[Archived] Bolton Preview

[Eddie]

We scored two goals, missed a penalty and yet still came away with a point. Two points down the toilet.

Agreed. We come out feeling good because of the fact that we were down 2-0, but if you look on it in the cold light of day it isn't that impressive, nor does it help us out a great deal. Opportunity missed, two points dropped.

[Bobby G]

Andrews was a bit lax in some of his passing yet again, and arguably if he didnt get in Benni's way for the rebound of the penalty, he might have put it away. However, in the last 5 or so minutes he was one of the few players pressurizing the Bolton players. Overall, decent performance, nothing more.

[broadsword]

We scored two goals, missed a penalty and yet still came away with a point. Two points down the toilet.

Jeez, there's no pleasing some people.

Can you throw two points away if you only play well for a half? We played poorly first half, went in two down, then fought back to save a point. In my book that's a point saved.

Have you just run over the cat or something?

[nowthen]

They gave the impression that they went in at half time and asked Sam. 'Please can we pass it instead of hoofing it hopefully upfield'. Fair play to him for changing the formation though.

When we don't have the ball, Andrews insn't up to it. Nothing new there.

We can't sell Roque and all these who reckon he isn't interested should reflect on tonight.

Tugay was class but can't start every game, we need to keep what we have and sign a midfielder in the (fit) Dunny mould (if there's one out there, maybe somewhere in Europe I don't know I don't play Football Manager or watch much Euro football). A right mid would be nice too and Emerton can go back to RB, Ooijer's lack of pace showed for the first goal.

[brightonrover]

That's the biggest shower of sh1te I've seen since Don Mackay left. We played an hour of absolutely unbelievable rubbish, trying to match crap with crap but as soon as we brought on someone who could pass a football the whole game changed.

Please don't let that be the way we're going to play every week.

[Tom]

Just got back, wow i don't know how to feel.

In fact scrub that you have to be pleased with a point really, we were 2-0 down and by all means out of the game I don't remember us having a meaningful shot until the first goal.

We really were poor tonight but have come away with a point which should give us confidence.

How on earth was Juski not sent off I will never know. Also Davies is a dirty bugger but battered us all over the park.

Thought Warnock was poor all in all until the goal and Pedersen took the worst corner in the history of football.

The subs changed the game and Roque proved that to us he is priceless.

The best thing about this is knowing how sick the smug Bolton fans feel now.

Bottom line is after this round of games the 3 teams below us got 0 points and we got 1.

[Guest Kamy100]

First half was a shambles, we could not control the midfield, both Andrews and Grella were at fault for aimlessly chasing the ball. Bolton completed dominated us.

Second half we got a grip of the game and it helped the Bolton decided not to attack at all. Tuguy was immense but for me Roque showed the reason that we cannot sell him, not only did he win virtually every ball, it was his movement which caused Bolton allsorts of problems and opened up space for Benni and Roberts. After 60 minutes I would happily settled for a 2-2 draw but a tinge of disappointment that we didn't win it at the end, how Nelson header managed to hit the inside of the post and not only come back out but come out an angle which made it impossible for Roque who on hand to tap it in. Great spirit and fight shown by the lads.

Roll onto Boro which is going to be another MASSIVE game. I said before this game we need 4 points and that is still on if we can beat Boro.

[Bing]

Good point in the end for us.

Shocking first half performance. The ball was in the air all of the time. Awful stuff. Andrews is a half-decent footballer but doesn't have enough quality to play at this level.

It took Tugay to come on just after half time to get us passing and playing. The switch to 4-3-3 with Emerton and Warnock playing in really advanced roles as full-backs was a very smart tactical move from Sam.

Bolton just sat back waiting for us to score. You could see us equalising or winning the game all through the second half. They just sat back and let us batter them. Tugay had the freedom of the park to pick passes. His through ball over the top for Roque to run onto to win the pen was a gem.

Looked a good gate tonight too.

