We predict a riot.....

Look to your left. It's some bloke scoring for Chelsea on Wednesday. Expect to see some more of that tomorrow.

There is no getting round it. Yes, Bolton have some players back tomorrow. Chelsea have a team, excepting Joe Cole. Bolton's defence is as shaky as a Rowntree's jelly in a high wind that's being shaken by Giant Haystack's ghost and Drogba and Anelka will probably get a couple, each.

There, that's sorted out the need to worry about underestimation.

We predict:

1. Bolton to win 2-0. In my dreams tonight.

2. Anelka to pull that daft celebration of his. Twice.

3. No singing of "Megson, Megson, give us a wave". At any point. Well, I won't be there to lead them, will I?

4. Bolton's two attacks to not make MOTD.

5. Ancelotti, Terry and Lampard to all say "You know what you'll get with Bolton". Oh piss off.

Bait your breath, til tomorrow.

Our on the spot reporter with an on the spot report.

HEINKEKEN COSTS £3.50 PER PINT AT STAMFORD BRIDGE. PERSON WHO LIVES IN LONDON UNSURPRISED.

Yes, it's true, the price of a pint of lager at the game last night was £3.50. Which is about as much as I pay down the local for a pint of Fosters. Which, for once, makes something at Chelsea underpriced.

As for the game, if that is what people think is an improvement then I would genuinely have hated to see the Sunderland and Stoke games. OK, I appreciate that players have to be rested, Jussi and SuperKev are quite possibly the most important players in the team and I know that Big Sam rested players in the year we got to the final, but Lee and Cohen have played themselves into the team and we are still at the beginning of the season. This was a big game, a chance to put one over a big four side and we had a chance, albeit slim, of making it to Wembley. A wasted opportunity.

Of the players who came in, Al-Habsi could have possibly done better with a couple of goals, little Davies was non-existent and Steinsson was rightly taken off at half time. Only Kidneys seemed to be up for the game. As for the regular starters, I can only say yes, Zat Knight really is that crap.

However the fans were excellent, a lot of standing went on with a lot of stewards not earning their money. The Chelsea fans were outsung, which isn't hard as they didn't sing at all. As my season ticket holding, Chelsea supporting mucker, who didn't go to the game but met in the pub afterwards said: "Tourists".

As for the manager, it did feel quite surreal being 3-0 down and singing his name. Irony or truth, you be the judge.

As for the papers:

Gary Megson's team were never at the races. The Currant

Bolton's damage-limitation exercise had clearly not worked The Mirror

Chelsea never looked like missing out on a place in the last eight of the Carling Cup. The Nazi

This comfortable rolling over of hapless Bolton. The Express

Bolton offered little resistance. The Tory

Chelsea show class in easing way past Bolton’s pussycats. The Times

There was something almost contemptuous about the way they dismissed Bolton last night. The Indy

This was a breeze. The Granuiad

Forget swine flu - Bolton were caught cold by a bad dose of Kalou at Stamford Bridge. The M.E.N.

On this evidence, Wanderers might well be pig sick of the sight of Chelsea by the end of the week. The former B.E.N.

Bless the local papers to bring in a bit of comedy....anyway to today's guest publication:

They were able to sweep Bolton aside, without playing at full pelt. The London Free Paper (formerly The Standard)

Finally, and in the current spirit of entente cordiale, a quick word from the GSO:

“The fans were terrific, full stop. It was 4-0 and they were still singing, and we need that."

Fence repairing a-go-go.

Until sometime tomorrow, fellow masochists.

Chelski 'B' v Bolton.

To The Bridge tonight to watch T'Wanderers play a version of Chelsea that is probably not worth the £20 ticket price, except maybe Joe Cole. (Note to burglars in the East London area, Mrs X will be patrolling The Towers, so don't try it). Of little doubt is that The Reebok's favourite Muslim convert ex player won't be playing, although that won't stop those who have made the free trip down from Horwich singing his name.

Talking about the game in The Sycophant Bolton News, Gary "Gaz" Cahill says, bearing in mind the game at T' Reebok on Saturday

"We have got them again on Saturday, so we’ll know all about them by then."

