With so much talk of Stale Solbakken’s progressive approach to football, the biggest irony of our Walsall procession was the first meaningful moment of it.
All very serene at the Banks’s
A big boot from De Vries, a defensive blunder and a big uncompromising forward making no mistake with a crisp finish.
Not the most dynamic of deadlock breakers, but probably the most appropriate for the uncompromising Championship world that lies in wait.
Being easy on the eye will never be a priority in the land of the ‘Leccy League, so Frank Nouble’s no-nonsense finish was as relevant as it was refreshing.
The big man’s all round display was the overriding highlight of the afternoon, reminding us of what we so sorely missed at times during last season’s debacle.
Strong, pacey and a handful at all times, Nouble must be in with a serious shout for our league opener at Leeds if continues to impress.
In an uneventful first half befitting of a pre-season friendly, we learnt little else apart from a potential role for Adam Hammill this season, if his little cameo – and Stale response to it – was anything to go by.
His goal came courtesy of another defensive error, but his appetite appeared to be whetted and he showed far more on the left side of midfield than Forde, who switched to left back when Elokobi went off injured.
Kightly played central, behind Nouble, and looked as lean and mean as I can remember in another encouraging sign.
With defensive midfield pair of Jonsson and Davis behind him, not to mention an unfit O’Hara, he wasn’t given much to go on, mind.
A raft of second half changes gave the game a lift, with more encouraging signs.
- Stephen Ward looked particularly impressive, setting up Doyle for the third
- Doyle looked more like his old self
- Roger Johnson looked committed to the cause and particularly vocal
In short, every player looked fit, healthy and more importantly happy.
With 20 days still left before the Leeds United curtain raiser, let’s hope they all stay that way!
Yes I agree with the optimism, Solbakken has a tough choice to make to arrive at our best 11. I would add that the other higlights were the performance of Danny Baath with Johnson, and I think this could be our stongest pair at the back. It was good to see us trying to play it to feet, and the one tactical change I saw emerging was us pushing the full backs further up with the wide players coming inside more, this was more evident in the first half with O’Hara out wide.
Karl Henry was excellent, and Milijas played pretty well also putting in a lot of good work. It looks an impressive squad but only time will tell, but so far I am hopeful of a good season. Oh & Stephen Ward was excellent going forward, a real threat on the left with Jarvis.
Yes, more compact I’d say. We pushed up high in the 2nd half. Not sure I like a high line with pace issues,but we shall see. Didn’t think Batth played badly at all, but not necessarily better than what we have. Agree on Henry. Doesn’t he look fit?! Being hyper-critical I thought Nenad was poor in possession but did work hard.
And Jarvis didn’t half make a difference. Take his pace out of the team and we’d have to find some quick!
Great blog, Ben…and one of your less controversial ones, I hope!!
Don’t forget Batth is still relatively young. Plenty of time to progress yet.
A high line will be dangerous unless we buy a quick centre back…do you think we could coax Adam Gemili back to football?!!
Nice write up mate.
I’d really like to see us employ a narrower shape to get more passers into the team.
O’Hara in my opinion could be a crucial player in this respect. The season he made such a tremendous impact for Pompey, he was mostly used out wide on the left I believe.
If we could get Milijas and O’Hara playing consistently, with Kightly playing a more advanced role, that’s a very exciting prospect to me, particularly with some real variety up front.
I’m certain we’ll see more defensive signings, with one or two being moved on to clear the decks.
I’m also still of the opinion both Fletcher and Jarvis will vacate before the transfer window shuts. Would be lovely if at least one of them stayed.
100% agree with you, Thomas. The passing through the middle was something we saw for 3 or 4 games in January time before Frimpong’s unfortunate exit. The two you look to who should be doing that are definitely Milijas and O’Hara…what the two lack are consistency and fitness respectively. The other slight reservation I have about O’Hara is whether or not he just plays like he does at Pompey, or at Wolves when he was on loan, when there is a contract to play for. That sounds really harsh, but it’s an observation I have made because since he signed for us on a permanent basis.
Kightly could be a revelation in the “Bergkamp” role. I have nothing else to say on that subject.
We need to get out of the habit of passing across the midfield to the wingers and pass more through the team and get the wingers following into the penalty area. I’m not advocating not using wingers or anything like that, I just think we’ve relied too heavily on them in recent times. There was no plan B if getting it wide and crossing it didn’t work.
One or two more defenders aren’t just preferrable but necessary in my opinion. Hopefully we’ll see a couple in the next few weeks.
Fletcher and Jarvis will go, I think. If they don’t, I think they will both still be happy and play hard as ever. I genuinely think they both like the club – particularly Jarvis. But it’s only July and we all know the transfer market doesn’t really start moving until August. Jarvis to Stoke, Fletcher to Sunderland if I was going to put my money on it
Didnt see the game but encouraged by the excellent reports – looks like we will be more compact and more difficult to beat (not difficult).A word for Ward and Henry they are not everybody’s cup of tea and with social networking this can sometimes become a bandwagon.For me there are some much less effective players in the squad.
