Every time we’ve won a Premier League game this season, we’ve followed up with a defeat.
That’s something Wolves need to address, but it’ll be tough to break that trend on Sunday, especially if the cup exit is anything to go by.
The Liverpool game showed that however many strikers we throw at the problem, scoring remains the issue.
On the plus side, this team still tend to do all their damage on the counterattack and there will be plenty of opportunities to do that in this game.
Any result other than a defeat would be significant.
Man City
I watched City’s comeback win over Spurs last night and was impressed with how they managed that game after conceding the first two goals.
It wasn’t a typical Pep performance (which probably explains his bizarre post-match demeanour) but they bulldozed their way through repeatedly to get the job done.
Foden, De Bruyne and Cancelo all sat on the bench with their feet up while Dias, Walker and Silva only had token minutes right at the end. That’s what you call squad depth and it gives Pep no shortage of options for Sunday.
They lost to Brentford and drew with Everton in fairly recent times, which should at least give us hope of causing a similar upset.
But 35 goals scored at home already (50 overall) is a scary prospect, particularly with Haaland back among them after a two game ‘drought’.
Wolves
Subject to injury there are plenty of options for Lopetegui to choose right across the pitch, but this is what I’d expect to see.
Pablo Sarabia hasn’t come to sit on the bench, but hasn’t had a huge amount of minutes so it would be a bold move to throw him straight in at the Etihad. His output suggests he could be a problem solver in the weeks ahead.
This is definitely the type of game Mario Lemina was drafted in to play so I’ll be surprised if he’s not in the starting XI.
Moutinho, Ait-Nouri, Jonny, Toti, Traore, Raul and Costa are other realistic options depending on the shape and tactics the coach wants to deploy.
Predictions
Well done to Ben Rasmin, Rich, Woodend wolf, Matt Cook, Mike Jones and Wishfart who all correctly predicted the 1-0 scoreline against West Ham.
Rich extends his lead at the top of the overall table to 5 points at the end of Gameweek 19.
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!
Gotta be realistic about this one. Hope we give them a game and there are signs they might not quite be the City of recent seasons, but I still expect them to win.
I’ve got to keep going with a win despite losing so many Prediction League points.
This could be the shocker we need!
COYW
It’s difficult to predict how much and how quickly our new signings will improve our performances. However, it’s simple to predict they’ll have to have a very large and very rapid effect if we are to glean any points from this.
I do agree that soak it up and hit ’em on the counter seems to be the way to go. Whatever assets we lack, pace up front is not one of them and we have to make full use of the few advantages we have. Try to keep Adama and Hwang high up the pitch to stop them squeezing us around our own box.
It all sounds very simple. And after all, we’ve done ’em before. Several times.
COYW
Difficult game to state the obvious. Really hope for a good showing displaying our improving performances but not so concerned with the result. Don’t misunderstand me, City have been shaky of late and anything can happen.
Would leave RAN and Tarore on the bench but would bring them on very early in the second half.
Not the type of game for Moutinho, rest him.
The current chilly weather will ensure a freak snow bizzard hits the Etihad at about 14.10 on Sunday afternoon. A massive flake of snow will land on KDB’s head thus rendering him temporarily unable to see properly. The imbalance caused to the Citeh rhythm will spread panic amongst their ranks to the extent John Stones seeks psychiatric help for an impromptu anxiety attack. To compound the Citeh dissaray a stray antelope called Fiona will run on to the pitch. Stop for a shit and then run off towards Pep who is unable to get out of the way. Fiona runs him over. With KDB, John Stones and Pep all incapacitated the antelope gallops off up in to the TV gantry and proceeds to headbut the expensive cameras. thus renedering VAR as useless. Meanwhile out on the pitch referee David Coote gets stuck in the antelope shit and is unable to run about giving yellow cards to Wolves players, silly free kicks for falling over and ridiculous outlandish penalties to Citeh. So with the WWFC players now free of the ref/VAR they take Citeh apart and come away with a 3-1 win. After the match J-LO said ” It’s about time something went in our favour and what a time for a stray antelope to run on the field and have a shit. Most welcome. But it is only 3 points and we are happy for only 2 hours”. Pep said ” What with that stray antelope and me, john Stones, KDB, the ref and VAR all out of commission were on a hiding to nothing . I think I might complain to David Attenborough or someone who knows about antelopes. It’s ridiculous” . CITEH 1 WWFC 3.
