Wolves Blog regular Adam Bate returns for the first time this season with a tactical analysis of Sunday’s win over Fulham.

Johnson to the Rescue

The signing of Roger Johnson has obviously excited Wolves fans. It seems too much to dare to hope that one man can transform last season’s 17th leakiest Premier League defence into a formidable unit. However, he’s made a positive start and he’s done so by doing the things that earned him such praise at Birmingham City – tackling, blocking and intercepting. Johnson managed more successful interceptions than any other player on the pitch on Sunday.

Henry Still Important

The dirty Wolves tag is one that haunted Mick McCarthy and his side for much of the 2010-11 campaign and, for many, Karl Henry personified all that was wrong with that team. The player himself was clearly affected by the controversy but he has begun this season in encouraging form by doing what he does best – tracking runners, pressing the ball and making interceptions.

Henry intercepted the ball high up the field on five occasions on Sunday. Astonishingly, this was four morethan the entire Fulham team combined. Jol’s side preferred to sit back before pressing the ball but only succeeded in inviting Wolves onto them. The contrast between Henry and one of his chief detractors, Danny Murphy, was stark. The Fulham captain did not attempt let alone succeed in making a tackle in the entire contest.

Stearman’s Role

The inclusion of Richard Stearman at right-back was arguably the most controversial selection at the start of the season. Kevin Foley remains a firm favourite and Ronald Zubar has become a cult hero. In particular, the case for Foley’s recall was enhanced by an assured second half performance at Ewood Park during which the Irishman completed more passes than any other Wolves player.

However, Mick McCarthy has expressed concerns about the size of his midfield and clearly favours Stearman’s height in the back line. Although it was Stephen Ward who made the most high profile interception of the day, Stearman actually made five to Ward’s spectacular one and it was noticeable that he frequently tucked in and won key headers at the far post. Indeed, the heat maps show the contrasting roles that the two full-backs had on Sunday.

Stearman had a higher percentage of the ball than Ward in every equivalent zone within Wolves’ half, while the attacking left-back enjoyed an astonishing 51% of his possession in the opposition’s half. Foley may be the ball player but that is not currently the role that McCarthy is looking from his right-back.

Shoot, Shoot, Shoot

Wolves’ shoot on sight policy may have veered into the self-indulgent in the second half, with some fairly ambitious efforts, but Jamie O’Hara and Stephen Hunt in particular have added a goal threat from midfield. The twenty shots attempted against Fulham were more than Wolves had managed in any home game last season.

Left is Right for Jarvis… not Hunt

Inverted wingers have been de rigueur for several seasons now and Mick McCarthy seems to finally be embracing the trend. Although Matt Jarvis provided the assist for Steven Fletcher against Blackburn with an orthodox cross from the right byline, McCarthy saw enough at Ewood Park to decide to utilise Jarvis and Stephen Hunt on the opposite flanks from the outset against Fulham.

He got his reward as both wingers cut inside onto their stronger foot to help set up the goals – with Jarvis even coming inside to fire home for the second. While Jarvis has long enjoyed more success on the left-wing, there had been some debate as to Hunt’s preferred flank but playing from the right appears to allow the busy Irishman greater options with the ball at his feet. Lacking Jarvis’ electric pace, Hunt is less focussed on getting to the byline and more keen to drift around in search of space.

This is borne out by the heatmaps that indicate Hunt enjoyed 25% of his possession in central areas compared to Jarvis’s 12%. As with the full-backs, McCarthy appears less concerned with symmetry – instead keen to allow the players to play to their strengths.

Don’t forget to check out Adam’s excellent blog Ghost Goal.

If you enjoy looking into detailed match reports, and enjoy betting on the outcomes, on future trends, but don’t know the odds, then why not check out a betting calculator.

We’ve once again been invited into the weird and wonderful world of Matt Warrilow. Here he talks about his experiences taking in yesterday’s match against Fulham, in Fulham.

As you won’t know…or in fact care, I am a Wolves fan based down in The Big Smoke.

The land of cockles and muscles, apples and pears and Danny f**king Dyer has treated me well since I moved south.

