Rock Bottom and Out?

It’s been a week since I last wrote about our situation and sadly nothing has improved. Blackburn eased past Sunderland and QPR managed to come back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 against Liverpool. This could be the result QPR so badly needed to turn their season around. Bolton’s game against Villa was postponed appropriately given Fabrice Muamba’s critical condition, I hope Fabrice has a full and speedy recovery. Despite not playing, Bolton are still a point ahead of Wolves with a game in hand.

Last Sunday when it was 11 vs 11 all that separated the teams was some shocking defending from a set piece. Man Utd were not tearing Wolves apart and Wolves even threatened on occasions. Two clumsy tackles saw Zubar given his marching orders and from then on it was only going to finish in one way. Regardless of the result the players put in a battling performance unlike their surrender at Fulham and Blackburn. Despite being 5-0 down with 30 minutes to play, I think it was the best atmosphere in Molineux for a long while. The fan’s support was acknowledged by TC, the players, and by fans of other teams some of who even tweeted @wearewolves77 about it.

With all the negative press surrounding Wolves recently with the protests and the Jamie O’Hara incident after the Blackburn game, we showed that we might not agree with board but we do support our team. There was a collapse before half time, but the players came out in the second half and gave it their all. Jarvis showed plenty of commitment and wanted to get involved as much as possible.  Performances like this are what we are going to need if we are to have any hope.

I am tired of discussing our defence, it’s a problem which has not been addressed for the past 3 years, if not longer.  Wolves have conceded 19 goals in their last 5 games, including 5 goals in three separate occasions in this time.  Johnson wants to be back in the team and it is time for his return with Zubar missing the trip to Carrow road through suspension. Ward’s confidence looks shot to pieces but there is no one to replace him, Elokobi came in last year but he and Guediora are too busy helping Forest race clear of relegation and maul Leeds 7-3.

I think the majority of Wolves fans have accepted relegation, staying up would be an enormous bonus.  We just have to keep getting behind the team now for the last 9 games Wolves’ fate still in the player’s hands. With Blackburn racing clear, Bolton playing for Muamba, Wigan playing decent football and QPR earning an impossible 3 points and a wealth of confidence. Wolves are probably the worse team at the moment, reflected by their standing in the table.

5 points from the next 3 games, including a win against Bolton, seems like its impossible at the moment but it is what we need to have any hope of survival. Bolton’s off the field situation has lead to a fixture pile up and inadequate preparation for Saturdays “6 pointer” with Blackburn. Blackburn are storming clear of the pack and have kept 2 clean sheets in a row, something Wolves should look to replicate. So as far as Saturday goes Wolves fans should be rooting for a Blackburn win. The rearranged games may have an adverse affect on Bolton and playing so many games with little rest may go against them. One thing is for sure what ever they do they will be playing even harder for their friend Muamba.

Norwich are not too strong for Wolves, infact they were fortune to leave Molineux with a point thanks to poor defending, the linesman ruling out Fletcher’s winner and Hammill somehow contriving to not score from 4 yards out. Norwich have one draw and 4 defeats in the last 5 games and will looking to correct this poor run. The first goal in the game will be crucial. Wolves desperately need to score first for a change rather than making their task harder, but this might be tricky considering we have not scored in the last 3 games. One thing is for sure; Wolves must leave Carrow Road with a point. COYW!

5 teams, 10 games, 3 losers …

5 teams, 10 games, 3 losers …

The Premier League has produced some surprising victories and battling draws this year, with 10 games left there are plenty more to come. Here are the last 10 fixtures for the bottom 5 head to head…

Wolves	Wigan	Bolton	Blackburn	QPR
Man Utd	West Brom	Aston Villa (A)	Sunderland	Liverpool
Norwich (A)	Liverpool (A)	Blackburn	Bolton (A)	Sunderland (A)
Bolton	Stoke	Wolves (A)	Man Utd	Arsenal
Stoke (A)	Chelsea (A)	Fulham	West Brom (A)	Man Utd (A)
Arsenal	Man Utd	Newcastle (A)	Liverpool	Swansea
Sunderland (A)	Arsenal (A)	Tottenham	Swansea (A)	West Brom (A)
Man City	Fulham (A)	Swansea	Norwich	Tottenham
Swansea (A)	Newcastle	Sunderland (A)	Tottenham (A)	Chelsea (A)
Everton	Blackburn (A)	West Brom	Wigan	Stoke
Wigan (A)	Wolves	Stoke (A)	Chelsea (A)	Man City (A)

The next 4 games for all 5 teams could decide their destiny with Wolves v Bolton and Bolton v Blackburn falling under this category. QPR have a horrendous run in and Wigan’s is only slightly better. Blackburn and Wolves’ are average but it is Bolton who have the easiest run-in on paper, as the old saying goes “the game is not played on paper”…

Who goes down?

Wigan:

Wigan survived on the last day and they are always there or there about come the end of the season. The Wigan players have bags of relegation battle experience and this will assist them in the remaining fixtures, however with 5 of the top 7 left to play, they could be gone before the penultimate game away to Blackburn. Al Habsi has kept stopped them being left behind this year and his form is the only thing preventing relegation. If it comes down to it I hope that overdue shocker comes on the last day against Wolves!

Prediction: Relegation

QPR:

Im glad im not a QPR fan with fixtures they have left, QPR have to play 6 of the top 7 including away days at Old Trafford, Eithad and Stamford Bridge. Rangers have a horrible last day fixture against title-fighting Man City easy should it go down to the wire. QPR have only won 2 points since January. Unless they replicate the “Wolves 2010/2011 Giant Killing” they are going straight back to where they came from.
Prediction: Relegation

Blackburn:

Stayed up on the last day with Wolves last year and they comfortably beat demoralised Wolves last weekend. They kept their first clean sheet of the season and have picked up 7 points in their last 4 games showing they are starting to find form at the business end of the season. However, they still have to play 4 of the top 7 and with their leaky defence the Bolton and Wigan games are crucial for Rovers. If they beat Bolton in a few games time and tighten up the defence I think they will pull away from the pack, if not, they will be heading down.

Prediction:  ?

Bolton:

Bolton scrapped a very fortunate first win since January against QPR last week and their next 3 games could decide their season. Failure against Villa, Wolves and Blackburn could see them looking down the barrel but wins against them will help them break clear. For Wolves sake let’s hope they don’t find form. With only two of the top 7 to play Bolton probably have the easiest run in on paper but doesn’t mean they are going to survive.

Prediction: ?

Wolves:

The next 4 games are going to define our season. It looks like it is going to be a head to head fight against Bolton should Blackburn maintain their current form. We are playing horrifically at the moment and nothing seems to be going our way. Wolves need to regain some confidence against Man Utd and build on it away at Norwich. Apart from Fulham, we were undefeated in 5 away games including fixtures at WHL, SJP and the Emirates. Man Utd is a pressure free game and the lads are always up for these fixtures. We were rock bottom when we beat the then undefeated Man Utd last season, even a point this time round would be a God send. If we can get points away at Norwich and Stoke and beat Bolton at home they players will have the momentum going in. Wolves can survive, there is ¼ of the season left and they have the experience, as long as they are in the mix they players can decide their own fate. Mind you… The right team selection might help!
Prediction: ?

Only time will tell if it is Blackburn, Bolton or our Wolverhampton Wanderers who join QPR and Wigan… COYW!

The Situation After Blackburn

The situation:

• Lack of Urgency, Lack of concentration. Sloppy passing and marking is still costing us goals, we were all hoping for a barn storming start on the weekend and it just did not come. Jarvis had limited service even though he was clearly beating his marker most times. Wolves can’t even raise their tempo in front of a lively and supportive Molineux at the moment. Get the ball to our impact players so they can make an impact, play football and make space. 
• Our season long CB problem continues. Surely Roger’s sobered up now? Get him in to earn his weekly £25K rather than enjoy it as a sub! He has questions to answer on the pitch. He’s under a long contract here and will play in the championship. Whether he is liked or not he is a leader and communicator on the pitch.
• Stephan Ward might be a strong figure in the dressing room but this doesn't reflect on the pitch. He is playing poor and needs to focuses on his own performances. He had his head down and offered no voice or encouragement. I don't think he should be captain, give it to Hennessey if the drunk isn't playing.
• David Davis has earned his place in the next game and deserves a run in the team, he along with Henry can strengthen our midfield, and they play with urgency closing opponents well. He is definitely one for the future. 
• We are not good enough to play 4-4-2 with our squad. We could even trouble Blackburn with the formation and the fact they kept a first clean shirt since April 2011 just about sums up our current situation.
• Lack of creativity, O’hara passing out wide to Ward isn’t the only option. Other players need to look to create opportunities. We rely too heavily on O’Hara and I genuinely feel sorry for him at the moment, he is clearly not fit and carries the creative burden of the team. His team mates need to step up or they will play in the Championship next season. It seems as our play must come through Ward before it goes to Jarvis and Zubar before it goes to Kightly/Doyle.
• Milijas must play in place of O’Hara. Nenad looked more creative when he came on than O’Hara did. Milijas can be sloppy on the ball but looks for the forward ball. If we can’t create chance we won’t score. Yes he can be sloppy on the ball but O’Hara needs a rest there are still 10 games left, give Ned a chance
• Ridiculous loan moves for George Elokobi, Adam Hammill and Adlene Guediora look even senseless now. O’Hara isn’t match fit but is having to play, Kightly isn’t having an impact, Hunt is injured again and Ward isn’t playing well. There are simply no impact players on the bench the squad is stretched.
• We are now just one point off the bottom and our goal difference is getting worse game by game, with Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal still to come its worth visiting your place of worship and having a pleading word with upstairs.
• We stayed up last year by beating 3 of the top 4, so this season is a true reflection of Wolves lack of progression over the past 3 years. Without those wins against United, City and Chelsea and other surprise results we would have been gone by the end of March, like we could well be this season. However, we have the same players that ground out the surprise results last year and playing under less pressure against the bigger teams could be what we need. 
• Sadly if we don’t beat Bolton and pinch points off the big boys, I think the fat lady is clearly and loudly singing “CHAMPIONSHIP”. It hurts to have to say this and I want to be proved wrong. If we go down Hennessey, Fletcher, Doyle, Jarvis and O'Hara Henry will probably sold to cover the cost of the new stand.  COYW!

Wolves 2 - 0 Blackburn

After leaving London truly “Roger Johnson’d” from the night before, it was a rough 3 hour journey up for the game but I was confident Wolves would get the job done against the worst defence in the league. Blackburn had not kept a clean sheet since last season and lost the more points from winning positions than any other team, contrastingly we had won the most points from losing situations.  It was good to see David Davis get his chance in midfield, Bassong returning  in defence and Fletcher starting with Doyle, however as dark clouds gathered above Molineux the day was about to get a whole lot worse for all associated with the club.

The game

After the humiliation at Fulham TC, the players and fans had called for all in attendance to get behind the team for the game. Despite protests at the start of the game, Molineux was packed and the crowd were fully behind the team. Wolves started the game OK, both teams had early chances but were generally sloppy in possession.  David Davis made a good start with good tackles and looked comfortable in possession and put a great cross into the box early. He was playing with urgency and showed his energy tackling hard and closing, while keeping cool and looking for the forward pass. O’Hara on the other hand still had that jaded look from Fulham and clearly looked unfit but he still tried to make himself available for a pass, although when he did get the ball there were not many forward passes. Jamie looked for the safe ball and seemed anxious to take any risks. Doyle was finding it hard to get into the game on the right wing and Matt Jarvis saw little of the ball though when he did he looked to run down the line and his pace was clearly a problem for his marker.  Jarvis had a very good chance when the ball was fired in from the right channel but his shot was well wide. This was our best chance of the half and had it gone in would have given the team the confidence the clearly lack and would have demoralised Blackburn

Ward, captain for the day had a nightmare. He continually lost possession in the first half and was lucky that cost Wolves goals with Blackburn wasteful in front of goal. Ward did not look confident at all and had his head down throughout the game. Most of the encouragement in the team was coming from Bassong who was constantly talking to his team mates and organising the back line. Stearman was out of his depth against the strength of Yakubu and gave away the free kick which was cleared for a Blackburn throw in.  From that thrown Blackburn went ahead, Davis could only direct his header across the box but Hoilett was first to pounce on the loose ball, 1-0 Blackburn. This was down to a pure lack of concentration Wolves had displayed throughout the game, Doyle was ball watching and not close enough to Hoilett. Again Wolves were going into the break behind.

At halftime O’Hara should have come off, he was slow and just didn’t look like he was going to create anything and often gave the ball away. Milijas should have replaced him. Also, Kightly should have come on sooner to allow Doyle to play off Fletcher in the middle. Instead, no action was taken. Wolves again started the half ok and Fletcher was unlucky hitting his volley into the ground after Jarvis had rounded his marker. Kightly was eventually introduced but was ineffective once on the field, he was asking for possession too deep in our half instead to bursting forward and stretching Blackburn’s defence. Once on the ball he kept looking to cut in rather than go round his marker, probably due to a lack of pace. I hate to say it but we could have really used Adam Hammill, we have no other fit options on the wing.

After switching to 4-4-2, our midfield looked neither strong nor creative and Blackburn tightened up. Hoilett’s second was reminiscent of so many goals we have conceded this season. He strolled past O’Hara who was clearly not up to the pace of the game and finished well. Davis came off for Milijas, which led to jeers from the crowd. I was shocked to see him taken off instead of O’hara, Davis was a well-deserved MoM for Wolves and the only positive from a dire afternoon. TC revealed DD was cramping up and had to come off so it’s understandable after his step up from Colchester. Wolves would have been much stronger if they kept an extra man in midfield and played Doyle there off Fletcher rather than out wide. 

It was unsurprising when we only threatened once the game had gone. Milijas created the only Premier League standard move of the game when he found Jarvis out on the wing with a piercing  pass. Jarvis ghosted past his man, only for Milijias to head over poorly from the return ball. Jarvis again created more chances that weren’t taken in the closing stages and shockingly Blackburn kept their first clean sheet of the season. Blackburn’s defence did not look impenetrable; we made them look better than they were.

 

I feel sorry for TC put in almost impossible situation; it’s still mathematically possible so let’s carry on getting behind the team and not punching our players. I saw O’Hara after the game, he looked as disappointed, angry and hurt as I felt, and ignoring my condolence as he brushed passed. This was before the altercation with protestors. Bassong was the same. Clearly it hurts our players to lose; they need support at the moment. Just remember we were rock bottom against an undefeated Manchester United team when we met last year…

Jolly Roger facing 50K fine for Sunday nights antics...

The Skipper

Roger Johnson the big summer signing and club captain has seen himself out of the team for the past few games, given that our last match was a 5-0 mauling it wouldn’t be surprising to hear that he is leading by example on the training pitch trying to win his place back in the team…

WRONG!

According to reports, Roger is facing up to a £50,000 fine for turning up to training "worse for wear" on Monday morning. Whether he was trying to drown his sorrows from watching a dismal display and thought of a relegation double or just simply thought "b****cks to this I’m going on the p**s" only he knows. This isn't the best news to come out of the camp before a crucial 6 pointer on the weekend. This would have been an ample opportunity for Roger to win back the crowd with some solid performances but with this latest story it seems as though he is just waiting to up and leave at the end of season if we are relegated.

Roger is a top defender but I think the biggest mistake was giving him captaincy as soon as he signed. Karl Henry despite his critics was Wolverhampton through and through; he was an integral part of our squad for the past 5 years and was clearly respected around the place. To give BCFC's captain our armband on arrival surely would have unsettled the squad. If Mick wanted to take some pressure of Henry he should have given the armband to Ward or even Doyle. If Roger had been given time to concentrate on settling into the squad and focus on his game we might actually have the quality player in our squad that he was last season. Sadly Roger has struggled to find form. Either way, he needs to do his talking on the pitch and silence his critics instead of giving them more ammunition and help keep us in the Premier League. COYW!

Doing a job and toothless tackling...

“Doing a Job”

So TC came out today and said in the Express & Star “Foley did a job on Sunday” playing in midfield, sadly we all know it wasn’t a very good one. This was probably just a public display of confidence so Foley doesn’t get his head down. Even TC himself must know that Foley in midfield in the Premiership isn’t going to work. Before a lengthy spell out Foley was our most reliable defender and I’m sure he will be eager to regain his form before Euro 2012.

A defence that is afraid to tackle?

One thing I never could and never will understand is why we defend the way we do. Mick himself was a crunching defender by trade so why do we have players that are afraid to tackle and close down hard and fast? I can name 5 goals off the top of my head we have conceded from backing off, Bellamy, Simeon Jackson, Odemwinge, Dempsey, Jonas’ run at Molineux and there are plenty more in the 56 we have already conceded.

This shocking tactic has been mentioned in commentary many times, most recently in the Fulham game, the players get into the right shape but then that’s it. It’s almost as if we are afraid to close opposition players down in case the ball gets past. I would be much happier if the players went into a tackle and missed the ball rather than standing off until opponents are in the penalty area and in some cases this season on the edge of the six yard box! Opponents this season have regularly had enough time to run into our box or stand at the edge of the box with the ball before they pick their pass or shoot. Just last week M. Diarra could have tied his laces before he rolled in Dempsey, the crowd can see it coming so why don’t the players stick their foot in?

Despite being our skipper many in the crowd are not big fans of Roger Johnson because he has been guilty of backing off and his mistakes cost us goals. I didn’t watch many BCFC matches but I can’t remember him backing off like he does now at Wolves. BCFC conceded fewer goals than most of the teams fighting the drop last season they went down because they couldn’t score. Ward is another serial offender when it comes to backing off as was Stearman at RB, what is the point of them being there if they don’t get close enough to tackle? I understand players should not commit to tackles high up the pitch unless they will get the ball clear or put it out of play, but surely it’s time to stick your foot in before opponents reach the edge of your box. This isn’t Championship football where teams have limited ideas, opponents will just simply retain possession, move the ball around and break you down unless you get closer quicker giving them less time to think and pick out a pass. This applies to the whole team starting from the front but primarily our defence and midfield. The closing down at Newcastle made the difference; it was missing against Fulham and what a difference it proved to be. Playing deep and inviting pressure is not a good tactic given our situation and the amount of stupid goals that we have conceded.

If the our players make their presence known with some quick closing and hard tackling, opponents will be pressured into mistakes in fear of imminent crunching tackle they are about to feel. Not roll their foot over the ball a couple of times at the edge of our box before they score! I’m sick of seeing “Toothless Wolves” headlines. At the final whistle on Saturday I want to see Blackburn players with their heads down and out, not us. COYW!