[Archived] Bolton Away Tickets

[slough_rover]

The only thing thats bought a hint of a smile is that Shane Warne has been shagging Liz Hurley. Well done lad.

[Miker]

I think that their tactics were superior today but they would'nt have scored 2 if our defence was'nt so bad, time to drop some defenders for me and give others a chance.

Their tactics were superior? Please explain.

[steo]

Nelsen was excellent against elmander but salgado for me is finished,didn't do anything right,in midfield i thought jones was easily our stand out player he has a better range of passing than pedersen and superb composure on the ball,lay off dunn without him last season we probably would of been relegated.we badly need a striker,anyone notice how ###### off kalinic was.mame diouf has to start next week.

[Tom]

What would you have said if he'd been kept on and then got sent off for a second yellow card?

You're right every time a player recieves a yellow he should be immediately brought off, it's not like he was on a last warning he had just been harshly booked. We should have played with Ollson one side and Hoilett the other and strecthed them, I said this at the time

[yellowsubmarine]

How i wished Diouf was the one sent off, at least we have an excuse for losing.

Nelsen and Diouf were just horrible to watch.

[PAFELL]

Still not quite sure how we managed to lose that one we dominated the game and Bolton had two half-chances and managed to score two goals. We had countless half-chances but blocks (with and without the use of hands) somehow prevented us from scoring more than the one goal. Thought Nelsen had a bit of a shocker at the back and could be blamed for both goals.

A local derby game and away from home are often tence games. Yet Rovers had 17 chances to Boltons 10 - 10 corners to boltons 3. Both had 6 shots on target. Rovers had 54% of the possession to Boltons 46%.

sadly Rovers got sucker punched after equalizing. That was the difference today. Those calling for Sam's head, because of this game (based on this game alone)must have watched a different game than I just did.

Gutted by the result. How many though would acknowledge that Bolton under coyle have had a good season so far. Most of us would give Coyle credit for what he has done.

Due to lack of concentration after scoring the goal Rovers conceded the goal. That was the players fault, not Sam's. It is a common comment / knowledge that you are often vulnerable after scoring a goal -this was proved right today.

[MarkBRFC71]

I didn't think Allardyce did much wrong today. Starting formation was perfect, until Bolton went down to ten we were in control and they never looked threatening (neither did we, but that's more down to the players than the manager).

As soon as we switched to 4-4-2 though, everything went out the window. Suddenly we looked vulnerable, and because the players have either forgotten or don't know how to be creative we ended up using the same long-ball tactics that we employ in our usual formation without much success.

Seems like Sam perhaps had too much faith in the players, if anything. Probably should have stuck to the formation we were playing, as at that point we were doing well. Obviously if the game had ended 0-0 plenty of people would have slaughtered Allardyce for not being more adventurous, but rather a 0-0 than losing 2-1.

Taking Olsson off was a strange one for me - he looked by far our most threatening player.

If Coyle was our manager I'm pretty sure we'd have won that. He's got a completely different outlook and mindset to BFS and seems to instil more confidence, passion, ambition and positivity into his players. That's something solely down to a manager, and something that Sam fails badly on IMO.

[DP]

Very hard to take. We played well first half. Bolton were clearly out of sorts and the crowd were on their back, then the sending off and we just fell apart.

Those saying Sam is not to blame clearly can't see that he didn't have a clue with what to do when went against 10 men. Bring a striker on yes but not at the expense of your best wide player. The whole idea of outplaying 10 men is to pass the ball and switch the play as much as possible. We just didn't seem to know what to do.

Thought we'd got away with it and a lovely finish from Mamme made up for his failure to pick up Muamba.

Crazy to let them straight back in. Not one midfielder or Givet (the free centre back) bothered to pick up Holden. Nelson should have read it better and not bothered with the challenge either but then that was never likely. Top top quality take and finish from the lad Holden though. Reminds me of David Dunn 10 years ago.

Evem then though we had well over 10 mins to take something from the game and we just had no patience. Useless long balls and players getting in each others way. I refuse to believe we don't have good players.

Not worried, just thoroughly p*ssed off again.

[Amo]

Childish? Ok. Someone makes a comment immediately after a game that we should sack Sam, does not say it when we win, that's childish. Can you explain what Sam did today which was so poor that he can be blamed for the defeat? Dunn was poor but the sub was a positive one.

I could say where Sam went wrong on some of his decisions, but what would be the point? It'd only descend into more tit for tat on this 'ere forum.

[Tom]

Nelsen was excellent against elmander but salgado for me is finished,didn't do anything right,in midfield i thought jones was easily our stand out player he has a better range of passing than pedersen and superb composure on the ball,lay off dunn without him last season we probably would of been relegated.we badly need a striker,anyone notice how ###### off kalinic was.mame diouf has to start next week.

But when he's been consistently our worst player this season last season doesn't matter one iota.

[Miker]

The difference today was Kevin Davies.

[G Somerset Rover]

Absolutely gutted. I hate football again.

Couple of gripes, Diouf has gone back to how he was for the first half of last season - basically cr*p. Dunn is finished, I've said this for a while. A creative midfielder and a decent striker is a must.

I want to see more of Hoilett and M Diouf.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

A decent first half with Rovers having most of the possession but then what happened in the second half against 10 men?.....a very poor effort indeed.

We often see sides down to 10 men galvanised and that happened for them to an extent but we should have had the beating of this Bolton side.Roberts was physically dominated by Knight and his only answer to that was to hit the deck at every opportunity and throw his arms in the air...so damn frustrating to watch!

Venky's....spend some coin this January or this side is going nowhere fast.

A begrudging well done to your lot Zulu.

