Not good enough Wolves.
There shouldn’t be any shame in going down by four goals to a top side, but 25 minutes in yesterday, I felt humiliated. Say what you like about the brilliance of Chelsea (they were very good), but Wolves made it far, far too easy for them.
View from the away end (click to expand)
Mick has to take a large chunk of the blame. The odd 3-5-2 system he tried play, left us chasing shadows for the first half hour, with players not able to adapt to the unorthodox shape. We were carved open time and time again down the flanks, with Anelka and Kalou drifting out wide and enjoying acres of space.
When the starting XI came through, I was actually pleased because I made the assumption he’d opted for the 4-5-1 I’d long been calling for. Silly me. When we eventually switched to this shape, the carnage lessened somewhat, but the game was long over.
Blame doesn’t lie completely at the feet of the manager though.
When you visit Stamford Bridge, you simply can’t afford for your keeper to have a bad game and it’s safe to say, Hennessy had a shocker. He could nothing about Malouda’s thunderous opener or Essien’s close-range, unmarked, header, but the two shots that squirmed under his body should have been bread and butter saves.
As a team, we defended woefully and didn’t show nearly enough fight to stop Chelsea ripping us apart. Whoever was supposed to be marking Essien for their second goal wants shooting. It was a great delivery but the powerful midfielder did nothing special to make the space. Not good enough.
The few times we ventured forward, we didn’t look half bad. Jarvis in particular was a thorn in their side and can count himself unlucky not to have set up a goal or bagged one himself. There was also the odd break, which we failed to capitalise on, mainly due to poor final balls. The closest we came was SEB’s far-post header, which Cech superbly turned round the post to maintain his long-running cleansheet record.
In truth though, had Wolves had the audacity to score, you just got the impression Chelsea could easily have gone up the other end and scored a couple more. They took their foot off the gas in the second half and at times it seemed like nothing more than an exercise in shooting practice, with Essien, Cole, Mikel and Alex all taking aim from range.
Undoubtedly, the biggest plus from yesterday’s match was the support. Even at 4-0, the loudest section of Stamford Bridge was the gold and black corner of the Shed End. Having paid the best part of fifty quid for a ticket and navigated the complicated journey through the capital, they deserved better.
We’ve got a week now to prepare for a giant game against Blues. From the terror of the Arsenal match and the chaos of Chelsea, we somehow have to find a winning formula to quickly turn things around.
Our season depends it.
Let’s be realistic here if we don’t get enough points form our next 3 home games we can just not spend anything in January and give the youngsters a go because we’ll be cut adrift if that happens.
And I agree as fans we deserve better.
Can someone explain how we lined up? I presume if it was 3-5-2 it was-
Hennessey
Stearman Craddock Berra
Halford Edwards Henry Castillo Surman
Jarvis
SEB
Is this about right? Did Jarvis play through the middle? In a free role?
kwolf, you pretty much got it spot on, Jarvis was initially just behind SEB until we hanged our shape to 4-5-1 with Halford dropping to the back line.
I have nothing further to say on this match from what I said on the previous post – embarrassing!
You say we deserve better but they got us promoted last season and they were exciting to watch aswell. You can’t expect to get promoted and not get battered a couple of times. Last time it was the likes of charlton and Blackburn, and id rather get thrashed by Arsenal and Chelsea than them.
However, there was some shocking defending (craddock for 1st goal, marking at second whoever it was) which needs to be sorted. I think people need to get of Wayne’s back. It aint gonna help moaning about him. mick will, rightly, sttick with him because he is a top goalie. The third one he is unlucky, as it took a defelection and the fourth is almost a good save.
If we do not beat Blues then there will be a few people calling for Mick to go, it really is a must win game.
I went to the game expecting a beating but the manner of it was not acceptable.
It could have been the nine Wigan suffered today. Hugely embarassing and shambolic at times.
The manager picked the wrong side from starting with SEB (not a lone striker) upfront on his own to the strange formation he employed which was changed three times in the first 30 mins.
The team showed too much respect, there was no shape, no organisation and a distinct lack of fight in the middle of the park. Struggling to remember a decent tackle!