Well, we'll know about Joe Cole.

Also taking to the Bolton Wanderers Inhouse Publication former BEN, SuperKevin Davies says

"They are playing really well and maybe they’ll change a few players"

Like ten of them.

And to complete the set, the GSO has bigged up the opposition, as per usual, in this case saying about Carlo Ancelotti.

"He isn’t one of these managers who shouts from the rooftops how wonderful he is. He just gets on with a really good job. He’s a class act."

Which would mean that, after his comments on Friday, Gaz considers himself an under class.

Swine Flu alert in the London Lite last night. No, not an alert to the fact that some of Bolton's player have/had the virus, but a cunning pun on those of our London cousins who may not be aware of T'Wanderers nickname.

So, how does The Towers feel about the game. There is a definite chance here, a full team shoud be able to stick it up a Chelsea reserve side. They're certainly not a bad side, they wouldn't be playing for Chelsea if they were, and hands should be snapped off if they came up for sale. However, they aren't a side like Trafford's reserve side and we expect a victory, although probably in extra time, which may make the price of the ticket worthwhile. 3-2 anyone.

Finally, a quick word for another Bolton blog, affiliated to The Offside. A match report without watching the match and actually playing rugby? Some of us dragged ourselves out of bed on Monday morning after a night shift to watch the repeat of Football First. Some people are just part time.

Gary Megson IS a football genius.

And not just because he says so. Well, alright, maybe it is partly because he says so but results don't lie and we are glad to say that this weeks ABM-(Anyone But Megson)-O-Meter lies at a healthy 68%. As in, 68% of the time I still don't want him managing my club. Better than the 120% it was two months ago.

Whilst lying in some sort of stupor and keeping up with yesterday's game on the BBC website I could not but help notice that the words Jaaskelainen and Save were mentioned in the same sentence quite a lot. It would appear therefore that some sort of defensive cover is needed, or he could just save money and put last seasons back four together again.

So, after the praise of last week, how did Monday's papers reflect yesterday's game?

Bolton set the tone by attacking from the off. They could have been two up in five minutes as their route-one approach carved chances for Tamir Cohen and Kevin Davies. The Currant

OK then......

There was an air of inevitability that they would concede and Bolton made the breakthrough with a patient and well-executed goal. The Mirror

Far more like it....

It was not the first time Moyes’ side had been caught out by a typically direct Bolton attack. The Nazi


Errr....?

Bolton Wanderers' stubborn victory over Everton The Tory

(On the first goal) It was no more than Bolton deserved. The Times

Gary Megson completed two years as Bolton's manager, and for most of that time he has been about as popular as flatulence in a lift. The Guardian, as always, gets to the truth.

Of course, the one thing they all focused on was that Ivan Klasnic has had two kidney transplants (although The Times mentions the spitting at John Terry but misses the probability that the virtuous Terry punched Klasnic in the lower back.). Now that he has scored his first goal, let's hope that that is the last time we hear about it. Doubtful, especially if he scores in one of the two Chelski games this week.

Bolton v Everton - Our predictions

1. The game not to get a mention during any part of "Super Sunday"

2. MOTD2 to mention that the GSO and Diddy David Moyes have the same hair colour.

3. MOTD2 to focus primarily on what is going wrong at Goodison at the moment due to the....

4. 2-1 loss they will suffer.

5. Sections of the crowd to start singing "Ginger Mourinho" again. The GSO to brand them as "tossers".

Elsewhere On The Web.

