[Archived] Bolton (Home) Preview

[47er]

Givet MoM.

Only downside to this win is helping Burnley.

Robinson deserved that imo.

[joey_big_nose]

Yup,I thought Diouf was finished after some atrocious performances in the last two months. However today he was excellent. Pedersen was pretty good too.

Major surprise for me was how Andrews did okay in defence, especially against Davis.

Great result, good performance, but I do agree we relied on the long ball too much, especially first half. We need Baturk to come in to add quality in the centre.

[JAL]

Good result and not a bad performance to boot.

Bolton did exactly what we do away from home when we go 1 down, THEY GAVE UP.

I'd say they only give up after Roberts goal, before that second half, they had plenty of ball in and around our box but couldnt convert.

My attacking criticism of Bolton is, they always seemed to try or look to make a 'tap in goal' rather than shoot from distance.

[47er]

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'll be a stronger team when we play those teams though (with a bit of luck).We started without Emerton, Samba, Dunn and Grella and we lost Nelsen with a fair bit of the game to go. I do feel if we played Salgado and Andrews against say, Arsenal, we would be murdered. Bolton were very, very poor.

I hope that's the end of any lingering interest in Davies by the way--he was bloody hopeless!

[American]

Robinson deserved that imo.

Robbo was good, but Gael was immense. Not only did he do a great job defensively and score a goal, but he also kept the ball in play with the great pass that led to Roberts' goal.

We were in the front row of the Riverside and got snowed all over. It was great, but would have sucked if we had lost! Good snowstorms are what I miss most about living in the US.

[Hughesy]

Like most of us I was surprised Sam moved Andrews in the middle,but straight after the match on Rovers tv he explained the reason,and it's down to Bobby Mimms who mentioned he had played centre half on a few ocasions when he was at Wolves,and did ok,so fair play to Sam,good teamwork on and off the pitch.....

Great to see how he clearly has faith in his team....prior to that I think Chimbonda was about to come on. Once Andrews naturally dropped back, Sam gave him a couple of minutes and took on the view of Mimms before sticking with him.

[47er]

I've said that for years. I'd rather watch crap football and win that pretty football and get beat.

Look where it's got the mighty dingles, doing well today aren't they? Also, ask any West Brom fan.

Anyone seen the Man City Liverpool line ups? 5 accross the midfield.

And not 1 shot on target from either City or Liverpool in the whole first half! 1st half wasn't pretty but we did better than that.

[Miker]

If you need an answer to your highlighted statement read your first sentence. Talk about stating the bleedin' obvious.

Did my sentence have a question mark on the end? No. It didn't. So clearly I did not need an answer. For the record, following the 3-0 people still tried to cook up some negatives to take all credit away from the team and manager.

As I said in the second half we were much improved, and it was almost entirely down to the fact we switched to 2 up front, didn't rely on the long ball all the time, mixed up our play for the first time in ages, and allowed our players to, well, PLAY a bit. The first half type of football was ineffective and boring, the second half far more on the right lines. If we play the rest of the season like the first half, then we might pick up 1 or 2 points at best. If we play like the second half (crucially with TWO strikers because Niko looks far and away a better player when he has a partner) then we might break to top 10.

Hey, based on the second half, I'm cautiously optimistic - what more do you want?!

First half, we score a brilliantly excecuted goal. Second half, we score two scrappy goals.

Strange there aren't more posts about Diouf Gord . The last two home games he's been excellent. Gives us something non of the others do - the ability to keep posession when under pressure. Well done to the lad. Great after match interview as well.

I have been extremely critical of Diouf in the past because he was just absolutely horrid in the last few games before he was dropped/suspended. However, he has shown his qualities last few games and all credit to him.

I'm afraid we won despite of the manager and not because of him. Maybe sums up the season really.

The league this season is of such low quality even our poor team are comfortable.

I disagree with this so much, I'm not sure if I can even be bothered arguing the point. I said at the start of the season that this season will be really difficult because as opposed to previous seasons where you had an established top four, this season you have cash infused clubs like Spurs, Villa, Man City and even Everton vying for that 4th place and Europe in general. You also have some solid, hard to breakdown teams with a lot more cash in Birmingham, Fulham and Stoke. You also have Sunderland with a lot of cash and it's about the only prediction I got wrong, as I believed they would be in the top 10 this season, but clearly they are far from it. It is not a poor league this season, majority of the teams are much stronger than they once were and that makes it equally difficult for us. Certain teams may look to be certain for relegation and that has made it easier for us from that end, but as far as ambition goes and getting up the table - it has become a lot harder.

But then came probably the best worked goal we've scored this season. This may not be entirely correct but it's how I remember it, Fat Boy Davies mis-controlled the ball and it rolls out of play, Salgado takes a quick throw to Diouf who then lays it off to Holiett (or it might have Nzonzi) who plays a beautiful long-ranged pass, I remember reading somewhere (might have been on here) that a inch-perfect long range pass is one of the finest pieces of skill you can see in a fotball match, I wouldn't disagree with that. As soon as you saw the ball floating in the air towards Pedersen you could tell it was going to result in a big chance for Rovers. Pedersen completed the pass that was made easy thanks to the superb ball and then Kalinic via a defleciton from Knight managed to smash it in and give Rovers a well deserved lead.

