Blues v Bolton

A poor performance brought Blues' recent home form to an end as they crashed to a 2-1 defeat to the hands of Bolton, who were helped by an abysmal performance from referee David Coote. He wasn't biased towards the visitors - just incompetent. It was a stream of inconsistent decisions, topped off with missing a stonewall penalty for Blues. As poor as the referee was, Blues cannot blame him entirely for their shortcomings. 2 key mistakes from the usually reliable Dan Burn and Darren Randolph respectively gave Blues a mountain to climb. Despite Zigic pulling a goal back with 15 minutes to go, Blues couldn't quite muster up a second goal.

Randolph - 5
Spector - 6
Burn - 5
Robbo - 6
Murphy - 6
Adeyemi - 7
Reilly - 6
Burke - 7 *MOTM*
Shinnie - 5
Lingard - 5
Green - 5

Zigic - 7
Novak - 4
Caddis - 6

Randolph - after I praised Clark for his signing of Randolph, he made a huge error which eventually did lead to a goal and a loss. Other than the mistake he didn't have a lot to do, as Bolton barely had a shot on target.

Spector - a solid performance from Spector who didn't do anything wrong really. His distribution near the end was disappointing but all in all a typical reliable performance from Spector defensively. Going forward he isn't the best and maybe Caddis might have been a better option at home, but Spector did his job. 

Burn - a shaky first half performance cost Blues dear as Burn appeared to leave a long clearance, which Beckford raced on to before firing under Randolph. Burn did get better as the game went on but struggled aerially, which is unlike him. A poor performance from the usually reliable centre-back, that maybe isn't helped by the system. The lack of pace of our defensive pair doesn't help us defend at all, which isn't usually a problem in a 3 at the back system - saying that, we kept a clean sheet playing 4-2-3-1 against Millwall, so it definitely has it's perks against a slower frontline.

Robbo - wasn't helped by Burn but did his best defensively. He had a solid game but not quite the commanding performance that we have become accustomed to from the ex-Bolton defender. He'll have better games this season but he'll have worse games. A 6 of a performance if ever there was one. 

Murphy - taken off near the end due to what looked like just fatigue, Murphy had a decent game. He put in the occasional good ball but he struggled going forward as we seemed to play without a left winger. Defensively, it's not news to most Blues fans that he isn't the best, which was highlighted at times today. A tough game but Murphy kept the ball well when needed, just couldn't find the extra gear we needed going forward. 

Adeyemi - drove at the Bolton defence from midfield and was one of the most important players going forward. The thing I like most about him is he is never scared to receive the ball or take someone on. He won the ball back and got forward well, even though those around him weren't playing well necessarily.

Reilly - will become an important player for us in years to come if we can keep hold of him. He had another decent game, with some tough tackling and some wonderful passes. However, there are times when his inexperience shows, as some of his distribution was poor and he tried some over-ambitious passes at times. It's good that he has confidence, nevertheless he needs to reign it sometimes. He nearly scored a wonderful goal with his right foot in the first half also, which was brilliantly saved.

Burke - beat his defender so many times and grabbed an assist, which probably made him our man of the match. Burke found space on the right a lot, which is impressive as we were very one-sided, and beat his man nearly every time. Some beautiful crosses which we just couldn't get on the end of, or couldn't find the back of the net with, but this was not Burke's fault. A good performance from our best player.

Shinnie - was very very lacklustre. He struggled to get into the game and didn't affect it when he did. Won a few headers but didn't beat his man, or create any chances. He wasn't helped by Lingard's insistence on cutting inside, as this reduced his space so he was forced out wide, but Shinnie was poor. 

Lingard - is not a left winger. Whilst he did score four on his first game from left wing, he is too narrow to be a proper winger. He has the attributes for it but he doesn't have the positioning. Playing him centrally might be a better option, where Shinnie is currently, or if you do want him out wide, in a 3-4-3 system which might work. He was quiet today as he couldn't find space and didn't get the service. When he did get the ball, he looked dangerous, but it didn't happen enough. 

Green - didn't affect the game at all. Bolton played a deep line which restricted Green's ability to get in behind and it showed. He isn't a good player facing his own goal, which Bolton forced him to do. This restricted the space for other players around him. This isn't really his fault and is more of a tactics thing, but it wasn't a performance he will want to remember.

Zigic - changed the game when he came on. He grabbed a goal with a looping header and had a goalbound header blocked away. The service into the big man was poor but he did his best, even with the 'players over 6'5 don't get fouls' rule in effect. He was fouled consistently but when he does it back, it's an instant foul, which is incredibly infuriating. He was our second best player really, as he was the only other one who looked like doing anything.

Novak - waste of a shirt. I have stuck up for Clark before but if he cannot see that Novak is a poor footballer then he should not be a manager. He added nothing for us, even less than Shinnie. He's slow, weak, poor in the air, can't finish and is never in the right place. He had 40 minutes on the pitch but added absolutely nothing to the game.

Caddis - weird substitution to put him on, but he had little time to affect the game. As Murphy needed to go off, the obvious thing to do was put Ferguson on and go for it, but Clark put Caddis on. We shifted a centre-back to left back which ruined any threat we had down that side to compensate. Caddis linked with Burke but didn't really add much.