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Matchday Thread Bolton Wanderers v PNE | 15.08.26 | KO:12:30pm | Championship

Matchday Thread Bolton Wanderers v PNE | 15.08.26 | KO:12:30pm | Championship

I can't improve on the comments here already about initial selection, individual performances and the far too belated use of substitutes - had we made the right changes at half-time to deal with our flat-footed defence and totally uncreative midfield we might have got a point and could even have won. The only good thing was that Hecky eventually did get the right team from available players on the field. So come next week the team absolutely has to look a lot more like this:

Iversen
Clarke, Offiah, Lindsay, Vukcevic
McCann, Leroy
Small, Devine, Moran
Erabi

But maybe there will be another incoming or two. But unless there starts to be a massive improvement in performances then well the prospect of another change starts to become more than just theoretical.
 
Jack Daniels said:
The only bright note - aside from trying a Vegan Pasty for the 1st time ever and it was superb to eat - is that that starting XI will not start another game this season.

A bit harsh on Vuc and Erabi thinking back who did at least provide the one quality moment with a delicious cross and a sumptuous goal.

Clarke, Leroy, Gibson, Offiah, Erabi, Vuc, Small all start v Wolves.
At the expense of, in order, Pol, Thompson, Lindsay, Storey, Lang, Hughes, Burgzorg.
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Are they Carrs pasties? If so I get one every time I'm in Bolton town centre. They are class.
 
Doyler said:
Devine played wide midfield in February 2025 against Portsmouth, and scored in a 1-0 win which put us 7th in the table.

Surprisingly, the manager wasn’t called a tactical numpty on the conclusion of that game.
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In fairness we were awful in that game and very lucky to win. Devine is a massively better player when central. That should be obvious.
 
I’m absolutely knackered….what a 48 hrs it’s been….from absolute elation on Friday to near utter despair on Saturday.
As folk have said let’s hope it’s the last time we have to witness some of the stuff from today.
 
Yoowell said:
The punts from Iversen to Hughes are like a tactic from old Sunday league football on Moor Park.
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He’s the new Potts in that respect our tactical genius of a manager thinks kicking it almost to the touch line to try and win a header , who then if he does manage to win the header heads it somewhere inside or up the pitch to hopefully win possession for a second time has been used for at least two years and any opposition manager worth his position has seen the videos and makes sure that they plan to counter act this tactic so we very rarely benefit from it .. our tactics never seem to change no matter how many times they fail
 
Alfie said:
In fairness we were awful in that game and very lucky to win. Devine is a massively better player when central. That should be obvious.
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It can only happen at PNE this, can't it.... we've just smashed our all-time transfer record by threefold on a player and we are still debating his best position.
 
More or less every team in the championship will look totally different to the team they put out today. Today, was all about trying to get something from probably the worst team we put out all season, and despite how bad we were at times, we could and should have won.
Their first goal has got be down to big Dan. It wasn’t a difficult shot to save and he had the time to push it away from danger, but pushed it straight to Dalby. Their second goal, albeit a good break, Pol has got to do a lot better. We had 2 great chances in the first half, the first of which Burgzorg needed too much time to get his shot away. The other chance was a complete utter fuck up. We had 5 on 2 and didn’t even get a shot away.
In the second half Milly wasted a gilt edge chance when through on goal by over hitting his pass instead of shooting. Lindsay then had 2 chances with headers and how he missed that final minute header we’ll never know. There were misgivings by both manager and players, but the main reason we lost was some bad decisions made on the field. Let’s hope we can change the personnel and tactics for the next game.
 
Alfie said:
In fairness we were awful in that game and very lucky to win. Devine is a massively better player when central. That should be obvious.
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Agree. Devine much more influential centrally, normally.

But my point, as you probably know, is around the comment of being a tactical numpty for playing him there. Very outcome-driven, which is common for emotional people.
 
superalexbruce said:
Always tried to be positive and look for positives but today’s performance worried me. The first half was one of the worst I can remember.
Also I’ve always tried to defend hecky, but today I can’t, just can’t. To leave Offiah on bench and play pol, to leave vuvkevic on bench and play Hughes, to play Thompson and not Moran, I just don’t understand. Erabi should at good is the should be starting, he head and shoulders better than Osmajic. Our defence? We’ll need I really say anything?
JK mentioned in post #906 ‘change is coming’ well on today’s showing it needs to, & quickly.
Try to enjoy the rest of the weekend all.
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Controversial I know, but I’m not that arsed with today’s result. He played the wrong team, maybe thinking we’d come away with something, allowing the new lads to settle in more. He got it wrong and most of this current crew have done nothing to secure a place and should have no argument for not starting another game. I fully expect an entirely different team and game against Wolves and that’s where our season will start… I HOPE🫣
 
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