BFTG - Bolton

[bobby1413]

An earlier poster mentioned that we are a club in decline.I counted 13 empty boxes yesterday.
Not surprising when they want £2k more this season!
The advertising revenue must be down judging by the hoardings around the ground.No adverts in the bogs.
Where has the big screen gone outside the East stand? Beer at a fiver a pint and a shitty burger for £6!
Its no wonder gates are down.All this reflects what is going on on the pitch.

It is depressing off the pitch as well as on.

The stadium did look so shockingly empty yesterday. What's happened to the ED stand? There must be 1000 people in it... it was usually fairly well populated about 2 seasons ago.

I noticed all the empty advertising too.

It feels like pre-season. Wondering up there to see the stadium not quite ready, fans not too interested and players trying to run off their summer break.

Some strong words from Meyler after the game. And also from Clement. It's crucial they actually act on that now and not just roll over again

(P.S. this is basically a repeat of last season)

[Millsy]

It feels like pre-season. Wondering up there to see the stadium not quite ready, fans not too interested and players trying to run off their summer break.

Reminds me of Bodgers' famous quote, something like 10 clueless games into the season of "well this is still basically still preseason". No Bodgers, preseason was preseason. That was season. And you were shit.

At least Clements says it how it is. Another similarity he has with Stam then....

[Jagermesiter1871]

I'm going to post my reactions and thoughts to the game here in reaction to everything I've read on the previous 4 pages. I am currently typing into notepad and will paste it exactly how it comes out...

Swift - I thought he was quality, one of the best things about the team. It seemed that every ball played into him seemed to stick to his boot. Some amazing footwork repeatedly got us more and more attempts going forward.

The attendance shocked me today - not the number but the amount of empty seats, seriously, was there about 13000 fans today? Empty seats everywhere.

Club 1871 is amazing, credit to them and I want them to do well. The bad thing abuot it though is that I wonder if they've nicked all the big mouths from Y25/Y26 as the atmosphere today was pathetic. I admit the game wasn't the best, so it's hard to judge. But it was just a thought. Sheffield Wednesday at home will be a better game to judge it on.

Bacuna - I checked it was him about 10x as I was so shocked - but it was abysmal. Surely he is not match fit? If he is then why? Terrible.

Agree with this all. I thought Swift was class - in contrast to the guy sat next to me who screamed 'FFS Swifty do something' every first touch he took.

Kelly was invisible, other than passing the ball backwards/sideways. He needs to be dropped - him and Swift just don't work together and he offers far less than Swift.

We lacked width, unsurprisingly what with playing no wingers. Meite worked his socks off and I think he could end up being brilliant, but he was caught being either too deep or too far up. He's raw but I think worth persisting with and playing as a striker.
Did we even play anyone out on the left? The formation looked completely lopsided. Too many in the middle, no one in the wings.

Meyler - poor. Bacuna - atrocious. Popa - fat.

Front two look far more dangerous than anything we've seen in years - playing on the last man. I think they could come good with some better service and more time together. Like McNulty especially.

Defence/GK - solid enough.

[windermereROYAL]

I'm going to post my reactions and thoughts to the game here in reaction to everything I've read on the previous 4 pages. I am currently typing into notepad and will paste it exactly how it comes out...

Swift - I thought he was quality, one of the best things about the team. It seemed that every ball played into him seemed to stick to his boot. Some amazing footwork repeatedly got us more and more attempts going forward.

The attendance shocked me today - not the number but the amount of empty seats, seriously, was there about 13000 fans today? Empty seats everywhere.

Club 1871 is amazing, credit to them and I want them to do well. The bad thing abuot it though is that I wonder if they've nicked all the big mouths from Y25/Y26 as the atmosphere today was pathetic. I admit the game wasn't the best, so it's hard to judge. But it was just a thought. Sheffield Wednesday at home will be a better game to judge it on.

Bacuna - I checked it was him about 10x as I was so shocked - but it was abysmal. Surely he is not match fit? If he is then why? Terrible.

Agree with this all. I thought Swift was class - in contrast to the guy sat next to me who screamed 'FFS Swifty do something' every first touch he took.

Kelly was invisible, other than passing the ball backwards/sideways. He needs to be dropped - him and Swift just don't work together and he offers far less than Swift.