[ace]

If a goalie is booked for taking out a centre forward..( who has the ball within playing distance very nr the penalty spot) why is it only a yellow card? If the defender immediately behind the centrre forward had done so would it have been red?

[1864roverite]

What a game!

Absolutely awesome local derby!

You clearly did not witness the first half of this football match.

Back in the metropolis that is Leyland, I will summarise in 1 four letter word the first half performance of our team

It begins in S and ends in T, it also contains the letter H and the letter I.

I will say no more.

The team was bereft of the following skills and abilities:

Leadership, Creativity, Effort, Capability, Pride, Passion and Knowledge of how to play football.

We saw a Rovers team who treat their fellow team mates like strangers. Now then, this is the credit that is due to Megson and his Bolton team. They set up a 4-3-3 formation that seemed to put Rovers off their game whilst we setteld with a central midfield pairing of Andrews and Grella. However, this is what upset us because Andrews, being free in the middle got in the way of most Rovers challenges, by taht I mean he actually managed to impede our own players, causing us to lose the ball and give the Bolton midfield the space they desired.

Very quickly any sort of gameplan disintegrated as Bolton took charge and snaffled themselves a 2-0 lead, courtesy of an seriously offside goal and anothe from our old fat friend K Davies. In that frist 45 minutes, Rovers neither threatened the Bolton goal or even caused a hint of panic within the Bolton defence.

Every Rovers player gave the ball away at some point, we couldnt pass to a Blue and Whie and I am certain that the stats will show that Rovers played more square passes in this game than they have all season. In fact, I will describe it as simply an INCELIKE performance.

So, to the second half. It improved once we had Tugay on the pitch accompanied by RSC. Rovers seemed to adopt a 4-3-3 formation and we got lucky and ended up taking a point. Rovers showed more heart, more determination and whether it was a stroke of luck a Warnock goal settled the team down and set panic amongst the Bolton team. Now their gameplan disintegrated. A fine ball saw RSC taken out by Jussi, clear penalty for me and he should have walked. However, he didnt and we all forsaw the Save that was made from a ###### poor penalty from Benni Mac. However, we got lucky and somehow contrived an equaliser 3 minutes from the end, we could have easily won it if The Admirals header had found the net instead of the foot of the post.

I normally dont bother with player ratings, but I was so bloody annoyed with a lack of a performance in the first 45 mins I still find myself seething at the loss of 2 points that we could really have done with.

Robinson - 7 nothing to do except caused mayhem with a flap in the second half.

Ooijer - 3 useless and mind elsewhere.

Nelsen - 6 dodgy in the first half but improved

Samba - 6 usual typical Samba performance

Warnock *** 8 *** my MOTM, great goal or cross never say die attitude

Emerton 6 - in and out, crossing was below average

Grella 5 - tired performance

Andrews 4 - just slightly better than ooijer *** see footnote

MGP - 4 not interested

Roberts - 6 usual blusetery performance too much thinking put him off

McCarthy - 6 Poor penalty picked himself up to score vital goal

Tugay -7 class

RSC - 7 caused mayhem and shows just how much we need him

The Axe - 6 even he couldnt make a mistake in 2 minutes !

Credit to Bolton, they fought all the way and put 11 behind the ball. Deserved their point.

****FOOTNOTE****

The enigma that is Keith Andrews.

Yes, I have berated him often but at the same time he has been given credit where it is due. Today he most definately did not have a good game, in any way, shape or form. He fouled a player after just 13 seconds, he couldnt "pass" a header, he couldnt pass or create an opening, his one shot went hopelessly wide of the mark.

Rovers entered this game without a creative spark and this ultimately has cost them the game.

I hear Dunny maybe sidelined for the season and that is going to be a massive miss, I hope it is misleading information. i was also informed that Sir Matt of Ewood has departed for Greece for a loan period whilst Rovers enjoy a Russian winter in the form of another striker coming into the club.

We desperately need a midfield creator or a right winger.

Finally am pleased we pulled off a point but now the Boro game takes on a more valuable 6 pointer. A win takes us clear of them, a loss drops us down whilst a draw just keeps us in the mire.

