Well it's been an interesting start to the season, hasn't it? If I were to try and summarise my feelings of the past few weeks, I'd probably have to go with:
Which isn't helpful when listening to the match online.
With the international break now upon us, Bolton fans are going to be left feeling frustrated until the 15th Sept. for our home game against Watford. Two weeks! To weeks to feel miserable about our promotion prospects, our ability to leak goals and throw away games.
But don't despair. Here at Wakey Wanderers we've come up with some sort of game plan. One that involves a team shuffle and the dropping of some players. First let me start off by showing you who we think should start against Watford:
Yes it's a 4-5-1 formation, but with both Spearing and Andrews providing cover for the back four.
Mark Davies was one of my rated players, but has yet to impact on any of our matches so far. With Eagles being able to play an attacking midfield role (as well as being our top goal scorer) I've dropped Mavies to the bench and stuck Eagles in the middle and allows Petrov to play on the left. Petrov is much better here than Eagles ever will be, and because Eagles likes to cut into the middle anyway, way not just start him there in the first place?
Sordell starts upfront in place of SKD in hope that this encourages the team to play the ball on the ground more often. This is not to say SKD shouldn't be playing, I just think that more often or not, the team chooses the long ball because it's the easy option. From what I've seen of Sordell, he will drop deep and hold the ball up, just like SKD only Sordell is then able to use his speed to get into a good position once he has support. Sordell starts ahead of Afobe just because I think we should give priority to Bolton players.
The back 4 I'm still not to sure about. Both Mears and Ricketts have been struggling lately, and Tim Ream plays a lot better when paired with Wheater. Mills seems to need half a game before he is able to settle down, he also needs to stop playing the long ball over and over.
But it's not just about who starts and what formation we play. Bolton also need to have some kind of game plan. I've already said we should play the ball on the ground more, something CYL has spoken about himself.
Let me just run through how I think we should be playing.
Ricketts (or whoever is at right back) and CYL need to be able to attack together. The full back should be the one getting to the byline and crossing the ball, or drawing the defenders to him. CYL should be able to get off the wing and dribble into the box as he likes to do, looking for Sordell and Eagles in the box. If this fails the right back must be able to get back, Spearing should be able to provide some cover but that would leave space in front of our back 4.
Petrov should do what he does best. Good linking play with the left back, and strong quick runs to the byline with a good hanging cross into the box. Simples.
When attacking Andrews or Spearing should be able to press forward to help link up play in the middle. Just as long as one of them remains back to cover the midfield area.
Sure there's a few problems with my ideas. Eagles can go missing, especially when he should be back defending. CYL's ability to cut into the middle relies on the right back getting forward, which could be dangerous if the opponent breaks. What's more, this style of play needs us to string together passes, for the team to help each other out and provide support, something we seem to be lacking.
So what do you think? Is this the way to go, or do you have ideas of your own? Either way, I'm looking forward to the release of Football Manager 2013 to try some of my ideas out and rescue Bolton.
