Match Thread Bolton Wanderers (away) - Carabao (League) Cup

Which one?

 

Lee Novak 3 in 7 for city now. A very big gap between games but not a bad return that. Especially considering some Center forwards we have had recently.

 

Loved the way we almost saw out the last 10 mins of the game. Except Donaldinho who fell over the ball in the corner when all he had to do was shield it. He was poor when he came on IMO

French was fouled and whilst laying on the floor the Notlob player deliberately kicked the ball and it hit French on the head. So French got up , picked up the ball and walked off with it. Notlob player tried to get it back and French shoved him away.

 

For me Donaldson

 

Left of the back three.

He's very composed on the ball. Best of all the back three, doesn't panic and can pick a pass. Needs to learn the positional stuff more but he's young. I hope he gets a run of games.

 

Missed a 1 on 1 though. Poor miss. Hiwula-esque.

 

Gonna miss chances at this level strikers otherwise they are higher up.
But yeah not a good thing to see but kept getting in the right areas? Put it this way he’s one goal behind Donaldson who’s played 22 games for us

 

The important thing is we are creating chances and getting bodies into the box to capitalise on them. Keep doing that and law of averages says some of them are going to go in!

 

Donaldson did brilliantly for the 2nd goal.

 

Novak may have missed one but at least he was there to have a pop. How many times last season did we fail to even get into one on ones with the keeper?

 

CD thought he was off the pace ..expected much more in a cameo performance.

 

Fair enough but otherwise he was underwhelming. Could have had 1 goal with more conviction and should have put Novak clear right at the death to kill the game off but instead he came back with the ball.

 

Can we stop obsessing about every single missed chance?

Good teams create chances, you shouldn't have to finish every single one on one to avoid criticism.

Doyle seemed to miss easy chances every game for Swindon, he just got two or three per game.

 

I would think that sustitute appearances , will be clayton's role ,this season. He did look a little rusty .

 

Interesting to hear Stuart say Tyler is the fastest player in the squad when they've been doing sprinting tests. (Although he said DMH didn't take part).

Also be interested to see if these possession statistics are a regular appearance. We were letting them have as much possession as they wanted in their own half but as soon as they passed the halfway line we pressed and on many occasions pushed them right back to the keeper. They retained possession but it limited their attacking play.

Stuart very enthusiastic in his post match. Said its given him the option to consider recruitment in other areas and explaining he and Kenny just like working with smaller squads, but he's not naive about planning for injuries and other setbacks.

 

all this talk of a group of young lads doing well makes me nostalgic for the McCall, Abbott, Hendrie, Singleton group who I suppose most would have been underwhelmed by when they started out. It these kids can kick on, well, I'll leave it there but there's just something neat about having some young uns to take our minds off some off the journeymen dross we have had recently.

 

Yes,it was saved by Joe Cracknell,remember him?.

 

Doyles scoring ratio to chances was the best in the division last season. He won't have another one like it.

 

I was suitabley impressed with how we went about it today. Bolton had the posession but we were able to make the chances count in the end. Billy Clarke can be the creative force and his sublime chip early on had the keeper clawing it over just. There were good signs all round. Novak toiling away up front and getting his goal. Great ball from Watt out to French to provide the cross for it. Watt did lots of neat short passes on the ball as well. Nothing risky just ticked away in there.

At that back Paudie O'Connor pretty much cleared everything that came his way. In this three we could have a makings of a defensive understanding ?

Reece Staunton is in the Rhys Burke mould. Not afraid to get on the ball and play forward. Hes a bit of a "rolls royce" type in the making for me ?. Cannot see an immediate way back for BRE who is nowhere near in terms of footballing ability.

French caught the eye pressed into service as a make shift wing back. Should keep his place on that show.

Not a big fan of Pritchard tbh so was questioning Clarke being taken off. But fair play he gets on the end of it for the second. Then we just had to see it out which we did

Contrary to my prediction we make the 2nd Round draw and that might throw up interestimg opposition ?

Not getting carried away at all; we do need some pace up top for sure. I But as starts go that were'nt bad.

 

Can't quite believe he was with us for three years and he's only played 2 games in the last three years!