BFTG - Bolton

[Zip]

What does Clement say to the players? We started both the first half and second half painfully slowly. Just to add the gate was really poor today. What we will get on a cold Tuesday night against someone like Rotherham?

[CountryRoyal]

Mannone 5

Yiadom 6 - didn’t do a lot wrong but didn’t have quite the same impact as usual

McShane 5 - constant liability. Cumbersome on the ball and too many poor clearances.

Moore 6 - fine

Blackett 5

Meyler 3 - all over the place. Consistently out of position, misplaced passes galore and weak in the tackle.

Kelly 4 - really just doesn’t bring anything to the team at the moment, and hasn’t for a long time. No impact on the game and poor set piece delivery.

Swift 7 - it’s strange how people see the same game. Thought he was by far our best player and the only one demonstrating any quality in any capacity. Good footwork and decent link up play.

Meite 5 - innefective

Baldock 5 - innefective

McNulty 5 - ineffective

Subs:
Bod 5 - innefective
Bacuna 2 - appalling
Popa N/A - didn’t get long enough don’t know if he touched the ball.

I thought we showed some decent intensity and desire in the first half with quick “link up” play around the box and felt it was close to coming off on a few occasions. That was pretty much as good as it got and honestly beyond Meite’s penalty shout - which it should have been, we never looked like scoring. Completely blunt. No ideas, no quality, no points.

Not overly concerned yet but we really need to get off the mark sooner than later. It’s a shame we saved our worst performance for our most winnable game as a good opportunity has gone begging.

Also shocking attendance and atmosphere though maybe they were right to stay away. I’ll be up for it later but right now feeling no desire to go to Blackburn.

[CountryRoyal]

Just to add. I wonder about Clement

He dropped probably our best player in the previous games - Illori and started without Bod. In hindsight that wasn't a good move.

I’ve mentioned this before but one of the complaints the Derby fans had about him was that his teams were defensively fairly solid and organised but offered little attacking threat and had a reliance on individual brilliance from players like Ince etc. We don’t have players like that.

Regarding selection I thought it was strange too. I was livid that he dropped Ilori though wasn’t particularly surprised.

[Zip]

Mannone 5

Yiadom 6 - didn’t do a lot wrong but didn’t have quite the same impact as usual

McShane 5 - constant liability. Cumbersome on the ball and too many poor clearances.

Moore 6 - fine

Blackett 5

Meyler 3 - all over the place. Consistently out of position, misplaced passes galore and weak in the tackle.

Kelly 4 - really just doesn’t bring anything to the team at the moment, and hasn’t for a long time. No impact on the game and poor set piece delivery.

Swift 7 - it’s strange how people see the same game. Thought he was by far our best player and the only one demonstrating any quality in any capacity. Good footwork and decent link up play.

Meite 5 - innefective

Baldock 5 - innefective

McNulty 5 - ineffective

Subs:
Bod 5 - innefective
Bacuna 2 - appalling
Popa N/A - didn’t get long enough don’t know if he touched the ball.

I thought we showed some decent intensity and desire in the first half with quick “link up” play around the box and felt it was close to coming off on a few occasions. That was pretty much as good as it got and honestly beyond Meite’s penalty shout - which it should have been, we never looked like scoring. Completely blunt. No ideas, no quality, no points.

Not overly concerned yet but we really need to get off the mark sooner than later. It’s a shame we saved our worst performance for our most winnable game as a good opportunity has gone begging.

Also shocking attendance and atmosphere though maybe they were right to stay away. I’ll be up for it later but right now feeling no desire to go to Blackburn.

Apart from a good feekick Swift was awful for the first 50 odd minutes. Far too slow on the ball. He then played at a much quicker tempo and did well and started looking like the player of two seasons ago.

[Getthebeerens]

Really do feel sorry for the manager at the moment. Another game we somehow fail to take points in. The performance wasn’t great especially in the second half but a lapse in concentration costs us again. I just want to see a player take the game by the scruff of the neck and show some fight or some imagination to try and get back into the match. Van Den Berg said it himself the side just didn’t seem to mind they were losing last year and that summed up the second half for me.

What does Liam Kelly bring to this team at the moment ? All I am seeing is a lot of sidewards passes and then he stands there and doesn’t move to create another option. Certainly not adding anything defensively to the side.

Still all to play for this season and the football is a lot more entertaining (Maybe not the 2nd half) but can’t feel sorry for ourselves.

[Hound]

He really wasn’t. Picked up the ball from deep and ran with a number of times. Didn’t think he slowed play down at all, just the opposite

Main problem was he got stuck on the wing. Should Have played central in place of Kelly

My ratings would be similar to CR though would take points off Yiadom - who I really like but had an off day and McShane

[Hopeful]

I suspect I’m only going to echo other posters but after today I just wanted to put my thoughts down.

Swift on left was the main catalyst for a poor display today. He is so much better playing behind a striker, so he was ineffective today, and therefore getting some stick on here. I heard his pass % was 93 so wasn’t giving ball away and did some nice skills / tricks but never in the oppositions half.

Sparky didn’t do much for me, thought Baldock much better in terms of intelligent runs. They’ve obviously been working on some neat 1-2’s around the box but didn’t come off today.

Not a fan of Blackett but when he did get forward (far too late in the game) he became a threat.

As others have said, Kelly and Swift in same team does not work.

Bacuna was awful today.

Hindsight is wonderful but I’d have played Popa on left, dropped Sparky and played Swift as his shirt number suggests.

Bod was never going to start as I assumed clement wanted to play with speed around their big lads, so crosses were not the tactic today - it’s just we couldn’t find enough killer balls through their defence.

As for next week, hope Ilori starts and I’d actually like to see Pelle Clement get a start.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

I've not been so down after losing in ages.