We lacked width, unsurprisingly what with playing no wingers. Meite worked his socks off and I think he could end up being brilliant, but he was caught being either too deep or too far up. He's raw but I think worth persisting with and playing as a striker.
Did we even play anyone out on the left? The formation looked completely lopsided. Too many in the middle, no one in the wings.

Meyler - poor. Bacuna - atrocious. Popa - fat.

Front two look far more dangerous than anything we've seen in years - playing on the last man. I think they could come good with some better service and more time together. Like McNulty especially.

Defence/GK - solid enough.

So a decent midfield is all we are missing?

[Gunny Fishcake]

An earlier poster mentioned that we are a club in decline.I counted 13 empty boxes yesterday.
Not surprising when they want £2k more this season!
The advertising revenue must be down judging by the hoardings around the ground.No adverts in the bogs.
Where has the big screen gone outside the East stand? Beer at a fiver a pint and a shitty burger for £6!
Its no wonder gates are down.All this reflects what is going on on the pitch.

It is depressing off the pitch as well as on.

The stadium did look so shockingly empty yesterday. What's happened to the ED stand? There must be 1000 people in it... it was usually fairly well populated about 2 seasons ago.

I noticed all the empty advertising too.

It feels like pre-season. Wondering up there to see the stadium not quite ready, fans not too interested and players trying to run off their summer break.

Some strong words from Meyler after the game. And also from Clement. It's crucial they actually act on that now and not just roll over again

(P.S. this is basically a repeat of last season)

What adds to the depressing atmosphere is the basic fundamentals of where our stadium is located . It's like we're in the middle of an industrial moonscape . Nowhere near the town, no pubs nearby, no decent food, no shops, very few can walk to the ground without driving, ensuring rip off car parks with one poxy exit, or wait ages for the buses to leave. So many people left early yesterday so they could get away rather than be held back for ages getting more depressed . Then the the way the club caters for fans regrading food and drink . A soggy hotdog for £4.40, a sh*t burnt pie for £4.10, even a bag of crisps £1.40, and sh*t beer at ridiculous prices . Talk about looking after your customers and delighting them, it's a disgrace. It's bearable when the team are doing ok , but in the current climate , it's no surprise we're haemorrhaging fans by the week. If things don't improve( and I cant see that short term) we're going to be below 10,000 with only away fans boosting the gates and making it like a home game for them .Football clubs , not just us, generally treat fans like canon fodder, with no regard for their well being and offering a match day experience which leaves fans wanting more . The only way fans can complain is with their feet and stay away. That is clearly what's happening now.

[Royal_jimmy]

An earlier poster mentioned that we are a club in decline.I counted 13 empty boxes yesterday.
Not surprising when they want £2k more this season!
The advertising revenue must be down judging by the hoardings around the ground.No adverts in the bogs.
Where has the big screen gone outside the East stand? Beer at a fiver a pint and a shitty burger for £6!
Its no wonder gates are down.All this reflects what is going on on the pitch.

It is depressing off the pitch as well as on.

The stadium did look so shockingly empty yesterday. What's happened to the ED stand? There must be 1000 people in it... it was usually fairly well populated about 2 seasons ago.

I noticed all the empty advertising too.

It feels like pre-season. Wondering up there to see the stadium not quite ready, fans not too interested and players trying to run off their summer break.

Some strong words from Meyler after the game. And also from Clement. It's crucial they actually act on that now and not just roll over again

(P.S. this is basically a repeat of last season)

What adds to the depressing atmosphere is the basic fundamentals of where our stadium is located . It's like we're in the middle of an industrial moonscape . Nowhere near the town, no pubs nearby, no decent food, no shops, very few can walk to the ground without driving, ensuring rip off car parks with one poxy exit, or wait ages for the buses to leave. So many people left early yesterday so they could get away rather than be held back for ages getting more depressed . Then the the way the club caters for fans regrading food and drink . A soggy hotdog for £4.40, a sh*t burnt pie for £4.10, even a bag of crisps £1.40, and sh*t beer at ridiculous prices . Talk about looking after your customers and delighting them, it's a disgrace. It's bearable when the team are doing ok , but in the current climate , it's no surprise we're haemorrhaging fans by the week. If things don't improve( and I cant see that short term) we're going to be below 10,000 with only away fans boosting the gates and making it like a home game for them .Football clubs , not just us, generally treat fans like canon fodder, with no regard for their well being and offering a match day experience which leaves fans wanting more . The only way fans can complain is with their feet and stay away. That is clearly what's happening now.

