Where From Here?

[Irish Trotter]

Where do we go from here . Do we just accept relegation. If so its time to give some of the younger players a shot .


(Edit - Corrected typo in the thread title).

[Martinbwfc]

The only way is down with Coyle.

[Squidgy]

If we are still in the bottom three by January then I'm all over the "ooooh, we are going to get relegated" mentality.

We've had our worst start to the season in a century, we've also faced our most difficult start to a season in our existence.

People should get a sense of reality on here. I do fúcking dispare with some of the posts on here sometimes.

[Big_Sharps]

The only way is down with Coyle.

You should have your own reality series called The only way is nonce.

[DaveBWFC]

It's the way we've lost these games. Not just that we've lost. If this type of performance carries on until January we'll already be relegated.

That's why people are starting to dispare now Squidgy. It could all change if we win our next 3 games though.

[Rivals_Refugee]

The more emotional fans would still be cutting their bollocks off if Bolton were bottom of the league but had lost all the tough matches by only one goal.

When the fixtures came out, all sane people knew that Bolton weren't going to have many points going into the break before Wigan.Neither would any of the other bottom half clubs run on a shoestring with the run of fixtures Bolton had.

[Squidgy]

The more emotional fans would still be cutting their bollocks off if Bolton were bottom of the league but had lost all the tough matches by only one goal.

When the fixtures came out, all sane people knew that Bolton weren't going to have many points going into the break before Wigan.Neither would any of the other bottom half clubs run on a shoestring with the run of fixtures Bolton had.

This ^^^^

[Big_Sharps]

It is not as simple as that any more just to keep writing it off as we are playing the top side so it is acceptable, OC said this himself after the game.  Yesterdays game was something else because there looked to be fcúk all there at all all the goals were gifts.

I still have faith though.

[Squidgy]

I still have faith though.

This ^^^^^^^

[H. Pedersen]

The more emotional fans would still be cutting their bollocks off if Bolton were bottom of the league but had lost all the tough matches by only one goal.

Eh, I don't know about that.  I was mentally prepared for a bad start to the season but I certainly didn't expect to be hammered 5-0 at home by Manchester United or to go down 4-0 to Chelsea in 30 minutes.  And I don't think any of us expected to lose to Norwich at home.

Again, it's not so much the losses as the manner we are losing the games.  The performances are just littered with really stupid individual errors.  The goalkeepers look weak, the defense looks completely disorganized, and totally avoidable red cards have not helped matters.  I think there are a lot of people on here who are reveling in negativity and I am not like that, but I will say that there are problems at Bolton Wanderers that aren’t explained away just by saying “well we’ve had a rough run of games.”

[Natasha Whittam]

Every credit to the people who still have faith in Owen Coyle and the team.

Personally I can't see it, but I'm interested to know what they are seeing that I am not. I really can't see any positives from this season so far.

[Weststander]

I read somewhere that around 50% of those interviewed today by Granada Reports wanted Coyle out. I was surprised the figure was that low.

[Bolton 58]

What was the percentage of people who wanted him in when megson was sacked. Where has the excitement in his appointment gone, where has the talk of a top ten finish and possible cup final appearance before injuries ravaged an already understrength squad vanished  to. All the talk on Saturday night was "look at Newcastle third in the league" compare the teams they have played so far and the teams we have and then ask yourself if those fixtures  had been swapped would we have as well as them and find ourselves in top half of the table and would they not be struggling near the foot. Living a distance from the Reebok,financial restrictions and working most weekends mean i don't get to  many games but I listen to most games on the radio and yes we've not been good in some of the seven games but I am one "armchair fan" who is a proud Wanderer,I still back the man this forum wanted so badly, come on Owen  bring back the 5-1 bashings of barcodes,  the whacking of the wolves and climb us up the table

[Weststander]

Admirable sentiments combined with plenty blind faith. Nothing we've seen for the last few months though suggests we can get back onto the winning track. Players and management look punch drunk but we live in hope.

[Sluffy]

It's not just the last 7 games though is it?

This year from the Liverpool games onwards we've played 26 league games - won 6, drawn 2, lost 18 for just 20 points.

That is 20 points in two-thirds of a full season!

If we played like that over 38 games (a full season) that would equate to 29 points and certain relegation.

Our record over the last 12 league games is - L,L,L,L,L,W,L,L,L,L,L,L

These include losses to Blackburn, Blackpool, Sunderland (who have won only 9 points from their last 60 - but still beat us at the Reebok) and Norwich.

