How will Bolton do in the next few games?

I have read on a few other sites that quite a few fans think that we are doing ok despite our bad run over the last couple of games. They seem to be staking their claim on the next few matches saying we are bound to get plenty of points thus silencing the people who are in doubt about our team. How will they react though if it all goes wrong?

How well will we do?
We have Blackburn and Man City at the Reebok, an Fulham and Wolves away. To me, none of these look that easy. Some of these clubs play very good football and would be tough to beat.

City score lots of goals, Blackburn have won 3 in the last 6 including beating villa who thrashed us, the losses coming against Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd. Wolves have lost 1 in the last 4 games while Bolton have lost 4 out of the last 5 in all competitions. And we have to play Fulham away from home who are behind only Chelsea, Man Utd, Arsenal and Spurs in terms of recent premiership form, also Fulham have only lost at home against Man United and Chelsea so far this season and beat Liverpool in their last home game.

I think its tougher than most people think.

I can see us losing against City, I think we can all imagine that happening. Wolves will probably get a point against us, but spurred on by the home crowd they will see it as a six pointer and could really go for it, I wouldnt be surprised if they got all the points.
Fulham is going to be tough, especially away from home with their current form. I think we need to attack them and be satisfied if we can get a 2-2. As for Blackburn,well, bit of a local derby, never quite sure whats going to happen.

If we get 4 points from the next 4 games I will see it as an achievment.
By which I dont really think it would be a great achievement, i just mean that it would be with the way things are whilst megson steers the ship.


Coming Up!

Bolton v Blackburn,


Fulham v Bolton,


Wolverhampton v Bolton,


Bolton v Man City,

I agree and if one looks at our history against Fulham and Blackburn it is not good, we almost always seem to lose a Craven Cottage and have a much worse recored against Blackburn at home than away. City have a lot of firepower and are doing pretty well. I suspect we will only pick up two or three points, but we could easily get none, either way we will be in a sorry state after the games. Although I would expect things to pick up, if the team has any confidence left in the four games after that.
We are simply making no progress, the Megsonista's said wait until after the summer, Megson will strengthen the squad and we will kick on, I just don't see it. We are slightly better going forward and undoubtedly better to watch but this has been offset by a total collapse in the defense which, bearing in mind we have collected 3 clean sheets in 37 games, was not much good before. We are at best treading water and one bad injury would probably send us down, i.e. if we lost Cahill or KD. It is time to move Megson on. All the Megsonista's, when exactly can we expect your man to come good and give us this promised improvement or will you just keep shifting the time frame?

I would agree with that Jay Jay, what gets me is our fans seem to view things through rose tinted spectacles, I mean on another site it was amazing how many were calling for us to get something at Villa Park. Unless we get 4-5 points from the next 4 games I think we are going to be in big trouble.

If we are to get 4 to 5 points we will have to win at wolves I just can't see any other way.

If we can beat BLACKBURN then the pressure is off.

If we lose then it's bleak .

But we will probably draw and the agony will just go on and on.

We're well capable of beating Blackburn, taking a draw at Fulham and beating Wolves (let's face it, we're long overdue wins/points from Rovers at home and Fulham away!!)
City will be tough, but they're not as good as some people make out... I wouldn't be surprised if we turn them over too.

8 or 10 points from 12 and all of a sudden Tim will go quiet again, like he did before we played United, Chelsea, Spurs and Villa.

I agree with pthorpe on the lack of perspective from fans sometimes... it was so obvious looking at our fixtures that we weren't gonna pick up many points from Utd, Chelsea, Everton, Spurs and Villa, and that we would be nearer the bottom than halfway after that lot. To start moaning and calling for Megson's head after those fixtures is just daft.

I'm particularly interested to see the line-up he puts out for Rovers... I suspect a few changes... it's just whether they're the right changes!!

Blackburn haven't won away this season in the Premiership.

Again, it all depends on how well the team defend. A lot of the bad work unoticed is from midfield, they are putting the defence under pressure and making Jussi look a fool. Unfotunately Megson bought Sean Davis to do the running and biting ankles etc, but he is now long term injured. Muamba tackles, wins the ball then passes it straight to the opposition. Time to bring back tough man Macann.

I read somewhere the other day that IPSWICH are hoping to take him on loan with a view to signing him.

I can't see MEGSON letting him go.

