I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t see any way back against Chelsea.
Slumped in my chair, I thought about Jota, Doherty, Jimenez, Moutinho, Jonny and those glory days from just a few months previous that already feel a lifetime ago.
With Dendoncker hobbling off at half-time and Adama still oiling up on the bench, we’d dismantled the team that had made us such an effective outfit.
How could we even entertain the idea of beating Chelsea?
But then Otasowie shone, Podence sparkled, Neto just kept on bloody running and the world was suddenly a better place.
Maybe with a bit of time and a few of those players back from injury, new Wolves can be just as good or dare I say it, even better?
That view seems to change on an almost game-by-game basis at present, such is the compacted nature of the Premier League table.
Burnley
I still can’t work out how Villa didn’t beat Burnley last night. Sean Dyche’s boys had some good moments of their own but in reality, it was only poor finishing that allowed them to escape with a point.
Still, that was enough to lift them out of the bottom three in what looks like a 50/50 shot at survival heading into Christmas.
I don’t think they’ve got as much quality as fellow strugglers like Fulham or Brighton, but that’s never stopped them before.
They’ll keep on scrapping, playing the percentages and generally making life difficult for teams.
What’s holding them back this season is a chronic lack of goals with just 6 in 12 matches. If that ratio doesn’t improve they will go down.
But there’s a presentable enough run of fixtures between now and the middle of January, so they’ll feel they’ve given themselves a platform to start climbing.
I believe there’s potentially a takeover happening too, which might give Sean Dyche the funds to do something more substantial in January.
Wolves
We don’t know how serious the injuries are to Dendoncker and Boly, but it would be a blow if both were out.
The above XI is probably too lightweight, even with Boly included, so maybe Otasowie could keep his place?
Or perhaps this could be a good game to go 4 at the back and get after them?
They’re hardly the type of team who are going to make fast runs in behind or dazzle us with complex build-up.
That would allow us to get Traore into the side and really ask some serious questions of their defence.
In truth, I have no idea what Nuno will do and that’s probably good in the respect it keeps Burnley guessing too.
Last time out
It was a crushing last-minute penalty award at Turf Moor that effectively ended our pursuit of the top four. I still don’t know how Mike Dean or VAR failed to notice Chris Wood’s boot in the face of Matt Doherty before the bull struck our defender’s hand.
The roles were reversed at a sunny Molineux earlier in the season, with Wolves getting off the hook big time with a late penalty won and scored by Raul.
Predictions
Well done to Matt Cook, Woodend Wolf, London wolf loyal, Marnhull Wolves, CHEESEBURGER OF DEATH, Marney, BOG, Rob W, Dallas Bob, Wolfstroker, PJB, The Dodgster, DeptfordWolf, Stafford Road Steve and Mark G Davies who all kept the faith against Chelsea and were rewarded with a maximum for correctly predicting the 2-1 scoreline.
In the overall table at the end of Gameweek 13, Liz joins MILDENHALL Wolf at the top of the standings.
As always if you’d like to join in, simply leave your prediction for this game in the comment section below, which is where you’ll find my best guess.
Up The Wolves!
I haven’t got a prediction right for ages so fingers crossed I’m not the kiss of death here.
Having seen how Villa handled Burnley, I think we need to get after them, control possession and get Podence and Neto into the game as much as possible.
If we sit back as we’re prone to doing away from home, I can see us coming unstuck.
But I’m riding that wave of optimism and hoping for a very Merry Christmas.
No major insights from me as am flat out busy trying to finish and get to pub for last moments of Tier 2 down here in Buckinghamshire
predictions are woeful so will keep on with the same 1-1
COYW
What’s a pub? Not seen one open in Wolverhampton for a while.
Totally agree that it’s difficult to predict both the team and result but that doesn’t stop me from stating we shall win 3-1 with Silva opening his account.
Last season’s visit still leaves a very unpleasant taste with the last minute VAR decision against us. I expect the confidence to return following Tuesday’s result, so I’m going….
Agree with this, though I’m the Burnley of the prediction league this season. If the team turn up we should really expect to win this easily…
Did my spying for the game by watching the whole of Burnley’s match at Witton and two things are abundantly clear: (i), they have two extremely solid and uncompromising centre halves so, if Silva plays, he’s going to find it tough holding the ball up again and (ii) they don’t create much going forward and their major threat is at set pieces. So, stay on your feet boys, keep corners to a minimum and don’t give cheap fouls away in our final third.
Tough, tough game as Nuno would say, particularly as Burnley seem to be over their early season difficulties but hopefully we’ll have the guile to shade it.
For the second time in three matches we will be facing anti football.
How Shorn Dick can keep a straight face when using football and Burnley in the same sentence is beyond me.
This game is usually a banana skin war of attrition and we struggle, but this time, with a few injuries, we might actually run rings around them and actually score a few in the process.
We have some of our younger guys, shit, they’re all friggin’ young, chomping at the bit with anticipation of regular footie, and playing out of their skins to keep their places.
Just what we need, competition all over the pitch.
Despite blips against the Villa and Liverfool, we seem to be moving in the right direction, and also despite my bitching and moaning after the above defeats, I am loving every minute.
Easy 5-1 this week to gently push us up the table.
See all Houston Wolves in Nick’s Place monday lunchtime, so you can all buy me yhat Christmas drink you’ve been promising me!
And I hope all you lucky bloggers in England with Houston Wolves stickers are proudly displaying same, spreading the gospel.
Those who aint got one, and would like one, e mail me an address and we’ll see what Nuno Espirito Santa can do!!
Clivethefenceman@yahoo.com
FOwb
As it’s the season of good cheer (well in a normal year), I’d be a touch more gracious because I think Dyche has done an excellent job on extremely limited resources and Burnley are punching well above their weight. I’m sure he’d have his teams playing a much more expansive style were he able to compete in the transfer market with those clubs that are able to fork out hundreds of millions. As it is,they’ve still got some excellent players including probably the best English goalkeeper. Let’s hope that we can knock a few past him though.