The only down side of this is due to added expenses, as well as a habit for spending all my hard-earned money on beer and chicken, I have to contend with watching our games in my bed, armed to the teeth with ginger beer, shouting rubbish insults at my laptop.

However, on Sunday, I got the chance to venture to lands new and far.

Someplace warm. A place where the beer flows like wine. Where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. I’m talking about a little place, called Fulham (Thanks Dumb and Dumber for that line).

Yes, I decided to go to a pub, in Fulham, where it is likely I would the only Wolves fan in the place. (I’d like to note that I also hadn’t…HADN’T been drinking when I made this decision)

I took my good friend Jason ‘I just support football’ Jones, along for the trip. After all, if I got lost in the wilderness of Fulham and had to stay alive, I’m definitely not going to eat my own arm!

Armed with our Tesco-reduced sandwiches, we entered the pub. Walking past the hat and tails bankers, sitting in the leather chairs, smoking their pipes and reading their copies of the Financial Times, we found a spot at the back.

What proceeded to occur over the next two hours shook their society as they knew it.

Their world was crumbling, and all because of 11 guys, half of them Irish, wearing gold, who were obviously pumped up, but not in the way Danny Murphy likes to talk about.

They kept on looking at their pocket watches, both hands spinning backwards at a furious speed. The fruit in their pools of Pimms quickly dissolving, turning their fair ponds into a mould infested stink bath.

The most professional and positive performance I had seen from us in so long time was met by a collection of sighs, which turned into shouts and screams, and was followed by men choking on oysters and gold infused champagne.

And there I was, sat there, in my shorts and my trainers which are battered having been in both an ocean in Spain and the canal in London, smiling like I’d just stolen their Waitrose priority card.

The looks on their faces behind their monocles said so much. They were seeing a team, who they thought they should at least pick up a draw from pass them off the park, create countless more chances and defend against them like a wall made of George Elokobi’s chest.

Fulham couldn’t be more miserable. I couldn’t be happier.

And for some reason, whenever I am really, really happy…I start singing…Do The Conga.

It’s an awful habit, one that I’ve tried to seek help for, but at that moment in time, I would gladly have done the Conga in a leper colony.

So we left the pub, with a skip in my step, and a conga in my head back to normal civilisation.

‘Back to Central London my good man’ I instructed the taxi driver.

He looked at the smile on my face, then down at my trainers, and then back at me.

‘F*ck you and your crap f*cking trainers, you Wolves supporting bastard’

And that, ladies and gentleman, was Fulham.

Follow Matt on Twitter (@mwarrilow) and don’t forget to check out his blog Bloody Ear Worms.

Wolves head into Sunday’s Molineux curtain-raiser against Fulham knowing they have the opportunity to achieve something at the first attempt that took them 37 games last season – back to back wins.

Fletch's goal wasn't enough to get the win last season

Following the encouraging victory at Ewood Park, a home match against Martin Jol’s side must be seen as another great chance to put points on the board early doors.

Fulham are difficult side to beat, particularly on their own ground, but have never really been a significant force away from Craven Cottage.

They registered just 3 wins on their travels last season, the same as a Wolves side who had the second worst away record in the league.

They did however pick up 9 draws, which suggests they’re more than capable of digging in and making life difficult for the home side, something we know from experience following the 1-1 draw at Molineux in April.

Steven Fletcher gave Wolves the lead just prior to half-time in that match, but after Andy Johnson equalised with ten minutes to go, we were lucky to hold on for a point.

Much better is expected from Mick and the boys this time around.

The Team

I’d like to see us really go after Fulham in this match and playing 442, there’s certainly no reason we can’t do that. I’m expecting to see one change from the side that started at Ewood Park, with Kevin Foley coming in for Richard Stearman at full-back.

Hennessey, Foley, Berra, Johnson, Ward, Henry, O'Hara, Hunt, Jarvis, Doyle, Fletcher

I was hugely impressed with the way Wolves played in the second half against Blackburn. Both wide players had a major impact on the game and Hunt in particular really caught the eye with some clever touches and driving runs in-field.

