On the long matchday walk from the pub to the ground, I often use the internet on my phone to check the starting lineup. Today, I had mixed feelings when I read that Ebanks-Blake had been restored to the team signaling a change to 4-4-2.

Whilst it was great to see SEB’s positive contributions in recent weeks rewarded with a start, I couldn’t help but feel a little concerned that Mick had abandoned the 4-5-1 shape that had served us so well.

It was a struggle from minute one for Wolves

Still, confidence was high and with a well balanced midfield and two forwards on the pitch, I genuinely thought we’d have enough to push Bolton hard.

How foolish could I have been?

For the second game running we got off to the worst possible start, failing to clear our lines properly and Richard Stearman skillfully directing a header into his own net.

Just brilliant Wolves.

We then set about shelling balls forward against the two tallest center-halves in the league for our tiny strike-force to contest. What a plan.

Credit to Milijas for getting on the ball and trying his best to craft openings. His sumptuous through ball for Jarvis and long-range stinger were the definite highlights of a poor first half.

Unfortunately, next to the impressive Serb, Karl Henry simply went missing. What’s happened to our skipper? I can understand his reasons for flinching away from tackles, but why has his distribution gone down the toilet too? Get it sorted Karl. He was horrific today and in a four-man midfield, we need our captain to stand up and be counted. Sadly, he looked fragile throughout, which effected the entire team.

With Berra presumably injured in the warm-up and Ward still recovering from his gashed shin, Steven Mouyokolo and George Elokobi deputised in the back four. Did they improve us defensively? I think the answer is a big fat no.

Geroge seemed to put himself about, particularly in the air, but if we’re being as critical of him as we have been of Ward, then you have to point out that two goals were created down our left. Equally, Mouyokolo did a lot of good things, but he was one of the players left bamboozled by Elmandor’s turn for their second goal. And for me, he looked far from assured throughout and alongside the error-prone Stearman, it was very much a ‘make do and mend’ rearguard.

I’ve been saying for weeks that Berra has been a key figure for us and unquestionably his heading ability and reading of the game were two things we desperately missed yesterday. If he’s fit next week, I would restore him to the starting eleven without a moment’s hesitation.

At the other end of the pitch, SEB and Doyle struggled to impose themselves against Knight and Cahill, which was understandable given the type of service they were provided. However, you’ve got to be disappointed that neither managed to get on the end of the numerous balls that were delivered across the Bolton six yard box, particularly in the dying moments.

Credit to Fletcher for coming on and making a difference. Not only did he stoop low to bag his third Premier League goal of the season and setup a grand stand finale, but he also got in round the back moments later, rolling the ball across goal only for everyone in a gold shirt to make the same run.

The fact that we came so agonisingly close to snatching an unlikely point should not paper over the cracks of what was a below-par performance, made all the worse by slack individual errors.

Bolton will rightly mark this down as a great away performance, but as good as they were, I again feel Wolves were their own worst enemies.

Next week’s visit to Blackpool now falls firmly under the category of ‘must-win’, rather than ‘mustn’t lose’.

And the clear message from this match was simple – ‘must do better’.

Having emerged from their difficult run of games against the Premiership’s elite, Wolves face Bolton at Molineux tomorrow hoping for another strong performance and most importantly, a positive result.

Wolves defended bravely to see out a 2-1 win at Molineux last season

It will be a tough game against Owen Coyle’s men and you only have to look at the league table to realise this. Currently, the Trotters lie fifth and above the likes of Spurs, Villa and Liverpool.

Curiously though, they’ve only won three games this season, which is amazing when you consider Wolves, who occupy 19th position have won twice. Still, seven draws and only two defeats tells you they’ve built their success on being difficult to beat, so this promises to be a stern test for Mick and the boys.

Stephen Ward’s injury could open the door for either Elokobi or van Damme to find a place in the starting eleven, whilst injuries to Edwards and Doyle are also being assessed. I’d imagine Doyle will play if he’s got a hand injury as he made it through the second half against Arsenal with the aid of strapping. Edwards probably won’t be risked if he’s carrying a muscle strain.

This is the team I reckon we’ll see:

Hahnemann

Foley
Berra
Stearman
Elokobi

Hunt
Henry
Mancienne
Milijas
Jarvis

Doyle

Prediction League

Well done to Kowloon Wolf for being the only armchair pundit to correctly forecast a 2-0 Arsenal win on Wednesday. Eight other people said we’d lose, but none got the score right.

