Bolton 3-2 Everton
By: Matilda |
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So far I haven’t been able to find full highlights unfortunately, though I have found a video of all the goals (you’ll have to watch an advert about toothbrushes, but it’s worth it). I will admit, I did not see the match, nor have I been able to watch full highlights (I was playing rugby), so this report will be a bit of an amalgamation of tidbits I stole form other reports.
First things first though, it was (as I’m sure you’ve heard) Megson’s 2nd anniversary at our fine football club. And I think he proved his point. A month ago most Bolton fans (including myself at one point) were calling for Megson’s head. We couldn’t take the depressing, negative football anymore. It was becoming a truly sad thing to watch a game. Football is, despite its grandeur, merely a game played for entertainment, and Bolton weren’t entertaining. However, the Wanderers hit a turning point (I pinpoint it at the Tottenham game, though obviously it’s not a definite point). They started playing well and I was as surprised as anyone. So just after his second anniversary, I will once again endorse Megson. He’s made some terrific signings (see Matt Taylor, Gary Cahill, Tamir Cohen, Lee Chung-Yong) While, for a very long time, Bolton didn’t look good under him, things are definitely looking up. I’m not sure whether this is just a momentary rise in form in response to the major criticism of fans (expressed by their boos and absence at games), but hopefully this is here to stay. And if it is, so is Megson. I will try and write a longer post about why exactly I think we should keep Megson, but don’t expect it too soon.
Onto the actual game. From what I’ve seen and heard it was a pretty good and pretty even game. Everton did not look very good in the first half at all, however I’m sure David Moyes (who I have a great deal of respect for) gave the players a stern talking to at the half. It seems that Everton are unlucky to come away with nothing and deserved at least a point. If this is the case, then I do feel bad for them. I want every Lancs team (Liverpool is in the old Lancashire lines) to do well. Everton were at a disadvantage not only because they were coming off a comprehensive beating by Benefica, but also because they have an incredibly long injury list (I believe its up to 11 now). Today they have to play Tottenham in the Carling Cup which makes 3 games in 5 days. As a fellow blogger Adam pointed out (his blog is highly recommended by the way) a Big Four team would not have such a congestion of fixtures, as surely (insert name of Big Four manager here, especially Sir Alex) would pitch a fit and the FA would come groveling, begging his forgiveness.
All five of the goals looked. Louis Saha’s run before his goal was a bit Ronaldo-esque, and his strike was pure skill. Gary Cahill once again proved his usefulness in the air, getting high to nod in a Matty Taylor freekick. However my dear Gary was also the one who failed to mark Saha, leading to the goal. This is the one large mistake I’ve seen him commit this season, but, as Rio Ferdinand is so nicely proving to us, even the best make mistakes (in Rio’s case many, many mistakes).
Overall it was another encouraging performance, despite the fact that we remain the only team in the Premiership who haven’t maintained a clean sheet this season (I believe we’ve had 3 clean sheets in the past 20 games, a pathetic statistic). Once again (I think I say this every post) our back four needs to get their shit together and start functioning as a unit. This should be Megson’s first priority, we’ve worked out our attacking issues but defense is just as important and ours’ has some large issues to work out.
That’s all for now, but I will be back in the near future with many Chelsea related posts. Also I’ll be writing for the England World Cup Blog (which is affiliated with The Offside) in the very near future so be sure to drop by and check it out!
Category: Team News
Carling Cup: Trip to Stamford Bridge
By: Matilda | Add Comments
A mere three days after our match against the Toffees, our lovely Wanderers will be wandering their way down to Stamford Bridge. I;m not particularly relishing the prospect as the Carling Cup is the only silverware we even have a slight chance of winning, since most clubs treat it like a joke. I really don’t want to go out to Chelsea. However it should prove good practice for our next match against them which is only three days after our first match with them. I’ll, time permitting, do a preview for both, however the second one will probably be a lot shorter.
So, of course, here’s the link to the lengthy, semi-meaningless statistics provided by the lovely BBC. They did, however, fail to include a very encouraging statistic. 11 out of Bolton’s 14 league goals have been off set pieces, and 9 out of Chelsea’s 11 conceded goals this season have been off set pieces. Chelsea’s defense has been pretty poor this season, a great quote from The Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast says it all:
“They’ve changed to a rubbish defense system, where Carvalho doesn’t mark anyone, Cech runs out and flaps and John Terry kicks things.”
