Bolton 2 City 0

After another defeat our away form is fast becoming to be an area of concern, and something that needs to be rectified fast.

Perhaps worryingly though, watching the game today, there doesn't appear to be much alternatives being offered by Mark Hughers or the players themselves to get us out of this current funk.

With the return of Zabaleta for Onouha, it was our sixteenth different defensive line-up this season, and it worked to an extent with Richards faring better with the long ball threat posed by Bolton. However, it did detract from our attacking play down the left, which was virtually non-existent bar Robinho drifting out wide.

Bolton created more opportunities in the first half, with these half chances on the back of set pieces, where we created a couple of neat chances for Ireland and Evans, who had their efforts well saved by Jaskelinen.

Too often though, there was a lack of movement and purpose in attack, and we did struggle to really carve opportunities out. Robinho struggled to really get into the game and make an impact, which left Evans isolated too often.

We were a lot more incisive in the second half I thought and looked the more likely of the two sides to score, but Bolton had chances of their own with Hart making a good save from Nolan and Mike Riley waving a penalty appeal away.

Elano was once again sacrificed late in the game with Hamman being introduced, but far from shoring up the the side it coincided with Bolton getting in behind us at times and we were caught out twice down the flanks where we looked all at sea. This then of course resulted in us conceding both goals following the withdrawal of Elano.

Firstly, possession was lost by Robino in midfield and Bolton broke down the right and Ricardo Gardner hit home, although there was a suspicion of offside as the ball was played in and then for the second, where Richard Dunne added another own goal to his collection.

Disappointing today was the lack of impact that the Robinho/Ireland/Wright-Phillips had on the game with them being virtually non-existent and if reports of us bidding for Sergio Aguero are true then January cannot come soon enough.

Four defeats away from home (and six overall) does not bode well, and I do wonder if Hughes will go back to the drawing board in a sense, and sacrifice one or more of the more attacking players to give the line-up a more compact feel (more akin with this Blackburn side), for at the moment we appear rudderless away from home and don't look as though we can end this run anytime soon.