Slightly fed up the Black Country is remaining in tier 3 so no possibility of being in a pub until at least 31.12.2020. Which is new year eve. Even that would be problematic. Enter the boozer. Er a scotch egg and 16 pints of lager please. But there is hope. Fairly nearby Hereford is now in tier 1. I have already checked and there is the 11.23 train from Cradley Heath arriving Hereford just after 13.00. Problem is you can’t go from a tier 3 area to a tier 1. And the Black Country accent is a million miles away from Herefords. BUT. My cunning plan is to perfect the Hereford accent. So none of your ‘ orioight arr kid. Giz a pint a lager’. My plan is to enter the pub and go ‘ ooh aaaagghh oooh aaagggghhh there be fine sheep around eeyer. I parked moi muck spreader in thy garden sire. And oil aaaaav 15 points of thy Foaming Bastaaard ale if thee please.’ That should immediately provide the cover I require to ensure no one thinks I am from Dudley and get my head put on a spike and peraded around the cattle market. I may need time to reflect on my plan and may be go dressed as a Morris Dancer which will give even more reason not to suspect an outsider is in their midst. On to the Burnley game. Never a pleasant experience up there. Even in mid July it is minus 3. And it doesn’t help having a bloke who looks like he owns a scrap yard as manager. But these are the obstacles we have to overcome. It wasn’t so long back ‘experts’ were saying ‘ but will their Potuguese like playing in a force 10 gale and horizontal sleet’ . And we shut those twats up. And we will again. Would probably take a point but can see us sneaking this in another 2-1. Burnleh 1 WWFC 2. And merry xmas to all on this blog . Whatever tier you are in. Enjoy.
Always makes me chuckle, Cheese.
Happy Xmas ??
Cheesy, l lived and played my footie in Herefordshire for some twenty or so years and you have got them spot on. Just walk into any pub and start talking about Ronnie Radford’s wonder goal against the Magpie’s and you wont even have to pay for your beer.
As for Burnley four at the back and three in the net.
Have a great Christmas, see you in The Hereford Arms.
I thought it was you ……..
Confidence should be sky high after Chelsea win keep same team or go to a back four heart go for a back five head says go four at the back and go for it.
Unlikely that they will get points three games in a row so you know what that means?
No.
Pray tell us, oh wiser than us one.
How many English players do you have in your team!!!…Burnley to win 3.1.
Irish Claret.
We have several, one of whom captained his country very recently.
How many do you have?
Perhaps the reason we have so few is why we are consistently better than your lot.
Just a thought.
We have them, you know.
They have a few masquerading as Englishmen but that Tarkowski is really a pole and their keeper’s name gives the game away so why an Irishman is pontificating (pun intended) is beyond me.
Interesting that the observation you make is about foreign nationals playing in our team. Unlike the racist knuckle draggers that pledge allegiance to Burnley our club has a fine history of embracing all talent irrespective of where they were born. We are proud to have had a captain of Asian descent in Danny batth, foreign managers and many foreign players going back to the early eighties. Merry Xmas .
Racist knuckle dragger….thats a bit strong.Yes Wolves have a great history & i think were one of the founder members of the English league with Burnley. My point is the English game is saturated with foreign nationals (your term.) & is detrimental to the English national team.I believe a cull of 5 foreign nationals per squad like club rugby is the answer then the English team will become great again.They are a lot of great young english players who will never get the chance to play especially with bigger clubs because of the influx of foreigners attracted by huge amounts of money.Cody to me is one of the best centre halves in England with Tarkowski.
Trying to back track now are we? None of your “rationale” was stated in your original post…… and by the way your argument is cobblers anyway. The England football in the 70 s and 80s with few foreign nationals was worse than the England football team is now with multiple foreign nationals in the game. ……and one of the best football nations in the world , Germany, is now welcoming English talent into its league e.g Sancho and Bellingham . Coady was a mediocre championship player before our foreign coach turned him into an England captain. Suggest your lot crawl back into your caves near Blackburn and make another banner to fly, you clearly know nothing about football and even less about treating people of different nationality and race with dignity and respect.
Here steady on Sutton. I’m a Wolves fan now living near Burnley. Have been here 30+ years. Some of these caves now have double glazing and we have a flushing toilet. I enjoy a bit of banter with the locals. I haven’t seen a Wolves win here for 10 years! I keep getting reminded. First match I saw at Turf Moor was the FA Cup game in 1970. We won 3-0. Next week, the same fixture in the league, we lost 3-1!. Ridiculous turnaround in seven days. I took my two boys to their first game at Turf Moor, we lost 2-0, language was foul and at the end of the game there were about 150 blokes leaning against the wall on the way out having a piss. An eye-opening experience for them.
Burnley FC pulls in a lot of local sponsorship: garages, shops, fitted kitchen makers, etc. It’s has a well-loved, local feel about it, like it hasn’t changed much since the sixties or even fifties. I like to remind the Clarets fans about the Sherpa Van Trophy win at Wembly in 1988. A massive group of crazy Burnley fans went down to that and thoroughly enjoyed it even though we beat ’em. They like to remind me about their 1959-60 Div One champions win when Wolves missed out on the double by a point. We both share a laugh about Stevie Kindon, he could have given Adama a good race. He never knew when to stop until he’d hit the advertising boards. I’ve had the Ralph Coates hair style for some years but it’s not in tribute. Anyway, because they always turn up for our games I’m going for a 0-1.
You have my sympathy Joe. It doesn’t sound like the attitudes round there have changed much since the 50s or 60s either. Burnley are probably the only team in professional football without a black player in their entire first team squad. I would call them millwall of the north but that would be disrespectful to millwall.
How many non-white players do you have in your club let alone your team? Or even any Johnny Foreigners?
I just can’t get my predictions right. I reluctantly predicted a Chelsea and the opposite happened. However, I can’t bring myself to repeat the trick.