Mangler I did not go away you have just made that up to suit your argument, go through the posts and check, but then empirical evidence would not really be your thing, would it, as you cannot support what you say because it is not true.
We can beat Blackburn and perhaps even Fulham, although history suggest both games will be difficult, but we won't if we defend as we have done in the last few results. The reason I am not happy with Megson is not because of the Utd or Chelsea games, indeed after the second Cheslsea game I said I was not really concerned about those too losses, especially as we were doing ok until we went a man down. But you cannot get away from the fact that we have kept 3 clean sheets in 37 games. Our defense is a joke. My problem is that Megson did not get points from teams we should have beaten before the tough games, i.e. Hull. You cannot say we should discount poor results against big teams and not mention our under performance at dross we needed to beat. We were promised an improvement by the Megsonista's after the summer window were is it? Don't blame the lack of Sean Davis he is a average pro, who when Portsmouth were any good could barely get on the bench.

Tim, you need to not take things so literally. I'm sure what Mangler means by you "going away" is you "shutting up" for a bit.

You've been mentioning the 3 clean sheets in 37 games for what seems like weeks now. Surely you need to update the stats. It should be more like 3 clean sheets in 40 or so games by now...right?

BUNBURY wrote:Blackburn haven't won away this season in the Premiership.

Well then, that's 3 points for Rovers, since we love nothing more than gifting points to those less fortunate than us.

My opinion on how many points we will muster? Pretty much the same as everyone else - 3-4 points.

Another year, another manager, I'd say 6-7 points but I just don't see it happening.

We rarely do well at the cottage but I'm crossing my fingers for getting something from the other 3 clubs...though I don't anticipate much joy from my hopes.

City have had a run of draws, haven't they? That'll be them breaking their duck vs. us and finally getting a win. Sigh!

you never know, things could go our way, we could play more like we did against spurs and everton when we see blackburn and take a 4-3 victory.
that would give us something for the away trip to fulham where frankly anything could happen, we do occasionally grab points away from home when we are all least expecting it.
if that happens we could be on a roll going into the wolves game. again, wolves will be seeing us as a must win game, a 6 pointer, it may leave them slightly open and worked up, we get a penalty, and a taylor free kick ends up in the net, suddenly everything looks good going into the city match.
the fans will be revved up, more optomistic, the crowd will be bigger and louder, it will be a local derby and megson, if coming off the back of some good results, may, MAY feel a little more confident and ambitious. City are good, but, we sometimes give them a tough game and they are not consistent all the time.
If we get 12 points I wont be shocked. ok maybe a litttle. a lot of ifs and buts.

I am looking forward to it, I will be flying over the Reebok on a pig whilst wearing a tuxedo to celebrate.

tim_rigby wrote:Mangler I did not go away you have just made that up to suit your argument, go through the posts and check, but then empirical evidence would not really be your thing, would it, as you cannot support what you say because it is not true..

Are you asking me or telling me?

tim_rigby wrote:My problem is that Megson did not get points from teams we should have beaten before the tough games, i.e. Hull. You cannot say we should discount poor results against big teams and not mention our under performance at dross we needed to beat.

"i.e. Hull". Is that it? I would say that it's fair to add 2 more games to that... Sunderland and Stoke (see below my excuses for these failings).

Ok, teams we should/would like to beat... like, erm, Birmingham. Away. Or how about Portsmouth. Away. Or maybe West Ham at home in the Cup. How about Everton at home? Surely little Bolton can't have aspirations to beat a team of that magnitude??

We had a slow start to the season... Sunderland (with Cattermole in the middle) are bettered by only a very small number of teams in this league; yes we played badly, but it was first game up and we had 3 new defenders and the team has needed time to settle. Stoke was a stinker!! No defence for that, although we nicked a point and I would say in Megson's favour that afterwards he quickly made good changes to the team which resulted in a marked improvement in our performances & results - how many times have we all moaned about certain players not getting chances to show what they can do... and Meggo soon got Lee, Samuel & Gardner back in the side.

I reckon our season so far is thus...

Sunderland - bad performance, bad result.
Hull - improved performance, bad result.
**see below
Liverpool - good performance, unfortunate but expected result.
Portsmouth - good performance, good result.
Stoke - awful performance, ok result.
West Ham - good performance, good result.
Brum - decent performance, good result.
Spurs - exciting performance, ok result.
Man U - good performance, expected result.
Everton - exciting performance, good result.
Chelsea (a) - awful all round - no surprises!
Chelsea (h) - great 1st half, unfortunate result.
Villa - Stinker
Rovers - ?? this is an important one we need to win. I fully expected team changes just like after the Stoke game...

Your repeated stat about the clean sheets is (whilst now boring!) fair comment - our obvious flaw this season has been defending, and so far Megson hasn't managed to find the right balance. I disagree on Sean Davis, I do think he would improve our defensive abilities; however it's by-the-by as he's out for the year. The challenge now is for Megson to make changes for the Rovers game that will tighten us up without sapping our attack... certainly not an easy task, and definitely one which requires time and patience to allow players to settle into the team (this is why I feel he has persevered with Knight & possibly Ricketts).

