Sunday 26 April 2015

Beating Neil Lennon's side is now the task

If there was a side in the Championship that has had a very different experience of football to AFCB in the last five years you could easily recommend Bolton Wanderers. After 11 years adorning the top flight though they probably see themselves as the underdog in this game against the promotion chasing Cherries, but they have a first class manager in Neil Lennon who is used to bumper crowds and the Glasgow derby matches and taking on AFCB would perhaps seem like a nice day out at the seaside for those who have not seen AFCB play this season.

While Bolton are safe from relegation it is financial worries that probably hinder this club more than anything else. I recently heard that the club's debt was £172.9m which is staggering with a £9.1m debt for the 2014 financial year. Still the players on the pitch are what will matter come Monday night and Bolton have some talent to choose from.

I have been really impressed with the young Zach Clough who has been one of the best players in the Championship this season for me. He runs at defences with real pace and control and because he has a low centre of gravity he is very hard to stop when he gets on a run. perhaps AFCB could think about a cheeky offer for him in the summer? They also have experience and past legends of the club returning with Eidur Gudjohnsen and Emile Heskey leading their strike force. But if their aged strikers do not frighten you they still have Adam Le Fondre and Craig Davies who have been doing fairly well of late.

Bolton still have quite a few players that were at the club when they were in the Premier League like Adam Bogdan in goal, David Wheater, Darren Pratley plus players who have been their with other teams such as Matt Mills, Dean Moxley, Barry Bannan etc. But the makeup of their team is changing and they are bringing in lower wage earners from lower down the football pyramid. It does not look like Neil Lennon will put too many youngsters in though for this game.


The current form of Bolton away from home has been reasonably strong have not lost their last three but they did lose to Ipswich and Blackburn in March in away games and the Cardiff win  they had in April is their only one of two away wins for them in 205, the other coming at Sheffield Wednesday back in January. Getting a 2-2 draw though last time out at Brentford tells me that Bolton are capable of defending though against good attacking teams and they also came from behind twice to get that draw. 

What I don't want to see is Liam Feeney playing extra well back at Dean Court. He had a great couple of matches against Liverpool in the FA Cup and any team that can hold Liverpool at Anfield has to be respected.

Bolton Away Form
LLDWD

AFCB Home Form
WWWWD

No comments:

Post a Comment

tag: