v Bolton Wanderers (A) Match Thread

[G STAR RAM]

9 minutes ago, rammieib said:

We should embarrass fans by taking the pics and putting them on here to name and shame them. IF someone was trying to break a chair, that photo alone would be enough to ban them.

Thankfully no real idiots near me apart from the two next to me loved calling our players "liabilities". It was actually quite funny.

Unfortunately my phone was pocket as I was holding my lad up so he could see the game otherwise I would have had no hesitation in getting a picture of the pathetic cretin. 

I know what seat numbers they were sat in but doubt that much could be done on this alone.

[jono]

Hindsight is wonderful and as I didn’t watch the game my comments can’t really carry much weight but given the opposition and tuesdays heroics; I really would have started Waghorn and others, both for physical condition, moral and squad motivation. Still .. only 4 points off the top, it was a rough day away .. onwards to the next game having gained more insight and knowledge

[blackNwhites]

44 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

Not sure if I've watched the same game as some on here tonight. 

On the whole I thought we controlled the game.

Got in some decent positions but we're wasteful or lacked that extra bit of creativity (these are the games where I would really see Mount making his mark). 

I think Bennett needs to be dropped back down to the bench, his decision making isn't good enough and he doesnt offer much of a goal threat...surely this is what Waghorn was brought in for?

One final point, I've seen @RamNut taking swipes at our away support and thought he was going OTT,  however, I can confirm that we have some of the vilest, disgusting fools I have ever had the displeasure sharing an afternoon with. 

I took my 2 kids (ages 6 and ? to their first away game today and they have basically had to spend 90 minutes listening to some drunken little kids dropping the c bomb every 10 seconds in between every other expletive going. Explaining that was hard enough but trying to explain why a drunken fool had fallen over 3 rows of a chairs and why some Stone Island warrior was trying to snap a chair off its hinges was a step too far. Now I'm no prude and had warned the kids that there would be swearing and not to repeat it but honestly did not expect a whole 90 minutes of it.

 

I must've been sat near you then, think it was the same lads who were singing negative expletives towards our own fans. They were absolutely smashed, not that it excuses their behaviour.

Last 2 away games we've had Derby lads trying to break the seats (at united he was caught on camera). Think there was complaints at Rotherham as well??

[G STAR RAM]

1 minute ago, blackNwhites said:

I must've been sat near you then, think it was the same lads who were singing negative expletives towards our own fans. They were absolutely smashed, not that it excuses their behaviour.

Last 2 away games we've had Derby lads trying to break the seats (at united he was caught on camera). Think there was complaints at Rotherham as well??

Yep was sat on row PP and there was maybe 8 or 10 of them sat on the 2 or 3 rows behind us.

I often go to matches with a belly full of beer, it's never made me want to cause criminal damage.

[blackNwhites]

1 minute ago, G STAR RAM said:

Yep was sat on row PP and there was maybe 8 or 10 of them sat on the 2 or 3 rows behind us.

I often go to matches with a belly full of beer, it's never made me want to cause criminal damage.

Yeah I was on NN, hadn't noticed them until that bloke came tumbling down.

Not sure how you're supposed to create an atmosphere with a group of lads criticising their own fans, doesn't make me want to sing along with them. 

[DavesaRam]

6 hours ago, SaintRam said:

Keogh shouting at Bennett and slapping himself in the face while he does it, because Bennett's cross wasn't good (and it wasn't aimed at Keogh) is, probably, not the best decision he could have made under the circumstances.

Instantly heavily deflated Bennett.

The irony being that Keogh had mad two awful cross-field passes across the back which almost let Bolton in, which added to his gaffs on Tuesday night which he got away with, he should be the last person to have a go at anyone about a poor pass.

[G STAR RAM]

1 minute ago, blackNwhites said:

Yeah I was on NN, hadn't noticed them until that bloke came tumbling down.

Not sure how you're supposed to create an atmosphere with a group of lads criticising their own fans, doesn't make me want to sing along with them. 

To be fair the guy who came tumbling down to your row wasn't drunk he had been dragged down by the drunken oaf from the row behind him.

Honestly the rubbish coming out of their mouths was embarrassing. 

'Mount why don't you just fxxk off' ?

[HorsforthRam]

I was in LL and didn’t hear these lads. Thought the atmosphere in the away end was generally poor. Sort of precipitated the performance on the pitch. 

[Steve How Hard?]

9 minutes ago, HorsforthRam said:

I was in LL and didn’t hear these lads. Thought the atmosphere in the away end was generally poor. Sort of precipitated the performance on the pitch. 

I was on GG, which is ironic because from some of the posts I've read, we were watching donkeys today.

