Well I’m glad to say we have played the best teams and they are out of the way for now. As much as I like to see the best in England and Europe playing at the Reebok, I get a little fed up of seeing my beloved Bolton getting hammered each week. As a fan, each goal we concede feels like I’ve done ten rounds in a boxing ring. Sunday again was no different except it just started a little earlier in what felt like the longest first half I have ever watched.
I always have a bad feeling when coming up against ex-players – they always seem to come back and haunt you – and this was the case with Daniel Sturridge who exploited a major chasm (I call it this as it was larger than a gap or hole) in the Bolton defence at a corner. The ball was swung in and Sturridge had all the space in the world to head home after two minutes. The first half was dismal with David Luiz given all the time to roam from the back four all the way up the 18 yard box and there was some really bad keeping from Adam Bogdan. Petrov and Robinson got turned all over the place by Sturridge, Mata and Bosingwa yet Chelsea still had space in the middle of the park and to the right had side.
The second goal came about due to no tracking back from the midfield, allowing Lampard to just stroll into the box and slot home. Goals three and four came about from a lack of closing down, again allowing Sturridge to shoot and Bogdan to letting the ball to squeeze into the net. For the fourth  David Luiz ran the length of the pitch to shoot, which Bogdan again fluffed and this gave Lampard a tap in. 4-0 and half time phew!
Second half came and Bolton found a gear it may only be first at the moment but we scored a goal! In all fairness Chelsea were 4-0 up and could afford to relax quite a lot but I felt Bolton weren’t as bad as the first half (not difficult I know) but at least they showed more determination. Chelsea got there fifth with a well worked team goal but the Bolton faithful rallied and found their voices. We had a goal ruled out; apparently it wasn’t over the line but it’s not important although it would have restored a little bit of pride along with Chris Eagles’ effort against the post.
At this stage I’m not completely surprised that we are struggling, I thought we should be on six points at least with the loss to Norwich the most disappointing – no disrespect to Norwich – but we are down there and the team need to dig deep and sort this problem out for the fans who are sticking by them.
| Stat | Bolton | Chelsea |
| Possession | 40.90% | 59.10% |
| Shots on target | 4 | 9 |
| Shots off target | 4 | 7 |
| Total passes | 422 | 614 |
| Pass accuracy | 345 | 554 |
| in % | 82% | 90% |
| Total crosses | 12 | 16 |
| Accurate crosses | 2 | 3 |
| Corners | 4 | 5 |
| Tackles won | 12 | 13 |
| Possession duels won | 41 | 34 |
| Aerial duels won | 6 | 8 |
Some brief stats from the game show a distinct loss from Bolton’s point of view.
Next game is Wigan away massive game not just for points but for pride it is a derby after all and a quick note to the very clever people that threw their season tickets onto the pitch on Sunday wasn’t the brightest thing to do was it really?
After the international break lets come back refreshed with new optimism COYWM!!
Tom Hewart
Follow me on twitter for more Football and Bolton banter @tom_bwfc_9
