ONE of Sam Allardyce's first aims at Bolton was to try and curb the attacking instincts of central defender Mark Fish.

The South African international was a big hit with Wanderers fans when he was signed from Italian giants Lazio.

But many now blame Fish for many of Bolton's well-chronicled defensive deficiencies.

Allardyce was seen bellowing at the defender not to venture further than the half-way line during his first few games in charge.

And Nationwide Opta stats would seem to back the new Bolton boss's argument that Fish needs to contribute more in defensive situations, particularly when compared against Rovers defender Christian Dailly.

In contrast to Fish, Dailly is starting to win over the fans after initially struggling to adapt to life at Ewood following his big money move from Derby last season.

Fish missed many of the early games when Bolton were struggling under Colin Todd, through injury and international commitments. And, although Dailly has played the equivalent of five more games, the Scotsman's defensive stats swamp those of his opposite number.

Dailly has made more than three times more tackles, although his per centage of tackles won is poor and he tends to concede a lot more fouls, including six in the 'danger area'.

He has blocked twice as many shots and crosses, whereas the figures would suggest that Fish prefers to steal the ball through interceptions.

Dailly has more than double Fish's tally of both clearances and headed clearances, and plays a more important part in distributing the ball from deep positions.

And, despite Fish's tendancies to surge upfield, Dailly has scored once to add to seven other shots, while Fish has made just one attempt on goal.

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