Here we are ladies and gentleman. Today is the day. All the cliches have already been said a hundred times, and now it's time to do the actual thing. This week, before the biggest game of the season we caught up with James Whittaker of ESPN Soccernet Stoke to give us his perspective on the match. In several hours we'll know how this story ends, but before then give what James has to say a read...

Continue reading this post »

From a neutral perspective, Tottenham Hotspur is probably one of the most interesting clubs in the league. They've got all the elements: good football, big without being soulless, a love-him-or-hate-him manager. Playing them is always interesting, as I find it difficult to not like them. To get a better perspective on the Spurs, we went to our friend Kevin McCauley of SBN's second-to-none Spurs blog, Cartilage Free Captain. He kindly answered our questions, and what better way to start your match day than by hearing from the enemy?

Continue reading this post »

The home match against Sunderland was not a good result for Bolton Wanderers. It came at the height of our early season slump and helped push us further into the relegation battle. This time around, the Trotters will be hoping for a better result at the Stadium of Light.

We had the pleasure of speaking with the Roker Report's (SBNation's Sunderland blog) Michael Graham about what Sunderland has been like as a team this year and most importantly: what should the men in white expect?

Continue reading this post »

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if I were to have the Lion of Vienna Suite marry any other blog it would be 7500 to Holte. We love those guys. Because of this, I always have mixed feelings playing Aston Villa. On the one hand, it's fun to play them, but on the other hand I wish we could both win. Obviously we can't, but we will just have to make the best of it. To mentally prepare for the match, we've asked Aaron Campeau a couple questions about Villa's season in general and what he expects from the match. Hit the jump to read what he said.

Continue reading this post »

This week we got the opportunity to chat with Jim White, owner and administrator of SCFC2, again. You may remember Jim from our Question Time ahead of the reverse fixture in October. We chatted about Swans' style of play, who will go down, and Swans' most dangerous player. So, while you're waiting anxiously for kick off, why not get a little enemy perspective? Hit the jump for the questions.

Continue reading this post »

This week sees Bolton playing a big FA Cup quarterfinal against North London hotshots Tottenham Hotspur. I suspect Spurs swashbuckling ways make our own Owen Coyle chartreuse with envy. Curious whether this was the proper emotion, I emailed Kevin McCauley at SB Nation's own Spurs blog, Cartilage Free Captain. I provided three questions, he provided three answers. Keep an eye out for a possible Ryan Nelson sighting;

Lion of Vienna Suite; Depth seems to be a problem for Spurs, as your first eleven can compete with any team in the world. Who will be missing this week, and what kind of replacements will Bolton have to deal with?

Cartilage Free Captain; It's funny, because we're not that far removed from a world where Spurs had one of the deepest teams in the Premier League, but not enough quality to compete with the best teams, at least in the eyes of most. Aaron Lennon and Michael Dawson are both out, and Harry Redknapp's struggled to find the right solution at central defense and on the right. Luka Modric and Gareth Bale have been played out of position on the wing, while Ledley King and Younes Kaboul have struggled as a defense pairing. Expect Niko Kranjcar to get a recall at right midfield, and one of either William Gallas or Ryan Nelsen next to Kaboul in defense.

LOVS; Harry Rednapp has (obviously) been in the news for a variety of reasons. Will he leave White Hart Lane this summer? And is that a bad thing?

CFC; I think he will leave for the England job, provided Spurs don't fall apart and England still want to hire him. I will reserve judgment on whether or not that is a good thing until we see what his replacement does. I think that Harry is a competent, if slightly overrated manager. I feel like Spurs' success is much more a product of the quality and form of the players than anything Harry Redknapp does, and that there are plenty of managers who could do the job just as well.

LOVS; Matches between our clubs are usually free-wheeling high-scoring affairs. Is that what you would predict for Saturday, a good old-fashioned cup tie?

CFC; Based on the form, fitness and quality of the two defenses, that seems like something that might happen. Though, I'm not sure where Bolton's goals are coming from other than set pieces. We're good at screwing up on those, so I'll say that Tottenham will win 2-1.

Question Time is back this week, featuring Phil Pierson of QPR Offside. As you may or may not recall, this site was originally part of the Offside, so we're always pleased to chat with another Offsider, and Phil has been kind enough to answer the questions we had ahead of today's match. What better way to get yourself in the mood to watch what will inevitably be a stomach turning match than by reading the words of the enemy? So without further ado...

Continue reading this post »

So we've been pretty bad about keeping up with this feature recently, and to make matters worse when I scheduled this post to publish I got the day wrong. Yes, I am on a roll. Anyway, the guys from SBN's excellent Everton blog Royal Blue Mersey got in touch with us this week, and we did a nice old fashioned question exchange. Brian Lewis was kind enough to answer all of our Toffee-related questions, hit the jump to check em out.

Continue reading this post »