Really tight game, hoping one of Adamas long range efforts finds the back of the net!
As John-Paul Sartre said: ‘In football everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team.” That goes some way to explaining why his tenure as player-coach of Wokingham Town in the ’57-’58 season ended so abruptly, and why I couldn’t see us beating Chelsea. But we do owe Burnley one after last season, but it will be tight…
Always the hall marks of a Sunday pub game with Burnley, the perennial stayers. We have enough quality to play some good football and create chances, of which they will be few and far between, so, when they arrive, we have to take them.
Yep, to psraphrrade6othets and Nuno, will be a tough game played typical Lancashire weather. But, think we can do it.
Paraphrase!!! Bring back the edit button… Lol.
I think you need more than an edit button mate.
‘psraphrrade6othets and Nuno?’
Sounds like Cheesy after his eighth pint in a Hereford pub.
Absolutely right DOOG, where did spell check find that one. Mary Poppins maybe 🙂
Otasowie from the start giving semedo the much needed cover he requires then we hit them relentlessly with our billy whiz forward line .
Keep it on the floor keep it tidy at the back with the fouling and corners and steady ourselves for the usual aerial bombardment .
I do wish rui would command his box better as he was showing signs of doing just that early doors but seems to have regressed back to his line of late.
Either way as long as we keep our discipline which we are quite good at we will come away with a comfortable win .
We must not get drawn into an aerial hoofball competition or it could get a bit messy like at the vile last night.
Burnley have improved of late but so have we and we are far superior in quality .
Wolves will win this .
Having done so well at predicting last season, I know it is not my fault that I cannot seem to get the right prediction this season. If only Wolves behave and do as I say ! I even tried to predict a loss against more fancied teams such as Arse and Chelski – and was wrong again.
Now to finally get it right – Wolves to win 3-0 (as long as we keep Silva on the bench until the final 10 minutes if needed). Sorry, he has not done anything to convince me he is an asset so far. Would rather see Otasowie bulking up the midfield instead.
Hoping for a solid win, but consistency is not part of our make up at present. 2-1 to Wolves, hopefully. Boly and Dendonker out may allow Kilman ba ck in and give Otasowie or Vitinha some time. Moutino back also, so all’s not disastrous yet, I hope.
We Beat Chelsea and Arsenal, within 4 games, Lost to Villa (1 – 0) and Liverpool gave us a hiding at Anfield.
My thoughts now turn to this blog, and the non existent confidence/Optimisum.
Boys, your rattling your cages at the fact we are playing Burnley, why does the result to these last year matter but the Villa one, didn’t or how close we came to beating Liverpool last season. It seems everyone looks for an excuse before the game to just cover themselves.
WE ARE WOLVES – 7th twice in 2 attempts, Best start to our campaign ever in the Prem, We have some really young and good Hungry talent, We bossed Chelsea around the park, and Villa was a mistake. BURNLEY HAVE 1 WIN THIS SEASON.
WE SHOULD BE ABSOLUTELY RUNNING RINGS AROUND THEM – I think we wont struggle, the times we have have struggled against Teams like Burnley is when we have 1 system and run out of options as soon as they shut up shop…
We are a different team now….
We are due for a repeat of our 1st game of the season so a couple of goals to us in the first 15.
Be good to get Silva off the mark with an onside goal.
A back 4 and Traore to start sounds fine by me.
I think I’d accept 4 points out of the next 9; that said, I’d be really happy with 6+.
I also watched Burnley Vs Villa, what a team they are, at one point they had 26 back in defence, where the legs and bodies were flying in from is anyones guess. Villa should have left the pitch 6 – 8 goals to the good, hell gassi couldn’t hit a barn door with a tractor if it were shut, he is friggin U S less. Burnley players were morphing from out of nowhere throwing their bodies at Villas shots.
Well Burnley have used up all their luck last night, we should stay calm, composed and focused on the target, play Traore from the start and we will eventually get penalties, play him through the middle as the wings are sorted now, having him run directly at them will confuse the shit out of me let alone them. He does need to get his head in gear, if that’s on Monday then he will get a shed load.
Going for a high scoring win on the basis of them having used up all their get out of jail cards for this Month.
Burnley 1
Wolves 6 Neto 2, Poddy, Neves, Boly, Traore.
Come on me Bambinos, get in that Happy Place.
Whoa. 6-1. That’s a lot of goals.
Dare to dream Tim
Dare to dream
In his last three games Silva has:-
shot wide
hit the post
had a goal disallowed for offside.
The law of averages says that he’s due a goal.
I think the boy Otasowie is worth another look. It’s always good to have someone in midfield who’s built like a brick outhouse and is prepared to put himself about.
Particularly against a team like Burnley.
Nelson Semedo has been using up his ‘Staying in the first team’ vouchers at a rate of knots and it might be time that Nuno blooded one of our other young lads.
Apart from that, I reckon that more of the second half against Chelsea will win us the match.
Well I’ve been umming and aaarhing, trying to come up with a scorecast and was tempted to go for a conservative 1-1 draw. But given our rip-roaring second half against Chelsea, I’m allowing myself to plump for a narrow victory by the odd goal in 3. Here’s hoping………..
Going for a treble of wrong result predictions…
Is that Clive?
Thanks.
And a Merry f…in” Christmas to you, too!!!
No Clive has got more facial hair…..
In fact … he’s got Nunos beard manicure set…
Deffo not CfH……
It’s either ozzy Osbourne ,Mate Loaf or a horrific genetic hybrid of both. On acid.
I thought Lord Twix said it WASN’T Clive.
We know what to expect from Burnley- long ball and bullying tactics. As well said by previous bloggers, avoiding providing them with deadball opportunities and encouraging Rui to come for long balls should eradicate their major threat. I would stay with the back 3 on this occasion and if the Donk is not 100% then move Saiss into CM for his aerial ability and goal threat with young Max restored. Conor will be exposed in a 4 against this team and of course the team is able to switch formation as the game develops. Owen had an excellent introduction with an assist against Chelsea but too early for a start, he did get pulled out of position and Nuno said he is a ‘project’. Great options with Joao available, fresh and Vitinho looking like he can slot in seamlessly. Would be good to secure 3 points with Spuds and Man U to come. Looking at 5 points from this 3 match sequence, ever the optimist!
