It's truly gratifying to see another American field player make the grade in the EPL. Holden clearly belongs at that level.
hes the best player on Bolton i think we can make that assumption, even better than Jusi and Cahill. national team aside, he is absolutely critical to Bolton's survival chances. West Brom just showed today that they havent heard the bell yet. Itll be between them, West Ham, and Bolton on current form for that final spot.
From sky: "Dyer pulled the ball back for Noble - but Stuart Holden had retreated expertly and he intercepted the pass just two yards out from the Bolton goal." Sounds like he pretty much saved a goal.
I seriously LOL'ed at both of your paragraphs. Best player on the team? After a handful of games? And you're confident of the relegation battle after the second weekend? Wow.
No love for Lee here. He could end up at a bigger club than anybody on this team. His first season, last year: "Bolton's Chung-yong Lee has won a hat-trick of top club awards in his first season at the Reebok Stadium. Lee, 21, was named Player of the Year, Players' Player of the Year and best newcomer."
whos better, enlighten me. I will likely "lol" in kind, as will others Some things you can just tell early on in the year. If you dont think West Ham or Bolton wont struggle this year, you really are oblivious. Care to rattle off some other names you see in more imminent danger than West Brom, West Ham, or Bolton? Quite possibly Blackburn, theres always one surprise struggler. But you clearly dont know what your talking about stud hes had some good games for Bolton im surprised at the stick he gets from Bolton fans, i think hes quite good. He was part of that surprisingly good line of Wilshere-Holden-Muamba-Lee last year. Today wasnt one of his better games though. Holden for me was more influential than Lee the past two games of this opening season, just my own opinion. The central midfield battle is lost if you lose Holden, as Muamba is doing damage control without him.
the first interesting test will be in a few weeks when Bolton goes to Arsenal. Can Bolton and Stu hold possession and create vs. Arsenal? that will be a truly good test for Stu.
they will probably not even aim for a lot of possession. I am pretty sure they will play for a counter ala USA vs Mexico.
Maybe from some fans, but check this out for last season. If he wants to be the best player on the team, Holden has Lee to beat. Fans' Player of the Year: CHUNG-YONG LEE Players' Player of the Year: CHUNG-YONG LEE http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-SEASON--Club-club-guide-stars-2009-2010.html
He did. He cut in front of Cole who was basically wide open and intercepted the pass. If he doesn't do that it would have been a truly epic miss if Cole doesn't score.
I am binning a butt load of posts that had to do with US MNT selections in the '10 WC and related issues. Please remember that game day threads are, by the request of the forum users, devoted to discussion related to the game. Double digit numbers of posts about Bradley's choices, American fans' putative ignorance of the game, and other flights of fancy are a problem.
I'll just 2nd and 3rd the notion that it's amazing (and exciting) how Holden has stepped into Bolton's first team and into the EPL in such a seamless way with such a minor transition (didn't Clint even have more trouble breaking into the first 11 in his transition?) and looks the part of a fine EPL player. Well done to Stu and hopefully it keeps up and just keeps on getting better from here.
He has benefitted from being one of the first signings of a new manager who wanted to change the team's style of play. Stu has been a big part of that change. I'd say their key players are Lee, Cahill and Muamba. If Stu keeps playing like this he'll be right there with them. I forgot about Petrov, he has been a key signing too.
I posted in response to a claim that Holden was "not especially skillful" which isn't justified by Holden's record of play. I'm not trying to knock Clint down a peg, but I don't think it's clear that Demps is better in all of those areas. I also think Holden's been more impressive in the way that he's grabbed hold of a starting position in the center of midfield. I suppose we won't have a better idea until many more games, but the purpose of my post was to point out that if we're knocking Stu's skills, then probably no American players have skills.
