[Archived] Bolton Preview

[Bobby G]

We have 16 matches left, and within those we play the top 4 as well as Villa albeit at home, Everton also at home, Man City away, and Spurs at home.

Games against Sunderland, City and now Bolton have resulted in 6 points dropped in my view and it could be crucial.

Its really tight and I sincerely believe we will need 7 more wins to be sure of safety, as 6 might cut it close...

Must start at Boro with a win.

[Tris]

No reason to mention the dire first half.

Yes there is, because the manager has to start finding 90 minutes worth of tactics / formation / performance otherwise we're not going to get enough points to stay in the league.

That's two points dropped against an abysmal Bolton side which hadn't scored a league goal in 5 weeks / 7+ hours of football.

I thought it would be impossible to see a worse 45 mins at Ewood than the 1st half against Newcastle but this was it, totally aimless football which will drive the punters away whatever league we end up in. People can pick on individiual players all they like, but if the ball's up in the sky for 80% of the time then it's difficult for especially the midfield to make it's mark.

Sticking a third forward up - the one who should have been on from the start if we're going to play like this - meant that more stuck and more dropped to Rovers players in dangerous areas, but changing the tactics to rescue a solitary point isn't good enough. We got away with it against Newcastle because they were even worse than Bolton.

To cap it all, whichever idiots were fighting up at the Golden Cup meant the cops closed the road and the ensuing traffic chaos meant it took an hour to get back to Darwen, and that's only because we got bored of trying to get over Tockholes, spun it and headed all the way into town and back home on Roman Road

[Paul]

I wonder what you expect from a local derby?

Well the City match just a month ago would be what I expect of a derby or any match for that matter. Only decent performance this season though.

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.

If you want to ignore one of the worst Ewood performances in living memory please do but don't be surprised when we kick off against Coventry next August. I suppose we could ignore United's 5 goals in the cup and imagine we are at Wembley as well.

[Hughesy]

First half we didnt turn up. When we did we battered them. Chance after chance, wave after wave of attack.

Great comeback and I can now go to work in Bolton happy. A point isnt a great loss, but it would of been sweet if we took all 3.

[67splitscreen]

We have 16 matches left, and within those we play the top 4 as well as Villa albeit at home, Everton also at home, Man City away, and Spurs at home.

Games against Sunderland, City and now Bolton have resulted in 6 points dropped in my view and it could be crucial.

Its really tight and I sincerely believe we will need 7 more wins to be sure of safety, as 6 might cut it close...

Must start at Boro with a win.

In that respect it is a worse situation than when JW said we needed 9 wins, and that was before Sam came in.

Sure the ship has been steadied, as we are unbeaten, but draws against teams around us will not keep us up.(stating the obvious)

Sam may not want it to go to the last game of the season, but the three draws under Sam, our going to come back and bite us on the backside.

Boro went on a 9 game run last season, when they almost sacked Southgate. They will win a game, knowing Rovers.... against............. I wont tempt fate.

When sam took over I was pretty sure there where enough games left, now I'm not sure. I was praying for a win last night, some good.

We have to sign at least one quality player. (RW) assuming no one else leaves. after replacing Darb's.

[Guest Kamy100]

I really, really hope that this doesn't go the way of the last relegation season, then as now new manager came in and we stopped the rot for a while but then started to draw games that we should have won and as the pressure mounted things started to fall apart. Having said that we have a manager who is 10 times better than Kidd and have a few more quality players.

On reflection it is blatantly obvious that we need to sign a central midfielder and a someone who can play on the right. Grella was awful last night until we went to three in the middle and he could play the holding role. Andrews was awful and it Tuguy like so many times who came on and got a grip of things, however we cannot rely on him forever and the situation needs to be addressed and believe that the defensive midfield position is well on the way to being addressed.

As I said in a previous the other thing from last night is that there is no way that we can sell Roque Santa Cruz, no matter what money is offered. He is performance was nothing short of amazing, he won almost every ball, made intelligent runs and pulled the Bolton defence all over the place which enabled the other strikers to get more room. Last night he showed that while he has said that he wants to move on when he crosses the white line he is commited to the cause.

[Eddie]

I agree 67. I think many on here have convinced themselves that we are safe on the basis of Allardyce taking charge and the fact that we haven't lost for a bit, but the fact is that we have played many of our rivals, many games that we should be winning, and we haven't picked up that many points. In the past few weeks we've missed the opportunity to move totally clear of the relegation zone and we are now fast running out of games that I would class as very winnable. We are slightly clear of the bottom three, but if we are in a similar situation when the run of tough games come along then our hands will be in the fate of others. After Boro our next few fixtures look like this:

Villa (one would expect a loss, but it is a game we could win)

United (a loss)

Hull City (a must-win match and one I would expect us to win)

Everton (see Villa)

Fulham (see Hull, but a little bit tougher)

Arsneal (see United)

West Ham Utd (See Fulham)

Spurs (see Everton and Villa)

Liverpool (see United and Arsenal)

So from our next 9 games, you'd have to say that 10-11 points is what we'll get if things stay true to form. That will mean that we won't be clear of the relegation zone with 6 games to play. Now we could have course pick up more points than that, or 3 or 4 of our rivals could totally fall apart, but I wouldn't count on it.

