BBC WM, as any local football fan can attest, often makes for interesting post-game listening.
Last evening, in the wake of a sixth consecutive win for Wolves, the phone-in was largely dominated by the topic of Birmingham’s second half performance.
In the eyes of the commentary team, though admittedly few of their fans, they had given the league leaders one of their sternest challenges this season.
Couple this with Steve Cotterill’s rather laughable assertion that we were ‘average’ and that ‘without goal line technology, they might have got away with it’ and the picture of a rather chastening night at the office becomes clear.
And yet, the home side didn’t muster a shot on target all evening.
Which begs the question, if this is to be considered one of the more challenging victories of the season so far, then is anyone really capable of landing a punch on this team?
Labels such as ‘the Manchester City of the Championship’ often prove to be more of an albatross around the neck than lasting compliment, but in this case it’s beginning to look fitting.
Like City, Nuno’s ensemble have begun to demonstrate an aptitude for winning in all manner of ways, whether it be in the vein of recent shellacking of Bolton or this more arduous of successes.
This has been irrespective of how the opposition have performed, with few teams actually standing out as being poor thus far.
Despite their inability to pepper John Ruddy’s goal, the Blues were in the ascendancy for much of the second half.
Nonetheless, I never really feared that we’d let the points slip away from us. Tell me, is that overconfidence or acceptance of the reality that we’re simply too good for the majority of teams in this league?
Much has rightly been made this season of our passing ability but what’s equally impressive to me is the ferocious appetite the players show when closing down their challengers, a skill flaunted on numerous occasions last evening.
With Ruben Neves’ enforced absence a glaring feature of our inability to penetrate a resolute (if appallingly over-competitive) home guard, the need to suffocate Blues’ play was more pressing than it likely would have been had our Portuguese maestro not been missing.
And press they did, with potential threats such as Jota and Lukas Jutkiewicz squeezed out of the game almost entirely.
Willy Boly was integral in this respect, turning in a performance as good as any I’ve seen from a Wolves defender past or present.
Though our success to date has been resultant of the efforts of all our players, it’s clear to see who the key individuals are within this current outfit and the gargantuan Frenchman, along with the rejuvenated Connor Coady, is certainly the key cog in our resilient defence.
Also standing out was the unrelenting work rate of our wing backs, a feature of our play that I feel is slightly under appreciated at present.
I shudder to think what training actually entails for Barry Douglas and Matt Doherty, but they’re both fit as fiddles and two of the stand-out performers at present.
It was a more fitful evening for our lauded front three, but some of the play conjured was a marvel to behold with Diogo Jota once again earning the acclaim of pundits in spite of his challengers’ cynical attempts to halt him in his tracks. Whether he stays beyond this season remains a topic for discussion, but it’s been a privilege to watch him play in old gold regardless.
Ultimately, despite Cotterill’s Scooby Doo villain-esque remarks to the contrary, it was another win for Nuno’s promotion chasing juggernaut and, with our perceived counterparts in sky blue chasing a 14th successive win in the Premier League, it’s left to us delirious supporters to ponder when this remarkable run will end.
With basement boys Sunderland in town next, you wouldn’t bet on it being any time soon.
Thought we were playing the peaky blinders at times, N’Diaye needs to take a lesson from the wonderful Jota do not put your head in, use it instead as Jota did – use your chest and await the reaction. Well deserved hard fought win COYW
Steve Cotterill was right, Wolves were average…by their standards.
And yet we scored once, opened Blues up with another free flowing move just before half time and also created the only clear opening of the second half that Helder Costa squandered.
By all accounts Birmingham played to their maximum and John Ruddy was a spectator.
That tells you everything you need to know about the current gulf in quality.
Roberts should have gone for that assault on Jota. The ref warned him moments earlier after another late tackle and he knew exactly what he was doing going through the back of a player that was clearly being targeted.
N’Diaye also should have walked for his antics. Don’t know what he was thinking taking the bait.
6 in a row, 47 points on the board and still not halfway through. Apparently the last team to amass this many points at this stage in the second tier was er…Wolves, in 2008. This group have the potential to maintain the break neck pace longer.
Cotterill does on occasions talk a load of rubbish, but I am trying to give him the benefit of the doubt regarding some of last night’s utterances. Although he did apparently say we were average in last night’s game, he had earlier said that ” I have seen wolves take teams apart this season, they didn’t do that to us” In that respect he is correct and Thomas I agree with you, in comparison with other performances we were average. If not, possibly below average. But just for the record, we could have taken them apart if they had shown anything like the potential to deny us the full points.
I saw a further quote that he felt Blues deserved more out of the game and I of course assume that he is talking about only having one player sent off. He couldn’t possibly be referring to earning a share of the points. In truth not only did they not deserve a share of the points, their contribution to the event questions whether they deserve any of the related tv rights.
