BOLTON //Repetition can be a damaging process. Before they were booed off again, Bolton Wanderers contrived to repeat past failings to cement their position in the relegation zone.
For the eighth time in nine games at the Reebok Stadium, they were beaten. For the fourth time in the league this season, they had a player dismissed. For the 30th and 31st times, their defence was breached.
Each is an unwanted landmark, Owen Coyle's men heading the leader boards for home defeats, dismissals and concessions.
The consequence is inevitable. They are deep in trouble and, if a demanding early-season fixture list initially accounted for their struggles, now problems have become entrenched. Losing seems less a habit than an addiction.
"There's no getting away from the stigma of being in the bottom three," Coyle said. "It's been a horrible couple of months."
Everton, in comparison, have had a terrific couple of games. They have traded a relegation struggle for eighth place in the space of eight days that have brought back-to-back wins. The latest was sealed by goals from Marouane Fellaini and the substitute Apostolos Vellios.
It was a victory they thoroughly deserved. The marauding Leighton Baines was the game's outstanding individual, a constant presence in everything his side did on the left flank. Fellaini, now the club's best-paid player, illustrated why Everton rewarded him with a five-year contract last week.
David Moyes's men played with conviction and determination, rendering the absence of six injured players an irrelevance.
Yet the game altered irrevocably in the 20th minute. "A huge turning point," Coyle said.
He had made David Wheater his makeshift right-back, a decision that backfired when the central defender illustrated his technical failings. His inability to retain the ball prompted a reckless, if scarcely malicious, challenge.
Having controlled the ball with his first touch, his second was poor, sending the ball squirming away towards Diniyar Bilyaletdinov. Wheater lunged in, his studs landing in the Russian's foot. Wheater had to go.
"In my day, it would have been a yellow card," Coyle said. "The rules are if your studs are showing, you leave yourself open to a red card. I can't say it surprised me."
While Bilyaletdinov spurned a fine opening, Bolton held on until half time. But they have proved unable to keep clean sheets in close games.
"We have lost two soft goals from our point of view," Coyle said. "The [one at the] start of the second half, to me, was avoidable."
From Everton's perspective, it was excellent. "A really good goal, a well-worked goal," enthused Moyes. Leon Osman linked up with Baines, the latter guiding his low cross into the path of Fellaini. He finished emphatically.
Baines played a part in the second, too. His deep cross was met on the volley by Tim Cahill, sliding in to set up Vellios. Four minutes after his arrival, the young Greek scored his third of the season.
Sandwiching the goals, Ivan Klasnic could have equalised, Tim Howard saving well, while at the other end Baines arrowed a shot over the bar and Cahill had a header brilliantly saved by Jussi Jaaskelainen, with Louis Saha unable to convert the rebound. It mattered not.
Everton have long proved themselves able to extricate themselves from problematic positions. It is a skill Bolton now need to display.
[ sports@thenational.ae ]
Profile of Tarabut Gateway
Founder: Abdulla Almoayed
Based: UAE
Founded: 2017
Number of employees: 35
Sector: FinTech
Raised: $13 million
Backers: Berlin-based venture capital company Target Global, Kingsway, CE Ventures, Entrée Capital, Zamil Investment Group, Global Ventures, Almoayed Technologies and Mad’a Investment.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Fighting with My Family
Director: Stephen Merchant
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Nick Frost, Lena Headey, Florence Pugh, Thomas Whilley, Tori Ellen Ross, Jack Lowden, Olivia Bernstone, Elroy Powell
Four stars
Company Profile
Company name: Namara
Started: June 2022
Founder: Mohammed Alnamara
Based: Dubai
Sector: Microfinance
Current number of staff: 16
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Family offices
Kill
Director: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat
Starring: Lakshya, Tanya Maniktala, Ashish Vidyarthi, Harsh Chhaya, Raghav Juyal
Rating: 4.5/5
The Continental: From the World of John Wick
Created by: Greg Coolidge, Shawn Simmons, Kirk Ward
Stars: Mel Gibson, Colin Woodell, Mishel Prada
Rating: 3/5
The five types of long-term residential visas
Obed Suhail of ServiceMarket, an online home services marketplace, outlines the five types of long-term residential visas:
Investors:
A 10-year residency visa can be obtained by investors who invest Dh10 million, out of which 60 per cent should not be in real estate. It can be a public investment through a deposit or in a business. Those who invest Dh5 million or more in property are eligible for a five-year residency visa. The invested amount should be completely owned by the investors, not loaned, and retained for at least three years.
Entrepreneurs:
A five-year multiple entry visa is available to entrepreneurs with a previous project worth Dh0.5m or those with the approval of an accredited business incubator in the UAE.
Specialists
Expats with specialised talents, including doctors, specialists, scientists, inventors, and creative individuals working in the field of culture and art are eligible for a 10-year visa, given that they have a valid employment contract in one of these fields in the country.
Outstanding students:
A five-year visa will be granted to outstanding students who have a grade of 95 per cent or higher in a secondary school, or those who graduate with a GPA of 3.75 from a university.
Retirees:
Expats who are at least 55 years old can obtain a five-year retirement visa if they invest Dh2m in property, have savings of Dh1m or more, or have a monthly income of at least Dh20,000.
How to improve Arabic reading in early years
One 45-minute class per week in Standard Arabic is not sufficient
The goal should be for grade 1 and 2 students to become fluent readers
Subjects like technology, social studies, science can be taught in later grades
Grade 1 curricula should include oral instruction in Standard Arabic
First graders must regularly practice individual letters and combinations
Time should be slotted in class to read longer passages in early grades
Improve the appearance of textbooks
Revision of curriculum should be undertaken as per research findings
Conjugations of most common verb forms should be taught
Systematic learning of Standard Arabic grammar
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday Valladolid v Osasuna (Kick-off midnight UAE)
Saturday Valencia v Athletic Bilbao (5pm), Getafe v Sevilla (7.15pm), Huesca v Alaves (9.30pm), Real Madrid v Atletico Madrid (midnight)
Sunday Real Sociedad v Eibar (5pm), Real Betis v Villarreal (7.15pm), Elche v Granada (9.30pm), Barcelona v Levante (midnight)
Monday Celta Vigo v Cadiz (midnight)
Brief scoreline:
Toss: South Africa, elected to bowl first
England (311-8): Stokes 89, Morgan 57, Roy 54, Root 51; Ngidi 3-66
South Africa (207): De Kock 68, Van der Dussen 50; Archer 3-27, Stokes 2-12