Five Bolton Wanderers Resolutions for the New Year

New Year's resolutions are one of those things that you do every single year. You tell yourself you'll lose that Thanksgiving and Christmas weight, you'll put down the cigarettes, and you'll do something nice for someone else once a day. Of course, people rarely follow through and they tell themselves that they'll definitely do it next year. 2011, in retrospect, was a mostly awful year for Bolton Wanderers and there's a lot of making up to do come 2012.

As the clock turns or has turned to midnight all over the world, these are the things that the Trotters should promise themselves and their fans for the coming year and battle for safety that lay ahead of them:

5. More clean sheets

In the whole of 2011, Bolton managed a grand total of five clean sheets. Not exactly a great testament to a defense that more or less fell apart.

4. Strikers scoring more goals

The last time a forward put a ball in the back of the net for Bolton Wanderers was when Ivan Klasnic pulled one back against Aston Villa. 395 minutes of football where no forwards have scored a goal since then.

3. A decent signing or seven in the next two transfer windows

Owen Coyle has some names on his list and we hope he's checked it more than twice. On top of the poor form that the current crop of players has, Bolton will face a contract crunch at season's end. Some new signings will hopefully lift the standard of play, the mood, and the club out of the drop zone.

2. Some better tactical minds in the assistant coach roles

It's no secret that Owen Coyle's tactical decisions aren't the best during a game. There is no question that he is a great man motivator (apart from the halftime team talks) but his substitutions and formations often leave a lot to be desired. We certainly don't want him gone but a less anonymous assistant coach would do nicely.

1. Keep their place in the Premier League

This is a no-brainer. I don't think any of us want to see Bolton back in the Championship. Keep the run going.