So back four or back three? Back four I think as Burnley are unlikely to push forward so it’ll be upto Wolves to make the running. Neves showed signs of getting back to the Neves we value so highly. Can he and Moutinho play together, yes hopefully with Dendonker if available, or Saiss if not, and Otasowie stiffening midfield defensively. Obviously Danny and Pedro up front with Traore coming on after an hour.
But whatever Nuno decides I’m sure we’ll do well.
Hard game Monday burnley remind me off teams i used to play in the Dudley cradley football league skill will always beat brawn up the wolves merry Xmas my fellow bloggers
Merry Christmas to you too mate!
Dudley once…
Where are you now?
This game is crying out to start with a back four! Burnley will likely be extremely defensive and we will need that extra person to break them down.
Otasowie to start if Donks is injured,and Killman for Boly if required. Fabio to continue as he is getting closer to that first goal with every game!
I don’t believe we have had a penalty as yet for the season, so we are overdue!
This game will test our patience and maturity, but at this moment, we are not sure which Wolves will turn up, but if the right one does, it will be a comfortable win.
This is the start of our climb up the table
Don’t fool me Brompto!!!
after watching Villa tear through them I’m hoping that Nuno will have the gloves off right from the start
whichever team we start with we can score lots here including a debut brace for the Young Prince
We have a goals difference deficit to put right…so shots in boys
OODCL
I’ve been much better at predicting formations than scorelines of late so I’d expect us to go to a 4-3-1-2 formation for this one. Even if it turns out there are some injuries from Monday I have faith enough in their replacements to predict a win
We all know Burnley will play Championship hoofball up to big blokes and rely on freekicks/ corners. Hopefully we can withstand and use our skill to win, but this has all the makings of a 0-0/1-1 bore fest.
Still got to be positive 2-0 to Wolves.
Tough game and not one for Silva he needs a summer in the gym !
Traore down the middle worth a try , he has the physicality !
On a more cautious note, whatever the result, let’s try and avoid the “we’re unbeatable- we’re going down- sell everyone and spend big in January”
Whatever happens we are where we are and that’s in a state of change and change in any form creates some disruption.
Long term I still get excited about where we’re heading.
Big Sam has been working on Sandwells new formation when they play Villa. It’s the 10-0-1 formation with the ‘0’ in midfield assigned to marking Greasy. And even though he has no body round him he still manages to falls over in agony with his f**king stupid ankle socks.
We clearly have some very good young footballers who for the last 30 minutes made a very expensively assembled Chelsea team look ragged. Their challenge now is to do it consistently but the challenge Burnley pose will be very different to Chelsea. It will be interesting to see what team Nuno picks especially if Boly and Dendoncker don’t recover from their knocks. We could probably play 4-2-3-1 against these but that said the extra centre half could prove useful from the inevitable Ariel bombardment.
Sadly for us, Burnley do what Burnley do and they do it well enough to accumulate enough points to stay in the division. They will fancy three points against us on the basis of our tendency to play pass the football properly, our lack of height across the team and our injury list. We’ve got to be ready for the bombardment, the elbows and the attitude. It would be great to dismantle them but we’re not at full strength / full tilt are we? Otasawie might get a start just because he’s tall. I’m predicting a draw as I did against Chelsea and hoping I’m wrong again.
A draw!
Hard one to predict depends on who and what formation Nuno picks. A lot of positives from Chelsea win the main one for me the never say die attitude something that was a trademark the last 3 seasons that we seemed to have lost this term.
If we could pick up three points and then a draw or two in our next couple of game that would be a good return from December.
You forgot to mention Jota, Paul.
I haven’t mentioned Jota for weeks……he’s gone….. I think you need to get over him.
That will be 2 weeks.
Ok Paul,fair enough.
Wolves vs hoofball. Going to be great to put another nail in their relegation coffin. Honestly think they could go down and would not be a loss to the league tbh. Defending set pieces the key to a win here as little threat from anywhere else. Can see Fulham and Brighton getting enough results and who knows about the big Sam influence in Sandwell. Burnley well overdue a spell in the Championship for their anti football policy.
So, to sum up, we are much better than Burnley, and we will finally play attacking football from the start and score several goals, so the headlines will be ‘Wolves thrash woeful Burnley’.
Has the makings of a tough fought match, but WOLVES PREVAIL!
WGH!
Merry Christmas to all of the Pack and their families.
Hi Bob. Merry Christmas to you and yours. Hope we get a chance to meet up again.
I hope so too, maybe when life gets back to some sort of normalcy. I must say that meeting you and Clive and going to the match was the highlight of the trip for me. Be well.
Why thankyou DB. And the same to you and yours.
No score draw. Hope I’m wrong!
If we start the team that ended the game against Lampard’s whingers with Otasowie and Traore in for Dendoncker and Silva then we have a good chance at Burnley. I am still very concerned about Semedo though and about our ability to deal with corners and long balls into our box and we know Burnley love a set piece and aren’t averse to the odd long ball or twelve.
Still faith restored I am going for a narrow win.
Fundraising update : I am now up to £2,860 so am just £140 short of my £3,000 target to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Support in memory of my Julie. According to the forecast on Christmas Day in Southwold around 11am it will be 4 degrees but will feel like minus 1. They also say they’ll be a moderate breeze – which as those of you familiar with our East Coast means it’ll be blowing a fecking gale!
OODCL
Great stuff Bedders.
Will you be wearing a wetsuit or just your Steve Bull autographed Speedos?
Buggie smugglers I heard Doog
Wren smugglers in that weather, I should imagine Witley.
Console yourself with the fact that the colder the air, the warmer the water will feel………..so I’m told.
