[Archived] Bolton (Home) Preview

[imy9]

4 straight home wins

Kalinic scores- again.

EHD- excellent game

Andrews- excellent game at centre half

Two of the three goals had an element of “football” rather than “hoofball” about it.

Nearly 24K at the stadium -horrendous conditions.

So let the moaning from the regulars begin...

[Balwer]

Well done lads, great win that should see us safe for the year. Hopefully this keeps the boo boys off the boards until tomorrow at least.

[Bobby G]

Finally a comprehensive win.

We looked good when Roberts joined Kalinic, but we were lucky that Bolton couldnt exploit Andrews at the back. All he did was hold the attacker and nenver attempt to put the tackle in. May be that was smart thinking. Overall, please dont ever play him there. Solid performance by him though. Cant fault him for anything.

Givet stepped up bigtime when Nelsen went off and proved once again why he is a QUALITY center back. People have been saying he has fallen back this season, but some of us know that left back ISNT his position and thats why sometimes he looks like he nothing more than average. As a center back, in the art of defending, he is possibly our best at the club.

Diouf was good again.

Vital win, with 11 points between us and Bolton, effectively meaning 4 wins for them.

When we went up 2-0, we seemed to relax, I hope once we are "effectively safe", the whole club can relax a bit and let us play a bit of football.

PS. Niko was class today.

[DeadlyDirk]

4 straight home wins

Kalinic scores- again.

EHD- excellent game

Andrews- excellent game at centre half

Two of the three goals had an element of “football” rather than “hoofball” about it.

Nearly 24K at the stadium -horrendous conditions.

So let the moaning from the regulars begin...

Should have won at least 4-0

[bigbrandjohn]

3-0 in a local derby. How sweet it is. Oh and up pops Villa v Burnley on the telly

[tony gale's mic]

Was that Robbo's best game in a Rovers shirt? I've been a vocal critic of his on here but he was very good.

[bigbrandjohn]

3-0 in a local derby. How sweet it is. Oh and up pops Villa v Burnley on the telly

[LeChuck]

It's nothing to do wanting to watch ultra fancy dan football. I just want to see the club I love strive for more instead of the surrender football we play under the current manager.

Well said that man. I think that echoes a lot of people's disillusionment not just with Rovers and the awful dross we play, but with football in general.

One up front. Oooooh the reckless devil

We play 4-5-1. Get used to it, 'cos it's not a surprise.

Andrews- oh no!!!!

...and only one in the last 17 meetings between these two has been won by the home team. Sam going for a continuation of this sequence with that selection.

At least Bolton are getting the ball down , passing and trying to play football. All we seem to do is belt it upfield and hope for the best, concentrating on free kicks and set pieces.

After seeing Everton go after United yesterday watching this is f**king depressing.

Nice on, Sam.

[Bobby G]

On a side note, if you look at the goal difference in the league, it gives a "closer" reflection of how "good" teams are and where in the table they should be or should be finishing. I believe that in that sense the table doesnt lie. We have done brilliantly to be in 12th position considering the way some games have gone.

[philipl]

That was an encouraging win!

Kalinic is undoubtedly the real deal up front. Diouf had a good game. Givet and Salgado were both outstanding. No poor performances and Andrews slotted in very well at CH and played the pass of the game. Even the commentators called Robo flawless- and he was.

I had at no point this season thought Bolton would go down but after watching that display, they have relegation written all over them. Their Paul Robinson is utterly useless it has to be said.

[Mr. E]

Can't we play Bolton every week? Delicious treat. I hope they stay up.

Kalinic was supurb for the first goal, really what we needed. Roberts did very well to finish them off as well. But our most important player actually I think was Paul Robinson, who had one of his best games for the club. Two magnificent saves at crucial times, and was extremely stable in goal when the player's couldn't see past their noses. James and Green are better than him? Most definitely not I'd say.

No poor players tonight, even Andrews did a solid job.

[Majiball]

I just got kicked out of the quiet section in our library for cheering too much during the game.

Happy days 3-0 and with Keith at CB.

GET IN!!! WE'RE STAYING UP!!!

