Five things we learned: Wolves v Bolton Wanderers

Five Things time in my more comfortable circumstances of post-defeat.

1) Owen Goal

Perhaps the most used pun in the history of football gets a nice run out on The Lion of Vienna Suite and I can finally cross it off on my ‘must use this pun list’.

Anyways, Owen Garvan seems intent on becoming the latest scapegoat to wear the Bolton Wanderers shirt as his penalty miss ultimately cost Bolton at least a point when already they seem vital to the Bolton cause.

It is hard to point the finger too harshly on Garvan who recently stated that he felt Dougie Freedman would ‘turn things around’ (although this ignores the cause of the predicament). Garvan does need time to find his feet, particularly as Bolton’s often manic and unpredictable playing styles can’t be easy for a central midfielder to adapt to. I’m reserving my judgement on Garvan for a few games yet and I hope to see a dramatic improvement.

And stay away from penalties …

2) Mark Davies

Man’s a game changer, simple as that.

Our reliance on Davies has been palpable for some time but becomes more and more obvious in his time off the pitch rather than on it. It isn’t necessarily that Davies is better than anything else we have (he is, but hear me out), it is simply the confidence to take the ball forward that makes the difference. Where other midfielders (Spearing) will send the ball wide, Davies is prepared to drive forward and create the space which has seen Joe Mason prosper so much during this, his 91^st loan spell at Bolton.

We need to adapt to a game plan without him not only for rotation purposes but also for his injury record, which rivals Evel Kinieval. A couple of years ago we actually addressed this issue with the successful loan signing of Jacob Butterfield, I would hope we have something similar in the pipeline.

3) ‘Matter of Time’

The wise wizard Dougie Freedman recently stated that it was a ‘matter of time’ before Bolton’s fortunes began to change. Like many others I scoffed at this idea and shrugged it off as typical self-preservation propaganda.

So let’s say we humoured our fearless leader Freedman and analysed the two games directly after those comments, Rotherham and Wolves. There are an abundance of positives to take out of both games. Everything happens for a reason so to look into our improved performance we need to look into why, what has changed.

One thing I’ve gone into already, that is the return of Mark Davies. Another I believe is the improvement at the back, particularly in the centre. This isn’t necessarily a specific player as much as it is a general improvement. Matt Mills recovered from his poor showing and Dean Moxey continues to settle and looks a much more reliable defender.

Perhaps there is one thing missing …

4) The elusive target man

Let’s be frank, Craig Davies does not cut it and within the squad I can’t see a stand our replacement and I am concerned about our options. We recently signed long-term target Max Clayton and whilst that is exactly the sort of signing we should ALWAYS be looking to make, I’m not sure it addresses our short term issues.

The question, and it has been asked before, is what can we do? Who is out there? Answers on a postcard please because I’ve no idea (and I’m a genius).

5) Congratulations and that

Probably isn’t the correct channel to do this but I would like to say my congratulations to the 2^nd Best writer on Lion of Vienna Suite Mr Chris Manning and his lucky new bride Mrs Kerry Manning.

All the best from everyone at Lion of Vienna and we wish you all the best for the future.

I’m sure the readers won’t miss you too much, they still have me after all.