We ❤ Muamba

The guy who sits a couple of rows behind me at the match is always on a real downer about Fabrice Muamba, and I thought, what with my new found export of opinions, that I would defend our young midfield wrecking ball.

I love watching Muamba play, he has a style that I can honestly say I have never seen the likes of in my days as a Wanderer. When he was but a rising star, striding through the Arsenal academy, people often likened him to Vieira, a commanding presence in midfield, breaker down of play and spreader of the ball (well, two out of three ain't bad). While it's true that his passing leaves the purest within us all with our head in our hands, that, quiet simply, isn't his game! I will stress this again, we are under no pretence that we have Xavi Alonso treading the turf at the Reebok, passing is just not part of the rough around the edges package that is Fabrice Muamba!

I like to envisage Muamba as like water, he flows through the game, helping out the defence and linking up with the attack, and (as apt as my metaphor is) he extinguishes the bright flames of the top clubs. I remember last season against Liverpool, it was Muamba's job to shadow Gerrard and for 80 or so minutes our defence wouldn't have been able to pick Stevie out of a line up, so little was he seen threatening (then we had to go and lose a man and Muamba's duties were split as we tried in vain to contain 11 of Liverpools pre-breakdown stars against our 10 men). He completely neutralises whichever player he is given to mark, this is a talent that is often invaluable to us when we take on the bigger clubs and also allows our midfield maestros, Holden, Davies and Lee to really shine and show off their attacking prowess and flair.

It is no small mystery why Muamba was ever present last season and was voted player of the year in his first season with us! He is quiet simply, immense. A young, English talent that (for a change) bigger clubs aren't trying to steal away from us and (at the risk of blowing his cover altogether) I would suggest that he, along with others in the Bolton mainframe, will have a big part to play in the future of English football.

So there, the guy that sits behind us! Next time you're crying into to your hot-dog at the start of the match when his name is announced in the starting 11, and next time you're pleading with Coyle to switch him for Davies after 15 minutes of the game gone, give a thought for the role he plays in the bigger picture of our style of football, our unsung hero, Fabrice Muamba.