It’s so long to Frimpong then as the impressive Arsenal loanee limps back to London with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.

First of all, let me say that’s a great shame because he was talented and a definite improvement on the central midfielders we have at the club.

Furthermore, it was undeniably a good piece of business on Mick’s part to bring the youngster here in the first place and his premature exit is certainly nobody’s fault.

Don't worry, it's over now

That said, it does leave us in a bit of a pickle.

The immediate question that sprung to my mind was: can we get Guedioura back from Forrest?

But then of course the answer to that is ‘no’ as he wasn’t named in our squad list that was submitted to the Premier League last week.

A squad list that contained only 24 senior players, 1 short of the maximum number allowed.

I would like to know (if the E&S can be bothered with some actual journalism) if Guedioura could have been named – despite being loaned out – in order to cover a situation such as this?

Either way though, the Algerian shouldn’t have been allowed to leave in the first place.

If we can name 25 players, we should name 25. Surely?

Only then can we give ourselves the absolute best chance of survival as the manager has the maximum number of senior pros to choose from.

That’s common sense isn’t it?

And Guedioura, for all his shortcomings and inconsistency that I fully accept, has without doubt proven he can effect a game of Premier League football.

I look back to the end of last season and even though he was patchy at best, he made the goal in the home draw against Fulham and was central to our 3-1 win over Albion.

So like him or loathe him, if you’re telling me he couldn’t at the very least have made an impact from the bench as we clamber for survival, I’d like to hear your justification.

Here’s another question: Why did we buy Jonnson?

The line we were fed by Jez Moxey is that ‘he’s one for the future’.

Excuse me?

One for the future?

We need players who can be good immediately and save us from impending doom, not in a year’s time when we’re scrapping for a play-off place in the Championship.

I could stomach the nonsense though if the player in question had any qualities that made me believe he will aid our cause.

Yet the only argument I seem to hear in his favour is ‘he’s neat and tidy and does the simple things’.

We’ve got plenty of those already thanks, including David Davies, a player who has also proved his worth in Scotland and wouldn’t have cost us a penny.

Maybe we’ll make do against the Albion on Sunday and maybe Henry will return wiser, O’Hara will get fitter and the likes of Edwards and Milijas will prove their worth.

But it won’t change the fact that these decisions are inexplicable.

I just hope we don’t live to rue them.

Just ask Mark Hughes.

On a day that his club’s open cheque book was supposed to see their stock rising, it was Wolves who cashed in to get out of the red.

Stupidity, in all its glory

In fact, the victory owed much to the implosion of their marquee investment, Djibril Cisse taking Johnson by the neck before hopping into an early bath.

It was a definite sending off – no arguments please.

As Karl Henry will testify, raising hands (or studs) off the ball simply isn’t tolerated.

Just don’t do it.

A man up but a goal down, the pressure was thrust onto Wolves and Mick McCarthy to grab hold of the lifejacket that was so charitably slung overboard.

Sink or swim.

Thankfully, they just about made it to the shore.

Kevin Doyle turned the tide, feeding Matt Jarvis for the equaliser before slotting home the winner in composed style.

He needed that.

Mick too should bank credit for swift action on a day his head threatened to roll. Removing Stearman and slotting Foley into the back four was certainly a wise move to make.

That said I wasn’t overly enamoured with his initial team selection. We were setup to defend from the off and with no Kightly or Hammill in the squad, I feared the consequences of conceding an early goal.

So when Zamora slotted home a well worked opener that saw the wall come crumbling down, things seemed decidedly bleak.

There’s no doubting players and manager needed the break that Cisse’s handbags provided. Without that moment of madness, I don’t believe for a second we would have won.

Not that we should care.

Restricted view (courtesy of Putney Wolf)

Self-destruction has been Wolves’ forte this season so if the stupidity of the opposition is the stroke of luck we need to get our heads above water, so be it.

