09 Sep 2026 08:39:51
Ok, a win's a win and I'll take it every time, but there were clearly issues.

For me the biggest problem that we had was playing Kante ahead of Mukasa (Saturday's goal must have gone to his head). Playing them that way round nullifies the best of both. There were huge gaps in central midfield for Bolton to enjoy because Kante was too far up. Mukasa is not a crunching machine who breaks up play - that's more Kante's forte: Kante is not an inventive attacking midfielder who makes the right decisions - that's Mukasa's forte.

We looked so much better when Orford came on. Calm head, right place at the right time, looks up to make the right pass.

Opposition left wingers have caused us problems all season. Nino needs to work on that.

With those concerns out of the way. Well done the lads for coming through a tough game with all three points.

1.) 09 Sep 2026
09 Sep 2026 10:34:10
I'll say again... this was not a 'tough' game. Bolton Wanderers have now lost 4 games on the trot. It's the sort of game we should be coasting through if we are to get promoted. Our defence showed weakness in several areas. The Bolton attack was not especially good. It was average at best.

2.) 09 Sep 2026
09 Sep 2026 10:35:26
Good point Re Kante / Makassa. ?

3.) 09 Sep 2026
09 Sep 2026 10:57:21
I agree with that.

4.) 09 Sep 2026
09 Sep 2026 14:33:56
Disagree, Tin.

Our positional choices made the game tougher than it should have been and turned it from an expected win into a tough one.

Should it have been a tough game? Maybe not. Was it one? Yup.

5.) 09 Sep 2026
09 Sep 2026 18:43:27
Your answer seems to agree with me! It wasn't approached as a tough game, which it wasn't, but the way we played made hard work of it. Not a tough game (where the opposition is expected to give us a hard time), but it developed into one that wasn't easy as a result of our performance. That's not a game with the expectation of being tough.

6.) 09 Sep 2026
09 Sep 2026 19:19:49
...And I said, "Well done the lads for coming through a tough game with all three points."

I didn't say that it was expected to be a tough game. I said that it was a tough game.

Hey, ho.

7.) 09 Sep 2026
09 Sep 2026 21:30:35
I think the difference is that I'm describing the fixture and you are describing the performance. ?