OK Bedders…congratulations,
You have achieved your goal as i will underwrite whatever is left of your deficit on Christmas Day … in memory of my lovely Diane
Just LMK
Brian (aka Marin)
Hi Brian
Thank you so much – though someone has beaten you to it and I hit my £3,000 target yesterday. Ironically I did so just minutes before Boris crushed all my plans with the latest panic-stricken measures based on advice from NERVTAG whose members include one Professor Neil Ferguson. Remember him? I could make a new target if you like?
When I say ‘crushed all my plans’ I of course mean ‘officially crushed all my plans’ as I am a Wolf and as we all know Wolves are clever, resourceful animals who cannot be tamed.
Watch this space.
Thanks once again Brian and much love to you and yours all the way across the pond.
OODCL
OK Bedders…congratulations,
You have achieved your goal as i will underwrite whatever is left of your deficit on Christmas Day … in memory of my lovely Diane
Just LMK
Brian (aka Marin)
Brian, you’re a star mate.
Merry Christmas. I’ll buy you a drink at the Bloggers’ Ball next year.
It’ll be a cracker!
Put the link up again mate
Don’t worry I’ve found it . Stuck some more in to clear a conscience i have about something . Don’t wear speedos
Thank you Matt you are a star as well as a gentleman. xxx
No speedos? What, you want me naked as nature intended?
No mate .. you’re a star . I went in the sea there once and some sort of sea monster thing .(. looked like a fucking massive dog with no legs ) . Appeared right next to me . Never seen nothing like it before , never went in again mate . Fuck that !
Clive again?
Tempted to stick with the 2-1 prediction that’s served me well but I think it’s time we kept a clean sheet (our GD needs improving).
Really enjoyed beating Chelski. I recommend Wolves TV commentary synched with whoever’s picture, particularly as most pundits can’t be bothered to research us so stick to the same old lines ( tho’ the old gold comment was new).
Merry Christmas all (in case I don’t get chance to comment on the Spurned match before the 25th).
So many tight games against these hotpots. But this time the goal bandit is stuffed full of nuggets and its going to tilt again for our energetic heroes. So I’m sorry Sean old bean but it just ain’t your year. A Neves screamer to start us off, a Silva slither and shoot to the top bins, and an OOh so magnificent blast from the new strong man Owen Otasowie. Merry xmas everyone.
Wolves at the moment are consistently inconsistent while us fans are consistently optimistic about our performance so going for an optimistic 2 – 1 to Wolves
Christmas presents from Fabio, Pod and Santa Cody stick a header under the tree for me….Ding doing Merry Hill on high…
There are many on here, still concerned about our defence. More noticeable, is the narrowing of that concern to Semedo. I think this is unfair. Formations and personnel have changed and we are aspiring to something more, so comparing to what has already occurred (past two seasons and Doherty at RWB), is also unfair. Take away 3 of our games against West Ham, Man City and Liverpool, where we were completely outplayed, and you see that we have conceded 1 or nothing for every other game. Individuals make mistakes all the time in games, free kicks get given away, bad passes, missed opportunities to score, not quick enough to respond to a cross (eg boly against Chelsea). What is important is how the team responds to it. We responded impeccably against Chelsea.
Therefore, I see the goals we score as our main concern, and I feel it is being addressed by Nuno. When we lost two in a row and were not scoring, everything turned to “where are the Jota and Doherty goals going to come from”? Well, if I’m not mistaken, Jota scored 7 prem goals last season when we finished with our best points total. Neto is already on 4 and I would be surprised if he didn’t make it to 10 by the end of the season if he keeps it up. Podence too looks like he will score more. In the aftermath of losing arguably our best player to injury, we are finding the answers. We just need to do it more consistently. More more more, until we reach the holy “Clive” grail.
Whilst I am in the Christmas spirit of defending players…. give Silva a chance. He’s not going to suddenly eat some popeye spinach and turn into Jiminez. I don’t see him as the same type of forward anyway. What he does possess is a wider appreciation of what happens on the pitch. He sees the bigger picture, and is something I’d like to see more of from Traore, because he already does have the physicality and he’s a good 6 years on in his footballing development. He spent more time looking at his own ankle than the football pitch last game!
Back to Burnley. No idea. I get it wrong every week. But if I get my Christmas wish, some consistency will come our way soon. If not, the wider wolves football picture still looks good to me. UTW and merry Christmas to all on the blog.
Merry Christmas to you too Dom. UTW
Same to you Dom… Hope to get the beer in the Blackmore Vale Inn one day
Score line should be 2-1 like previous predicted scores. Sorry.
Never easy to play Burnley, or any team that plays the uncompromising style they have perfected over the seasons. But Nuno has seen them in action several times before and I’m sure will have formulated ways and means to isolate Wood. Do that successfully and it’s hard to see many other weapons in their armoury.
The Neto/Podence combo really seems to be gelling and they possess such individual skill and pace that they can prove almost impossible to nullify. Danny Podence in particular is a joy to watch and reminds me of a player who fascinated me when I was a kid, a certain Jimmy Johnstone of Celtic. Sometimes makes me laugh out loud as he runs rings around defenders.
I was impressed by Otasowie against Chelsea and I think Vitinha is a lad with a big future. Great control, cool under pressure and an eye for a pass. One to watch out for, I reckon.
Good to see Jonny is on the mend though I think Marcal has proved a very capable replacement. Can’t beat a bit of strength in depth though and we do seem to be picking up a few more injuries lately.
Hoping for a convincing victory.
What is it with Football Focus. Couple of weeks ago we had a feature on the fierce rivalry Chelsea v Leeds. Now we have the ‘fierce’ rivalry Man Utd v Leeds. What next? The heated exchange when Torquay played Leeds in 1879…. Everyone hates Leeds anyway.sod off BBC.
Agree Cheese also they showed all the games mid week apart from Wolves beating Chelsea.
Total basis if we had lost against Chelsea they would have shown it.
