Bolton lost 2-0 away at Liverpool yesterday, a somewhat unlucky result as it happens. Both Liverpool’s goals took deflections which left Jaaskelainen unable to save them, the second of such degree that it’s been recorded as a kevin Davies own goal. Highlight for Bolton fans was probably Lee’s run from the half way line into the penalty area, however his shot was blocked on the line. After a pretty awful set of fixtures in January, Bolton have a much more reasonable February. A chance for Owen Coyle to show if he’s made the right decision and I suppose for Bolton to see if they have too...

Bolton have signed Jack Wilshire on loan from Arsenal until the end of the season. While still only 17, Wilshire is regarded as one of the most promising young midfielders in the country and, given Arsenal will have loaned him on the expectation he will gain significant Premiership experience, we are likely to get to see if the hype is justified. Between Wilshire and Weiss, Bolton suddenly have a pool of significant young talent available.

Given Owen Coyle was negotiating for the loan of Wilshire while he was at Burnley and Bolton have now ‘stolen’ the deal out from under them, it seems likely this will be another reason for Burnley fans to get upset.

Bolton beat Burnley 1-0 at the Reebok on Tuesday night in a game where the atmosphere could be described as ‘belligerent’. The Burnley fans made their opinion of Owen Coyle quite clear, although their team couldn’t manage the win that would have cheered them so much. Chung Yong Lee scored the only goal of the game.

Bolton have brought two players in this week - Promising young winger Vladmir Weiss on loan form Manchester City and are considering offering a contract to Scot Stuart Holden, out of contract since leaving US side Houston Dynamo.

The ankle injury Mark Davies suffered in the Arsenal game is apparently not as bad as it might otherwise have been - the ankle is not broken. However reports suggest some ligament damage and that Davies will be out of action for a couple of months.

Bolton beat Sheffield United 2-0 yesterday in the FA Cup 4th Round. Second half goals from Steinsson and Elmander settled things. Wanderers will play Spurs or Leeds at the Reebok over the weekend of the 13th & 14th of February in the 5th .

I’ve also uploaded the goals from the Arsenal game in the week, along with some footage of Gallas’s tackle on Mark Davies. Gallas will face no respective action from the FA because referee Alan Wiley reported he had seen the incident and decided to take no action as he considered it a ‘coming together of players’ and not a foul tackle (the FA can only act on incidents that aren’t in the referee’s report). I may not agree with Alex Ferguson about Wiley’s physical fitness but that kind of statement seems to me to certainly cast doubts over his suitability to referee at the top level.

Movies are here.

It certainly isn’t boring so far. Bolton played Arsenal again last night and again lost, this time 4-2. It was no straightforward victory however, as Bolton took a 2-0 lead through Gary Cahill and Matt Taylor in the first half only for Arsenal to pull one back just before half time then take the game in the second half. Arsenal’s equaliser is very controversial as William Gallas wasn’t penalised for a very severe challenge on Mark Davies in the build up. Davies was taken off on a stretcher.

Overall, Arsenal’s better finishing brought them victory but it was an entertaining and competitive game, marred by Gallas’s lunge.

Due to lack of time before then I’ll probably be uploading the moves from this game along with any from the game at the weekend.

Despite losing 2-0 to Arsenal at The Reebok on Sunday, the reaction to Owen Coyle’s first game in charge has been generally positive. The atmosphere in the stadium was much more supportive and enthusiastic along with it being the biggest gate of the season so far (just over 23,000). On the pitch despite going down to goals from Fabregas and Merida Bolton played very well with Chung Yong Lee being particularly impressive. But for some wayward finishing they might even have got something from the game. Bolton play Arsenal again at The Emirates on Wednesday night, it will be interesting to see if the performance can be maintained and if Bolton can possibly earn a different result.

The away game against Arsenal which has been twice postponed has been re-arranged for the 20th of January at 7.45pm. It may be on TV, we probably won’t know for sure for a few days yet.

Jon

The away game against Wigan Athletic that was postponed before Christmas has been rearranged for Tuesday 16th February at 8PM. No news yet of it’ll be televised as the initial fixture was going to be.

It’s official - Owen Coyle has signed as Manager of Bolton Wanderers.

Saturday’s game at The Stadium of Light has also been postponed. At this rate we’ll be playing two games a week until May...

Nicky Hunt is off to Derby County on a month’s loan. Seems an odd thing to do - you’d expect him to want to stick around and see if he can make a good impression on the new manager. Derby seem to think he can play centre half which strikes me as mad - he’ll break like a twig the first time he has to go for a header with a Championship centre forward.

Due to the current wintry conditions, the game due to be played at Emirates stadium this evening has been postponed. Again. No new date yet. With the Wigan game being postponed as well and no sign of a thaw before next weekend’s games, things could end up being a bit congested towards the end of the season.

In other business, negotiations about buying Owen Coyle out of his Burnley contract seem to be ongoing, as there’s been no news in the last 24 hours or so. Coyle has put out a statement saying he intends to come to Bolton though, so you assume it will all go through once the haggling is done.

Bolton have drawn Sheffield United or QPR at the Reebok in the 4th round of the FA Cup. The Tie will be played on the weekend of the 23rd or 24th of January.

Also, I’ve put a clip up for the 3rd round. Since the footage shown was pretty much the goals and nothing else, I’ve put the whole thing up here.

‘Managerless’ Bolton go through to the 4th round of the FA Cup after beating Lincoln City 4-0 at the Reebok, keeping their first clean sheet of the season in the process. With all due respect to Lincoln, given their relative resources that’s pretty much just ‘job done’.

Also the goals from the Hull game are now available here. Goals from the cup game should be available soon.