We could have done a lot worse, a loss would not have helped our cause. But the game against West-Brom yesterday which ended in an extremely boring 0-0 showed just how badly we need balls in the back of the net. The trotters were par with WBA in just about every category.

This brings me to a slightly more optimistic bit of news.

Can't deny it for much longer. Two bad losses, one was a missed penalty at the Toon and the other was a 2-1 loss to a lowly Northampton. It looked so positive last week but these losses are making us look like Bolton of last year. I just want Jimmy Bullard and a bolstered midfield. I'm sorry that I haven't been writing but these games rarely come on over here.

We don't really get Bolton on TV here unless FSC shows them playing Chelsea or Blackburn. I spent a good part of the first half looking for a stream online only to find one where the owner of the site kept switching between the Bolton match and the Hull match. Needless to say, he happened to switch during all 3 goals.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have just signed a 6 foot 3 inch defender who goes by the name of Danny Shittu. Shittu is a Nigerian center back who has formerly had stints with Charlton Athletic, QPR, and Watford. He is also capable of scoring once in a while having scored goals for all of his previous clubs

"Danny's a mountain of a man, he's aggressive, he's quick and his biggest strength is in the air.

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?
The home kit I took as a mistake, maybe some idiot just OK'd the design. I could live with that shirt, it wasn't the ugliest thing that I have ever seen, but this? Come on, seriously? It honestly looks like someone threw up on the home kit and didn't rub the stain out fast enough so that it set in.

El Hadji Diouf
is gone. He has to pass his medical and then hes officially with Sunderland. I liked Dioufy over the years that he played for the Trotters. Even though he only scored an average of 5 goals a season, he was exciting. You never knew when he would blow up in someone's face and then have a moment of sheer brilliance from the wing.

Fabrice Muamba
He's young. Only 20 years old and he's earned 7 caps for the England U21 squad in the last year. Fabrice Muamba is our new defensive midfielder and he can fill in right where Ivan Campo left off. Campo spent 6 seasons at the Reebok and he was a welcome sight for just about every Trotters supporter over the years, but he got older and he got slower.

There has been almost no news in the past few days. The team have slapped a 3 million pound price tag on Abdoulaye Méïté. No big deal. He's obviously unfit to carry on as a Trotter if he can claim that he was injured enough to let 2 Man U goals go by. Other than the expected price tag, there has literally been zero information coming through the news wire.

Next on the transfer list is Simon Vukčević.
Who doesn't love a young midfielder? Simon Vukčević is a 22 year old attacking midfield who currently plays for Sporting Club Portugal. He's played one season for Sporting CP and in that season he earned 32 caps and 12 goals for Sporting CP in all competitions, a good ratio for anyone.

Lets start off with Jonathan Bottinelli.
Bottinelli is 23 years old, a defender for Argentinian side San Lorenzo. Bottinelli has also been called up for the Argentina international squad when Martin Demichelis was forced to serve a ban. In 5 seasons at San Lorenzo, Bottinelli had amassed 116 caps with 9 goals for San Lorenzo.

Joey Barton.
He's young, he has talent, he has an anger management issue. When Barton transferred from Manchester City to Newcastle United for £5.8 million, a lot was expected from him. He was even rated the 10th best tackler in the entirety of the Premier League. Bolton have denied reports that the team is interested in the services of Joey Barton but an angry Bolton have denied that they want his services.

I'm just trying to catch this blog up a little bit on the recent Trotters news. Being a goalkeeper myself, I have the utmost respect for Jussi Jaaskelainen. He became one of my favorite players very quickly. Earlier in the year, there was much speculation that Jussi might leave the Reebok.

Just a quick introduction first, my name is Mark and I'll be writing for you here at the Bolton Offside. I'm 19 years old, living in New York, and a Graphic Media Marketing major at RIT in Rochester. Enough on that though, on to business.

The new home kit:
This kit has been getting a lot of harsh criticism, including being named a candidate for the ugliest 08/09 Premiership shirt.

Do you have a passion for Bolton football? Do you like to write and to share your opinions? Are you fired up for the 2007-2008 season? We're looking for someone to captain this blog. This is not a paid position, but you will be rewarded with an admiring worldwide audience that will hang on your every word. If you are interested in joining the The Offside team, shoot an email to bob [at] theoffside.

After eighty-minutes of no goals, it was getting a bit worrisome for Bolton supporters. Would we do it again? Would we give points to a lowly team that we should beat? Well, where as it might be the nice thing our mothers taught us to do, we didn't. It was Kevin Davies, the man who could only play fifty-odd minutes against ManUre, the man that supported the Blades as a child, the man that our style of play seems to be made for, who eventually netted for us.