It was me that said playing an accurate long pass is one of the most difficult skills to get right, especially in a match situation and was laughed at/ignored for my view. I played football for many years and I know for a fact that sending in a perfect long ball up to one of your players to create a goal is an amazing feeling and looks great as well. It can quite easily expose the defence if done right.

Football along the ground is better suited to indoor and the school yard. When you play serious football, it gets a lot more direct because you need to be exploiting the space around you at all times, and that includes height-wise. It might make it harder for your own team to control, but it's also unpredictable for the opposing team and forces errors. We have a physically strong and mentally brave team who are made for direct football and going for aerial challenges, even the short Hoilett was immense in going up for the ball. Can you imagine going up for an aerial challenge against someone like Samba? It's frightening.

What really struck me, especially during the first half was that the commentators would talk about our hopeful balls, but most of them were either: a.) from Paul Robinson b.) clearances or c.) miskicks. I'm sorry, but in my book that doesn't count as hopeful football. Clearances are the defenders keeping it simple and safe, miskicks are just the players failing in their passing.

[Paul]

Did my sentence have a question mark on the end? No. It didn't. So clearly I did not need an answer. For the record, following the 3-0 people still tried to cook up some negatives to take all credit away from the team and manager.

Yes I'm English and have a good command of the language, its grammar and punctuation, please don't lecture me on the subject in the manner you find it necessary to lecture the MB on football matches. I said your sentence was a statement, it could not be a question as it lacked the necessary punctuation, and statements are as likely to receive answers as questions. Therefore, clearly, it could receive an answer. I'm beginning to understand at least one of jim mk2's views.

As for cooking up negative views, I feel you should read the posts with more care. It was possible to find things to criticise in the game but overall we enjoyed a good performance. For my money it would be nit-picking to criticise but had we sat back and held on for a 1-0, which it seemed we might for a while, much of the nit-picking would be justified.

[Tris]

What happened to the fella all the SJA lads were round? Seemed a fuss about nothing.

I think he collapsed. My mate and his son watched them supporting him with St John's helping.

He got his head down for a kip on the shoulder of the guy next to him (they don't even go to the game together). It was funny for about 20 seconds, but when several wake up prompts (including a bottle of cold water over the head) failed, it became less funny.

This time it didn't matter, but with everyone within 4/5 rows up, down and around the guy screaming and gesturing for aid, the response time from the stewards and medical folk wasn't good enough, and I'll be saying that at the next Fans Forum. If fans are gesturing for a medical emergency - and we thought it was one - then 3-4 minutes isn't good enough, it should be 30-40 seconds.

The cause of the problem on this occasion appeared to be a 750ml Coke bottle mainly containing vodka, combined with it's owner who probably hadn't been to bed after a big Saturday night. He was also smoking in his seat prior to requiring medical help, so no sympathy from me if his ST doesn't work at the next home game.

[Tom]

Aye someone in front of me said he'd be smoking and looked off his head one way or another.

I feared at first some old bloke had had a heart attack or similar till we saw the bloke being helped out.

[roversmum]

Think again, we only actually started playing anything resembling football today when we switched to 4-4-2. The first half was just, dire, boring, one-dimensional, percentage-based hoofball in its purest and ugliest form. The second half was much better, the players looked far more comfortable playing an orthodox 4-4-2, and Roberts took some of the pressure off Niko and allowed him to show there's more to his game than just chasing after aimless punts upfield.

First half, 2 out of 10 - second half 7 out of 10.

Really? I don't care. I enjoyed the game. Particularly the result.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[LeChuck]

When will people realise that we are lucky to have Sam here, the above is one of the daftest posts I have read on here and there are many contenders.

So Sam plays Andrews in central defence, it works, is that an excellent decision by the manager?

Sam drops EHD, berates him publicly and he is now playing well-excellent decision by the manager?

Sam drops MGP then plays him in central midfield-he is now playing his best football in years-excellent decision by the manager?

Sam does not play Kalinic for months slowly integrating him, he is now looking like a top player-excellent decision by the manager?

Biggest one-Sam sells our two previous players of the season for about 28 million and then spends about 8 million, we are now 11 points clear of bottom 3, when he took over we were 5 points adrift. I could go on and on. The man is a top manager and I would not replace him for anyone available out there.

I don't want to sound like I'm a massive Sam fan because I'm not, but he's made a lot of excellent managerial decisions with specific people, like you've mentioned above.

Diouf is the main one for me. He's been turd all season so Sam dropped him...he's been brilliant since then; working hard, terrific ball retention and he's found that creative spark again. Best of all, when he's hungry and motivated, he works really hard and seems like genuinely cares about the result. If only we had him a few years ago when he had that extra yard of pace.

[Tom]

I'm not a big Sam fan as such but I'm a Rovers fan through and through, I will criticise him when it's due and priase him when its due.

Today he got it spot on no doubt. When Nelsen got injured many of us groaned in disbelief when he put Keith there but he did a great job.

Same when he brought Junior off who looked lively but he changed it to 4-4-2 and Roberts popped up with a goal.

