BFTG -Bolton

[windermereROYAL]

I find it strange that the late Le Fondre chance wasn't shown on the highlights package, Parky said they were already off the bench celebrating the winner.
Anybody that was there, can you enlighten us on it?

[LWJ]

I find it strange that the late Le Fondre chance wasn't shown on the highlights package, Parky said they were already off the bench celebrating the winner.
Anybody that was there, can you enlighten us on it?

Other end of the pitch so was hard to see, looked like it was circa 5 yards out on the volley. Hard to tell if it was a reaction save or just straight at him, but Jakakkola reacted well to dive on the second ball.

[Stranded]

I find it strange that the late Le Fondre chance wasn't shown on the highlights package, Parky said they were already off the bench celebrating the winner.
Anybody that was there, can you enlighten us on it?

Going from the stream - Le Fondre got in front of his man and should have scored - luckily steared it pretty much straight at Jaakola.

[Stranded]

Yep and 99 times out of a 100 they have hold of the other guy so they either both go over or the other player is at least put off balance. It happens in every Championship game. Leeds v Boro on Sunday was like a Sumo wrestling match at each set piece !
Maybe ask yourself how many times you see a player have a free header from a corner, 8 yards from goal in a central position. Pretty much never perhaps ? Especially when they didn't even have to make a run to lose a defender !

He had a free header because Gunter was thrown to the floor.

You obviously dislike Gunter but there was nothing more he could do there as it was a blatant foul. Replays don't show the push so I will forgive you for having not seen it from your armchair.

I appreciate your forgiveness Just for the record and per many previous posts, I don't dislike him, I just consider him to be very average with his passive defending being his biggest weakness. He has his strengths as well. You'd never see him not track a run as Illori did on Saturday for example.
To my original question though, how many times have you seen this happen to other teams ? Is that because other teams don't have players that push defenders ? Or is it because Gunter is a very weak defender ? If he'd had hold off Pratley (as all other sides do) then either they'd have both gone over or just got into a stand up wrestling much. Either way, there wouldn't have been a free header from 8 yards out.

You don't see it that often (or remember it) as a) the fould needs not to have been given and b) a goal needs to be scored.

Most times at least one of those 2 things happens and the incident is forgotten.

[windermereROYAL]

I find it strange that the late Le Fondre chance wasn't shown on the highlights package, Parky said they were already off the bench celebrating the winner.
Anybody that was there, can you enlighten us on it?

Other end of the pitch so was hard to see, looked like it was circa 5 yards out on the volley. Hard to tell if it was a reaction save or just straight at him, but Jakakkola reacted well to dive on the second ball.

picture here, hit Jaakola flush in the chest.

https://twitter.com/ReadingFC/status/933285433995182080

[LWJ]

I find it strange that the late Le Fondre chance wasn't shown on the highlights package, Parky said they were already off the bench celebrating the winner.
Anybody that was there, can you enlighten us on it?

Other end of the pitch so was hard to see, looked like it was circa 5 yards out on the volley. Hard to tell if it was a reaction save or just straight at him, but Jakakkola reacted well to dive on the second ball.

picture here, hit Jaakola flush in the chest.

https://twitter.com/ReadingFC/status/933285433995182080

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO2QHPEGTaU&t=0s
Last clip

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Last min decision to go as was working in Halifax.

I would question the defence selection, and indeed the defence performance throughout the game was bordering on panic at times against modest opposition who only had one tatic, but Gunter was clearly fouled for one of the goals .

Should Richards start? I cannot answer that as haven't seen him play.

On the plus side we looked good going forward and Aluko and Barrow are both looking the real deal.

One final thing - Anyone still wanting Parky as a future manager please watch a video of this game; they made a clear ploy to kick Swift out of the game from the start and there was lots of nasty off the ball stuff similar to Bradford in the cup the other year. Legend as a player - lets leave it at that.

