Bolton Wanderers: Coyle’d and ready to spring

Saturday saw Owen Coyle's Bolton gain another valuable 3 points in an emphatic 5-1 win over Newcastle at the Reebok moving them into 4th place before the Sunday fixtures had kicked off (Manchester City overtaken them into 4th spot after their win over Fulham).

Since Coyle's arrival at Bolton after the dismissal of Gary Megson almost 12 months ago, much to the dismay of the Burnley fans that idolised the Scotsman, Bolton have started to adapt well to his attractive style of play. One player that has been remoulded under Coyle is Johan Elmander.

[caption id="attachment_291" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Super Swede: Elmander finishes off his wondergoal at Wolves in Bolton's 3-2 win at Molineux"][/caption]

Elmander never made the mark he was expected to make on the Lancashire side, but this season he has excelled alongside Kevin Davies, scoring 8 goals so far in this campaign - pretty impressive considering he scored 11 goals in total in his previous two seasons for the Trotters.  With Davies also gaining plaudits from the England camp as of late, confidence will be high for the two frontmen.

It's also worth noting that their strike partnership is debatably one of the most efficient in the league right now with 14 goals between them, 3 goals more than any other partnership in the Premier League (with Newcastle's Carroll (8) / Ameobi (3), Sunderland's Bent (6) / Gyan (5) and Tevez (9) / Balotelli (2) all contributing 11).

But all good strikers need good providers, which Bolton have in the shape of Matty Taylor, Lee Chung-Yong, Stuart Holden and Martin Petrov. Taylor and Petrov provide good Premier League experience, whilst competing for the left wing role, whereas Lee and Holden have promising futures ahead of them with their stellar recent performances.

Finally, at the back, there is the dedicated, consistent Jussi Jaaskelainen with future England prospect Gary Cahill leading the defence in front of him and his central defensive partner Zat Knight has pulled out some great performances too.

By no means am I suggesting that the Bolton squad would out perform the calibre of talent that you would find at top 4 clubs, however, the level of talent that Coyle is working with now as opposed to the players he worked with at Burnley obviously show that he is a manager that can get the best out of players.  To transform a side that was very physical and direct under Allardyce (and quite frankly a little lost under Megson) into a side that tries to outplay their opponents and have started to score freely is a wonderful accolade.

[caption id="attachment_296" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Owen Money: Coyle has brought success to Bolton recently, but has it come at a cost?"][/caption]

One worrying aspect for Bolton is the recent news of their spiralling debts.  In the last year their debts have almost trebled, rising from £13.2m to £35.4m with their net debt lying at a worrying £93m.  This is partially to do with the recruitment of new players in this season and last, such as Lee Chung-Yong, Jack Wilshere and Ivan Klasnic and also retaining all their current squad too, which wasn't necessarily the ideal outcome for the board.

"We wanted to shed players in the summer to bring the wages down but we couldn't because the market has died."

Claimed chairman Phil Gartside, however he does insist that they will not be forced to "sell" their key players, however "trades" may be used in the near future.

However, can these debts be solved by the successful football that Coyle has been demonstrating via his Bolton squad lately?  Based on current performances, a Europa League spot would be in the minds of the fans, and should be a possibility provided that the players keep their performances up to this standard but we all know things are never simple in football.

Teams like Aston Villa have had a rocky start under new manager Gerard Houllier, but are they due a good run?  Will they make any inspired signings in the Summer? And will their impressive youngsters, such as Albrighton, Hogg, Clark and Delfouneso start excelling further?  It's almost inevitable that Roy Hodgson will turn things around at Anfield too, after their disappointing start, they will be looking to push their way into the European spots - not to mention their Merseyside neighbours, Everton.

So, there's a long road ahead for Coyle and his Bolton squad, but things are looking bright up North and maybe there'll be a few European teams suffering the ultimate test of a wet, windy Thursday night at the Reebok next season.