Well done Wolves.

A good performance, a fantastic result and a wonderful way to end a long week.

Today’s match was never about gaining vindication for Mick McCarthy, despite what many have suggested. It was simply about getting another win to help us climb the table and in doing so, take another big step in the right direction.

Wolves players end the week on a big high

For what it’s worth, I really don’t think Wolves won this match because our team were given the night off on Tuesday. I think we won it because we matched Burnley all over the pitch and had more cutting edge in the final third.

And much of that superior cutting edge owed a lot to our brilliant front two.

I can’t find enough words to heap adequate praise on Kevin Doyle. He’s quite simply first class. I mean, what more could you possibly want from a striker? He holds the ball up, runs the channels and always uses the ball cleverly. And on days like today, when he caps his performance with a fine goal, he looks every bit a £6.5 million player, if not better.

Of course, SEB is finding goals significantly harder to come by. He came close today a few times, most notably with a point-blank header that Jensen did well to palm away. But when a striker’s not wracking up the goals, the very least you demand is a performance and in that respect, our number 9 didn’t disapoint. He held the ball up superbly, bullying and battering the Burnley defenders all afternoon. He was involved with most of our best attacks and the signs of a blossoming partnership with Doyle are certainly there for all to see.

Another big plus was the continued rise to prominence of Nenad Milijas. His set-piece delivery wasn’t quite as pinpoint as it has been, but his influence on this Wolves side remains immense. I really like how he’s going about his business, positioning himself well and picking his moments to crunch into tackles or find a clever pass. I can’t even remember him getting inside the penalty area once in his whole Wolves career to date, yet there he was, perfectly placed to stroke home when Jensen could only parry Matt Jarvis’s low shot.

Good to see Kev Foley back in the side as well. He was quietly effective throughout and seemed at relative ease, sitting just infront of Stearman and linking up play. Long term, I still expect him to regain his place in defence, but he’s got a job on his hands to unseat Stearman anytime soon, especially after another cleansheet.

I’d also like to single out Hahnemann for some praise. I wasn’t particularly happy to see him force Hennessy out of the side, but I’m eating humble pie now, because the experienced American has been a revelation. I don’t think he’s a world class goalkeeper, but he seems to do the simple things very well and get the back four organised. I think we needed that.

But everyone did well today I thought. Craddock and Berra won nearly everything in the air and were generally solid throughout, Ward continues to look at home as a Premiership left-back, Henry battled to the death (does he have 5 bookings yet?!), Jarvis drove us forward with his pace and trickery and even Mancienne impressed in his make-shift holding midfield role.

So all in all, a good day’s work.

It wasn’t always convincing and it wasn’t always pretty, but Wolves got the job done.

And after five days of stupidly negative press and an awful lot of criticism (some justified and some completely ridiculous) I think that will do for Mick McCarthy.

It will certainly do for me.

Mick McCarthy Interview

Like most Wolves fans, I’m sick to my back teeth of hearing about Mick McCarthy’s team selection on Tuesday. Our fans and our fans only have the right to be annoyed, upset, angry or completely unfazed by what our manager does or doesn’t do. As far as I’m concerned, everyone else, including the Premier League itself, can sling their hook.

It’s now time to move forward and end the week on a massive high by beating Burnley at Molineux on Sunday.

Surman - first Molineux start?

That in itself will be a big challenge. Owen Coyle’s side have enjoyed a great start to the season, picking up points and admirers along the way with their fearless spirit and attractive style of play. They’ll travel south on Sunday looking for their first away win and believe they have every chance of getting it.

And why shouldn’t they?

Wolves have a poor home record this season and the amount of negative coverage we’ve received this week has almost certainly turned up the heat on our young side. Conversely, Burnley come into the match on the back of a brilliant performance against Arsenal, a match by all accounts, they should have taken three points from. Confidence should be high in their camp and they probably don’t have the same pressure to deal with, which gives them a slight advantage.

It’s imperative that Wolves come out of the blocks quickly. We need to get on the front foot, dictate the play and get that oh-so important first goal. We don’t want to give Burnley the impetus or something to hang onto because I don’t think we’re particularly good at chasing a game.

The lineup should be identical to the Spurs match, apart from the one enforced change due to Dave Edwards injury. I expect this team:

Hahnemann

Stearman
Craddock
Berra
Ward

Surman
Henry
Milijas
Jarvis

Doyle
SEB

I think it’s a toss-up between Surman and Foley to play in the midfield, so it will be interesting to see what Mick does there. Surman probably gives us more going forward, but Foley is more of a like-for-like swap with Edwards.

Winning this match will shoot us up a few places in the table and what a tonic that would be after looking like a side consigned to the bottom three, following the loss to Blues. I think it’s funny how everyone seems to be saying Burnley have done great (which they have) but Wolves have been poor, yet three points would almost certainly take us above them on goal difference. Stupid really.

I’m being optimistic this week and going for a 3-1 home win.

I’m backing Wolves, I’m backing Mick McCarthy and I’m backing Molineux to erupt on Sunday to help the team get the result we all want.

If you’re going to the match, have a great time and roar the lads on. The support has been phenomenal this season and I don’t expect this match to be any different, despite the events of the last three or four days.

Up The Wolves.

* One little thing. Can I encourage you all to subscribe to the Wolves Blog email alert. It’s in the sidebar at the top right of the page. A few of you have already done so and it’s a great way for me to let you all know when new posts have been added to the blog. Thanks again for your continued support.