Gary Cahill

Will he play for England this summer? I don't know. A more important question for me is will he play for Bolton in September.

Owen Coyle has come out and stated that he does not need to sell players in order to buy. So Cahill could return next season. But if Arsenal offer £15 million AND another year of Jack Wilshere on loan, I don't see how Bolton can say no. Don't get me wrong, I think Cahill forms a very good partnership with Zat Knight, and they have a chance to be even better next season, but sometimes you have to sell 1 player when it means you can buy 2 or 3.

Here is the caveat; Owen Coyle must have those 2 or 3 players already lined up and confirmed before selling Gary Cahill. When Bolton sold Nicolas Anelka, we were left in a position where we had £15 million to spend and nothing to spend it on. So we ended up overpaying for Johann Elmander.

Now if Coyle has already secured the striker from Portsmouth for £3 million, a good left-back for £5 million, and a very good central defender for £7 million, plus Wilshere on a 12-month loan, then by all means snap Arsene Wenger's hand off.

It should be an interesting summer.

Loan Players

Jack Wilshere and Vladimir Weiss both spent the second half of the season with Bolton Wanderers thanks to loan deals from their parent clubs, Arsenal and Manchester City, respectively. Both are very young, and were not going to feature on clubs challenging for the league title and a Champions League spot. That statement will still be true next season, and that is what makes this interesting.

Owen Coyle has already stated that he would like to keep both players for another year.

Jack Wilshere has said he would be open to returning for another season if he cannot get into Arsenal's first team over the summer. Wilshere is very good, but he is at least a year away from starting for a team of Arsenal's caliber. I think the chances of Wilshere playing for Bolton next season are very good.

The situation is murkier where Vladimir Weiss is concerned. He was in the squad every week, and appeared in most matches, though sometimes not until very late. Two weeks ago he stated that he was very disappointed at his lack of opportunities and was looking forward to returning to Manchester City. Then he played a great second half against Stoke City and started the match against Portsmouth. Maybe he has softened his stance on returning after that.

Weiss and Lee Chung-Yong are very similar players. I am not sure if Lee is better, but he is certainly more experienced. I think his presence will probably be enough to prevent Weiss returning to The Reebok next season.

Stoke City v Bolton Wanderers

This one may not be pretty. Stoke seem to be following the Bolton model from the Sam Allardyce era, and they are trying to secure mid-tabe stability for the second season in a row. The Wanderers under Owen Coyle, on the other hand, are still looking pensively over their shoulders. They are 5 points clear of the relegation zone with 4 matches to play. I think most of those around the club are fairly confident of survival, but a result today would go a long way towards fortifying Bolton's position.

Coyle has named an unchanged squad from Tuesday's match against Chelsea, which means we will see a 5 man midfield, with Jack Wilshere the primary support for Kevin Davies. I am skeptical of this Sam Ricketts as a holding midfielder experiment Owen Coyle seems to be trying, but the performance overall was very good against Chelsea, and their is plenty of attacking potential on the bench in Ivan Klasnic, Johann Elmander, and Vladimir Weiss, so let's hope for the best.

Chelsea v Bolton Wanderers

The Wanderers make the long journey down to London Tuesday, and the chances of them coming back in a good mood seem slim. Chelsea are at the top of the league, 1 point clear of Manchester United and 3 points ahead of Arsenal, and judging by their current form they have no intention of relinquishing that position. Bolton, on the other hand, have lost 3 in a row and only remain 5 points clear of the relegation zone because of other club's terrible form.

If I were Owen Coyle, I would use this match to experiment a bit. Bolton have not scored in (I believe) 8 of their last 11 league matches. It is time to try something new. We are likely to get anything from this match, so why not go for it. Put on a show, attack, attack, attack, and see what happens. To be fair, the problem has not been creating chances really, but putting the chances created on target. Here are some suggestions;

Attack wide with the fullbacks: Chelsea play very narrow through the midfield, and this is an area where they can be exploited, but Paul Robinson cannot be involved. I would play Gretar Steinnson at right-back and Sam Ricketts at left-back. They can both get forward, and there will be space to put balls into the box.

