Bolton v Brum Match thread

Not to bothered we have stayed up without the massive 5 points we got from Freedman now lets look forward to next season and I hope a little bit better.

Another anaemic performance of modest endeavour, negligible commitment from players or management and a sense of release when the final whistle blew
We ended nailed on certainties for relegation next year unless we see significant investment and a root and branch clear out

Presumably everyone bar NL was aware of Birmingham's likely approach. They let us have the ball and challenged us to make progress.

At first there was promise Threlkeld overlapped well, Bannan looked lively and Moxey defended quite well. We passed the ball well from defence. All eyes were on Taylor and he did well on the ball but it was a very easy ride for him as they dropped off. He was shaky in the air bur no worse than his predecessors; indeed he was a shade unlucky to concede the corner they scored from. Their goal was a complete hash with Bogdan at his worst albeit pawing the first ball out and then nothing on the line of note, both Davies and I think Bannan doing nothing to help

Upfront Emile was ponderous and ineffective and Le Fondre lacked control

Threlkeld had played well initially but looked woefully unfit. Danns was awful, carried on injured and was inexplicably not hooked in the first half. Mark Davies a bear of little brain trotted around backwards for the most part and his one significant contribution set up our only real chance and then he was subbed .

Feeney was sent on and did try to improve things. Alas he isn't capable . Eidur had a reasonable game and ran around more than most. He even got the ball in the net but was ruled offside I imagine correctly. Le Fondre perhaps should have scored

Ream missed our best chance early on failing to head into an open goal

No more need be said. I wonder if anyone stayed for the lap of dishonour.

A poor season save for Nov - Jan lots of injuries, poor management calls by both managers and seriousus questions about training. Why are the likes of Threlkeld and Walker so unfit?

Bogdan 4 Threlkeld 5 Taylor 5 Ream 6 Moxey 6 ( if only he could cross- made and then blew several great opportunities) Mark Davies 3 Danns 0 (unfit, awful passes,disinterested) Bannan 7 (mom by a mile and still not good enough) Heskey 3 Gudjohnsen 6 Feeney 2 Walker 5

Another dispiriting, average, pathetic performance to sum up a dispiriting average pathetic season.

Totally insipid.

There was no passion, no urgency in our play and what appeared to be no concern that we lost. We just ambled around, passed the ball around in our own half and then Birmingham just took the ball off us when we got to within 25 yards of their goal.

We had a few half chances but that’s all they were – half chances. We always concede first at home and yet again we did. Terrible defending at a corner.

Two very average referees fitted well into a very average match.

I don’t know how Neil Lennon will get rid of the rubbish who are on long contracts but, if he doesn’t, and therefore we can’t bring in replacements, we are in for a very very poor season next year.


Our players will now jolly off to the sun for a few weeks – shame on you for this season.

Bogdan    - 6 Relatively little to do. Unlike AndyL, I thought that he saved well from the initial header at the winning corner.

Threlkeld    - 5 Started OK but had a few difficult moments. Second half he pushed forward often but then got caught way out of position when our attack broke down which it did most times.

Ream    - 6 Steady but I would love to see him dominate a centre forward. Could (maybe should) have scored with a header from a corner.

Taylor    - 6 OK for a debut. At fault for giving away the winning corner but not at fault for the shambles when the ball came in. Very raw but hope for future.

Moxey    - 6 Not his usual disaster. Some reasonable defending and he joined up with the attack well in second half but then wasted his good work with poor crosses.

Danns    - 3 Awful. It is hard to remember anyone wasting possession so often with terrible passing. Rightly subbed.

Bannan    - 7 Best player but that is not saying much. He was busy in midfield but tried too many spectacular long passes which did not come off.

Davies    - 5 I thought that he played much too deep. You cannot have both him and Eidur in the same team as Davies gets pushed to the wing. Terribly at fault for their goal. If you stand on the post at a corner, you do not move out of the way when the shot comes in.

Gudjohnsen    - 6 A bit better than recently but he is holding Mark Davies back.

Le Fondre    - 5 A couple of half-chances were wasted in the second half. Busy as usual and definitely worth getting him back for next season if we can afford him.

Heskey    - 4 I do not see why we are looking to sign him on again. A few head-ons which came to nothing and just one header which I think he should have scored. Overall he is no goal threat at all and just lumbers about.

    
    
Manager    - 5 I like the manager immensely and hope for much better after the summer but I give him a 5 because he was unable to motivate this shambles of a team. We looked lethargic, slow and played without any urgency for 50+ minutes.

Thank goodness the season's over, surely one of the most dispiriting for many years despite what we've had to endure. NL had a massive job on his hand with little finance and a gaggle of no marks foisted on us by Freedman.. Who knows how it will go next year and what the team will actually look like. Who will stay and who will go will inevitably be decided by finance but unless NL can unearth a couple of gems we could be looking at a big struggle again next season. I really hope not because we all deserve a break so have a good closed season everyone and let's see what happens next year.

well i got my prediction right of a loss. like others have said Taylor and Moxey were 2 of our better performers.
agree with iles' rating of 5 for Eidur..not good. if he'd changed his name to Owen Garvan he'd be getting slated for some of his performances..cos it's good old Eidur he gets away with it..not so much on this forum i must add, but elsewhere.

www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/wanderers/12928956.MATCH_RATINGS__Wanderers_0_Birmingham_1/

agree with David M re heskey..like SKD he'll probably win aerial balls til his 75 due to his physique...but SKD can't get games for Preston and neither should EH for us.
Mcginlay on radio made the point that Eidur + Mavies seemed a bit too much. with a rookie back 4, i'd have wanted more ball winners than just Danns. Mcginlay also said we were making Brum look good thru lack of pressing/ standing off.

agree with David M re NL too, much as i like him, and he is hampered by injuries, you feel he should be getting a bit more out of them than that. that unbeaten run target he promised about 8-10 games from end has had a severe dent in it..losses to norwich ,b/mth, brum , ipswich etc