Bolton have also seen a rise from their intolerable form at the beginning of the season, to attacking, flowing football which everyone lauds so highly (of course they don’t laud Bolton. No one lauds Bolton.) Matty Taylor’s free kicks have been spot on with a variety of Trotters kindly directing them into the net. Sam Ricketts who I so recently criticized rather harshly performed wonderfully in the Everton game, wreaking havoc along the right flank (he probably read it and felt the need to prove me wrong, you know how spiteful the Welsh are.*)
While Chelsea will have been bolstered by their 5-0 demolition of Blackburn, it shouldn’t be forgotten that they recently lost to Aston Villa and Wigan. We should also keep in mind that Chelsea are in 4 competitions, of which the Carling Cup is the least important. I would be rather surprised if they fielded a full strength side, after all they need their top players to store up energy for the big clash against… well us again this weekend.
Overall I definitely think Bolton have a shot of at least taking it into extra time. If we’re going to beat them at all it will probably be on Wednesday and not Saturday. I just really hope we make Chelsea look a little foolish, as my English teacher is a Chelsea fan and it would be amazing to make fun of him a bit. Keep an eye out for the multitude of posts I’ll be doing soon (Everton report, 1st Chelsea game report, 2nd Chelsea game preview, it never ends does it?) Til then my dears!
*DISCLAIMER: The Welsh are a lovely people and in no way spiteful. It was a joke.
Category: Team NewsVerdict on Meriem
By: Matilda | 1 Comment
Megson should be making a decision on the wonderfully named Camel Meriem soon. Meriem (or should I call him Camel?) arrived earlier this week (apparently in a “neat and tidy” condition) and the Ginger One said that he would decide near the end of the week what to do. Although I haven’t been able to do much research on Meriem I do know he’s 29, a Frenchman, and his first name’s is Camel. I will look around more later. He’s an attacking midfielder, and Megson is after him to replace Sean Davis, who unfortunately just underwent knee surgery. Quite honestly I hope we take him on, if only because I’m sure he will spark a bounty of amazing songs. I will write a little update post when Megson announces his decision, and I’ll try and find a few highlights videos if possible.
Bolton v. Everton
By: Matilda | 2 Comments
So yes I realise I’ve been a horrible horrible blogger recently. And I apologise profusely for letting you down. I play for a rugby club in my spare time, which does not leave much time for the lengthy research and writing that this blog requires, but don’t dismay! My rugby season will probably be over after this weekend (I can almost hear your sighs of relief, it’s touching), so I’ll be posting much more regularly. I’m not sure when/if I’ll get the chance to do a report (I’m going to the women’s national tournament in Boston, wish us luck!), so let’s hope this is a brilliant preview to make up for it! Now on to football.
This weekend provides us with 3 more northwest derbies (there are 7 northwest teams in the Prem). Everton are making the daunting (and I say that with my tongue firmly implanted in my cheek) 40 mile trip to the Reebok. This is a bit of a clash of the has-beens (and I hope Everton fans will forgive me for saying that). Both Bolton and Everton used to be amongst the most respected teams in the league, granted Everton much more recently than Bolton, and both had a horrifying start to the season. However both have also picked up their broken form and mended it a bit, though Everton more so than Bolton. Everton’s last six league result have been DDWWWL, while Bolton have LDWDWL.
Bolton have a nightmare run of fixtures this October (Tottenham, Manchest United, Everton, Chelsea twice, Aston Villa), and Everton at home just may be a golden chance to pick up points. Everton’s last game against newly promoted Wolves was not an overly inspiring performance, although it picked up quite a bit in the second half. Despite the Toffees lack of convincing attacks, if you’ve watched Bolton at all this season (and yes I am among the unfortunate few who have), you know Bolton have one of the least convincing back four in the league. Though it looks fairly good on paper (Jlloyd Samuel, Gary Cahill, Zat Knight, and Sam Ricketts) it is absolutely horrorshow on the pitch. They don’t mark the man, and if they are there’s three of them on one player leaving the goal completely open. Granted half of them (Knight and Ricketts) have only been with Bolton for 10 games, but still you would think that they could learn to play together in that time period. You’d be wrong.
On a similar note, can anyone see any reason at all to start Ricketts ahead of Gretar Steinsson? Steinsson was one of the most reliable players last season, had a great work rate, and made a lot of chances with his lovely long balls. Ricketts has been wholly unconvincing to me, making at least 2 or 3 mistakes that even I couldn’t make every game (and trust me when I say I am complete rubbish at football. Probably worse than ‘Arry’s missus).
