Bolton Wanderers vs Sunderland preview - No guarantees for Jussi

Posted Saturday, May 07, 2011 by PA

Bolton boss Owen Coyle will reinstate Jussi Jaaskelainen as his number one against Sunderland - but he is making no promises for next season.

The Finn, who has played more than 500 games in 14 years with the Trotters, was surprisingly rested for last weekend's 1-0 defeat by Blackburn.

Hungarian youngster Adam Bogdan was given the nod at Ewood Park but the greater threat to 36-year-old Jaaskelainen's place in the medium term would appear to come from Ali Al Habsi.

The Oman international is coming to the end of a season on loan with Wigan in which he has greatly enhanced his reputation after four years as Jaaskelainen's understudy.

Coyle insists the situation does not present him with a problem and vowed it would be a "fair fight" between the trio.

The Scot said: "Ali was allowed to go on loan to Wigan because I felt he'd been understudy for too long and he had to play.

"I knew the qualities he has as a goalkeeper, I also knew young Adam Bogdan is an outstanding keeper who's getting better. So for us it was always a win, win, win situation.

"When the season finishes at Wigan, and Al Habsi's been one of their best players this year, he'll return to Bolton Wanderers, and that's very clear.

"There's no problem regarding all the positions in our team. It's a fair fight. As a manager, I think the best one will play in that position."

Coyle, meanwhile, insisted last week's decision was taken purely to give Jaaskelainen a rest and Bogdan a rare chance to play in the Barclays Premier League.

"Jussi was great," the Trotters boss said of his keeper's reaction. "Jussi's been outstanding all season, as he has from day one at the football club.

"I spoke to him and I said, given the amount of games we've had in a short period of time, that we were going to give young Adam a game at Blackburn, and he was comfortable with it.

"He'll play in goal against Sunderland on Saturday. As a manager, that's the decision you make. It was made for the right reasons."

Daniel Sturridge (ankle), Gretar Steinsson (knee), and Ricardo Gardner (hamstring) could be fit but Mark Davies (ankle) is likely to miss out while Marcos Alonso is expected to be unavailable following his involvement in a car accident in Madrid in which a female passenger died.

Meanwhile, Sunderland boss Steve Bruce is hoping Take That will help put a smile back on his face at the end of the most frustrating season of his career to date.

The group are playing four dates at the Stadium of Light later this month, and their arrival on Wearside will mean Bruce and his injury-ravaged team will have been put out of their misery.

In the meantime, the Black Cats will have to negotiate the final three games of a campaign which started so promisingly with virtually all of their strongest XI in the treatment room and not a single striker available to a manager who believed he had put together the club's best ever quartet of frontmen just a few short months ago.

Asked if he will be glad to see the back of a season which takes his depleted squad to Bolton, Bruce replied: "Will I be glad to see the back of it? No, you are wishing your life away then, aren't you.

"I can't wait for Take That, though."

A traumatic few months has taken a series of fresh twists in the last 48 hours or so with Kieran Richardson being ruled out for the rest of the season with a stress fracture of his left fibula, and Michael Turner and Lee Cattermole unlikely to figure again before August with knee and back problems respectively.

The manager insists he has endured more difficult campaigns during his career to date, but it is the sense of what might have been this time around which is haunting his thoughts after he had guided the club into the Barclays Premier League's top six around the turn of the year.

He said: "For six months, it was great. It's the most frustrating one because I know how close we were. We were very close.

"That's the frustration, when your season just peters away how it is.

"No matter how I try to flannel it up, the simple facts are that with the problems we have got, we can't cope with it - and I don't think there are many can.

"I keep telling you about Wolves - since they have lost [Kevin] Doyle, they haven't won a game, and it is because of one player.

"We have got there 10 who I could name - Gordon, Bramble, Campbell, Richardson, Welbeck, Gyan, Meyler, Henderson, Cattermole, Turner would all play. They are my first team."