Bolton 1-3 Oxford United

Appalling defending for their opener.

Worried about this one now - especially if we go down to 10 men and I don't think that's beyond this referee.

Need to play better, simple as.

We continue to play badly - poor passing and giving the ball away easily, not troubling their goalie at any time. ZERO shots to their 5.

HT 0 -1
Deservedly so after giving the ball away easily and piss poor defending for the goal.
One chance and Eastwood saved well - but that's nowhere near enough.

We mustn't concede again and we have to start playing a lot better than that because it was painful to watch.

Absolute shite, when is Evatt going to understand that it’s goals that win games? One shot in 48 minutes is absolutely unforgivable. Yet again he persists with Charles and Kachunga who produce nothing and leaves Dapo, Bod and Sadlier getting splinters. We constantly get the ball to the oppositions box but then produce absolutely nothing from it with awful passing, atrocious crosses and no attempt to shoot. Still nothing from set pieces and corners and eventually these comebacks won’t happen.

Whitesince63 wrote: We constantly get the ball to the oppositions box but then produce absolutely nothing from it with awful passing, atrocious crosses and no attempt to shoot. Still nothing from set pieces and corners and eventually these comebacks won’t happen.

HT stat: BWFC passing accuracy in the final third....49%

Dapo on

Shit the bed! We just got back from shopping and we're 2 nil down!

Now 1-2 Game on!

This is awful to watch, especially as there is a fee to pay. There's something wrong when we're 1-3 down at home to this standard of opposition. I still maintain that this current squad isn't top 6 material.

Can't remember the last time I was so disinterested in watching a game. Megson era maybe.

What a shitter!

Basics. It's not even the selection - it's just multiple players playing shit at the same time, giving the ball away cheaply, misplaced passes, not concentrating, missing chances when we get them - noticeably Dadi's airshot immediately followed by skying it over the bar.

Lots of bluster and effort but hand on heart I can't name a single player who played well - and by that I mean even up to the usual standard.

If Kachunga's the answer you've asked the wrong question, IE. He's the not-so-new Delfouneso. Sorry but he's just not up to it.

wanderlust wrote:Basics. It's not even the selection - it's just multiple players playing shit at the same time, giving the ball away cheaply, misplaced passes, not concentrating, missing chances when we get them - noticeably Dadi's airshot immediately followed by skying it over the bar.

Lots of bluster and effort but hand on heart I can't name a single player who played well - and by that I mean even up to the usual standard.

Maybe they’re playing shut because 5hey are shit? I can live with an odd bad result but October should have been the opportunity to really lay a claim for the automatics but instead we’ve been basically outplayed by 5 teams in the bottom six and only beat two of them due to luck. Even before that can anyone truthfully say we’ve been impressive? I don’t think so. Evatt’s system doesn’t work with the players we have and until he accepts that and plays our better players in their proper positions and drops this ridiculous five at the back garbage the problem will continue. I mean after the last two games, playing Dion and Kacha up top again was bordering criminal.

Very close to 5 league losses in a row against average competition. Reset needed with a consistent starting 11

Subs Lee and Sheehan rescued Bolton on Tuesday night buy sadly when given the opportunity to prove themselves from the start weren't up to it.The two strikers were also poor again.I don't think there is one very good 3rd tier striker at the club, not even a Madine let alone a McGinlay.
Goals conceded from corner kicks in both matches, a familiar story under Mr Evatt.

We can't get hold of the second ball and our luck with the bounce of the ball has gone. 

As always, the second Dempsey, Sadlier, Daddy etc. came on we looked a better team. Ian is sticking to his ideas though so nowt we can do at the moment.

6th in the table but I wouldn't fancy us in a play-off situation currently.

I arrived at the ground, saw the teamsheet, and immediately wish I'd stayed at home.

Has there ever been such a defensive line up at home to a team in the bottom half? Did Evans think we were playing Man City?