Goalkeeping mistakes – yes! but hey, the kid is going to make them and better it be against Chelsea than the games against the 3Bs. He is still our best keeper and that includes the fragile one.
Jarvis and Stears were the only plus points for me.
I wouldnt lay into SEB too much as he is still trying to find his PL feet and I didnt expect him to make an impact against Arsenal or Chelsea. Message to MM dont play him on his own.
We are nearing the end of November and we are not cut adrift, everything to play for but the pressure is building to get a decent points return.
Louie mate, there’s nothing wrong with staying positive and you’re completely right that big defeats are inevitable. I don’t think anyone on this board minds getting the odd thrashing off the big boys, but it’s the manner of the defeat. A minimum you expect from these games is to be organised and up for the fight. Wolves were neither.
Nobody here is ‘getting on Wayne’s back’, but if you believe he had anything other than an absolute shocker, you’re living in dreamland. Read the match reports, you won’t find one that doesn’t point it out. The fourth was nearly a good save?! Louie, he’s an international goalkeeper. He MUST save that. He’s done well this season and I don’t think anyone is calling for him to be dropped, but he was well under par yesterday, which I’m sure he’d admit.
Nobody should be calling for Mick’s head this season. OK you’ll get the odd idiot, but that’s the same at every club. At 4-0 down yesterday, every fan in the away end belted out a chorus of ‘Super Mick Mccarthy’. I think that says it all.
Thomas, I’m calling for him to be dropped, my grounds – yesterday he was woeful, as you pointed out he should have saved at least 2 of those goals comfortably. He is still a kid and is probably a bit shell shocked. Time for an older head between the sticks just to steady the ship a little.
Louie, while its admirable that you stick up for Wayne, your arguments bring hysteria to all those who saw his performance yesterday. Sometimes fella, as much as you like a player, it’s simply impossible to defend him, wayne’s performance yesterday being prime example!
And nobody has mentioned that he made one fantastic save. stan wallymore was slagging him then the other guy says ‘but what a save’ and he concentrates on the shot. People are focusing too much on the bad stuff. If we go down, I doubt we will keep him.
Jed, which two? the fourth goal wasn’t that bad, and the defending was awful. The third goal was really unlucky.
I was hoping the game would be riveting for more than 5 minutes.
I’m not sure why a defender like Mick can’t teach the team to defend corners better than they do. That would be a major improvement. At least we could see some progress.
thomas. i’m saying he should be dropped! our defence is bad enough as it is,and it doesnt help when theyve got zero confidence in the bloke behind them. matt upson scored past us from 4yds out on the opening day,and against arsenal its 1yd out. last season it was notts forest home, reading home, blackpool away, blues away, bristol city away, norwich home off the top of my head. he isnt learning or improving. fact. and for anyone to say he’s better than murray is just…well, i give up. given that i’m told to expect him to bottle every single cross (because he is young of course and needs another season of my patience) the least i expect is for him to save shots that are side footed next to him. and how can anyone say he’s better than hanemann? unless ive missed something he hasnt played. ask steve coppell who he’d pick.
ben, we have one of the best young goalkeepers in the country. He’s a fine shot-stopper and I feel has improved his ctaching and coming out for crosses. No, he’s not as dominant as Murray, but Murray may not ever play again. I think soon he will end up at a top four club, and be one of the best in Europe.
He’s better than Hahnemann, he never really impressed v Man Utd or Swindon.
Up until the Stoke game WH was having a very good season and had stepped up from last year significantly – lets not forget this and lets not forget the number of very good saves the lad has pulled off which has led us to secure some of the points we have.
That said he has had a couple of dodgy ones of late albeit against potential Premier League and European Champions!
Personally I would stick by him, show him there is confidence in him and he’ll come good.
I am sick and tired of hearing this myth about Murray being the best keeper at Wolves; in true Rafa Benitez style the ‘fact’ is that Big Matty is and always will be ‘potential’ but potential dont play football, win points or keep our club in the top division.
Guys, there were bigger problems in the last two games than WH’s performance!
well said Matt, there ar emuch bigger problems. I for one would like to see Mancienne at centre back again, bet there are alot on here that don’t!