This is exactly the kind of content I come here for, cheers. I think we will sneak a draw possibly even without the intervention of wildlife.
What would life be without wildlife interfering with premier league matches. I wouldn’t be surprised if an arctic fox attacks Edison at a corner.
The mistake that Spurs made last night , is when they came out second half , with the obvious advice of ‘ keep it tight !” still ringing in their ears , is that they only had two goals .
Our best tactics would be to score our five goals before half time and then .. “keep it tight ”
I can see Man City possibly getting a goal though as they have one or two good players
To get anything out of this game is going to be a bonus. We have beaten them previously as we know – good old Adama. Be nice for him to rekindle his lighting speed along with accuracy at the same time.
Head or heart. That’s the dilemma.
It’s tough to predict anyone beating city but it does happen.
I’ve no idea what the team will look like tomorrow. I suspect we’ll start with something familiar but end the game with a team which might look more like our future.
So my heart is saying we’re in with a chance but the head is refusing to play ball.
It looks like we’ve got Dawson then.
I should think that will rule out any possible chance of Coady coming back.
I think we need to get him in the defence ASAP. Although whether it’s to replace Collins or Kilman is more problematic.
They both are in need of an old hand to steady the ship.
Manchester City are not being too clever at the back at the moment, so I think we’ve got a chance of scoring.
(Lads! The goal’s that netty thing surrounded by those three white sticky things).
We just need to keep them out.
A tall order.
Let’s go for a draw.
The thing about Coady is that he is, I believe, on an option to buy, not obligation.
If Everton go down and they can no longer afford him, he’s coming back. Unless we can find another buyer.
Difficult to see us getting anything out of this, especially when we struggle to score.
Get rid of Coady, Boly, Donk, Saiss and bring in Dawson?
The next two games are the perfect illustration of why our relegation battle will likely go to the wire. 4 league games in and JL has achieved a healthy 7point return which is probably just ahead of what we need to beat the drop. However, lose two tough games v Man City and Liverpool and we are tracking behind where we need to be. We have to get something out of at least one of these games, ideally something out of both and so as the games now counts down, the pressure on each game intensifies. With still no sign of an effective centre forward, very early days for Cunha but if I’m honest I don’t think he alone is the answer, we are still in a very dangerous place. Best of luck to JL, the team and the new signings over the forthcoming weeks. Good riddance to Guedes – he was never interested – another monumental waste of money at the hands of Jeff and Jorge’s clueless transfer strategy.
Plenty of people were excited by the Guedes signing. Not just Jeff.
I’m not sure how you can get excited by any of our signings really now. You know that pretty much all will be driven by criteria not primarily focussed on footballing reasons and likely involving mendes shuffling players between his stable of affiliated clubs. Nunes and Cunha will likely be equally disappointing in time. I hope I’m wrong but have you seen anything yet that warrants a combined £80m+ spend? Shi’s incompetence in transfer dealings is on another level to the “ golden tit” era that Sir Jack pinned to himself but his ambition was misguided from a place of love and affection, Shi’s is just incompetence compounded by a highly dubious affiliation to Mendes.
Come on mate we have been very successful up to the point Raul got smashed into.
Well maybe I’m naive but I thought that Lopetegui and his team have been driving the signings since he arrived. The Sarabdeal has the potential to outrank the Moutinho acquisition in value for money terms and that would be saying something. We haven’t had value for money for years so it seems something is changing.
Sarabia!
From the little seen from Cunha so far he’s seemed to have awesome potential; he’ll be scoring and making goals for the rest of the season, and become a talismanic Wolves player.
Going to be a close one this.
Cited will be the underdog and probably very nervous.
I can completely understand if they are as they are yesterday’s team .
Up step the mighty Wolverhampton wanderers.
It’s because of the upside down picture that the league presents that I’m going for ‘a Clive ‘
Miss the old fella on here….
Lets get this one out the way
Tough one this , for the 1st time i am predicting a loss
meaning we will win 2-0
I’m optimistic about the remainder of the Wolves’ season, but it feels like the wrong time to really have a chance in this one.
Prior to City’s comeback win last night and Pep’s clever post-match rant, I’d have fancied to maybe cause an upset here. But I think there’s realistically only one outcome, though I expect us to put up more than a fight.
At half time yesterday I was fearing retribution on Sunday
Then the Mahrez show …. And I fear continuation on Sunday … if not him then KdB back to haunt us.
We’ve made life more difficult in these matches by playing with 10 men But even sneaking 12 on won’t quite be enough
Stick Traore on just to distract them and tell him to stay near the halfway line… who knows what could happen?
In any event keep the score down lads please
I don’t consider myself an expert in the tactical department and certainly don’t know much about the players coming in, but Ait Nori has been a joy to watch recently and has looked increasingly threatening. If he could be crow barred into the side somehow I would very happy. Plus if hitting them on the break is our most likely route to goal then you’d want his pace a trickery in their somewhere.
But what I do know is that whoever we pick, we will do well to get anything out of this game. Yes, City have dropped points against some average sides recently, and we have shown some promise in the last few games. But they have quality in spades and, against a team on flux like ours, you’d have to expect them to take the points .
Let’s see what our new guys can do though, you never know.
Absolutely agree about RAN! He is an exciting player with lots of excitment, and when he goes forward he is more exciting than Adama! Will be a superstar in the future!
Just had to stop shooting straight at the goalie!
Looking at the angles, when a forward goes to shoot toward goal with the goalkeeper coming out there is really no way to avoid it, you need to go round him, or chip over……
To suggest attack is the best form of attack against Man City would surely be suicidal…. However….
When we played Liverpool in the cup at Anfield (which we won btw) we looked very threatening when we took the game to the opposition.
So is it stick or twist …
My strategy would be to set up 4:5:1 .. similar to the Asia cup a few years ago and ..”keep it tight” …( I know in contradiction to Spurs efforts the other night.) and frustrate them but have that arrow through the heart speed merchant up front (Adama).
It’s going to take an almighty effort .. any team putting 4 past Lloris are in good form.. but it’s 11 v 11 on the day ..
Can’t help but feel City will have too much in the tank despite our best efforts ..
I don’t think this is beyond us, but bearing in mind City’s last few games and their undoubted class, I expect them to win.
However, it is a free hit for us and maybe our newbies might gel.
So I hope I’m wrong in the result as I see it…
Feeling a bit pessimistic after watching that cheerless Liverpool game. Play out from the back indeed. Other recipes for disaster shouldn’t be entertained.
Is it 3 years since Traore’s brace at the Twatihad? The scamp could do with finding another couple this time out. Please.
Lets hope Pep takes a word of advice from Bob Marley,’ ‘Have pity on those whose chances grow thinner.’ Or gets run over by a motorised stretcher.
1 lv & COYW
Great to see new signings coming in, but realistically our season does not depend on this fixture.
Unfortunately City are a class above us for the time being.
Moving onwards
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Tough next two. Hope to get some points but can’t see it in this match.
Back from the icy wastes of Chester, celebrating my 70th birthday, to the icy wastes of …..Wolverhampton.
I’m back now and enjoying a cracking English malt whiskey, courtesy of some fine friends. I’m feeling chilled, in a good way, contemplating an intriguing struggle between an imperious City side and a Wolves team looking to find its’ fangs.
Maybe it is a game too soon, but I’m warming to the idea of Adama and/or Hwang courting the halfway line and keeping the City rearguard on its’ toes, whilst the rest of the team see off the opposition’s attack. It could be an interesting struggle. Anything other than a City win will be a result.
Hope you had a lovely birthday.
Yes, thanks Fran, it was lovely. Not hectic, just chilled.
Since when have you been anything other WP.
Hope we at least out up a spirited performance and don’t roll over like we did in the home game. Not holding out much hope for a win but miracles can happen (and have 2?years ago).
After a cold but great month back in blighty, catching 4 games and 7 points,it will be nice to get my shorts back on for this one.
I’m in Singapore so will no doubt be surrounded by loads of very recent and very plastic citeh fans .
A very pleasant 10 pm kickoff Sunday gives us plenty of ‘ warm up drinks’ time so keeping fingers crossed for a result.
I hate the thought of us dropping back to the bottom of the table but I think we will if we lose the next two.
So,,, the next two games don’t look like free hits for me, I think we need a result in one of them at least .
Pep is trying to big up the mancs to make some noise which is embarrassing really.
They have scored bucket loads of goals- we are the lowest scoring team so I can’t see anything other than a Desmond
Got my new training shirt ironed and my son and I are ready to make a little noise of ourselves should we get amongst em and get the result.
Come on you wolves
Where in S.pore are you Marney.? Spent a lot of my life there when I was a kid.
Hi prawny, we are at the Conrad Hilton by suntec, we usually stay at the Swiss hotel Stamford but having a change ( cos the business lounge is a bit more generous lol)
We will walk through to chimes or Clark quey to watch the match at any of the bars – restaurants ( outside hopefully if it isn’t raining)
We love it here and have been many times, have friends who have lived here and my wife always hoped for the opportunity but was never lucky enough!
Did your family work there or are you a Singapore citizen! Either way , it would have been a nice childhood I would imagine?
Utw
My Dad has residency although only lives there part time now. I still visit although each time I go I get lost because it changes so quickly.
Last visit we treated ourselves to a couple of days in the Marina Bay Sands which is incredible. Just at home in some of the little markets too though.
Cant decide whether to go for a heartbreaking 0-1 or a heartbreaking 0-3
I really can’t see us getting anything against the Man C machine. Best I can hope for is we sneak a goal. They are also taking iit seriously as they rested some top players from their last game.
.
There is enough experience, skill and ability within our squad to upset City’s momentum and get a result. They will this as a routine win against a bottom of the league side who are porous and cannot score.
Well you make your own luck and if all 16 players play to their potential we can win – so 2 nil to the Black Country fighters. COYW
I cant see anything other than defeat in this one. That said if we can create opportunities on the break hopefully we can give them a game.
We’ll score two goals, but VAR will intervene and declare the ball actually went in our net both times (and the camera person will be filming a cat on the pitch so there will be no evidence to say it didn’t happen as VAR said…).
Doubt we can get anything from this one. Hoping for a draw but predicting a heavy defeat.
Under any circumstances this will be a tough game just looking for us to compete and take some positives going forwards
Well we were dreadful against Liverpool in the cup replay. Our worst performance under Lopetegui I thought and if we do the same against Citeh we’ll reap the whirlwind.
We continue to struggle to score and Collins looks worse with every passing match. Therefore emphatic defeat would seem to be the only realistic prediction I’m afraid.
C’mon Wolves! Prove me wrong!
It starts here, we do City on our first step en route to top six contenders 🙂
A lot has been made, on this Blog of the departure of Boly and Coady, which I fully understand, but both are playing in teams threatened with relegation. So maybe not a huge loss?
I am don’t know if it was possible but I would love to have seen Ings coming to The Mol. But I think the signings made in this window, will improve the squad and at least there appears to be a plan.
We can beat Man City but it’s not very likely.
Indeed; Coady’s lack of pace has been noted in Everton’s latest defeat yesterday, and both he and Boly were regularly criticised on this blog. Equally Saiss – always good for a yellow card or conceding a penalty.
Collins was praised by commentators in the Liverpool game, and Elliot’s goal was one of those out of the blue which would have beaten most goalkeepers.
The blame game is very popular these days, from national politics to our favourite sport…….
The good news is that we’ve let one unhappy player go home, and signed a couple with close connections to Wolves and our great new manager; we’ll be fine.
Enjoy the game today; we may not win, but the recent improvement will continue and we’ll be fine going forward.
We need 4 points min from next two games.
If not, let’s create more evidence of referee corruption.
Wolves should hire a retired European referee or referees from one of the top leagues to review the games and give his opinion on the various controversial calls.
If he or they agree with what the fans say, then go after the referees with guns ablazing.
If the FA tries to fine them, then they bring the referee or referees into the hearing.
Can we keep them out? Very unlikely.
Will we score? Pretty unlikely.
Am I going to win the prediction league? Extremely unlikely.
Come on lads, do the unlikely.
If we play four at the back, City will score 4.
We need to adopt the Nuno model of 2019 which brought a famous victory, conceding possession but devastating on the counter, Traore and Cunha could do some damage.
The Gods say revenge for the shocking Jon Moss decision to penalise Moutinho’s armpit.
The Gods owe us a massive amount. Having said that I noticed about 4.30 this afternoon Leicester Bournemouth winning. Walked in pub it flashed up Southampton goal. Wham winning. I though fuckin hell. Got a pint. Sat down. Suddenly a golden 2 minutes!. Saints goal ruled out VAR. Forest equaliser. Brighton equaliser. Villa scored. Hey. Still out the bottom 3 even if we get hammered by Citeh.Maybe the Gods are smiling. Maybe they will tomorrow. You never know.
Just watched palace v Newcastle. Newcastle were shit. Eddie took Bournemouth down. He will be gone by this time next year.
Well they looked fairly decent to me (except when it came to putting it in the onion bag; seems teams other than us have that problem too!).
I thought they were quite ordinary. But there you go.
Think we get some points against Liverpool but not this one
May I be so bold as to say that those who have predicted that Wolves will lose by 3 or 4 haven’t being paying attention. Snr Lopetegui has the team defending as a unit and never giving up until the final whistle and is getting rid of players who don’t believe or who aren’t prepared to play their part in this plan. Thus Guedes has gone. He has also stated that the team are going to the Etihad Stadium to try for a victory. Mind games perhaps, but it’ll be interesting to see what strategy he uses in what is his biggest test thus far. Whatever it is, I trust that the players will all have brought into it and will all do their utmost to make it a success. It’s going to be interesting to see two skilled, intelligent managers trying to outwit each other. Of course Pep has more talent at his disposal, but I think we can get something out of this game, and if we don’t it’s no disgrace and won’t be through lack of consideration, planning or effort from the manager or the players. Good luck tomorrow lads!
In Julen we trust
In a squeaker
As much as I would love to see us get something out of this game, I just can’t see it. But it’s a game where JuLo will be expecting the team to put up a fight and not get rolled over. The squad is now much stronger but the newer players need a few days to bed in. I’m much more hopeful that we can beat Liverpool in the next match, despite the cup replay.
Smash and grab me hopes. The mighty Wolves are back.
We’ll give a creditable performance without any reward.
The Mancs will be expecting to win; we’ll be expecting to lose. What d’ you get?
Love some of the comments on here. Shows how true Wolves’ fans’ minds work when faced with hope (that’s you Cheesburger).
Very nervous about this match after Citeh demolished Spurned in the 2nd half of their match.
BUT it strikes me that despite all the spending by the “top top clubs” (copyright Paul Merson, stolen by Clinton Morrison) they have defensive frailties. Whether we are YET good enough to exploit them is the question.
As ever I’ll sacrifice my chance of winning the Prediction League by not predicting a Wolves loss and go for an honourable draw. (Whisper it, I’ll take a performance if we lose.)
Hoping a spirited Wolves performance might lead to a surprise point. No harm dreaming. 🙂