Speaking of new signings, Sebastian Bassong was correctly given his debut and although Zamora outmuscled him to toe poke them into the lead, I thought the on-loan Spurs man acquitted himself well.

I’m a bigger fan of Berra than most but the pace off the ball and composure on it that Bassong brought to the back four were notable.

Still, his selection couldn’t prevent a late onslaught as Adel Taarabt threatened to cruelly snatch the game away from us.

Credit Wayne Hennessey for a wonderful fingertip save to keep the Moroccan at bay. If he might have done better for the goal, that more than made amends.

It was a result that made amends.

It also proved however bankrupt our prospects may seem, it would be premature to foreclose on this season just yet.

You might just pay the price.

Villa, because Wolves promised so much but ultimately delivered nothing?

Or Liverpool, because the second half capitulation bore the unmistakable trademark of a team heading for the drop?

Handbags

Either way, the combination of the two – coupled with the fact we haven’t won a league match since the start of December – means we head to Loftus Road desperate for 3 points.

Given the contrasting atmosphere surrounding the clubs of late, it’s perhaps difficult to comprehend that a Wolves victory would actually draw them level with QPR.

But it would.

And while there’s no doubting that their change of manager and January spending has given them a timely boost, it would certainly be foolish to discount them from the relegation dust-up just yet.

We need only look back to West Ham this time last year to learn that splashing the cash at the bottom doesn’t necessarily guarantee an escape. For Cisse read Ba, for Zamora read Keane, for Onouha read Bridge.

As I say, no guarantees.

The Team

Wolves have their own new signing to boast tomorrow and I sincerely hope Sebastian Bassong is thrown straight in. Our chronic lack of pace and athleticism at the back was once again ruthlessly exposed by Bellamy on Tuesday night. We just can’t keep a clean sheet and something has to change.

I maintain that 451 remains the way forward and this is the team I would send out.

Hennessey, Foley, Johnson, Bassong, Ward, O'Hara, Frimpong, Edwards, Jarvis, Kightly, Fletcher

Berra is the defender to miss out, simply because his consistency has slipped in recent weeks whereas Johnson has improved of late (prior to Tuesday of course). Also, Bassong is left-sided so you get the correct balance.

I believe O’Hara is somewhere close to fit so he must start. With Henry suspended, Jonnson not good enough and Milijas too hit and miss, I think Mick has to throw Jamie straight back in. If he has to come off after an hour, so be it. I’d rather that, than throwing him on for the last 20 minutes when we’re losing.

Hammill must be on the bench at the very least. If Mick thinks swapping Kightly for an under-performing Hunt is a good idea when we’re chasing a game, then I’m sorry but we’re already doomed. We need impact players who can make something happen.

In that respect, I’m completely despondent that we sent Guedioura to Forrest, particularly when Mick only submitted a 24-man squad to the Premier League. Figure that one out!

Prediction League

17 people correctly predicted we’d get stuffed by Liverpool.

Only 2 of those went Hollywood and got the 3-0 scoreline too though, so well done to Jed and Ash K.

I don’t really know what to predict this weekend.

However, I do know that revenge would be sweet after the misery they inflicted on us at Molineux back in the sunny days of September.

Perhaps foolishly, I think we’ll get a response from Tuesday and a result.

2-2.

If you’re heading to London for this one, have a great day and I sincerely hope the lads turn it on for you.

Up The Wolves.

Just win.

However you need to do it, whatever it takes – just win.

Not this time mate

I don’t care that we were thwarted by decisions against Stoke and Chelsea. I don’t care that we probably deserved more against Villa.

Whatever the excuse is, there seems to be just one consistency – Wolves losing.

And if we’re not losing, we certainly aren’t winning. Yes, there’s a lot to be said for grinding out valuable points, but we need to register a maximum sooner rather than later or we’ll be deep, deep in the brown stuff.

I don’t think you could ever describe a Liverpool visit to Molineux as a home-banker, but we’ve certainly been given every advantage possible to get the job done tomorrow night.