I just despair of this manager. It's clear his stupid defensive formation suits no one, but he's just too stubborn to change it - it's the Crellin situation all over again. He seems to want to show us who is manager.

We are too slow on the ball, play far too many backwards passes, and when we do go forward it's the big boot to 4'11 strikers. We used to hate the Parky hoofball, but Evans has made us even more boring to watch.

The happy clappers are slowing waking up to the fact we're not going to be promoted by Christmas, they seem to have come to a consensus that the manager is brilliant, but should change the tactics, formation and players!

Evans out.

Evatt has this issue, and I think it's been mentioned before...

He brings on subs who play out of their skin, do he gives them a chance for a start, and they don't perform...

This has happened with Sadlier, Baka, Dadi, Lee, Sheehan, Morley and Dapo to make just a few.

I think that the subs were the wrong choices. We needed Lee and Sheehan (who bossed out on Tuesday) to stay on and we needed Charles and Chunga off with Dadi and Saddy up top. Dempsey on fo MJ.

Afolayen once again looked only OK in patches and wasted the ball way too much when in his positions.

Was Baka injured today?

Very poor performance today and again like Nat i despaired when i saw the team. Dion and Kachunga as a front two just don't work. We looked lightweight in midfield as well as Sheehan was anonymous and Williams was poor. 

Iredale has been poor for weeks yet still starts and the back 3 and wing backs is just not working. Evatt brought on Dapo and played him at bloody wing back! We need to go 433 with Dapo and Sadlier as wide men with JDB or Dion in the middle and we need to be starting with Dempsey and Morley in midfield.

Whitesince63 wrote:
Maybe they’re playing shut because 5hey are shit? I can live with an odd bad result but October should have been the opportunity to really lay a claim for the automatics but instead we’ve been basically outplayed by 5 teams in the bottom six and only beat two of them due to luck. Even before that can anyone truthfully say we’ve been impressive? I don’t think so. Evatt’s system doesn’t work with the players we have and until he accepts that and plays our better players in their proper positions and drops this ridiculous five at the back garbage the problem will continue. I mean after the last two games, playing Dion and Kacha up top again was bordering criminal.

Maybe they are shit. Do we actually have better players? I ask because nobody, subs included covered themselves in glory today. It took JDB about a minute to swing at a great chance and miss the ball completely, recover it and then blast it over. Dapo did nothing. Dempsey gave it away 3 times in his first 5 minutes. The fact is that they were all off their game today and no matter who started it wouldn't have made the slightest difference.

My one observation was that the starting line up was full of lightweight  midgets who struggled with the "athleticism" of Oxford who put in some "robust challenges" from the off so maybe that's why some of our passing was poor i.e. they were rushing to offload it for fear of getting clattered? Whatever it was the likes of Lee and Sheehan didn't earn the right to play the fancy stuff and they were clearly unnerved because their passing was pants.
We've been here before. A possible solution is to play George T, MJ and Dempsey across the middle, Charles, Kacha and a big lad (either JDB or Baka) up front in a 433 and go to war with them from the off, sacrificing the tippy tappy until we've won the right to play. Kacha is no goalscorer but he can put it about better than most. Bring on the lightweight ponces when we can't get bullied off the ball as Oxford's 433 did to us today.

We can pontificate all we like but it won’t change Evatt’s mind on playing his system. I’m afraid getting things wrong just seems to make him all the more intent on showing it works and proving he was right, even though we all know it won’t. Like Nat and piggy, when I saw the team sheet my heart sunk and I wasn’t one bit surprised about the outcome. Despite all his rhetoric and nonsense about players being happy being good team mates, players want to play. With Evatt, even if you come on and save the game you’re still on the bench next game making way for the same failing players who you replaced. How can any player be happy with that, I certainly wouldn’t? Unfortunately I don’t see a change but I guarantee that unless there is one before long, gates will quickly drop off. That would be all down to Evatt for me because I’m sure we do have the players needed just not played in the right positions and system, all entirely down to the manager.