The worst display of the season (and, having wasted 2 hours of my life on the Everton & Wigan games, that’s saying something). In fact, quite possibly the worst performance I’ve ever seen by a Bolton team.
I agree with Megson saying that we simply need to draw a line under it but there are deeper lying problems to address here. O’Brien did have a bad game but it isn’t his only one of late. He looks a shadow of the man who won last season’s player of the year award and, as harsh as this sounds, serious consideration should now be given to replacing him with Sebastien Puygrenier, before O’Brien’s already fragile confidence is shattered any further.
Another who hasn’t performed particularly well of late is Gavin McCann, who had a shocker. Unable to pass to a fellow team-mate, McCann might as well have been playing for Fulham. We were woeful in midfield and couldn’t wrestle control of the game from the likes of Murphy and Etuhu.
And then we have Johan Elmander. I’ve attempted to back Elmander many times via this column but the time has come to stop doing that and face facts – the guy is not fit to be in the first team. He lacks confidence. He has the pace of Robbie Coltrane 10 minutes after polishing off a mixed grill. His first touch is poor. He looks to be a very expensive white elephant. Will Megson continue to play him simply because of his lofty transfer fee? It certainly seems that way. Again, this may seem harsh, but we are entering a crucial period and we can’t afford passengers, of which Elmander currently is one. Makukula certainly isn’t the answer, so I’d either play 5 across the middle in support of Davo (with Taylor and Gardner making it a front 3 whenever possible) or do a straight swap – Smolarek (who wasn’t even on the bench on Saturday – I hope due to a minor injury…???) for Elmander. We are now, in this topsy-turvy season, just 4 points off the bottom 3. We can’t have any more performances like this.
To be fair to Fulham, they looked good. Hodgson certainly set them up to get something from the game and credit to him for that. Stand-out performers were Andy Johnson, Simon Davies and the very impressive Bernard Hangliderland (though, to be fair, Bolton’s primary tactic of hoofing the ball toward a centre-back who must be 6’5” did make things pretty easy for him – he won everything in the air).