The first line of defence and the last line of defence. Look away now if you’re squeamish.
Well. Hello there. And welcome to the Vital Bolton 2012-13 preview.
Over the next three articles, we will look at the defence (including the goalkeeper, the last line of defence), the midfield and the forward line. We will, dispassionately and forthrightly, look at the pros and cons of each and every player and signing. And then we will lock ourselves in a dark room, shoot ourselves up with a cocktail of drugs not seen this side of the darkest, dingiest, grottiest parts of Shanghai, and come out in the blinking light of May 2013 and see whether we were right or wrong.
Of course, I jest. There is no need for a dark room.
GOALKEEPERS
Out: Jussi Jääskeläinen
In: Andy Lonergan
I have a soft spot for the goalkeeping position, being as it is the position that I played from primary school to University, through Sunday League and the weekly knock about with my mates. (I was a mature student, so it isn`t like I stopped at twenty one for all those counting).
How could we look at this coming season without having a quick peek back at last season and the most resounding, shuddering, God almighty cock up that the management team made. They sold the wrong goalkeeper. Yes, Jussi is a legend. Yes, I am sorry to see him go. But it was plainly obvious in the performances that he and Ali Al-Habsi made in 2010-11 that the answer to the longevity of the goalkeeping position was to thank the Finnish veteran for his time and to give Al-Habsi his day. Firstly, because it would have pissed off Dave Whelan. And secondly, because Jussi was at the end of his career and his reflexes, the one thing that put him above other goalkeepers, were on the wane. Al-Habsi had those reflexes and whilst he may have made the odd blunder, his positioning and command of his area were head and shoulders above the older man. What Big Sam has seen in Jussi, other than someone to have a nice chat with on the bench, I do not know.
So, when it became apparent that Jussi had lost it, OC called on Adam Bogdan. And, to be fair, Bogdan excelled in his position. He was obviously helped in this by a defence who seemed to come together in the dressing room before the game, having avoided each other at Euxton during the week in a bizarre form of hide and seek where everyone hides but don`t pick someone to do the seeking, thereby finding themselves stuck in whatever passes for a coal bunker at the training ground, giggling to themselves like girls that they won`t be discovered in here. Through this, Bogdan was called on time and again to make saves and whilst his lack of experience was shown up against Chelsea and Tim Howard looped a ball over his head, he became Bolton`s most consistent player. Four months too late mind. As such, you would expect Bogdan to remain as number one. After winning the player of the year, as voted for by YOU, it would be a strange event if he was removed from his starting position. He can only get better and whilst Andy Lonergan has been brought in from Leeds, and there is still the back up Rob Lainton and Jay Lynch, none of them make me think that they can take Bogdan`s place. Lonergan himself is still young for a goalkeeper, he`s only twenty eight, and if things do go wrong he would be a reliable replacement. However, the fact that he spent most of his career at Preston before heading for Leeds would suggest that he isn`t Premier League class, whereas Bogdan has kind of already proved that he is.
DEFENCE:
Out: Ricardo Gardner, Gretar Steinsson, Paul Robinson, Mark Connolly
In: Matt Mills
Shudder now, for you may as well start early. Nothing gives the heart more palpitations than when a striker is running at the Bolton defence and the defence are back pedalling, as happened more than once last season. The signing of Matt Mills from Leicester is solid and dependable, but this has been offset with the re-signing of Zat Knight, a player for whom the words “solid” and “dependable” just do not exist. The injury to David Wheater in the penultimate game of last season was a massive blow, not necessarily to our survival hopes, but for what we had to bring in. The release of Mark Connolly may be a strange one, his season at Crawley Town will be looked at with interest by this writer, but the other defenders released won`t be missed, at least for their playing ability. Bibi Gardner has been injured for the majority of the past three years and there comes a time, no matter who the player is, when you have to say enough is enough. The right back berth already has Tyrone Mears and Joe Riley, both players who were more likely to get a look in before Steinsson, and Paul Robinson`s deficiencies were seen long before last season started.
It is most people`s hopes that the central defensive pairing will be Tim Ream and Matt Mills, with Knight sitting on the bench. Or at home. Whatever. Although this is an untested partnership, Mills knows the Championship and was considered to be good enough for the stalled Erikkson revolution at Leicester. Ream proved and effective partner to Wheater as our hopes flickered towards the end of last season and it would, again, not be a smart move to remove him from the position. Add onto this, with all seriousness, Zat Knight`s iffy pre-season and there`s your partnership.
As for the players on either side, Sam Ricketts and Marcos Alonso will be vying for the left back slot, although Adam Blakeman can also play there. Alonso still has his Spanish court case hanging over him, but Ricketts, for all the good that he has done in the position, isn`t a natural left back. However, the return of Ricketts last season gave more of a solidity to that part of the pitch, and is needed when Martin Petrov goes on a maraud up front but then has an attack of the cantbearsednesses in getting back. Alonso is too much of an attacking left back to be able to counter the times, when they come, and they will come, that Petrov sticks his hands on his haunches and does an impression of a teapot. There will be games when Alonso should be chosen above Ricketts, but for the majority of the time, Ricketts should be the first choice.
For the right back slot, it is difficult to decide who to choose between Mears and Riley. Riley has the talent, and has proved it when given the chance. Mears was unlucky to find himself between the ball and Zat Knight last summer but maybe we should read something into the fact that he couldn`t get out of the way of a Zat Knight tackle, the only person all season who failed to. His signing last summer didn`t exactly have the fans leaping into trees to put up bunting welcoming him down the A676 and he is, effectively, an unknown quantity. I`d personally go for Riley. Because I can.
So, there you have the Vital Bolton defence. Bogdan – Riley – Mears – Mills – Ricketts. Come back tomorrow, if only to see how much of a boot I put into Darren Pratley.