This is definitely one of those games that could go either way. And by either way I mean Bolton will either lose or draw. I very much doubt that Bolton will come away with the three points we very much need, however it’s pretty possible we could sneak a draw out.
UPDATE: Here the link to the BBC I promised. Be sure to pop on over for a collection of semi-pertinent statistics.
Category: PreviewsNaughty Naughty Chris!
By: Matilda | Add Comments
Chris Evans, Megson’s assistant manager, has been accused of tapping up Mark Connolly. The 17-year-old Irishman (or Irishboy) was in the Wolves academy (which Evans ran for 17 years before joining Megson in 2007) and signed for the Trotters on deadline day for £1m. Wolves have now issued a statement claiming that “unapproved communication” happened. Bolton acknowledged the claims made by Wolves, but had no comment. The FA has not taken any action yet on the matter. Personally I haven’t been able to find an article on the matter other than the bare bones BBC article, so I don’t really have an informed opinion, but the silence on Bolton’s part does seem rather condemning doesn’t it?
UPDATE: OK with a minimal amount of looking I have found other articles on the event (I was just being lazy before) but they didn’t really provide me with any new information. I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see
Category: Team NewsWhy the Media is Turning Me into a Bitter Old Woman at Age 17
By: Matilda | 6 Comments
Sorry about the long title, I know it’s a bit obnoxious, but I like it so it’s staying. Also it’s a bit cryptic, so without further ado let me explain. I have dual citizenship and make frequent trips back to the motherland (i.e. England), but I live in America and interact predominantly with Americans. Most people I know personally think football is a girls’ sport, and the few that I know that actually like football are, to be frank, mostly d-bags who support a Big Four team and know absolutely nothing about any other team. So being basically the only person I know (other than my father) who actually knows something about football and its history means I have to revert to other sources to engage in a good footy conversation. These sources are blogs mostly, I get my news from the BBC website, but one of my favorite things in the world is the BBC radio service.
To me listening to the radio is something sacrosanct, it reminds me of my grandparents, of one of my favorite places in the world, and it is mostly a lost art over here in the States. So of course I download several BBC podcasts, including the 5Live Football Daily. Here’s where the bitterness comes in. The podcasts are on average about 20 minutes long, a little longer on Sundays when they do a wrap up of the weekend. Obviously 20 minutes isn’t really enough time to discuss what is happening with every club in the league, but really they could talk about more than just four (and I think we all know the specific four I’m referring to).
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Category: OpinionGlobetrotting Wanderers (Part 1)
By: Matilda | Add Comments
Ahh international breaks, when our boys in white don a variety of other colors depending on their nationality. I always love international breaks, while some people might find them boring, I think the interplay of country vs. club loyalties is fascinating and besides it allows me to calm my Bolton worries, if just for a little bit. Also with 45 matches taking place over 4 days there has to be excitement somewhere, right?
Will former super-power France be forced into play-offs? Can Turkey (who had a brilliant Euro Cup) edge out Bosnia-Herzegovina for a play-off spot? The Russia v. Germany game promises drama as they battle for automatic qualification. Can Northern Island get a play-off spot to become only the second home nation going to South Africa? Group Two promises the most excitement, with any one of four teams able to win the group (those four being Switzerland, Greece, Latvia, and Israel). While over in Group One there is the amazing possibility that Portugal (and their darling Cristiano Ronaldo) may not be traveling to South Africa at all. (To view the European qualifying tables pay a visit to the very informative BBC ). See what I mean? There’s excitement galore this coming weekend! And I didn’t even get into the other continents or our very own Gary Cahill…
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Category: Team NewsVideo: Dave Spikey on Kevin Davies
By: Matilda | Add Comments
Dave Spikey, star of the fantastic show Phoenix Nights (which is just about impossible to get in the States, I’ve only seen it in Britain, but if you American readers get the chance be sure to watch it!), has decided to give Fabio a little squad selection advice.
Thanks to Lee from Channelbee for the tip!