As a contest it reminds me of the old joke regarding what did Joe Bugner and Michael Jackson have in common, answer, they both wore gloves for no apparent reason.
Good luck for the future Blues, if a year is a long time in football imagine what two years is going to look like.
Like the rest of us what a ride we are having .Winning in so many different ways .Unless one of the top 5 come for our players I think they will stay next year and if they don’t the profile and elevation ( Neves in the full Portugal squad) will ensure that recruiting top young talent especially from Portugal should still be possible .Happy days .
Cotterill is a one-eyed, weasel faced bellend of the lowest order. An average manager, who can just p*ss off back to the goblin kingdom he came from and take some of those neanderthal, cross eyed, mouth breathing brummie defenders with him
FOWB
Ya don’t like him then, I take it.
He’s not on my Christmas card list, no.
He’s a bloody arrogant annoying shit as well
Brum certainly lived down to their reputation as cloggers and overall dirty bastards last night. How Roberts was still on the field after that tackle only the ref knows. A couple of others could have seen red as well, as should Alf for his stupidity in the second half.
However we continue on our way to the promised land, long may it continue. Sunderland next for the mincer and Swansea in the cup.
Christmas is coming oh how good it is to be a Wolves fan at the moment.
Cotterill has been at Brucies bowl of sour grapes.
What is it with you brummies ? just because you live in the second largest shithole in the country doesn’t mean you have the right to beat a little provincial team from a poor old town like Wolverhampton does it ?
GROW UP BRUMMIES !
Football lesson given.. follow that !!
Yeah , ok we let you have the ball for a bit in the second half because you were getting very nasty and upset about the whole thing, but you even managed to fuck that up and get your little neanderthal, eyes too close together, frothing at the mouth nutter sent off !
Still, thats the type of teams we have to play in the championship so on we go .
Half way through now, all downhill from here, then we can go play proper football with proper teams and proper refs.
Sunderland up next, hmm think i will have a flutter on another 5-1
p.s where were all the bluenoses ? we could have had all those empty seats
Oh the joy
Forget the 5-1 against Bolton, forget the 4-1 against Leeds — this was the type of performance that wins championships!!
We were sublime in the first half and should have had the game won by half time. Roberts a typical Blues ale house footballer should have been sent off for that appalling change on Jota who was clearly targeted and needs more protection from referees. How many more hits is he going to get before he is carried off on a stretcher?
The second half was all about grit and determination clearly typified by the outstanding displays by Boly and Coady which resulted in Ruddy finishing off War and Peace whilst drinking a cup of cocoa by the final whistle. Not having a single save to make during 90 mins of a local derby is quite remarkable and resulted from a fantastic team display. We clearly needed a calm head and someone who could dominate play in the second half but, unfortunately, he was sitting in the stand serving a one match ban —- for me Neves will get an automatic recall on Saturday. The sending off of Dean (another bluenose knuckle scraper) typified their Neanderthal approach and definitely helped in the final minutes but, all in all, a very satisfying night.
10 points clear of 3rd place and Sunderland at home on Saturday – what’s not to like??
OODCL
It should have ended up 10-9 to us!
The referee was nothing if not lenient but I suppose he was at least consistent in his decision making whether we agree with some of them or not.
Diogo Jota reminds me of Captain Scarlet from the 60s Gerry Anderson puppet show.
He’s down… He must be dead….. No! He’s up again as good as new and defeating the evil Mysterons.
Some of the tackles that were going in on him yesterday were certainly X Rated.
The two obvious ones were pretty spectacular and analysed at length by the Sky crew but they ignored the one where he nearly had his face ripped off.
Yesterday was a real “Game of two halves Brian”.
Sublime in the first half – stubborn in the second. Every man did what he had to do – apart from big Alf losing it ,and Costa who tried to do a Cavaleiro and ended up looking a bit silly.
All in all, not too bad for an ‘average’ team.
As far as the crowd were concerned, are Birmingham City ‘supporters’ under a gagging order?
The Wolves fans certainly aren’t.
Great support again.
To all of you lot that were there, I raise my glass.
Captain Black Doog, not Scarlet
😉
…Now I am not so certain, if might have been Scarlet !!
I have had my research team on the subject and it IS Captain Scarlet.
But you had me worried for a moment.
Glad we sorted that! 😉
Nah, you are both wrong. It was Captain Old Gold.
🙂
Of course !
Captain Black worked for the Mysterons and Captain Scarlet worked for the Earth defence force against the Mysterons.
Both could not be killed and Captain Black always had a 5 day beard growth.
First crush on Melody Angel, my god how time flies.
