Report: Poor start to 2016 for Bolton after 2–0 defeat to Huddersfield
How much can matters change in the space of five days? Over to you, Bolton Wanderers.
After ending 2015 on a high with a 1–0 win over local rivals Blackburn Rovers, Bolton fans were brought back down to earth with a bang, as a woeful performance saw Wanderers lose 2–0 to Huddersfield Town.
Whilst you’re on a high, facing a team at home that is a couple of places higher than you in the table — as was the case before the game — gives you the perfect opportunity to start to gather some momentum.
Bolton passed that chance up and the victory over Rovers now seems like a false dawn.
I’ve previously blogged about the need for the Whites to part company with manager Neil Lennon and I feel that this display reinforces that argument.
It was the home side that started the brighter and they had chances to take the lead within the opening quarter.
Gary Madine could only glance Dean Moxey’s cross wide of the goal, before Liam Feeney hit the post from distance after Madine’s header from Darren Pratley’s punt upfield set him free.
From then on, though, Huddersfield grew into the game, were at ease with anything that Wanderers threw their way and looked the only side capable of going on to win the game.
They won the midfield battle, began to pass the ball around extremely well and had Bolton stretched.
Their first real chance came shortly after half-time; Jamie Paterson chipped a ball over the top of the defence and Nahki Wells forced a fine save out of Ben Amos.
Soon after, they took lead when Joe Lolley drove forward, had a shot blocked by Prince-Desir Gouano and then smashed the rebound home.
Zach Clough’s effort from the edge of the box flew narrowly wide, but that was as good as it got for the Whites.
The only threat that Bolton posed going forward was through Josh Vela, so Neil Lennon’s decision to switch him to rightback, take Rob Holding off and bring on Wellington Silva was a baffling one.
From there, it began to feel more like a training exercise than a Championship encounter for the visitors, who it must be said are looking very impressive under new head coach David Wagner, former reserves coach at Borussia Dortmund and close friend of Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp.
Huddersfield had a couple of further chances and evenutally rounded off the win late on through Mustapha Carayol, who drilled into the bottom corner after Amos had parried a shot from Wells.
Men of the match
Bolton: Josh Vela — Wanderers academy product Vela has been linked with a move to Cardiff City in the January transfer window and, from his displays this season, you can see why. Nobody performed too well for Bolton, but Vela stood out. He broke down a lot of play in midfield and posed a threat going forward. When he moved to rightback with around 20 minutes left, there was no way back for the Whites.
Huddersfield: Joe Lolley — it was an impressive team performance from Huddersfield, but Lolley wins the award. He grabbed a goal and, in the second-half, made a real nuisance of himself, making some nice runs into space and, with that, providing plenty of opportunities for his team-mates.
Key moment
If Feeney’s effort that hit the post early on had found the back of the net, who knows what would have happened.
What next?
A new year could have brought new optimism for Bolton. It still can, but they can’t repeat the kind of performances put in against Rotherham and Huddersfield. A change needs to be a made on the management side of things, in my opinion, if the club is to move forward on-the-field. The off-the-field issues certainly haven’t helped but, still, this squad is good enough to avoid relegation and shouldn’t be bottom of the table. There are worse Championship squads out there.
Huddersfield, meanwhile, should be looking to the top rather than the bottom. David Wagner has them playing an attractive brand of football and, on this showing, they aren’t going to be easy to beat in 2016. At times, they outclassed Wanderers. They were a joy to watch.