Match Thread Home V Bolton Sat 6th March. 3pm kick off.

Yeah, that being Doyle for petulance would be great. Just hope we catch all his teddies when Paudie sticks him in his pocket

 

One thing I've noticed in the last few games is the amount of silly free kicks we give away around the box.
Luckily, at this level, the type of player who can take advantage are few, but sooner or later we're going to get punished.

 

Isn't that part of playing the percentages? Foul and disrupt the passage of play into the box thereby reducing the chance to score by nullifying the better opportunity. From what I've seen there's certainly been a lot more smarter play and gamesmanship in our game recently. But yes. Someone will score eventually from one of those free kicks, for sure.

 

My main concern, is that we're all talking about Paudie having Doyle in his backpocket, and that makes us realise what an important player he is. Hope he stays fit. He certainly gives 100% in each game (sometimes 120%) and that's going to take his toll. Don't want him getting injured or sent off, and us having to revert to AOC moving back into a CB role (with FCD moving to right back). Fingers crossed!

 

Good afternoon, hope username is self explanatory .
Just wanted to put our side of things !
1 Most Bolton fans think Saturday is a very tough game and only the internet idiots think we will walk it. Most would take a point now without a doubt
2 Like yourselves we have massively turned round our season. Changed to a back 4, experienced keeper, excellent business in January and playing with confidence.
3 Someone mentioned we let goals in, but not since we stopped playing a young kid who could not catch in goal
4 Most of our fans back Evatt, he says some daft things but you can see what he is trying to do on and off the pitch and after years of the shambles we have endured he is a breath of fresh air.

Really looking fwad to the game, although quite nervous as have seen your results over recent weeks. Happy to chat about anything to do with the game. Not here to trade insults, went to Uni in Bradford and watched many games supporting Bradford when could not get to Bolton. Developed a strong dislike of Leeds to this day ! Still live local so know plenty of Bradford fans, most of whom are sound.

 

You'll do for us...

 

When you are 3.0 down.

 

Sounds similar to our turnaround with the switch to a more basic back four and some key January additions. Its allowed us to stay in games thanks to some very strong defence whereas at the start of the season we were giving teams a head start almost every game (the goal we gifted Bolton in the reverse fixture is a prime example).

There is always a bit of overconfidence on show from both sides going into a big game like this. I'd suspect that given both sides have dramatically improved defensively and adopt similar styles, they may end up cancelling eachother out. We have picked up a knack of turning tight games into wins of late so hopefully we can do that again.

The one to watch for us is Callum Cooke. Seems to be playing with so much confidence at the moment and he moves with the ball so well. Probably doesn't score as much as he should but he is usually at the heart of most things we do in the final third. Always interesting to see how teams cope with him because he takes up some good positions but he also makes space for our wide players like Charles Vernam or Levi Sutton running on from central midfield.

Seen a lot of comments about Clayton Donaldson as well. Given Andy Cook is back available and is contention with Danny Rowe for one spot, its unlikely we'll see Donaldson play tomorrow. His appearances of late have been restricted to coming off the bench to help see games out. Which he's done pretty well at, apart from falling over the ball inside his own half and gifting Walsall a chance at an equaliser a few games ago...!

 

FFS Aireboro - you've told him now!!!! He'll be straight on the phone to Evatt.

 

According to WOAP, it is a deliberate strategy to concede free kicks, which we can set up for with ten or eleven men behind the ball , rather than allow attackers to run past and stretch us in open play. Apart from the header that Walsall scored (which was a bit of a freak goal anyway) we've been very successful in packing the box and getting bodies in the way. So if it is deliberate, it's worked so far.

We have been fortunate that all the direct shots at goal from free kicks have been high, wide or straight at the wall. Eventually one will go in but, as you say, it's playing the percentages.

 

There's the tactical use of the foul but I'm talking about unnecessary fouls that actually put the opposition in a good scoring position. Luckily most teams at this level don't tend to have a dead ball specialist. But if we keep on giving away free kicks like the ones we seem to be doing on a regular basis then the law of averages says someone is going to score against us.
Just seen your comment @Offcomedun after I"d posted

 

Don't worry, I got through the whole post without saying how good Elliot Watt is.....

 

To go back to the Crankshaw comments I agree he's shown promise but gets a bit excitable. I hope Evans is fit for tomorrow, we don't need to be gung ho.

I do like what I see with Ollie though, he's got skills and think he'll settle given time. People were criticising Sutton earlier in the season for over enthusiasm but he's more than come good.

Give me someone a bit too eager to impress any day over a causal type. Giddy types can be trained to calm down but in my experience players who look like they can't be arsed from the get go rarely change!

 

So according to WOAP we don't want to risk a player getting a cross in to the danger area where there could be an opposition player lurking, yet we give free kicks away in dangerous positions so the "free kick expert" can deliver a quality cross into a congested area.
Similar with corners we usually defend them pretty well but Walsall got back into the game from a corner we couldnt deal with (luckily we were 2 up at the time) and Mansfield very nearly got a late goal from a corner.
Our defence is very dominating in the air but it only takes one big of quality to equalize.

 

This was mentioned at the press conference yesterday. Conor agrees and would prefer them to "press" further upfield.

 

I can accept that if players are running at goal or defenders are wrong sided but a lot of the free kicks against Mansfield were given away when the attackers were going nowhere. I can't imagine that's a deliberate ploy, it'd be absolutely stupid if it were.

 

I think that was Crankshaw first booking since he arrived it came after what the ref saw as three foul tackles at least one of which looked the other way. In any case he is a winger who gets back his tackling is not going to be of the same standard as a full back. Crankshaw is full of energy at both ends of the pitch and it appears he doesn’t lack the stamina which seems to be the problem with Vernham. I like Evans and he has good experience and if fit he may come back and if he does I am sure he will do well but Crankshaw doesn’t merit losing his place