Holden was very, very good in this game. He was composed, showed for the ball, passed well, had an excellent shot on target, defended vigorously and crucially for Bolton. I'd be keen to see Stu's distance stats for the game. He was everywhere. HE was best player on the field in the first half. He was also involved in most of Bolton's best football. Hopefully he's able to keep it going against the superior opponents. Holden did have one horrible giveway, that fortunately did not result in a goal. Bolton does seem to have tendency to get overrun in midfield at several points in each match, and there's only so much one player can do during those time periods. Manager trusts him though, back to back full 90s. CY Lee is an absolute beast. If Holden were to have a similar season to what Lee did last year, I would be extremely happy. Let's not raise expectations too high for Stu just yet. The season is young.
I'd throw Rolfie in there. Kid Bradley was much improved on the ball in the Cup. Then there's this Adu mirage ...
I was really impressed by Holden's play today. He was quick and positive throughout. I was just playing around with the chalkboard function on the Guardian's site and found it interesting that he only missed 6 passes throughout the match, but 5 of them came in a 20 minute span of the 2nd half. Aside from that 20 minutes, he completed 23/24 passes... pretty sick, especially considering that very few were square or back passes. Check out the chalkboard: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/763uO8J273usEOhH92QD Also of note, he had a similar stretch in the first match vs. Fulham, albeit a bit less pronounced. Is it a fitness issue? Focus? If he can clean things up a bit and keep himself on the level he showed throughout the rest of the match, he'll be in great shape.
That's about the size of it. Stu-ball kept tracking back, as WH attacked. As WH got the ball down to w/in 6 yards of the endline, Stu was kinda lurking @ the 6. When the ball came in for Cole at about 3 yards out, Stu stepped in to clear. Tap in if he hadn't popped in there.
Stu ran his azz off in the 1st half. At one point I was "telling him" "Stue, settle down!" But, the flipside is that it was this workrate that put him in position to deny Cole's tap in.
Holden does a lot for Bolton. IMHO, Bolton looked sharp whenever the ball went through Holden and played their worst when going around or over him.
Bolton definitely looks better when they play along the ground. Traditionally, they hoofed it up to Davies, and he does his 'position out the defender + draw the foul or win the header' thing. The problem in the past, is that they relied on this exclusively or at least too much. They are now transitioning to a team that actually can play on the ground over 90 minutes. As long as they sparingly use the 'hoof it tactic' (and it is a fine tactic to keep the defense on their toes, and wear them down a little...in moderation) and focus on running the show thru Stu- I think they can be the best club possible. This is where the Fulham analogy is so appropriate. Fulham's players- to a man- bought into Roy's system. Coyle looks like he's aiming for a similar system. He needs players to keep their discipline, not send panic balls, and stick with ball control over 90 minutes (Holden replacing Murphy). Counter attack on the road- more offensively at home. Elmander/Davies are Zamora in this scenario...they use their physical presence to try to control the line and bother defenses...loosening things up for the ground game. They get their share of garbage chances, and finish those chances that play to their strengths. (free headers for Elmander, etc) Its possible that Bolton could be the Fulham of '10-'11 and finish in a 7-10 spot this year. They probably have a good enough defense to duplicate, and there is enough talent in midfield to come close to Fulham as well. If they don't get the goal scoring, I think they will be stuck right above the relegation zone. In this sense, I'm worried that Elmander's performance will give Coyle too much confidence in his goal scoring and not get another forward to 2 during this window. They really need more talent upfront, and I think Coyle is too sold on Elmander as a solution.
Different players. I think Stu is skillful in that he doesn't make many bad touches, is neat and tidy with the ball and his passes are almost always perfectly weighted. Clint is a battler and more of a big man with unusual trickery for a big guy. His lay off today to Etuhu was sweet. He isn't quite as earnest as Stu and I think with Hughes he is going to have to show a bit more enthusiasm and eagerness--even if he just fakes it. What I was impressed with at times is that he and Muamba are improving constantly as a partnership and seem to nicely stay out of each others' way and support when needed. There is no veteran trying to do it all (see, e.g., Bullard).