Quite a few players I’m extremely interested in at this point;
- Batth (could conceivably make first team)
- Johnson (fans and player alike seem to want to put last season behind then)
- Nouble (wasn’t a lot of excitement over his signing but he could be a huge surprise)
- Bjorn (we’ve yet to see him in action but there’s much hype ’round him!)
- O’Hara (will we see him back to his best?)
To a lesser extent, Hammill and Jonsson, one not rated too highly by McCarthy and one not expected to make an impact yet. To be honest I couldn’t guess at Stale’s first team choice but I trust him!
Thanks for the report and it is very encouraging.
Today a manager needs to deal with the psychology of his team, individually and as a group.
The picture in the E&S of Solbakken and Connor on the bench, speaks volumes on this subject.
Our new manager looks almost Buddha like, while TC looks full of frustration and anxiety.
The players who stay will be those who understand that Staale’s system will improve them as footballers.
We have too many strikers so I think Fletcher will definitely go.
Interesting to hear your views Ben, especially for those of us who didn’t see the game.
What i’m particularly interested in seeing is if the players look different(and i suppose i mean BETTER really) under STS, once he gets his first choice team out. Listening to his ideas and football philosophy after years of the ‘they’ll put a shift in, my lads will never give up’ stuff is quite revealing and heartening to me.
I’m particularly interested to see if he plays Ward at LB. I don’t think he’ll keep him there unless he’s defending well so it will be interested to see what happens.
There’s a fair chance i may get to the Southampton game on Saturday so i’ll get my first look at the new set up.
You hit the nail on the head with Mick. How I longed to see players with higher skill and slightly less headless chicken running. Greaves would not have even made the squad under MM. Give a a goal a game and I really dont care about the rest.
It was a game of two halves ,two Wolves teams, two formations. Stale has some interesting problems: de Vries was quick to release the ball and set up the chance for Nouble but he was occasionally wayward and is he staying, Ikeme had little to do but seemed less commanding. Zubar looked good coming forward and was keen to support O’Hara but is more likely to provide opportunities for opposition attacks than Foley who was and still is a good right back. Ward was excellent coming forward combining well with Jarvis and not troubled by Walsall’s attack and George was very much George-dribbling past 3 players at one point and making crunching tackles. Both centre back pairings were largely untroubled and need a sterner test than Walsall. O’Hara showed his full range of passing some of which went to Wolves players but it’s early days. Hunt was very Hunty and certainly didn’t view this game as a friendly. Jarvis was too good and Forde is still young, Hammill was more of a threat and deserved his goal. Milijas can make a good pass but can Stale find a use for his right leg. Jonsson can run around and tackle. Davis can run around tackle and pass. Nouble is big and took his chance well. Kightly is not Dennis Bergkamp but should he play on the wing or just behind a forward. Doyle looks up for it so can he get back to scoring goals and can Blake find his scoring boots. Some of these problems may be solved by departures at the moment it seems like a jigsaw with too many pieces not all part of the same picture. What is clear is that patience will be needed while Stale tries to puzzle it out.
Very exciting new signing confirmed, Doumbia! Sounds like a powerful midfield cruncher.
Looks interesting, adding some talented muscle in mid field can only be good.
Our defence has been poor for sometime especially down the Left, but if you think back how
many goals against last year came from midifeld mistakes, giving ball away, and ball watching.
Only see one head and shoulders pic so far, but he reminded me of Frimpong but I guess much taller.
This is going to be one hell of a season guys.
Linked with Arsenal and WBA – and with the amount of midfielders we have he would have to be good, surely?
*as in before joining Wolves on loan
Just heard that Sunderland have formally bid £10m for Fletcher. Is this the start of the small furry rodents jumping ship?
Think we all really knew Fletch would be off. To be fair he did his bit for us last season (one of three maybe four players who did!)…considering his limited appearances…and abysmal tactics and service…
Starting bids at 10…means we should get 12 – 13 for him by the end…I think this is good business, and at that price I consider that he doesn’t really owe us anything! Especially as his replacement has already been signed for 2.5 mil!
Now all that needs to happen is that the money is funneled back into the team when we get promoted! One 12 – 13 mil striker sold on…one 12 -1 3 mil player bought when we return to the Premier! No point wasting that sort of money on excessive buying of championship players! Plus with our current budgets and squad and the additions already planned and budgeted for we should be more than strong enough to tackle to Championship! Success or failure will come down to tactics and team spirit! (Not 10 new 1 mil players who we struggle to move on!)
Yes, I agree that if we get £13m for him it will represent a good piece of business for the club. I still have a problem with the loyalty thing though. If one of the big four (or five) come looking then I can understand a player wanting to grab his chance at the big time; but when you get clubs like Sunderland and Stoke and Villa sniffing round (with all due respect to them) I just think that those teams are at the level Wolves could be in a year or so and the player should at least give the club a season to see if they can bounce straight back and achieve that level.
