An Absolute Tonking

And to be honest, we were due.  We have an inconsistent goalkeeper, subpar fullbacks, a swashbuckling style, and a manager who has no qualms throwing on 4 forwards when we are behind in the second half.  It was inevitable that at some point we were going to concede 4 or 5.

I don't think there is a need to panic.  We are in a poor run of form right now, but the Chelsea match Monday was not as bad as the scoreline would indicate.  The loss away to Stoke is the only game this month where you could say Wanderers played terribly.

I think fitness issues and some injuries have contributed as well.  I would not be surprised if we beat Wigan in the FA Cup on Saturday and that starts a good run of form for us.  I still think we will end up mid-table.  And one of the hallmarks of a mid-table team is inconsistency.  So all the supporters who are freaking out just need to relax, drink a beer, and shut their pie-holes.

Transfer Speculation

Bolton have been linked with a few players over the past month or so.  There are really only two types of transfers in January; The Foregone Conclusion and The Complete Shock.

The Complete Shock is what happened to Sunderland last week, when Darren Bent suddenly and unexpectedly announced he was moving to Aston Villa.  Nobody had a clue it was happening until it was done.

I'm Back.

Good day loyal readers and Wanderers supporters.  I have spent the past couple weeks happily wandering the hills of Spain and Morocco, but now I am back, and ready to talk some football.  Bolton play Chelsea in a couple days, and that will no doubt be an interesting match;  However, I would like to spend today's posts addressing transfer speculation.  And believe me, about 95% of it is unfounded, unrealistic, unlikely to ever even be discussed, speculation.

First the confirmed signings;  Andy O'Brien went to Leeds.  I liked him, he was what they call an "honest" player, but he was barely up to premier league quality at his best, and he is well past that now.  I wish him luck.

Tope Obadeyi's loan deal with Shrewsbury Town expired.  He is back with Bolton after making nine starts for town and impressing no one.  He is still only 21, but he won't feature for the first team, and probably will be let go this coming summer.  We have had a few of these over the past few years, winger/forward types with a lot of pace and little else.  None of them have worked out.  It does not appear Tope will be the first.

Chelsea - 1 Bolton - 0

Chelsea had a spell of about five minutes in the second half of this match where they really looked a threat. They scored their goal, had an effort cleared off the line, and forced a good save out of Jussi Jaaskelainen.  Other than that, they looked a lot like Arsenal at their absolute worst.  Loads of possession, but no cutting edge, no chances created, no evidence of even the desire to score a goal.

Bolton on the other hand, looked fairly good, especially during the first half.  One of the TV analysts even argued that Wanderers had created the better chances.  A lot of this was down to Fabrice Muamba and Stuart Holden (Pictured, Below).  Chelsea's three-man midfield of Michael Essien, Ramires, and Frank Lampard is probably worth £60 million, and they were dominated by the two central men in the Bolton midfield.

Muamba and Holden covered more ground than the Chelsea three, snuffed out any threats they made, and created some chances at the other end.  Just an epic, box-to-box performance, from two players under 25 who cost a combined £5 million.  Both have recently signed contract extensions, and neither has shown any desire to leave Bolton.

Bolton Wingers

At the start of the season many analysts thought that the biggest strength of this Wanderers team would be its wingers, Lee Chung-yong and Martin Petrov.  That has not quite come to pass.  But the wing play has been important.  Matt Taylor scored today, and he will be very important over the next several weeks, as Lee will be playing for South Korea in the Asian Confederation's championship.

Petrov has had an up-and-down season, and there is no guarantee that he will start against Chelsea on Wednesday.  It may be time for young Rodrigo Moreno to get his chance.

No matter who comes into the starting XI for Lee, they will have to shoulder a lot of responsibility, as the Korean winger has become an integral part of Bolton's attack.

Owen Coyle has some big decisions to make.

Bolton Wanderers v West Bromwich Albion (or That Damn Peter Odemwingie)

The Nigerian striker will be fit again to play Bolton on Boxing Day.  He is pivotal to what West Brom do, and will make things difficult for the Wanderers.  Not only does he score (6 goals in 11 matches), but his presence and intelligent movement creates space as well as opportunity for the Baggies' midfielders.