Oh and Cotterill is a bigger wn****er than Warnock.
All a bit after my time. More of a Lone Ranger and Hoppalong Cassington fan myself
🙂
Hoppalong Cassidy! Bloody auto correct!!
David Cassidy fan more like!!!
Whilst we played well in the first half, there were times when we seemed to pass the ball along, and back, to the back 3 too much for my liking. However I could see why they did it as they tried to stretch and make the blues run around like headless chickens.
Second half showed how we can dig deep and take the pressure from the opposition.
No surprise that they tried to kick Jota off the park, they are a bunch of thugs. Thought that Fred was going to get a red card, he was so lucky to stay on the pitch.
So, we can play the beautiful game to suit what the opposition does and overcome them. We are very flexible and varied in our game, which is something that is needed these days.
Onwards & Upwards
🙂
We won move on another 3 points to our impressive points total another clean sheet, first half how comfortable were we, really should of killed them off, Costa trying what cav did didn’t work
Sunderland next hopefully another 3 points it’s the 1 St proper games won run we have had keep it going
Up the wolves
If last night proved anything, it’s that Diogo Jota is a true Wolverhampton man at heart – going out to Brum on your birthday and coming back with a black eye, now THAT is a rite of passage for any Wulfrunian.
The back 3 were solid as a rock yesterday. I wasn’t 100% sold on Bennett until last night – didn’t really put much of a foot wrong, always made his challenges. Boly is a wonderful centre back and I do hope we sign him on a permanent deal – he’s so composed and collected and, of course, nobody wants to mess with him. Conor Coady is as Conor Coady does – when games get down to that state, you need someone like him barking instructions, organising the defence and advocating to the ref in the card situations. All three combined to give John Ruddy the single easiest game of his professional career.
In a way, it was a blessing in disguise that we were without Neves – N’Diaye was relentless, and he’s a real physical centre mid. Partnered with Saiss, it was like watching two burly bodyguards imposing in the centre of the pitch. That central area is an inherent weakness in a 3-4-3 (or 5-2-3, however you see it), but N’Diaye effectively took up enough room and play to count as two midfielders!
Totally agree with your thinking about N’Diaye and Saiss. Saved Neves getting a kicking.
What’s so pleasing and encouraging about last nights victory was how solid and just God Dame Blooded minded the whole team was in defending our lead BUT still willing to attack .
Previous Wolves teams would have let this game slip through there hands but NOT Nuno’s magnificent’s .
Blues were awfull the only thing they had to offere was Thuggery at least Cardiff play abit as well when they came to Molinuex.
Cotterills comments are more to do with covering over HIS and HIS teams lack of skill, ideas and total lack of ability.
Great performance by Wolves-really professional.
Bennett was excellent and for me compliments Coady and Boly well. You need finesse, but also you need a Bennett!
As for the future, the most important signing to keep is Nuno. If you keep Nuno then I trust him to be able to assemble/attract the right players to compete!
OODCL
Pinched this from another site. Lovin it……..
I understand that Ruddy has demanded a meeting with Nuno this morning to discuss his future #wwfc apparently he’s fuming at not being involved in last nights game
Excellent. Just sent that on to one of my Birmingham supporting friends here in Bedford. Not had a reply from him yet! lol
Reply from my Birmingham supporting mate;
Hi Dave,
You guys looked very good first half, excellent movement and very fast on
the break, we were very poor and played like a team with no confidence and
did not have a shot on target all game.
I do believe you will go up and it is probably the best Wolves side I have
seen I just wish we, one day play like you guys did in that first half.
Best we all have a whip round and get him a new deckchair.
Nuno said to Ruddy there’s no garantee he’ll get a game against Suderland….!
This season so far:
P 24 W 18 D 3 L 3
That’s a win rate of 75%
Won more games than anyone else in our league
Scored more goals than anyone else in our league
Got the best goal difference in our league
Got the best home record in our league
Got the best away record in our league
Averaging 2.35 points per game which, if we keep it up, would be a record 108 points
Kept 14 clean sheets
Only team, home or abroad, to stop Man City from scoring a goal
4 points clear of 2nd place
10 points clear of 3rd place
15 points clear of 7th place
Whichever 11 play they just seem to gel and do the same things.
Have I missed anything?
Oh, oh, oh
Ivan Cavaleiro
Oh, oh, oh
Dances round defenders
Oh, oh, oh
Never gives the ball away,
1,2,3,4………………………
Makes braving the sub-zero temperatures and the ice and snow forecast for Wolverhampton this weekend worth it eh?
OODCL
If you have all those stats right, and I’m sure you have, why does Mr Cotterel call us “average”?
Could it be that he is an ungracious twat?
