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Post by davidm on Jan 4, 2022 21:07:51 GMT
This game has the look of SheffW & Sunderland to me. Better team but still giving the opposition a number of half chances. Just as I feared at half time. Absolutely pathetic. We approached this game so casually. We dominated the match but had 3 poor trickling shots on target. 83 minutes into the match and 0-0. Were we happy to go to penalties? because we were just messing about. Yet again our defence just messes about until we make a mistake. Our whole attitude towards matches is wrong – just casual, careless football. Marks:- Dixon - 2 Played well in making saves and catches but mistakes like that one are appalling Fossey - 5 Good first half – dropped off in 2nd half John - 4 Awful shot when he had a chance and no understanding with Afolayan any more Santos - 4 Too casual. Too cocky and in the end part of a 3-some who failed us again Johnston - 4 See Santos Williams - 5 Reasonable but second half could not create Delfouneso - 6 Best player for us tonight which says something Thomason - 5 Scared to shoot when the chances came Afolayan - 4 Much too sloppy these days. No linking with John. Lost the ball endlessly in the tackle and his shooting has gone Kachunga - 5 Decent first 30 minutes Charles - 5 Hopeful. Some decent ball retention Bakayoko - 2 Did he do anything? Doyle - 4 Couldn’t get in the game. Gordon
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Post by kenglowhite on Jan 4, 2022 21:09:46 GMT
A dreadful performance. Apart from the rubbish passing at the back every member of the side looks to go in reverse and take an easy option when they need to go forward and dribble. Evatt has to do something to change this. Despite the over-optimistic commentary of Fellows (where is Derek Clark?) the home side always looked capable of scoring on the break, and apart from early flurries from Fossu we never looked like creating a clear opening. Afalayon is usually rumbled these days and his effectiveness is wearing thin. Think Dixon's gift was a mixture of stupid tactics at the back and the bobbly pitch
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Post by davidm on Jan 4, 2022 21:29:19 GMT
Just an absolute fade away in the 2nd half.
Hartlepool made 8 changes from their last game but you wouldn’t have known.
First half we dominated but cannot shoot – 1 goal in the last 8 away games! And all the time we were running all over them but creating little, our defence were giving away half chances. 3 times in the 1st half, a pass back to Dixon was left short and we just escaped.
Second half though, we were dreadful and created little. It was very easy to get within 25 yards of the Hartlepool goal but that was it. Few shots but mainly sideways passing which got nowhere and we went poorer and poorer.
I know I have already said this but what was happening? 83 minutes and heading for a penalty shootout after we had dominated. Why oh why fanny about at the back. We do not have Dias, Laporte,Stones, Rodri etc. We have Santos, Johnson and Dixon who endlessly make mistakes.
Where were the change in tactics when things weren’t working?. And things were not working in the 2nd half as we got nowhere their goal. We just exchange one player for another in the same mould and play the same unconvincing football.
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Post by whitesince63 on Jan 4, 2022 22:29:44 GMT
I’ve been a steadfast supporter of Evatt up to now but I’m really beginning to wonder where the quick pass and move that took us to promotion last year has gone. We are so slow, lethargic and ponderous. There is no urgency from anywhere. Not one player trying to raise the pace or gen the team up, just slowly slowly slowly. I feel sorry for Dixon because up until then he’d done nothing wrong and in fact kept us in the game early on but what was he thinking with that pass? What has happened to Declan John? This isn’t the player who made forays into the opposition half last year and fitted so well with Dapo. Every time he received the ball tonight he turned to go back and pass the ball back rather than receive it looking to go forward. Santos is just awful these days and is the main reason we’re so slow. He receives the ball and also instead of moving forward quickly, delays with the ball until forced to pass but to a team mate who by that time is marked. If this really is the kind of football Evatt wants to play then I’m afraid it’s not for me. Questions do now need to be raised. This love in with Sharon has to stop. Managers are judged on results but also performances and that tonight was awful and totally unacceptable. I don’t know if he’s lost the dressing room and the players are not behind his systems but there just isn’t any energy anywhere. The problem now is, if he spends all the available cash on players and gives them 3 year contracts we’re stuck with them. No wonder Politic didn’t want to come back and Sarce and Doyle can’t wait to get away. Something isn’t right somewhere, these players are surely better than this?
