Bolton should make every effort to keep Le Fondre

What Bolton Wanderers have been crying out for, for a long time, may well be taken away from them just as they’ve found it.

Wanderers haven’t had a striker that can bag in the region of 20 plus goals a season for some time but, in Cardiff City loanee Adam Le Fondre, they potentially have that at present, with seven goal from 13 starts in a Whites shirt since his arrival in late January.

The problem is that, once the Championship season comes to a close, he will return to his parent club in south Wales.

Another loan deal – preferably, for a full season – would no doubt suit Bolton down to the ground, but it’s likely Cardiff will want to let their frontman go on a permanent basis due to the reported differences between player and club.

Cardiff paid a reported £2.5 million for Le Fondre and, with two years still remaining on his current contract, it’s likely to cost Wanderers a fair amount to tie him down to a permanent deal. And, with Bolton’s current financial situation, that could be a real stumbling block.

Of course, Bolton have academy graduate Zach Clough, who netted five times in six starts before picking up an injury, to return at the start of next season, but you can’t rest all your hopes on a 20-year-old doing the business. Yes, he’s shown unbelievable promise since making the step up to the first-team, but you don’t know what he’s going to perform like next term.

Le Fondre’s from the north; he likes it in this neck of the woods. If Neil Lennon has real ambitions of giving the Championship a real good crack next season, Le Fondre could be his man.

Bolton’s lack of concentration late on costing them dearly

Neil Lennon must be tearing his hair out: time and time again, his Bolton Wanderers side have thrown away points by conceding at the death.

Wolves at home; Liverpool at home in the FA Cup; Watford at home; and, now, Reading at home – in all of those game, Bolton have conceded goals in stoppage time.

Watford celebrate a goal during their 4-3 win, thanks to Troy Deeney’s late strike, at the Macron Stadium. Source: Bolton Wanderers FC

The concering thing for Lennon must be that, along with the fact that his side have deserved more than what they’ve got out of all of those game, they’ve been at home. If you’re leading or drawing away from home, you expect your hosts to throw everything at you in the closing stages, but you should really be seeing the games out at home.

Last night, certain factors didn’t help Wanderers. They used all of their substitutes by half-time because of injuries but, equally, if the match referee, Mark Haywood, would have stamped his authority on the game earlier then those injuries could have been prevented. As a former referee myself, I know the difficulty of the job and rarely comment on performances, but you know when you have a bad day at the office – and Mr Haywood had one of them.

With those injuries last night, Neil Lennon’s list of players in the treatment has worsened. In my time watching football, this is one of the worst runs of injuries I’ve seen.

A job that started out fantastically for Lennon during the early months and brought realistic chances of making the play-offs, has now become a case of building for next season. But, before that, his players need to cut out the slopiness that is hindering them at the moment.

Previously, I’ve seen comments from supporters along the lines of “Lennon out”. How ridiculous. When you think about where Wanderers were when the former Celtic boss came in, he’s still done a great job. But, now, it is a matter of confirming safety, trying to get as many points between now and the end of the season and then go again next year.

FA Cup can’t take Wanderers’ focus away from league

As fantastic as it was that Bolton drew 0-0 at Anfield in the FA Cup fourth round, it’s important that, with the replay coming up, it doesn’t distract them from the league.

Starting with tonight’s trip to Rotherham, Wanderers have some important games in the Championship coming up. Within the next month, they will go up against the likes of Derby, Watford and Middlesborough, who are all near the top end of the table.

Wanderers take on Steve Evan’s Rotherham United tonight. Source: The Yorkshire Post

It’s a crucial period for Bolton. It could easily ignite the push for the play-offs, or it could lead to them looking over their shoulder at the relegation zone.

Wanderers boss Neil Lennon has spoke about his desire to remain in the FA Cup for as long as possible. Indeed, cup competitions can breed confidence in a team and can also be an important additional source of income, but the league has to be the absolute priority.