Not a great game and not a great ref. But there were some flashes of us at our unstoppable, free-flowing best and flashes of our opponents brainless brutality. Every game we come through physically unscathed against these numbskulls fills me with relief, but IF we should somehow miss out on promotion, I wouldn’t blame many of our footballers for moving on up without us. They deserve better.
Sunderland up next, and I’ll be heading north to, hopefully, see us return to our sparkling, irrepressible best.
COYW
But how far North are you travelling? I really would like to see you at Sunderland away on Sun 6 May, that would certainly be a good trip mate.
Although it is unlikely, Brompto’, I wouldn’t discount it completely at this stage. However, I’m really looking forward to the day Plymouth Argyle make it to the Premier League, where I can introduce you the delights of Home Park. Could be waiting a little while though.
Get your arse up here mate. You can always stay at our house buddy. I have four bedrooms but there is only the two of us so there will be room.
We’ll see, ole friend. We’ll see.
Very kind offer though. Much appreciated.
Who cares what Cotterel thinks. We won the game easily without getting out of first gear.
Amazing how people think Blues were in the ascendancy second half, but didnt even create a chance?. I think that’s what Nuno has been doing well this season, controlling the tempo of the game when we’re winning. The championship is a marathon not a sprint. If we can beat teams away playing in first gear then great.
Well that was ugly as was to be expected. They set up as 3-4-3 to stop our wing backs getting forward, (which largely succeeded), but it was clear that they hadn’t got a clue how to transition from back to front using that system until Gleeson came on, and even that was sketchy.
The SKY commentator mentioned that he had been told that refs have been instructed to allow a bit more ‘physicality’ in the Championship than in the Prem. When the same commentator mentioned a few weeks back that the standard in the Champ (speed, skills) is now approaching that of the Prem it doesn’t make any sense in my eyes. And we are suffering because of it, looking at the treatment Jota gets each and (almost) every match. Doubt he will stay in the UK if that continues – his career could have been over last night courtesy of Roberts.
Plus points – we won without Neves; didn’t pick up any major injuries; controlled the match despite an anti-football approach from Blues.
Negatives – some of our players need to learn not to react no matter how bad the provocation; we didn’t create many chances.
Glad that one is behind us and hope we can drive a nail into their relegation coffin in the return.
I’m glad N’Diaye did what he did. I wanted him in there to give a physical presence in the midfield and that is what he did.
If he didn’t react the way he did, there was no reason for him to be there.
It sends a message to future opponents that Wolves will not take this nonsense lying down.
Can’t agree with you there Tim because he could so easily have been sent off. The best way to deal with such dickheads is to remind them of the score and tell them that you hope they’ll enjoy league 1 next season because on last night’s performance that’s exactly where the toothless bastards are heading!
Utter tosh. He, and all other players, should never react like that. He can be physical without being stupid. His lost his cool and I hope Nuno reminded him of that.
You make me laugh mate, as you talk a load of bollox at times. I did not expect someone to come on here and condone that sort of thing.
Shame for West Midlands football but given the very limited players in the Blues ranks last night, they are in a bad way relegation fight. Must thank Giofranco Zola and `Arry for creating such a poor squad, the notion that they were in control 2nd half is real fantasy.
Not one shot on target or one save by our keeper says it all. They couldn`t get past our full backs so lumped it forward division four style for our very competent defenders to deal with without any problem.
With only one goal there was always the chance of something going amiss, but it just doesn`t happen this season. Remarkable coach and his remarkable team or squad of players. At least we can look forward to a game of football on Saturday, hope Jota has fully recovered by then.
Nuno knew that blues only score a half a goal a game on average so once we scored it was over , we could win one to a half
No need wasting extra energy
Utw
quote from southbank resistance a must read !
“Jota, what a marvel he is, what a nutter! If he walked into my front room now and did a shit on the rug I would just pick it up and get him to sign it.”
1-0 suits me just fine, 3 points in the bag and not an ounce of them getting a chance of troubling us all game.
Roberts’ yellow should have been red, no doubt. Either I’m really thick or there’s some obscure referees rule that says “you’re not allowed to send off a player until so-and-so minute”? Bollocks to that. Oh, and there was a replay of the situation that did show bluenoses in the stands standing up, clapping in ecstasy and punching the air in awe of Jota being scythed down….stay classy chaps, stay classy!
Rasmin, even the Man City of the Premier League have occasions when they win scrappily against lower opposition. Witness West Ham at the weekend. Witness Wolves in the EFL Cup.
The trick is to get back into top gear for the next fixture.
I was all set to win my 2-0 prediction last night but Helder Costa fluffed his lines. What a miss! Had we continued our first half form I felt goals would come as Birmingham tired, and started chasing shadows, but somehow they found fresh legs and we lost focus and energy. Make no mistake, this was a match we would have dropped points in the past. Of course, we are a completely different team and club these days, these happy days.
