Bolton vs Man City [R]

Re: The Might of MCFC Vs Megson's Merry Men (Bolton) [R]

There are some interesting Seattle connections, with this match. Besides the City/Sounders connection, Bolton has one as well. Gary Megson's brother, Neil, is a former player, and coach, of the Sounders, as well as having been a player for the Tacoma Stars (they were an indoor team), and helped Seattle win back to back titles in '95-'96. He still lives in the area, and coaches youth teams.

 

Re: The Might of MCFC Vs Megson's Merry Men (Bolton) [R]

If you could score 5 that would be good, final nail and all that.

 

Hey all, I'm stuck at work this morning but I thought I'd get this thread started. Lets hope we can get a win today.

 

Lets Hope So. To be honest, I completely missed weds game vs Boro (We had a very, very big game here in Philly that turned out quite well and am looking forward to todays game on FSC at 11. Lets hope we rebound today and get 3 points.

 

I know how that feels to be at work during games, not fun, thankfully i'm off today heres the web streams if you can get the internet at work: http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=22414&part=sports
Plenty on there, hope it helps anyone who needs it

 

Re: Bolton vs Man City [R] first half

Bad 30 minutes, solid chances for us last 10. Lets hope we can score in the 2nd half

 

Merged the threads.

 

Horrible loss, except for the last ten minutes of the first half, we didn't show up. Dunnes 2nd own goal of the year ugh(although he would've more than likely scored anyway). A bad week for City.2 straight shutouts 2-0 is horrible. Hart did have some great saves though.He had no help defensively. Hopefully we can get back on track against FC Twente in the UEFA cup thursday, because we need a win.
Well at least i'm still celebrating the Phillies World Series title here outside Philly.

 

I watched the match - oh grief. I don't like Elano playing so deep, nor Richards at LB, when he went forward he seemed lost. And what's with the late substitutions!

Plenty for MH to work on.

 

Robinho was binded to the left side of the field, as a LMF, but he clearly works better as a SS with freedom to move close to the box IMO.

 

Yep, players should be playing in their best positions. A couple of others too were not, so it upsets the whole dimension of their play. Back to the basics MH before the team get too disheartened and before the Christmas fixtures charge into view, always a crucial time.

 

When four of the 13 players who played today wonder why they are rooted to the bench in february, this game will be the answer. Like I said a few days ago, this team is going to be unrecognizable at the end of the transfer window. I don't know if it was the system or not, but Elano was terrible, Kompany a bit twitchy, SWP ran his socks off but got nothing, Ireland should have made it 1-0 in the first half and was annonymous in the 2nd. Micah doesn't look like a LB...... Poor all around.

 

All I have to say is what a bunch of retarded tactics MH chose. Richards isnt a LB, Zabaleta is obviously a real waste in comparison to Corluka, and all City did when they got possession was try and punt the ball down field. Watch replays and you'll see almost no working of the ball up the field...it's like they were scared of Bolton and their "skill". We wasted possession almost EVERY time we got it. I had the game recorded and I fast forwarded through it all because all the game consisted of was Bolton giving pressure, City apparently not confident of possession so they try long passes down field, the long passes almost ALWAYS ended up with a Bolton defender who just fed it to midfield, Bolton would either have a chance at goal or would lose the ball, and City would just punt it again down field. It was the most boring game in the first half and I pretty much skipped the second half when I saw that they didn't change their tactics at all.

I am so irate right now, this game was full of stupidity from our team and I am really developing a distaste for Zabaleta. And Richards at LB? I honestly won't miss MH like I missed SGE if he gets fired. I might just welcome it because MH is too adventurous with his tactics and he seems to use no basic tactical logic (I mean really, do we have any tall attackers on our team? WE HAVE NONE. All of our players are technically skilled and possess great pace, but all we did was punt from the back 4 to the forward man who ALWAYS lost the jump ball. I never saw SWP as much of an aerial player.)

I'm so mad right now, I knew this was going to happen when I saw how City was playing after 20 minutes...they showed no creativity and just acted like Bolton's pressure was just too much....I mean really.