Ivan Klasnic. He is the only forward that we have who makes you feel like he is going to score every time he touches the ball. I think he could play off Elmander quite well, but Coyle, much like his predecessors, would sooner drink hot piss than drop Kevin Davies, so that will not happen, but I can live with Klasnic and Davies up top.

Move Jack Wilshere inside. Everyone keeps saying he will move inside eventually, just do it now. It worked when we did it with Stuart Holden, and I think Wilshere is a similar player. He will see more of the ball, and it will allow us to get some legitimate pace wide in the person of Vladimir Weiss. It is a very young, very attacking midfield, but I like it. Why not give it a try, we have nothing to lose.

West Ham United vs. Bolton Wanderers

This is a big match between two teams trying to pull away from the relegation battle and settle into mid-table mediocrity. West Ham currently sit 13th with 27 points and goal differential of -8. Bolton are 15th with 26 points and a -19 goal differential. Hull City and Burnley play Everton and Arsenal this weekend, so it is a good opportunity for the Wanderers or the Hammers to put some distance between themselves and the bottom 3.

It will be interesting to see what team Owen Coyle picks, especially in the central attacking positions. Of course Kevin Davies will start at forward, and I would expect to see Lee Chung-Yong and Jack Wilshere on the wings. But Stuart Holden and Mark Davies are both unavailable because of injury, and Tamir Cohen seems to have fallen out of favor. That leaves Matt Taylor, who has been in poor form most of the season, or Vladimir Weiss, who really doesn't look to be capable of playing in the center of midfield.

I think most Wanderers supporters would like to see Wilshere moved into the middle with Weiss on the wing. I don't know if Coyle will do that away from home, we might see the return of Ricardo Gardner.

The other questions is who will partner Davies up front. Ivan Klasnic has returned from injury, but Elmander has continued to start, and he scored an outstanding goal for Sweden Wednesday. I am very much looking forward to seeing the team sheet tomorrow morning.

Vladimir Weiss

This young winger was signed on loan from Manchester City in January on a six month loan deal. He made a couple appearances straight away, starting one match, and it looked like he was going to establish himself ahead of the other young midfielders at Bolton. He has plenty of pace, a few tricks, and an obvious desire to score goals.

The Slovakian was not the only winger brought in by Owen Coyle. Both Jack Wilshere from Arsenal and Stuart Holden from Houston are more experienced than Weiss and play on the wing, although Holden played in central midfield this past Saturday. Maybe the manager has decided that Weiss, of the three, is more effective as a change of pace off the bench. This is fine with me, as long as Coyle continues to play two out of the three along with Fabrice Muamba and Lee Chung-Yong, in an all under 25 and very attacking midfield, I believe Bolton Wanderers will end up in a decent position at season's end.

I would also think, given the size of the Manchester City squad and the extensive resources of the club, that if Weiss impresses there is a good chance that the loan will be extended through next season.

Bolton Wanderers 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 0

Bolton were triumphant today in a huge battle at the bottom of the table. The biggest news is probably that Bolton finally had some good luck. After watching balls go off the post, penalties not given, ridiculous own goals and the like always seem to be against Bolton, today we finally had some benefits in this regard. Wolves had three shots hit the post, and two of them could have gone in if they had been an inch or two closer.

Another big piece of news was Owen Coyle's team sheet. It was a very attacking team, with two strikers (Davies and Elmander) as well as 3 attacking midfielders (Wilshere, Lee, and Holden). All 3 of the young midfielders played exceedingly well. Elmander, as usual, played well overall but was let down by his poor finishing. Kevin Davies was poor, as he has been for most of the season. His basic job is to hold the ball up and create opportunities for his quicker, more talented teammates, yet he has not been doing that recently. Every time he gets the ball it just stops, and any attack Bolton had been executing based on quick movement into open space just dies. Then, with all options vanished, Davies plays an ill-conceived ball that gives possession back to the opposition.

Stay bright today though, Wanderers have got 3 points, moved out of the relegation zone, finally scored a goal, and hopefully quelled some of the negativity that has been creeping up in the support.