Football Burp looks back over the weekend’s Premier League action, wonders what manner of buzz is sweeping through the notoriously fickle yet frequently entertaining world of online fans’ forums, reproduces a selection of comments for your delectation. Next up, the fallout from 18th-placed Bolton Wanderers’ 5-0 exorcism win over Stoke City…
Bolton fans say…
“Reeeeeeeeeevenge! Absolutely fantastic. Lets hope it’s the bookends on a bad few months. Muamba was sensational today. He can be forgiven for his wayward shooting with performances like that. His energy and closing down of Stoke was fantastic. With Reo-Coker not far behind, our midfield dominated and don’t think we’ve seen that in a long time. They tackled and won the ball. They passed the ball to our players. Klasnic, sensational and working for the team. Great finishing. Matty Taylor said, on the radio last week, that he was the best finisher he’s ever seen. Eagles showed the ability he has – plenty of it. Once again Super Kev made Upson look stupid. He must have nightmares. Respect for Tony Pulis – didn’t make any excuses about the first goal just how poor Stoke were.” – Benny_Bear, www.boltonbanter.com
“What’s been evident since the start of the season is that there’s only nigel reo coker who’s a talker on that pitch a leader of men, well maybe boys at the moment but he has the character and desire to be captain of this club, he never buries his head in the sand and obviously cares that much that he let rip in dressing room sat after the game. He’s been captain at west ham and villa so he has the qualities to surely be captain at bolton?” – Jokers in White, www.the-wanderer.co.uk
“Muamba was miles ahead of any player on the pitch today! Why, oh why has he been left out of the team for so long! Great performance today from back to front. Don’t think jussi had a save to make! Joe Riley had a solid debut and looks promising. Cahill and Wheater were like rocks today – won everything! Robbo looked better with Eagles in front of him and made some good forward runs as well ( put them in the scrap book ) Muamba and NRC dominated midfield. Eagles and Mavies caused problems all day. SKD put in a good shift and held the ball well. He got the usual naff all from Webb. Klasnic was quality – some people really don’t appreciate what a clever player he is! Owen Coyle – was off the bench at every decision and I am absolutely delighted that the team have produced for him. Let’s take it a game at a time and get a positive result at WBA to really kick on! Proud to be a Wanderer!” – AthyWhite, www.boltonbanter.com
Stoke fans say…
“Too many changes to the back four is the problem. A tight defensive unit is based on the partnership of the two centre halves. You can’t continue to play Shawcross with Woodgate one week, Upson the next and Higgy or Huth the other. It just does nothing to form a solid base and it is really fucking up all of the hard work we’ve done in the last three seasons. Its no coincidence that the first time Upson and shawcross have played together as a pairing we conceded 5 goals. You play players out of position (Huth at full back and Wilko on wrong side) and you put two centre halves together who have never played together and you’re always going to look ropey at the back. Lets get back to basics: Bego/Tommy in goal. Back four: Wilko Huth Shawcross Higgy” – RINGO STARR, oatcakefanzine.proboards.com
“Europe is causing us one or two problems. The fact is, we simply don’t get the same amount of time on the training ground that we used to. Let’s take this week last week as an example. After playing Newcastle, there will have been some light training on the Tuesday following the game, the players will have flown out on the Wednesday and done a bit of practising on the pitch at Tel-Aviv, they played on Thursday, came home on Friday, possibly getting a bit done after getting back and on the Saturday, before travelling again to Bolton. Ordinarily, the time spent travelling and playing would have been spent on the training pitch, working on the team’s defensive shape, integrating players into our system and getting the players into gear for the forthcoming fixture. I’m fairly certain that it’s the complete lack of time spent in training that has resulted in our back four playing like complete and utter strangers, Crouch often looking clueless up front and what at times appears to be an absence of any sort of cohesion between the players. We’ve even been struggling with our two banks of four, lately. This tedious, tedious international break must be used very, very carefully, in order to get a grip on things and make sure that everyone is thoroughly, thoroughly prepared for the QPR game and understands exactly what their role is. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved our European campaign so far. I’m much, much happier to see us in the Europa League than I would be if we weren’t in it. The way in which we’re dealing with it needs to improve though, because it clearly isn’t working at the minute.” – MysticalDescent, oatcakefanzine.proboards.com
“if we went and put Wilson and Palacios in there and pushed the ball to them we could stand a chance, especially away from home, at getting some points. A big must is to change our style, the reason there is such a knee jerk reaction from the fans when we lose is that the style of football we play depends on results, if we don’t get something from a game then we have played crap and lost. Problem is, 9 times out of ten, if we get something from a game we play crap and win. If we started changing how we played gradually you woulnd’t get all this Pulis bashing. The best part is, Huth played at Chelsea and Borough, who played decent football, Shawcross was schooled at united, the wingers are good technically and the strikers know how to move off the ball. So there is no reason to bypass an asset. When fit and raring, Pennant – Wilson – Palacios – Matty could be one of the best midfields in the country. Pulis just wont utilise his main advantage and at the moment its become our biggest weakness. Delap’s use as a defensive midfielder is pointless if we get hammered twice in a week when he’s played.” – stokiematt1992, oatcakefanzine.proboards.com