Latish last night I put this on what turned out to be almost the end of the preview file. With apologies to all who have seen it I thought I’d also put it on the current file ….. it’s a comment which seems to sum things up nicely and a link to the whole article which is worth a look……
Quote from The Football Lab ….
“Pre-match depictions of Wolves as a ‘balletic’ side that might not handle the cold, hard graft of a December derby have proved at best inaccurate and at worst disrespectful to one of the most complete teams ever to grace the second tier.”
The rest of the article is at ……
http://www.thefootballab.co.uk/2017/birmingham-city-0-1-wolverhampton-wanderers-seven-things-right-result/
Well shoot me down with a feather and tickle my nose with an oily rag. I was at the game last night and I came away delighted, my other half Jen de Wolf thought we struggled in the second half many of my fellow bloggers thought we were poor in the second half.
Well, I thought we were feckin brilliant in the first half, they came out and decided to try and take it to us in the second half (albeit Cardiff style) we controlled this game for 90 minutes, we stifled Blues completely out of the game.
Ruddy had naff all to do but a couple ballet type leaps to catch a ball out of the air floating into his hands like a ballooon. Their players got as good as they gave, one of them all he deserved.
We won, 3 points, we have 47 points so far, 41 goals so far, three Wolves players in the top 10 highest scorers in our league, 6 of this Months players of the Month in the EFL are Wolves players. 14 clean sheets.
If that is shite and last night was poor, just cast your minds back 12 Months to Lame Bert and Canny Jacket and I do believe we are in a far far better place. I do beIieve it’s a case of, we are being overly spoilt with ooodles of great footy and our expectations are through the roof.
WTF’s not to like.
With regards to Cotterills comments, see bellow…… End of.
Nxt time we play blues give Ruddy an Express and Star to read..should of been 3..
Oops we won’t be playing them nxt season..
I’m actually getting used to not being kicked in the crutch on these ‘easier’ games we often used to experience banana skins..
Nxt one another 3 points …we are steaming it even when we don’t play well we get the win..
AND we don’t concede!!
COYW
Well another trip to Small Heath survived and as usual they remain in our shadow. I remember Newcastle at Mol last season. Did a job. Not pretty but fucked off back to the north east with a 1-0 and three points. I happen to think we are better than they were but putting last night in to context it was a professional job. Local derby. Small heath soil. Was always gonna be attritional and that was what it was. Culture club v crazy gang. This time the good guys won and quite comfortably. Cotterill you look like a bog brush and sound like the bloke out of The Wurzells. Now fuck off.
It’s nice to be getting the recognition we so richly deserve. Makes bloody good reading too.
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11688/11151536/sky-bet-championship-stats-xi-of-november-wolves-dominate-team-of-the-month
Just had a good old chuckle at Clotterel’s comments …” the ref got it wrong against Wolves”
Isn’t it amazing how he picks out N’Diaye’s error of judgement following the niggling from Gleeson (ok some refs would have brandished a red) but then …ooops …forget to mention the assaults (twice on Jota by Roberts) and the Harlee Dean slick wrestling throw on Jota …
The common denominator being Jota …. Bluenose thugs out for the evening giving it large on our smallest terrier.
The ref certainly did get it wrong …Roberts was lucky to see the evening out after 20 mins following 2 horrific challenges and Dean …well he’s thick enough to do such a stupid thing … tough.
To cap it all he labels us average … well Clottie … let’s see how many points our clubs accumulate between now and the season end and more importantly which division we both find ourselves next season …. what a Divvy.
Onto the footie as has been noted above …. we’ve got more clean sheets than a Nuns dormitory, more points than the rest and are 10 points clear of 3rd place. …. Bristol c play Sheffield Utd on Friday……could be 12 points come Sat evening.
Can someone check what the record date is of achieving promotion …my guess will be end Feb ….. FOSC
Cotterill must hope not to play an “average” team every week because when they do they are totally out-played. His team of cloggers and thugs masquerading as footballers failed to get a shot on target and only lost 1-0 because their opponents let them off. And because the referee failed in his duty to protect the players who provided the football.
If, as suggested by Sky’s commentators,referees are encouraged to allow more physicality in the Championship, football’s authorities should take a long look at themselves. Last night some tackles amounted to assaults and players livelihoods were put at risk.
Thomas, me old China, your first line in your report has somewhat stolen my thunder.
After watching the lads overcome the sh1t of Birmingham without much effort at all, I switch on the radio and get subjected to such inane twaddle as I’ve heard since The Wolf radio ran their diabolical Moscow state radio broadcasts back in the 90’s.
