[Archived] Bolton Preview

[philipl]

Have to say that is a poor do if they are serious about their rivalry with us and coming to yaboo at Sam.

Feeling better now the injury news is more encouraging. Rovers to edge it but will probably need an early goal to make it an entertaining spectacle- if Bolton get it, Rovers to mount a titanic recovery; if Rovers get it, an open end-to-end match with the possibility of Rovers running out comfortable winners.

[Blue n White Rover]

Have to say that is a poor do if they are serious about their rivalry with us and coming to yaboo at Sam.

Feeling better now the injury news is more encouraging. Rovers to edge it but will probably need an early goal to make it an entertaining spectacle- if Bolton get it, Rovers to mount a titanic recovery; if Rovers get it, an open end-to-end match with the possibility of Rovers running out comfortable winners.

So no possibility of a draw or Rovers defeat. I like the way you think

[Stuart]

Preview Part 2 - Q&A

As promised, following up the preview with a Q&A which my mate, Bolton fan, Martin (who will be at the game on Wednesday) kindly agreed to take part in.

1) Your last five results not withstanding, how would you sum up Bolton’s season so far?

A struggle, a couple of false dawns. Unhappy with the football played on the whole.

2) Despite being unfashionable, Megson came in little over 12 months ago and saved you from relegation. For me he still doesn’t look the part as a Bolton manager but what’s your opinion of Megson today?

Never wanted him within a mile of the club, but when he arrived decided to give him a chance. He did ok but I'm now starting to get extremely fed up with his negativity.

3) In contrast, it's so far so good for Sam Allardyce as Blackburn Rovers manager but what can we look forward to in the medium to long term? (e.g. could he be next season's Megson?)

Medium term, he'll organise the club. The team will be organised from the back to the front in that order. His philosophy is zero goals against as a priority, anything else is a bonus. Your players will work hard 100% or be dropped, simple as. He's not a master tactician, some of his decisions will baffle you! Long term he will be thinking he's got another chance in the game, but Blackburn aren't big enough for his ego!

4) I’ve lost count of the number of players Bolton that have "withdrawn interest in" over the past few weeks. What do you think you need to improve your team? Type of player? Position? Realistic targets?

Target number one has to be a creative midfielder, someone who can hold the ball, pass it, carry it, score with it..oh and have a bit of pace as well, a tall order when you've a very small budget to work with! Realistic target, for me, Jermaine Pennant, but that boat has just sailed. Stephen Ireland? Could he become surplus to requirements as all the top players in the world roll up at Middle Eastlands?

5) Diouf has been linked with a move away from Sunderland during this window. He doesn't have a great goalscoring record so what did he offer when he was at Bolton and, assuming the fee was negligible, would you like to see him back at the Reebok?

Diouf hard at it in training

Don't want him back, been there, seen it etc. He is a great talent when he wants to be, capable of giving all the top players the run around. Problem is he doesn't want it often enough, he isn't training well and football is just a way to finance the high life for him. Not the monster he is portrayed to be but just too much like hard work.

6) There aren't many Bolton players linked with moves during the transfer windows - excepting possibly Jaaskelainen. Which player(s) do you most worry about being pinched by other clubs? And do you have any youth players worth bragging about?

Not worried about any of them leaving, they are all replaceable! Wouldn't want to see Gardner leave he's a good guy. Nolan is the one most people talk about, don't know why he's been really poor for two seasons now, still wouldn't want to see him in a Blackburn shirt! :-)

7) If you were Bolton manager and were given £50m to buy a single player, who would it be and why? (Bearing in mind you don't get to keep the change!)

All begin with an R, Rooney, Ronaldo, Ribery. All ooze talent, all have so much ability they can produce on their own, the shortcomings of their other teamates wouldn't drag them down, all have pace. Ronaldo is too sulky so I'd avoid him, leaving the choice between Rooney and Ribery, hard pushed here, but I'll plump for Ribery.

8) Which one (current) player would you poach from Rovers and why?

Matt Derbyshire

Surprise you here, probably Matt Derbyshire, fast, good finisher, good work ethic and not too likely to become Charlie Bigtime and "want away" too soon. Santa and Macarthy, would be the competition, Santa wouldn't come, if he did he'd soon want away, Macarthy isn't as good a long term bet as Derbyshire.

