Bolton preview

The central failure of the Eriksson era was the inability to win away from home against lesser teams.

More than anything else, this was the problem. We lost at Reading, Birmingham, Spurs and Middlesbrough. We drew at Fulham, Bolton, Wigan and Derby.

This is what I wanted Hughes to fix. To combine our attacking flair with the grit of his Blackburn side. But what have we got? A team so physically and mentally weak at times that we make Arsenal look like Chelsea.

Bolton are a really bad team. I hope this is finally the year they go down. But can I go into tomorrow with any confidence of a win? No. We simply don't seem to have the tenacity, the resilience, the bravery or the strength necessary for games like this.

There's no point in stepovers when we just roll over.