Yesterdays Summary!!!

[Barnes]

I will give you my summary of yesterdays game as i saw it!!!

All in all a awful performance against an awful opposition we never looked threatening from the midfield and i thought that the strikers were below par apart from a couple of sparks from berbatov! The defence looked dodgy against set pieces and apart from that looked quite solid!!

I will now go through the team and rate each player!

Robbo- Made some great saves to keep us in the game but thought he could of done more for both goals.

Lee- Gave the ball away frequently and looked abit shakey defending.

Dawson- One of the positives as i thought again he didnt have his best game but was one of the better performers just thort once or twice he tried to play to many long balls.

Davenport- Could do nothing about the goal and thought that he had a reasonably stable game.

Ekotto- Started the best on the pitch was getting stuck in and defended well although as the game went on he looked worse and worse although i believe we have a quality left back on our hands.

Lennon- Appauling didnt do anything all game although he didnt reli get a chance as knowone gave him the ball.

Jenas- CRAP just dont think he deserves a place in the team.

Zokora- Our best player who unbelievably gt took off he got stuck in played the ball well and gt forward aswell but if mj says he didnt play well i would like to see wehen he does play well.

Davids- CRAP just dont think he deserves a place in the team.

Berbatov- Couple of good glimpses but didnt really see too much sparkle from him.

Defoe- Couple of good shots but again didnt see much off him as both strikers did not link up well with the midfield.

So all in all i think that the 3 signings were the best players and would just like to know your thoughts???

[mgrep1881]

really beg to differ with you. this was the worst i have seen us play in a year. we did better with food poisening. the new left back i thought was awful. Every attack they tried to do was on our left. Here is my player by player.

Robbo - since the WC he looks like he hates the new balls. hink he should have done more also on both goals.

Lee- i was sure at RB he would be better....sadly i was wrong. was out muscled a few times and got cought in possesion when he could have crossed. Give him 1 more chance i think.

Dawson - thank god for him. only bright light in our defence.

Davenport - got foulded for the goal but i think he should have been stronger or screamed louder. Soor CD but we miss Ledly!!

Ekotto - first 10 i was sure he was the new carlos! amazing for 600 seconds then .....i dont know. He was totally losy out there. loosing balls, missing tackles giving away fouls... really dissapointed

Lennon - was he playing?? i am afraid we need to figure out how to get the ball to his feet in space on the wing. Teams now know how good he is so he is marked tighter.

Jennas - i blame him for the goals as well, could have headered at the near post and teh 2nd goal he back flicked like a bird on the edge of the area. Terrible free kicks didnt help. Doesnt challenge or pass well. Sorry JJ but you ae a weak link.

Davids - how is it he runs more than any one else. What he has in heart he lacks in his feet sadly. holds the ball too much and then gives it away. Plays like a CM and not on the left which means that poor LB is all on his own. Also needs to go. Sorry Ed.

Strikers - a few bright sparks from both but nothing to scream about. they didnt play against the best defence in the league that is for sure.

Overall i really hope things can get better. i am still optamistic but we need a LM and a full back ASAP.

COYS

[Barnes]

u missed zokora rating?? think he was the best player for us

[Thfc4Life]

Bolton away is never an easy place to go and play, they fielded a strong experienced team that competed all over the park. Once ahead so quickly by 2 goals, it was always going to be difficult against Bolton.

The opinions expressed about the left side gap were again correct and were painfully obvious again to all bar Jol it seems. We were unbalanced again as we were all last season. We only looked better when Lennon went on the left. Why wont Jol play Routledge on the right??? - Jol absolutely *****ed up by substituting our best midfielder on the day Zokora and letting the big name Davids play on.

He was right to bring Keane on though, as we had absolutely no penetration with Jenas in there. Was Defoe playing second half??? He gave up/went missing and should have been replaced with Barnard to try and battle to create something and earn the right to play up front.

Davids was as bad as I remembered him all of last season and this pre-season. This was the type of game where he should have shined as is his forte', but he didn't. He was exposed by Bolton for his lack of physical presence and poor control and passing when pressurised. Why was Davenport marking Davies all the time? He was not up to it/ready yet and it should have been Dawson doing this job as he is key to their attacking style (which is like watching the Wimbledon of old an is awful to watch).

Every time the ball was floated in you felt we could concede from his knock downs and flick ones.

Bad tactics by Jol and should have been spotted early on that Davies was winning this battle. He is a top player, very physical, and our back up centre back should not have been given such a difficult assignment. Apart from that there were some positives as the team did compete but I think we lacked cutting edge in an attacking sense in CM.

Unless there were injuries why we had two holding midfielders playing and one on the bench as well, was a mystery to me as we therefore had no plan B if Jenas played ***** (and he did).

He does not have the guile to be the playmaker against teams like Bolton. I would have taken Jenas off and had either Ghaly or Murphy on the bench to replace him to link up the play as it was here that we were woeful. I felt sorry for our forwards as they had very little to work with.

When fit Tainio should start attacking CM as he has the ability to make the killer pass. Decent effort by all three strikers (except Defoe in 2nd half). Berbatov needs service to feet, and also needs Keane up front with him next game, as when ball is in the air as he can read a flick on from Berbatov and play off the shoulder of the last man.

By the way some great saves by Robbo but he seems to concede a lot of long range goals doesn't he?! Also looked very nervous and shaky on crosses. We need King back NOW to command the penalty area!!!

No need to panic buy though, just pay the money to buy a top quality left midfielder. That was a tough game for anyone to play and like us last season the fact that only Chelsea and Man Utd beat them at home shows how difficult that game was going to be, especially with such a bad start!