Best player ruled out – check.

Three games in a week – check.

Lost as many games as they’ve won away from Anfield – check.

The Team

If Mick McCarthy doesn’t go 4-5-1 in this game and we lose it, I think his head should be firmly on the chopping block.

We employed the shape perfectly against Villa and but for sloppy mistakes, wonder goals and silly behaviour, we probably would have taken a point at the very least.

Yes, Henry is suspended, but it should just be Milijas or Jonnson in and as you were.

So, that’s a team of:

Hennessey, Foley, Berra, Johnson, Ward, Milijas, Frimpong, Edwards, Kightly, Jarvis, Fletcher

If we go 442 and start slinging balls forward for strikers to chase, I might just lose the will to live.

I’m all for positivity, but after the signs of progress in that first half against Villa, I’d hate to see that immediately undone simply because Karl Henry got himself sent off.

Prediction League

8 people correctly predicted doom against our claret and blue neighbours last weekend, but none got the scoreline.

So it’s a single point each for josh, Jed, Haywood Wolf, robin, Clive from Houston, The Wanderer, garby and Stourbridge Wolf.

I think we’ll take 4 points from the next three matches against Liverpool, QPR and WBA.

So lets go for a defeat in this one, leaving me a draw and a win to play with in the other two.

2-1 Liverpool.

If you’re at Molineux tomorrow, get right behind the lads as you always do. It’s a special atmosphere under the floodlights so hopefully the team will respond.

Up The Wolves.

* An apology to Martin who also correctly predicted the outcome of the Villa match and was rudely overlooked as I totted up the scores. If you spot an error or see that I haven’t awarded you the points you deserve in the Prediction League, please do get in touch.

Summer 2009, in the halcyon aftermath of our triumphant promotion to the Premier League I happened upon this picture:

A picture that's worth 275,000 words (approx) and counting

So taken was I with this photograph centering on our flying winger that I immediately set about searching for an online Wolves publication, so that I could contact them to suggest they use the image in some capacity.

Upon finding that no such website existed, I decided to build one myself, more to test my burgeoning web design skills than create any sort of old gold magnum opus.

Still, pleased with my efforts, I posted a handful of articles, convinced a young scallywag by the name of Ben to join the force (he had his own site at the time) and the rest, as they say, is Wolves Blog history.

540 posts, 20,000 comments and 3 years later, I think it’s fair to say things have gone rather well.

How intolerably cruel then that the very man who set the blog wheels in motion has spent the duration of it’s lifetime clambering for escape from injury hell.

Indeed there were times when it appeared that the real Michael Kightly would never truly re-emerge.

End product, how we've missed you

Sure, he sporadically pulled on the shirt in between lengthy stints on the treatment table but never once did you get the impression he was operating anywhere near his best.

It was painful to watch.

Understandably then, despite returning from a successful stint at Watford this month, many around Molineux still questioned whether he could do it at the top table.

However, the dour 0-0 at St. Andrew’s a few weeks back was notable in my eyes for a singular reason – Michael Kightly.

By no means did he light up that abhorrently dull contest, but there was most definitely a spark, a spring in his step that hadn’t truly been seen since late 2008.

Buoyed by this I immediately called for his inclusion at Spurs in my preview, which Mick duly obliged with.

Another encouraging, if not spectacular performance at White Hart Lane had me believing there was more to come last Saturday against Villa.

I was not disappointed.

For 25 glorious minutes leading up to half-time, things were as they always should have been.

Gone (hopefully never to be seen again) was the flinching imposter who’d tarnished the reputation of one of our finest players in recent history.

It was all there.

Darting into space, running his defender on the diagonal, sliding incisive passes between the lines and deservedly capping it all with a beautifully finished goal.

It was a powerful and immediate reminder of just how good a player he has the capacity to be and the one quality he brings to our side that we desperately lack – end product.