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Post by kenglowhite on Jan 4, 2022 22:46:38 GMT
I believe our defensive weaknesses are in part caused by the defensive midfielders playing too far forward and not providing the necessary shield, and therefore not being in a position to provide through balls to the attack as other sides seem to do to us. Too often Santos is the last defender and that is why he is error-prone. We really don't have attacking inside forwards any more and they are necessary to take pressure off the strikers. Evatt has tried to counter that by playing Williams and Thomason too far forward. Somehow the whole format is wrong, which I think encourages the slow play and lack of enterprise. and encourages enterprise from the opposition
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Post by whitesince63 on Jan 5, 2022 7:27:53 GMT
I believe our defensive weaknesses are in part caused by the defensive midfielders playing too far forward and not providing the necessary shield, and therefore not being in a position to provide through balls to the attack as other sides seem to do to us. Too often Santos is the last defender and that is why he is error-prone. We really don't have attacking inside forwards any more and they are necessary to take pressure off the strikers. Evatt has tried to counter that by playing Williams and Thomason too far forward. Somehow the whole format is wrong, which I think encourages the slow play and lack of enterprise. and encourages enterprise from the opposition I think it’s much simpler than that Kenglo. The build up from the back is just too slow and the system isn’t to move the ball forward quickly. Other teams do that as you say whilst we just fanny about going sideways and always allowing the opposition to get men back behind the ball. We do get men forward and you’re right about then leaving ourselves exposed at the back but the opposition don’t mess about sideways, they than pass through us onto goal. Evatt needs to wake up or we’re going down. How many times could Dixon have thrown the ball out to start an attack whilst most of their team was in our end? Countless and the goal again came purely from a reluctance to kick the ball forward whilst he all the time looked for a defender to pass to, all because that’s what he’s been told to do by Evatt. Last night was a disgrace and should act as a watershed moment for both Evatt and FV.
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Post by andyl on Jan 5, 2022 8:14:55 GMT
I'm still furious a day later and the headlines in the BN make it worse! There is only one person accountable for the defeat and failure to score and that's the manager. And yes we have had injuries and a period of time with an excess of Covid effects .
It comes down to a chronic and stubborn refusal to adapt and to recognise weakness and risk and for that matter strength. Taking last first.
If we have an attacking strength it's in transition from defence to counter attack. We have players in Dapo, Kachunga, Amaechi and now Dion ( an apt name for a Wanderer that!) who can run and/or control a ball at pace with defenders chasing them. We saw last night one great move from a kick to Kachunga flicked on for Fossey to run and cross.
But passing about at the back and allowing opponents to get set brings out our worst. We slow the tempo, eventually rely on kicks forward to a weak aerial team or passes to a worked out Dapo and time passes until we overegg and are ourselves hit on transition. We were bad at the midfield passing before but minus Lee and Sheehan we just can't do it at all. Thomason has promise but he's programmed in reverse and simply dare not shoot- seeveral oppportunities last night. It coms to something when at funereal pace Delfouneso is our playmaker.
What on earth has happened to Santos-- he was always flaky defensively if unsupported or unprotected but he at least offset that by swaggering runs into midfield and beyond. All that has stopped. Is he overweight? Ill? Burdened by captaincy? he didn't give a goal away last night for once but he just lummoxed about rolling balls to and from Dixon and Johnston. We even pushed Fossey and John up and removed wide passing options. We offered no defensive screen. Williams looking unfit occasionally covered him.
And we were playing Hartlepool who had made 8 changes and were effectively a reserve team. Yes we had a lot of the ball and yes we gave away a silly goal born of the crushingly poor and risky Evatt tactics but was anyone surprised either that we made nothing of set pieces ( some horrendous ones last night), shot wide of goal and gave up several good chances on the break or indeed just by passing about inviting punches
Bolton 2.0? We ought to be able to stabilise and finish 16th or so but new signings do not gel immediately and will need time to get fit and be cloned into Evatt's useless system. It will be very difficult going forward. At best we'll see the odd flash of something better as we did last year. O wait that was Sarcevic.
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Post by kenglowhite on Jan 5, 2022 10:18:52 GMT
Replying to W63 I have to say that the point of my post was to try to fathom the reasons for the slow play and the fact that when receiving the ball every player looks to play the ball backwords or sideways. The way the team is structured is not right, and I believe that is why we are so slow at turning defence into attack, particularly through the middle.
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Post by riochforthereebok on Jan 5, 2022 11:44:40 GMT
At the risk of having my collar felt, I’m going to say it
The real risk to Bolton Wanderers at this moment in time is Sharron Brittan….