[windermereROYAL]

Other end of the pitch so was hard to see, looked like it was circa 5 yards out on the volley. Hard to tell if it was a reaction save or just straight at him, but Jakakkola reacted well to dive on the second ball.

picture here, hit Jaakola flush in the chest.

https://twitter.com/ReadingFC/status/933285433995182080

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO2QHPEGTaU&t=0s
Last clip

That corner near the end again , fortunate to get a point in the end.

[LWJ]

One final thing - Anyone still wanting Parky as a future manager please watch a video of this game; they made a clear ploy to kick Swift out of the game from the start and there was lots of nasty off the ball stuff similar to Bradford in the cup the other year. Legend as a player - lets leave it at that.

Seconded

[Whore Jackie]

We did well to come back from conceding 2 such awful goals

Another poster commented how good it was to see Yann at Wolves, mainly due to his defending at set pieces. Clearly missed him massively there. Joey as well to a lesser extent

Two more assists by Barrow. Glad him and Aluko continue to play well

Bod/Yann need to get themselves fit and in the side. That’s the biggest single change we need to make

That was me. I also pointed out defensively we were still a shambles and questioned how Beerens was getting a game.

Those two points are still very valid.

Do we need a refresh in the coaching staff? Clearly we’re making easily rectifiable errors at the back.

Yep, I do wonder if we're missing Steven Reid's influence this season. I think certain managers lose their way when key assistants move on. Certainly Kemp at West Brom leaving at the end of last season didn't help Pulis, though perhaps appointing Megson as his successor wasn't the smartest move by Pulis.

[Mr Optimist]

I agree with Mid Sussex too re Parky as a potential future manager. Spot on, whether it is pure coincidence that the dark arts are alive and well in Bolton and Bradford....Pratley is well named.

Even at two nil down I still thought we were the only team playing anything resembling professional football, Bolton are awful and will almost certainly go down this season unless changes are made there. League one battlers is how I would describe them.

If we continue to give any team a two goal start we certainly won't be on the top six but equally anyone who thinks we will be in and around the relegation scrap is mad. It was obvious last night that an out and out striker is needed, Kermogant 10 years younger would be nice!

I thought Clement was good when he came on, Bacuna had a good game back in midfield where he belongs and little Liam got in to the pace of the game immediately and started pulling the strings and got us moving forward with more urgency, he is a definite star in the making. It would be harsh to judge the keeper on that performance, not helped by his defence for both goals and was obviously following orders to knock kick long balls as there was no one up front for it to stick to. You can forgive him some nerves on a limited first team outing away from home after a year or two of reserve team games.

There was one relegation candidate in last nights game and it isn't Reading.

[Snowflake Royal]

Game of two halves. Bolton did their homework.

First half the tone was set by the ridiculous early chance we gave away by pissing about with it at thr back unnecessarily whilst under pressure. Two set pieces with awful defending and we're 2-0 down.

The passing was slow, timid and negative. No movement. Jaakkola didn't trust the defence, the team have him few options and clearly the defence didn't trust him either.

Second half, much much better. Movement, forward passing. Created chances. Still dawdled on it at the back. I get more and more convinced they're playing as automatons and individuals rather than as a team and with initiative. The decision making is awful.

Play it out from the back when under loads of pressure and no space. Hoof it forward to one person marked by three.

Why on Earth Jon Dadi didn't start or come on earlier is beyond me. Clement ended up playing way too deep at times. Kelly once again looked quality when given a few minutes. Blackett was a calamity. The whole set up and game plan was an abomination.

But good spirit to get that draw, and happy to throw a point Parky's way.

Must do better.

[Snowflake Royal]

I was there and didn't see any foul for the second. What I did see was Bolton's player having a free header in 5 yards of space in the middle of our area.

Maybe he shoved over Gunter in the build up, but then if that's the case maybe Gunter should be less of a soft useless shite, or only mark soft shite's like him. And there's no point running and crying about it to the ref afterwards either.

