A change in tactics last season following Owen Coyle’s arrival at the Reebok has seen Bolton place more and more emphasis on a short passing game than the physical, long ball tactics of yesteryear. Coyle has also demonstrated a willingness to trust younger, unproven players, giving opportunities last season to loaners like Jack Wilshere and Vladimir Weiss, and relying heavily this season on a trio of young midfielders, Stuart Holden (25), Fabrice Muamba (22), and Chung-Yong Lee (22). Not surprisingly, Coyle’s faith has paid off, with Bolton sitting tied for 5th and with the youngest of the group, Lee, currently having the most points of any Bolton midfielder.
While I touched on Bolton’s defense (or lack thereof) in last week’s Watchlist article on Gary Cahill, there has never been any question that Bolton’s attack remains the strength of this season’s squad. The fleet-footed Lee has brought his stereotypical South Korean work ethic to the Trotters’ right flank, supported by the desire and ability to fit into Coyle’s more aesthetically pleasing brand of football. Lee has thrived in this system.
In addition to 1 goal, Lee already has 5 assists from the first 13 games, picking up two assists this past week against Wolves, pressuring and attacking to create an own goal and then calmly laying off a short back pass for an easy Holden strike. And, with Martin Petrov dealing with a hamstring problem and now facing a challenge from Matthew Taylor for minutes on the left side of the midfield, Lee emerges as the safe play in the Bolton midfield, and quite the bargain with his price dropping to its present FPL level of 5.2.
Lee is currently owned by only 1.8% of the FPL owners. Similar to the recent discussion of Wolves and Matthew Jarvis, Lee presents a nice differential and an attractive new budget option who is deserving of an extra bump on your cheat sheet due to a favorable run of fixtures that sees Bolton facing NEW, BLP, mcy, BLA, sun, WBA in the next 7 gameweeks.
