Joey O’Brien
Reebok Round-Up (28.04.09)
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 | Ariza Makukula, BWFC News, BWFC People, Gary Megson, Joey O'Brien, Kevin Nolan, Nicky Hunt, Phil Gartside, Sam Allardyce, Sammy Lee | 1 Comment
What Manny Road has been reading (and thinking) about Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers’ new year’s resolutions
Friday, January 2nd, 2009 | BWFC News, BWFC People, Danny Shittu, Fabrice Muamba, Gary Megson, Gavin McCann, Grzegorz Rasiak, Joey O'Brien, Kevin Nolan | No Comments
10 things Gary Megson and co should avoid in 2009
Over the last week or so I’ve been counting down my favourite 10 goals, games and players of 2008. You can see the results here.
But in the interests of fairness and balance I thought it only right to reflect on some of the low points of 2008 too and use them as new year’s resolutions for 2009…
Top 10 Bolton Wanderers games of 2008: Day 5
Friday, December 26th, 2008 | BWFC People, Gavin McCann, Joey O'Brien, Kevin Nolan | No Comments
Celebrating the best Bolton Wanderers games of 2008
At number 6 in my countdown of the best Bolton Wanderers games of 2008 is…
11 things you (don’t) need to know about Bolton Wanderers v Portsmouth
Saturday, December 20th, 2008 | Ebi Smolarek, Gary Megson, Joey O'Brien, Tamir Cohen | No Comments
Your guide to all the pointless big match previews and predictions
1. Portsmouth fans don’t seem too excited with a the prospect of a 258-mile trip to the Reebok Stadium (although they might be presently surprised to find that James Brown has now left the building).
Recommended reading (21.10.08): Another ‘one of those days’ as non-paying fans are kept in the dark about Gudni Bergsson
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 | BWFC People, Gary Megson, Gudni Bergsson, Jlloyd Samuel, Joey O'Brien, Mustapha Riga, Phil Gartside, Ricardo Gardner | No Comments
What Manny Road was reading (and thinking) about Bolton Wanderers yesterday…
- Wondering why, when Gary Megson told them about his annoyance at the team’s lack of creativity, The Bolton News didn’t ask him to explain his thinking behind waiting until the 69th and 86th minutes respectively before introducing RIcardo Gardner and Mustapha Riga against Blackburn on Saturday… or why they didn’t point out to Megson the contradiction between his statement and the use of Joey O’Brien (a distinctly uncreative player) as a substitute in the same game.
- Reading Jlloyd Samuel on the official club website explaining the 0-0 draw with Blackburn as ‘one of those days’ and feeling a certain amount deja vu. Why? Because the game was also described as ‘one of those days’ in bwfc.co.uk’s match report a day earlier (how long before someone starts to take the blame for yet another ‘one of those days’?).
- Listening to this interview with Phil Gartside on BBC Radio Five Live in which he defended the fan zone and free beer idea (he did a pretty good job too aside from the stuttering hesitation when he was asked whether Megson’s style of play was to blame for fans staying away).
- Also from the official website… I was hoping to read this story about ‘the return of Gudni Bergsson’, only to find that I’d need to subscribe to Wanderers World (the club’s online subscription TV service) to find out more (can anyone enlighten me as to how and why Gudni has returned?).
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Bolton Wanderers v Blackburn Rovers: The fans’ view
Sunday, October 19th, 2008 | BWFC People, Fabrice Muamba, Gary Megson, Joey O'Brien, Johan Elmander, Ricardo Gardner, Tony Kelly | No Comments
The Bolton Wanderers match report you won’t read in the papers or see on Match of the Day…
- Elmander’s anonymous performance is a worry for the rest of the season.
- Gardner made all the difference when he came on. He should have played from the start.
- Substitutions are one of Megson’s biggest weaknesses… why did he bring Joey O’Brien on too?
- Blackburn deserved to win and would have done but for Jason Roberts missing a sitter. If Benni McCarthy had played he would have scored and we would have lost.
- The free beer initiative is easy to mock but at least it shows Tony Kelly is doing a good job, although it was surprising to see so many empty seats in the stadium.
