Immediate Reaction: Bolton Wanderers v Cardiff City

I had the silly thought during the first half that I would actually be writing a very different immediate reaction today (maybe a winning one? maybe not). The team that played in that first half was unlike the one from the catastrophe at Reading. They were on top of their game, quick to shoot, making chances appear left and right and I loved every single second of it.

But you can tell that the confidence is gone, especially after last week. We would bolt down the side of the pitch and it seemed like this could finally be it, and then as soon as someone reached the Cardiff City box, it was as if the brakes were hit. Everything came to a stop and they'd start passing. Passing! How can we even manage to pass when there's a lone striker up top?!

The second half was a bit dull and grim, what with the Cardiff City goal thanks to Frazier Campbell and the fact that Bolton just seemed to have lost interest all together.

And while there's no need to whip out the 5 stages of loss and grief yet (step 1: Denial and Isolation....), I can see why some people are fed up. But you have to remember, Cardiff is a Premier League team and we very well could have ended up letting in more than one goal (which we will not discuss in order to all remain very calm, level-headed people....).

We lost, it sucks, things are looking horrible apparently (forever the optimist, remember?) BUT I am still 100% behind Dougie Freedman. He's trying, he really is, but the man is in between a rock and a hard place. There comes a time each match where some of these players just lose interest and start milling about and there's not much Dougie can do from the sidelines, is there? You want him to teach the team a lesson? They're grown men who know that this club is run in such a backwards way that no matter how horrible they act they'll still get paid and they won't get benched.

Think you know what could fix this mess? Comment and clue me in, because I'm all out of ideas.