I'm not fully on board with the Diouf praise I thought he did well but has a knack of slowing our own attacks down. Great ball for the third (I wasm oaning then as well that Pedersen didn't get a ball in straight away - I quickly shut up )

Well done today Sam keep it up.

[TimmyJimmy]

Well chuffed. Couldn't have gone better. Agree with all said above about the lesser lights of the season - they played extremely well. Diouf, Andrews, Grella all deserve a pat on the back for that match, after all they take their share of abuse on other days. All the main players Nico, Gael, Nzonzi etc - were totally excellent. Don't think there was a bad performance out there.

The thing that really struck me was the way the team all celebrated the goals, I haven't seen that team spirit for a while now and it was good to see. Something is going right somewhere behind the scenes. Guess team building is a slow process.

Hope I don't jinx it but we look OK for this season now after that win. So with a new togetherness, a few young talents coming through from the reserves/Academy and dare I say it the odd quality purchase in the summer, then next season may be a very good one.

3 nil - 3 points - Gods in his heaven and alls right with the world

[Iceman]

Like my mate Kevin pointed out, in the Spurs preview, we probably have the best manager for a relegation battle. Im not a big Sam fan either, but credit where its due, he has done well. Next season, he and the team will have to kick on and try and secure a top 10 finish, and avoid a repeat of this seasons struggles.

[gumboots]

before our second we were holding on for our dear life, hasnt exactly been convincing!

Don't know which game you were watching but it wasn't the one I saw at Ewood. Bolton had about 5 mins early second half when if they'd scored they might just have got back into it. Otherwise we were very comfortable. Every game has spells when the opposition get the odd chance - that's not hanging on for dear life - that's football.

[TimmyJimmy]

Steady on Nicko, I know you gave Bolton a bit of stick but is this really called for :

- Allardyce's side just played to their strengths, they are among the masters of ugly football ...

- Most alarmingly for Coyle, Bolton seem to have lost that nasty edge themselves ...

You won't find many who would want to argue that we play the prettiest footy at the moment but that's a bit near the bone isn't it. We have been trying to lose this media hyped tag for years and if it ever was deserved before then the 'nasty' and 'ugly' thing is a bit of a stretch right now isn't it. For some reason I had expected a bit more balance from you.

Clearly Sam's plea "Hopefully we will get a bit more credit for what we are doing now" is going to fall on deaf ears for while yet.

Not a good days work Alan.

[tonyoz]

All in all its been a great day and the team now appear to have a togetherness about them just look at the way they all celebrated every goal

Yes that was very noticeable..........and somehow very reassuring.

[Exiled_Rover]

Steady on Nicko, I know you gave Bolton a bit of stick but is this really called for :

- Allardyce's side just played to their strengths, they are among the masters of ugly football ...

- Most alarmingly for Coyle, Bolton seem to have lost that nasty edge themselves ...

You won't find many who would want to argue that we play the prettiest footy at the moment but that's a bit near the bone isn't it. We have been trying to lose this media hyped tag for years and if it ever was deserved before then the 'nasty' and 'ugly' thing is a bit of a stretch right now isn't it. For some reason I had expected a bit more balance from you.

Clearly Sam's plea "Hopefully we will get a bit more credit for what we are doing now" is going to fall on deaf ears for while yet.

Not a good days work Alan.

Ignore it, he's just bitter that his golden boy is taking two teams down.

[S15]

So even Nixon has joined the 'ugly football' brigade now? Funnily enough after one of the better performances he must have seen this season.

Alan, how about writing how your mate Coyle has turned into the 'master of ineffective football?'

Other than a good start, Coyle has done sod all to show he can hack it at this level, and for Bolton's sake, let's hope his promotion antics weren't a flash in the pan, otherwise he'll be sat next to Ian Dowie giving punditry on middle of the road Championship fixtures in 12 months time.

[deryck guyler's spoon]

Predictably the usual moaners / Allardyce detractors / appear to be licking their wounds and keeping schhtum at the moment. They must be seething.

A bit like when you did a runner and had a sojourn off the board after the Everton game first match of last season?

[alexanders]

Gael Givet in SkySports team of the week

Team of the week

[BigUts]

I thought we played really well yesterday and was of course delighted with the result.

I do't agree with the adage that we play 'ugly' football. I actually think that we are able to mix it up quite well at the moment and are starting to play a bit more - certain parts of the play seem to be 'clicking' at last. This is in part due to the fact that Pedersen has a more central role, the improvement/introduction of Kalinic and Olsson.

To be more or less safe in February is a massive achievement, and one which Allardyce should be celebrated for and not, as some seem to be doing, lamented for.

There is no shame in making the most of your set pieces / throw ins. It seems many within our supporter base and the press want to see us pass the ball into the net ala. Arsenal - simply won't happen within our budget and/or players.

Onwards and upwards!

[Amo]

Despite an emphatic 3-0 win in a local derby, spearheaded by our Croatian star striker, we still found ourselves last on MOTD (inc. guest pundit Croatian coach Bilic). Silly me, I forgot the scintillating 0-0 draw at Eastlands was one for the neutrals.