This unbeaten run has seen us play out of form teams, relegation rivals, terrible defenses, have some luck and despite all that we've only come out with two wins (oh, three if you throw in Blyth). When you then add to that the fact that we've seen most of the window pass and we haven't addressed any of the weaknesses in the squad, for me it's a bit worrying.

Last night served as a reminder that we can, at times, be totally crap. How many think that we'll see more of second-half-rovers than first? Or, that if the first half side shows up for even 25 minutes of any of our upcoming fixtures that we'll come out of the match with anything?

These remain very worrying times for me. I do honestly think that we will stay up, but we have to win on Saturday now, we have to. We've missed the run of games we were offered to get ourselves away like City and Spurs have, now we're in for the hard slog.

I think Allardyce has more of a clue than Ince, but one has to say, how different (so far) would things have been had we kept Ince? Personally I think at this stage we'd have about the same number of points. Allardyce now has a couple of days to show he knows more about the market than Ince and on Saturday show that he can prepare a team for what might turn out to be the biggest game of the season.

[Paul Mellelieu]

I agree 67. I think many on here have convinced themselves that we are safe on the basis of Allardyce taking charge and the fact that we haven't lost for a bit, but the fact is that we have played many of our rivals, many games that we should be winning, and we haven't picked up that many points. In the past few weeks we've missed the opportunity to move totally clear of the relegation zone and we are now fast running out of games that I would class as very winnable. We are slightly clear of the bottom three, but if we are in a similar situation when the run of tough games come along then our hands will be in the fate of others. After Boro our next few fixtures look like this:

Villa (one would expect a loss, but it is a game we could win)

United (a loss)

Hull City (a must-win match and one I would expect us to win)

Everton (see Villa)

Fulham (see Hull, but a little bit tougher)

Arsneal (see United)

West Ham Utd (See Fulham)

Spurs (see Everton and Villa)

Liverpool (see United and Arsenal)

So from our next 9 games, you'd have to say that 10-11 points is what we'll get if things stay true to form. That will mean that we won't be clear of the relegation zone with 6 games to play. Now we could have course pick up more points than that, or 3 or 4 of our rivals could totally fall apart, but I wouldn't count on it.

This unbeaten run has seen us play out of form teams, relegation rivals, terrible defenses, have some luck and despite all that we've only come out with two wins (oh, three if you throw in Blyth). When you then add to that the fact that we've seen most of the window pass and we haven't addressed any of the weaknesses in the squad, for me it's a bit worrying.

Last night served as a reminder that we can, at times, be totally crap. How many think that we'll see more of second-half-rovers than first? Or, that if the first half side shows up for even 25 minutes of any of our upcoming fixtures that we'll come out of the match with anything?

These remain very worrying times for me. I do honestly think that we will stay up, but we have to win on Saturday now, we have to. We've missed the run of games we were offered to get ourselves away like City and Spurs have, now we're in for the hard slog.

I think Allardyce has more of a clue than Ince, but one has to say, how different (so far) would things have been had we kept Ince? Personally I think at this stage we'd have about the same number of points. Allardyce now has a couple of days to show he knows more about the market than Ince and on Saturday show that he can prepare a team for what might turn out to be the biggest game of the season.

As you say the position is very worrying, but the last paragraph is wide of the mark. We are unbeaten under Allardyce; we lost six in a row under Ince, who would have had us relegated by now.

[47er]

I really, really hope that this doesn't go the way of the last relegation season, then as now new manager came in and we stopped the rot for a while but then started to draw games that we should have won and as the pressure mounted things started to fall apart. Having said that we have a manager who is 10 times better than Kidd and have a few more quality players.

On reflection it is blatantly obvious that we need to sign a central midfielder and a someone who can play on the right. Grella was awful last night until we went to three in the middle and he could play the holding role. Andrews was awful and it Tuguy like so many times who came on and got a grip of things, however we cannot rely on him forever and the situation needs to be addressed and believe that the defensive midfield position is well on the way to being addressed.

As I said in a previous the other thing from last night is that there is no way that we can sell Roque Santa Cruz, no matter what money is offered. He is performance was nothing short of amazing, he won almost every ball, made intelligent runs and pulled the Bolton defence all over the place which enabled the other strikers to get more room. Last night he showed that while he has said that he wants to move on when he crosses the white line he is commited to the cause.