[Balwer]

Nice on, Sam.

You realise they all stopped posting a while ago don't you LC?

Edit: apart from phil

[beerwins]

Well Im certainly not Sam's biggest fan but he got it spot on today, recognised the problem when we went one up and lost nelsen he put roberts on to make a threat and sat Grella in front of the back four to give them the cover rather than trying to stop them scoring thats the difference between 1-1 and 3-0.

Well done Sam and well done the lads.

[Shaddy]

Sam Allardyce is a fine manager.

[Miker]

Fine win, I'm betting that if we had a few more 3-0 wins like this this season then there would be far less moaning than there is. People can say we got lucky with 1-0 wins, but I'm not sure what they can cook up with a 3-0 win without sounding ridiculous.

Givet definitely MOM for me - a goal, an assist and a clean sheet. He has been a truly quality signing along with Kalinic.

Andrews has shown his value to the team today. No one can deny the fact that he gives 100% for the club and today he showed the willingness to play in any position to help out the team and I applaud him for that. But then again, he's always had my respect.

[tony gale's mic]

I think 10th would be a fair target for this season now. Anything upto 8th is theoretically possible but we do have some tough games coming up now. Still I think we are very much a confidence team and when our tails are up we look a much, much better side so I don't anticipate us rolling over against the big teams like we did before. Also we'll have them at Ewood which will be a big factor.

[Amo]

Nice on, Sam.

Why did you quote me? I was just telling people it's no shock we're playing 4-5-1. We play it every week.

Great result, today. Kalinic opened the scoring with a good finish and looks better with each game. I can only imagine how great he would be if we still had some of our better players here. Givet deserved MOM and has once again proven why he's a born cenre-half and not a left-back. Credit to Andrews for covering well in Nelsen's absence, too, although it must be said that Bolton offered very little going forward.

[Bobby G]

I think 10th would be a fair target for this season now. Anything upto 8th is theoretically possible but we do have some tough games coming up now. Still I think we are very much a confidence team and when our tails are up we look a much, much better side so I don't anticipate us rolling over against the big teams like we did before. Also we'll have them at Ewood which will be a big factor.

We are very much a confidence team. Lets hope the next time we lose a game, the doom and gloom doesnt return hovering over the club and fans alike.

Next up, Liverpool away.

[yellowsubmarine]

Fantastic win! Givet and Robinson were excellent! So too was Kalinic and Diouf.

[LeChuck]

Why did you quote me? I was just telling people it's no shock we're playing 4-5-1. We play it every week.

Sorry, I thought it was meant to be a sly dig at the formation. Maybe I'm just too used to people writing in that tone on here nowadays when they talk about formations or team styles, it's rare for someone to talk about 4-5-1 and not be moaning.

Edit: A word on our opponents, they look in real trouble. I thought at the time Coyle could be a dangerous appointment, he seems to have gone for radical change in approach rather than a slow transition, and not all of the players seem able to cope with it.

They look toothless in attack and dodgy in defence. When it got physically competitive they couldn't match us either, we looked more up for it than they did.

[Presty On Tour]

Dubai tour worked wonders then

[Exiled in Toronto]

Good win. But how bad were Bolton - was Davies even on the pitch?

Personally I thought the first half, apart from the well-worked goal, was nigh on unwatchable. The match was won by Robbo's 2 saves at a crucial time and some good subbing by Sam. We were much better in the 2nd half; Roberts supporting Nico made us much more of a threat and I thought Grella made a big difference in midfield. Roberts did really well with his goal to keep his eye on the ball while turning 180 degrees and getting something on a ball dropping over his shoulder.

An easy win in the end.

Worried about Nelsen though, reminded me of when Shearer did his cruciate, could be the end of Nelly's world cup dream.

[Balwer]

Coyle basically said in the post match interview he'll play a weakened team against Spurs.

Burnley in front against Villa. Poor OC, your style of football doesn't seem suited to Bolton.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

Hats off to Andrews. Feared the worst when he was put into the defence but he played very well.

Kalinic was absolute class. Diouf/Pedersen were effective. Givet is worth every bit of the £4m we paid.

Cracking result.