Louie – Goal No: 1 – Craddocks initial error, then the defence for backing off, tremendous unstoppable shot – WH no fault
Goal No: 2 – Stearman ran into no mans land and Edwards was standing still, query WH position but probably not his fault.
Goal No: 3 – defence allowed a weak shot, WH failed to gather the tame shot – his fault alone.
Goal 4: refer to 3 above!
WH has plenty of potential, and like Ben says he probably needs another season to reach his true potential, trouble is we don’t have the pleasure of being able to give him that time. He is extremely weak commanding his area, and does not talk enough to his back line – he’s like a little lamb and this will ony get worse the more he concedes. When Ikeme got the No:1 spot and then got injured, WH came back really strong. He desperately needs some time on the bench. Hahnemann needs a run out just to get our back line organised!
No.3 – Took the deflection and took him by suprise.
Thing is, he won’t drop wayne. Only if he get’s sent off or injured will someone take his place.
of course murray is no use when he’s constantly crocked. i was presuming the argument was that hennessey was better than murray full stop. ive never seen a better keeper in my life,but matt,ur rite in that it makes no difference as he’s probably finished. louie, we’ll agree to disagree,as i just dont see it. the sight of gordon brown at question time instils more confidence in me than wayne on crosses. he’s utterly hapless. and hasnt mick dropped him once already? but youre both correct-there are bigger issues…like how we couldnt compete with blues for scott dann,let alone wba for jerome thomas,who was our player!! i thought we were the premier league club? we’ve done it on the cheap and boy doesnt it show? did jez honestly think we’d be doing any better after last time?
We didn’t want Thomas i think, who would he be ahead of anyway I dont know. Dann will see whether he made the right choice of club at the end of the season too. He could have gone to us, but he wanted the extra money (git!)
Ben – I understand your sentiment but if i was honest I am not sure I would have paid the extra 5K a week on top of the 20K a week on offer plus circa £4m transfer fee for Dann. As for Jerome if I remember I think he went to WBA because they offered him a 4 year contract whereas we wanted him to prove his fitness first following a long lay off. Seen too many crocks get long contracts only to see them not play more than a handful of games e.g. Tony Daley so that one didnt bother me.
However, I do think the money made available could have been spent on first eleven players and not squad back up e.g Halford, Surman etc. We didnt address the left back, centre back poisitions adequately and we have no wing cover. Is this MM’s fault or the Board’s?
That said we are where we are and the squad is working its socks off, I for one am enjoying it (Saturday apart) and we are not cut adrift – a decent couple of results in this league can have a dramatic effect.
Got to be positive…well until next Sunday evening anyway
i heard thomas got a 2yr deal. the club will bleat on about fitness, i think they were being tight. look at him now. who would he replace? if mick wanted him,which he did, then he’d have answered that. re- dann. if we were prepared 2pay a club record fee for a guy,then a) why not pay him the wage? blues did and b) it was 4million more reasons for strengthening a hopelessly weak back line. what happened when we didnt get him? nothing! so we acknowledge we need a new centre back one minute,then decide we wont bother at all the next. its utterly unfathonable. so we go into the season with craddock,who wasnt good enough in 03. or 08. the fact he’s our best defender says it all. i personally feel let down. jez harped on about premier experience and an explicit promise that we wouldnt do a wba… until the moment we all renewed our season tkts. no wonder he treats us with such contempt when we’re all so gullable.
The only reason I’d keep faith with Hennessy is because I’m not a fan of Hahnemann. Seen him play a couple of times and haven’t been impressed. In saying that, maybe he deserves a chance to show what he can do in a proper match.
As an aside, Matt Murray is the best goalie we’ve got on the books, but as pointed out, he’s never going to stay fit for long enough to make a big impact. I think Hennessy is a great keeper, but Murray, like Ben says, is one of the best around on the rare occasions he makes it onto the pitch. The bloke is practically unbeatable at his best.
Chill Ben! Its ok and the Premiership loot is safe – snugly tucked away in the Fat Controllers bamk account!
£2.1 million was his share of the spoils in 2003 so, what with inflation etc., it’s only right he should have got a lot more this time round.
