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Season 2008-09
Bolton Wanderers (a) Premier League
 
  Date: Sunday 1st March 2009, 1.00pm
Live on Setanta

Venue:
 Reebok Stadium

Conditions: 
Bright but chilly

Admission: £23 Last season: £24

Programme:
£3
 

Bolton Wanderers

Newcastle United

1 - 0

Teams

Goals

Half time: Trotters 0 Toon 0

47 mins Barely 90 seconds after the restart, Bolton went ahead, the move starting on the edge of their own box. McCann punted the ball towards the right side of the field and it dropped just over halfway, with Kevin Davies given time by Jose Enrique to control the ball, turn and push it forward into space.

Picked up by Matt Taylor, he centred from the right before Enrique recovered or Bassong came close enough to make a challenge, finding the onrushing Gardner who was in space with Coloccini loitering on the six yard line. The newly-arrived sub
sent an angled first-time shot across Harper from seven yards.  

Celebrating with a 'bow and arrow' routine, Gardner later said that it had been "for Usain Bolt, my fellow Jamaican. I have met him a few times and he’s a great person. He has passed me a few sprinting tips and I’ve given him a few on finishing.”
  0-1

Full time: Trotters 1 Toon 0

We Said

Chris Hughton commented:

"We gave a spirited performance and had better opportunities than Bolton. We just lacked a bit of guile and composure to break them down. The goal galvanised them a little bit but I felt we should have had something from the game.

"I thought the lad's hands were out and it was one a lot of referees would have given.

“It’s disappointing to concede so early and we felt we’d had the better of the first half. We knew we had to be defensively strong and for the majority of it we were. On the balance of play, on chances, I think we were the better side. We just had that lax period early in the second half and they scored.

“We've got to bounce back (on Wednesday) and there was enough in the performance to say that we can. We'll look forward to the next game and try to get something from it.

"Oba has been out of action for some time and perhaps lacked that bit of sharpness - that's why I made the change."

They said


Speaking about his half-time substitution, Gary Megson
said:
 

"Managers can’t claim credit for that type of thing. It didn’t come off – it had the desired effect but not on the overall result.

“It was great that Bibi got on and scored but it makes me laugh when everyone gives credit to the manager for making the substitution and why they don’t say ‘why didn’t you start him in the first place’.

“I know if we play Fab we will be stronger in the middle of the park and break the play up a lot more than if I play Bibi, but we won’t get that penetration.

“But (because of the players we have here) we’re going to have to keep chopping and changing.

“We did the same with Sebastien Pygrenier and Andy O’Brien before the game. Andy is a better defender one-on-one and in the air, but he’s not as good as Seb in his reading of the game and actual passing, so we have to keep making decisions.

“I was quite pleased with the performance in the first half, although we didn’t show enough penetration. We looked quite solid and they didn’t cause us too many problems.

“In the second half we had a great start and scored but after that we didn’t pass the ball well enough or keep it well enough, and that gave Newcastle the impetus and made it a little bit iffy for us.

“But it was pure and simply about getting the three points.”

Former Magpie Andy O'Brien chipped in:

"It was a massive win for us. Everybody says you need 40 points to remain in the Premier League but we’ve got bigger aspirations than that. We want to win as many games as we can between now and the end of the season.

“We’re a confident team at the moment and we’re playing some good stuff. But if you lose a couple everyone is negative and downbeat again, so we need to ride the crest of a wave until the end of the season.”

“I had the bit between my teeth playing against my old club. When you’re not in the team you appreciate the opportunity when you are back in it. I’ve worked hard in the last three weeks that I’ve not been in the team and that’s paid dividends.

“It was a very good game for us and we’re delighted with the three points and to keep a clean sheet. We put in some great blocks in the second half but I don’t think they created too many chances.”
 

Stats


Our first 1-0 away loss since Boxing Day 2007 at Wigan - Ryan Taylor played in that one also.....

