2010-11 EPL Preview: Bolton Wanderers

The English Premier League (suck it, Barclays!) season is just around the corner, so we here at UF are giving you everything you need to know about all 20 teams with our award-winning analysis. And no, we haven’t really won any awards, but neither has Arsenal in five years and people still seem to care about them.

Official Name:
Bolton Wanderers Football Club

Nickname:
The Trotters; S.F. Bolton (UF trademark)

Home Colors:
White and Navy

Trophy Case:
FA Cup winners in 1923, 1926, 1929 and 1958. Their best League Cup finish was 2nd place in 1995 and 2004.

2009-10 League Finish:
14th place (10-9-19)

2009-10 Average Home Attendance:
21,881 (good enough for 26th in all of English football); that was only 79% of capacity (28,101)

2009-10 Cup Finish:
Bolton were knocked out of the FA Cup in the Fifth Round proper with a 0-4 loss to Spurs on the replay (after an initial 1-1 draw). The Trotters were eliminated from the League Cup in the Fourth Round proper in a 0-4 loss to Chelsea.

History:
Founded in 1874 as Christ Church FC, the club changed their name to the Bolton Wanderers in 1877 after struggling to find a home during the previous 3 years. The Trotters are one of the founding members of the Football League in 1888. Unfortunately for them, that only serves to highlight the fact that they hold the record for most seasons in the top flight (71, as of last year) without winning the title. Their highest finish has been 3rd place, achieved in 1891/1892, 1920/1921 and 1924/1925 – not exactly lighting up the First Division over the past 90 years

Team Legends:
Nat Lofthouse is the quintessential Bolton player, having spent his entire career with the club after growing up in the area. “The Lion of Vienna” scored 255 goals in 452 matches between 1946 and 1960; his 285 goals in all competitions is the club record. He also found the net 30 times in 33 matches for England and was eventually awarded the OBE.

Roy Greaves also was born and raised in Lancashire and spent the majority of his playing career with The Trotters. He scored 66 goals in 495 matches while patrolling the midfield for the last 2/3 of his time with Bolton, and his 545 appearances in all competitions is 2nd all-time for the club.

Joe Smith played for Bolton from 1908 through 1927, scoring 254 times in 449 matches. His 277 goals in all competitions is 2nd all-time behind only Lofthouse, and during the 1920/1921 season he scored an incredible 38 goals.

It’s worth noting that both Sam Allardyce and Owen Coyle played for Bolton, with the former scoring 21 times in 198 appearances and the latter finding the back of the net 23 times in 78 matches.

This man is far too happy to be at Bolton.

Gaffer:
Owen Coyle. As a striker for a fairly lengthy playing career (that only ended recently), Coyle sent in 249 goals over 669 domestic matches, most of them in Scotland. He left Burnley mid-season to replace Gary Megson (who in turn had replaced Big Fat Sam), leaving some hard feelings behind, particularly when Bolton stayed up just 9 points clear of his former side as they were relegated.

First Team:
GK: Jussi Jääskeläinen (22); Ádám Bogdán (1)

DEF: Jlloyd Samuel (3); Paul Robinson (4); Gary Cahill (5); Zat Knight (12); Grétar Steinsson (15); Sam Ricketts (18); Danny Shittu (24); Mark Connolly (28); Chris Basham (30); Andy O’Brien (31); Marcos Alonso (-)

MID: Fabrice Muamba (6); Matthew Taylor (7); Joey O’Brien (8); Mustapha Riga (10); Ricardo Gardner (11); Mark Davies (16); Gavin McCann (19); Tamir Cohen (21); Sean Davis (23); Stuart Holden (25); Lee Chung-Yong (27); Martin Petrov (-)

ST: Johan Elmander (9); Kevin Davies (14); Ivan Klasnic (17); Danny Ward (33); Tope Obadeyi (35); Robbie Blake (-)

I would project the starting XI as:
GK: Jääskeläinen
DEF: Samuel (LB); Cahill (CB); Knight (CB); Steinsson (RB)
MID: Taylor (LW); Muambu (DM); Petrov (AM); Lee (RW)
ST: Davies; Klasnic

Transfers In:
Robbie Blake (Burnley) – The 34 year-old striker has been playing as an attacking midfielder as his career reaches its end. After only 19 goals in 122 matches at Burnley, he decided to follow Owen Coyle to The Reebok, but it’s unlikely that he will see very much playing time behind Klasnic, Davies and Elmander.