Of course on this occasion it all proved to be in vain as the ruthless nature of the Premier League bit back in the second half and Wolves collapsed in every way imaginable.

Yet on the day that we finally dropped into the bottom three for the first time this season, the one chink of light I cling onto is that we may have rediscovered a player who can ultimately dig us out again.

Welcome back Kites.

In the last five meetings, both sides have managed a win by the odd goal and the other three matches have been hard fought draws.

Heskey does his Shearer impression to win last season's fixture

I don’t envisage this game bucking the trend either.

Villa have played 10 away matches to date and drawn 6 of them, whereas Wolves have also shared the points in 4 of their last 5 Premier League fixtures.

Another draw wouldn’t be a disaster for Wolves, but without question we need to pick up a win sooner rather than later.

It’s a mighty shame our meek cup exit put a dampner on a fantastic result at White Hart Lane.

Still, with 10 fresh faces to come back in, we can hope for considerably better than the dross of Wednesday night and hopefully a big response.

The Team

Assuming everyone is sit, the team picks itself for tomorrow:

Hennessey, Foley, Johnson, Berra, Ward, Frimpong, Henry, Jarvis, Edwards, Kightly, Fletcher

I hope Mick can field that side tomorrow, as I think there’s a real balance to it and should give us every chance of getting a win.

Dave Edwards seems to be the biggest injury concern and if he doesn’t make it perhaps Milijas or Guedioura will profit? I certainly hope Hunt isn’t shifted in to plug the gap though, based on his poor showing on Wednesday.

Prediction League

Most people thought we’d get tonked by Spurs last time out, which I suppose isn’t unsurprising. The end result though is that only 6 people picked up any points.

4 of those 6 got the 1-1 scoreline and get the maximum 3 points. Well done to gebb, Super Kev Doyle, Mark G Davies and kinhaven.

Crazy Pete and Charlieee get a single point.

I’ll go for it this weekend a predict a narrow home win.

2-1.

If you’re at Molineux tomorrow, have a great time and get right behind the lads.

Up The Wolves.

With that in mind, Blues fans will probably feel satisfied with their night’s work. Good luck to them I say. I don’t begrudge them the win.

For Wolves and Mick McCarthy there’s no such consolation.

Terrible goal wins terrible match

We were awful, both individually and as a team.

But lets start with the former.

Elokobi was a liability throughout. Yes, he made a vital goal-saving lunge in the first half (which I thought was a foul by the way) but his total lack of awareness and incompetence on the ball make me shudder everytime he has possession.

Sadly though George, you narrowly miss out on the numpty of the match champagne.

No, that’s most definitely reserved for another deserving culprit.

Step forward Stephen Hunt.

We all know he’s been woefully anonymous in recent times, but his performance last night was taking the flippin’ Michael.

He sauntered around, half a yard off the pace and quite obviously just couldn’t be arsed.

You can normally tell within the first 10-15 minutes of any match whether he’s up for it or not. If he is, ala Blues at home last season, you’ve got a real player on your hands.

80% of the time though, he doesn’t show anywhere near those levels of interest and isn’t the type of player who can operate effectively in cruise control.

He was easily the worst of a very poor bunch.

Still, however bad individuals were, the manager must shoulder much of the blame for the team performance.

Anyone who comes out two days before the game has even kicked off and proclaims ‘It’ll be Doyler and Sylvan up top’ as if that’s some sort of declaration of attacking intent is living in cloud cuckoo land.

That says to me, that in his head it doesn’t matter who else he plays because two out of form forwards, both dining off past accomplishments as opposed to anything they’ve done recently, will get the job done.

That was never, ever going to be the case.

I said in my preview I’d play 451 because we needed to make better use of the ball in the middle of the pitch and not just hoof it long to the forwards.

Well low and behold what did we do?

The same thing we always do in a 442 of course, pass it around the back four, run out of ideas and shell it long.