Toon @ Reebok - Premier League:

2008/09: 
Lost 0-1
2007/08:
Won 3-1 N'Zogbia, Martins 2
2006/07:
Lost 1-2 Dyer
2005/06:
Lost 0-2
2004/05:
Lost 1-2 Ambrose
2003/04:
Lost 0-1 
2002/03:
Lost 3-4 Shearer 2, Ameobi
2001/02: Won 4-0 Solano, Robert, Shearer, Bellamy
1997/98:
Lost 0-1 
1995/96:
Won 3-1 Ferdinand 2, Lee (@ Burnden Park)


Full record against Bolton:
 
  P W D L F A
SJP 54 36 6 12 110 52
BP/RS 54 14 12 28 79 87
League 108 50 18 40 189 139
SJP(FA) 3 1 1 1 4 4
BP/ER 3 2 1 0 7 4
Cup 6 3 2 1 11 8
Tot 114 53 20 41 200 147

Jose Enrique reached a half century of Toon appearances (made up of 37 starts and 6 as sub in the league, plus 4 starts in the FA Cup and 3 in the League Cup). He made his bow in a home win over Barnsley in the League Cup back in August 2007 and it's taken 71 NUFC games to reach his landmark.

And the man from Valencia becomes the first Spaniard to make 50 appearances for us, having already surpassed the miserable totals of Marcelino (19 starts, 3 sub) and Luque (14 starts, 20 sub).

Geremi meanwhile took the captains armband when Butt left the field, reprising the role that Sam Allardyce gave him when he signed for United in August 2007 - his first game coming at this venue.

It's now 19 starts and three sub appearances for Gutierrez without a debut goal for his club.

Waffle


 

A team that seems to already have had more recent watersheds than a well-stocked garden centre served up another pivotal moment on Sunday and it wasn't a good one.... 

Our mini-revival ended with more eminently winnable points carelessly discarded and amid echoes of our previous capitulations at both Wigan and Blackburn. Despite reaching half time scoreless and apparently in the driving seat - as had been the case at Ewood - United succumbed to a further bout of North West travel sickness. 

The home side had come close when Enrique cleared Elmander's effort from front of the empty net and the same player then ended a flowing move by firing over from close in with the goal gaping. At the other end, Obafemi Martins twice had decent scoring chances with headers; however one effort from Ryan Taylor's corner was blocked and the other flew just wide after Gutierrez picked him out. 

Both had come after a forgettable opening period when we adjusted to Bolton's abrasive style, which retains a tendency for legs and elbows to trai after tackles. We seemed to have achieved a level of comfort by the time Alan Wiley blew for half time though; not pulling up any trees but seemingly placed to push on and find a goal. 

Unfortunately, one lapse condemned us to defeat against a side content to play a containing game in front of their slumbering supporters. And although a late rally saw strong penalty appeals following a shot from Colocinni that was blocked by Jlloyd Samuel - United had survived a spot kick shout of their own in the first half, Bassong avoiding punishment after allowing Kevin Davies to get goal side of him.

Newcastle finished the game with Geremi on the field in place of Nicky Butt, who had limped off with a knee injury. Viduka meanwhile made a late appearance replacing Martins, of which more in a moment...

Rather than returning to our party piece of conceding late goals, today saw us return to an old failing: sleepwalking through the opening exchanges of a half. There's no crime in conceding a goal, but to then spend most of the next 50 minutes in attempting to get back on level terms in a manner as feckless as it was slipshod is verging on the unlawful.

Lacking guile was Chris Hughton's euphemism for his charges being incapable of getting in positions to pose problems for Bolton's defence or goalkeeper and alternating their wayward passes between defenders and midfielders. 

Our post-match headline was some suitably weak pun about being sunk by subs, but on reflection our original unpublished offering would have been more accurate.... a succession of hopeless punts.

So who takes the blame? Ask most of the travelling fans and the name Shola Ameobi would be the popular view, after another galling display of half-paced lolloping that troubled his own supporters far more than the opposition defence.

One could see Hughton's point when he spoke of taking Martins off due to tiredness, but Ameobi had provided little from the start and looked equally leggy - although Stattos can confirm both strikers were equal in their output; one on-target effort saved and one narrowly wide.

Oba departed though and with him went our last vestige of pace and unpredictability, replaced by Viduka, whose presence had been inexplicably craved by some away fans with short memories - the same player getting choruses of "not fit to wear the shirt" barely two months ago at Wigan.