Lastly, you asked "Megsonistas" for evidence of our improvement after the summer... well, I really think that if you haven't noticed our improved performances in several of the games prior to Villa then you must sit with your back to the pitch. Some of our better ones haven't yielded the results we might have craved (Spurs, Liverpool and United spring to mind) but the performances are definitely there to see, and if Megson can just get the defensive tightness in there then I feel we could form a pretty decent outfit... nothing spectacular, but a team that can compete with any and could achieve a respectable midtable-region finish.

**Those dirty thieves from Prenton Park don't warrant a mention. Although, it was another win...

I have said on other posts that the football has improved latterly, but that has come at the expense of even worse defending and we were nothing to write home about before. We really do not look like we will do any better than last season, so where is the improvement? Attack better, defense worse, I should say even worse.

I expect that we'll have a reasonably tight game against Blackburn and probably come away with a point.
We're due a result at Fulham, so a possible 3 points for me.
We'll drop our standard to play a poor Wolves and either hang on to a win, and a clean sheet, or roll over and throw it away in the last 10 minutes. A possible 3, but more likely a single point.
City is obviously goping to be a draw. I know they have some great players, but surely there are too many eogos in th eteam to be fully effective? Single point there.
Anywhere between 6 and 8 points from the next four, and I'll be reasonably happy. If we come away with the full 12 points, I'd be elated beyond belief.

It was mentioned earlier about our ineffective tackling midfield puitting the back four and Jussi under constant pressure. We do seem happier and much improved when attacking, however, we struggle when we lose possession and can't quickly change to defend mode. This puts the defence on the back foot, and has resulted in the aforementioned run without a clean sheet.

It's not just changing to defence that causes us issues, it's the change to attack. Look at the speed that the 'top 4' break compared to us, it's almost embarrassing. When Jussi has the ball, there's very little option for him to play a quick ball out, or even throw it, to create a break. This normally results in him having to hoof the ball towards Kevin Davies.

What do people think would be so unacceptable as to merit Megson's sacking, particularly those who support him. It is surely time we got to see some progress, so what does he need to do to keep your faith over the next say ten games?

Sadly, like Breeze said in another thread, while Megson is always three games defeats away from bottom, he is always three wins from midtable. While this remains, it is unlikely Gartside / Davies will get rid and I'm sure whether, in this position, getting rid would be the best option. Again, we have to look at the alternatives and there aren't that many!

I think the season has bee a marked improvement. I think Mangler has summed it up very well. The first two games were disapointing,. particularly in the manner of the Sunderland defeat and the fact that we didn;t pick up anything at one of, if not the, worst teams in the league. That said, most pundits said that how we didn;t get one point, if not all three was beyond them as we were, by far, the better team. I think that, had Megson had his best team from the off, and the one which he has now, i.e. Gardner and Lee available etc, we would have picked up a win at Hull as now we seem to be much more of a force going forward than we did last season. Unfortunately, that has impacted on our ability to keep clean sheets which is obviously a concern. That said, I much prefer this season to last as we're scoring goals and playing in games which are much more entertaining.

We are going to have bad results along the way, e.g Stoke at home, but I do think we have improved this season. We need to get the points to match the improvement in entertainment, starting on Sunday!

It has not impacted on our ability to keep clean sheets, we did not keep them last season, 3 clean sheets in 37 games, it has impacted on our ability to only concede one or two now we concede 3/4/5. Our defense is pathetic. I agree that the standard of football has improved, but our ability to accumulate points has not and we were not getting enough last season.

Jesus Chirst Tim, change the record. I think everyone knows it's 'three clean sheets in 37 games' or surely that should be three in 40 now?

We get it. That said, prior to the pastings by Chelsea and Villa, each game we had played in had been won or lost by a single goal which demonstrates, to me at least, that we weren't that far away from getting it right. If we regain that form, one defeat in seven, then the lack of clean sheets doesn't concern me as much. It has been years since I can remember watching Bolton and thinking, even when we were losing, we would score! Hell, under Allardyce, we often lost games when we fell behind. We were set up far better to defend a lead. Now, while our defence is a concern, we have got points in games against Pompey, after being pegged back twice, Birmingham after conceeding late on, West Ham we went through despite going behind, Everton behind etc etc. We look like a team who can score which is a plus, unlike last season. I agree on your points issue and it is frustrating but I believe that to be in the most part to be due to our slow start. 3 points instead of 0, which our performances probably warranted, and our league position would be lookign far better. We have been picking up points of late in, by your own admission on BA, tough games. If we can draw with Spurs at home, in the form they were in at the time, we can do similar against City. If we can beat Everton at home, we can beat Blackburn. If we can beat Portsmouth and Birmingham away, WE CAN BEAT WOLVES!*

The manner of the defeats are annoying and unacceptable, but the defeats themselves are not. If we persist with the team that got us points in that run, and pushed United close, we can regain that form. Then maybe, just maybe, the clean sheets may follow.

