BOLTON GAME THREAD

[merse_10]

Great result in a tough game that we would have lost points in last year.


Ref was shocking.
Eastmond was shocking.

Fabregas, simply brilliant.

what you missed watching it on tv is the hard work eastmond did off the ball,i know his passing was poor but he was seriously everywhere chasing and harassing like he actually gave a toss about the club,thats why we need more local lads out there they just care more than the rest

[Number 5]

Great result in a tough game that we would have lost points in last year.


Ref was shocking.
Eastmond was shocking.

Fabregas, simply brilliant.

what you missed watching it on tv is the hard work eastmond did off the ball,i know his passing was poor but he was seriously everywhere chasing and harassing like he actually gave a toss about the club,thats why we need more local lads out there they just care more than the rest

I'll tell you what I noticed watching on my tv especially in the first half. At least a good handful of times Bolton got away down our left hand side of the pitch and had Traore either one on one or chasing after the ball.

Now I don't single Eastmond alone out for allowing this to happen but at some point, for me after the second time they get away, something has to be done. If Eastmond is screening the area in front of the back four he has to (excuse my use of an NFL phrase) be able to work sideline to sideline, helping the full backs and one of the other mids needs to stop the ball at the source. Or he needs to push up the field to the source and the other mids support the full backs. None of these things happened and by the sheer ineptituded of Bolton Wanderers Football Club we got away with it.

Chasing and harassing will only get you so far. And I don't really want to bash on Eastmond but in the first half he really should have been booked, god knows how he got away with it, and if he had it would be difficult to imagine a team as thuggish and neandethalistic (?) as Bolton wouldn't have targeted him for the rest of the game to get him another yellow and an early bath.

[augie]

I agree with you number 5 that traore, as shit as he was, is entitled to have more protection that he got on sunday but for me that responsibility was diaby's not eastmonds - diaby was playing the left side of the midfield 3 and as such should be responsible for covering that area while eastmond was the player assigned to cover the middle which I thought he did quite well

[stg]

Great result in a tough game that we would have lost points in last year.


Ref was shocking.
Eastmond was shocking.

Fabregas, simply brilliant.

what you missed watching it on tv is the hard work eastmond did off the ball,i know his passing was poor but he was seriously everywhere chasing and harassing like he actually gave a toss about the club,thats why we need more local lads out there they just care more than the rest

I'll tell you what I noticed watching on my tv especially in the first half. At least a good handful of times Bolton got away down our left hand side of the pitch and had Traore either one on one or chasing after the ball.

Now I don't single Eastmond alone out for allowing this to happen but at some point, for me after the second time they get away, something has to be done. If Eastmond is screening the area in front of the back four he has to (excuse my use of an NFL phrase) be able to work sideline to sideline, helping the full backs and one of the other mids needs to stop the ball at the source. Or he needs to push up the field to the source and the other mids support the full backs. None of these things happened and by the sheer ineptituded of Bolton Wanderers Football Club we got away with it.

Chasing and harassing will only get you so far. And I don't really want to bash on Eastmond but in the first half he really should have been booked, god knows how he got away with it, and if he had it would be difficult to imagine a team as thuggish and neandethalistic (?) as Bolton wouldn't have targeted him for the rest of the game to get him another yellow and an early bath.

But the very same thing happend against Everton and Eastmond wasnt playing then. Why it is happening isnt clear it may be down to whoever is the holding player not covering back to help or the CB not covering across to help or the midfield winger!!! not helping with his defencive dutys

This is the same problem we were having when we had Flamini as our holding midfiled player but we got away with it more because Clichy had that bit more of experience at left back.

I thought Eastmond did well for his first game against a tough Bolton side ok he got caught a few times with the ball but so did Arshavin, Diaby and Fabregas during the game. He did the simple things well, when he got the ball he just played the easy pass to the more experienced players and got back into position. Yes he should of got booked but I thought the ref did well in talking to him and understanding it was his first game. Overall I think he did well and did not look to out of place in our first team

[Number 5]

I agree with you number 5 that traore, as shit as he was, is entitled to have more protection that he got on sunday but for me that responsibility was diaby's not eastmonds - diaby was playing the left side of the midfield 3 and as such should be responsible for covering that area while eastmond was the player assigned to cover the middle which I thought he did quite well

I don't know if I made it clear I was not trying to single out Eastmond. Going to the highest level the responsibility lies with Wenger. He could see from the touchlne what was going on. He needed to communicate to the team what needed to be done in order to stop the situation, during the game and then in the 15 minutes at half time. The only thing I noted was that the fullbacks stopped taking the throws and sat deeper. WTF?

