Dougie Freedman sees green shoots of recovery at Bolton Wanderers

AFTER finally ridding himself of a winless league record, Dougie Freedman has immediately set his sights on restoring Wanderers’ home form.

Five games at the Reebok have yielded just three points this season – a far cry from the eight wins on the bounce between February and May that took the Whites to the fringes of the play-offs.

Confidence has slowly returned to the team in their last two away outings at Blackpool and Birmingham, and though the process of getting Wanderers back on track has been a taxing one for the manager, he feels the team are close to getting it right.

“I’ve been here nearly a year but it sometimes feels like 10,” he admitted. “Fans are seeing parts of the jigsaw I’m trying to put together and I know it is taking time.

“But we have got three out of the next four games at home and if we can get some form of consistency then I will be a lot happier.

“I look at the last 10 minutes of the last home game against Yeovil, at Blackpool and now Birmingham – we are turning this round. We are working toward being a Championship side I would like to watch.

“Bit by bit it will take shape and I have every confidence it will turn round for us.”

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More media guff, but that's part of his job. We'll just have to see if a couple of improved performances and a lucky win at Brum can be converted into ruthless error-free consistency.

Sometimes Freedman should just shut the fuck up. If he has to attend these media sessions he should just say "I have nothing to say".

No one has seen any green shoots, just a shit team with a load of loaned in players because the players Dougie bought were shit.

Agree with Nat, all the good work done on the pitch over the last couple of games has been completely undone by a couple of lines in a paper.

What a twat Dougie is.

Have to agree with Nat as well. Baptiste and Hall are obviously rubbish, Tierney is just a lightweight sicknote crying off with a broken foot and Beckford will never come good. The guy has no idea in the transfer market and the players he's brought in have done nothing to inspire the squad.
How he's got the gall to even talk to a reporter is beyond me. If he had a hundredth of Nat's football knowledge he'd have just decked that dickhead reporter for asking stupid questions like "How's it going Dougie?"

Plonker

wanderlust wrote:Have to agree with Nat as well. Baptiste and Hall are obviously rubbish, Tierney is just a lightweight sicknote crying off with a broken foot and Beckford will never come good. The guy has no idea in the transfer market and the players he's brought in have done nothing to inspire the squad.
How he's got the gall to even talk to a reporter is beyond me. If he had a hundredth of Nat's football knowledge he'd have just decked that dickhead reporter for asking stupid questions like "How's it going Dougie?"

 

wanderlust wrote:Have to agree with Nat as well. Baptiste and Hall are obviously rubbish, Tierney is just a lightweight sicknote crying off with a broken foot and Beckford will never come good. The guy has no idea in the transfer market and the players he's brought in have done nothing to inspire the squad.

Ha ha, you're trying to be funny but actually you talk sense.

Baptiste has done ok without being brilliant, he still looks shit when the opposition have a winger with pace though.

But Hall has been fooking rubbish, absolute garbage in fact. Tierney is rubbish, no positional sense whatsoever and it's no coincidence we've looked better at the back since he got injured.

And Beckford has been shite, missed several one-on-ones, and while he scored on Saturday he also put that cross on the bar when he should have hit the net.

You are right, the guy is fooking clueless in the transfer market, just like Mr Coyle. They share the same plan - get in as many players as you can and hope one or two come off.

Hall's 19 and has showed plenty of promise in the games I've seen him play.

Baptiste is a solid full back, a great signing on a free.

Tierney hasn't looked up to scratch but hasn't had enough time to be written off as rubbish.

Beckford looked very good against Birmingham, used the ball well the few times he got it the juries still out but I'd back him to kick on now.

The signings he's made on a tight budget have been very good, I honestly can't believe anybody can argue against that.

Hall hasn't created a single chance or looked like scoring. Are standards so low that a "good signing" is someone breathing?

Natasha Whittam wrote:Hall hasn't created a single chance or looked like scoring. Are standards so low that a "good signing" is someone breathing?

He's hardly fucking played. Score one and set one up in the cup though so you are wrong.

Rubbish, he had a good game against Derby and I specifically remember him setting up Odelusi's first against Shresbury and scoring one himself. He's 19 and it's good to have a kid with potential, but you write him off as 'fooking rubbish' just to have something to moan about.

Im amazed you've given Dougie no credit for dropping the overpaid ponces like N'gog, Knight and Lee. You've just moved onto something else to criticise him for, it's almost as if you're moaning for the sake of it.... surely not.

bwfc1874 wrote:

Im amazed you've given Dougie no credit for dropping the overpaid ponces like N'gog, Knight and Lee. You've just moved onto something else to criticise him for, it's almost as if you're moaning for the sake of it.... surely not.

Ha ha, he dropped them because his job was on the line - we all know they shouldn't have been anywhere near the starting 11 when the season kicked off at Burnley. It took the worst start in over 100 years to make him see what everyone else could see months ago.

N'gog was playing some of the best football he has for us before his injury at Leicester and may still have something to offer so that's rubbish.

Zat Knight was one half of a very solid defence at the end of last season, of course he was in contention to start the season in the same way.

Not many would say that Lee isn't one of our more talented players on his day. Unfortunately he hasn't been the same since the leg break, you could make a case for dropping him earlier but it's hardly cut and dry.

He's made numerous big decisions during his time here, by and large they've been correct. That's what a manager is paid to do, he deserves credit.

bwfc1874 wrote:N'gog was playing some of the best football he has for us before his injury at Leicester and may still have something to offer so that's rubbish.

You are definitely the last one in the 'Ngog is great' camp.

I have been impressed with Hall. He's not frightened to run with the ball and take players on. It's far too early to be giving him stick. Let him get a few more games in first.

Reebok Trotter wrote:I have been impressed with Hall. He's not frightened to run with the ball and take players on. It's far too early to be giving him stick. Let him get a few more games in first.

He's a professional footballer, shouldn't it be a prerequisite to be able to run with the ball?

Haven't said anywhere he's great he's been a terrible signing which I'd never have made in the first place, he's never been a goalscorer and is far too injury prone. 

But towards the end of last season he looked fitter and sharper than I've ever seen him hence my point that he was worthy of contention at the beginning of the season. Unfortunately he's slipped back to his old ways so far, but if he was to apply himself he'd be an asset from the bench if nothing else.

He'll be off in summer and hopefully the wages will be used to bring in a far more effective attacking player.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

Reebok Trotter wrote:I have been impressed with Hall. He's not frightened to run with the ball and take players on. It's far too early to be giving him stick. Let him get a few more games in first.

He's a professional footballer, shouldn't it be a prerequisite to be able to run with the ball?

He's got pace, it's far more effective if he runs at a full back than if a carthorse like Pratley was too.

We rarely have players with genuine pace who can beat a man and put a good ball in, Halls one and Feeney's another. I'd love to see them both starting either side of Beckford.