If I am honest, Odemwingie (pictured, right) is exactly the type of player Bolton tend to struggle against.  Of course, we have only kept one clean sheet all season, so I think it would be fair to say we struggle against most strikers.

These two clubs played to a draw a couple months ago, in a wide-open attacking match that was one of the finest spectacles of this season.  West Brom will have had two weeks to prepare for this match because of weather-related postponements, while Bolton are coming off an away loss in one of only three matches played last weekend.  Whether this provides an edge to either side on Sunday I am not sure, but going into a run of four matches in eleven days, we may see some squad rotation on both sides.

Sunderland

There is no doubting the talent of this Sunderland squad, and they have shown that talent, especially at home, against several clubs in the top half of the table.  They looked very good while beating Bolton on Saturday, yet it was only 1-0, and the Trotters had several chances late that could have very easily lead to an equalizer.  To make my point, this is what I wrote about Sunderland in my season preview;

This Sunderland squad is actually pretty close to Steve Bruce's Wigan and Birmingham squads. He always puts a talented group of players together, they always finish pretty comfortably mid-table, analysts always expect them to push on into the top half, and they never do. 11th sounds about right for this club.

And I am afraid that about sums it up.  They are flying high now, but Steve Bruce teams are just a tease, not the real deal.

The Bolton Midfield

Fabrice Muamba was dropped to the bench today in favor of Stuart Holden and Mark Davies in Bolton's central midfield.  Mark Davies was sent off for 2 yellow cards.  Muamba and Holden scored Bolton's goals.

Holden just turned 25, Mumba and Davies are both 22, and all three have exhibited substantial improvement as the season has progressed.  Going into the season, it was thought by many (including me) that Bolton's strength would be their wingers.  Yet Lee Chung-yong and Martin Petrov have both displayed uneven form through the first 16 matches in the premier league.  The spine of the team (Strikers Kevin Davies and Johann Elmander, Holden, M. Davies, and Muamba, central defenders Zat Knight and Gary Cahill, keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen) has been Bolton's strength this season.

Today's performance against Blackburn was good overall, not great, but the important thing, three points, was attained, and the Wanderers still find themselves riding high, sixth in the table for another week.

Martin Petrov

It's a big match for the Bulgarian winger against his former club.  He left under a black cloud, and he was not shy about criticizing the weatherman.  Petrov had some problems with injuries while at Eastlands, but he was always impressive when he was able to get on the pitch.  I am sure he is dying to prove a point this Saturday, but it is up to Owen Coyle to decide how Petrov can do so most effectively for the team.

Petrov generally doesn't play 90 minutes.  He has only completed one game in nine starts for Bolton this season.  To be fair he has competed all three that he has started for Bulgaria, so he is certainly fit enough to play the whole match if need be.  Coyle has to make the decision on how to best use Petrov's energy and emotion.  Will he start him, hoping that he can create mayhem straight on from kickoff, or will he save him for the 60th minute, an impact sub in the last half hour of what promises to be a close, hard-fought match.

Manchester City

Bolton will be visiting Eastlands this weekend, and it will be an interesting clash of styles between the Wanderers and the Citizens.  Bolton have shown themselves to be an attacking, free-flowing offensive club this season.  Man City, on the other hand, have been a very defensive-minded group, a tactical philosophy which has generated a lot of criticism for manager Roberto Mancini.

Just park in front of the goal...

City have 26 points from 15 matches, Bolton have 23, but they have gained their points in very different manners.  Bolton have outscored their opponents, a leaky defense allowing 22 goals, yet scoring for themselves 28 times, fourth most in the league, and only one goal behind mighty Chelsea.  Manchester City have only scored 20 goals, middle of the pack, but they have conceded a miserly 12 goals, 2 more than Chelsea, but 4 less than anyone else.

