Had Charlie Sheen been born a Wanderer and not the self proclaimed rock-star from Mars that he is, he might have described the Trotters as being like "droopy eyed, armless children" and far from being the nightmare that haunts every West Ham fan's dreams, we seemed to transform into a team unrecognisable from the one week before, no cutting edge, no bite, no chance. From the start it was evident that Stoke were better prepared, they were brimming with confidence and seemed at home in the magnificent Wembley stadium (a trait that the more established and recurring teams in FA Cup success enjoy), and to say that they bullied us off the ball or out muscled us would be an injustice to the impressive football the Potters unleashed. But were they 'five goals good'? No, we were 'five goals bad'.
Robbo, making the kind of mistakes we all wished were behind him after improving infinitely since the arrival of Coyle, looked like he was running with concrete boots. After gifting the first goal to Stoke he continued the game like a man desperate to make up for his mistake, only to further expose the holes in his game; namely, poor positional sense, lack of pace and a flair for the reckless challenge. From a personal point of view this hurt me like a trademark Robbo body slam, I like him, he has exactly the no-nonsense, hard hitting style that epitomised the Bolton Wanderers of years gone by, and in a changing team that has ditched the brutality for artistry I think that Robbo is a necessary link to remind us we are Bolton... not Arsenal. This is not to say that he isn't capable of the great football we all expect now, he is, a talented footballer who can link up well in attacks Robbo is a variable box of tricks. But having seen Alonso, so impressive in his last two games, I could not help but feel a little disappointed that Coyle would opt for a regular rather than a youngster in red hot form.
Anyway, the blame can't be placed on one man's shoulder, it was a team effort after all. But from the usually excellent Cahill, to the constantly inspirational captain Davies, we just didn't perform and both Cahill and Davies having perhaps their worst games of the season really took the wind out of our sails. Two more goals, Huth with a defenders volley (in off the shin) and Jones pouncing on further defensive mistakes meant that the game was over at half time. The guy sitting three rows in-front of me, apoplectic that the rest of us refused to share his belief that a Lazarus style comeback was on the cards fell to his chair like the fourth goal was a bullet through his chest and we all knew that once again the big occasion had cast an impenetrable shadow over the Wanderers.
But that team, the team that was flattened into the Wembley soil by a red and white striped bulldozer was, after all, the same team that took us to there in the first place. It would be too easy to let that one result ruin a great cup run and a fantastic season, a season that has seen Bolton shake the critics by the shoulders and make them recognise our quality, a season where two Bolton players have featured for the national team and a season that has six games left to play, and everything to play for.
Match prediction for Saturday? Bolton 3-2 winners, Sturridge continuing his hot vein of form and notching two goals and winning a penalty for Kev to convert and banish some of his Wembley demons.
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