- The atmosphere was great to begin with but in the end the game itself killed it.
- The only exciting thing to happen was ‘Bolton in 20 pass move shock’.
- How can this be the same team that was so impressive against West Ham?
They can put on free beer, fan zones and flag waving sections as much as they like but while the team plays like this attendances are unlikely to rise.
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Desert Island Goals: Jay-Jay Okocha v West Ham
Sunday, October 5th, 2008 | BWFC People, El-Hadji Diouf, Fabrice Muamba, Gary Megson, Gavin McCann, Jay-Jay Okocha, Joey O'Brien, Sam Allardyce, Sammy Lee, Stelios | 3 Comments
Great goals from Bolton Wanderers history (for the benefit of Gary Megson)…
The simplistic analysis of Gary Megson’s tenure as Bolton Wanderers manager says that he restored the tactics and style of play that had brought us so much success under Sam Allardyce.
It’s certainly true that Megson ditched Sammy Lee’s over-ambitious attempt to bring the pass and move Liverpool groove to the Reebok, but I believe Megson’s Bolton Wanderers are considerably different to Allardyce’s.
The most important difference is this: whilst Allardyce stuffed his team with physical players whose main purpose was to upset the opposition, he also understood that you have to find some room in your starting XI for players who are capable off getting you a goal. How do you ever win a game otherwise?
However negative Allardyce’s game plan may have been, he would never have played three defensive midfielders as Megson has done several times this season with Fabrice Muamba, Gavin McCann and Joey O’Brien.
Allardyce would always find room for a player or two who could cause the opposition defence a headache (and keep supporters interested), either with pace (El-Hadji Diouf), skill (Jay-Jay Okocha) or by just being a right pain in the arse (Stelios).
It’s for this reason that we are no longer able to compete against the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United as we once did in head-to-head games. The current game plan still includes the bit about getting amongst the opposition, upsetting their game and making it difficult for them to play. But it no longer includes a section about how to score goals and put teams on the back foot.
It’s also the reason why we’re unlikely to see a goal like the one Okocha scored against West Ham in 2003, when we play the Hammers again today.
So, just for Gary Megson, here’s a reminder that Bolton Wanderers Premier League success wasn’t just about being defensive…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6ahfnopd9I]
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Fulham v Bolton Wanderers: The fans’ view
Sunday, September 14th, 2008 | BWFC People, Danny Shittu, Ebi Smolarek, Fabrice Muamba, Gary Megson, Gavin McCann, Joey O'Brien, Kevin Davies, Mustapha Riga, Phil Brown, Sam Allardyce | 1 Comment
The Bolton Wanderers match report you won’t read in the papers…
- It could easily have been 4-0 to Fulham at half-time rather than 2-0. It was as if Fulham had more players on the pitch than Bolton, which is embarrassing.
- It’s still early days but a relegation struggle looks very likely. We get worse and worse every week. Overall, there are many more things to be negative about than things to be positive about.
- Gary Megson invented a new formation today… the 7-2-1! Kevin Davies will never score if we play three defensive midfielders: Fabrice Muamba, Joey O’Brien and Gavin McCann.
- The midfield is a complete shambles, especially McCann. Megson complained afterward that we didn’t get enough men in the box, well whose fault is that? You picked the team!
- How can Megson not start with Mustapha Riga when he is our only attacking midfielder? If there isn’t enough energy and impetus then that’s the manager’s fault. Even Kevin Davies is essentially a defensive player! For God’s sake Gary, attack, attack, attack!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GuTgqaxa5A]
- The players have to take some responsibility too.
- Ebi Smolarek didn’t play because of a personal tragedy.
- Danny Shittu was man of the match.
- The Fulham fans were superb, except for the one who sneaked in to the Bolton end and started waving a scarf about.
- Bolton fans should protest at the next game. We will be bottom of the table in two weeks after the Arsenal and Manchester United games, and when we are Megson should go. All those in favour sign up here.
- Come back Big Sam all is forgiven! Or better still, come back Phil Brown all is forgiven!