9) A number of players have played for both Bolton and Blackburn; who would you consider to be your favourite and why?

I go back a long way, Gordon Taylor, John Byrom, Bob Hatton (I think), Jason McAteer, Per Frandsen, Mark Patterson, Kevin Davies, there must be others. Favourite, Johnny Byrom, belting player, great goalscorer and although a born and bred Blackburn lad is now a totally committed Wanderer, he saw the light! (Most of the above were great players for us)

10) Finally, score prediction for the match?

Very easy to say 0 - 0, my head says 2 - 0 to Blackburn, my heart is hoping for a draw...I don't think we are good enough to win at the moment!

Cheers Martin

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Unbelievable, and balanced opinions from our friend Martin.

Personally I worry that our good run of games will come to an end. In both our previous two home matches we have had the rub of the green when needed. I fear a 0-0 draw in this case - though hope not as getting to these night matches after work can be a bit of a pain.

Big couple of matches for Rovers - 4 points from this and Boro and we can start putting together some points to help us over some difficult matches to come. Though the table looks a lot better - we have just played a number of winnable matches - they start to dry up soon - so we need to take advantage while we can.

[RevidgeBlue]

Personally I worry that our good run of games will come to an end. In both our previous two home matches we have had the rub of the green when needed.

Agreed. I thought we were extremely fortunate in the first half against Newcastle. And both Newcastle and Stoke kindly set us on our way by conceding soft penalties.

I hope and expect we will win on Wednesday night, but even if we do I'm far from convinced we're out of the woods. I'm just a bit worried we're slightly flattered by four out of Sam's first five games being at home. The three away outings at Sunderland and Blyth have been far from impressive.

Just as this is basically the side that finished seventh last season, it's also the same set of players that mustered thirteen points from the opening eighteen games this season. Although so far since Sam took over we've looked so much more solid defensively which was the root of all our problems under Ince.

[Hughesy]

5000 or so expected from Bolton, thats poor considering they thought they would sell-out @ £15 each a ticket

[No Nay Never]

I have a good feeling about this one im going to go...

Rovers 3-0 Bolton

Roberts

McCarthy

Pedersen

In front of 25,500

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

I'm just a bit worried we're slightly flattered by four out of Sam's first five games being at home. The three away outings at Sunderland and Blyth have been far from impressive.

I think playing away from home may actually favour Sam's style of play. He sets out not to concede - this can put pressure on the home side and leave them open to being hit on the break. Or am I just the eternal optimist

[joey_big_nose]

Seems like he can make it.

Good news

Interesting that Grella is described as a "key player" by Sam in the article. Seems to have impressed him. I think if he does stay fit he will be crucial for us.

Look like we will be able to put out our strongest team:

--------------------McCarthy

---------------------Roberts

----Pedersen------Dunn------Emerton

-----------------------Grella

Warnock---Nelsen---Samba---Ooijer

----------------------Robinson

Subs: Bunn, Givet, Simpson, Carlos, Andrews, Cruz, Derbyshire

If nothing else that does have to be one of the hardest working sides in the Premiership. Every one of those players (even astonishingly McCarthy) covers a fair bit of ground, whilst Warnock, Pedersen, Emerton and Roberts must amongst the very top of premiership in terms of yards ran.

Ontop of tat all of the players have a considerable physical prescence, McCarthy aside. This makes us very hard to break down and deal with on the counter attack.

I would be tempted to start Simpson ahead of Ooijer but for the fact that Bolton will like their high balls out wide which forces the inclusion of the Duchman. Sounded like Simpson was okay against Sunderland, and with a more settled defence I think he could do alright.

The main problem we are going to have is creativity. A lot, as it has done recently, will come down to Benni bringing others into the game, particularly Dunn who will get well forward from midfield. Pedersen also needs to keep up his resurgance and support the strikers. Emerton will be very solid defensively, but we are going to create very little down that side. I imagine set pieces are going to be a major factor in this game.

I actually feel quite confident.

[incy wincy little spider]

Good preview, just bought 2 tickets.

Hoping it'll be better then my last 2 games (hull and arsenal!).

usually bit of a boring game v bolton, but as there is so much at stake here I reckon it'll be all out attacking, especially if there's an early goal.