Blackpool

Blackpool currently sit twelfth in the league table, with a relatively impressive 18 points from 14 matches.  They have been a scoring threat, with 21 goals, but they have conceded 27, the most in the league.  It has been a wild ride so far though.  Way back on August 4th, I wrote this about the Seasiders;

There will be a draw against a big team, maybe even a home win against a top 4 side, an inspiring performance away from home in London or Manchester, and a lot of fun afternoons that the supporters should make sure they enjoy, because this is a one season adventure.

Brilliant!

Bolton Wanderers are showing themselves a force to be reckoned with in the Premier League.  The dismantling of Newcastle on Saturday was just phenomenal to watch.  So what has changed in the past month or so to move Owen Coyle's men up the table.

Most notable change, consistency throughout the match.  Early on in the season, Bolton would look good in the first half, but terrible in the second, or vice versa.  Sometimes it was even more severe, a dominating 15 minute spell followed by a mistake-filled 20 minutes.  Things slowly improved, but poor spells were still leading to goals, and often these goals left us with draws instead of wins.

In the case of the Liverpool match, we lost after being the better team for about 85 minutes of the 90.  I think that is when things changed.  We were held without a goal for only the third time this season.  That is when the identity of this team became clear.  We have to be a dynamic, attacking team.  Instead of trying to hold our opponents scoreless, we need to score more than them.  Spurs came to town, we steamrolled them 4-2, and haven't looked back.

But enough analysis, for the next few days, I just want to enjoy it.

Starting XI v Wolves

Johann Elmander and Matt Taylor have both been under the weather this week, yet have made it onto the team sheet.  I am not a big fan of this.

If a player is trying to recover from an ankle sprain or something like that, OK, a trainer can put him through a fitness test and say he is able to play.  But a stomach bug or cold just saps stamina.  Starting two players who will probably have to be subbed, especially as Taylor and Elmander both run miles, really handcuffs Owen Coyle's ability to change things around during the match.

Most important, we have ready-made replacements for both these players.  Martin Petrov is fit again and can easily slot back in on the left side.  Ivan Klasnic has scored a couple goals recently and can certainly come in for Elmander, although to be fair, he will probably have to be taken off as well.  The wild card in all this is Rodrigo Moreno.  I would have loved to have seen the electric young Spaniard playing up top alongside Kevin Davies.  Finally, someone with pace to run onto all the flicks from Davies winning headers.

At the very least, I would like to see Moreno come on at half time, no matter the score.

The League Table

I have a rule about the league table.  I don't look at it until after my birthday (November 9).  Given that, after yesterday's draw between Bolton and Everton at Goodison Park (heartbreaking to give up such a late equalizer, but a draw at either side of Stanley Park is a good result) I went to Sky Sports website and took a look.

I was right about a few things.  I thought Wolves would be relegation fodder and they are.  Some of the clubs I thought would be establishing themselves mid-table are struggling (such as Wigan and West Ham), but I still think they have time to pull out of it.  I appear to have been dead wrong about Newcastle, but let's just wait and see about that.

As for my beloved Bolton Wanderers, they find themselves in a lofty position not seen since the days of Sam Allardyce.  Sixth in the table with 16 points from 12 matches and a positive goal differential.  They are unlikely to remain there, I don't have any delusions of grandeur, and the defense needs to tighten up or a slide down the table could come quickly, but it looks as though a top half finish is not out of the question.  Considering the mess Gary Megson left behind, and recent financial news out of the Reebok, a top half finish would be a stunning achievement for Owen Coyle this season.

Owen Hargreaves

I always liked Owen Hargreaves.  He was a very good, very under-rated player.  He could play several positions, and play them well.  He was good on the ball and could attack, he was also a great tackler and could defend.  He scored goals and created goals for other players.  He played at right back for England in the 2006 World Cup and was probably their best player.

All that aside, Hargreaves has played 8 minutes of top flight football in the past three seasons.  To see him limp off the field after five minutes on Saturday was, more than anything else, sad.  Let's face it, it was a stupid move by Alex Ferguson to start Hargreaves after being out for so long.  No one was surprised at the result.  And you have to think there is a very good chance that this is it for Hargreaves.

If he is done it has been a great career.  He has won just about everything there is to win in club football, and he has always been a selfless player willing to do what is best for the team.