Good morning.
Well we won despite ourselves. And if you listen to Owen Coyle, against adversity. As previously on ER, I’m bored now. Nobody died and Bolton fans need to look at themselves reviving the Muamba chant late in the game to rouse their players. By the same logic maybe we could have got more out of our lot last season by flashing up images of Wilson Palacios’ relatives on the Jumbotron?
So in a football context…
The positives were certainly Bale who looked like a man restored. Modric planted in front of PNB and Livermore worked excellently. Adebayor and Rafa looked like the mature and talented chaps they undoubtedly are. The most positive positive of all is Arry managing us again.
There, I said it. We have a manager who for the second time in only a few days appears to have grasped what needed doing and acted accordingly. This underlines of course how he went AWOL on us, but it’s refreshing to see him back and taking an interest.
Negatives?
Well we kept making chances and missing them will be the cry. All I can say is I would rather we did that made just 3 chances all game. So no call for anyone out or anyone in from me.
One niggle is I have to question the sanity of these long rang shots unless they’re thunderbolts of eloquently placed. Have you too noticed the increasing, ‘Whaaaat?’ from every guy that misses to his frustrated team mates after missing? Hopefully this can be ironed out by Arry encouraging them to occasionally think of others when in a shooting position.
6.814 No complaints
7.878 Genuinely mmense.
7.444 Sound and a super goal.
6.488 Jury’s still out.
7.456 Free as a bird
7.565 Considered performance.
7.000 Less pressure
7.000 Dipped in and out
8.001 Needs to share more?
8.000 Always wonderfully creative.
8.000 He’s good stuff.
7.003 Super goal.
7.999 Wonderfully selfish
…hard to give Defoe such a high mark for 20 mins, but he did help change the game and set up the second goal. But for me, supersub is his position. Walker was good, but primarily is a defender and should be marked down a tad for a couple of schoolboy blunders in first half…yes he did recover, but if that was Aguero, Messi, RVP, Rooney instead of a Bolton attacker – then it would have been 1-0 down.
If we were playing against such Heralded players I am sure he would have adjusted his game accordingly!!!
Parker’s “Forrest Gump” moment was hilarious. He just ran and ran and didn’t stop until the advertising hoardings….”Run Forrest!!”
He does that at least twice every game, what I want to know is….Why?
Woke up for the goals, enjoyed them
Rarely post enjoy (rather enjoy the reading) but would like to make a comment, mainly from the view of a frustrated Paxton ST holder… but some of the criticism Adebayor got last night was short-sighted and pathetic.
Yes, he missed a one-on-one, and yes he seems to want fifteen extra touches before getting a shot away, but I seem to remember Parker, Modric and Rafa missing good goalscoring chances too, and none of them spend a whole game unselfishly occupying four defenders, holding the ball up and laying it off, tirelessly creating space for everyone else etc etc etc.
He performs a role that, as long as the players behind him are on their game, is pretty priceless, yet he doesn’t get enough plaudits in my opinion.
The criticism he got from an awful lot of the Paxton when collecting the ball to try and get a corner taken quickly was ridiculos, as was the ironic standing ovation when Defoe was seen getting stripped off.
I don’t see Adebayor coming on the pitch for 15mins to shout and complain at everyone else when they don’t pass to him. Funny that, other than the pass for the goal last night, I can’t remember the last time Defoe didn’t opt to shoot, and then do the previously mentioned “what, me?” face. Adebayor, like Parker too, would have told Danny Rose “unlucky son, try again”, not “that was shit”.
Anyway, maybe that’s just me.
COYS.
Adeboy is what he is. And clinical he is not. But he does a whole bunch of other great stuff.
Hard to tell on the tele wxactly what the crowd are saying and to whom, but if Manu is getting stick from our own that’s rediculous. Buying a ticket may give fans the right to complain, but it doesn’t give them the right to be a complete jackasses.
The sad part is that I think he’s the kind of player who is affected by what the crowd are saying. When we used to sing about his dad and that, it always seemed to maotivate him to give a bit more. When it’s his own team’s support I would guess it would have quite a different effect. That fits, because he did seem to have a short period of relative mediocrity as JD started to warm up. I ascribed it to him thinking he was coming off (especially considering that he picked up after a few minutes, which I figured was because he was told it was Parker being subbed, not him) and though “bad attitude”. If the home fans were giving him stick, that changes everything.
He’s been immense for us over the course of the season. He’s scored more goals that I expected (although mostly early on), but even without the goals he is one of our most important players. With players like Defoe, VdV, Saha, Bale and Lennon around him there should be enough players with quicker triggers than Adeboy to put away the chances.
The only thing that annoys me a bit with him it that he doesn’t get in the box more often as a target for crosses. Granted, he creates a lot from the wide positions he takes up. I just find it a bit frustrating when Bale/Lennon/Benny/Walker time and again have to either attempt to thread an impossible low ball through a forest of legs to VdV/Defoe, or cut it back to a midfielder giving defenders time to get back before we try again. It would be nice if Manu could get in there a bit more often with his 6 feet, and threaten the airspace a bit.
*and thoughT “bad….
I agree with all of that, nice.
However, when Manu is out wide creating that space, surely when we have two protective midfielders in Parker and Livermore, it should give Modders, Rafa and Bale the license to get through the middle in the space that’s been created. It happens sometimes, but not enough, in my opinion. Rafa is the best of the bunch at consistently finding those holes and making a great run (such as his near post dart to get on Bale’s cross vs Stoke), but he can’t do it on his own.
It’s just a short-sighted view taken by the fans that are quick to point a finger. And I don’t know about the rest of the stadium, but the criticism of Adebayor from the Paxton lower last night was pathetic.
1 man vs 4 rather large defenders for 80+ mins, whilst still doing all the other dog work!? He is by no means perfect, and nor is he clinical enough, but if that’s not enough to buy the guy a bit of patience and support, I don’t know what is.
HH what’s with the 4 figure ratings? 6.814 for Carlos…..how did you come up with the .814 variable?
The game is consigned to the history books now and all the grief junkies can put a muzzle on it.
Golden Bollocks 1 and Golden Bollocks 2 were at each other’s throat’s again…..bless em!
All in all last night should set the foundation for a confident run in.