For anyone that's seen the film, you'll know what I'm on about, for those who haven't read on and I shall try to explain. This is 'good old' English football and it's not for 'jessies' as the grinning Shearer and Lawrenson love saying. This is 'good old' England where we just laugh as the reckless straight legged tackles fly, where we just get on with it as the tibias crack, where we don't see leading with a swinging elbow as a foul, where our regressive and violent game holds technical football back, where we blame those nasty foreigners for holding our cultured game back, after all it's much easier to live in denial than admit to yourself that you're just uneducated and xenophobic. This is England, be proud, support the BNP, drink nasty fizzy lager and read the fucking Sun.As you can see I didn't agree with the ignorami on MOTD, Kevin Davies' tackle was shockingly bad, it was completely reckless and out of control, I'm just thankful Gael Clichy's bones are intact this morning, how on earth the moronic Shearer and Lawrenson can label it 'fair' on MOTD is beyond belief. It was irrelevant that Davies made contact with the ball, the ball doesn't matter when you show that much malice in the challenge, it's just typical of weak referees like Steve Bennett to bottle that kind of decision by failing to show the red card. It is this kind of limp refereeing that holds English football back. It wasn't the only decision the over sized gnome choked, Davies' nasty elbow on Toure was completely ignored as well, I'm sure Alan Shearer was proud of that kind of 'old fashioned' centre forward play; no wonder Bolton tried to bundle Almunia into the goal, Bennett was refereeing as if it was the 1920s, apart from giving free kicks for Bolton's theatrical dives that is.
Having got that out of my system, it was most enjoyable to hammer Bolton in such convincing fashion, I can't feel too much sorrow for one of the most negative and violent teams in the land, who else would comically reduce the size of their pitch in such a manner? Our youthful side did very well to stay strong and refuse to be intimidated by the typically over physical Bolton tactics. Bolton got their goal in the only way they know how, by fouling, firstly Almunia was barged in the back to win the corner, then Davies climbed all over Toure to win the header, lovely stuff Bolton, what lovely football.
The response to Bolton's finely crafted goal was breathtaking, the passing was suddenly incredibly direct and crisp, only a pitch one metre wide would have saved Bolton. First Adebayor hit the inside of the post when clean through one on one, then Song hit the inside of the post with a solid header from a corner, then the first goal, the direct Eboue slotted home nicely from a neat through ball. The second goal was the pick of the bunch, a brilliant little network of passes in midfield led to Denilson breaking through into the box in the inside left position, he then squared for Bendtner to slide it in from the edge of the six yard box. We looked comfortable until half time, Bolton did rally after the break, and were considerably helped by the inept Bennett who ignored numerous hacks from behind and flying elbows from Bolton. It's strange how the likes of Kevin Davies are happy to fly into tackles with studs up and a straight leg, but when tackled themselves they go down as promptly as if someone had left their pork pie on the turf.
So unlucky Bolton, maybe without a referee you might have had a chance, but with a decent one you'd have been looking a much fairer and more embarrassing scoreline. The most encouraging thing for me was holding things tight in the second half when Bolton had a fair bit of the game, the defence held firm, Almunia led well from the back and the midfield worked hard to keep Bolton under pressure. Song and Denilson are getting better with every game, while Eboue seems to have been reborn this season, Bendtner must be pushing RVP very close for a regular starting slot and Theo is simply sparkling. I hope we can keep this kind of performance coming, we need to stay motivated and if we are to work this hard every week, who knows what may happen come May.