[DavesaRam]

This was my first away match this season, and I found childish excitement building up all morning, even though I expected us to struggle after the emotion of Tuesday night, thinking we might well go down 1 - 0. I also knew that we could win comfortably, depending on who turned up. That last comment was a throw back to previous seasons when the whole team would decide to not to show up, and we would be left watching a bunch of ghosts and shadows.

Actually we did show up today, and for the first 10 minutes I wondered if Bolton were actually playing. Then the goal, which threw us quite a bit. Not the fans, though, our response was tremendous virtually instant. It also meant that Bolton got what they wanted, but probably didn't expect, and they settled for it by parking the bus for the remainder, broken up for a few excursions out and about.

Effectively they "did a job" on us, and we struggled to cope. From time to time we showed flashes of what we were capable of, and we were the better team, but kept forgetting to show it. Mostly we were too ponderous, reverting to Clement/ Mac 2/Rowett (excuse the language) faffing about at the back. There didn't seem to be the speed of thought by the back four or the midfielders, coupled with a lack of movement which meant that the man on the ball had few options, if any, to pass to. Shame, because that has been our strength over the last 3 matches.

It wasn't helped by some cynical fouls, and once again Mason Bennett and Bradley Johnson seemed to be targetted. Both are a threat with the way they are playing at the moment, so I suppose we can expect them to get a bit of boot. I am puzzled as to why Mount and Wilson don't get clogged, unless they seem to be better at turning and wriggling away from their man, making them very hard to kick. The officials were reasonable, apart from the three blatant offsides by Bolton which were missed, and two, possibly three penalty shouts all turned down, with Derby getting the greater benefit. Oh, and their inability, or unwillingness, to clamp down on timewasting, unless that is a new EFL ruling.

The biggest disappointment, but not unexpected, was Tom Lawrence. He probably had to come on because for the second match out of three, Bennett could hardly walk at the end of his stint. But all Lawrence could do was run into blind alleys, give the ball away, or give stupid free-kicks away. And yet again, any momentum was bound to dissipate as soon as he got the ball. I suppose Frank had to give him a chance, but it was harsh on Josefzoon to be left out of the squad. I hope that Lawrence is moved down the pecking order until he can learn to look up and around him while he is running with the ball, pass the ball before he gets surrounded by defenders, and show a bit of wisdom when going in for a challenge. It is something he should have been working on during his time out, but clearly hasn't.

For saying that Mount was sick just before the match, he played tremendously well, and didn't tire until near the end, and as ever was our main "ideas" man. But once again, the stand out man for me was Tomori, who is a class act.

Normally, I would be feeling heavy and disappointed all evening after a result like that, and yes, we should be beating the likes of Rotherham and Bolton. However, given where we have come from, and what we were expecting from this season, I am quite satisfied because we are playing football again, and Frank has the attitude of "why not go for it", which is really refreshing. It also means that we haven't got to put up with boring, cautious, "best we try not to lose" dross until one day we will be good enough to play again. I would much rather be able to beat the footballing teams and have to learn how to get round the thugs in busses, rather than the other way round. Keep on doing what you are doing, Frank and Jody, we love it!

[Comrade 86]

Got to about page 17 and had to give up. So many bedwetters. You can have a run in the cup competitions or you can have fresh players for the league games. You can't have both. Half the folk slating Fozzy have been singing his praises before today. Seriously fed up with how fickle some of us 'supporters' are. If you want attractive football then you need to accept that if we ship a goal early and the ref allows the oppo to kick us off the park then occasionally poor and cynical teams will beat us. As it is we're four points behind the leaders with 36 games still to play. Chill your tits people, it's a marathon not a sprint.

[Comrade 86]

6 hours ago, eddie said:

It's a 'work in progress', guys. There will be good days, there will be bad days.

For a cranky old bar steward you talk a lot of sense ?

[G STAR RAM]

No effect on the result here but quite sad to see Bolton players urging the ball boys to slow down or just leave the ball every time it went out, what sort of example is that setting?

[Marriot Ram99]

11 minutes ago, 86 points said:

Got to about page 17 and had to give up. So many bedwetters. You can have a run in the cup competitions or you can have fresh players for the league games. You can't have both. Half the folk slating Fozzy have been singing his praises before today. Seriously fed up with how fickle some of us 'supporters' are. If you want attractive football then you need to accept that if we ship a goal early and the ref allows the oppo to kick us off the park then occasionally poor and cynical teams will beat us. As it is we're four points behind the leaders with 36 games still to play. Chill your tits people, it's a marathon not a sprint.

