He's really flavour of the season, isn't he?
Getting Bolton to play like Barcelona, and fighting for a top spot in the league? Young, scottish and hailed as the best thing since...well...the last flavour of the season.
But is he all that? Is Bolton all that?
I have never been convinced to be honest.
First og all, let's get some facts straight. We all know everything about Roy Hodgson's poor away stats for Fulham and for us. It's a stick most people beat him with over and over again, and rightly so.
But did you know that Coyle's away record in PL is even worse?
I thought so:
O.Coyle away in PL (BUR 10 games, BOL 21): P31 W4 D6 L21 avg 0.51 pts pr game. Roy Hodgson two full ses at FUL: P38 W4 D15 L19, avg 0.71 pts.
Of course Coyle has a good home record, but you can easily argue that the PL this season is the weakest in a long, long time and Bolton haven't any big scalp at home apart from Spurs. Their wins are agains Stoke, Spurs, Newcastle, Blackburn and WBA. Hardly the big guns, right?
Bolton has indeed become more pleasing to the eye after Coyle took over. The likes of Stu Holden, Lee and Elmander in form have given them other options than aiming for Davies up front.
But I would be careful to judge Bolton in december to be honest. Let's see where they end after one full season. With the dismal away record, and with more difficult home fixtures coming up in the new year, it might be a slight chance that Owen Coyle isn't the best young manager around after all.