Good night all.

IF ONLY KEITH ANDREWS COULD PASS THE BALL FORWARDS

[Plastic Head]

The first half from Rovers was one of the worst efforts I've seen in 30 years. I didn't think it could get worse than the first 45 against Newcastle but it did.

Defenders hacking the ball as far as they could up the field with their first touch. One pathetic attempt at goal. Woeful in the extreme. I can see that at Pleasington for free on Sundays.

Now whether the subs made the difference is a moot point. My reading of the game was that Bolton decided to get 10 men behind the ball and see out the game. That meant we had time to play better quality balls into the box an the addition of Tugay and Roque added control and a presence we lacked. But if Bolton had played the same way as they did in the first half i'm sure they would have got another.

The keeper should have gone which might have got us an undeserved 3 pts. Benni's last 2 pens were poor and eventually one was saved. We must have a better pen taker.

As I said after NUFC game we must improve or we're struggling.

As for individual performances:

Robinson. Flapped at any crosses that came into the box. Can't be blamed for the goals but dodgy. 5/10

Ooijer. Terrible. Substituted. 3/10

Warnock. Neat goal and given sponsors MOTM but didn't the 2 goals we conceded come from his side?? 6/10

Samba. Hacked at everything. 5/10

Nelsen. Hacked at everything. Not as hard as Samba though. 5/10

Grella. Did his best in difficult circumstances. 6/10

ANDREWS. A TRULY SAD AND PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A FOOTBALLER. THE WORST PLAYER TO PLAY MORE THAN 10 GAMES FOR THE CLUB IN MY MEMORY. SHOULD BE SHOVELLING ST!TE IN DUBLIN. TOTALLY FAILED TO GET TO GRIPS WITH A GAME AGAINST VERY POOR OPPOSITION. MADE NONSENSICAL RUNS AND DIDN'T TACKLE A BLADE OF GRASS. GET HIM AWAY FROM MY CLUB NOW ALLARDYCE. BLYTH WILL TAKE HIM ON A FREE..... 0/10

Emerton. Runs about but I wish he played against us every week. 4/10

Pedersen. Again did his best in difficult circumstances. Unlucky to be subbed. Free kicks have truly gone down the pan now though. 5/10

Roberts. Controlled a fifty yard pass sixty yards. Need I say more. 4/10

McCarthy. Kept his chin up under an aerial barrage from Nelsen and Samba. Let Warnock take the next pen. 6/10

Tugay. OI KEITH....THIS IS WHAT A FOOTBALLER LOOKS LIKE. NOW REALISE YOUR'E NOT GOOD ENOUGH AND DISAPPEAR. Tugs should have started tonight. Play him at home and rest him away. 8/10

RSC. Better than Roberts......errr...a lot better. 7/10

Axe. I'll pretend I didn't see him my BP is up as it is. -/--

So that makes Tugay MOTM.....what a shambles we are relying on a Turkish pensioner to provide some quality.

A quick note on the referee....oh forget it I don't want to be banned from here.

I'm not a happy chappy.

Cue Andrews apologists and deniers..........................

[beerwins]

Just got back my opinion, first half diabolical , lobbing long balls up to 2 attackers that wanted it down to feet, very bad to watch.

Then on comes the second half, looked a bit more up for it , then TUGAY came on well what a game he had he really showed experience all round, keeping players chins up, passing and moving, reading forwards runs he was awesome !!.

My worries are thats 2 games now we have been rubbish in first half and we have had nothing at all from centre mid area, grella still inst good enough for prem neither is andrews, i saw davies skin grella for pace at 1 point we have to look at this area, none of our midfielders can do the job we need week in week out.

Another worry is that tugay was the kingpin to the team, all looking to him for encouragement, and to use his experience, why isnt nelsen imposing more of a captains influence on the team in the first half we really needed it.

Angry, disgusted , amazed, sad, exited, nervous , over the moon, not sure of which emotion i have now but i sure had all of those in the 93 mins, 93 mins LOL!!

