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Man of the Match: Huddersfield - Josh Vela

Despite Wanderers' defeat, Liam thinks the performance wasn't without positives.....

Gareth Copley/Getty Images

It's always a little more tricky to look into individual performances after a defeat, particularly after conceding so late in the game, so I have given myself 24 hours to calm down and significantly sober up before looking to analyse the performances of Neil Lennon's Wanderers squad.

I will firstly look into the more negative performances of the Bolton team before then focusing on the better aspects and for me three players were really struggling and cost Bolton dearly and we will start with the much maligned Liam Trotter who was handed a rare opportunity from the start to try and force his way into Neil Lennon's plans.

Liam Trotter put in quite honestly one of the worst performances I have seen in the Wanderers midfield for some time. Trotter looked immobile, unable to keep up with the pace of play and almost never was positioned correctly defensively and was perhaps the reason that Huddersfield where able to maintain periods of possession for so long.

It is easy to say that Trotter can be made into a scapegoat and on occasions I have agreed with this but yesterday was just plain bad.

He may well be useful in attacking areas but at Bolton Wanderers you are expected to work hard and press and defence is as important as attack, not understanding our cultures is a sin and Trotter either needs to step up, or shit out.

The second player to come under scrutiny is Tim Ream who had an absolutely torrid time against Scott Scannell on the Huddersfield right. Now Scannell is a good player who can rotate hitting the byline or coming inside to attack goal himself, but the amount of success he had yesterday, particularly in the first half was critical to the Huddersfield cause and it is safe to say that Tim Ream lost a key battle.

Ream has come on leaps and bounds over the past 18 months and it wasn't pleasing to see a brief return of the old Ream, hopefully it was a one-off.

The final player to come into the spotlight is Andy Lonergan. Now, Lonergan is beginning to polarise the fan base as many of our goalkeepers have in recent times and I have to say I strongly feel he has some fatal flaws.

His kicking isn't just bad, it is embarrassing. Not only are we taking up a really deep position whenever our goalkeeper has the ball, he is repeatedly gifting possession to our opponents in dangerous areas.

The keener eyed of you yesterday will have noticed how loosely we were marked on goal kicks by Huddersfield and make no mistake, that was not coincidental as Chris Powell's Terriers' looked to capitalise.

Also I am very concerned with Lonergan's spring, he seems to have a real lack of height of his jumping which sees him struggle to attack corner kicks and also reach the corners of his goal. Jacob Butterfield's strike was by no means unsaveable and I am sure most Championship level goalkeepers would of parried that with ease, there is no way that should be going in.

With Adam Bogdan on the bench, the jury is very much out for Andy Lonergan.

Now onto the positive performances and I will start with the complete workmanlike performance of the outstanding, rejuvenated Darren Pratley. Very much an inconsistent part of the Dougie Freedman era but is showing the early promise of becoming a key part of the Neil Lennon era.

Aside from all the effort which has always been a factor in a Darren Pratley performance, we are starting to see more of the good technical player within. Pratley can carry the ball at pace and used frequently be Eidur Gudjohnsen to carry the ball breifly to reduce the heavy attention, the talismanic attacker receives from opposition defences.

Pratley would appear to have found the goalscoring form that made him such a hit at Swansea and if the rich vein of goalscoring form can continue, Pratley can be a key player for Bolton Wanderers.

Finally, the Lion of Vienna Man of the Match for the game against Hudderfield is Josh Vela. Vela has shown all the credentials to be a major part of the Bolton Wanderers long-term future and put in a performance of the highest class against Huddersfield. Vela's ability on the ball in up there with the best in the Bolton Wanderers squad and can match the pace of play of the established internationals Gudjohnsen and Chung-Yong Lee.

Vela's long-term future must surely be in the centre of that park with his high technical ability but the experience he is getting by being involved at right-back is invaluable and the young midfielder has taken it all in his stride.

It really gives me a lot of pleasure to give this much praise to a graduate of our academy and I can only hope he is setting the benchmark for those around the peripheries that it can be done.

Well done Josh!