The threat posed by those two players, along with O’Hara, Fletcher and Doyle was significant and looking at that eleven, creating chances and scoring goals shouldn’t really be a problem.

We’ll look to Roger Johnson to shackle the physical presence of Bobby Zamora and if we can prevent the big striker from holding the ball up, it should give us the ideal platform to go on the attack ourselves.

Prediction League

Thanks to everyone who took part in the opening day Prediction League. We had record numbers participating, which was wonderful to see. But if you missed out last week, it’s certainly not too late to join in the fun.

29 people correctly predicted Wolves would win and 15 of those got the score spot on too, picking up the maximum 3 points on offer. Well done to Erick Wolf, Hudds Wolf, Chad, Andrew N, Irish Wolf, dboy, Paul Foz, Hamlet, sleachy, Sam 2.0, Tipsy McStagger, Yoda, supersenna, CrazyPete and (of course) me, for setting the early pace.

This weekend I’ll once again back Wolves for the win.

There’s absolutely no reason to believe we can’t get the job done at home to Fulham and I think we will pick up those all important back-to-back wins.

Again, I think we’ll score a few but concede.

A hugely optimistic 3-1 to Wolves.

If you’re at Molineux on Sunday, lets really get behind the lads. Obviously this is the first and hopefully last home game of the season where supporters will be in just three of the stands, so we need to compensate for that.

Up The Wolves.

This week we welcome Kristian from Fulham blog, Cottagers Confidential to the Wolves Blog Guest House for a friendly chat ahead of this Sunday’s match.

Thomas: Kristian, welcome. What can I get you to drink?

Kristian: Has to be a Budweiser for me.

Thomas: Not my favourite lager I must admit, although I think we have a bottle back here somewhere. Anyway, down to business, there was a lot of bad blood between Wolves and Fulham last season, which seemed to center on the Karl Henry tackle that injured Bobby Zamora. What was your opinion on that tackle and the game in general at Craven Cottage?

Zamora was a casualty in a feisty game at Craven Cottage last season

Kristian: When you’re at the game and you’re not offered the devine retrospective view of a replay, the tackle looked quite damning and the subsequent amount of time that Zamora had to spend on the floor certainly angered us fans in the Hammy End. We weren’t aware of how serious the injury was but we knew the tackle was closer to brutal than decent on the spectrum of generosity.

Saying that, upon a second watching, there is clearly no intent from Henry and I think we’ve all accepted that. Zamora did so immediately and the fans came round soon after – me included. The game itself was scrappy but it was still tense and had all the elements you’d expect from a Premier League game.

I think, no matter how fancifully the game is dressed up, however, Fulham fans aren’t going to look particularly favourably upon Mick McCarthy’s tactics. I, myself, believe you gave us a decent game and injuries like that are part and parcel of being a football. My grudge wore off after a week or two.

Thomas: Since the end of last season, Mark Hughes has left and Martin Jol has taken over. Were you disappointed to see Hughes depart and what’s your opinion of Jol?

Kristian: There was certainly a pinch of disappointment when I heard the news, but all the rumours that surrounded the departure allowed my sentimental feelings to be quashed. There is no denying the capable job he did with us and there is much to thank him for – not least Moussa Dembele – but the treatment he eventually showed us was nothing short of contemptuous.

If you could have told us Jol was going to be his immediate replacement, though, I doubt I’d worry too much at all about what was left behind. Clearly the Dutchman has the necessary experience and knowhow when it comes to Premier League management, and we should be delighted to pull in a manager of his pedigree. Add his English background to the roles he has recently played abroad and you have yourselves a man who shouldn’t fail to succeed. If that makes sense?

Thomas: Indeed. Although I think it’s a shame Hughes walked because he looked to be building a very good side there towards the end of last season. You drew 0-0 with Villa last weekend. Were you satisfied with this result or do you think Fulham deserved all three points?

No goals at Craven Cottage on opening day

Kristian: I wouldn’t say I’m satisfied but the draw was just deserts for some lackluster finishing. Arguably, we would have won had Andy Johnson been sharper and Shay Given been less so. Etuhu looked destitute from the outset and having the lack of vision and movement in the centre of the park was always going to hinder our progress going forward.