We need to be looking at a minimum four point return from the next two games, so we really could do with three points tomorrow, in order to lift some of the pressure heading into next weekend’s game at Blackpool.

My head says draw and my heart says a narrow Wolves win.

Providing we don’t make any sloppy errors at the back for a change, I’ll back us to edge this one.

1-0 to the Wolves.

As always, if you’re going to the game, have a great time and lets really get behind the lads. A win tomorrow could kick-start our season.

Up The Wolves.

* Oh, I wanted to mention the ‘Comment League Table’. I was contacted last week by a Wolves Blog regular who wanted me to change how his name appeared in the table, which was really easy for me to do. So if anyone else wants their name changing on there, let me know. Also, I know some people have commented using two different email addresses, which will mean they have two tallys running simultaneously. If that is the case, let me know your two emails and I’ll combine them to give you one overall number. Hope that makes sense.

Trudging away from the Reebok at 5 o’clock yesterday, I’d already come to terms with this painful defeat, which could well cost us dearly come the end of the season.

In fact, about twenty minutes into the second half, I’d realised it wasn’t going to be Wolves’ day. Having hit the inside of the post twice, only to see the ball bounce along the goalmouth and out to safety on both ocassions, it was clear that luck certainly wasn’t on our side.

View from the away end (click to expand)

Matt Jarvis should have equalised after motoring away down the left, cutting inside superbly, but then delaying his shot a second too long with the goal at his mercy. He was actually fouled inside the penalty area prior to getting his effort away, but I wasn’t surprised to see the referee turn away the muted appeals.

The tricky wide man also stung Jussi Jääskeläinen’s hands in the first half, latching onto a flick through and firing in a vicious first time shot, that the Bolton keeper did well to turn around the post.

Just not our day. Luckless in many respects.

But luck had nothing to do with our poor defending.

We generally did well from set pieces, doubling up on Kevin Davies and staying tight on the likes of Knight and Elmander. But in the crucial moments prior to half-time we switched off and got punished.

Guedioura didn’t do enough to stop Lee dancing passed him on the byline, Kevin Foley allowed the Korean to come in too far and when the ball was played across, whoever should have been marking Knight wants shooting.

You have to say it had been coming though.

Craddock and particularly Berra didn’t do well enough to repel the threat of Bolton’s front two, all too often flicking balls on to help their cause rather than heading them away to safety. That allowed them to construct a handful of excellent opportunities, which needed smart saves from Hahnemann and a goal line clearance to keep the scores level.

Berra was poor. There’s no hiding from that fact and he needs to improve if he’s to keep his place in the side. He positions himself well most of the time and is excellent when the crosses are raining in, but he’s just not being strong enough, quick enough or good enough on the ball to cope with the demands of the Premiership. I’ve been his biggest fan at different points of the season, but recently he’s disappointed.

I felt disappointed with Ward, Guedioura and Henry too. There was too much dilly-dallying on the ball from those three, which constantly saw possession surrendered easily.

David Jones seemed the only midfielder capable of getting the ball out of his feet and picking out a proper pass. He was man of the match for me with an excellent all round performance; coming within a hairsbreadth of capping it with that superb free-kick that walloped against the post.

There were other decent showings from the likes of Jarvis, Foley and the evergreen Kevin Doyle, but we just never did quite enough in the crucial moments of the game to come away with a result, which is hugely disappointing.

There wasn’t enough desire to go out and get that goal to put us in the driving seat. It was only when we went behind that we showed a bit of spark, which is just so typical of many of our away performances this season. Then of course, there’s that lack of cutting edge, which is proving crucial when the half-chances do come our way, as there’s nobody out there to strike the killer blow.

That looks like it could cost us.

We’ll need to show more in our other relegation showdowns against Burnley and Portsmouth or we’ll almost certainly be hearing the unmistakable hiss of fizzy pop.

In the meantime, we’ve got Man Utd to look forward to next week.

Goodie!

When we lined up against Bolton back in December, things were looking decidedly bleak for Wolves. But a strong team performance, a sprinkle of Milijas magic and ten minutes or so of gut-churning, backs-to-the-wall defending, secured us three precious Premier League points.

Oh how I long for a similar outcome tomorrow.

What a result that would be.

Wolves defended bravely to see out a 2-1 win at Molineux

And what a time it would be for Wolves to finally throw down a marker and take a giant step towards a second consecutive season of Premiership football. You see we’ve steadily accumulated points throughout the campaign, mainly pulling out results when we’ve absolutely had to, but never really pushing on or doing quite enough to put daylight between ourselves and the dropzone.