Or was motivated to get one good performance in before the window closes?

[Eddie]

I think we would have beaten Stoke with either manager.

After that it is a question of whether or not we would have picked up 6 points from 4 games and with the run of fixtures that we had I think that may well have happened. We'll obviously never know and there's no point really discussing it, but so far I don't think the difference is huge.

[thenodrog]

As you say the position is very worrying, but the last paragraph is wide of the mark. We are unbeaten under Allardyce; we lost six in a row under Ince, who would have had us relegated by now.

Correct. Eddie must have the memory of an average goldfish. There is currently a much different spirit about the squad.

Just how much have we missed the creativity and service of Bentley?!? Emerton looked much much better playing from deep, he is completely US on the wing, he hits the first defender every bloody time and the best we can hope for when he pulls his leg back to cross the ball is a corner kick.

[philipl]

I think we would have beaten Stoke with either manager.

After that it is a question of whether or not we would have picked up 6 points from 4 games and with the run of fixtures that we had I think that may well have happened. We'll obviously never know and there's no point really discussing it, but so far I don't think the difference is huge.

Apart from we no longer hear of the Manager trying to get players drunk, appalling training sessions, going golfing instead of being at Brockhall, staff role reversals, player revolts and Winterburn organising the defence from a bar in the Emirates, you are probably right Eddie.

[thenodrog]

edit

........ going golfing instead of being at Brockhall,

I assume that must have happened before the Everton, Fulham and Newcastle matches?

[LeftWinger]

I can't believe people are getting so upset about yesterday. I actually really enjoyed the second half, good atmosphere and nearly a miracle turn-around.

I accept the first half was very bad, but the second half was excellent once Roque and Tugay came on.

"How can we not beat an awful Bolton side who haven't scored in 5 games?" There are some idiots asking this question! Have you seen who they have played in their last 5? Arsenal scraped a 1-0 win against them at the Emirates with an 84th minute goal. Manchester United scraped a 1-0 win at the Reebok with a 90th minute goal. One of these other 5 games was against Liverpool.

The referee was awful. He seemed to give everything to Bolton, and I thought their first goal was offside. Surely Jussi should have been sent off as the last man too!

Bolton are not a good team, but they grind out results. While we could have done with 3 points last night, we've got one more than I expected at half-time. I hope that the game has also proved to the club that we can't afford to sell RSC.

I thought Grella was poor until we played 4-3-3 and then he looked much better. You've got to wonder if 4-3-3 is the way forward with this team. By having three central midfielders it allows Warnock and Emerton to bomb on from full-back. It also removes the problem of not having a right-winger and even allows Tugay to play. McCarthy floats about, Cruz provides the movement and a target man, and Roberts just bundles his way past people. If Sam can get a striker in on loan (we can't play RSC, Benni and Jase every game) and maybe pick up a decent central midfielder - I think we should play 4-3-3 every week!

[my_name_is_Earl]

How much of a dirty ****** is Kevin 'The Pie Eater' Davies? I was disgusted with how badly the referee protected our players against him and the kula man. I love a nice physical game but they really pushed it and the ref was bloody awful.

Did anyone see the Davies lunge in the second half through the back of Pedersen, and then the subsequent yellow card for Grella within ten seconds for nothing at all? Shocking!

And how on earth the penalty wasn't deemed a clear goal scoring opportunity is beyond me, Jussi should have been sent off? Shocking!

As bad as Rovers were in the first half, they were offered no protection and some of the decision making was unbelievably poor.

[roversmum]

Very disappointed in the end. No surprise with the ref, though, he must be one of the most incompetent and you know when he steps on to the field we are in for a tough one.

Why has this guy named Pedersen as "Villain of the match?" - I must have missed something.

[thenodrog]

I thought Grella was poor until we played 4-3-3 and then he looked much better. You've got to wonder if 4-3-3 is the way forward with this team. By having three central midfielders it allows Warnock and Emerton to bomb on from full-back. It also removes the problem of not having a right-winger and even allows Tugay to play. McCarthy floats about, Cruz provides the movement and a target man, and Roberts just bundles his way past people. If Sam can get a striker in on loan (we can't play RSC, Benni and Jase every game) and maybe pick up a decent central midfielder - I think we should play 4-3-3 every week!

Decent points. Unfortunately 4-3-3 requires some of those strikers to be able to do a bit in midfield and none of ours are particularly suited to that.

[LeftWinger]

And how on earth the penalty wasn't deemed a clear goal scoring opportunity is beyond me, Jussi should have been sent off? Shocking!

I agree with you. Here is the BBC's bizarre take on the situation:

...before Blackburn were awarded a controversial penalty.

Tugay it was who played a raking ball over the top and Paraguayan striker Roque Santa Cruz appeared to control it with his hand before appearing to be brought down by Jaaskelainen.