As much as I agree it's not time to panic,  I dont agree with the occasionally part as so far this season we have had 4 crap away performances against 4 teams who will finish around the relegation zone, also every away game in the league we have not been any where near our best even when we have won. It is a serious cause for concern how poor we have been away from home, and another thing is we are rubbish at putting crosses into the box for someone to head in which is part of the reason why we struggle to break down teams who park the bus.

[Gritstone Ram]

3 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

No effect on the result here but quite sad to see Bolton players urging the ball boys to slow down or just leave the ball every time it went out, what sort of example is that setting?

I noticed some did some didn’t. The one that threw the ball over Carson when we had a goal kick was a bit off.

[Gritstone Ram]

I didn’t really witness any knobs today apart from some 10 year old kid whose language was expletive to say the least. One for the future I think.

[Comrade 86]

4 minutes ago, WAGHORNY RAM99 said:

As much as I agree it's not time to panic,  I dont agree with the occasionally part as so far this season we have had 4 crap away performances against 4 teams who will finish around the relegation zone, also every away game in the league we have not been any where near our best even when we have won. It is a serious cause for concern how poor we have been away from home, and another thing is we are rubbish at putting crosses into the box for someone to head in which is part of the reason why we struggle to break down teams who park the bus.

Mate if being 4 points off top in a transitional season is a 'serious cause for concern' for you then I'd politely suggest that you neck a couple of chill pills. The Championship is a league where anyone can beat anyone and I'm ok with that. We've no divine right to be beating anyone and today we were just leggy against a team that was properly up for it. And for the record, there's only one team in the country that easily breaks down teams that park the bus and it ain't us. If we try and play football the way it should be played, these things will happen. Nobody dies so we wipe our mouths and go again unless you'd rather we revert to percentage football? Nobody is going to run away with this league this year so stay calm, relax and enjoy the ride.

[The Scarlet Pimpernel]

5 minutes ago, 86 points said:

Mate if being 4 points off top in a transitional season is a 'serious cause for concern' for you then I'd politely suggest that you neck a couple of chill pills. The Championship is a league where anyone can beat anyone and I'm ok with that. We've no divine right to be beating anyone and today we were just leggy against a team that was properly up for it. And for the record, there's only one team in the country that easily breaks down teams that park the bus and it ain't us. If we try and play football the way it should be played, these things will happen. Nobody dies so we wipe our mouths and go again unless you'd rather we revert to percentage football? Nobody is going to run away with this league this year so stay calm, relax and enjoy the ride.

Totally agree. Some get ridiculously critical. Cheeses me off being honest. 

[G STAR RAM]

3 minutes ago, 86 points said:

Mate if being 4 points off top in a transitional season is a 'serious cause for concern' for you then I'd politely suggest that you neck a couple of chill pills. The Championship is a league where anyone can beat anyone and I'm ok with that. We've no divine right to be beating anyone and today we were just leggy against a team that was properly up for it. And for the record, there's only one team in the country that easily breaks down teams that park the bus and it ain't us. If we try and play football the way it should be played, these things will happen. Nobody dies so we wipe our mouths and go again unless you'd rather we revert to percentage football? Nobody is going to run away with this league this year so stay calm, relax and enjoy the ride.

I don't see what's wrong with being worried about it.

There are only going to be 5 or 6 teams that will try and outplay us this season, so finding ways of breaking down the rest of the teams is essential. I said in a post this morning that I'm yet to see anything that would suggest we are yet to see anything that would suggest we are even close to finding that formula and I think today proved that.

I've seen a few people putting it down to tiredness after Tuesday but I really don't think it was, it was purely down to a lack of creativity and poor final balls, something that has hampered us for a while. 

I'm not one for looking back but today we could have done with a Vydra type player who could make something out of nothing.

[Marriot Ram99]

5 minutes ago, 86 points said:

Mate if being 4 points off top in a transitional season is a 'serious cause for concern' for you then I'd politely suggest that you neck a couple of chill pills. The Championship is a league where anyone can beat anyone and I'm ok with that. We've no divine right to be beating anyone and today we were just leggy against a team that was properly up for it. And for the record, there's only one team in the country that easily breaks down teams that park the bus and it ain't us. If we try and play football the way it should be played, these things will happen. Nobody dies so we wipe our mouths and go again unless you'd rather we revert to percentage football? Nobody is going to run away with this league this year so stay calm, relax and enjoy the ride.

we are only 4 points off top due to the teams at the top being equally inconsistent, and no matter what way you spin it we have been dire away from home apart from against hull who may go down.  I don't buy that we were leggy we have played equally poor away from home most of the season and Lampard wouldn't have been stupid enough to pick an unfit team. We are showing signs of promise at home and  I prefer the football to last season but we are nowhere near good enough upfront against deep lying defences .