Nice one Mick.

He got two bites of the cherry in this tie and patently didn’t learn his lesson from the first taster.

I despair.

You can only imagine what the millions who tuned into ITV made of it.

Like them, I’d rather have watched Coronation Street.

No way through

Perhaps ITV’s logic is that the first game was so painfully awful, the replay is destined to be a cracker.

Probably a shade optimistic but I certainly don’t think it could be any worse.

Blues have collected back-to-back wins since the first encounter, including a 6-0 bashing of Millwall to temporarily elevate them into the play-off places.

I think you’ve got to tip your hat to Chris Hughton – he’s done an excellent job there.

Even if his side don’t make it back to the Premiership this season, surely one of the top flight clubs will eventually take a punt on a manager who obviously knows what he’s doing?

The Team

Both managers will probably ring the changes once again, but as it’s a night game, on a decent pitch it should really be a better spectacle regardless.

This is the team I would field:

de Vries, Foley, Johnson, Stearman, Elokobi, Jonnson, Milijas, Guedioura, Hunt, Hammill, Doyle

So that’s wholesale changes to the team that started at Spurs, but the same shape.

I see Villa as a massive opportunity to get 3 points on Saturday, so don’t want to risk many of the definite starters for that one.

451 because I’d like to see us pass it around a bit more and with a 442, we tend to hoof. Milijas will give us the necessary craft and giving Guedioura (remember him?) a more advanced role behind the striker should suit his game.

In reality though, I think Mick will likely play 442 with both Doyle and SEB up front, as he did in the first game.

Prediction

Remember, no points on offer here for the league. Just for a larf.

I think we’ll just about scrape through this one, but I’m not expecting it to be easy, especially with the incentive of an away trip to Sheffiled United in the next round up for grabs (sarcasm).

Another tight game, but with a few goals shared – 2-1 Wolves.

If you’re making the trip to Molineux, have a great time and get behind the lads.

Up The Wolves.

Indeed, an unsettling whiff of deja vu must have swept like wildfire around the home crowd as the old gold once again supped their half-time cuppa a goal to the good.

Steven Fletcher’s ninth Premier League strike of the season (moving him level with Adebayor and two ahead of Defoe in the top scorer charts incidentally) gave Wolves the lead in this fixture for third consecutive season.

Me again - 3 in 4 against Spurs

One chance, one goal, ruthlessly gobbled up by our increasingly prolific talisman. Yes, it was a tap-in but no coincidence to see him once again emerge from the pack to poke home after Roger Johnson’s towering header was cleared off the line.

Speaking of Johnson, I thought this was one of his best games in a very long while, winning everything in the air and making timely interceptions to break up the free-flowing Spurs attack. That’s what we paid for.

The skipper no doubt benefits more than anyone when the gaffer deploys a 5 man midfield, closing the spaces and making his chronic lack of pace much less of an issue.

And Mick picked a good 5 yesterday I thought.

With Henry and Frimpong offering much needed protection, Edwards, Jarvis and Kightly were all able to get forward to decent effect when the opportunity presented itself.

Finally, some balance.

That theme also applies to the Foley and Kightly (as opposed to Stearman and Hunt) partnership down the right. For the first time in what seems a very long time indeed, we weren’t solely reliant on Jarvis as an outlet ball. I’m praying that continues.

Kightly continued his promising comeback with another hard working display including more sporadic moments of quality. It was lovely to see him cut inside his man in the first half and get a shot away, even if it was scuffed over the bar. The point is, he’s asking questions of the opposition again and trying to make something happen; things Hunt hasn’t been able to do of late.

As a side note, it was curious that Hammill didn’t even make the bench.

I thought Frimpong was immense yesterday, bombing into tackles, using the ball well and even bursting forward to support Fletcher.

That said, Mick was wise to withdraw him when he did as the home crowd definitely smelt blood with the Arsenal loanee on a booking. I would hate to have seen him sent off given that he already looks a vital cog in the midfield engine.