Replays suggested Santa Cruz had run into Jaaskelainen, who was booked by Dean, rather than the other way round. But justice was served when Jaaskelainen saved a rather tame shot from McCarthy

He chested it, he was taken out when clean through on goal. How on the bbc can suggest that Cruz should have been booked I don't know.

[thenodrog]

Very disappointed in the end. No surprise with the ref, though, he must be one of the most incompetent and you know when he steps on to the field we are in for a tough one.

Why has this guy named Pedersen as "Villain of the match?" - I must have missed something.

This is nice.

From the Mirror......... "Bolton manager Gary Megson, who was abused at the end by some moronic Wanderers fans, claimed Dean should have blown earlier.

"It was handball (by Santa Cruz) as he went through and it would have compounded the mistake if Jussi had been sent off," he said. "We are disappointed not to win but they were able to bring on a £20million striker and that was the difference."

eeeeh ..... reminds me of the good old days!

btw how often is it us saying that?

[Nelsonfan]

I admit I've had mixed emotions from the game. The first half was pretty awful and I felt we had lost the momentum we'd slowly been gaining, and frankly didn't deserve anything at that point. I felt so downbeat because it all seemed as if the bubble had burst and we were once again heading for defeat.

But then the second half, I just couldn't believe the fightback we made. Okay, it took sub's to do that - but isn't that one thing a manager needs to be able to do - know when to pull someone off and replace in the hope they can change the game? And we fought back to gain a draw, and I'm convinced had this been under Ince's reign we would have not only lost, but most likely by another goal or two.

It was good to see that fighting spirit come back, and in the end we were bloody unlucky not to take all three points! And they should have been done to 10 men as well.

[gazsimm]

great game last night. Before the start of the game i wanted us to get the 3 points, but going 2-0 down i was happy we got a point in the end. Why did we not start playing till the second half again, just like the newcastle game.

Andrews and Grella were shocking last night and we missed Dunn so badly last night.

ATTACKING MIDFIELDER IS A MUST NOW BEFORE THE TRANSFER WINDOW SHUTS

[Sysagent]

Best league in the world? At the top maybe, in the bottom half it's just cannon fodder to make up the numbers.

You know what that sentence is probably the one most sensible thing I have seen written around here for months...

Watching MOTD last night I commented to Mrs Sys what a complete load of sh1t the Premier League really is and the only real half decent football is coming from the top four or five, she has always maintained that it is an over rated pile of crap and is a stout Serie A supporter, this is coming from a woman who used to be on the Blackburn End at 2 years old!

[The Prof.]

Talk about a game of 2 halves!

First Half

Apart from the Centre Backs 2-3's for everyone.

Second half.

Robinson - 2 Will send us down. The flaps puts the willy's up the whole defence, he just can't catch. We'll never win a game against a reasonable team who cross well.

Ooijer - 3 mind elsewhere.

Nelsen - 6 Fine

Samba - 8 GreatSamba performance

Warnock 8 seemed to get the balance right second half - roughed up to easily.

Emerton 6 - in and out, crossing was pitiful for most of the game - he is a right back and needs that extra yard of space you get playing deeper. Made the only chance in the first half look impossible - I would have scored.

Grella 5 - Overwhelmed in the first half by Boltons rough and tumble 3 man midfield. Sound after Tugay came on and kept possesion well later on

Andrews 2 - The WHOLE problem in midfield. Left Grella alone against 3 and although didn't wander he's just off the pace. Runs around a lot and doesn't get injured BUT he's always 1-10 yards off the play (more last night) and didn't press at all. We will NEVER control a midfield with him in it unless he gets to grips with the pace at this level. Must have had neckache the first half. GET in their faces! Be with the forwards when the ball falls and with the defence to clean up tackles. Looks to be there or there abouts but just isn't on the mark. Sorry.

MGP - 4 not interested

Roberts - 7 Gave as good as he got

McCarthy - 6 Poor penalty but little else - will score vital goals

Tugay -7 class

RSC - 9 Should have started on the Right

We're struggling now. At least the subs bench means we're not going to be out of too many games but first half has to pick up.

[thenodrog]

You know what that sentence is probably the one most sensible thing I have seen written around here for months...

Watching MOTD last night I commented to Mrs Sys what a complete load of sh1t the Premier League really is and the only real half decent football is coming from the top four or five, she has always maintained that it is an over rated pile of crap and is a stout Serie A supporter, this is coming from a woman who used to be on the Blackburn End at 2 years old!

You actually talk with your wife about football? .............. wtf for?

[dellinsert]

You actually talk with your wife about football? .............. wtf for?

As I said to my dad and girlfriend last night at the game, I don't think I've ever seen us get that outmuscled as we were in the first half last night.