And I dont even blame him any more. If Morgan’s stupid enough to endorse Moxeys lies whilst letting the fat pig gorge himself on the dosh, more fool Morgan.
Wonder whether Jez has purchased another pad on Perton Ridge with his latest windfall? Maybe two…..!
I agree about Murray. He almost got us up on his own in Mick’s first year, which means Mick knows how brilliant he is. He’s unbeatable when hes playing but hes never playing.
Brink Vokes back !!!
i blame that flippin’ kit.
i felt so ashamed watching the game. we were at a mates house and its usually jibes and digs at each other, but there was none of that on saturday night, they felt too sorry for me. It just seemed like the team didnt arrive for the game, no running, no hustling!! at least we could go down trying!
does anyone else think we’re missing a spark? not just the arsenal and chelsea games, but the previous ones too. There doesnt seem to be anyone that is an enforcer… wolves to me play like a collective subdued team, taking chances when they can… but no one that actually single handedly creates chances. diamanti did it for west ham against arsenal, jimmy bullard is doing it for hull now. I do agree our backline is aweful, but i dont think our midfield is much better in terms of fullfilling their duty. they do ok in the midfield, but i dont think they do a good enough job linking the backline with the strikers.
PS what was mccarthy thinking bringing in keogh for SEB? SEB cant score goals by himself as mentioned, but keogh doesnt score goals full stop! at least he could have partnered them up so they could work off each other maybe?
I think we just need to remember it was against Chelsea. It’s done with now, and if there was a game we wanted to have a shocker it was then.
The next two are the big ones, where we need to get results. 6 points desperately needed against our rivals
Maierhoffer is an enforcer. Last time out he showed a lot of spirit. Got sent off, but showed a lot of spirit.
The absence of Mancienne recently has confused me (except for the Chelsea game obviously), I would be a lot more confident on the train to Wolverhampton next Sunday morning if I knew that he would be starting somewhere in the back line.
dboy – agreed about the kit. Also, is that the first time we’ve worn the away kit this season? I might be wrong but I can’t recall seeing us wear it in any other game? If so leave Wayne et al alone, I’m holding it squarely responsible.
Sami – it certainly was the first time that kit has been worn. They mentioned it on Setanta during the game saying it was the first time it had been worn and it was controversial because most of the supporters didn’t like it. Personally I think it looks sh*t but the red does match the Sporting Bet logo!
Let’s be honest, we have no idea. Just because it was Arsenal and Chelsea idn;t mean we just had to roll over and die. In the close season Moxet said ‘job done’ and said we had secured teh quality to stay up. When you consider the likes of Halford , Maierhoffer and Castillo…that statement was stupid, we haven;t even improved from last year. Keogh and Mancienne have to start on Sunday, Hennessey and Henry have to be dropped. Henry, Blake , Kightly, Milijas…all out of their depth and we need to spend millions(which we won’t) on a survival plan in January. It will be 1-1 on Sunday , another nail in the relegation coffin.
No on has mentioned Blues getting cheated by another frenchman out of three points at Anfield the other week. They looked every bit a match for an Liverpool on thier own patch, can’t see us doing that on Boxing Day can you???
Dirty onion selling, baggutte loving, berret wearing, garlic smelling, hand ball cheating, stinking heh hor heh hor-ing, dirty cheese eating FRENCH!!!!!
Dazza. To say SEB, Kightly and Henry are out of their depth is nothing short of fickle. Why do you advocate the recalling of Keogh – a proven failure whenever he has played, whether it be championship or Premier League, when you have already written off SEB, who has started about 4 Premier games? And Kightly has also started about the same number of games. And Henry has been our best player this season by some distance.
I love the way some fans are so quick to write off our double golden boot winner, our England under-21 winger, after barely any starts to the season, when these two players did more to get us in this damn league in the first place than any other players.
How dare they be injured, the useless morons. Yeah, sell them off, bring back Campbell fucking Chapman and watch us fly. Better still, Frankowski is available. The dirty cheating injured bastards, daring to get us a title for the first time in decades. The useless morons. Flog them. No, not sell them, flog them under the Billy Wright Stand with their pants down.