I mean, what had these people been smoking? Fair play to the brummies, to a man they pretty-much paid homage to our total dominance, cos that’s all it was, so how do these local radio wasters see something so entirely different.
I’ll be honest, it doesn’t take me long to know when I don’t like somebody and I believe the bloke is called Mike Taylor who comments (slyly) on our games, which is why I listen to Signal when we’re away or I can’t get to Molineux: suffice to say, I shan’t be moving the dial.
As for the game, SOP Wolves. Never in doubt, fabulously solid defence, missed Ruby in the middle, forwards did enough to make me sit up a good few times. I fear for Sunderland if Nuno bollocks em like he did from the touchline.
Great result from a great team.
UTW
Years back I tried to listen to Radio WM (aka Radio Birmingham) and stopped listening due to their one sided commentary / reporting.
I even sent a complaint to the Wolves about the commentary when the Wolves dropped the radio commentary and we were forced to listen to radio birmingham.
They could tell you how many players on the pitch used to play for Birmingham City even though it was a Wolves match and how good Aston Villa were.
Well both the birmingham teams are now cr*p so get used to it!!!
Apologies for not mentioning the goalie but how can you appraise somebody’s performance when all he did was pluck a couple of balls out of the air? I mean, come on John, where’s your assist????
Have you noticed that on occasions opposition fans infiltrate this blog but, on this occasion, there has been a complete absence of blue noses. You have to be able to read and write!
None of their cavemen will come on here with any praise. It would be like Joe Root declaring on 353-8 and agreeing a draw. Go on Joe lad. Smash the fucking Aussies!
And you have to have some modicum of an argument…..
Nuff said
Latest from E&S Nuno cannot give Ruddy any guarantee he’ll get a game against Sunderland….!
Well to be fair, in the case of Wolves it may have been a case of half full and half empty. In Birmingham’s case both halves were empty. ?
I actually took Cotterill’s comments as a back-handed compliment. I mean if we played average and beat them in their own home in front of their owner and fans without even a sniff of goal, what would we have done to them if we actually turned it on! He should be thanking his lucky stars he got off lightly. The best tactic he could deploy was to have his team kick the crap out of our players. Is it really any wonder then anymore as to why we weren’t our best in the 2nd half? Our players were black and blue from the kicking they got in the first half!
Tell you what, let’s ask any brummie fan whether they’d rather have our average team or their crop of kicking psychos. About as hard as choosing puppies or snakes.
Enough about them. I want to talk about Boly. I know we wax lyrical about Neves and Jota and Cav, and rightly so, but for me Boly should be held in similar esteem. I’m not just talking about his physical presence, which of course is there, but his composure and skills. Did you see him yesterday, deftly and skillfully weaving his way through the brummie players, cool as a cucumber under pressure? I was impressed. Most other defenders would have tried to hoof it to row Z, but not our Willie, who calmly robbed them of the ball and guided it accurately to our midfield to counter. Boom! What a player.
3 points. You gotta be happy. 10 points clear of the playoffs, from the top end for a change.
Long live Fosun, long live Nuno and long live the Wolves resurgence.
Go Wolves!
Got to agree about Boly, GoWolves. He’s rapidly becoming one of my favourite current Wolves players, which is some going for a centre back when you look at the others in our squad. Super player!!
To be fair I thought Birmingham played well on a no when wolves were poor . It’s funny when you watch a game and you see a different game to everyone else . I know we’ve been spoilt watching Ruben Neves, and had Ndaie been a wolves player 12 to 18 months ago , he would have been a star for us , on that performance, he wasn’t good enough for the present wolves team . His distribution was poor , most of the balls he played were behind the play which lost the possession and invited Birmingham . Although I did think that apart from some of the awful challenges on Jota
Blues did well . Nice to see Gleeson still having a good go in the championship and for all the crap that comes out of Cotterills chops , his teams are usually well organised. For the sake of midlands football I wouldn’t like bled to go down , it would take them years to come back .
All joshing aside, I’m with you there mate.
The Premier League needs Blouse, Veeela and the sandwell bottom feeders so we can have a few proper derbies against them.
…And pick up some easy points as well of course.
Well I hope they go down and down and don’t come back. The only half decent thing about Small Heath is the curry houses and even some of those are decidedly dodgy.
Blues not bled . Stupid fucking text shit
I see that 6 Wolves players are in the championship team of November. Not bad for an average side Mr Cotterill. It also puts our November jinx, hoodoo, call it what you will, well and truly to bed.
I’d like to nominate Stevie Wonder Cotterill for plonker of the month. I haven’t heard such rubbish since Warnock last opened his gob. Without goal line technology Cotterill reckons they would have got away with the goal. Dean Saunders can’t hold a candle to this imbecile.