I don't think that whoever is playing the deeper mifdfield slot of the three, Song, Denilson, Eastmond, Whoever should have a responsibility solely for the middle of the pitch. As that player supposedly sits deeper he should have more time to react to what is going on in front of him. If that means mopping up the second ball from a punt up to Davies, dropping diagonally to cover a long angled ball, or moving over to cover the inside track between full back and centre half. Yes it was a young player put into that situation and it may be harsh to point out all the flaws in his game but it's more about seeing what is needed in that positon and how we're unlikely to always get away with it.

Further baffling is that such a key position, especially against a team such as Bolton ( well until Coyle makes them change their ways) could only be filled by a 19 year old rookie. And that more promising players (Wilshere) haven't been really given a chance in the less key area's.

[brazilianGOONER]

To answer the earlier points about Eduardo, the goal poacher (not sure about the goal poucher ) is dead at the top level IMO. Certainly you cannot play one of them as a lone striker, hence why Eduardo isn't a centre forward in that system. What we're doing at the moment is almost playing 4-6-0 and not having a central striker, instead relying on all the forwards to come from deep, which proves the point.

And it's about time we got over blaming Eduardo's ills on the injury. It's been a year. Yes it takes time to get over it and in terms of pace it looks like he never will but ultimately we can't keep waiting forever.

Is this the same Eduardo that was involved in our 3 main chances in the game, is this the same Eduardo who assisted both our goals, is this the same Eduardo who spent the whole game alone up front trying to fight against Gary Cahill and Zak Knight two of the tallest center backs in the league.

He is a very very clever footballer, this quick movement and sharp mind creates alot of space and chances for us, the first goal, always alive always alert, Cesc wins it, Eduardo is showing, plays an inch perfect 1-2 with Cesc.. GOAL.

After a fantastic first half move Arshavin found himself out wide, cut the ball back, Eduardo who is marked and is tracked made the run and have the vision and the brain to dummy the ball and cesc unfortunatly missed a sitter.

The 2nd goal, Cesc running through the middle, just drifts off his defender and makes it look easy, creates the space and dinks a delicious ball to the back post. 2 assists.

I seriously dont understand what people want Eduardo to be doing to satisfy them, he's a unique player and maybe people are too used to seeing the explosive pace of Henry, The x factor of Van Persie, or even the pure brute strength of Adebayor. Your just going to have to accept Eduardo is a different type of player who plays the game a different way, if you analyse his overall contribution and actually admire what he brings to the side you will begin to understand why he will be a gooner for many years to come

QUALITY post, wozza!!

[Magic Hat]

Bit surprised at the criticism Eduardo got for this game given the two assists he had. With Eastmond, thought he gave a 6/10 type performance, his positioning could use work sure but he is young and thought he was competent.

[stg]

Bolton would of watched the game against Everton and seen the trouble Troure was having when the ball was played over the top of him for the winger to run onto.

The problem Troure has is one of positioning which you can only learn from playing games. He tends to push to high up the pitch which leaves a large area for wingers to run into. I think he needs to reign in his attacking mentallity abit when playing in the first team and concentrate on his positioning skills.

He also lacks the defencive help from the midfield and CB's when teams double up on him sometimes but saying that if we change our way of playing to help out our left-back that will change the way we go forward.

Having Clichy coming back will I hope stop teams from looking to knock the ball long down the wing and push teams down the middle more.

Regarding Eduardo as Andy Grey mentioned on Sunday he needs time on the pitch coming back from a long term injury is not just a case of playing one or two games and being up and running it takes time and his movement and contribution as player over the past couple of games is noticiable(Jamie redknobb "we are carrying Eduardo"????).

The only problem I have with the team on Sunday and also against Everton is the amount of time we were caught on the ball in midfield this does lead to us being put under pressure quickly with the ball over the top of the full backs

[digger]

Good point about Eduardo. He is 10x better now than he was a month ago. He's steadily improving with every game and can't be far from getting back to full strength.

Although, I think being branded a cheat WRONGLY by UEFA affected him almost as much as Taylor's thuggish tackle.