After watching yesterday's performance, do you really in your heart think that things will suddenly get better?

[Natasha Whittam]

I still back the man this forum wanted so badly, come on Owen  bring back the 5-1 bashings of barcodes,  the whacking of the wolves and climb us up the table

It's a good post and I was as happy as anyone when he came, even if I wasn't convinced he was the man for the job. And for a couple of months last season (around Oct/Nov time) we were as good as any Bolton side I'd seen. But the key is that Stuart Holden was in inspired form, unfortunately he's been injured ever since. We are clearly a one-man-team and Coyle hasn't been able to get over the loss of Holden.

[Le God]

I'm pretty patient when it comes to football but countless gutless performances in a row is hard to take.

It better change quick.

[Dunkels King]

Every credit to the people who still have faith in Owen Coyle and the team.

Personally I can't see it, but I'm interested to know what they are seeing that I am not. I really can't see any positives from this season so far.

Winning 4-0 at QPR is one positive. The others are, er, er, no, that's it.

[Dunkels King]

I agree with H.Pederson. It's not the fact we lost all those games, even losing at home to Norwich (remember we had some good away wins when we were the supposed cannon fodder), but the way we lost them. The Man City game was pretty exciting and to lose 3-2 was on reflection not that dissapointing, but every other game we have been beyond hapless. The worrying thing is that the teams we are about to play all desperately need the points aswell. I can't understand how people can say it's only Wigan, only Sunderland, we will beat them. I really hope that we do beat them, but to think we will all of a sudden be picking up three wins in a row is fantasy. The trouble is that we will play the same formation week in, week out, and it doesn't work. So we beat QPR 4-0 on the first day of the season. Great result, but it was QPR in their first game back. I don't think we would have got that score against any other team.We have been well and truly sussed out. Get Davies booked and he is effectively out of the game. Destroy us down our left side, crap left back, no support. It is too easy for every team.  

[LightningBolton]

This was in the paper yesterday:
"What league are Bolton in? Don't they get to play Wigan Athletic or West Brom like the rest of them? Every week it's Man United or Chelsea or Liverpool away. I'm almost expecting Barcelona or AC Milan to be up next after the international break. Someone at the Premier League must really have it in for Owen Coyle."

For once someone from the mainstream media on our side (when normally they seem desperate for us to disappear from the EPL) which shows how tough a start it has been.

Even so we have played terribly & there aren't many positives but I do take heart from the fact that Coyle did at least finally try 4-5-1 & changed some starting personnel on occasion. He should have done it long before & perhaps tried it against Chelsea but the fact he's finally gone against his die-hard 4-4-2 with the same players philosophy gives me hope that he's seen the light & will look at changing other things too.

We've also come out much better in the second half against Norwich & Chelsea which shows that he has something in the dressing room. I've seen plenty of times when managers have had absolutely no influence whatsoever at half-time & players have come out just as badly.
The international break came at a good time for Coyle & the players so they can move on from the shite start, get their heads together & really come back fresh. If we beat Wigan we could get results from all the next 5 games. This is probably dependent on us scoring first because as soon as the opposition score the confidence disappears for the rest of the half.
It won't all suddenly get better but there are worse teams than us in the Premier League & I think by the beginning of December we'll be in a very different position. And there's another positive - it couldn't get much worse. The only way is up!

[Martinbwfc]

Y

You should have your own reality series called The only way is nonce.

You used to be quite a decent poster, where do you think you went wrong?

[DaveBWFC]

He's still a better poster than you Kevin Webster.

[wanderlust]

Where do we go from here? Impossible to say. The only certainty is that we're pretty much backed into a corner and everybody including the other teams know it - which puts us at a disadvantage.
Why are we here? Pick any combination of injuries/fixtures/dubious tactics/dubious selections/cocky players etc - but that doesn't matter now - we're bottom of the league.

Things aren't too bad though. The teams above us haven't amassed a huge number of points, so a few good results and all this will be a distant memory. We haven't put out our strongest team yet - in fact I'm not confident OC knows what it is yet - so that should happen at some stage. We have players to come back from injury. We have a chance to reshuffle things in January if Cahill goes. All is not lost, but the next month or so will either see us stick with the pack or drop so far out of contention wholesale changes will happen and nobody wants that kind of disruption.

I guess all we can do is kick back and let it happen.