[47er]

Tugay is too good to be true. What a performance from him when he came on. Finally a midfielder wanting the ball, everywhere and always, and he barely put a foot wrong. The brilliant, magical, exquisite 30 yard pass to Santa Cruz who controlled well (with his hand?) behind the last defender, before being taken down by Jaaskelainen.... It was inch perfect, and even though RSC did well to control it, Tugay deserves the credit.

If only McCarthy had converted the penalty, I think we would've taken the three points. He did well to send Warnock through for the first goal though, and obviously to score the second one. Another positive performance came from Grella, he looked really good in the middle of the pitch, breaking the game up and passing the ball around in safe, but solid fashion.

The first half shouldn't be mentioned on here, it was dire. The introduction of Tugay and Santa Cruz for MGP and Ooijer (attacking!!) made us a passing side all of a sudden, and we really pushed up players to make things interesting inside their box.

If there's people on here, or anywhere, saying we should just sell Santa Cruz - they should see RSC's reaction to our second goal.

GIVE TUGAY A NEW CONTRACT, WHATEVER THE TERMS!

Seen endless replays of the Santa Cruz "handball" incident. He definately did NOT handle it. His arm was up for balance but the ball hit upper chest left-hand side. In any case we missed the pen! Agree with you totally, keep Santa Cruz at least till the end of the season. He was terrific.

[chris]

Just got back my opinion, first half diabolical , lobbing long balls up to 2 attackers that wanted it down to feet, very bad to watch.

Then on comes the second half, looked a bit more up for it , then TUGAY came on well what a game he had he really showed experience all round, keeping players chins up, passing and moving, reading forwards runs he was awesome !!.

My worries are thats 2 games now we have been rubbish in first half and we have had nothing at all from centre mid area, grella still inst good enough for prem neither is andrews, i saw davies skin grella for pace at 1 point we have to look at this area, none of our midfielders can do the job we need week in week out.

Another worry is that tugay was the kingpin to the team, all looking to him for encouragement, and to use his experience, why isnt nelsen imposing more of a captains influence on the team in the first half we really needed it.

Angry, disgusted , amazed, sad, exited, nervous , over the moon, not sure of which emotion i have now but i sure had all of those in the 93 mins, 93 mins LOL!!

Agree I could not believe how slow Grella was, Christ, maybe tired

[Harrier7]

Sounds like we mainly need somebody in to replace Dunn, a midfielder who can create and play for 90 minutes (Toogs can offer us the first, but sadly not the second). Not that we didn't already know that.

Hate to say this because Accy are my team, but you could do a lot worse than Jimmy Ryan. He reminds me very much of the young David Dunn at Rovers - he's going to be a hell of a player. Sorry - forgot that you aren't interested in lower league players.

[Plastic Head]

Agree I could not believe how slow Grella was, Christ, maybe tired

He went off near the end so maybe he was carrying something.

(Besides Andrews that is)

[Paul]

What a game!

Absolutely awesome local derby!

Sorry to ask but have you seena football match before? This was an appalling match involving two very poor teams.

Lets do Bolton first, apologies to Zulu who makes a LOT of sense on here, but Bolton are awful. Not that Rovers are any better.

For the first hour we were truely terrible, made no attempt to play football, when it wasn't head tennis it was hoof the ball up field and see what happens. In this time we did not create a single chance and presented Bolton with a 2 - 0 lead. Tugay should have come on at HT as we did not have a single midfielder worthy of the description. Grella? Ha! He looked OK when he played with Dunn but not tonight. As it turned out Tugay was able to turn the game in 30 minutes and we certainly pegged Bolton back for 25 of those 30 minutes. McCarthy may have got the equaliser but he cost us 2 points with a terrible penalty. We were desperately unlucky with the attempt that hit the base of the post but a win would have disguised a lot of painful truths.

The truth of tonight's game is neither side had any real ability or desire, an awful game full of very poor football. Best league in the world? At the top maybe, in the bottom half it's just cannon fodder to make up the numbers.