* We could beat United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal home and away for ten seasons and we would still never get anything from Fulham.

tim_rigby wrote:I agree that the standard of football has improved, but our ability to accumulate points has not and we were not getting enough last season.

I don't want to sound like a smartarse here, but... we got enough points last season - we stayed up!
You want to see improvement, fair enough. If we finish this season with more points then we've improved. You always ask how long Megson gets before he can be judged, well then I'll ask you... if he achieves more points again at the end of this season - thus proving an improvement - will you stop demanding his immediate sacking??

from above...

When Jussi has the ball, there's very little option for him to play a quick ball out, or even throw it, to create a break. This normally results in him having to hoof the ball towards Kevin Davies.

I respectfully disagree! There ae loads of times that there is a quick release on, he just doesnt release it. The one game where habsi came in this year showed that. He chucked it out fast a million times and it was refreshing to see. There are loads of times jussi could let it go and he just blatently ignores the pass, granted, not always but most of the time.

************

Oh and yes, whilst the games are more entertaining, i think we are deluding ourselves. The games are more entertaining when compared to the absolute rubbish served up last season, but frankly it could not have got any worse and would have been difficult even to emulate the same level of boring we all endured for so long.

It simply had to get better.

Having said that, it doesnt really mean we are now doing ok entertainment wise, its just because our standards have slipped so low that we will now accept almost anything else as being decent/attacking football.

It really is not the case.

I rewatched motd from the weekend, and since there were about 5 games on sat and 5 on sun it showed a decent few mins of each team, and i know its only highlights but...
...every other team in every single game showed more composure on the ball, better passing, more positivity and demonstrated better attacking moves and more eyecatching football than I have seen Bolton do in any game for a long long while.

(and i know it doesnt show many minutes of each game but at least each and every team showed something during their games that you wouldnt find if you trawled back through the last 2 seasons of Bolton matches)

- i really do think there are massive massive improvements to be made-

MANGLER - its your fault we lost! its cos you were so optomistic!

"We're well capable of beating Blackburn, taking a draw at Fulham and beating Wolves (let's face it, we're long overdue wins/points from Rovers at home and Fulham away!!)
City will be tough, but they're not as good as some people make out... I wouldn't be surprised if we turn them over too.

8 or 10 points from 12 and all of a sudden Tim will go quiet again, like he did before we played United, Chelsea, Spurs and Villa."

10 points from 12 is already out of the window, and do you still think we will get point at fulham, wolves and city?

Don't worry, Jayjay... we'll go to Craven Cottage, beat them 1-0; then on to Wolves (who can't buy a win at the moment, so it should be an easy one for us there) before slaying Citeh at home.

It'll actually be 9 points from 12, with us having been unfortunate to lose today against Rovers.

There, things are looking up.

How do you see it as "unfortunate to lose today"?

We never really looked like scoring. We can't create and we can't defend.

One thing I admire about The Mangler is his enthusiasm, if the team played with just a pinch of it we'd all be singing a different tune I'm sure.

Looks like the next 2 games are 'must wins'.

Don't worry, Hampo... they're in the bag; nailed on victories.*






*note for Wendy... I was being tongue-in-cheek

all bolton need is 2 draws from the next 4 games. 1 against wolves and 1 against west ham. that should be do able. maybe we will get more. if we get a point at city or fulham it will be impressive at this stage, and in reality we could turn over wolves or hammers, so yes we could get points to see us clear of relegation.

if we get a point each tho off west ham and wolves i think we will be clear of relegation because the teams around us are likely not to pick too much up.

however this could all be so different if wolves beat us and any of pompy hull or west ham get any results we will be looking at the end of megson!

is it wrong to cross my fingers for that?

The major concern I have is the gap that is beginning to appear between the bottom 4-5 teams. After the next 2-3 games it could start to look ominous that any 3 from that list are going to be caught in a dogfight for the balance of the season. Can anyone on here honestly say we are going to survive this campaign under the current management?

no

No from me, too, Pete.

It doesn't have to be this way but the club seem to be digging in their heels, not wanting to look like they are admitting making a mistake in hiring Megson in the first place.

I hope they are men enough to do the right thing. I would like to think the fans wouldn't point "I told you so" fingers at them if/when they finally pull the plug on him.