Bolton Wanderers manager Owen Coyle has publicly criticised his players after the 3-0 defeat at the hands of struggling Portsmouth, who aren't exactly a team full of Lionel Messis!.
It is well known that the league one side Portsmouth are experiencing great difficulties at the moment, which have put their sole existence into a major doubt. Yet, the league one side managed a comfortable 3-0 win over the championship team Bolton Wanderers. The club were relegated from the Premier league only last season, but have lost a number of first-team regulars, who have elected to move elsewhere. Only a handful of players have been retained by the manager Owen Coyle.
Yet, the manager has come out in criticism of the players after their extremely poor display in the pre-season friendly match. Even though it was a pre-season friendly match, Owen Coyle has said that it is extremely important that the players show some spirit and the attitude that they want to play for this club. There are only 13 days remaining before Bolton Wanderers entertain Burnley in the Championship opening day of the season. Owen Coyle is well known as a manager who keeps his criticism of the players within the dressing room, but this was a different instance after he came out in public criticism.
“It was an easy point for me to make because when you see how hungry Portsmouth's players were, for contracts and everything else, then I think that should be a minimum requirement. I have stressed to those players when they cross the white line that we know what quality they have, but whether it's pre-season or not, they have got to start stepping it up. We didn't do ourselves justice. The players have got to be mindful of that," said Coyle after the match. Kevin Doyle and Muamba has some of the high-profile names to be retained by the club.