We will see if they cover the biggest Derby of them all apart from may be the one in Glasgow.
Sadly Wolves are ignored as we have been all season. Football focus. Wolves v Newcastle they interviewed a Newcastle striker. Wolves v Southampton they interviewed a Southampton striker. Wolves v Villa they interviewed Dean Smith. Yet Leeds have been featured at least 4 times. The most I was infuriated was after we beat City away 2-0 last season. First team to beat them on their own patch for ages and stop them scoring. Wasn’t even mentioned on the next Football focus. They even said today that Everton v Arsenal was a mouthwatering fixture. My arse. Mid table v relegation strugglers. Its bollocks. Any way I’m having a beer listening to Super Furry Animals. Haven’t listened to them for bloody yonks. Forgot how good they were. The immortal ‘ The man don’t give a f**k’ been given a couple of blasts. Stay safe!
Super Furry Animals are one of my fave bands! Gruff is a legend.
Saw them at Festival No6 in Portmeirion a couple of years ago.
Great gig, even if it was pissing with rain.
Great stuff Doog. I hadn’t played Fuzzy Logic for years. You forget how good they are. A sort of psychedelic britpop. Another great Cardiff band the Manics. Saw them at Wolvo civic about 10 years ago. Brilliant!
Anyone still feeling bad that Liverpool beat us 4-0.
The way they’ve just shoved 7 up Palace in low gear is nothing short of brilliant.
As Traore say’s, “they are a different level” (he’s after a move for sure)
Surely you are not suggesting that Crystal Palace are at the same level as Wolves?
Don’t call me Shirley.
Are those high heels hurting your feet again?
Busted…..
At least the sheep has a smile on its face!!
They always do. Not fussy, y’know.
He’s seen the can of pineapple rings in your pocket.
Let’s play like we did last 30 mins for a full game
I went off Burnley when they beat Man City in a match after the 1960 cup final to stop us winning the old League 1 three seasons running and doing the league/cup double in the third season. These days they always seem like a team we ought to beat, but somehow rarely do. I think Monday might work our a little differently. Podence and Neto always seem to have that bit of magic to pull out – DP’s goal v Chelsea was one of the coolest bits of play you could wish to see and,as someone has pointed out, take out WHU and L’pool and in the rest of the games the defence, statistically, has performed well. I fancy this one to turn out better than usual for us at Turf Moor.
COYW
Here we see the farce of VAR again. That is given as a penalty tonight for Newcastle. Neto was ruled out. I still think Neto was clipped on the back of the heel and it WAS a penalty. Just like Adama at Arsenal. But we don’t get f**k all off VAR do we.
The contact outside the box doesn’t bring him down.
Wilson’s simulation obsessed brain did.
Another one on the football Christmas naughty list.
At least Neto was in the box when he went down. Although to this day I cannot 100% see the contact you are referring to. Doesn’t mean there wasn’t any though.
Might as well have been cynical and hacked Wilson down outside the box. Got a red card for attempting to challenge…. what is going on.
There must be a new rule in small writing somewhere. Makes me wonder, how far out can you be challenged but fall in the box to win a penalty?
I can’t believe I still have Traore on my Fantasy Premier League team. Shows how much I pay attention to that.
I’m going two one wolves
I know it’s a tough game but Daniel Podence .. wow what a footballer , say what you want but jota wouldn’t even make the team in front of him and Neto
Man , have we unearthed a super star or what ?
Like waiting for a bus for ages and then two come along will be our neves and penalty story tomorrow.
Neves will only stick one away though and we will need Neto or podence for our second, though .
We aren’t that great defending corners atm so I think they may grab one goal.
Neto and podence look right on it atm and I like podences aggression, in fact it got me wondering ( after a few peroni) if I had to fight for my life against traore or two podences
I’d take on traore , that says a lot ,,,,,, I think?
Good night
Utw
Although this is not the platform for this sort of thing, with what’s happening in the South of England London and the home Counties I feel it’s worth bringing it up.
This new strain of Covid is no worse in it’s actions or strength, but where the little pest is a problem is the speed and contagion capabilities it has since mutating.
Since yesterdays announcement, hundreds of thousands are trying to get out of the South of England, by train plane and car. By this time next week they will have transported this virus to every corner of Britain. It will spread like wildfire, it is no more dangerous but will increase the death rate by 70% which like in London and Stoke will overwhelm the NHS.
This blog is a great relief and an outlet for our joy and happiness depending on results, I love the sharing, personal exchanges and friendships it’s produced over the last 10 years. The folk on this blog are all kind hearted as displayed on many occasions when I, along with many others have come to you guys fund raising as we all know.
Please, stay safe, treat this new strain of Covid as the worst time in this year of complete madness, because we are entering the most dangerous phase of it so far. I received a message today from a good friend of mine from my days in the Ambulance service, North Staffs University hospital is now at critical level, ICU is at full capacity and ready to fail. This is disturbing as the new strain has technically not arrived here yet.
I apologise for doing this, but I care about my family and all of your families, yes for sure it will be a shitty Christmas, but if we treat it with the respect it needs it won’t be our last. My Daughter in law is a practice manager nurse at a large group of doctors in Rugeley, she has seen a massive increase in deaths in her area this last couple of weeks.
I wish you all a Merry but more importantly a Safe Christmas, this is not over reacting, this is the stark reality of this strange period in the life cycle of this virus.
Stay safe, stay home, keep your loved ones safe.
Well said Stu.
I still think there is a good proportion of the great British Public who think that Covid is at best just a funny flu or, at worst, a conspiracy.
Although I live in Wiltshire, which has got off quite lightly so far, my nephew, who lives near Derby, is built like a brick outhouse and fit, caught it in the first wave, survived but is still suffering the after effects of ‘Long Covid’.
My sister has had it and is recovering slowly, two of my nephew’s children have now caught it, and two of my near neighbours have lost parents to Covid in recent months.