100% agree with this. Would love the club to see this post and see how they react.

I can't see Club 1871 lasting long, especially if crowd numbers dip any further. We got 8631 in this fixture last year. Reckon we might get even less when we play Norwich in a month from now.

We definitely won't be attracting new fans either based on the current situation.

[windermereROYAL]

The beer prices are shocking, seem to go up every year.

[SCIAG]

Very promising first half with Swift and Meite coming off their wings to link well with the front two. Bolton didn't really have an answer except for roughing up Baldock.

In the second half things were very different. McShane completely switched off for the goal, and then Bolton defended extremely well and deprived us of any real chances.

Match plan seemed to be to pass it around and hope that we created chances. That worked well until we actually needed a goal. We need to have a range of strategies for breaking down defences. Width, pace, and power were all almost entirely missing yesterday. Guile alone was not right against that defence.

[Rea Ding]

Bacuna should be in for Kelly. He is just better. Kelly is sadly not a particularly good player and I can’t see him getting better

Front 3 + Barrow will improve

Kelly is a much better player than Bacuna and he actually gives a damn about the club

[Old Man Andrews]

Bacuna should be in for Kelly. He is just better. Kelly is sadly not a particularly good player and I can’t see him getting better

Front 3 + Barrow will improve

Kelly is a much better player than Bacuna and he actually gives a damn about the club

Yeah Kelly really cares when all he does is hunt down Instagram photos of his footballing mates to like 30 MINUTES after a performance like that.

[Crotts]

A big problem for us and one that Stam and Clement have both faced is that we do not have many automatic nailed on starters. I would argue that only Moore and Barrow could be classed as nailed on starters. This is why we hardly ever have a settled side with numerous changes from game to game. I appreciate injuries have been a factor but I do not think that is the main factor.
If you go through the starting eleven yesterday for instance, would we have done any different with Walker in place of Mannone, Illori or O'Shea instead of McShane, Rinimhota instead of Yiadom, Richards instead of Blackett, Bacuna or Edwards instead of Meyler, Aluko instead of Meite, Bodvarsson instead of Baldock or Mcnulty, Clement or Popa instead of Swift or Kelly.
We have, apart from Moore and Barrow a squad of very average interchangeable players and Stam last year and Clement now have struggled to pick an effective starting eleven. It is very bad for a team to have so few automatic choices as players always then play with fear of being dropped if they make mistakes or have a poor game. You never get confidence in a team under those circumstances. Stam benefitted in his first season in having many more settled players: Al Habsi, McCleary, Obita, Kermorgant, Beerens, Gunter, Williams, Swift, Evans were all pretty much nailed on starters as they were all playing consistently well at the time.
People will say, what point am I trying to make doesn't success lead to a settled side in itself. I would argue that the issue is that Clement needs to very quickly decide on his best starting eleven and his best ystem of play with the players available to him and to stick with it. The current squad is by virtue of the signings we have made in the last 2 years very average but with a settled side and a clever system of play we are capable of finishing around 10th in the league but the way we are going we are heading for a relegation dog-fight.

[genome]

Bacuna should be in for Kelly. He is just better. Kelly is sadly not a particularly good player and I can’t see him getting better

Front 3 + Barrow will improve

Kelly is a much better player than Bacuna and he actually gives a damn about the club

Yeah Kelly really cares when all he does is hunt down Instagram photos of his footballing mates to like 30 MINUTES after a performance like that.

What’s he meant to do? Stay off social media because he had a bad day at the office?

[Old Man Andrews]

Kelly is a much better player than Bacuna and he actually gives a damn about the club

Yeah Kelly really cares when all he does is hunt down Instagram photos of his footballing mates to like 30 MINUTES after a performance like that.

What’s he meant to do? Stay off social media because he had a bad day at the office?

Yes he is. He should be so mortified by his disgusting display that picking up a phone is the last thing on his mind. He should be back out on the pitch doing extra work and speaking to the coaching staff to find out how it went so badly wrong.

You are clearly amongst the handful of snowflakes supporters we have who will defend him because he is Liam Kelly. He has completely regressed and isn't good enough, end of. Needs to go.

