So how are you all after the international break? Miss watching our team lose and play horribly? Yeah me too. Luckily however this weekend we're playing some neighbors who are in much the same habit, managed by dear old Big Sam (maybe that was too many adjectives for one guy?). Blackburn are on a run of ten straight losses in away games, however they haven't lost at the Reebok
since 2001 (though really statistics like that don't mean that much). To see a few more meaningless statistics mixed in with some important ones, see the BBC's preview.
It should be a fairly even game, and has the potential to be quite dismal. Both sides are essentially full strength (Bolton are missing out on Sean Davis and Joey O'Brien), but really Bolton's full strength is nothing to talk about. Jlloyd Samuel, whose form this season has been dubious at best, returns to us from his silly suspension. As you may be able to tell I am still in a bad mood from our last three games.
Gary Megson is also getting frustrated with his side, as he told the Wanderers that only Jussi could be sure of starting this Sunday. The Ginger One said:
"Whatever team it turns out to be on Sunday... if Jussi is not playing, he is the only one who could say it is out of order. Everyone else who plays against Blackburn can consider themselves fortunate in my book."
You almost feel sorry for him. He's probably lost more hair over the matter (I know, low blow). But for me it's difficult to determine how much of our sides horrible form is due to lack of motivation by the manager or the players themselves. I suppose it doesn't much matter as long as they get their act together. I stand by the statement that firing Megson wouldn't do us any good, and recently I was listening to an interview with Simon Kuper. He coauthored a book (called Why England Lose in the UK and Soccernomics in the US) which evaluated football through statistics and he found that sacking the manager rarely made a difference in the points earned.
So Hopefully whoever is messing up gets their act together and Bolton play like they did a month ago against Blackburn! I may do a bit of a news round up later, but if not I'll see you at report time!