Tomorrow is another glaring opportunity to do just that.

Recent performances from both sides suggest there’s every chance of Wolves claiming a famous win. Bolton have lost convincingly on more than one occasion in the last few weeks, shipping goals at one end and failing to register anything at the other. Encouraging signs indeed.

Wolves haven’t exactly been prolific, but the shift to the 4-5-1 shape, the form of Kevin Doyle and the emergence of Adlene Guedioura have given fans a renewed sense of optimism. I would even go as as to say, the majority of supporters genuinely believe we WILL beat Bolton on their home patch.

I just wish I shared their confidence.

This game just gives me an uneasy feeling (which is hardly ideal, as I’m traveling the 90 odd miles to see it). The thought of victory just seems too good to be true, which is perhaps a feeling that’s been cultivated through years of being let down at the crucial moments by my beloved team.

Or am I just being a pessimist? Should I feel bad for thinking that Bolton can’t continue to defend as badly or be as profligate in front of goal? Should I bury my head in shame for thinking that Doyle can’t continue to defy what one player should be capable of doing? Should I beat myself with my mouse mat for thinking ‘this is Wolverhampton Wanderers. We never do things the easy way’?

Time will tell, but I dream of being proved wrong.

Anyway, the formalities. The team picks itself barring disaster:

Hahnemann

Zubar
Craddock
Berra
Ward

Foley
Henry
Jones
Guedioura
Jarvis

Doyle

My prediction is a 1-1 draw, because Wolves are in decent form but I can’t shake the feeling of impending doom, so I’ll sit firmly on the fence.

If you’re going to the game, have a great day out and get behind the lads. It’s a biggun’, so they’ll need the support more than ever.

Up The Wolves.

The walk to Molineux was the same, the pre-match coffee was as bland as ever, and the fumble to find the ticket stub was as awkward as last week.

But for some reason, I just had a feeling that things were going to be different against Bolton on Saturday. And thank God they were!

Milijas - potential realised

Gone was that excruciating, painful rendition of ‘Those Were the Days’ before kick-off, which seemed to set us all off in the wrong mood for our local derby. And back came Stephen Ward and Nenad Milijas to our starting line-up.

Those pair, as much as any other players in an Old Gold shirt, deserve all the praise going for changing the scene around WV1 come 4.55pm. Even the ball boys looked lively, which made a pleasant change.

Let’s hope that our vital 2-1 win over Bolton will banish all those other familiar sights and feelings that we’ve all suffered for the past few weeks and months. I don’t know about you all, but I am still glowing after Chris Foy blowed up for full-time.

I barely remember a win feeling so good! If the same players manage to put in the same kind of performances over the coming weeks until January, then there’s no reason why we won’t all be feeling happy again and looking forward to Match of the Day once or twice. Even if they do put us on at the end!

Our precious three points were earned on the back of something that we haven’t seen at Molineux for ages – an early goal from the home team. If ever a team needed a quick strike to calm nerves and settle the players down, then it was us.

Doyle’s selfless, relentless work won us a free kick, which allowed Milijas to begin an afternoon of torment on the Trotters. His wicked delivery was nodded on by Berra for Craddock to smash home, to the delight of everyone. The fact that the goal was 2 yards offside made it even more joyous.

From then on we hussled and harried Bolton all over the pitch as usual (Brmingham apart). Only this time, we had Milijas to sprinkle some genuine, Premier-class quality on things. How fitting then, that the Serb won us the game with such a memorable goal.

We’ve been banging on about shooting on sight for God knows how long. In Nenad, we surely have the player who will oblige without hesitation. His goal was an absolute joy to behold and I’d have loved to have been a North Banker sat behind it as it swerved and arrowed its way into the top corner.

Nobody can overlook the return of Stephen Ward either. Not only did he bring us balance and intelligence to the left hand side, but he gave us an infectious ethic and enthusiasm, as seen in a brilliant last-gasp interception to keep Bolton at bay. I’m certainly eating my words, and long may that continue.

Dave Edwards also looked far more effective on the right side of midfield than in the centre and fully deserved his ovation when substituted.

Now we just need Mick to stick with this team until the New Year. No tinkering please! It might suffer one or two defeats between now and then, but it will stand a damned sight more chance of picking up one or two other results as well.

Then once January arrives, who knows? If it’s two or three quality players, then we’d all have a feeling that things might be different.

Highlights