The plainly uninterested Australian had deigned to come on after chatting to a punter in the home end - catching up on the Test score maybe? That came after scowling at the away end when they dared to applaud him. And the major talking point arising from his 12 minute cameo? his voluminous shorts. 

If we had an orange change kit, then Adidas could have stitched together two second-hand windsocks to accommodate his ample antipodean arse. As it was, the white baggies Viduka sported billowed in the breeze in a fashion not seen since the Onedin Line put to sea in a force eighter.

Had he come on and rescued a point though, Hughton would have been praised by his timely switch in much the same Megson was after deploying the goalscorer to liven up his side, with instant results. As it was though, his increased bench choices didn't seem to help him - life was a lot simpler a month ago when we were naming crowds of bairns...

Viduka selected; Andy Carroll sat down after his warm up, denying away fansthe chance of seeing him rearrange the bodily parts of McCann. And surely he would have given us more threat in the final few frantic exchanges than the number 36?

As much as Hughton and his failing players though, new boy Kevin Nolan bears a share of responsibility for missing out on an early Reebok return through the same sort madness that saw Danny Guthrie rendered unavailable earlier in the season. Unlike Guthrie though, he brought a shabby disciplinary record with him that's hardly helped. 

His absence left our midfield stretched, although Hughton avoided Kinnear's debatable solution of pushing Coloccini upfield. And that shortage was exacerbated when the failing body of Butt gave out again. Geremi sauntered on in his place, having limbered up in a manner suggesting a few overs of gently-paced seam bowling were in the offing, before an early lunch. Can we swap him for Harmison?

Alan Smith meanwhile was still stewing, having earlier ranted obscenities at the back of Hughtons' head from the bench when Geremi sauntered on. Now neither Carroll nor Smith are world-beaters and we've enquired about what the latter has to offer at length on these pages previously. However the body language of the duo preferred to them spoke volumes - although Bolton were so unadventurous that Geremi found some time and space in midfield.

Now here's a startling admission: Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias are right.

Wrong about many things - such as top six finishes and their choice of 'football brain' - but right in the sense that applying commercial logic to our squad leads them to conclude that many of the present crop simply don't provide value for money.

It's very difficult to argue with an assessment that Bassong is as competent as Coloccini at a fraction of the price; that Lovenkrands has done as much as Duff since he came in a freebie with cut-price terms - and can at least keep himself fit enough to play. And that Michael Owen signing a new deal would empty the bank and see us signing players from Berwick Rangers.... 

So divesting ourselves of Geremi and Viduka etc. improves the balance sheet without detriment to the side - after all, it's the big earners who have got us into this plight through their under-achievements on the field and frequent absences from it, be they Emre, Luque, Owen, or whoever. 

That theory starts to fall down though when proven performers walk out the door in return for fat cheques that are then blown on sub-standard replacements. Regardless of the fact Gutierrez has got nice hair and people sing songs about him, the fact remains we're getting less end product in terms of shots and service than we did from Milner. The casino men and their coaches are backing losers - wilfully in the case of the three year deal for Shola.

Back to the struggle though and after no goals and one point from our two "easier" fixtures, the feel -bad factor has now returned, ahead of what promises to be a painful series of games both home and away stretching into April.  

Both Hull and Arsenal will look forward to returning to winning ways against us. Getting anything at home would be an almighty bonus for team and fans alike, but where will it come from? Unsold tickets for the non-televised visit of Manchester United confirms that SJP isn't a ground for optimism.  

Victories for Blackburn and Boro squeezed the bottom half of the table even tighter and the post -match mood darkened considerably when news of Stoke's Lazarus-like recovery at Villa broke - not so much for the point gained, more for confirmation of their are fighting to the last breath for survival.

We just look breathless - and based on what we're seeing, others will rescue us from disaster - or save themselves through their own endeavours, leaving us festering in our own self-induced mess. 

If ever some inspiration was needed to prove a (Geordie) nation of doubters then it's now - even if it is Shola - but it's about time that something came from someone on the field - nobody else can influence our destiny now; not the owner, the MD, the coach, the manager - we'll fight those battles come May. 

So: confidence, competence and commitment in exchange for cash, crowds and cheers? Deal? 

Biffa

 

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Page last updated 08 February, 2017