It makes me ABSOLUTELY BLOODY LIVID when I see, or hear, people saying that they won’t wear masks and that the vaccine is just a way of planting electronic chips in us so ‘they’ (whoever ‘they’ are) can always know where we are and what we do.
Sometimes I think that the human race doesn’t deserve to survive.
And then I log on to the blog.
And know that there are still some of us who have the common sense and humanity to keep us going.
Well, we support The Wolves, don’t we!
We should be able to keep Burnley out at the back so hopefully it is just a question of whether we can get past their in form goalie. Hopefully the win at Chelsea will be the spark for our forwards to put a few more away, and perhaps the game against Villa will have taken it’s toll on their energy levels. So I’m going for a comfortable win.
We can build on the Chelski result which will have boosted confidence in the younger members of the pack, and as already pointed out Fabio is due a goal
Confidence should be high after taming Chelsea. Yes, Burnley always make it very difficult for us but we generally get a result against them even if its a painful slog. Hope Nuno goes 4-2-3-1 for this one. The 3-1 pick themselves, but the 4-2 must include a few giants to combat their aerial/ set-piece game.
Life is not all doom and gloom.
🙂
Well we have seen VAR at its finest again tonight. Greasy goes down like a sack of spuds. PENALTY. Wilson last night dives. PENALTY. Neto and Adama (which was in fact a penalty). NO PENALTY. You do have to wonder. Still waiting for VAR to give us something like everybody else.
I reckon Nuno will try to win this but keep a clean sheet. Revenge for last year will be sweet!
Let’s go Wanderers! 3 more points for the tally!
Now that Burnley appear to be on the verge of selling out to some USA corporate entity with little of the funds going to be spent on players, time for a reminder that nothing is a gimme with football, despite its apparent riches. Time for quality to shine through and if we play 3 at the back and have 2 tall fit defenders then we should be ok. This time don`t concede anything as we need the points. Don`t mind who scores today.
Well lads, this is going to be a fun one tomorrow. I think we turned a corner. The win against Chelsea last time out was not only big for the table but big for team morale. The return of Joao tomorrow will only add to our dominance. I see Fabio bagging his first goal, Joao an assist and Semedo to rifle a couple shots on goal. Hoping for Owen to get more first team minutes after we have taken a comfortable lead.
Here we go boys, this is our game. 3-0 Wolves.
We lose when I think we should win. We win when I think we will lose.
Normally I would tip a bore draw as we have trouble breaking down teams like Burnley but hoping for something better.
A narrow victory with one of our Spaniards to score.
As many have said we owe them one from last year.
Hopefully the Chelsea result means we have turned the corner and will get the real Wolves back.
On the virus point raised by Stu, I can only add my support. We have just had to cancel Xmas with parts of the family and will not be seeing the grandkids over the holiday. Shit I know but a small price to pay if we are all here to celebrate Xmas next year.
Burnley’s lack of goals scored and the way Villa opened them up a few days ago, make this on paper appear a pretty straightforward fixture and tempting to play four at the back.
Well I have been to Turf Moor many times and never seen a straightforward fixture. With no Raul I don’t expect this season to be any different.
My advice would be to at least start with five at the back and retain Otasowie alongside Neves and Joåo in midfield. No point trying to compete with their lumbering giants for aerial balls so would start with Pode and Neto up front.
Semedo will require support again.
Think this will be a close one with few chances. Hoping we can just edge them.
I only have 2 concerns going into this match…
Wolves scoring. We can’t score from a corner or set piece. Or a shot from outside the box. Or get a penalty. Or a Traore cross to Jimenez. So we need one on the break, which is not easy against a defensive team.
Our defending against set pieces. Chelsea had 2 absolutely free headers from corners in the first half (with Boly and Donk in the team).
Burnley are the lowest scorers in the EPL and we are not exactly bursting the net on a regular basis so I am not expecting a 4-5 score fest!!
A tight game with us to sneak it with a late Neto goal is my prediction.
Merry Christmas to all bloggers and lets look forward to a better 2021.
OODCL
Merry Christmas to all
Tough game … ….they will be tough to break down …prediction stats are awful but as long as we keep winning ….
Greetings all . Its about time we put a team to the sword and i think it could happen tonight ! We have devastating pace going forward so unlike the veela we will unlock their ‘park the bus mentality’ defence.
Merry Christmas to all my fellow bloggers . stay safe and keep well.
Chessy mate . I was in Hereford last Friday . Went to Wye Valley brewery to collect some Butty Bach for my bar at home . I now have draft Stella , Enville Ale and Butty Bach .Should keep busy over Christmas….Cheers
Any ideas why Traore was not on training ground in the 9 minute clip that l have just seen on the website?
Yes mate, Nuno told him to run 10miles a day on Friday….he was last seen the other side of Worcester!!
Sorry but it is nearly Christmas.
Not expecting it to be pretty but any win will do.
I have to say Thomas that I wasn’t downhearted when the Chelsea goal went in. When I woke up that morning I had a premonition and decided to bet Wolves to win and both teams to score, at 19/2. Lovely jubbly. So I had expected to concede! We had been playing well in the first half without Patricio being under threat and I expected an uplift in the second half.
Today against Burnley I’ve backed us to win and both teams to score, at 9.2/ However I will be delighted to lose my bet if we win without conceding! That’s the sort of guy I am: Nuno please note for the Christmas card list! I’d love us to give Burnley a right 5-0 thrashing but realistically they will park the bus and stop our breaks by hook or by crook. Chris Deadwood is probably getting fired up for dirty tricks and will go down like the dying swan in Swan Lake if a Wolves player gets anywhere near his postcode.
I’d like a nice comfortable win without breaking sweat or risking injury. I’m thinking 2-1 or even 3-1.
There is a video posted on Twitter from Raul thanking the fans for their support. If anyone is interested.
We both don’t score many and we have a track record of low scoring so I’m going 2-2
Sticking with the usual prediction so hoping for a win.
Hope all bloggers have as good a Christmas as we’re able & let’s hope that 2021 is a better year, this virus is reduced & we can all get back into the Mol to cheer our team on.
