Five Things: Bolton Wanderers 0-3 Middlesbrough

Bolton Wanderers slumped to an embarrassing 3-0 defeat to Middlesbrough yesterday, here are five observations we made.

1) 3-5-2 Simply Doesn't Work

In a game where Lennon promised to change up our approach, he certainly did. Changing to a rather unfamiliar 3-5-2 formation and leaving some of the big impact players on the bench. It was apparent the team we fielded didn't have the correct qualities to make this formation work. Lennon however held his hands up and said this was a wrong move after the game, which is good to see he's not as delusional as some managers we've had in the past.

2) We Need to Get a Goal

Three games in without finding the back of the net is simply unacceptable. Goals are a catalyst to ignite a team and give players confidence, they give fans reason to attend games because everybody loves celebrating a goal. Most Bolton (including myself) fans have hitched their wagon to Gary Madine to be the main striker for us this season, he didn't see any game time at the Riverside due to an injury worry. God bless him but Heskey isn't the guy to get 10+ goals a season, nor should we expect him to be. Playing him for a full 90 minutes was a very odd move to put it mildly.

3) Amos Can Reach Jussi Status

A very weird thing to say after a 3-0 defeat yes, but if it wasn't for the young goalkeeper it would have been 5 or 6 maybe more. The save he made just before the third goal was scored was superb and from all accounts his performance was stellar for the most part. I'm an Amos fan as I'm sure most are and I can see him reaching the same heights as Jussi did. He also has fantastic distribution too which has been sorely missing from goalkeepers donning the Bolton shirt.

4) Spearing Needs 90 Minutes

Spearing was taken off at HT in the game at the Riverside, a very odd move in my opinion as Spearing is looking more and more like the man we saw quickly become the main fan favourite back in 2012/13, and by all accounts the substitution was unjustified. Spearing strikes me as the sort of bloke who needs to feel like the manager believes in him in order for him to pull out the talent we all know he has.

5) Signings Need to Be Made

Rumours are floating about that we're close to signing two new players on loan, assumedly one of these is italian right-back Francesco Pisano who Lennon has a rekindled interest in after seemingly giving up a week or two back. The other signing is up in the air with many speculating it could be a strike (Gary Hooper, please...). Who knows for certain though, all I know is signings have to be made as we are sorely lacking in depth and with our reputation for injuries we'll be fielding a team half comprised of academy players come November.