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Bolton Wanderers v West Brom: The fans’ view
Sunday, August 31st, 2008 | BWFC People, Danny Shittu, Ebi Smolarek, El-Hadji Diouf, Fabrice Muamba, Gary Megson, Gavin McCann, Joey O'Brien, Johan Elmander, Jussi Jaaskelainen, Kevin Nolan, Mustapha Riga, Nicolas Anelka, Ricardo Gardner | 2 Comments
The Bolton Wanderers match report you won’t see in the papers (or on Match of the Day)…
Here’s what the Bolton Wanderers message boards made of the 0-0 home draw with West Bromwich Albion…
- Four points from three games represents a terrible start to the season, especially given the standard of the opposition.
- Gary Megson was a coward for blaming the players’ ‘one-dimensional approach’ on Sky Sports, when surely he’s the one telling them to play like that. Does anyone still have faith in Bolton’s so-called manager? Megson is the sole reason why 8,000 Bolton Wanderers fans continue to stay away from the Reebok Stadium.
- With better finishing West Brom would have won at a canter. Bolton were embarrassed by their superior passing, just like we were by Northampton. In fact, we were absolutely dismal, but the referee didn’t help by being totally inconsistent.
- A midfield of Kevin Nolan, Gavin McCann, Joey O’Brien and Fabrice Muamba is far too negative and needs changing quickly if we’re going to have any chance of staying up. McCann is particularly awful, so bad in fact that some are considering suspending their support for the club until he is out of the team.
- We have no attacking flair. Mustapha Riga was only bought to appease fans over the sale of El-Hadji Diouf and he’ll never get enough of a look-in to make a difference. Riga and Ricardo Gardner were supposed to give width but we didn’t give them the ball. We were also completely ineffective up front.
- At the end of the day, we get what we deserve because the board have still not full reinvested the money we got from the sale of Nicolas Anelka.
- Still, the good news is that Bolton are bound to get at least 0 points from their next four games.
Or, alternatively…
- The negative comments concentrate too much on the result and not enough on the performance. Jussi Jaaskelainen, Riga, Gardner and Danny Shittu all played really well, and the second-half performance in particular really wasn’t that bad.
- We’ll be alright once we get Johan Elmander back, especially once he teams up with new signing Ebi Smolarek.
And finally…
- Given the amount of action and controversy in the game, the BBC’s coverage on Match of the Day was an insult (again). It’s time Bolton Wanderers fans boycotted Match of the Day.
What did you think? Let us know using the comment box below…
The Fans’ View: Bolton Wanderers v Northampton
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 | Abdoulaye Meite, BWFC People, Danny Shittu, Gary Cahill, Gary Megson, Gavin McCann, Heidar Helguson, Joey O'Brien, Kevin Davies, Radhi Jaidi | No Comments
The Bolton Wanderers match report you won’t read in the papers…
- Bolton’s attitude to cup ties is a disgrace. Roll on January for another humiliation in the FA Cup! Mind you, we get exactly what we deserve, given that only 7,136 fans bothered to turn up to watch.
- Gary Cahill should be fined a fortnight’s wages for getting sent off.
- Our only tactic is hit and hope. Stoke fell for it because their defence is rubbish but few other teams will.
- What happened to us taking the Cups seriously this season, Mr Megson?
- Match updates on the official BWFC website stopped after Northampton went 2-0 up within 28 minutes, which shows what they thought about the result/performance!
- The players are more worried about buying a new 86 inch Plasma telly from the Trafford Centre than wearing the white shirt.
- Danny Shittu looked like the Championship defender he is. In fact, he and Megson were more like Laurel and Hardy. Come back Abdoulaye Meite and Radhi Jaidi all is forgiven!
- The only explanation for Heidar Helguson’s inclusion in the team is that Megson was putting him in the shop window. He and Kevin Davies couldn’t score in a brothel.
- Joey O’Brien and Gavin McCann are Bolton’s version of Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, only nowhere near as good.
- Still, at least ITV put us out of our misery by not bothering to show the highlights.
- Special mention to Ding Dong Doo, whose match report summed up the general lack of confidence in Gary Megson, even if he did write it 12 hours before the game finished.
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