Stay safe everyone.
Same for me Border.
UTW!
Hoping for a win but expecting a draw at best. Surely Wolves are due a penalty soon in the season of so many being awarded and having 2 overturned by VAR recently. If they score likely to be from a corner or free kick.
Well with Kilman, Ait Nouri and Otasowie playing this team looks good to me and will be attacking
Had very high hopes but I have now seen the line up and my hated 3 in the middle (we never create anything that way). Although looking forward to otasowie. 1-0 wolves if we are lucky.
Interesting team selection and I’m all for it.
Pleased for Otasowie.
This is not a happy place for us so let’s go all out for the win.
I’ll take a point from this.
That was Saiss’s fault
nuno experimenting again and coming unstuck ……..at the moment
Saiss was to blame for that one.
We struggle to break down Sunday pub teams
I hold on to the fact we are by no means the finished article. Whereas Burnley are. They can’t play any other way, be better than hoof ball, then fall over when any contact comes to win free kicks. I’d rather be frustrated by wolves than support that crap.
Saiss would have missed that.
How did Saiss miss that!!
Will get mullered for this, but thought relying on the kids tonight against a pub team was the wrong choice. Small squad the future is not good at Burnley.
Very disappointed, started brightly and ran our of ideas.
Off for a cold shower and a beer.
I agree. The one player that you’d never think would get dropped when playing against a tough and experienced team, was Marcal. The mistakes in possession and giving away free kicks killed our chances
Well that was shocking. Ending a shit 2020 on the wrong note. On the plus side 6 more wins and we are safe.
Baffling line up why we changed a winning team only Nuno knows. Slow to bring on subs again when it clearly wasn’t working.
Frustrating to beat Chelsea and lose to Burnley we are an inigma we flatter to deceive two steps forward one step back. This was not a game or venue to play the kids Burnley are far to direct and physical.
Our defending in the air at set pieces is a big worry.
Frustrated and disappointed in equal measure men against boys today.
Well beaten in all aspects ! No complaints .A wet Monday in Burnley and
our players were found out !
It will be interesting to hear Nuno’s bromides during the post game interview.
We must do better.
Burnley are a tough, tough team.
No game is easy in the Premier League.
On to the next game.
Before I forget. Merry Christmas or Happy Festive Season. Ontario is going into a province wide lockdown starting Boxing Day.
So right Tim! He has to take responsibility tonight.
Happy Christmas to you. Stay safe, let’s hope 2021 is better than this year.
We were awful today.
We know exactly what Burnley are going to do but we can never seem to cope with it.
Happy Christmas to all bloggers!
For all sorts of reasons, the sooner this year is confined to the history books the better.
Be sensible (except where a drop of splosh is involved).
theDOOGooder, signing off for now.
I would have rather been at the dentist for a root canal without Anaesthetic than endure that tripe today.
You do not play such an inexperienced team as Nuno fielded today against a Burnley team.
Iv’e a feeling Neves will be off soon, judging by his expression at being taken off and leaving lesser players on in place.
WTF Nuno.?
He wasn’t exactly producing though Stu and he hasn’t exactly kicked on from an excellent opening season and a half. It does beg the question as to what top team would want him at the moment.
Yes ,stu…body language wasn’t good but could just be frustration.
Too many more performances of this ilk will put Nunos position in danger.
The owners could be ruthless,especially if they don’t see a better return on money spent.
Does seem strange to think how very differently the squad played last season.
There are no excuses for this embarrassing loss.
We were awful.
I’m sometimes ashamed that we could lose to a hoof it and chase it team like Burnley…. when are our well paid players, manager and coaches going to realise that football v hoof ball is never going to be a winner…
Disgusted and shameful doesn’t come close….
Don’t fall for this hoofball fake news rubbish. Fact is that we were outplayed apart from the opening 15 minutes and the last 10. We all know that we could have been playing until next Christmas, never mind this, and not scored.
Dyche got his tactics 100% right and, on this occasion, Nuno got his wrong.
Credit where credit’s due.
Apart from a penalty that is. Well taken, Fabio.
That’s a bit harsh my friend but with the personnel fit and available for selection it was always going to be tough, perhaps tougher than ever. The defending was naïve and lightweight and showed the value of Boly and Dendoncker. It was shocking to see young Otaswawie marking two conker trees on his own for the 2nd goal free kick . This is a Burnley trademark, what are we paying scouts and analysts for? There are plenty more issues for Nuno to focus on than Lee Mason.
In all fairness, how did Owen’s boot come off if his boot wasn’t stepped on?
He was abused the whole first half of the game.
That was a foul, Tim, but the ref played advantage and it ended up with Neto’s shot from outside the box.
No yellow card for an intentional foul?
Tho only good thing about that abysmal performance,as mentioned ,was Fabio’s Goal albeit a penalty.
Nuno must take some of the blame tonight for his team selection, granted he’s rotating some players but I always say play your strongest team unless you physically can’t.
Last term when we were playing in the Europa we was playing 2 games per week and playing better football, Nuno hasn’t learnt anything from playing these sort of teams and until he does we’ll continue to struggle. Our
Next two games are pivotal against two good teams vying for the top.
Can’t see much change out of those, but you never say never with Wolves.
A disappointing result and performance. Started ok but got progressively worse. Positive was Silva goal but defence looked fragile versus a physical side. Nuno selection and tactics wrong on this occasion. We aspire to being a top four side but how many in our current team would get into a top four side in reality? Patricio, coady, Neto, possibly podence, and Jimenez when fit. It’s half a team at best. Still a long way to go on this journey and some I’m afraid are simply not going to get there. Defensive acquisitions this summer simply not of the required standard, still crying out for a creative midfielder and an additional striker- and please finished or near finished articles, not more “ones for the future”. With second half of season improvement we might still flirt with Europe but if I had to put money on it, I’d say mid table most likely
Spot on Sutton…!