I suppose I’m just old fashioned
I agree. I’d like to see more loyalty from players these days.
I see where you are coming from with the loyalty thing…this is certainly a quality that is thin on the ground with footballers today! In fairness you have to see the flip side as well…it’s their career…Fletch isn’t a local lad…and is in England to progress his career…and play at as high a level as possible…or why come to England? He also did produce the goods for us…over the last couple of years!
I agree with what you are saying with regards to Stoke…and Villa are certainly on the slide…but Sunderland are more than a couple of years ahead of us…they managed to stay in the division and build (even under Bruce!) and now with Martin O’Neill in charge I wouldn’t put it past them to grab a bit of silverware in the next couple of years…so I can understand the attraction for a player like Fletch. I would look at Sunderland and say this is where we need to be in 5 years time…both in terms of player investment…that is not being scared to bring quality players in at 13 – 15 mil! Plus also in terms of having built our fan base back up! Our years in the Championship and below have eroded the fan base to a degree…although our heritage I would argue would allow us to rebuild this if we can maintain a healthy premiership presence!
A quick Wiki will tell you that Sunderland have a 49,000 capacity ground…they have in the region of 28,000 season ticket holders and on average through a season get 39,000 crowds. So that’s our ground redevelopment finished and an additional 10,000 season ticket holders we need to attract to solidify our position as a top ten premiership team with genuine European ambitions! I know that teams like Stoke are doing this without this type of infrastructure…but eventually they will unravel…in order to maintain our position as a football club and viable business not riddled with debt I see this type of fan base essential to our progression!
Fred,
Agreed, I think (hope) this is what SM sees. The West Midlands floating fan is there for the taking. Whowever gets there first is going to put a lot of bums on seats.
I hate to see it but would not begrudge Fletch his move at the right price 14/15 mill minimum.
Remember his first 6 months at the club MM really dicked him around. I was wondering why we even bought the guy.
And another thing!
I agree with you about Sunderland’s much larger fan base and that we need to improve ours in order to be competitive – but we’ve opened an even bigger can of worms here. All the super-rich foreigners who, for whatever reason, are buying up our Premiership clubs seem to be forgetting one important fact – there are only so many trophies and European places on offer. The extra money sloshing about won’t guarantee success, it will only do one thing – make the players richer. This means that more mercenaries will be attracted to England and loyalty will slip ever further down the list of a footballer’s priorities. Teams like Sunderland, even with O’Neill and 50k fans will not break into this cartel unless some Russian oligarch or Arabian Sheikh buy them and spend squillions trying to make them into a Man City. The law of diminishing returns will eventually kick in when every club in the Premiership is owned by a billionaire and the only thing that will have changed is that players will be paid a million pounds a week and no club in the Championship will stand a hope in hell of ever competing.
Fred,
I guess you are right but will be sorry to see him go. Dont forget Burnley have a 15% sell on clause on him.
New boy is unproven as yet so I do hope we are not banking on SEB to score all the goals. I am not sure he is quite the player he used to be, but maybe under STS he will be the man.
I guess if Fletch goes that means Jarvo is on the cards to.
If I read correctly on the BBC website:
“Fletcher’s former club Burnley will be due 15% of any profit Wolves make on a player they paid £7m for in 2010.”
Burnley’s sell on clause nets them 15% of the profit from the sale. Rather than 15% of the sale, which is won’t be such a huge chunk. So a 12-13 Mil sale still nets us about 11-12 million. If we hold onto that until we get back into the premier that’s definite bartering money
Good point, and of course Doyle owes us a few goals. Yes in the grand scheme. Fletch can go for 13 Mill.
I will be unhappy to see Fletch, Jarvis and Kightly leave though.
Heartbroken to see Kightly linked with stoke. I thought we’d hold onto him whilst losing Jarvis and Fletcher. Nothing happened as of yet though. We can only hope.
I’m hearing that they bid £2 million. They’re having a laugh if true!
Hmmm…brain fart, mixed up his valuation with Jarvis’… but still at least £1 million more!
Apparently Jonjo Shelvey is a loan target. Could be interesting but we might have to end up playing 1-8-1 to fit all the midfielders in the team!
First name on the team sheet = Steven Ward, let’s hope he stays, stays healthy and has a great season for us. My fear is that he is gaining in profile at LB, a position that is notoriously hard to fill for many Premier League teams. Hope he doesn’t end up at Sunderland with Fletcher.
Otherwise I think that Stale has real options right now and with Doumbia’s signing we have another box to box midfielder to challenge O’Hara.
I know we must focus on the championshite at the moment but i think if anyone comes in
for wardy i would sell him and start bedding in a new L/B because wardy can’t cut it imo in the prem…As for jarvis & fletch we must let them go as much a it pains me to say and use the money to get some young and hungry players in now for this season or next for when we get back into the premier this term i hope.