[Snowflake Royal]

I'm going to post my reactions and thoughts to the game here in reaction to everything I've read on the previous 4 pages. I am currently typing into notepad and will paste it exactly how it comes out...

Swift - I thought he was quality, one of the best things about the team. It seemed that every ball played into him seemed to stick to his boot. Some amazing footwork repeatedly got us more and more attempts going forward.

The attendance shocked me today - not the number but the amount of empty seats, seriously, was there about 13000 fans today? Empty seats everywhere.

Club 1871 is amazing, credit to them and I want them to do well. The bad thing abuot it though is that I wonder if they've nicked all the big mouths from Y25/Y26 as the atmosphere today was pathetic. I admit the game wasn't the best, so it's hard to judge. But it was just a thought. Sheffield Wednesday at home will be a better game to judge it on.

Bacuna - I checked it was him about 10x as I was so shocked - but it was abysmal. Surely he is not match fit? If he is then why? Terrible.

Agree with this all. I thought Swift was class - in contrast to the guy sat next to me who screamed 'FFS Swifty do something' every first touch he took.

Kelly was invisible, other than passing the ball backwards/sideways. He needs to be dropped - him and Swift just don't work together and he offers far less than Swift.

We lacked width, unsurprisingly what with playing no wingers. Meite worked his socks off and I think he could end up being brilliant, but he was caught being either too deep or too far up. He's raw but I think worth persisting with and playing as a striker.
Did we even play anyone out on the left? The formation looked completely lopsided. Too many in the middle, no one in the wings.

Meyler - poor. Bacuna - atrocious. Popa - fat.

Front two look far more dangerous than anything we've seen in years - playing on the last man. I think they could come good with some better service and more time together. Like McNulty especially.

Defence/GK - solid enough.

Swift was supposed to be on the left.

[Snowflake Royal]

We wouldn't have any players or fans if everyone you wanted to go went. We'd be better off with you gone.

Anyone who thinks Kelly was the worst midfielder on the pitch for us, or Bacuna has done anything to merit being in the team ahead of him based on performance is crazy.

I might drop Kelly, not because he's worse than anyone else, but because he needs to refind the zip to his game, is marginly less likely to score than Swift and we need to go back to basics. And Bacuna is very basic.

[Pepe the Horseman]

It is depressing off the pitch as well as on.

The stadium did look so shockingly empty yesterday. What's happened to the ED stand? There must be 1000 people in it... it was usually fairly well populated about 2 seasons ago.

I noticed all the empty advertising too.

It feels like pre-season. Wondering up there to see the stadium not quite ready, fans not too interested and players trying to run off their summer break.

Some strong words from Meyler after the game. And also from Clement. It's crucial they actually act on that now and not just roll over again

(P.S. this is basically a repeat of last season)

What adds to the depressing atmosphere is the basic fundamentals of where our stadium is located . It's like we're in the middle of an industrial moonscape . Nowhere near the town, no pubs nearby, no decent food, no shops, very few can walk to the ground without driving, ensuring rip off car parks with one poxy exit, or wait ages for the buses to leave. So many people left early yesterday so they could get away rather than be held back for ages getting more depressed . Then the the way the club caters for fans regrading food and drink . A soggy hotdog for £4.40, a sh*t burnt pie for £4.10, even a bag of crisps £1.40, and sh*t beer at ridiculous prices . Talk about looking after your customers and delighting them, it's a disgrace. It's bearable when the team are doing ok , but in the current climate , it's no surprise we're haemorrhaging fans by the week. If things don't improve( and I cant see that short term) we're going to be below 10,000 with only away fans boosting the gates and making it like a home game for them .Football clubs , not just us, generally treat fans like canon fodder, with no regard for their well being and offering a match day experience which leaves fans wanting more . The only way fans can complain is with their feet and stay away. That is clearly what's happening now.

100% agree with this. Would love the club to see this post and see how they react.

I can't see Club 1871 lasting long, especially if crowd numbers dip any further. We got 8631 in this fixture last year. Reckon we might get even less when we play Norwich in a month from now.

We definitely won't be attracting new fans either based on the current situation.

Club1871 have given up already judging by yesterday.

