Allow me to start with a couple of groveling apologies.
Phil Brown - Coming to a tanning salon near you
I haven’t been able to update the blog as I would have liked this week. Turns out I actually have to do some work for my full-time job, who knew? Secondly, I couldn’t find the time to hunt down a Hull fan to write a preview, so you’re stuck with me I’m afraid.
But let’s take that as a positive. As much as I enjoy getting the views of the opposition, this is a Wolves Blog after all, so let’s have a preview from the right side of the fence for a change.
So Hull City come to Molineux this weekend for a match I’m certain we can win.
I’m equally convinced that Mick will deploy a 4-4-2 and bring Doyle into the starting XI. That leaves just one question in my mind: Who gets dropped?
Here’s my predicted line-up:
Hennessy
Stearman
Mancienne
Craddock
Elokobi
Jarvis
Henry
Milijas
Halford
Keogh
Doyle
This would mean Dave Edwards is the unlucky man that drops to the bench (with Ward also missing out through injury). Although that’s harsh after a couple of typically energetic performances, I’ve got to believe Mick will sacrifice his running for the quality that Milijas brings to the side.
Anyone got a different predicted XI? Surely nobody thinks he’ll stick with 4-5-1?
It will also be interesting to see who makes the bench. What a bonus ball it will be to have SEB at our disposal should we need to call on him, but given the fact he hasn’t kicked a ball since the West Ham match, I’d be surprised if he played a major part.
One player that still won’t be making an appearance is Michael Kightly. I’ve seen in the comments that many of you are asking the same question I’ve been thinking; What the hell is going on? I mean the vague references to his injury and likely comeback date are just ridiculous. We were told in pre-season he wouldn’t make the start and needed a few weeks to shake-off some knocks and get back to full-fitness. Since then, nothing. Knowing our luck with injuries, I immediately fear the worst. And although I don’t think his fitness dictates where we’ll finish this season, not having him available is a big blow to our prospects.
Anyway, let us gaze scornfully across to our opposition for the weekend.
As much as we all hate Phil ‘My God He’s So…’ Brown, you might have to concede that he’s done a pretty good job with Hull City (even with that ridiculous Bluetooth headset). Getting them promoted was an incredible achievement, and much like Burnley this season, they were immediately written off. OK, they couldn’t buy a win towards the end of last season but the bottom line is, they stayed up (cue Big Phil on karaoke – cringe).
Their initial lack of summer recruitment gave me hope they’d be in serious trouble, but they’ve since brought in a couple of useful players. Hunt from Reading is a constant nuisance and has already weighed in with a few goals, Olofinjana we know all about (what’s the bet he plays like Patrick Vieira on Saturday) and most importantly, two unknown strikers.
If like me you watched the highlights from their victory over Bolton last week, you must have been impressed by Ghilas and particularly Altidore. Although one match is never enough to make a truly accurate assessment, those two players certainly posed a significant threat. I just hope our back four can continue to perform well and keep them quiet.
I fancy Hull to struggle again this season and be operating around the same region of the table as ourselves. For me, that means this home fixture falls into the category of a ‘must-win’. That isn’t to say we’ll be relegated should we not pick up the maximum, but we need home victories against the likes of Hull if we’re going to survive.
Can we do it? Of course we can. We need our attacking players to perform, but I have confidence from recent matches that the likes of Jarvis, Milijas, Keogh and Doyle can come up with the goods and bag us the points.
Prediction: 3-1 to Wolves. Doyle to score first.
Ditto with you Thomas, although I’m tempted to say Hill LB and George left wing after mid-week in place of Halford.
Roll on tomorrow – 1-0 Wolves, Craddock head from a set peice.
argh shit i just wrote a big long comment detailing the aspects of how we’ll beat hull, posted it and it disappeared so to summarise.
keogh and doyle – will have chances, need to take them
back four need to stay solid.
henry needs to play well, close them down tackle well
milijas – this could be his type of game, slightly more open midfield. should create chances for us.
2-1 to us, would love 3-1 but all in all i would take 1-0.
i’ll be watching the game over the net. used iraqgoals last time, anyone know of anything better!?
Sorry Tom but I think we might go with 4-51. It has served us well these past two games. I can see why we would go with a 4-4-2 and think it would seem more attacking.
3-2 to the mighty Wolves!
We are at home, to a weak prem side and last week we proved we can cause more problems when going 4-4-2. We played 4-5-1 against wigan well as tactically we knew we had to flood their midfield. i’d be very suprised if we didnt go 4-4-2
mick will want his big signing playing and scoring goals and keogh will keep his place!