Category: Team NewsBolton 2-2 Tottenham
By: Matilda | 4 Comments
So Saturday was a bit of a surprise wasn’t it? Bolton played the best they have in a long while, and arguably outplayed Spurs, who have been a quality side so far this season. If you read my match preview, I wasn’t very optimistic for this match, I said we might sneak away with a draw. However it was Tottenham who were lucky to get a point. If you missed the match, I pity you and provide you with these highlights (note their length!). Now let’s talk about the match.
Bolton showed their dominance early with a goal in the 3rd minute. Off a throw in from Jlloyd Samuel (by the way 9 of our 10 goals this season have been off set pieces), Gardener hit it with a powerful header to Chung-Yong Lee. Chung-Yong shot, but it was deflected by Cudicini right to the boots of Ricardo Gardner, who couldn’t miss.
After a long period of pressure by Bolton, which included a lovely run by Gardener, Tottenham got one back from their first shot on goal. Peter Crouch beat Sam Ricketts in the air (which you can’t really fault Ricketts for, Crouch is 6 foot 7) and Crouch directs it to a sprinting Kranjcar. Here’s where the criticism comes in. I’ve said it about a million times on this blog, but we aren’t marking the man. In this case the culprit was Zat Knight, who was running the absolute wrong way when he cut to try and stop Krancjar. However he was far too late and this cut meant that Jaaskelainen couldn’t see what was going on, hence his late reaction and inability to save the shot. The defense is having some seriously communication and marking problems which they need to work out very soon.
From there Tottenham picked up the pace a little, but they weren’t really in full swing until Defoe came on in the 67th minute. This game was very indicative of how important he is to Tottenham right now. While Bolton controlled most of the first half, the second half was roughly even, with Spurs granted the edge after Defoe graced the pitch. He definitely added a whole new element of danger to their attack.
The second Bolton goal was a work of beauty. A real team effort, Gardener passed to Tamir Cohen, who offloaded to Lee. chung-yong coolly back-heeled it back to Cohen, who sent a beautifully precise cross to the far post where Kevin Davies nodded it into the goal. It was a wonderful flowing move, which demonstrated what a genuinely good team we can be when we are performing to our potential.
The Spurs equaliser was yet another example of our incompetent defending. The offender this time was Matt Taylor, who left Corluka completely unmarked on the edge of the box, and didn’t even give him any competition in the air. That being said both the corner and the the header were executed very well, but I still think Taylor could have at least made it harder for the Croatian.
Over all the game was very encouraging. Our midfield looked fantastic with Cohen and Gardener especially shining (also Cohen cost less than a million, what a steal!). Our defense is very questionable, but what I really can’t understand is why Megson started Knight ahead of Steinsson. I think Steinsson is a very reliable player, and Knight is looking dangerously unreliable. The defense aside we were very promising, challenging a quality team and launching good attacks. I’m very pleased. I wish you all a happy international break! I might do a little update on our boys in the international action later in the week, so keep a look out.
Category: Team NewsBolton v. Tottenham
By: Matilda | Add Comments
Ah it’s that time of the week again, and once again I’m rather late with my match report. Is anyone surprised? I thought not. As always here’s the BBC’s statistical preview, complete with a rather corny sword/pirate(?) analogy. For some reason this week they actually wrote quite a bit about the game (probably because people in the media actually care about Tottenham), they mention the “iron fist inside Tottenham’s velvet glove”. I’m not kidding.
On to the hopeful news first. Some of the really key Spurs players are injured, most prominently Luka Modric. Modric orchestrates the Tottenham midfield and launches many of the key attacks. They’re also missing Woodgate who is an important central defender. Bolton have been deadly on set pieces this season, so Tottenham’s weakened back four is definitely good for us.
Now for the not so great news. Tottenham have had their best start to the season since the early 60’s. They’ve won all of they’re games against non-Big-Four sides. Harry Redknapp is one of those managers who instills magic into whatever teamhttp://bolton.theoffside.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=94&message=1 he’s with, I think he’s definitely one of the best managers in England, and he’s my dream manager for Bolton. I don’t think I’d really fancy playing a game against any team he managed, even if it was Daggenham and Redbridge or the like.
One reason to find solace is that Tottenham has historically been very susceptible to the physical classic English style of play that Bolton employs. I reckon if the crowd really gets behind the team we could probably weasel away with a draw (probably with a late goal), but our chances for a win are extremely slim, and a loss wouldn’t be out of the question. For all you Trotters fans in the States (although I may be the only one) the game will be aired on ESPN2 at 9:00 AM central time tomorrow morning. Come on you whites!
Category: Team News
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