Gary Megson is not a tranfer genius Vital

Everton may be torn a new one on Sunday The Wanderer

Bolton are after more defenders. (Surely we have enough to put out two teams of defenders?) BWFC24

Riga's Off Burnden Aces

Hello, my name is Gary O'Cahill

When it comes to players on the edge of the England squad, Bolton have had their fair share over the past couple of years. Fat Kev was almost always the pundits bet to be in squads leading up to the 2006 World Cup (Jermaine Jenas went) and SuperKev and Gary Cahill were in the long list in the early days of Fabio's reign and now Gary has made it into the squad and it can only be a matter of time before he gets his first cap, especially as Lescott has shown he's not worth the price tag and it has been found that the best defender at West Ham was Collins and not Upson not that Collins is at West Ham. So, while one could explain why FatKev may want to jump to the Oirish Republic and Trigger McAteer did fifteen odd years go, there would be no reason for the third behind Terry and Rio second best central defender in the country to move nationalities. The good old Mirror, even why they have something nice to say about Bolton, they get it wrong.

Man of the people, Tony Kelly, is making it known what a big hearted guy the GSO is. Speaking the bleeding obvious, Tony states that many supporters haven't taken the GSO to their hearts over the past two years (for many, read most) but that attitude may be changing. While we at the Towers know only too well that one swallow does not make a spring, we also know how a few good results can change the perception of a manager. I mean, when Rafa gets the boot and skulks back to Spain come next Summer for missing out on the Champions League by three points, many will say "alright, he won the European Cup but he didn't push on from there" forgetting the beach ball incident. We all have short memories, but many Bolton fans will take some time to forget the GSO's constant sniping at us, even if Tony asks him for a few favours now and then. If the GSO keeps this form up, good. But we did this well last November and there were still calls for him to go at the beginning of this season, and not only from this keyboard. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. If we continue to play the way we are doing then he will win over more fans. Go back to the tactics of the beginning of the season and beware the turning of the fan.

Megson loses 40th game as Bolton manager...

...but at the moment it is all sunshine and fluffy clouds down Burnden Way. Unbeaten, and deservedly so between international breaks and, despite that fact that Trafford United should have been out of sight by the time Matty Taylor scored, a decent enough performance on Saturday. Whether this has something to do with the previously discussed managerial foresight or signs that the manager actually may listen to voices other than the ones in his head are unknown at this point.

We here at the Towers are happy to admit that we fall into the ABM (Anyone But Megson) camp (although we will probably now add John Barnes to that list) but the reintroduction of Jlloyd on the left, giving Matty more of a licence to run and not worry what Stefan Dennis is doing behind him, and Lee and Cohen coming up with the goods when with the first you would have thought that it could take until the New Year for him to bed in and with the latter the twelfth of never, appears to have given the team a new lease of life. That this was due to Sean Davis' injury should not be overlooked but the GSO could just have easily played The Badger on Saturday and sent out a team like last year that, according to some of the X's Man U supporting friends, was one of the worst they had seen.

Reports in the weekends papers seem to suggest that, after the Lee,Cohen,Davies goal against Spurs, they are ready to rethink their reporting:

When can you last remember United taking a convincing 2-0 lead into the break and ending up hanging on to win? The Currant

Yet to focus on United's shortcomings would be unfair on Bolton The Mirror

Davies belied his reputation as a bricks and mortar centre-forward with a beautifully-curled cross on to the head of Taylor The Homophobe (because we're nothing if not topical)

Bolton served notice, however, of their ability to inflict a black eye on any team who take them lightly this season. The Tory

Manchester United tiptoed almost apologetically to the top of the Premier League The Times

To those who watched only the first hour of this game...it would be absurd to suggest that Bolton deserved anything other than a thrashing. And yet, while United regained the summit of the Premier League, they did so wheezing and more out of breath than seemed possible. The Granuiad

Suddenly, it was all Bolton and their strong finish could so easily have extended an unbeaten run that stretched back five league games. The Observer.


AND FINALLY.....FAT MIKE WATCH
Having managed to get his previous manager fired by holding and giving but not at the right time and continually failing to beat them by getting round the back, Fat Mike was on the subs bench in Tranmere's defeat to Stocky County on Monday but was not trusted to attempt to get them back in the game. Come Saturday he wasn't even on the bench, leading you, me and every other Bolton fan who wishes Mr Ricketts well in his career to presume he'll be offering his fat ass to another down on their luck club come January.

Haitus...

This blog is currently on hiatus but will return after the international break. Dear reader. Literally.