A mention too for Berra, who very rarely gets a nod. In his 100th league appearance for Wolves he did what he so often does these days, heading and kicking everything that came near him and making zero errors. It’s a mantra that has served Jody Craddock well in recent years and encouragingly it seems to have rubbed off on the Scot.

Ultimately though, aside from individual positives it was a disciplined, well-drilled team effort that won us this point. Tottenham poured forward time and time again but Wolves always did enough to slowdown their attacks restricting them to shots from distance for the most part.

Hennessey will probably feel he could and perhaps should have kept Modric’s fierce drive out, but given the quality of the strike and the fact it flew through legs, I think we can let our keeper off the hook. He was otherwise assured once again.

It was probably a measure of Spurs frustration that they felt the need to contest a ridiculous drop ball inside our penalty area late one, despite the fact Wolves clearly had possession of the ball prior to the stop in play.

You can blame the ref all you want, but it was despicably unsportsmanlike behaviour from the Tottenham players in my book.

Thankfully it came to nothing.

And yes, it probably should be noted we got the benefit of a few questionable decisions yesterday, for a change, but after recent events you’ll forgive me if I don’t cry a tear for the opposition.

I doubt they would for us.

However, the 2-0 victory Harry’s boys inflicted on us that sunny afternoon proved the catalyst they needed to go on a sensational winning streak, elevating them all the way up to third place in the table.

Losing at the Lane last season

We did actually play well in that match and were more than a little unlucky to lose. However, things deteriorated from that game onwards so it would certainly be fitting if we were to kick-start our faltering season with a big result at White Hart Lane.

And although that seems highly unlikely, recent history at least suggests we shouldn’t give up all hope.

Two years ago we did the double over Spurs, tasting victory on their patch thanks to an early Kevin Doyle goal and the mother of all defensive performances.

We almost repeated the trick last year too, leading 1-0 with 20 minutes to go only to eventually lose out 3-1.

As I write this preview (ahead of their game against Everton this evening) they’ve currently played 9 games at home, won 7, drawn 1 and lost just the once.

Dauntingly, the only points they’ve dropped were against Man City and Chelsea. Gulp.

The Team

I’ve decided to abandon predicting Mick’s team selections from now on, in favour of listing the side I would personally pick.

I would also encourage you to do the same, just so it gives us all something else to kick around in the preview.

So, this is my XI:

Hennessey, Foley, Johnson, Berra, Ward, Frimpong, Henry, Milijas, Kightly, Jarvis, Fletcher

I just think we need to retain possession better than we have been and with only Fletch really doing the business, 451 is the obvious choice for me.

Foley must play at right-back. He’s infinitely better on the ball than Stearman and brings balance to the side.

With Frimpong and Henry anchoring the midfield, I think giving Milijas freedom to wander around and find passes would be a wise move.

The most controversial inclusion is Kightly over Hammill and Hunt.

There’s certainly an element of favouritism in that choice, but neither Hunt or Hammill have done enough for me to suggest giving Kightly a start would be a mistake.

Prediction League

The home defeat to Chelsea seems a lifetime ago now.

Still, 19 people correctly predicted the loss and 6 of those got the scoreline spot-on.

Well done to Hamlet, Ade in China, gebb, Michigan Wolf, Ventura Highway and kinhaven for collecting the maximum 3 points on offer.

Call it foolish optimism if you will, but I just have a suspicion we’ll get something this weekend. We’ve been a bit of a bogey side for Spurs in recent years and I can see that continuing.

I’ll go the whole hog too – 2-1 Wolves.

If you’re heading to the Lane on Saturday, have a great time and get behind the lads as you always do.

Up The Wolves.

* Just a reminder that Wolves Blog are raising money for Acorns Children’s Hospice by taking part in the March to Molineux event. If you can spare a few pennies, I would be chuffed to get your support. You can donate by clicking here.