Is Bolton Wanderers manager Owen Coyle playing with fire?
Seven games, three points and the current Bolton Wanderers side prop up the rest of the Premiership table. It has not been the best of starts for Owen Coyle’s side and the pressure is beginning to mount.
Seven games ago however Bolton punished Queens Park Rangers 4-0 in the first game of the season at the home of the Premiership newcomers. The fixture list thereafter did look daunting. The Bolton of old may have perhaps looked forward to facing the top teams in the Premiership after such an emphatic win over QPR.
It was not to be. QPR was followed by Manchester City who were flying high, then came an envigorated Liverpool side at Anfield, not one the best places to travel to. Manchester United followed who were in free flowing goal scoring form but then there was the home tie against Norwich City, another side who had just joined the Premiership, a red card for Klasnic saw Coyle’s side lose 2-1 at home and questions were beginning to be asked.
A Carling cup victory against Aston Villa would have given them some confidence but then they were up against Arsenal, a team begging for improvement and then the visit of Chelsea, who despite playing well, were up against a Bolton side who really did not look as though they had turned up.
So it has been a tough start where the fixture list is concerned but that must now change for Coyle who’s next Premiership fixtures include Wigan, Sunderland, Swansea and Stoke. It is perhaps these games that will determine Bolton’s future in the Premiership, and Coyle’s as a manager.
Coyle is adamant that he will face the issues at hand front on though and told a tabloid newspaper recently.
“Everywhere I have been I have fought my corner and I have never run away from a scrap in my life, we can stand here and apportion blame to everyone else, but that’s not what it’s about. I’m the manager. I pick the team, so I’ll deal with it.”
He certainly will have to deal with, his formations have certainly been questioned and with numerous top class managers in Ancelotti, Martin O’Neil and Rafael Benitez waiting for someone in the Premiership to slip up, Coyle will have his work cut out when his players return from the international break.
