Bolton Wanderers v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[WikiVilla]

Ciaran Clark will be top top class, no doubt.

agree, another Gary Cahill in the making

[Percy McCarthy]

I don't know why people think Clark will be ok for us at centre half? He quite simply isn't big enough and gets bullied by any big centre forward. He's not going to sudden sprout 4 inches! Best bet for him would be to stay at fullback.

Eh?
This is Ciaran Clark you're talking about isn't it? The 6'2" tall Ciaran Clark?
He probably needs to beef up a bit (not to Dunne standards mind) but he's certainly tall enough. He's also, possibly, the best young centre-half I've seen for a long time, he'll be a star for Villa.

Oh sorry i always thought a defenders job was to defend? How many clean sheets have we kept in the games he's played in?

How many have we kept when anybody's played? I can think of two, Chelsea and Man City, in which he played.

[Billy Walker]

This may sound strange but there isnt actually a lot wrong. Its just that what is wrong is fundamental.
It wouldnt take much to tweak this team into very good one that's maybe 20-25 points better off than is the case at the moment. Which I think is encouraging.

In the meantime, the same mistakes are costing us and will continue to do so.
A really frustrating season but once a couple of problems are addressed in the summer, I think we'll be up the right end of the table, with THIS manager.

- New keeper.
- New left back.
- Walker situation???
- One top class centre half.
- Fuck the last of the dead wood off.

Spot on here.

Friedel was slow off his line which might have prevented the corner and then should have come out and cleaned everyone out of the way when Cahill scored the first (eg Robinson on Baker last week)

A new centre back playing with Clark and having a pre-season to get to know each other plus a decent left back will sort out the defence.

Also think that away from home we are too open - we really need three in midfield with Bent and 2 from Ashley, Downing and Albrighton.  I know that will mean leaving one out but with those three behind Bent we are short on defensive quality in the middle of the park which in turn leaves the back four exposed.

I know people have been saying we have been poor at defending all season but how many times have we had the first choice back four actually play - especially in successive games?  Very few I would imagine.  That is I think the main problem this season - I know Fergie changes his team but generally he tries to leave the back four intact and tinkers with the rest.  The fact that this season he has has injuries to his defenders is one of the reasons why they are vulnerable.  So it is not only us.

Bolton have lost 2 games at home this season and I think any neutral there yesterday who saw the whole game, not bits on TV or internet, would have said we deserved to win and if we had put our chances away we would have done so as Bolton would have been dead and buried.

I agree with all of this.  We've just got to give the lads 110% backing between now and the end of the season, finish as high as we can and get going again in the summer.  We have the makings of a cracking side. 

[Clampy]

I think Clarky will be a hell of a player for us. If he was at Arsenal, the press would hailing him as the next big thing.

[Ads]

Ciaran Clark will be top top class, no doubt.

agree, another Gary Cahill in the making

You mean we're going to sell him some no mark side and over the next three or four seasons he'll be apart of a defence that will concede 60000 goals aginst us?

[Chris Smith]

Ciaran Clark will be top top class, no doubt.

agree, another Gary Cahill in the making

He's a better footballer than Cahill. He's played at full back and in midfield for us and there's no way that Cahill could do that.

[Mazrim]

Ive always maintained Clark was a better prospect than Cahill.

[damon loves JT]

I think ferguson was there to watch clark.

[WikiVilla]

Totally agree, I meant in the sense that within the next year or two he'll be worth 15-20m. If we haven't already we should offer him a long term deal

[Ads]

Ciaran Clark will be top top class, no doubt.

agree, another Gary Cahill in the making

He's a better footballer than Cahill. He's played at full back and in midfield for us and there's no way that Cahill could do that.

He's worryingly calm on the ball. He needs to beef up, but is the sort of player that needs be alongside a ball winning mentalist like Laursen, whose only brain patterns are "see ball, win ball".

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

Just watched the highlights on MOTD after watching the game on the Internet yesterday. It confirms what we all could see. We deserved better and played well. The first goal was very good. Great passing to come from front left, all the way back to go front right and score the goal.

Anyone thinking we might go down after watching that is foolish in my eyes. We'll easily win games playing like that.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

Ciaran Clark will be top top class, no doubt.

agree, another Gary Cahill in the making

He's a better footballer than Cahill. He's played at full back and in midfield for us and there's no way that Cahill could do that.

He's worryingly calm on the ball. He needs to beef up, but is the sort of player that needs be alongside a ball winning mentalist like Laursen, whose only brain patterns are "see ball, win ball".

Cahill and Clark would've been great.

[barrysleftfoot]

   I have to say that when everyone was raving about Clark earlier in the year, i thought he was ok, but after seeing him in his proper position i think he looks a real talent.The kind of central defender that top level teams have.Quite like the look of Baker as well.

  Agree with damon about SAF looking at Clark, according to MM on VT hes been looking at him for a while.

 Nobody on the post for their 1st goal yday as well.

[ozzjim]

Clark would cost Fergie a fortune if Smalling was 10 million.

[taylorsworkrate]

Would also like to mention, great positive support yesterday, not one anti Houllier song, we did leave when the 3 rd went in though, not sure if it got ugly after that ?

Well you missed the "you're getting sacked in the morning" routine then from some of our so called "supporters".

I think the fact that people are willing to spend good money, on a team thats been pretty woeful for most of the season, to watch them in Bolton gives them the right to voice their opinion.