No one is dwelling on Bolton, says Routledge

Nov 26 2010 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

WAYNE Routledge insists lessons have been learnt from the thrashing at Bolton Wanderers even though he knows there is no point dwelling on it for too long as Newcastle United prepare for the arrival of champions Chelsea this weekend.

Routledge admitted watching the video tape of the performance at the Reebok Stadium had been excruciating, although Newcastle’s players have been quick to try and put the debacle behind them.

Although the result was a shock to the system, the United camp are keen to retain a sense of perspective, and as bad as that game was, it cannot be allowed to spoil what has been an otherwise good start to the season.

“It was a bad day at the office, put it that way,” said Routledge, who came on as a second-half substitute long after the game had gone in Bolton’s favour last weekend. “Everybody has a bad day from time to time and hopefully that was ours and we can put it behind us.

“I definitely think the squad here has the strength, the resilience and experience to bounce back from a result like that.

“We’ve looked back over it, picked the bones out of it and we need to get past it now. Hopefully we’ll put it behind us with a good performance against Chelsea on Sunday.

“It was hard to sit and watch it all again. It felt like the longest 90 minutes in the world to sit through it all again but it’s something we had to do. You have to learn from a result like that.”

Nobody came out of the Bolton game with much credit and, with Fabricio Coloccini and Mike Williamson both beginning three-match suspensions, changes need to be made against Chelsea.