[Old Man Andrews]

What adds to the depressing atmosphere is the basic fundamentals of where our stadium is located . It's like we're in the middle of an industrial moonscape . Nowhere near the town, no pubs nearby, no decent food, no shops, very few can walk to the ground without driving, ensuring rip off car parks with one poxy exit, or wait ages for the buses to leave. So many people left early yesterday so they could get away rather than be held back for ages getting more depressed . Then the the way the club caters for fans regrading food and drink . A soggy hotdog for £4.40, a sh*t burnt pie for £4.10, even a bag of crisps £1.40, and sh*t beer at ridiculous prices . Talk about looking after your customers and delighting them, it's a disgrace. It's bearable when the team are doing ok , but in the current climate , it's no surprise we're haemorrhaging fans by the week. If things don't improve( and I cant see that short term) we're going to be below 10,000 with only away fans boosting the gates and making it like a home game for them .Football clubs , not just us, generally treat fans like canon fodder, with no regard for their well being and offering a match day experience which leaves fans wanting more . The only way fans can complain is with their feet and stay away. That is clearly what's happening now.

100% agree with this. Would love the club to see this post and see how they react.

I can't see Club 1871 lasting long, especially if crowd numbers dip any further. We got 8631 in this fixture last year. Reckon we might get even less when we play Norwich in a month from now.

We definitely won't be attracting new fans either based on the current situation.

Club1871 have given up already judging by yesterday.

Yeah they had about half the number they had for the first game. They were absolutely silent after Bolton scored, thought they were meant to be positive and create an atmosphere no matter what? Won't last at this rate.

[Zip]

I think it's important not to get carried away. Yesterday was bad, but by all accounts it's our first poor performance and we've certainly played worse last season.

Hopefully Meyler just had a bad day as he's supposed to have been ok before. We really need to sort out our injuries though so we can play the same XI 3 games in a row. Constant changes to the line up don't help.

We looked like individuals yesterday. Players breaking shape to rush out and make a challenge alone. Lazy passes when they couldn't create anything rather than crisp accurate ones to help someone else do it.

And what the oxf*rd is wrong with our shooting. Everything ballooning miles high and wide.

Yes our shooting was dreadful. Crucially that final pass was also very poor too with the ball nearly always ending up finding a Bolton player. I could understand the tactics early on. Play through the middle of the pitch to link up Baldock and McNulty. It looked promising to begin with but became less and less effective as the game wore on.

Just to add where are the ball boys these days? We were one down with the ball regularly going off the pitch on the East Stand side with not a ball boy in sight. It slowed down any momentum the team were trying to create.

[genome]

Yeah Kelly really cares when all he does is hunt down Instagram photos of his footballing mates to like 30 MINUTES after a performance like that.

What’s he meant to do? Stay off social media because he had a bad day at the office?

Yes he is. He should be so mortified by his disgusting display that picking up a phone is the last thing on his mind. He should be back out on the pitch doing extra work and speaking to the coaching staff to find out how it went so badly wrong.

You are clearly amongst the handful of snowflakes supporters we have who will defend him because he is Liam Kelly. He has completely regressed and isn't good enough, end of. Needs to go.

Who's to say he didn't speak to the coaching staff in the dressing room? Did you hang around the stadium afterwards to see if he came out onto the pitch?

I'm no Liam Kelly apologist btw, but criticising him for checking his phone after the final whistle is reaching. I'll assume you never went on your phone/the internet when you had a shit day at work then

[Old Man Andrews]

What’s he meant to do? Stay off social media because he had a bad day at the office?

Yes he is. He should be so mortified by his disgusting display that picking up a phone is the last thing on his mind. He should be back out on the pitch doing extra work and speaking to the coaching staff to find out how it went so badly wrong.

You are clearly amongst the handful of snowflakes supporters we have who will defend him because he is Liam Kelly. He has completely regressed and isn't good enough, end of. Needs to go.

Who's to say he didn't speak to the coaching staff in the dressing room? Did you hang around the stadium afterwards to see if he came out onto the pitch?

I'm no Liam Kelly apologist btw, but criticising him for checking his phone after the final whistle is reaching. I'll assume you never went on your phone/the internet when you had a shit day at work then

I never have a shit day. My ho's make the money and do well.

In all seriousness how can you not see Liam Kelly isn't working hard enough in training? He has regressed massively at such a young age. He should be getting better and developing hid game by now surely?