Bolton News

Bolton Wanderers: Black. Pool.

|
Image for Bolton Wanderers: Black. Pool.

Thought’s on Bloomfield Road. It’s not nice.

Afternoon all. I’m back from my birthday break and it appears that the post office have lost all your cards. No, I don’t want to hear excuses.

So, another game and another tricky fixture negotiated without defeat. Just as we had the new manager bounce when Dougie came, you would have expected Blackpool to get the same when Michael Appleton from the X-Files monster gallery joined the from Portsmouth. Just looking at Appleton on TV, jumper, shirt, no tie, you can’t help thinking that he and the town of Blackpool are just right for each other, just like the fourteen hens short of a hen house Holloway was.

Anyway, here is what I learnt from watching about a minute of the game once Clem the Gibbon had stopped chewing his microphone on Saturday night.

We really need to cut out that backing off a player, especially when that player is someone like Tom Ince. Stop him, by any means necessary. I’m sure his dad would approve.

Kevin Phillips comes on and they almost immediately score. Who would have thought?

Darren Pratley comes on and they almost immediately score. Who would have thought?

SKD is not an impact player when he comes on with only three minutes left. At that point there is little point. Or no point.

Mark Davies can finish a ball well.

There isn’t really a great deal else I can say as the game showed little else and at the time of the game I was scratching my head and trying to figure out how York Minster can get away with charging nine pounds to look around a big church. It is good that we are now not losing games, but with every game that passes we may edge further away from the drop zone, but the play offs and beyond edge further away from us. Still, at least we’re not Leeds, eh?

Jacob Butterfield’s loan deal saw him sitting on the bench on Saturday. I wouldn’t read a great deal into him not playing any part. Only if we actually needed him should he have been brought on and we didn’t appear to need him until Blackpool scored again, by which time Calamity Daz was already on. Hopefully, Butterfield’s signing will temper any temptation to play Dazza who just doesn’t appear to be able to fit snuggly into any formation or line up that the current or former manager can think of.

This may, again, seem like this site is having a go at Pratley, but I can only say it like I see it. Last season he was an accident waiting to happen, and didn’t disappoint. This season he has been used sparingly but hasn’t done anything when coming on, bar disrupting cohesion. I admire Dougie for giving everyone a chance. He’s had that. No one should be allowed a third one.

And this is why I applaud Dougie for the signing. Butterfield has, apparently, good vision and a nice first touch and would fit nicely into a 4-3-3 or 4-5-1. Where this leaves the likes of Andrews and Spearing, who knows. Andrews doesn’t seem to be flavour of the month and, although selecting him on Saturday, we can’t know how Dougie will feel about Spearing once Stu Holden returns/doesn’t return.

For myself, despite seeing 1.5% of Saturday’s match, I like the direction that the new manager is taking us. He’s got through Cardiff, Leicester and Blackpool without too much of a problem. Now, for Barnsley.

Who did Butterfield play for before joining Norwich somewhat acrimoniously again?

Al tomorrow. See you Wednesday.


One for our American friends below. RIP Jack.

Share this article

From the North, In the North.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *