Sometimes it takes a big result to get the season going properly.
The last three rickety performances have produced five points and that valuable first victory, which wasn’t a bad return given the ‘could have won, could have lost’ nature of those games.
But anything less than perfection tomorrow will result in certain defeat, so the challenge is there for the players to raise their game accordingly.
They did reasonably well against Tottenham in the only other match against the ‘Big Six’ so far, so there’s no reason we can’t give them a run for their money.
The memory of last season’s walloping and the spectre of Haaland loom large but hopefully Wolves rise to the occasion.
Man City
As good as they’ve been, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Pep and company.
It took a couple of epic comebacks against Newcastle and Palace to avoid defeat and they were stung late on by Villa last time out to keep them off the top of the Premier League table.
Still, all signs point to a successful defence of their title and with Liverpool stuttering already I struggle to see anyone living with their consistency.
Avoiding injuries to key personnel will be the biggest worry as they navigate through various competitions. Even with their strength in depth, losing De Bruyne or Haaland or Dias would set them back.
In the here and now everyone seems to be fit and healthy and that is bad news for Wolves, not least because they’ve already scored 17 more goals than us, just 6 games into the season.
Wolves
Bruno’s decision to play Jonny in a back three and Chiquinho at wingback in this fixture last season was probably his worst decision as head coach.
That said, City make you want to experiment to combat their overwhelming dominance. It might be worth sacrificing an out-and-out striker to have Podence playing deeper to give us four bodies in the middle.
Neto, Guedes or Traore would then give us viable outlets, running outside to in when we can counter or get some form of possession.
I’m not sure if Raul or Costa are considered fit enough to start if Bruno wants something more conventional but hopefully at least one of them will be able to feature at some point.
Predictions
Rich remains at the top of the overall table at the end of Gameweek 6 after the Liverpool game was postponed.
As always, if you’d like to join in with the Prediction League this season, it’s simple – just leave your prediction in the comment section below using the boxes provided. Then repeat for every preview article throughout the season, making sure you always use the same email address to make your prediction. Your email is what ties you to your overall score.
You can read my prediction for the game in the comment section below.
Up The Wolves!
We haven’t seen this side produce a big performance yet – be it a dominant victory against one of the lesser teams or overcoming one of the elites. For that reason, I have less confidence than in previous years when you knew we’d be compact and hard to break down.
Will we just park the bus and look to break or does Bruno have something more adventurous in mind? You’d hope we have the midfielders to try and get a bit of possession but we didn’t see that against Newcastle or Southampton.
Given their firepower I just can’t see us staying with them. I hope to be proven wrong.
The thing everyone with even a passing interest in football knows Man City are very good. Right through a theoretical 1st eleven, if they have one, and through to a 2nd team.
So how do Wolves who just about have an average 1st team, compared to Man City, compete. Well we have a better than average defence, good enough we have to pray, to contain Haaland and then find a way to release a fast moving forward, Traore maybe if he’s still with us, body and soul.
So just a small chance but still a chance.
an average first team?
Not sure that is a fair evaluation – considering we have the best defence in the prem right now – a midfield that should be playing champions league football, some of the best young talent in the league, one of the better goal keepers in the league – what we are missing is goals.
That doesn’t mean we have an average 1st team – Add 5 goals to our first 6 games and right now we would be up there.
All the positives in defence and midfield levelled out by an atrocious attack makes us an average side atm.
Let’s hope they come good soon.
We might be an average side – but I’d argue that doesn’t equal an “average” 1st team
We can argue semantics all day or we can just look at the table and our team stats. We are possibly slightly less than bang average atm
What I said was average compared to Man City (which is true for pretty much every team in the EPL). If you disagree fine but, with some regret I stand by my judgment.
That Haarland is an absolute machine . it will be a very difficult game . not as difficult as it will be to get to Wolves for fucking stupid half twelve tho !
Great prediction mate …
Cliveyboy would be super proud….
I hate half 12 kick offs. Don’t mind the 17:30. Or even the 19:45 v Arsenal. You don’t have chance to do anything with the half 12. It’s rubbish.
My heart and Steve Bull autographed boxers (see previous thread) says:-
Start with Costa and Traore and let them do a Haaland on City.
Get stuck into Stones and co and give City a right good bashing.
My head, however, probably agrees with your starting line up Thomas.
I expect a loss but hope for the football Gods to smile upon us and kick start this season, which so far has been full of crap both on and off the pitch.
Wolves ay we!
I was in Manchester a couple of years ago and walked out along the canal towpath to see the Etihad Stadium. The staff outside were really impressed with the Wolves that had beaten them sometime before, raving about Traore’s wonder goal.
I think we should take the match to them, although I must say when scanning down the ‘goalscorers’ list on Paddy Power you have to pass a lot of great scorers before landing on a Wolves player. Haaland is 1-2 to score a goal anytime.
Jimenez is definitely out,today and Costa not ready, so we’ll have to see if goals can be found elsewhere. Obviously we need to put in one of those performance we did regularly against top teams a few seasons ago
Why after a poor series of displays am I quietly optimistic about this one?
We have nothing to lose in this fixture, the world and his God believe Norways Shrek is the best thing to play in the Premier league ever and will score for fun against all teams; those adorned with the Top 6 tag, the mid table and likely relegation candidates alike.
If,as I too believe, the Scandinavian monster is to break all goal scoring records since the league and possibly football was invented (poor Dixie Dean) then Saturday at the Golden Palace will be no different …..however
I would love us to have a go ….they are not top of the table its because defensively they have been shown to have weaknesses ….ok we haven’t lit the touch paper to the ‘Score a hatful Catherine Wheel’ of late but there’s enough potential going forward ….
If any bloggers are convinced that when I awake my tea will be cold I’m kind of with you but I’m fed with the negativity, pessimism and to a certain point, bad luck surrounding WV1 at the moment
COYW
Looking forward to seeing Costa. I hope we give it a good go rather than the limp capitulation of last season but I think they are a class above anything in this league so can’t see beyond a heavy defeat I’m afraid.
I can see them scoring but sadly not us.
Got keep Haaland quite and score early 2-1 to the Wolves.
bloody 12.30 kick off i hate them……in the pub for 11.30 am !!! waste of a day
Im just hoping we can stick with them and not concede an avalanche of goals . A point would do….COYW
We will be lucky of we can prevent them scoring and I don’t think we will score.
I’d get into Haaland’s head. Rough him up. Accidentally step on his toes. If he goes down, he goes down. It’s a war – ask Diego.
Also, may as well start Diego. No point in him coming on if we are down by a couple goals, as seems to be some predictions.
Not sure we are going to be good enough to keep Haaland quiet for 90 minutes unfortunately.
When there were rumors that we were looking to buy Costa, I thought “Why in the world would we want to re-sign Helda Costa?”
Tough game. Haaland does not touch the ball often, but when he does. …….!
Probably best we can hope for is for our defence to give them a run for their money, but alas, Man C will inevitable win. But not without a fight! Not without showing them that we have talent we have great players and we have determination! We also have the best centre back never to have been picked for England!
Tarore to come on after 60 minutes!
Forgot to predict!
I fear the last 10 mins of the game. We’ll hold our own until City pile on the pressure.
It’s going to be a win… for us!
You’d have to be brave to predict anything other than a City win – so I haven’t. They have the players, they have the goals and they have a tenaciousness about them to grind out results when it isn’t always going to plan.
I agree they look like nailed on champions already.
A free hit then. So I see no value in parking the bus and I don’t think it is ever a good strategy anyway. It just gives the opposition the confidence to throw everything at you. We have enough talent in the side to give them something to think about if we can compete in midfield and we have beaten City in recent years with just such an approach.
