Well the life of a Bolton fan is just continual disappointment isn't it? This time we fell to Big Four wannabees City, by the same scoreline as the Liverpool game, in fairly uninspiring fashion. I must say if you look at the results Coyle has gotten so far, you could see Megson getting them too. Now Megson had 2 years to build and shape the team and Coyle hasn't had 2 months so it's not a fair comparison, but it is true nonetheless. The win saw City overtake Tottenham for 5th (though Spurs play today) and Bolton stay just above relegation in 17th. Here's a link to some Jack-Wilshere-heavy highlights. I'm pretty sure whoever compiled it fancies young Jack.
Unsurprisingly, Paul Robinson is to blame for a lot of our troubles. Wayne Bridge reportedly terrorized him down the left, and it was a bad tackle by Robinson that led to the penalty. 30 minutes in Tevez struck the penalty which put the score at 1-0 at halftime. In the 73rd minute Adebayor struck a screamer to secure the 3 points from a limp Bolton.
All in all this is fairly disappointing, especially given the game earlier in the season (described by many as a 6-goal thriller), but we must, as always, look on the brightside. It was a pretty even game, and while Bolton didn't score they also didn't look too bad on defense considering our best defender is out. The obvious weak spot is Robinson, who I've never much liked and he proved my point. Steinsson, who usually plays on the right, moved to the center to partner Knight, while Ricketts held up the right side. Our midfield looked solid, the only weak-ish spot being Muamba on the left, while our strike force (Kev and Elmander) didn't really do much.
Overall I don't think Bolton looked like a team that are going down, but they certainly didn't look like a team who plan to finish above 15th. It's weird for me because I'm used to thinking of Bolton as an upper-midtable side, and I keep thinking that they'll return here by the end of this season, but I'm not so sure now. This point was hammered home to me when I lent a friend of mine a book (Bloody Confused by Chuck Culpepper, good book) written by a Pompey fan in the early 2000's. When she gave it back I asked her if she liked it and she replied "Yeah, and Bolton used to actually be good!" Used to be.