I’d say, all things considered, we had ahold of the game but Villa were resilient to the end. A draw isn’t a bad result against a side who are rejuvinated and reinvigorated under McLeish, it’s just an irritatingly common one.

Thomas: What constitutes success for Fulham this season?

Kristian: As always with mid-table sides, avoiding relegation is the simplest of benchmarks to follow. Since Hodgson and Hughes’ rebuilding job, though, we can perhaps begin to aim higher and anywhere above 12th place in the League would be an achievement and, as you say, a success.

Normally that’d be considered pretty average but we will be fighting on a European front once again so the squad will be stretched. What would prove an ultimate success, though, would be some form of silverware. It’s a lot to ask but a decent run in Europe can lead to bigger and better things – we should know – and the Carling Cup, on evidence, isn’t too difficult to conquer if you put some genuine passion into it. Who knows? A cup and mid table would be just dandy.

Thomas: Yes, I’m hoping for a cup-run from Wolves this season too. Who do you see as your most important players?

Kristian: There is no doubt in that our tight defence has proven to be the base upon which our recent progress has been built. Brede Hangeland and Aaron Hughes, despite their recent centre back break up, are nigh-on inpenetrable when at their best and have an understanding that only experience together can produce.

Hodgson set them up astutely with his tactical nous, and Mark Hughes was never going to mess around with their consistency. Martin Jol is seemingly different and is prepared to tweak, with him starting Phillipe Senderos alongside Hangeland against Aston Villa, but I’m sure his adaptions will be minimal.

Thomas: Senderos always seemed a bit of a liability to me at Arsenal. I’ll be interested to see how he does on Sunday. Switching tracks, what do you make of Wolves as a club?

Kristian: Wolves are certainly aspirational and under McCarthy you are bound to make sufficient progress. Staying up will probably be your main aim for now, but after avoiding second season syndrome, things look far brighter for you. Your opening day win could well provide the basis for a good season, and I’m not one to deny you any success. I wish you the best of luck with the coming term.

Thomas: Very nice of you. So what’s your opinion of our manager?

Not everyone's cup of tea

Kristian: He’s a good manager, undoubtedly, and his football knowledge is astoundingly extensive, but that’ll never stop me from disliking him. In all honesty, I’m quite selective about which gaffers I like and you guys shouldn’t take it personally – even the effervescent Ian Holloway irritated me to a cosmic degree last year. McCarthy strikes me as a man who is confident in his own abilities, which is of course respectable in itself, but it borderlines arrogance on occasion. I’d talk to him on the bus but you won’t find me scouring eBay for his autograph I’m afraid.

Thomas: Holloway got my back up last season too, so you’re certainly not alone in that respect. Mick is a love him or hate him kind of manager so your estimation doesn’t surprise me a great deal. Which of our players do you rate?

Kristian: Jamie O’Hara is definitely a man on your books who I’d have in our first team in a heartbeat. They may have been purely rumours, but we’ve been linked with him on numerous occasions, much to our delight, as I think it’s accepted amongst our own that O’Hara would be the thinking man’s replacement for the ever-ageing Danny Murphy. That’s not to say he wouldn’t get in our first team already, as he’s probably one of the best midfielders around in the lower echelons of the Premier League.

Thomas: I’d agree with that. Admittedly when we were linked with him I never thought in a million years he’d fancy a move to the Midlands, but he’s really embraced it. A wonderful player who fits perfectly into our team. Where do you think we’ll finish this season?

Kristian: With the experience you now have you should be avoiding relegation, but, as always in the Premier League, it will be no easy feat. Players like the aforementioned O’Hara can handle the league well and McCarthy knows what he’s doing. I’d say 15th.

Thomas: And finally, what’s your prediction for Sunday’s match?

We’re notorious for not being the best travelers around, but then again, that is something Jol is definitely looking to change. My heart says we can grab a 1-0 win but my head says a 1-1 draw is more realistic. We like drawing.

Thomas: Thanks for chatting with us Kristian. Come back anytime and good luck for the season (after Sunday).