I’m not brave but I do dare to dream. COMB
Attack Attack Attack!
we have to go at them , they are formidable and last years drubbing stil fresh in the mind , agree with the line up and would love for Adama to feature as he has a good scoring record against them
.
This one is a free hit for pretty much every team at the moment.
They’re going to do a job on much better sides than us.
That said, as we’ve shown in the past we are capable of raising our game every now and then and we definitely have players able to make the impossible possible.
For all the common sense reasons – and my pitiful showing in the prediction league, I’m letting my head rule my heart regarding the score!
C.O.Y.W….
I really can’t see anything other than a loss tomorrow, but I hope for a good performance and backing by the crowd.
We have some really good players and if and when they gel we could be in for some good games. But it is early days so my expectations will have a modicum of patience I hope. We may be surprised and, if so, the exhilaration will be incredible.
With my ‘sensible’ hat on i go for a 3-1 loss. I feel treacherous for that and hope we are unbelievably good…
Happy if they keep it close.
As long as we show that we’re improving, I’ll be pleased.
Not bothering with the prediction league this year but i really fancy us in this one .
I would have preferred a later kickoff to add to the atmosphere but heyho it works for both teams I guess.
All the usual boring lazy pundits have already bagged the 3 points for citeh without much consideration for wolves but who cares!
I fancy us to win tomorrow , not just because we have had an extra week to prepare and they played midweek, but because we currently have in my very humble opinion,
‘the best squad of players in the history of the world famous Wolverhampton wanderers.
The fact that fosun bought nunes, Guedes collins and belatedly costa and kept Neto, neves, mautino ( spelling ?)
Is remarkable.
Citeh have no idea what is going to hit them tomorrow imo. 5 subs will play right into our hands , not theirs, with plenty of options later on to scare the shit out of them.
No doubt by 3 o clock tomorrow, Liverpool will be buying nunes, neves . Arsenal will be buying Neto, man city will be buying RAN , and Chelsea will be buying the future England centre half kilman ( after putting Harland in his back pocket)
.
Come on you mighty wolves.
On another note….,
If any of you lovely people happen to be away season ticket holders , and for whatever reason, are unable to attend the Xmas fixtures away at Villa- Everton ( I know, looooong shot , but I gotta start somewhere) I’m looking for tickets as I’m over with my boy .
Message me
Heritage. Decorations @bigpond.com
0418-904-485
Paul ( marney)
Potential positives – Villa held them to a draw, they’ve been vulnerable at the back. Negatives – They battered us only a few months ago when it was men against boys. And now they’ve got Haaland.
I’m expecting the gulf in class to tell. Just hope we’re still in it at half time.
Haaland is an absolute machine and I just can’t see our defensive pairing of Collins and Kilman stopping him scoring even though they are already building a great reputation. Would love to see Costa running at the Man City defence with Adama and Neto either side. I think it’s a big blow that Raul is out, so even though I would like to be more optimistic it’s a defeat for me.
4.30 am local time for kick off
Yes, I’ll be asleep
Media blackout observed I’ll be watching ‘live’ with a cappuccino and mimosa around 8am whilst most of the bloggers will have PTSD
Hope we start Traore and it will be fun to see Costa at some point
Meantime I’m not expecting any miracles
Playing and testing yourselves against the likes of Man City and the rest of the ‘so called big 6’ is the reason to be in the Premiership surely. If we’re scared of them what’s the point of being here? Financial benefits? Not for the fans of Wolves or any club I reckon. I wish we would take a few more risks/be adventurous with team selection, game plan and as individual players and ‘show off’ the undoubted talents of our own stars. Is it only me who’d rather lose 3-4 after a fight than a frustrating 0-1? But cannot wait to see Costa, hoping he stirs it up, and hope Raul gets fully fit and rediscovers his mojo soon, but in the meantime, Adama should be getting at least 40 minutes in every game, starting (Preston for example) or on after a few minutes of the second half. I’d play him down the middle tomorrow with plenty of balls over the top and in from the wings. Not gonna happen obvs, but I’ll still leave home at some unearthly hour to be there!
Playing City tomorrow reminded me of the Asia cup a couple of years ago…
Wolves with an incredible defensive unit and City with big scoring hitters.. reminding you of the result .. 0-0 with us winning on pens..
Ok the personnel have changed for both teams but I think we’ve improved defensively too and although the system has changed to a back 4… we have some pretty impressive midfielders and now we have a brute of a centre fwd.
Looks like Jimenez won’t be available but in Costa and Traore we have two who will scare the sh@t out of defenders… I hope we can have the confidence to put city under done pressure…
And it’s refreshing to realise that the little git Sterling won’t be diving about.,. … oooh forgot about Grealish for a moment.
Anthony Taylor is ref.. so hopefully he can be fair and unbiased .. and give us a penalty.. lol
Tough game got players all over the pitch that can hurt us but also can hurt them, sadly looks like we will be without a number 9 again. Get Diego fit over the next few weeks and hopefully he will have a massive impact
I really struggle with forecasting a Wolves loss in any game. My heart says we can get a draw. Villa did. My head says we will lose. I just hope we don’t get the thrashing we had at the end of last season. We can’t spend 90 minutes defending and trying to frustrate City, but if we go for it, we will get punished. This is a game when all of our players have to be up for it.
Indeed so mate, but I do think we have more chance if we try to compete offensively. Simply sitting back and trying to defend our way to a draw plays to their strengths. They love to have the ball and to attack. So inviting them on to us is playing into their hands, therefore we should try to take them out of their comfort zone by attacking them and competing in midfield.
That’s what I think we should do, but alas I still think that obviously they’re a juggernaut and hence my negatively resigned scorecast…….
Lots of great opinions above and I go with the
‘no fear, play our game changers if they are fit’ viewpoint. There is no doubt City are everything we strive to be- their desire to win the ball back in the chastening defeat last season kept us on the back foot for almost all the match. To my mind we must involve both Traore’s for at least 30 minutes and take the game to City. Raul is out and Costa is very unlikely to play any part. In fact when DC is fully match fit I don’t think Raul will feature at all unless in the No. 10 role. Having witnessed us beat City in the past against all odds, I’m going with another unlikely win. COYW
Beginning to think Raul Jimenez will not kick a ball in anger again for us.
Just hope we give em a game and make a fight of it.
Still won’t predict a loss! Would like to see Traore & Costa on together & some point, both should be chomping at the bit to go.
Not really bothered about the prediction league now but may as well put it in.
COYW
Shame about Raul being out. This match is probably too soon for Costa, but he will be chomping at the bit to come on. His presence alone will help but I reckon it will be for a cameo only. Given Raul’s latest setback it’s probably foolish to take chances with Costa’s fitness. I’ve stuck money on us to win, at great odds, and I’ll second this for the prediction league. 2-1 us.
Syd Barrett out of Pink Floyd once sang “I know a mouse and he hasn’t got a house. I don’t know why I call him Gerald”. Which is absolutely splendid. Well not for the mouse. Because he hasn’t got a house. But the fact he is called Gerald is great. If I had a mouse in my house, I would also call it Gerald. In fact all mice should be called Gerald really. Or Betty. I mention mice because I remember Tom and Jerry who was a mouse. And scared the living daylights out of the lady in that particular house. Which is exactly what will happen to that massive git up front for Citeh. I have it on good authority from Henrietta the psychic slug that a mouse, called Gerald, with a Kim Jong-Un haircut , will enter the field of play after 6 minutes and proceed to trip Haaland up resulting in a terrible injury and him being substituted. Our defenders will be so relieved we will literally turn in to Brazil and give Citeh a right good thrashing. By 5-1. After the game Pep said ” It all started so well. Unfortunately a mouse with a Kim Jong-Un hairstyle entered the field of play and incapacitated our striker. I wouldn’t have minded so much if the mouse had the Simon Le Bon 1982 style but so be it. We take the defeat and move on”. Bruno said ” The mouse is currently tucking in to pie and chips in my office. I will let hom lose at West Ham I think. Although I might give him a new hair cut. Like George Berry or sonething”. WWFC 5 CITEH 1.
Think we’ve got a good squad, but it’ll take time to settle in. Heart says draw, head says loss.
It’s a funny old game.
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Think this one will be closer than expected, but City are just too much to handle right now.
A quick goal from us but a 2nd half response from them.
I hope we can get something but logic says we will be steamrollered.
With no football last weekend Wolves should be recovered and up for it. After playing on Wednesday, City ought to be leg weary. But that isn’t always the way, particularly with their strength in depth.
I imagine this match has come too early for Costa but I’m wondering if Boubacar is ready for us. It could be interesting to see two Traores on the prowl!
Being optimistic this week…
The fact is, for all their attacking talent, they are dodgy at the back and in Akanji have a centre half who is seriously error prone. Do we have the forward power to take advantage? Unlikely but it has been unlikely before and we’ve triumphed. Can’t see it this time though.
Hoping the team is starting to gel. Never can predict a loss.
We have the weapons to put a dent in their march to a seemingly inevitable league title.
We’ve had time on the training pitch and time to rest up and prepare. We need to play the guys who can do the unexpected. Danny P, Adama T, Mateus N.
Our best,most important weapon? Max Kilman. He will come of age in this and show the world how to snuff out Haaland.
And make Southgate look foolish.
That’s already happened many times, particularly his negative tactics that threw away the European title when it was there for the taking. Agree though.
A win would be amazing
A draw would be excellent
A loss is most likely
Agreed Ash, but our injuries/lack of match fitness worry me.
Hate predicting against our lads, but can’t see us creating an upset.
UTW!
Just hoping our defense is able to keep the score line reasonable but as usual can’t see us scoring anything other than from the penalty spot, fingers crossed.
Wolves 0 – 2 City
Penalty? Us? Against Citeh?
Now you’re venturing into the realms of fantasy.
FOwb
Sadly I can only see a loss here. Hopefully not too many goals for them.
Not expecting to get anything really but refuse to predict a los.
Can’t see anything less than a defeat. Keeping the score down is the priority
I’m going out for a walk on Hergest Ridge and when I get back everything will be beautiful …
Guardiola is very complementary about us in his press conference. Managing expectations? Playing mind games?
I don’t really care. I want us to play at speed. Also get the ball to the front players as soon as possible.
I’m not expecting a win – although that would be fab – but a draw is possible.
Tough one. We are at home, Man City played just over 2 days ago.
But we’re without a recognized striker apart from Canny Costa, but he hasn’t played competitively since January.
They have a fully fit squad and Haaland who is scoring for fun and scoring more than most teams are managing, especially us.
So, it’s a free hit.
Trust our defence and unleash Traore.
What’s the worst that can happen?
UTW
OK let’s be optimistic
We’ll stop Haaland scoring
COYW
Too early for us.
Over the moon if we get a point, but can’t, just can’t predict a loss. Which I’m expecting.
Can’t see anything here.
If the vile can get a draw and the toon can put 3 past them then we can go 1 better .
C’mon max tame the monster and show that twat southgate whata bollock he’s dropped.
cOSTA THE WINNER 85 MINUTES
GRRRRRRRR !!!
Had our chances but up against 4 billion squad. Shame Collins didn’t get a bit higher on Greasy.
Interesting in a bar in Bangkok and most of the bar shouting for Wolves. So, that did cheer me up slightly.
KTF.
All that matters is what team you are on.
Picture
Picture. Let’s try this again.
It won’t let me post a picture of Haalang with his foot head high when an opposing player was trying to head the ball.
So why does Haaland get to kick his foot 5 or 6 ft in the air without getting so much as a card?
Asking for a friend.