We have been dissapointed by them because they were our best players last season. I personally think SEB was playing OK and he got his goal but Kightly was just not ready. Henry has been nothing short of remarkable, he’s been our best player/
What about the Franch!!!!!!
Nice rant Ben, well said. These players did the business for us last year, so let’s try and stick with them and hopefully surround them with a bit more quality in January.
And Pete, anybody could go to Anfield and get something at the moment. I wish we had them down here Sunday. Blues are no better than us in my opinion. Fair play, they’ve picked up 5 more points than us, but they looked useless most of last season. How they got promoted is beyond me.
I’m struggling to remember the last time we beat Blues though, think it was 01/02…
We’re playing arguably the best team in europe at the moment. They’ve won ten on the run at home and haven’t conceded a goal there since the first day of the season. Hmmm, I know, let’s try a completely new formation…And some of you are blaming our brilliant young goalkeeper who has kept us in most of the games we’ve done well in this season and who, as far as I can gather from the above comments, made two mistakes when we were already beaten. Beggars belief frankly
Nice rant Ben, unfortunately your one failing is that your views are based on sentiment and unfortunately sentiment does not win games. Even thru my rose tinted sunglasses its plain to see that SEB & Kites are just not cutting it in this league. SEB looks laboured while Kightly might as well just stay at home for all the use he’s been. It’s no argument to say they’ve only started 4 games, and I think this will be shown when Stephen Ward drops straight back in to the team and performs from the get go.
This is a cutthroat league and unfortunately there is no time for sentiment, no matter how well certain players performed last season. Either they perform NOW or they unfortunately have to warm the bench, full stop!
Jed, I take on board your views mate, but I think sentiment has nothing to do with writing off a player after 4 /5 league starts. It is just bloody pig headed fickleness. And it pisses me off as you can tell.
Yes, they haven’t looked great, but bloody hell, give them a chance!!!!!!
You may well be proved right, and we’ll see. But seeing as I was proven right with:
a) Elokobi not being up to it
b) Henry being our best player
and c) Keogh being awful
I’ll wait and see thanks.
You’re all for getting behind the lads etc etc, and you, and a load of others have already made your minds up on players that haven’t even had a dozen starts under them.
Good job half of you weren’t Bruce Rioch at Arsenal…You’d have packed Berkamp off for being ‘slow’ and told Henry to piss off back to Juve for not immediately settling. It took them months to get going in the Premier League, not 4 pissing league starts.
I wouldn’t mind if we were talking about Keogh, a player who played a bit part in our championship success, and who constantly fails. But it’s different rules for him..
Don’t you think it is outrageously hypocritical that fans can continually harp on about dropping the very players that got us here, after having no chance to prove themselves on the world’s biggest stage, yet give Keogh an 18th bite of a cherry, despite being a proven failure?
Ben, I’m certainly not being fickle although it may seem so. So at the moment SEB and Kights have been average to poor for pretty much all their 4 starts, my main point is when do we say “Ok maybe they’re not up to it” do we do it now and give other strikers a chance or do we leave it til xmas or do we leave it til May?? Both SEB and Kites are heroes in my eyes for last seasons efforts, unfortunately this season they are not ‘just lacking in a little match practice’ they are sh*t! if we were in the Championship and they were playing like this then they would be rested, so why not in the PL?
In relation to Keogh, I agree that he is a woeful waste of space in front of goal, however against Chelsea and with Doyle out he may just have occupied their back line a bit more than SEB did, because quite honestly SEB was anonymous for all but one attempt, which really he should have scored (even though it was a world class save).
Tell me so far this season when either SEB or Kites have done anything – and don’t harp on about the penalty against villa because that was Milijas superb touch more than Kites pace and skill!
If you take Jarvis as the example, if Kites and SEB were as hard working as he is then I would be shouting for them to play, trouble is they aren’t they look off the pace and to be honest bone bloody idle!
keogh isn’t shit Ben. He is very good footballer to me who works his sockls off for the team but because he hasn’t got that killer instinct infront of goal people thinks hes shit.
Jarvis deserves to be in the team, whilst Kightly and SEB need to be given a bit more time. They will get going soon, we all know what Kightly can do when he is fit.