At present, the Whites’ squad is very thin on the ground – and additional cup games aren’t going to help that.

When Lennon brought Emile Heskey to the club, he would have hoped to have been using him as an impact player – the same for 36-year-old Eidur Gudjohnsen, too – but the former England international has found himself playing a leading attacking role. And, now that he’s picked up a hamstring injury, Bolton’s attacking options have been depleted further.

Luckily, Lennon has pulled off a decent coup in the transfer window with the loan signing of Adam le Fondre, although he won’t be able to face the Millers tonight. The striker, who signed for Cardiff City in the summer, hasn’t found form in south Wales this season, but his goalscoring records at both Reading and Rotherham previously are very impressive. If he does rediscover that kind of form, Bolton’s chances of making the play-offs may just become a reality.

New signing: Adam le Fondre has joined Bolton on loan until the end of the season. Source: Bolton Wanderers FC

I’ve talked about Bolton’s need for a real goalscorer on this blog; Adam le Fondre is the perfect fit. There has been so many occasions this season where Bolton have created chance upon chance, but there’s not been that instinctive striker to prod the ball home. Hopefully, le Fondre is that man.

You need someone who can bag you 20-plus goals in the Championship if you want success in some form. It’s a long season and, if you don’t have that goalscorer, you’re going to struggle to get near the play-offs.

Another player who has joined Bolton on loan is Rochinda from Benfica. The 19-year-old has represented Portugal at U17 and U19 level, but he hasn’t broke into Benfica’s first-team as of yet. He is an exciting young talent and could give Wanderers that creative spark that is needed.

Rochinda, 19, has joined Bolton on loan until the end of the season from Portuguese club Benfica. Source: Bolton Wanderers FC

After it looked as though Bolton were getting nowhere in the transfer window, these two signings have been a smart bit of business by Neil Lennon.

However, a couple of more additions are probably needed, especially if players like Lee Chung-Yong are on their way out of the door.

How much can Bolton actually achieve this season under Neil Lennon?

Following Friday night’s 1-0 victory over Millwall at The Den, Bolton have now gone on a run of seven games unbeaten.

But how much can Bolton actually achieve this season under Neil Lennon?

I’ve previously mentioned on this blog that a striker should be the priority for Wanderers in the January transfer window, and if they bring in a decent striker who can bag at least ten goals from January until the end of the season, there is a realistic chance of them making it to the play-offs.

It doesn’t take a genius to work out that you need a goal-scorer if you want to be successful. When you look at the clubs at the top end of the Championship table, there’s players chipping in with a lot of goals. Bournemouth, who have scored the most goals in the whole of the Football League, have five players who have scored more goals than Bolton’s joint top goal-scorers, Joe Mason and Craig Davies (four goals). Meanwhile, all of the other clubs that are currently occupying the automatic promotion or play-off places have a striker scoring nine or more goals. Clubs that have been promoted to the Premier League in the past have had a striker scoring well over 15 goals and, on occasions, into the 20s.

After starting to find some form, it was unfortunate that Craig Davies picked up an injury, although he could be back for the Boxing Day clash with local rivals Blackburn Rovers. With a bit of luck, Davies will pick up where he left off. He has shown in his time at Barnsley that he can find the back of the net and I believe that he can finish on a good tally in the 2014/15 season with Wanderers. But Bolton still need someone else. You want more than one striker hitting ten goals. It’s a long old season – 46-games long to be precise.

Max Clayton looked as though he would be an important player for Bolton for the remainder of the season, but he will now be out for around six months after having surgery on a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, which he picked up during the 0-0 draw with Ispwich at Macron Stadium.