What a beautiful day.
What a beautiful day for going up to Gary Barlow, giving him a right whack round the ear and shouting ‘take that!’.
OODCL
It’s always a beautiful day for doing that.
And bloody Robbie Williams!
You don’t like Robbie? Oh that’s right I remember now you don’t like Robbie or straight lines so (wait for it, wait for it) you must be loving angles instead. I hope you read my post in your best Ken Dodd accent by the way!
I certainly did.
And I pictured you with your tickling stick grasped firmly in one hand!
I liked Williams. Especially in Mork and Mindy
Some of his country music hits were pretty good.
His two sisters are pretty niffty at tennis too.
So wanting to see us play live in this ‘ so far’ brilliant season , and hearing that my brother is visiting from cypress, I decided to leave my family after new year celebrations in Singapore to get back for a couple of games, it only cost a gazzillion $$ ( feckin airline blockout periods) so preying for a home game in the cup was granted, ( don’t dare change the Swansea game to Friday wolves as I fly in that afternoon) the only other game is Barnsley away, does anybody know through past experience the kind of number of tickets we are likely to receive and the likelihood of getting a couple if you’re not a season ticket holder?
According to the Football Ground Giuide the away fans are put into one side of the east stand, with a normal allocation of 2000.
If demand is required they could allocate the whole of the stand which holds 6000. Hope this helps
Can’t we start another MK campaign?
6K to Baaaarnsley!!
Cheers loaves , sounds promising
We can get you tickets easily if your’e coming all that way, just keep us posted and we will see you right.
You’re a top man Stu….
Dough think others blogs could match this one!
Respectfa
Lowves that should be!!
Having failed to get a ticket for St Andrews I rang their hospitality department.
“Yes we have room in the Jasper Carrot suite” a guy told me “4 course meal, tour of the shed (ground), car parking spot etc”.
“How much?”
“£175 plus VAT per person” He said.
“Bloody hell that’s £210” I mused aloud – Jasper Carrot is not the only comedian associated with Birmingham City I thought.
“HOW much” I asked incredulously – adding on transport costs from Bedford the game is heading towards £240.
“WHAT” came a voice from the kitchen – my wife earwigging my conversation. “You must be out of your tiny mind”.
“Any cheaper options” I enquired.
“Yes we have a package for £95 + VAT. Basket meal (I think he said) seats in the home areas”
(Why don’t they just say £114 per person instead of this “plus VAT” crap).
In 2009 I remember taking this option with Corus Steel and it was distinctly unpleasant as – plus Wolves lost 2-0.
“How much” came from the kitchen again “crackers”.
“Thanks very much” I said “but I only want to watch the Wolves and I don’t give a toss about meals etc. It is far too expensive”.
Watching the game on Sky I could not believe the empty seats, especially to the left of the Wolves supporters in the Gil Merrick stand. Over 11,000 seats were empty in total around the ground.
Is it beyond the wit of officials/local plod to allocate the whole end to away fans for this particular fixture – especially as Birmingham knew weeks in advance Wolves had sold out and their tickets sales were putrid? Maybe I expect too much.
Anyway it was wonderful to beat them – Birmingham City have lost more league games to Wolves than any other club apparently.
Two more points – Cotterill is a blithering idiot and Roberts resembled a deranged rabid dog.
Nice to see a “Premier” referee taking strict and immediate action – not.
Our front room was jumping about with alcohol flowing so it all ended ok and I did not have to dodge the bricks for a change.
See you Saturday bloggers – aint it just great guys!
BOG
Better tha great Bedders, its bloodyfantastic. See you Saturday, I’ll save you a place at the bar.
Roll on Saturday, wishing my life away, come on !!!!
Normally these days if you phone St Andrew’s to check what time the game is, they ask, what time can you get here?
I have a feeling we will be two divisions apart next season. It is self-inflicted by the Blues, just as we self-harmed in our double relegation. Stevie Wonder Cotterill is their version of Dean Saunders.
Cheers stu , will do
Thinking about how relentlessly Jota is getting clobbered by brutal defenders, it’s made me think how he has escaped serious injury thus far. My conclusion is that he is just so quick and well-coordinated that he somehow rides with the assault, as a judo expert does. In fact, I’ve been more worried about Nuno when these fouls happen — he does his pieces, understandably, but I wonder what a heart rate monitor would be reading at such times!
And there is a wider point….we’ve so far been generally pretty well unscathed regarding injuries (just hope I’m not speaking too soon). My guess here is that the whole team is astoundingly well physically conditioned. Added to which there are others besides Jota with the physical gifts/footballing skills to get out of trouble when attacked, Neves being another prime example.
I also like how when the team comes out for the second half, they do some vigorous, if brief, warming-up.