Martin Petrov (Manchester City) – The 31 year-old attacking midfielder had 9 goals in 59 matches during his time at Citeh. He steps into the midfield at Bolton to immediately provide the side with some needed experience as a mentor for some of the youngsters in the middle.

Marcus Alonso (Real Madrid) – The 19 year-old left back has been considered a starlet at Real Madrid, playing for every level of the club except for the senior side. His move to Bolton theoretically provides him with the opportunity to see more time on the pitch, but he will likely be stuck behind Samuel and Robinson in that role.

Ivan Klasnic (Nantes) – Already on loan with Bolton last season, the 30 year-old striker made his move permanent after his contract with the French side expired, noting that he was eager to continue playing for Owen Coyle. He had 8 goals in 27 matches with the club last season, and should be in heavy use up top this year as well.

Transfers Out:
Nicky Hunt (Bristol City) – A Reebok favorite under Big Fat Sam, the 26 year-old right back was loaned out to Birmingham City under Gary Megson. He was recalled in 2009 but never saw the pitch, leading to a loan move to Derby County for last season. Seeing the writing on the wall, he made the permanent move to Bristol City in an attempt to see more of the pitch.

Key Players:
Jussi Jääskeläinen – The 35 year-old “Juicy” has been in between the posts for Bolton since 1997, making 467 appearances in all competitions. Last season he made an astounding 149 saves in 38 league matches, although he was only able to keep a clean sheet 5 times.

Lee Chung-Yong – The 22 year-old winger has electrified the Reebok in his time there. Although his goal tally was only 4 in 34 matches, Lee took home all the major awards from Bolton last season: (1) Newcomer of the Year; (2) Player of the Year; and (3) Player of the Year (Players’ Choice). He went on to have an excellent WC 2010 campaign, scoring against both Argentina and Uruguay.

Rising Stars:
Putting Lee Chung-Yong here seemed like an insult, considering that he already seems “established” rather than “rising”, but Bolton do have some promising young players.

Temitope Obadeyi – The 20 year-old striker has seen loan time at Swindon Town and Rochdale, where he impressed in helping the latter to League 2 promotion. A starter with the reserves, Obadeyi saw time off the bench in EPL action against Manchester United and Arsenal last season.

Chris Basham – The 22 year-old centre-back (who can also play as a DM) was the 2009 Newcomer of the Year for Bolton, only to see last season marred by injury. His trajectory is similar to that of Obadeyi, moving through the reserves along with a stint at Rochdale, and seeing time against Manchester United and Arsenal in the brief time that he was healthy.

The Reebok is a bit goofy-looking.

Stadium:
The Reebok holds 28,101 souls brave enough to subject themselves to SFB’s special brand of football.

Drama:
Burnley still have quite a bit of bitterness over Owen Coyle’s departure, particularly since it took some time to resolve their compensation from Bolton for their managerial loss. Although Robbie Blake was unlikely to start for Burnley, his departure to Bolton has only made things worse.

Tactics!:
Owen Coyle brought crisp passing and more attacking football to The Reebok, often using a 4-5-1 formation. Unfortunately, that came at the expense of defense (despite the clogged midfield), and it is possible that a move back to a 4-4-2 is in the works to partner Klasnic and Davies side-by-side.

Question Marks:
The main question for Bolton is whether they can stay healthy. The side features a number of aging players in key roles, with relatively inexperienced back-ups. It also remains to be seen if Martin Petrov can adjust to Bolton’s style of play, as they have been known to be a bit rough-and-tumble in the past, whereas the midfielder tends to shy from contact.

Important Fixtures:
The Trotters face an early stretch of tough matches that will test their mettle, away to Arsenal (Sept. 11th), away to Aston Villa (Sept. 18th), and at The Reebok against Manchester United (Sept. 26th). If they can come away with anything more than 2 points from those 3 matches, they will have then have some respite against “lesser’ competition.

Prediction:
Bolton should finish comfortably in mid-table, particularly with the increasing flair of Lee coupled with the arrival of Petrov. Let’s call it 11th.