For those who just can’t wait for Match of the Day…

Sebastien Puygrenier’s opening goal is below. Hopefully more to follow soon…

Full highlights of Bolton Wanderers v Spurs below, three hours before you’ll see them on Match of the Day…

Were you at the game? Have your say in the comments section below…

Share this on Facebook or Twitter:

It wasn’t big and it wasn’t clever, but the chant was absolutely spot on…

As the Bolton Wanderers fans began to sing ‘Gary Megson you’re a wanker’ at White Hart Lane yesterday, the Wanderers manager turned and looked over for a moment. He looked shocked and hurt.

He was probably thinking that a 2-0 defeat at Spurs is by no means a disgrace and that our start to the season could have been a lot worse. If he was then he was – not for the first time – missing the point.

I believe that the fans’ frustrations came not from the fact we were losing 2-0, or even necessarily from the league position – we’ve experienced both of those things before. It came from Megson’s complete inability to affect the game with either tactical changes, substitutions or even just a bollocking from the sidelines.

As the game unfolded it became apparent to everyone watching from the away end that the forward players were struggling to link up with each other. Fabrice Muamba, playing in a more advanced position than Kevin Nolan, was getting a lot of ball just behind Johan Elmander but failing to do anything with it. Elmander, for his part, was running in to dead ends and Kevin Davies was isolated on the right. A change was needed.

Then Gavin McCann was sent off. We were already 1-0 down and everyone was looking to the dug out to see what Megson would do to change the game. He sat and held conference with his assistant Steve Wigley for quite a while, then he stood up and did nothing. We continued to play with exactly the same shape and the same personnel, minus McCann.

Harry Redknapp, in contrast, brought on Aaron Lennon and Darren Bent. It was a sensible move by a good manager who had clearly identified a weakness in his opponents, which he decided to exploit by bringing on some players with pace.

The result? Spurs went 2-0 up.

The game was in danger of completely slipping away from us and it was clear drastic action was needed – a bit like when the line goes flat on Casualty and they get the electric shockers out. Only Megson didn’t get the shockers out. Instead he waited and pondered for a little bit longer.

Eventually, in the 85th minute – nearly 30 minutes after McCann’s sending off – he made a double substitution, bringing on Mustapha Riga and Ricardo Gardner. By this point the game was already over and, unsurprisingly, the two subs had no time to make any impact.

At the end of the game Spurs fans began to sing ‘We’ve got our Tottenham back’, but they may well find that was a little premature when they play a side with a manager who bothers to actually try something different when the original game plan begins to fail.

After the game Megson said we made it too easy for them. He was right: the first goal came after some terrible marking, Gavin McCann was an idiot for getting sent off and Jussi Jaaskelainen didn’t need to make the challenge that gave away the penalty. But we also had a manager who did nothing to try and change the course of the game, and that’s we called you a wanker, Gary.

Share this on Facebook or Twitter: