Breathe it in boys.
Three points, fifteenth in the table and a league double over Spurs to boot. And perhaps best of all, we’ve got a lovely ten day holiday now to savor every moment.
Speaking of things to savor, what about that wonderful goal? I was stuck on the motorway last night so didn’t catch Match of the Day, but they surely must have been purring over that incisive passing move, capped brilliantly by Jonah’s precision finish.
David Jones steers home the only goal of the game
He had another impressive game and seems to thrive more than anyone operating in this five man midfield. With Mancienne dropped, Karl Henry too slotted back into a more familiar defensive role and was unsurprisingly much-improved as a consequence.
The third cog in the wheel wasn’t too shabby either. Take a bow Adlène Guedioura. An all action performance from a player that looks tailor-made for Premiership football. Big, strong, quick, good feet and as happy to try his luck from distance as he is to crunch into a tackle. That ‘come on then, let’s have some’ type of character is something Wolves have been lacking since Alex Rae departed, so I’m delighted with what looks like a very astute signing early doors.
With Wolves actually moving the ball forward from midfield for a change, it allowed Jarvis to get into positions where he could really do some damage, so it was little surprise he had one of his most effective games for a long time. Kaboul is certainly no mug, but our tricky winger managed to tie him knots a few times, firing in one low shot that Gomes did well to turn round the post and of course sending in the cross for Jones to open the scoring. More of the same please Matty.
There’s little point in even talking about Doyle. You know what you get from this guy in every single match and if there’s a forward that does a better job of occupying two center-halves, I’d like to see it. And is it just me or does he never miscontrol the football? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Wolves player with such a great touch. Has anyone?
Big credit also goes to our back four, all of whom had difficult opposition to contend with in a strong Spurs attack. Bentley gave Ward a torrid time in the early exchanges but fortunately never picked anyone out with his final ball. On the other flank, they offered even more threat, with Kranjcar coming inside and leaving space for Gareth Bale to bomb into. And bomb he did, passed Zubar and Foley all night, but again, his final ball was either poor or blocked out.
Craddock and Berra enjoyed one of their better games, staying tight on Defoe and ensuring he didn’t get a sniff all night. Gudjohnsen was largely ineffective, a few decent touches aside, but Crouch offered a more obvious threat when he entered the fray. The beanpole was always going to win a few flick-ons but Wolves did a great job of clearing out the second balls. And when the crosses were coming in deep towards the end, Hahnemann showed great strength to start plucking balls out of the sky.
Our keeper must also get a special mention for his first-half heroics to deny Kranjcar when clean through, following a devastating Spurs move. The American is fast achieving cult-hero status and that bald, experienced head is proving vital, particularly when we’re under the cosh.
Victory at White Hart Lane earlier in the season made supporters believe we had enough to stay in this division, but this second win over Spurs perhaps holds even greater significance, simply because of it’s timing. Hope was beginning to fade, not for the first time this season, but just when Wolves needed to produce, they came up with the goods.
And isn’t that just so typical of Mick McCarthy’s side?
Well Done Lads-Best 1st half performance i have seen in a long time-The new bloke was awesome-
Keep it up!!!
West Park Wolf.
Great blog Thomas. I honestly didn’t see that performance coming.
Guedioura’s performance needs a blog all of its own I think. Best home debut I have ever seen. Confident, strong, unfazed, bit of a swagger to him which was a breath of fresh air. His performance seemed to take the shackles off everyone, along with David Jones, who was a revalation.
He reminded me a bit of Ali Bernarbia, an Algerian midfielder from Man City. He had the same kind of time on the ball, bit of class about him. Long way to go but what a start.
Doyle was immense as always. They all were.
The ref was a joke, which made the performance our best this season – we beat 12 men.
So proud of the lads after last night.
An awesome performance to put a smile on everyones face.
Was proud of them all and MM and TC!
One moan, sorry but it has to be said – what about Clattenburg?? I’ve seen some poor refs but his performance last night was right up there.
As for eating humble pie, I’ll leave that for those who have been slagging the manager or the players – something I’ve never done!
Morning Scoop old boy.
At the end of the day, we all care passionately about the Wolves. I wanted to light the blue touch paper with the pant wetting blog, it worked a treat didn’t it?!
So that was possibly my fault. Not moderating any personal insults was definitely my fault, as I should be able to do it!
I dont think there’s a Wolves fan who isnt over the moon about our last 2 performances – quality and determination the likes of which we’ve only seen in flashes ealier in the season
but please, deary, do climb off that soap box
complete and utter failure in the transfer and mind boggling tactics and team selection have given Wolves fans many a reason to question the ‘guile’ of the blokes in charge of our club.
we were better equipped to stay up, more potential to succeed than Bolton Burnley, Wigan – even before teams like Pompey and West Ham were thrown into the mix… and yet we have stuttered all season and find ourselves right in it with clubs on the brink of extinction.
knocking the Wolves fan for being a little disiullsioned at times is unfair. In fact self congratulatory comments like yours scooped, are ill-founded, steeped in ego and nothing but inflammatory.
Oh dear,
If you read through Ben’s ‘Catheter Time’ thread you’ll see I’ve been called a c*nt, told to f*ck off, that my opinions aren’t worth a sh*t and all because I’ve expressed grave concerns about the way the club is run with Moxey as C.E.O.
The fact remains that (whatever frustrations I’ve felt over MMs tactics and selections at times) I’ve never chosen to express them here. Neither however, have I ever slandered anyone who has.
For what its worth, I’m a big fan of MM and am desperate for his continued success as Wolves’ manager.
But I’m no fan of Moxey (and starting to wonder about Morgan) and believe that whatever the team achieves on the pitch is despite Moxey and not because of him.
So please dont regard my last post as critical of anyone. It was merely a denial of accusations that had previously been aimed at me.
Wonder who I’ll upset with this!!!!
Yes, can we put a line under this boys?
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and everyone is entitled to question other people’s opinions, but let’s keep it civil and not make it personal.
I think a few people might have crossed the line, which perhaps I shouldn’t have let happen. I don’t want to get to a stage where I have to moderate every comment before it goes live.
Scooped, you have my apologies. There was one comment on another post that was completely unacceptable.
Line already drawn as far as I’m concerned. I appreciate and accept your apologies Thomas but would encourage you to do all you can to avoid any moderation which would prevent ‘real time’ discussions here.
But if you change your mind can I apply for the job??
Completely agree about the ref, thought he was one of the worst we’ve had this season and that’s saying something. Did you notice he seemed really reluctant to blow the final whistle. I’m sure it was because spurs were on top and he wanted to give them a bit of extra time to get the equaliser.
I think Guedioura’s performance took everyone by surprise. It reminds me a bit of Susan Boyle’s first audition on Britain’s Got Talent. Most people, including myself, had written him off before he’d kicked a ball for us.
I love that comparison Nick.
I know that I dreamed a dream that we had a midfielder with a pair of stones who can put himself about a bit.
Great analogy Nico – I was crying like Amanda Holden at the final whistle as well!
Rememeber that slap head Spaniard Fernando Gomez? I had similar feelings when I first saw him – I thought we had plucked some random waiter out of thin air, then saw him play.
Very encouraging display. The left back position worries me a bit, but another debate for another time.
Clattenburg’s decisions were bad enough, but it was his infurating, pedantic, twattish gesticulations after ingoring every incident that really irritated me. EG: Doyle gets flattened by Dawson, from behind, in one of the biggest assaults since Peter Sutcliffe, but Clattenburg purses his lips and defiantly crosses his arms like some sort of Nazi airport runway worker.
Then he’ll point his hands to his chest, raise them ever so, wind his neck back in front of Doyle’s face, as if to say “Be bloody stronger next time you uselss weakling.”
He is the embodiment of everything I hate in referees. A bit of humility would be nice.
Even in the 4th minute of injury time, Doyle blatently wins a throw in, in front of his eyes, but he gives it the other way, thus leading to a long ball to Crouch’s head.
And what if Spurs had have scored from that? No referee assessor would intervene, despite overseeing one of the most crooked performances in recent history. We’d just be left to lick our wounds.
All he needed was a speech bubble above his head saying: “Yes folks, I am cheating, and I’m enjoying it!”
Bit off topic but what the hell was Fernando Gomez’s story?!
421 games and 109 goals for Valencia in La Liga alone?!
He’s an absolute legend at one of the bigger clubs in Europe (now their Sporting Director).. you do wonder (a) what he was doing at Wolves at just 32, and (b) how he couldn’t dislodge Steve Sedgley from our midfield..
I’ve just added the MOTD highlights and watched them.
Can somebody please tell me how a penalty wasn’t given for the foul on Jarvis? If the ref didn’t get a good look at it, surely the linesman can see that he’s just been barged over by Dawson.
It’s a stick-on.
Thank God it didn’t affect the result but I reckon we should compile a video of all the penalties we’ve not been given this season, send it to the powers that be and ask for their comments.
Most laughable of all for me was the foul on Keogh at Wigan which resulted in him getting booked!
Problem is the powers that be probably couldn’t care less about our little team.
There have been decisions that have gone against us that have affected the result though. The blatant hand ball against portsmouth springs to mind and there was the push on doyle against sunderland. I think we were 1 nil up at the time (correct me if i’m wrong) and going 2 nil up may have meant we’d have gone on to win that game.
Seems we’ve found a common ground on our despise of refs scoop. (If i knew how to do a cheeky winking smiley face i would)
Just type colon, hyphen and ths close brackets thing and it appears as if by magic.
Go on, it’d be nice to see a smiling face!
Even from J9 row P of the Steve Bull stand I could see it was a clear trip – the referee was the worst yet this season.
football first and MOTD both said it was a penalty – poor decisions like that can make the difference in staying up or being relegated.
The only plus point was when Guedioura smashed the ball into his face early on – he obviously knew what was coming from another cr@p ref!
happy to admit it-but i stand corrected. stirling performance and a great great result. and it’ll be the 5-man midfield from now on, as long as they remember to wrap doyle in cotton wool after each game and wheel him out on match days only. i shudder to think where we’d be without him.
Thomas – what i don’t get is why he didn’t book Jarvo if he thought he’d dived. Maybe as it was right after the first goal he bottled it
Guedioura looks a great find. The attacking midfielder we need along with Jones too in this system. Allows Henry to be the protector. It was great to have to see Mick calming him down as he was flying into tackles. We need a bit of that Ince/Rae guile
Obviously share the excitement regarding Guedioura.. strong and skilful is a hell of a combination. He’s got that hallmark of quality players – taking himself away from trouble with his fist touch, allowing him time on the ball. In Taff We Trust???
PS. Never capped for Algeria despite playing for their U23s? Given Bouazza (Blackpool) plays I reckon he’ll go to the World Cup and play against England.
What a great night out! the best game I have seen this season at the molineux.
Guedioura’s performance lifted the whole team – might we have a gamble signing that actually pays off? He seems to have a bit of everything – pace, skill to take on a player, heading ability and a hard tackle – all stuff I’m sure we will train out of him in the next few months (ha,ha,ha!). Seriously though, anyone watching the game on the box (Football first when I got home!) it did not do justice to Guedioura’s contribution.
Jarvis and Doyle were outstanding last night and so were the back line. With the exception of the first 10 mins spurs never really threatened.
I have to say about Defoe – what a horrible little moaning dwarf tw@t he is when he doesn’t get it all his own way. Throwing his arms around like a child! Bale was there best player by a mile. The chant of ‘only one Rodney Trotter’ when crouch came on was great too!
Three deserved and well needed points – roll on the Bolton game (shame they are not next really!)
My favourite part from Guedioura was when he was cornered by two Spurs players and as if by magic went straight through the middle of them and fired in a shot. Looks quality
Remember it well – I liked it when he smacked the ball into the Refs face – shame it wasn’t after the Jarvis penalty foul (and harder!)
>{]/:;=)-#
Wasn’t too sure what a colon or hyphen is, English never was my strongest subject. Think I might have got it sorted in the end though.
Forgot to give a special mention to the referee – possibly the worst performance yet this season from the man in black. An absolute disgrace that could have cost us points or even relegation come the end of the season.
Did anyone who went to the game notice how they seemed to quieten down the chanting on the TV or am I just paranoid that everyone is against us? Certainly didn’t hear the ‘Premier league, full of s**t’ chant? Thanks too for match of the days 15 seconds of talk about Wolves great victory rather than the 3 mins given to disecting Spurs problems. Lineker, Hansen et al – you are a bunch of w@nkers. (ok so I watched it live, on football first and match of the day! Sad but true)
The replay of the penalty claim on Jarvis was fairly damming of the referee’s decision to wave play on. As mentioned in previous blogs above, we beat twelve men last night!
Up the wolves
Nothing sad about that stourbridge. I rushed my post match pint so that i could get back in time for match of the day, and I was recording it. Might watch it again when I get home tonight.
My cheap freeview box has a tendancy to freeze, normally I swear at it repeatedly as i’m storming over to reset it. Last night it frooze just as they were showing the bottom half of the table, there was no swearing to be heard. I just lit up a cigarette and looked at it for 5 minutes. That’s pretty sad.
Thankfully the wife was in bed by the time I got back from the match – so it was a victimless crime to watch the game three times in the same night!
The ‘Premier league, full of s**t’ chant was coming through loud and clear on the Setanta Canada feed – makes me proud to be a Wolves fan!
Anybody else as nervous as a Nun at a penguin shoot when Elokobi came on, only to be pleasantly surprised by how solid he was. I have to say I have been very critical of our brick sh*t house, but last night when it was needed most he was as solid as his frame suggests!
Have to agree with all the others about Clutterbugs performance, he was awful – the guy doing the commentary on the Setanta feed (who sounded just like Bradley Walsh) was even critical of him.
Great confidence lifting win for all associated to the club, lets hope we can sneak something out of the Chelski and Man Ure games while the teams around us suffer heavy defeats!
Scooped – how was the pre-match beer??
Not nearly so nice as the post match gallon!! Raised a glass to you as well as a few to the boys if your ears were burning. A truly great Molineux night that will live in the memory.
Yep – I thought exactly the same when big G stepped onto the turf. Only Lennon coming on could have made me more nervous! Its fair to say his defending was basic and distribution poor! The dodgy double header near the end nearly gave me a heart attack! Still to be fair he made a couple of good blocks.
Yeah I was a bit worried when he put Big George on. Ward has been playing with an injury recently so maybe he felt something.
nice rest til Chelsea game.
anyone know when Kightly and Edwards will be back?
I heard Kightly was out until the end of the season.
But I don’t think he’d improve the side that much. He’s been poor ever since he came back from his first injury last season.
Just found this.
http://www.physioroom.com/news/english_premier_league/epl_injury_table.php
scroll down a bit. murray is back it says. Edwards and Kightly back around the Chelsea game.
I did not see the game, but I can tell y’all what Ward is suffering from.
It is a condition that Waggy regularly inflicted on full backs, especially John Kaye who played for sandwell town, called “Twisted Blood”.
It occurs when you are given the complete run around, week after week, by the opposition, and made to look slow, dim witted, clueless and are playing three or four rungs above your grade.
There is, however, an easy cure.
Get dropped…………..permanently.
Having said that, three wonderful points last night, did I not predict a win?
I personally love all the banter on here, and look forward to anyone wanting to slag me off for my views, coz I, unlike you lot, have no filters and I will say what I’m thinking, usually before I think it!!
I was always taught to respect my elders, so Scooped, I REALLY respect you !!!!!
FOWB
Now I know you’re trying to wind us up. Not going to bite today, still way too happy. I must admit sometimes Wardy does give the opposition a bit too much space but they rarely get past him and he does manage to block a few crosses. For a striker he ain’t doing too badly.
Ward is a good left back Clive. Playing with an injury is not easy and he has improved his game massively. You can’t be bad if you keep Aaron Lennon quiet
If he has an injury, he should not be playing, putting in a shift or anything else, lest he does more damage.
His game can only improve, it’s that bad.
I know I did not see the game yesterday, so please correct me if I’m wrong, but how did Ward keep Lennon quiet, if Lennon was not playing?
I warned y’all I aint got no filters, and I will keep saying what I think, no matter who disagrees with me.
Keep up the chat, it livens up the day!!!
Then from here on Clive you will be known as Park Drive!
I think Louie meant at White Hart Lane!
Great performance, credit where its due to MM for lifting the players after St Andrews.
Superb debut from the new chap, best since Darren Roberts!
As ‘Arry says “triffic!”
Yeah Matt I did mean at WHL.
We badly missed Ward after he got injured at City, and when he came back we won straight away.
Last season him and Jarvis formed a really good partnership down the left, and continued that this season when they have had the chance. when Elokobi comes in, it’s a bit different.
From a Spurs fan “Have to give a special mention to the Wolves fans in the South Bank. They created an almighty atmosphere. Even I had to laugh at the “There’s only one Rodney Trotter” chant at Crouch.”
I live with a spurs fan
Serious question
Does anyone think we will take any points at all from the Chelsea/Manure home games?
Our home games are vital if we are to survive, and we are running out of them.As good as the Spurs result was, we need to get something.. .. perhaps just 1 points…from those 2 games..it will be crucial come game 38
Yes I do, maybe not the Chelsea game because they are by far the strongest team in the league, but I’m sure we can nick a point of Man Utd – if we can keep Rooney quiet. Last time we were in the Prem Man Utd were arguably much stronger then than now and we somehow managed to nick a win and who knows maybe Sir Alex’s soft spot for us will allow us a point or 3, after all we gifted them 3 at their place so it’s only fair!
Love to say I could see a point out of those two games but based on what I’ve seen I’d think probably not! Still dreaming of a Kenny-Miller-like lucky one nil though!
I’d give us a chance of three points at Bolton, they look rubbish this season. Love to get one over on them – still not forgiven John McGinley for punching David Kelly in the play off semi, not getting sent off and then scoring a goal.
I prefer Woodbine.
Or Borkum Riff
Or probably more apt, Senior Service.
Anyway, who agrees with me that the dark horses for relegation are Sunderland?
I had the misfortune to see them against Portsmouth, and they are crap.
Would be nice if you’re right Clive, then that would only leave the one place to fight over, providing Pompey continue their bad form. I personally would love to see Bolton go, not just because of our history with them, but to see them go and Burnley stay would be a kick in the proverbials for a certain Owen Coyle!