The addition of Eidur Gudjohnsen, who started his first game for the Whites against Millwall, is a good move; he’s an experienced player, he was a free agent and he is certainly worth a try. Then, you have Emile Heskey, another player who is currently on trial with Bolton. Whether he will sign with the club or not, we will soon find out. There you have two players with vast experience at the highest level. Are they what is needed? It’s not easy to tell. Experience in the Championship itself can often prove to be more important than experience higher up, especially when you’re near the end of your career. It’s one of the toughest leagues in the world and a player who knows it inside out can be extremely valuable.

Emile Heskey playing for Bolton Wanderers’ U21 side while on trial with the club, looking to secure a contract. Source: Bolton Wanderers FC

Eidur Gudjohnsen started his first Wanderers game against Millwall. Source: Bolton Wanderers FC

One of the main issues that Bolton will face soon is life without Lee Chung-Yong for around a month. After all, strikers can’t do their work if they don’t have the service. The South Korean international has been in fantastic form of late and will be sorely missed when he is on duty for his country. Neil Lennon has previously alluded to the fact that he had too many midfielders to work with in the squad he inherited, so hopefully some of those players will step up in Lee’s absence. Admittedly, he has been of a different class in his more central role since Lennon arrived, though.

Lee Chung-Yong in action at Millwall. Source: Bolton Wanderers FC

Bolton have shown in the recent win at Millwall that they can grind out results even when they’re short of a striker or two. Neil Lennon has got the squad hungry and the improvement since the former Celtic boss took over has been quite significant. But, as I’ve previously talked about, he needs that striker. It would be great if he was given a bit of money to spend in the transfer window, but that is unlikely due to the financial losses Wanderers have made in recent years. There’s 12 points to make up to earn a play-off places with 24 games to go. We’re not even halfway through the season yet. People talk about the ‘honeymoon period’ when new managers come in; this isn’t one of them. Lennon’s been in charge for 11 games now. Since his arrival, Bolton are 21 points and seven places in the table better off. Some may say that Bolton fans are getting carried away now that Lennon is in charge, but a play-off place is far more realistic than hopeful given the current revival.

Bolton Wanderers 1-0 Huddersfield Town

Bolton’s first three victories at home under Neil Lennon may have been a comfortable three points on each occasion and showcased the kind of attacking football that they are capable of playing, but this latest win over Huddersfield could well be more important than those before it.

By footballing standards, it was by no means a classic and there won’t be many people who would argue that a 0-0 draw would have been a fair result, but it was a victory that Wanderers did well to grind out. Similarly, after falling behind late on at Blackpool last weekend, the Whites did well to grind out a draw.

Before Lennon came in as manager, whether Bolton would have picked up four points from the last two games is questionable.

It took a strike from Craig Davies from ten yards, finishing off Liam Feeney’s square ball from the edge of the box, to see off Huddersfield, who were well-organised and an incredibly tough side to break down.

The hosts had the first clear opportunity of the game when Darren Pratley did well to get a cross into the box from out wide, but Craig Davies’ flick on was tipped on to the bar by Terriers keeper Alex Smithies.

However, that was Bolton’s only notable chance of the first-half, while the visitors went close just before the break as they pushed for the opener.

Jacob Butterfield broke in midfield and found Nahki Wells, who was in space on the left and had his shot saved by Andrew Lonergan in the Bolton goal.

Huddersfield started the second period the better out of the two sides and really should have been ahead within a couple of minutes of the restart.

As Bolton pressed forward, play was intercepted and Grant Holt found Sean Scannell on the wing with a chip over the top of the defence. Scannell managed to find Jacob Butterfield in the box, but his low shot was saved by Lonergan.

And they were made to pay for that chance when Lee Chuny-Yong and Liam Feeney combined down the right to set up Davies for the opening – and what proved to be the only – goal of the afternoon.

Feeney had the chance to make it two for Wanderers as he latched on to Craig Davies’ cross, but his touch was too heavy and Smithies collected the ball.

Bolton held on for the three points, which sees them leapfrog Huddersfield in the table and take them up to 18th.

Image courtesy of Bolton Wanderers FC