Sunday, July 31, 2011

Dark Clouds are gathering...

...two weeks before the new season starts.  The Wanderers are in danger of falling behind the pack very early this year.  First of all, the early schedule is brutal, absolutely brutal.  Our first game is what you never want to open the season, a promoted team away.  Fired-up fans, fired-up players, and usually a nervy draw that looks bad later in the year when others are getting 3 points at will.

After that, we run the northwest gauntlet, City-Liverpool-United.  It's quite possible Bolton could have no points after 4 matches.
Then after a one week respite (Norwich), it's Arsenal and Chelsea back-to-back.  Realistically, we could have only 2 or 3 points after 7 matches and heading into the October international break.

And I haven't even mentioned the worst part; After 7 matches our best two players will not yet have kicked a ball in anger.  Lee Chung Yong will be out for the season with a broken leg, and Stuart Holden is still recovering from a long-term knee injury.  These are both huge losses.  Holden was our player of the season last year, and Lee the same the year before.  They are so important to everything we do.  I am getting depressed just thinking about it.

To sum up, it will not be surprising to find Bolton Wanderers propping up the table as late as November.  I think we will survive, but unfortunately, we do not look to be making any progress.  I hope I am wrong.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Bolton have the injury bug, now Mears is out!