like everybody else I’d love to see Sarcevic in there but I don’t think we should risk him unless he’s fully fit and I don’t think he is, or IE will. The players have to come up to the plate and I actually think they will on Tuesday.
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Post by riochforthereebok on Apr 19, 2021 10:14:29 GMT
AndyL
End of season is so hard to predict psychologically. If I had to guess from past experience I'd go for a 0-0 draw with Carlisle, a 1-4 win at Morecambe, a win over Exeter and a draw at Crawley. That would probably get us an automatic promotion spot but it will be very nervy
4-1 against Morecambe??? Do you really think we can score more than once let alone beat Morecambe 4-1
I’ve had a really shit weekend along with all other Trotters after the Grimsby fiasco so I’ll forgive them if we do manage to get 3 points off Carlisle but I can’t see it myself, I really do think the confidence drop has come at the wrong time and whilst I’m confident we’ll keep a play off place, there’s no saying we’ll be in 4th come end of season (not that that would make any difference) Sorry to be so dull but that Grimsby result really highlighted to me how fortuitous we’ve been over the ‘winning run’ We need to remember, the last time we faced the Cumbrians we were 3-0 down before we put any effort in to draw 3-3 and I think we’ve only managed to get past 2 goals on 4 occasions all season I fear
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