[MarkBRFC71]

The difference today was Kevin Davies.

The difference today was Owen Coyle IMO.

[imy9]

Taking Olsson off was a strange one for me - he looked by far our most threatening player.

If Coyle was our manager I'm pretty sure we'd have won that. He's got a completely different outlook and mindset to BFS and seems to instil more confidence, passion, ambition and positivity into his players. That's something solely down to a manager, and something that Sam fails badly on IMO.

Wow, what's Coyles highest finish in the pl? Sam has been shown to be pound for pound spending one of the best managers in the league, can you explain how you can finish so high up in the pl consistently without the qualities you say Sam does not possess, I am all ears.

[AndyB]

You're right every time a player recieves a yellow he should be immediately brought off, it's not like he was on a last warning he had just been harshly booked.

Where did I say that? I agree it was a harsh booking but the ref had just gone completely card happy.

If Sam he leaves him on and he gets another yellow or picks up an injury - he gets stick.

If he subs him - he gets stick.

[Rovermatt]

I'm absolutely livid. Never has our inability to impose ourselves been more evident than against 10 men. Even with superior numbers we were lumping it long, uninterested in retaining possession and tiring out the opponents. Sure we did well to get back into the game but the nature of Bolton's winner was unacceptable. Frankly they shouldn't have had one goal, let alone two.

Absolutely disgusted.

[steo]

The difference today was Kevin Davies.

that's rubbish bar a couple of knock downs he was kept very quiet by our defence.for me the difference was belief and awful shooting.

[RevidgeBlue]

Thought Olsson was very good today, it's time he was given his chance to cement a spot down the left hand side.

EH Diouf was abysmal and Sam seems determined to fit Givet in on the pitch somewhere even though he is clearly a fish out of water at left back.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

Taking Olsson off was a strange one for me - he looked by far our most threatening player.

If Coyle was our manager I'm pretty sure we'd have won that. He's got a completely different outlook and mindset to BFS and seems to instil more confidence, passion, ambition and positivity into his players. That's something solely down to a manager, and something that Sam fails badly on IMO.

I dont think that was the difference today. If Bolton's defenders had made the same mistakes as ours then we'd have won the match. You can blame the manager for mnay things, but when proven players make stupid mistakes, the manager can only do so much.

I personally think that our team doesnt possess enough natural creativity regardless of Sam's tactics. In open play we had no ideas. We tried to pass but we got nowhere and resorted to the long ball.

We lack pace on the wings, a finisher and a creative spark in midfield. Until those ingredients are added we are going to struggle to beat teams who are set out to defend.

[MarkBRFC71]

Wow, what's Coyles highest finish in the pl? Sam has been shown to be pound for pound one of the best managers in the league, can you explain how you can finish so high up in the pl consistently without the qualities you say Sam dies not possess, I am all ears.

Forget the past - I bet Bolton finish above us this season.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

Forget the past - I bet Bolton finish above us this season.

Bolton have better strikers and better midfielders. They SHOULD finish above us this season.

[PAFELL]

A decent first half with Rovers having most of the possession but then what happened in the second half against 10 men?.....a very poor effort indeed.

We often see sides down to 10 men galvanised and that happened for them to an extent but we should have had the beating of this Bolton side.Roberts was physically dominated by Knight and his only answer to that was to hit the deck at every opportunity and throw his arms in the air...so damn frustrating to watch!

Venky's....spend some coin this January or this side is going nowhere fast.

A begrudging well done to your lot Zulu.

Sometimes you have to give credit when it is due. Rovers defeat was down to themselves being sucker punched. That was the difference in the game today. Even though Rovers had more attempts at goal, more shots on target, more corners, more of the possession. Move on to the next game. Rovers will play worse than that, yet get a win, sometime this season.

[RibbleValleyRover]

First half we probably were the better side, had most of the possession but at the same time didn't really create a lot. Second half Bolton came out fired up but was missing that killer ball in the final third so we withstood the pressure pretty easily. The sending off instead of giving us an advantage fired up Bolton even more.

Not sure if the 4-4-2 change shortly after the sending off killed us off or not, but our defending did seem to fall apart on Muamba's goal and we looked shaky at times for the rest of the game. For all the talk about the chances we created, we only really had two great chances. The Samba header off the line by a superb Davies block and clearance and the Givet rebound chance.

Not really many players you can praise after today's performance. Olsson looked quite decent going forward at times, Jones gives 100% but its blatantly obvious to me he is a centre back not a central midfielder.

Roberts worked hard but continues to show that he is better off as an impact player against tired legs than a starter. I thought Diouf was shocking. Nelsen had a terrible game at the back.

Overall I thought Bolton deserved the win.

[MarkBRFC71]

I dont think that was the difference today. If Bolton's defenders had made the same mistakes as ours then we'd have won the match. You can blame the manager for mnay things, but when proven players make stupid mistakes, the manager can only do so much.

I personally think that our team doesnt possess enough natural creativity regardless of Sam's tactics. In open play we had no ideas. We tried to pass but we got nowhere and resorted to the long ball.

We lack pace on the wings, a finisher and a creative spark in midfield. Until those ingredients are added we are going to struggle to beat teams who are set out to defend.

Mistakes played a part no doubt, but you have to credit Coyle for keeping his team pushing forward with 10 men, and for trying to play football. They could have retreated and settled for a 0-0 (and we know that's exactly what BFS would have done) but they went for it and got their reward.

Olsson and Hoilett have plenty pace for the wings, Niko can finish but I agree that we need a creative midfielder above anything else.

I still maintain that Sam does not get the most from these players however - he's far too concerned about trying to shoehorn players into his system rather than trying to play to the squad's strengths.