Trotters chief clears the air

19 March 2009 15:47
Megson's men sit just four points outside the relegation zone and Megson felt it necessary to clear the air with his players following the Fulham defeat which saw Bolton booed off. They visit West Brom on Saturday in a match which could have huge relegation implications for both sides and Megson believes the meeting with his team has helped refocus their minds. He said: "We don't always go to the players and ask them for their opinions but we did do this week because it was a really, really poor performance against Fulham in a lot of aspects. "We needed to try and ascertain whether it was a one-off or whether there were other reasons for us being as poor as we were. "What was said remains private because if we say it could have been this or that it stops looking like reasons and starts looking like excuses and we are above that. "Fulham were a good side but we have to make sure it doesn't happen again. "It's not democracy as such but sometimes those who dictate the results you get and therefore how successful you are, the players, need to be listened to and you need to take on board what they think. "You still make all the decisions yourself but the way we do things is here is to ask them what they think and we will then make the decisions." Megson admitted to being frustrated by the lack of consistency his team displays - they have won three and lost three of their last six encounters - but cites the overall quality of the Premier League as the major reason for that, essentially believing that anyone can beat anyone else on their day. He added: "Consistency is a hard thing to gain in the Premiership. "You saw last week that Liverpool are well capable of battering Real Madrid and Manchester United so it is hard to get that consistency and, because of the finances involved in the game, everybody has got good footballers but it is something that we strive for. "It is tough right the way through from the top team to the very bottom team. There have been a lot of teams from sixth and seventh downwards beating each other so you have a really open Premier League."

Source: Team_Talk