Bolton Wanderers v Leeds United – Getting Stretched
Article by Alan Houghton
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In the end, a draw was probably a fair result but things are getting stretched at the Macron. Chung-Yong Lee is away at the Asia Cup and last week’s rising star, Zach Clough is struggling with a hamstring injury. Mark Davies is still a couple of months away from playing while Joe Mason has gone back injured to Cardiff City and Max Clayton and Marc Tierney are out for the season.
We’re in the January transfer window when anything or nothing could happen. There’s renewed interest in Chung-Yong Lee, particularly from Crystal Palace and his agent is dropping hints that he has played his last game for us. It’s the season for rumours and so there’s speculation about Adam Bogdan, Medo Kamara and Jay Spearing.
Both our goalies are in good form but also out of contract at the end of the season. Neither has signed a new contract yet and the chances are that one of them must go. We’ve got Paddy Kenny coming back from loan at Oldham Athletic, so we can probably survive with either Adam Bogdan or Andy Lonergan and hopefully get some cash for whoever leaves. Both Medo Kamara and Jay spearing do not appear to be the type of player Neil Lennon wants to play. Both are good defensive midfield players but Neil Lennon prefers his defensive midfielders to be more mobile and get forward as well.
Neil Lennon wants to bring in his type of players and there must be some outgoings to finance the incomings. One problem is getting that first deal done. Interested clubs are hardly likely to sign Chung-Yong Lee while he is away in the Asia Cup and he is not due back until the last week in January if South Korea do well as expected. Getting carried off on a stretcher yesterday will hardly encourage potential buyers.
Another problem is the players who are out of contract at the end of the season. Most clubs are hard up financially, so unless they have a dire need for one of our players, they are likely to wait until summer when they can get the player for nothing. It is going to be an interesting few weeks to see if Neil Lennon can actually do some business. Meanwhile there are points to be won and the small matter of an away tie at Anfield to negotiate in January. It starts to get hard in the Championship now as we seem to have to play all the top half teams in the coming weeks.
As we downed our pre-match pints in the Fanzone, most fans were plotting their trip to Anfield in a fortnight’s time, made easier by the club’s generous offer of free travel. The good news didn’t stop there as details of the resurrection of the Bolton Wanderers Supporters Association emerged with Neil Lennon kicking it off next Thursday. Former favourite Mike Whitlow was a welcome guest who has been encouraged by the appointment of his former Leicester colleagues, Neil Lennon and Garry Parker and the recruitment of Emile Heskey: “Good honest hard-working men who will get it right for the Wanderers”. As the “dead Beats” belted out a lively set, the bets were on a comfortable win for the Wanderers.
Full marks to the thousands of Leeds fans who had braved crossing Windy Hill on a very windy day. At least the weather was exciting, which is more than could be said of the match and of the Wanderer’s in particular. The effort was there from both sides but sadly the creativity was not. Leeds were the better side in the first half and got off to a flyer when Andy Lonergan brought down Sam Byrom for a clear penalty in the third minute. Surprisingly the referee, Mr Woolmer didn’t take further action against our goalie, which meant that Andy Lonergan was on hand to pull off a brilliant save later from Steve Morrison again.
By one of football’s nice touches of symmetry, we equalised from a penalty, awarded for a trip on Darren Pratley in the third minute of the second half. It was tucked away easily by Eidur Gudjohnsen for his first Bolton goal for fourteen years. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait as long for the next one.
This match exposed the frailty and shortcomings of our squad with several players unavailable for a variety of reasons. It’s not quantity we’re short of but the right quality of player.
© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
Subscribe to our podcast for FREE!
In the end, a draw was probably a fair result but things are getting stretched at the Macron. Chung-Yong Lee is away at the Asia Cup and last week’s rising star, Zach Clough is struggling with a hamstring injury. Mark Davies is still a couple of months away from playing while Joe Mason has gone back injured to Cardiff City and Max Clayton and Marc Tierney are out for the season.
We’re in the January transfer window when anything or nothing could happen. There’s renewed interest in Chung-Yong Lee, particularly from Crystal Palace and his agent is dropping hints that he has played his last game for us. It’s the season for rumours and so there’s speculation about Adam Bogdan, Medo Kamara and Jay Spearing.
Both our goalies are in good form but also out of contract at the end of the season. Neither has signed a new contract yet and the chances are that one of them must go. We’ve got Paddy Kenny coming back from loan at Oldham Athletic, so we can probably survive with either Adam Bogdan or Andy Lonergan and hopefully get some cash for whoever leaves. Both Medo Kamara and Jay spearing do not appear to be the type of player Neil Lennon wants to play. Both are good defensive midfield players but Neil Lennon prefers his defensive midfielders to be more mobile and get forward as well.
Neil Lennon wants to bring in his type of players and there must be some outgoings to finance the incomings. One problem is getting that first deal done. Interested clubs are hardly likely to sign Chung-Yong Lee while he is away in the Asia Cup and he is not due back until the last week in January if South Korea do well as expected. Getting carried off on a stretcher yesterday will hardly encourage potential buyers.
Another problem is the players who are out of contract at the end of the season. Most clubs are hard up financially, so unless they have a dire need for one of our players, they are likely to wait until summer when they can get the player for nothing. It is going to be an interesting few weeks to see if Neil Lennon can actually do some business. Meanwhile there are points to be won and the small matter of an away tie at Anfield to negotiate in January. It starts to get hard in the Championship now as we seem to have to play all the top half teams in the coming weeks.
As we downed our pre-match pints in the Fanzone, most fans were plotting their trip to Anfield in a fortnight’s time, made easier by the club’s generous offer of free travel. The good news didn’t stop there as details of the resurrection of the Bolton Wanderers Supporters Association emerged with Neil Lennon kicking it off next Thursday. Former favourite Mike Whitlow was a welcome guest who has been encouraged by the appointment of his former Leicester colleagues, Neil Lennon and Garry Parker and the recruitment of Emile Heskey: “Good honest hard-working men who will get it right for the Wanderers”. As the “dead Beats” belted out a lively set, the bets were on a comfortable win for the Wanderers.
Full marks to the thousands of Leeds fans who had braved crossing Windy Hill on a very windy day. At least the weather was exciting, which is more than could be said of the match and of the Wanderer’s in particular. The effort was there from both sides but sadly the creativity was not. Leeds were the better side in the first half and got off to a flyer when Andy Lonergan brought down Sam Byrom for a clear penalty in the third minute. Surprisingly the referee, Mr Woolmer didn’t take further action against our goalie, which meant that Andy Lonergan was on hand to pull off a brilliant save later from Steve Morrison again.
By one of football’s nice touches of symmetry, we equalised from a penalty, awarded for a trip on Darren Pratley in the third minute of the second half. It was tucked away easily by Eidur Gudjohnsen for his first Bolton goal for fourteen years. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait as long for the next one.
This match exposed the frailty and shortcomings of our squad with several players unavailable for a variety of reasons. It’s not quantity we’re short of but the right quality of player.
© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
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