Fact is the ref didn't see a foul, the well placed lino didn't see a foul, I didn't see a foul, and no one around me seemed to see a foul so either there wasn't one or it can't have been that obvious. And none of our players dealt with the consequences. Not good enough.

[Hound]

Jon Dadi has just been out for a month with a calf strain. He is being managed back like Yann was. Considering Yann was out as well I’d rather bring Bod on as he was rather than having to hook him at half time

No problem with him not starting considering this last night, but would hope he is fit enough to start Sat

[Sutekh]

One final thing - Anyone still wanting Parky as a future manager please watch a video of this game; they made a clear ploy to kick Swift out of the game from the start and there was lots of nasty off the ball stuff similar to Bradford in the cup the other year. Legend as a player - lets leave it at that.

Seconded

Parky was a physical player so I would expect that to be a side to any team he manages. It should also be remembered he is trying to keep Bolton in the division with a transfer embargo and wage restrictions so is likely to adopt a fairly basic approach in order to try and make Bolton as uncomfortable and difficult a game as possible for opponents.

Don't really recall Colchester or Charlton being known as particularly physical teams while he was managing there .

[royal_rumble]

We aren't going down but we sure as hell aren't going up either.

Not much between us and a team 23rd in the league, who are genuine relegation contenders? We absolutely could go down.

[WAZZOCK]

We aren't going down but we sure as hell aren't going up either.

Not much between us and a team 23rd in the league, who are genuine relegation contenders? We absolutely could go down.

There wasn’t much between us and top of the table, so we could we’ll win the league based on your logic!

[royal_rumble]

We aren't going down but we sure as hell aren't going up either.

Not much between us and a team 23rd in the league, who are genuine relegation contenders? We absolutely could go down.

There wasn’t much between us and top of the table, so we could we’ll win the league based on your logic!

There's 5 points between us and the relegation zone, and 19 to top of the league... so no, not really.

[Oilroyal]

We did well to come back from conceding 2 such awful goals

Another poster commented how good it was to see Yann at Wolves, mainly due to his defending at set pieces. Clearly missed him massively there. Joey as well to a lesser extent

Two more assists by Barrow. Glad him and Aluko continue to play well

Bod/Yann need to get themselves fit and in the side. That’s the biggest single change we need to make

That was me. I also pointed out defensively we were still a shambles and questioned how Beerens was getting a game.

Those two points are still very valid.

Do we need a refresh in the coaching staff? Clearly we’re making easily rectifiable errors at the back.

Yep, I do wonder if we're missing Steven Reid's influence this season. I think certain managers lose their way when key assistants move on. Certainly Kemp at West Brom leaving at the end of last season didn't help Pulis, though perhaps appointing Megson as his successor wasn't the smartest move by Pulis.

Steven Reid left the club suddenly in July which can only be seen as an influential loss to the team when measured against this seasons performances. Personally I believe SR was the link between the players and Stam last season. So far this season (from live media interviews) Stam has not displayed himself as an effective communicator, I think this is where SR worked, and worked in favour of the team. Begs the question why he left!

[Stranded]

We aren't going down but we sure as hell aren't going up either.

Not much between us and a team 23rd in the league, who are genuine relegation contenders? We absolutely could go down.

On current form, over 6 and 10 games we are comfortably mid table (14th and 15th) - we have moved away from the relegation positons point wise since then. I'm not saying it's not possible we can go down but I really don't see us as contenders. If we worry about a 5 pt gap below us - 5 pts above us sees us 12th.

We are improving, our away form is actually pretty good and improving - for example, over the last 8 games we are 11th in form but over the last 4, we are 6th.

What is costing us at the moment is the really slow start, the team are getting better (1st half last night is the exception of late). We have 3 of the bottom 7 to play before Xmas, if we are still where we are now then, or worse then I may change my mind but at the moment, we aren't bad enough to go down.