- Oct 19, 2004
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BC - Bolton were still not playing three in the middle, they were 4-4-2....I had no problems with our set up tonight given the way they approached the game, and they got punished badly. They had their 10-15 min spell at the start of the second and then they got hit, they were too open at the end of the day. Coyle went for it and got his fingers burned royally.
I agree, about Coyle's tactics being wrong, and about us punishing him, but you judge the tactics based on what was known when you made them, not retrospectively. Bolton got back into it because of our poor tactics and were looking the team most likely until we scored two break away goals in a minute. Ultimately the gamble worked because our pacey wingers created three goals, but the last time the gamble of playing those three in a four man (+1) paid off away from home was West Brom in November. So I still think it's a stupid gamble and he is daft to ignore the evidence of better away performances with different tactics.