We lost to a dreadful side which I still predict will be bottom 4 and we are already 7 points behind them...

[John Madejski's Wallet]

He really wasn’t. Picked up the ball from deep and ran with a number of times. Didn’t think he slowed play down at all, just the opposite

Main problem was he got stuck on the wing. Should Have played central in place of Kelly

My ratings would be similar to CR though would take points off Yiadom - who I really like but had an off day and McShane

Interesting....

One of the problems was Swift not staying on the wing. First half Blackett had the wing all to himself and Bolton were targetting him because of it.

And imo he definitely kept slowing it down. Can think of a couple of very good breaks in the first half that stopped dead as soon as Swift got involved

[Zip]

He really wasn’t. Picked up the ball from deep and ran with a number of times. Didn’t think he slowed play down at all, just the opposite

Main problem was he got stuck on the wing. Should Have played central in place of Kelly

My ratings would be similar to CR though would take points off Yiadom - who I really like but had an off day and McShane

We have to disagree on Swift. He did improve when he moved the ball more quickly in the second half but he lost possession dawdling on the ball in the first half and on other occasions we lost momentum as he took too long to make a pass. Yiadom was ineffective and put in less crosses than I would expect from Gunter. McShane has no composure at all and should not be in the side.

Just a word on Clement. I thought he came across well in his post match interview telling it how it was. I hope he can turn things around. However we have to show much more urgency. Sick of seeing a Reading side take forever to get the ball forward

[Zip]

He really wasn’t. Picked up the ball from deep and ran with a number of times. Didn’t think he slowed play down at all, just the opposite

Main problem was he got stuck on the wing. Should Have played central in place of Kelly

My ratings would be similar to CR though would take points off Yiadom - who I really like but had an off day and McShane

Interesting....

One of the problems was Swift not staying on the wing. First half Blackett had the wing all to himself and Bolton were targetting him because of it.

And imo he definitely kept slowing it down. Can think of a couple of very good breaks in the first half that stopped dead as soon as Swift got involved

Yep agreed. Swift has really quick feet and showed that in the second half but up until then he was doing my head in slowing us down.

[Ascotexgunner]

Interesting that BBCRB on the way home were reporting Gourley and Clement were on the pitch in deep conversation and Gourleys mobile rang and it was passed to Clement. A loan signing maybe?

[Whitley]

We struggled today due to the team being unbalanced with our lack of fit wingers, Clement was forced to play Swift on the Left Wing.
Our left side was ridiculously weak with Blackett and Swift drifiting infield, I'm surprised Bolton didn't profit from it more.

In the first half we were okay, some good interplay between the front two and Meite with a few good runs and for once we had some shots on target.

Mannone 6 - Made one good save in the first half, not much he could've done about the goal

Yiadom 6 - Didn't do much today

McShane 4 - Poor clearances today, would like to see him dropped for Ilori, don't know why Ilori was dropped and not McShane

Moore 6 - Ok

Blackett 4 - Struggled on his side due to Swift playing as a winger, both him and Yiadom played very high up today leaving him very a lot of tracking back today. Positioning very poor, several occasions when a better ball and Bolton would've been in with one simple pass. Everytime he got on the ball in a decent crossing position seemed scared to take on a man and just cut inside and passed the ball back (like much of the team)

Meyler 5 - Looked ok in midfield.

Kelly 5- Not great, what did he do except pass the ball sideways?

Swift 6 - Decent attacking effect from Swift, skewed the team by him having to play on the Left Wing but did a good job,.

Meite 6 - A few good runs, perhaps unlucky not to have a penalty

Baldock 5 -Decent interplay between him and McNulty in first half, faded in second half

McNulty 5 - A few poor passes, looks a decent interplay with Baldock

Subs:
Bod 5 - Didn't do much
Bacuna 3 - That free kick...
Popa 4- Wanted him to try to take on their fullback at the end, just coming back to fitness and didn't get much of a chance

With two tough away games coming up next could we be looking at 5 games and 0 points returned?

[CavershamRoyal]

Haven't read the thread in detail but the initial criticism of Swift seems odd to me.

His touch and skill on the ball is a class above. Always seemed to beat his man, and was where most of our attacks came through. My man of the match. Good free kick too.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

I'd also like to send a Shout-out to the guy(s) chanting Tommy Robinson's name . . . . You're a Kunt

[leon]

Why’s Swift getting all the grief?

Yes he slowed the game down but the real culprit was Kelly. As JMW I think pointed out earlier he’s regressed so much it’s astonishing.

There is still no movement and no urgency.

Why is McShane still running with the ball into a compressed midfield and then playing a 5 yard pass to the right back who has no options?

[Hound]

The different views on Swift are certainly interesting. I thought he was head and shoulders above anyone else, but each to their own etc

Thought Moore was poor today as well and shouldn’t escape criticism. Him and McShane made a poor pairing

[Millsy]

Everyone is missing one simple fact.

We were without our most expensive signing in the club's history, the mighty Aluko.

Not fair to be judging the club and the likes of Gourlay, Tevreden etc when we're without our star man.

Get a grip!

[AthleticoSpizz]

Lol yeah, but our ‘most precious’ one was back in the side.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

The differing options on Swift don't really surprise me. It depends on which aspects of his game you remember.

With the ball at his feet he beat players several times, played some nice passes, took another lovely free kick and got in behind to give us our best second half chance (the cut back to (I think) Jon Dadi).

He also got caught in possession, dawdled and gave the ball away. drifted out of the game and looked lightweight in his defensive duties.

Overall he did some nice stuff, but for me, that's not enough to counter act the fading away and the almost total absence of tackling.

He did the complicated stuff well, but the easy stuff badly.