Rich we beat them in Fa cup last season
Sorry Louie, I meant in the league
Jesus, If all you needed to be was fit and able to run a channel to be a PL striker we all would playing.
Keogh is a striker who is woeful infront of goal – ergo not very good!!!!
Let him try out for the Irish Athletics Team for 2012 if he such a good runner just don’t put him in a wolves shirt again.
Get the big lads up top and lets cause defences some problems!!!!!
Oh…………….I hate the FRENCH!!!!
Louie. Sorry to break break this to you mate, but Keogh is indeed shite.
I would love a parallel season where all the Keogh sycophants could play him for 46 league games and see where we end up. We wouldn’t be here now, that’s for sure. Probably about 10th.
And I’m the one taken to task over saying so…and all because I feel we are a bit better than championship monotony, as proven in empiricial fact when BCI played and forged the most lethal partnership in all 4 divisions.
The whole reason we bought Iwelumo was because we had no presence up front, and MM cited this fact for our shit 07/08 season when we finished 7th.
When Keogh did play last season we went about 12 games with 1 win. Another fact for you.
Scunthorpe’s manager wouldn’t take him NOW. (they are 18th in the CCC by the way)
Trappatoni has come to his senses and dropped him
He doesn’t make Kightly play better
McCarthy has finally seen the light.
We don’t score more with him in the team.
All these spurious arguments do my head in. But go ahead, cast SEB off as a proven failure. Nice work
And Pete: Let’s start a war with the French.
Ben, GET IN, thats what I’m talking about.
But there is no point……. they would just eat cheese then surrender!!!!
I’m sorry to break thsi to you, but Iwelumo isn’t all that!
Sure he had a good patch where he scored a few at the start but he’s not good enough for the Premiership in my opinion. I think Vokes is a younger and better version of him. I’d rather have the Hof too!
Of what I saw at Everton, Doyle and SEB did soemg good stuff together and we saw that Keogh and Doyle did alright. Keogh scored 16 goals in league 2, scored at least 10 one season in the CCC. I do believe Sylvan is a premierleague player. I think people are rating him with goals, he has brought a bit to the aside, he’s just not quite a shard working.
I reckon Mancienne will play at left back on sunday and prove Pete wrong!
Louie. I would suggest that 13 goals before December is a little better than a ‘good patch’ wouldn’t you? Probably not, unless Keogh scored them.
BCI would have netted a load more in the second half of the season if he wasn’t unceremoniously dropped for not scoring in 6.
Some more Keogh facts for you (all not including sub appearances): 19 goals in 86 games for Scunthorpe. All in league 1.
23 in 94 games for Wolves.
Chris Iwelumo: 16 goals in 27 games for Wolves.
So a shit League One striker is now allowed to go on and prove himself in the Premier League after failing dismally already, whereas Iwelumo isn’t good enough after ONE game!!!! More perverse, one eyed logic.
Oh, and for all the Kightly haters…He is indeed injured with dodgy knees. Just thought I’d throw it out there before he is beheaded.
Pete, the French would park their lorries at Calais before we could get to them.
Loiue, you are fighting a losing battle trying to convince me Mancienne is a good defender. much like the battle you are loosing to Ben about Keogh, those goal stats really should be the final nail in that aurguments coffin.
Hang on a minute………Louie is a French name isn’t it?????
Pasture, Vitton, Bleriot, and of course Louie XVI
Only pulling your leg Louie mate.
If Mancienne is a succses at LB it won’t prove me wrong though. I said he is not a good CB.
BCI is much more of a goal threat than Keogh, ergo, he is a better striker than Keogh.
If it make you feel better, I would pick Keogh ahead of BCI in all of the midfield positions, both full back slots, but not at CB and GK.
BCI is a goal threat, more than Keogh but not ahead of Doyle, SEB and The Hof. I think Keogh is a better player in terms of passing and movement. I don’t really think he’s a striker but he is a good player. Big Chris is better at finishing, poaching and winning it in the air, they are totally different players. Louis is a french name, Louie isn’t though
Maybe Keogh at centre back is a good idea! (Only joking)