Louie, to be fair 4-5-1 hasn’t served us well the last two games, only against Wigan did it do it’s job. We were rubbish against Man City the first half, change to 4-4-2 and we nearly came away with something.
Wolves 1- 0 Hull.
Hopefully I will be wrong and they will score more goals but until they get going, I’m going to assume they can’t.
If we play 4-5-1 I’ll go mental. Which considering I am also missing the game due to a wedding in Ireland would be a tad embarassing. Getting the liveblog thing working would be a bonus.
4-5-1, 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 3-5-2…………DOESN’T MATTER.
It is still the same players that have to work their nutts off to make it work. So really, come on, are we going to be that botherd??
If mick does play 4-4-2 I will bet good money one of the strikers playes deeper when we haven’t got the ball to make a 4-5-1. It’s a myth that 4-4-2 gives you more chance of getting goals
I think a 4-5-1 with Milijas given a free role would be a very good option for us.
I have a feeling that Hull will score first, and within the first 10 minutes. Then the big comeback will come as Hull sit and defend their lead – Doyle will head one in from a set piece on 43 and the win will be complete on 67 with Jarvis from 20 yards!
2-1 Wolves!
Oh yeah and we’ll begin with 4-5-1 with Doyle up top and Keogh somewhere in the 5. We’ll revert to 4-4-2 10 mins after Hull score. I’ll now shut up as WTF do I know!
after a while, especially near a game i give up trying to analyse everything. i just want a cold beer and to either be at or watch the game.
p.s. anyone know of anything better than iraqgoals to watch the game tomorrow!?
A home win tomorrow by any scoreline will be fine by me. I think Keogh and Doyle will start but with Keogh out wide instead of halford with edwards to keep his place and milijas given license to find space and cause havoc.
I predict a 4-3 win reminiscent of the comeback against Leicester last time we were in the Prem. Sadly I can see Big George getting sent off, and Hennessey being solely responsible for every goal we concede. I also predict a very sarcastic and underwhelmed Mick McCarthy in the post-match interview, making anyone who interviews him feel a bit nervous. Saturday will end with Alan Shearer wisely noting that we will be ‘there or thereabouts’ at the end of the season.
After the prediction above I think anything I say will be slightly underwhelming.
Having said that…2-1 (can’t see us keeping a cleansheet unfortunately) victory, Doyle to score first
Jarvis is going have an absolutely amazing game, and we will win 3-1. Jarvis scoring 2.
I saw it in a dream…
Some good predictions here boys.
Nice to see that plenty of you are dreaming about Wolves too. However, I’m happy to say mine still consist of Angelina Jolie in all kinds of scenarios where we’re the last two people on earth.
…anyway…
Oleg Luzhny, if that is your real name (Stephen)? I don’t think my frail heart could take another 4-3 thriller. And when you think about it, goalies are to blame in someway for all goals that get conceded. I don’t think you could scientifically prove that any goal that’s ever been scored couldn’t have been saved by the keeper (with the obvious exception of Fernando Gomez’s wonder strike against Stockport in a memorable 2-2 draw).
i’m in ireland contemplating…jennifer aniston over jolie for me thomas. am i alone on that?! anyway, i’m also going for a 3-2 win. jarvo,doyle, edwards.
I’ll go for an edgy 1-0 win, but who cares, puts 3 points on the board. Craddock to score from a corner
For those who were wondering about Kightly, an article was just posted on the Wolves website. It says he will return to training next week and will hopefully play a part against Blackburn in two weeks
http://www.wolves.co.uk/page/News/0,,10307~1781409,00.html
I had PayTV installed this week (Bless my girlfriend for the present) so I can sit from the comfort of my Ikea recliner, alcoholic beverage in hand and dream of 3 points.
Perth Glory have already won this weekend (good Omen) Daz I hope you were one of the 6k who saw Brisbane win as well. I took my boss and we won which is even better an omen.
Now I just need Wolves, my club team and Marseille to win for the perfect weekend. Sneaky 2-2 for me, always be a touch pessimistic, then the worst isn’t too bad, and the best is just brilliant.
I think that http://www.wolves.co.uk are covering for something, with regard to the Kightly story, can’t wait for Zubar, so that my hubris can be inflamed with the correctness of my prediction about him.
ben say if you had jennifer in one hand, jolie in the other, and you just kinda put those hands together and enjoyed. now thats a good day!