Her insistence to stick with this ejit is sending us right back to where she ‘rescued’ us from
The man’s clueless If he had Messi Ronaldo and Salah up top, they’d never score!! They’d never receive the ball for a chance to score😬😬 Those thinking that we might just have enough to stay up might get a rude awakening. Have you seen the league table today?? We are 17th (19th if Lincoln and Wimbledon win their games in hand) with just 4 points separating us from the relegation spots
Perhaps just as well the Morecambe and Burton games were cancelled as that would have meant another 2 defeats to add to his ever growing collection
It’s almost 6 weeks ago since we registered our last league win (Doncaster) and we’ve scored twice in the last 5 games (one of them was off the man that looks like he’s off to Ireland)
Sharon, if this carries on, it won’t be Evatt’s blood we’ll be baying for, it’ll be yours and if you think he is capable of taking us from 19th to promotion like last season, not on your nelly
He has to go and not a minute sooner
“Go on then Rioch, who would you go for”
ANYONE Anyone that is not afraid to be challenged by media and fans Anyone willing to learn from his mistakes Anyone who doesn’t brown nose the chairman ANYONE
COYWM ⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️
I’m off to do a lateral flow test, let’s see if I can add to these imaginary covid numbers😂
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Post by riochforthereebok on Jan 5, 2022 11:50:18 GMT
I'm still furious a day later and the headlines in the BN make it worse! There is only one person accountable for the defeat and failure to score and that's the manager. And yes we have had injuries and a period of time with an excess of Covid effects . It comes down to a chronic and stubborn refusal to adapt and to recognise weakness and risk and for that matter strength. Taking last first. If we have an attacking strength it's in transition from defence to counter attack. We have players in Dapo, Kachunga, Amaechi and now Dion ( an apt name for a Wanderer that!) who can run and/or control a ball at pace with defenders chasing them. We saw last night one great move from a kick to Kachunga flicked on for Fossey to run and cross. But passing about at the back and allowing opponents to get set brings out our worst. We slow the tempo, eventually rely on kicks forward to a weak aerial team or passes to a worked out Dapo and time passes until we overegg and are ourselves hit on transition. We were bad at the midfield passing before but minus Lee and Sheehan we just can't do it at all. Thomason has promise but he's programmed in reverse and simply dare not shoot- seeveral oppportunities last night. It coms to something when at funereal pace Delfouneso is our playmaker. What on earth has happened to Santos-- he was always flaky defensively if unsupported or unprotected but he at least offset that by swaggering runs into midfield and beyond. All that has stopped. Is he overweight? Ill? Burdened by captaincy? he didn't give a goal away last night for once but he just lummoxed about rolling balls to and from Dixon and Johnston. We even pushed Fossey and John up and removed wide passing options. We offered no defensive screen. Williams looking unfit occasionally covered him. And we were playing Hartlepool who had made 8 changes and were effectively a reserve team. Yes we had a lot of the ball and yes we gave away a silly goal born of the crushingly poor and risky Evatt tactics but was anyone surprised either that we made nothing of set pieces ( some horrendous ones last night), shot wide of goal and gave up several good chances on the break or indeed just by passing about inviting punches Bolton 2.0? We ought to be able to stabilise and finish 16th or so but new signings do not gel immediately and will need time to get fit and be cloned into Evatt's useless system. It will be very difficult going forward. At best we'll see the odd flash of something better as we did last year. O wait that was Sarcevic. Totally agree AndyL And Preston hadn’t played for 23 days due to covid, went to stoke and beat them. So Evatt can quit the covid whinge 😡 D 1-0 N Dion E 0-1 N Eoin Hidden message there somewhere 🤔🤔
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Post by OohMac on Jan 5, 2022 12:43:54 GMT
At the risk of having my collar felt, I’m going to say it The real risk to Bolton Wanderers at this moment in time is Sharron Brittan…. Her insistence to stick with this ejit is sending us right back to where she ‘rescued’ us from 😂 Well she finally broke the silence with an interview that she dod with Cowgils? Now this tells me already that she would rather prefer not to talk football with people from football. Apart from the Ians a saint BS. She actually did say when she took it over she said she would see where shes at after 3 years. Well thats the end of the season. So is she readying for an exit? If so is this why she will keep everyone in situ. Kick the can. Argument will be Ian Evatt has been a success. Well he got Barrow promoted on a PPG basis. He came to Bolton and failed. Signed a load of new players and succeeded. His second summer of recruitment looks as bad as his first and hes failing again. Also off the top of my head these managers all started like a house on fire, thinking was they would go on to great things. Owen Coyle(Burnley), Dougie Freedman(Palace), Roy Keane(Ipswich), Swindon seemed to have a few Di Canio, Poyet, Kewell. Kevin Nolan and Sol Campbell. Said it before a little success early on can be a bad thing. Ian Evatts way is cemented in now. Theres no other way. Why try anything new. Last point. Hate living in the past but when Sam was here he got in coaches like Archie Knox, Neil Warburton, Sammy Lee involved with the best teams of the decades. Would have been easy for him to give his old pal Reidy a job. Great on the trips, good laugh. No Allardyce wanted the best and wantes to know how the best did it. Evatt needs to lose the Barrow yes men and get himself the help he needs to learn. As far as I can see there are a couple that werent yes men. Sarcevic, Politic and Doyle.
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Post by whitesince63 on Jan 5, 2022 15:01:36 GMT
Replying to W63 I have to say that the point of my post was to try to fathom the reasons for the slow play and the fact that when receiving the ball every player looks to play the ball backwords or sideways. The way the team is structured is not right, and I believe that is why we are so slow at turning defence into attack, particularly through the middle. Sorry Kenglo I misunderstood and totally agree with all of that. The problem is, if we can all see it why can’t Evatt and more worryingly the players who are either unable to adapt or daren’t?
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