Agreed on Nordas. I can sort of understand JW’s hesitation to play him as to date he’d offered nothing in the press, which tbf Wells does. But tonight his pressing was really good and lead to Nelson’s goal.

Johnson finally looks like a man rather than a boy. His best game for me.

Exeter were awful but that’s a solid win with a team of youngsters.

11/15 were U23.

9/15 were U21.

4/15 were teenagers, with two debutants.

Minutes for Alli, Andersen and goals for Morris, Nordas and Nelson too.

Overall, a very decent night’s work.

Biggest detraction is his pressing, but that’s looked a lot better tonight. Angles and timing of the runs are all a lot better.

But biggest thing for me is that he gets on the ball and makes the CBs make uncomfortable decisions.

exactly earned over the first four months, is needed here.

getting there. It’s not glamorous yet but the green shoots are showing. We’re controlling games in the middle third. We’re mentally more resilient (we’d have folded 1-0 down just a month ago). And we’re finding a way to get results. The underlying data shows that and a little patience, whilst not…

which I get for five min, but they should have been made around the 75min mark when it was clear what Bolton were doing and what we needed to break them down. Would we have stood a chance of a winner with five extra minutes? Maybe. We were definitely knocking and Bolton were leggy.

Finally, we’re…

so let’s not expect him to do that. Nordas did do that but doesn’t offer what he needs to out of possession (which is why I think he’s out of favor). Could Gbode be that? Haven’t seen enough of him to say.

The subs were made too late. I think JW wanted to hold following the sending off…

ineffective. I didn’t think we’d miss him this much but this squad is crying out for a Carlton Morris type. Yates & Wells go missing for long periods, whereas Carlton would always find a way to the ball. I was hoping AAH would be that but that’s not happening any time soon. And it’s not Eli’s game…

rather than the triangles involving Saville and Kal or Mengi. Walsh was on several times but the ball just didn’t get to him. Can’t knock the players for playing it safe given where we’re coming from, but sooner or later we need to start taking risks with passes and dribbles.

Yates was pretty…

threat.

Our inability/unwillingness to hit the inside half channel early and often is costing us. I lost count of the times the ball was recycled to Bramall or Odoffin rather than hit that inside ball. We also got stuck in parts of the pitch where a simple turnout would have opened the pitch up…

Doom and gloomers will still be about and maybe somewhat understandably, but green shoots are showing. Bolton are the best team in the league right now and a draw when we’re not firing isn’t the worst.

Keeps us close to the top. Get reinforcements in Jan and let’s see what happens through May.

Completely agree. And that all started from the front three pressing. It’s what got us the winner and really helped our back line out.

The press was a hallmark of our successful teams over the last 10-15 years and so hopefully it’s something Jack’s reinstalling.

Not his worst game for us but definitely not his best. The flip-flops comment is so accurate, especially when he’s being run at and he’s jockeying. He can’t get his feet sorted. But he wasn’t alone. Saville, Odoffin, Walsh all couldn’t jockey a statue tonight.

After their goal it definitely felt like he took hold of the game in a manner he’s not done before. Richards was the best player in the first half. Two exciting young prospects to build round.

They all certainly worked for it tonight though, so fair play to them after the debacle of Saturday.