I haven't posted on here (The Bolton forum) for ages because there are no other Bolton fans, but I think I'll make one now. The past 6 months I have watched Bolton can only bring me to one conclusion and nobody else seems to agree with this, which astounds me because we have just lost to Sunderland, and this was a terrible performance considering we didn't play too bad against Wigan the week before. I personally think we should sack Coyle and get a new manager asap. My reasoning behind this is because his general team selection and tactics are complete ****e. Team Selection Let's look at Sunderland. We played Reo-Coker and Pratley in the middle. I can't find a more contrasting partnership. I don't mind Pratley, but some people do as he doesn't really get anywhere with the ball. The thing is, he presses the opposition for 90 minutes every game he plays, which is an important aspect when it comes to closing the ball down (David Luiz, remember them runs) and making counter-attacks. The problem for me is picking Reo-Coker, as I think he is a terrible player and doesn't offer anything to the game. He hasn't had a good game yet and every time Muamba plays (Where the **** is he?), Muamba scores or puts in a solid defensive performance. People say Muamba can't pass, well Reo-Coker only does 5 yard passes to the side, he is just a terrible player. He doesn't tackle, he just runs into players or goes around them whilst attempting to snatch the ball and never, EVER retrieves it. I get annoyed with Coyle for not realizing that he isn't offering ANYTHING there and should drop him for a player that should make more of an impact. As well as this, there is the left side combination of Robinson and Petrov. Now, we all know Robbo is not very good, but I thought the defence as a whole was pretty good against Sunderland, and it was our pathetic tactics that got them the three points. However, IMO, Petrov should be dropped for Katuka until he goes at the beginning of January and hope Petrov can take a break and work on his bad form slowly. He is now misplacing passes, not getting on the end of runs or anything that contributes to the attack, and he isn't exactly the best defensive cover for Robbo is he? Tactics Firstly, the idea that Coyle has seemed to implant into our team, is that we need to get 11 men back for the corner, even when we are losing. Why? All this does is allows them to get as many as 9 men in the box, and as they have a better chance of scoring as they more players running in the box, they score of a corner nearly every game now. Somebody like Petrov/Kakuta could just get on the halfway line and then one or two of their players would have to drop back to cover him. It's such a simple tactic yet it would do wonders to the scoreline. The first goal Sunderland scored was from a corner, and it could of been prevented if we had one or two men up, as the box wouldn't be so crowed and the defensive players of the team would be able to mark Sessengon (sp) and his finish wouldn't of happened. Another point is our build up. It seems people like it when we play good attacking football, but it seems to me that we are doing exactly the opposite. We seem to rely now and pass and run and this won't work very well for us as we don't have the players to give the likes of N'gog and Eagles the through ball it seems. We also seem to be shooting at the first oppotunity, surely we should try and get closer to the goal before trying to score? That would benefit us, as the ball would actually end up in the back of the net occasionally. All the players we have bought under Coyle has lead us to a negative style of play, despite what the pundits say. There are other things, but I think that we have gone backwards under Coyle, as it is clear with the current win/loss ratio in the past few months. Yes, we have played all the big teams, but we have also played Norwich and Sunderland at home, two games we should be winning if we want to progress as a club. My opinion: Coyle Out! Who to replace him? Not my job.
And me - although I disagree There is no one better, that would want to come to us. And even if there was, we can't afford to pay up OC's contract. Things will pick up if and when we get the injured players back - apart from the obvious in Holden and Lee, we lost Mears as soon as we got him, Ricketts is a big miss in defence, and we have had 3 red cards resulting in suspensions. Yes, it is horrible at the moment, but things WILL turn around.
Starting today maybe? Congrats on an excellent result! After you lost 5-0 to Stoke in the F.A cup, you went on a horrible run of form. You've now beaten Stoke 5-0...
It's only because Coyle did the right thing and started Muamba. I'm joking, but I said that, and he dropped Petrov. Though we still put 11 men back for the corner, except we were 2-0 up by the time they got one.