While on fitness, does anyone else think that perhaps Costa isn’t in prime shape physically and this is why he is not yet turning it on as before ? I know this somewhat contradicts my earlier point about the whole team’s conditioning but maybe it’s a function in his case of such limited game time.
Chris Martin?
Lewis Grabban?
Dwight Gayle?
Surely if you have bought your Christmas presents in Harrods and will dine on Christmas fayre from Fortnum & Masons you don’t to be washing it all down as you toast Her Majesty on Christmas Day with cheap plonk from Nisa.
OODCL
Excellent point Bedford, if I read you right.
After revoking my ill thoight Jorge (the goat of) Mendes moniker for the erstwhile Super-agent, I am MORE than content to leave the talent spotting to him.
I am quite happy these days to just sit back and enjoy the goodies he brings forth, as opposed to Morgan/moxey who’d have supplied us with three middle aged blokes on a 3 wheel tandem.
UTW
Bedders,
NISA? I day no it was that posh in Bedford
Posh? It most certainly is young sir. Even the hordes of Eastern European prostitutes that hang around the street corners always send a note the next day saying “thank you for having me”. So I’ve heard anyway. Obviously I don’t frequent such places myself. No honestly I don’t. Really. Why did I start this……………?
I know it’s already been covered, but still tastes bloody good after all the negativity in the press towards us of late.
Vincent Aboubakar (Porto), Tiquinho Soares (Porto), Nicolai Jorgensen (Feyenoord) and Anderson Talisca (Besiktas) have all been linked with Wolves these past 12 or so months.
Tonight all four of them scored in the Champions League.
Maybe – just maybe – in 2 years time they might be scoring in the Champions League for Wolves!
OODCL
It looks like the first of these is unlikely to join us, if a tweet from Portuguese journalist Jan Hagen is to be believed. He quotes Aboubakar as saying: “I didn’t want to be loaned out[last season]. It was a shock and I didn’t want to return to Porto as long as the manager[Nuno E. Santo] was there. He left and Sérgio Conceição arrived and convinced me to give my best for Porto, help them become champions.”
Hmmmm ok then i’ll just take Soares, Jorgensen and Talisca then and make do. Lol
I’d rather have Chris Martin. At least he can play when it gets cold.
Hahaha, very good young sir. But would it be paradise?
And don’t say our shirts are yellow.
Oh bugger, I was just doing a reply along almost identical ‘yellow’ lines but got distracted and now you beat me to it! Lol. Maybe see you Saturday in the NBB – weather permitting as I see snow is still forecast for Wolverhampton on Friday and Saturday!
Yeah. T’will be a bit nippy in the back of the van methinks. But will deffo be there.
I actually hate bloody Coldplay, so I’ll run out of songs long before you.
Me too Bedders. Hopefully catch you in NBB on Saturday.
I should be around too, Exiled. See ya then.
Look forward to it! My train gets into a Wolverhampton around 13:50, so it’s a question of dropping my stuff off at the Novotel and hot footing it over to the NBB.
Steve Cotterill – you must be shittin yoursen as your bosses ay gonna accept you spouting your bolox for too long.
You really think you deserved sumat art that game? Really? Then you’re a bell-wiper.
“Cold Tuesday away game in December” well tickle my tits till Friday – nuff said.
Also a special mention for Leo Bonetini, he’s probs one of the best all round no 9’s we’ve had for a long long time. We won on Tuesday because of his goal (I lurv goal line teckers) PLUS his ability to defend when needed, to hold the ball when needed & finish when he wants.
This team is a real TEAM we defend, attack & win together. Feline Wolves Ay Fekin We
COMB
FOwb
FOsc
Feline? Fekin Feline! I Fekin 8 preductive text ?
Turn it off then.
Any of you out of towners intending coming up to the Ipshite game on the 23rd, there are about 100 tickets left in the whole ground, so if your’e planning to come fingers out guys and gals.
Thanks for the heads up Stu. I have invested in a season ticket for the second half of the season which kicks in on 23rd so am sorted. Three mates who are coming with me had to settle for seats in the lower Steve Bull. Big crowd so going to be cracking atmosphere. Drinks in The Great Western by the station then on to the Molineaux. What a way to start Christmas.
How far we’ve come.
Cavalerio wins player of the Month.
Nuno wins Sky Bet Manager of the Month.
Six players in team of the week.
Previously we would have gone, oh no, kiss of death. Now it’s a well deserved accolade for hard work and professionalism.
Welcome to the bigtime Wolves fans.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Walked up to work this morning in DY5 and would say 4/5cm snow down. Stopped snowing now but forecast for frequent snow showers rest of today. For those travelling up keep your eye out for disruption etc.