3-1 Blackburn, Benni, grella and cruz at the end

[philipl]

Sam pre-match comments

[Majiball]

2-0 nil rovers with Benni to score first. I wonder if sam may try something different for this match.

--------------Robbo-------------

Emo------Nelsen--Samba---Warnock

Dunn----Grella-----Tugay-----Ped's

------------Benni----Roberts-------

Yes emo at full-back. But I'd like to see us take the game to bolton a bit Ooijer makes little contribution attacking wise from RB. Grella would allow Tugay to move further forward and whilst a static target he's good enough to create one or two good chances from there (hopefully). Dunn and Emo looked quite good against Newcastle together.

If we're 2 up with 20-30 to go I'd like to see Sam swap RSC in for Roberts and see a bit more of Benni and RSC. Once Dunn's non-duracell batteries run out Ooijer can come on to sure-up the defence we'll be home and dry by then (I hope). Jack "Andrews" Russell can come on for Tug's or Grella depending.

[Presty On Tour]

I don't think this will be a classic. The most important factor is to take the 3 points.

Tough fixtures ahead but with players scoring and a string of clean sheets at the back we should be confident of victory.

[Grabbi Graeme]

I will be in the press box for the game, will be tight match but I think we can get the win.

[philo]

If moko starts or gets brought on we should sing

Aaron mokoena is a football genius

[Amo]

Bolton are a bit of a win or lose kinda team, with only two draws, but they lose more than they win. I fancy us to take the spoils in a 2-1 win. I'd probably go with Majiball's XI too.

[rovgers]

As anybody seen the preview of the game on the bbc website, they give the scorers for last seasons home game against noblot as:

Bolton scorers: McCarthy 25 pen, 67 pen, Bentley 71, Pedersen 90

Blackburn scorer: Davies 50

Spot the mistake anybody?

[KoNG]

As anybody seen the preview of the game on the bbc website, they give the scorers for last seasons home game against noblot as:

Bolton scorers: McCarthy 25 pen, 67 pen, Bentley 71, Pedersen 90

Blackburn scorer: Davies 50

Spot the mistake anybody?

sure can.... As if benni scored last season!

[DeadlyDirk]

We can win this but it won't be an easy game, I think this is a massive game though in all honesty, if we were to lose it we may not recover from such a bad defeat. On the other hand, get a win and were really on a roll.

I think at home were going to take the game and it could well be the start of our season, get on a roll now and a top half finish certainly isn't out of the question, maybe throw in the FA cup for good measure.

I still find it incredible how tight it is though, if we win we could go 13th but lose and we could be back in the relegation zone.

Come on Rovers, I'm going for 1-0, Roque off the bench :-)

[The Prof.]

As Majiball but Grella and Dunn in the middle, RSC on the right for me be believe it or not! Defence is sound so all we need is firepower - that forward line would scare the pants of the Pontypridd front row!

[berkshireblue]

Preview Part 2 - Q&A

9) A number of players have played for both Bolton and Blackburn; who would you consider to be your favourite and why?

I go back a long way, Gordon Taylor, John Byrom, Bob Hatton (I think), Jason McAteer, Per Frandsen, Mark Patterson, Kevin Davies, there must be others. Favourite, Johnny Byrom, belting player, great goalscorer and although a born and bred Blackburn lad is now a totally committed Wanderer, he saw the light! (Most of the above were great players for us)

This is b@@ll@cks

I know John Byrom personally and he is 100% rovers

Went to Highbury with him a few years ago

[Ozz]

I predict a Rovers win this evening, a hope for another clean sheet for us too. Just hope it's not as poor a match as the game at Horwich earlier in the season.

[Paul Mellelieu]

Given we could pull away from the bottom with a win, it's got to mean a 1-1 draw.

[MarkBRFC]

Any danger of the game being off tonight due to Fog?

Heard its gonna get pretty thick later on.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Given we could pull away from the bottom with a win, it's got to mean a 1-1 draw.

The pessimist in me has to agree.

With it being a local derby, current league form often can be irrelevant. Its going to take a strong, composed ref tonight to keep the game going, if the tackles fly in and we have a ref that gives out cards like sweets there’s a good chance of a sending off or two.

Personally I can't see us losing the match unless we have a shocker or the ref has a really bad game. I'm going for a 1-1 draw.