I think we'll be safe at the end of the season as there are enough teams doing badly to help us survive. We missed a big, big opportunity tonight and it makes the Fulham game in hand crucial. We've thrown away wins against Sunderland, City and Bolton and now badly need to win on Saturday. We have 18 games left, six we will probably lose so the remaining 12 need to give us 18-20 points. Lets have three from Boro.

[benhben]

Vince Grella and Keith Andrews are not a premier league centre mid. Grella was one of the worst players ive seen at ewood today. Tugay made a massive difference. Could actually see a forward ball.

I never understand if we can play so well in the 2nd half they why dont we do it all game? Wed have hammered bolton if we played at that tempo from the start. Was a world of difference from the team that played bolton at ewood last year

[JAL]

The only thing I can agree with above is Bolton were the better team first half .

The key changing points to the game were Bolton dont have a quality centre forward that could have replaced Makakula and thus keep their team pretty much as it was as before.

Davies along with Steinson completely dominated Warnock and Pedersen, but Megson didnt have a quality replacement for Makalula (spelling) to do a straight swap so he moved Davies up front central.

Sam then subbed Pedersen because his bottle had completely gone and all of a sudden Steinson had NOBODY TO MARK,Davies had moved position and it totally unbalanced Bolton to the point that they then began to retreat so far that you thought Jeskalianene was the centre forward and the rest of the Bolton team had simply run off to Clitheroe

Other key points were Emmerton is put back to an attacking wing back/ right full back his favoured position. MaCarthy drops into a deeper supply forward, Tugay comes on to steady the ship and Bingo Rovers are copmpletely dominating Bolton.

Its important that we assess the opposition before we can build a picture of our own.

In the end i'm gutted we threw away two points away against the ###### of Bolton!

[thenodrog]

Awful 1st half. Make no mistake we are one of the worst teams in the Prem andsurvival is in the lap of the Gods. We are still surviving because we are fighting, we have a good manager and we have one or two players of real quality. We got something today purely because Tugay kept possession when he entered the fray and because RSC is pure quality.... and on tonights performance completely irreplaceable. From winning nothing in the air up front for the first 2/3rds of the match we went on to win every ball in the air!

[Rovers_Dan]

aslong as the man tugays banging those long balls up there i hope for a top 10 finish this season.

first half as said,shocking!

[onlyoneDuff]

Grella looks well past it...his tackles are always late because he's too slow...we must strengthen at right wing (move Emerton back)...and center mid

[SouthAussieRover]

The hitting of the goalpost in stoppage time cost me $130.

Sounds like I was lucky to have missed the first half. Maybe need to view it as one point gained rather than two lost.

[Presty On Tour]

Having seen the coverage of Nelsen's header hitting the post again, I feel these moments may cost us over the season. The defending in the first half should of cost us the match but the fight back orchestrated by Tugay in the 2nd half was amazing.

In recent games, we through away 2 points against Citeh, Roberts missed an open goal to win against Sunderland and now tonight, a touch to the right and we got an extra 2 points. A long way to go and it's all so tight, I hope these happenings don't come back to haunt us.

We still have to play the top 4 all away from home which will be tough and at the end of the day we are still undefeated under Big Sam. At least he won't write the 4 games off like PI!

Have to agree with the other posters about Andrews, he is clearly a weak link and that's being very kind. Ooijer is not a right back, this issue has been exposed by the opposition time and time again and it's not fair on Ooijer because he is an international centre half. He can't be expected to fill in at right back and burn up and down the flank at his age.

Santa Cruz must not be sold.

[alexanders]

Sorry to ask but have you seena football match before? This was an appalling match involving two very poor teams.

No, first match I've ever seen.

I wonder what you expect from a local derby? Ok, we didn't get 3 points, but we came from being 0-2 under and there was only one team on the pitch in the second half. I think it has to be the best the game of football from Rovers in a while.

No reason to mention the dire first half. This game had all the drama, intensity and bookings a local derby should have.