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Coyle takes blame for Bolton defeat

Bolton manager Owen Coyle is taking full responsibility for his side's lowly position in the Premier League.

The Trotters lie rock bottom of the table after a 2-0 defeat at Fulham in West London. Clint Dempsey and Bryan Ruiz netted the all-important first-half goals that condemned Bolton to a 13th defeat in 16 league games. Coyle apologised for his side's lacklustre performances and said the Trotters must start winning games soon.

"My chairman and owner understand me," Coyle said. "They know exactly what I am doing at the football club and how we want precede in the long term, but equally I accept everything I put in term for the longevity and future of the club has to be backed up by results in the Premier League.

"And if we stay up, which I believe we will, Bolton Wanderers will be set the best they have been for years and going well as a business and everything else. But we have to accept we are in a dogfight in a dangerous area of the league and we have to address that.

"The only way of doing that is by winning games. As a manager, I accept total responsibility for the games. I can understand people being disappointed and frustrated because I certainly am. Everybody is entitled to their opinion in football. I have no problem with that unless people get personal."

Blackburn boss Steve Kean says he is under no illusions about the safety of his job if the team's position in the Premier League does not improve. Rovers lost 2-1 to West Brom at Ewoord Park on Saturday.

Told that he had received the sympathies of Albion head coach Roy Hodgson, Kean said: "It's nice to hear support from people, but I'm not here just to get support - I need to get points. I'm under no illusions that my job is based on us being in a much better position than where we are now.

"But I'll make sure I prepare the team right and that we show some courage, get on the ball and get some points in the coming games."

Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas admitted Wigan deserved their point. "It is a disappointing result," the Portuguese said. "It was a hard-fought game with many chances on both sides, maybe more from Wigan. They fought hard to get the result here.

"I think Wigan had the momentum [towards the end] and the crowd was behind them and they got the goal they deserved - 1-1 was a fair result."

Asked if his side were complacent following their victory over Manchester City on Monday, he said: "No. It's always difficult during the Christmas period to play away from home.

"We didn't get the three points we thought we could get, but we have to continue to fight and get back to good results."

Stoke boss Tony Pulis admitted defender Jonathan Woodgate was fortunate not to be sent off after his side registered a fourth successive Premier League success away to Wolves. Makeshift full-back Woodgate had already been booked when he brought down Matt Jarvis for a penalty which was converted by Stephen Hunt.

Stoke claimed a victory at Molineux © Getty Images

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But referee Anthony Taylor did not brandish a second yellow card and Pulis was able to substitute Woodgate after just 19 minutes and reorganise to good effect. An own goal from Kevin Doyle, when he deflected a free-kick from Robert Huth, and Peter Crouch's 99th league goal completed a Stoke comeback.

Pulis said: "Jonathan played really well against Tottenham. His first challenge today was a poor challenge [for the booking] and that puts you on edge straight away. We had a bit of good fortune there. If he had sent him off, we probably couldn't have argued about it.

"But when I took him off he said 'that's a great decision, gaffer' and that's from someone who has played for Real Madrid and is very much part of what we want to do at this club."

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew refused to be downhearted after seeing his side held to a 0-0 draw by Swansea. "I really can't complain too much about my side. We stopped them playing, which was the aim, to put them under pressure and force errors, which we did," he said.

"The first half was our better half, for sure. We got in behind and we created chances, we put balls into the box. But they haven't got seven clean sheets for nothing. There is a good spirit in the Swansea team and although they didn't keep possession like they would have liked, they defended very, very well and the goalie looked strong.

"Everything we tried to do, they seemed to have an answer. But having said that, with a little break here and there, we would have got the goal and I think we would have won this game. But overall, I'm actually not that disappointed. I thought we played well."

Everton boss David Moyes felt his side deserved to win against Norwich, having dominated for long periods, but was thankful to escape with a draw after two successive defeats.

"I thought we had played well," he said. "We didn't score but for 25 minutes we played well and our worst period was after they scored in the 15 minutes up to half-time because it took the wind out of our sails.

"I don't think we were getting battered but it was a really poor goal we lost and it presented another mountain to climb. For a long time it didn't look like we could get a point out of the game but thankfully we got a point - but we deserved three.

"The boys played well but didn't have the bit at the top end to get us a goal. Someone keeps telling me in the last couple of games we've had no shots on goal but today I think we had 15 and they had one.

"We have done that quite a lot this season but the minute we don't get any shots on target everyone jumps on it. We have been playing okay but not getting the goals, which obviously makes the difference."

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