At least MH had this to say after the game:

"I think certainly in the second half we ended up playing too many long balls that really played into Bolton's hands. They'll always ask questions of you and keep knocking on the door."

 

The Dawning of the next Generation of Clowns. Same failed tactics that never materialised against Middlesbrough, same inept performances both on the playing side and the tactical side. I

- Why play footballers out of position? Richards at LB just when Garrido looked settled (Ball looks as if he has wrongfully been dropped completely), never worked before and a right-footed centre back at left back?
- Why insist on playing Elano as a holding/defensive midfielder? He played as the second striker last season, at least place him more central with the option of going forward rather than being limited to long distributions. Substitution to bring on Hamann was understandable to try and gain more of a foothold in midfield but doing so means zero creativity.
- Robinho continued to drop deep and lone striker was isolated, waste of a player if we are using these tactics. Formation was ineffective and although its still early days, we're once again losing matches that we shouldn't be. Wigan away, Boro away, Bolton away to name just a few, the Newcastle away match set the scene for the rest of the games and we seem to continue in using a dire formation.
- The players seem to have lost all care in the world, look at Richards' pathetic attempt at chasing back for the first goal. He has much to learn if he is to become one of the best, less focus on being a star, more on the basic aspects of defending. You have the pace, use it.
- Lack of changes late in the game. It was a simple like-for-like as Hamann replaced Elano as a holding/defensive midfielder and Sturridge simply replaced Evans. No switch to two strikers at any point, it might not have worked but it would have meant we went out to win the match. No structure to the team which is vital in away matches, particularly against these teams who scrap for every single point. The players honestly looked lost.

I'm not calling for Hughes to get sacked and he will have January to change it around, but if we repeatedly perform as we have done recently then it will simply be a season of salvaging anything we can get. Main frustration is that we aren't susceptible to change, its the same formation with the same outcome. We have played some beautiful football, but we will continue stalling until we can create a Plan B. November is our toughest run of matches yet, perhaps we can outplay Tottenham, Arsenal, Hull, Man Utd, Schalke etc. as we won't have to scrap. If the management team and the players don't change their attitudes, we could be just dipping above the relegation zone come December.

Twente at home on Thursday in the UEFA Cup group match, anything other than victory would be a catastrophy. European competition could be the one aspect that saves Hughes, going far in that will keep morale quite high even if we struggle domestically. The pressure isn't on Hughes yet, but he needs to show he can change matches. Steve McClaren's team have a solid foundation of a football team and have thrown up a couple of surprises before, lets hope we're not added to the casualty list...

 

The way we've played in the last two matches, FC Twente have nothing to fear, we've everything to be worried about.

MH played too many players out of their position and yet again, the substitutions were too late and too 'like for like' as Alan mentions in his post. MH needed to shake things up but didn't take the opportunity, we had nothing to lose.

 

15 mins into the 2nd half, still going nowhere and poor play, change some of the player's positions - push Elano and Robinho up (lone striker was not effective enough) and/or bring on Garrido for Zabaletta (switch Richards to RB, Garrido LB) for example.

Garrido was in the starting line-up against Stoke, then, left out for the next two matches. I'm not saying he was the winning formula, but something about that line-up worked. Garrido was going forward and making some crosses into the box - something he's effectively done in other matches (not so Richards in his LB role, he looked really uncomfortable in the opponent's half). Aah, Richards was the RB against Stoke.

Was the play of Kompany and Ireland affected after their yellow cards in the first half?

Although we don't have fantastic super-subs (because of injuries), there were options to be explored with the existing players and subs.

I hope we can get the winning ways back against FC Twente.

 

Alright, I've been scorned for too long. After the game vs Bolton, I was so upset that I didn't think about football for 48 hours. Now I am thinking about it again, it still hurts. We keep on losing points against opponents who are in danger to be relegated this year. New Castle, Middlesborough, and now Bolton. Our next match is against Tottenham, another team facing relegation. I don't even know what to think anymore. I have no faith we'll even beat Tottenham.