When Julen Lopetegui was paraded around the pitch before the Arsenal game in December it was clear he had a job on his hands.
Rousing the beleaguered, paper thin squad he inherited and getting them over the line in any game felt like climbing Everest.
But hope has quickly turned to belief in his short tenure and this comprehensive victory against the team we never beat gives further credence to the idea we’re moving in the right direction.
Liverpool are a mess, but pre-Christmas Wolves still wouldn’t have put them to the sword so this result owes to the good work that’s been done on and off the pitch in the last month and a bit.
It might have been an own goal that got the ball rolling but the inventive forward pass from Sarabia made it possible.
And if Dawson was just in the right place to slam home the second, that’s more than Kilman and Collins were able to produce in the first half of the season combined.
‘Things we didn’t have before’ would be a good motif for the victory and if one player personified the change it was Lemina, providing power and energy to our previously static midfield.
I hope the injury he suffered late on can be shaken off without fuss because we need him in the pivotal run of games to come.
It’s not all ‘out with the old’ though. Ruben put in another captain’s shift and scored a superb, killed third, ably assisted by tenacious midfield play from Moutinho and the raw pace of Adama.
And when he was called upon, Sa produced two fine saves to deny Darwin Nunez. That was a pleasing comeback following his shenanigans at The Etihad.
Our own Nunes didn’t have his best game and added another miss to a growing catalogue of wasted chances this season. But he stuck to his task well enough in an unfamiliar position out wide.
Collectively, the only criticism might be not coping better with the red tidal wave in the first 25 minutes of the second half. But we knew they’d come on strong and have the quality to dominate. And, having got the decisive third goal on the break it’s hard to argue with the game plan.
No, this is one to savour. A victory that owes to perfect planning, relentless effort and great execution by all involved at the club.
It’s been a while since we’ve been able to say that.
Incredible!!!!
Can’t add any more.
Just absolutely brilliant.
Team selection spot on, all the deadwood benched in favour of new signings and rightly so. JL has brought fresh vision to the club after 3 years of stagnation or worse. Good to have someone running the show who knows what he wants AND what he’s doing unlike Lage.; still disappointed we don’t have a fit outright striker but don’t care now, looks as if Lopetegui can do it his way.
“Out of the darkness cometh light”.
And yes you just had to mention a striker didn’t you? Ffs, Chelsea with their billiona can’t find one so what chace have we? You’ll just have to get used to a highly mobile 21st century forward line.
billions and chance!
Think I rather admitted to that. But you just had to keep repeating yourself-“highly mobile 21st century forward line” is exactly what I meant when I acknowledged that JL could make it work his way – try reading between the lines instead of pointless nit picking ffs.
I think that you might have been the one nitpicking when mentioning an ‘outright striker’ whatever that creature is. If not then why mention it in the first place?
Oh dear.
Really don’t care as long as we score enough goals to keep us up and move on. Doesn’t matter who scores them as long as we achieve the main objective.
Ghost off liverpool put to bed, Dawson and lemelia awesome, enjoy your weekend, I’m going to drink a bottle off single malt scotch, I love u all my bloggers, weekend is so much better, God bless u all.
Enjoy the scotch chap . Wolves ay we.
Thank u sir
While Liverpool were awful by their standards of the last 5/6 years we took our chances and held firm when they dominated. Everyone played their part today and it felt like a return to Nuno’s times with the crowd and team feeding off each other. Thanks to your inspiration I’m now going to dust off the Lagavulin.
SUPER MARIO LEMINA. Every where. Breaking it up. Man of the match for me. Aside from the post half time blitzkreig which we managed out. J Lo again spotted danger and immediately got subs on. 4 points Saints Bournemouth???
Fantastic result! I said we were going to stuff them but didn’t expect that score line!
It’s a pity that Leicester and Everton also won and West Ham drew. It’s so tight down there!
I’m definitely up for six points from the next two games! Saints and Cherries can be beaten.
Now that was a beautiful sight to behold. We so much owed this cheating bunch and hearing Klipperty’s rant at the journo in the post match press conference made it all the more enjoyable.
A great team performance but special mention to the likes of Lemina and Dawson. I was so pleased to see Dawson coming in for Collins, again a sign that the manager is right on the mark with not only early subs to change an outcome of a game but doesn’t just run with the ‘I will stick with the usual suspects’. This guy will select from a training session perspective .
Neves also awesome and a beautiful finish. Adama did himself proud. Sa on the road to redemption (although I keep the toilet roll handy every time he has ball to feet in the penalty area because you know he is toying with the idea of trying a dribble to the halfway line).
An all round great performance but most importantly pride is being restored and I am once again looking forward to games. The mousers robbed us of a cup run but for me this was the game win we to needed, good luck to them on their run to Wembley, oops forgot they are already out.
Onwards and upwards
I used to right dead good England me when I was a children,
Should have read ‘for me this was the game we needed to win’ , too much excitement, need some of Binda Maan’s malt whisky especially if it is an Edradour, enjoy MOTD everyone
The Mousers is a much better term, maybe Lo(u)sers would be even better
Excellent commitment and intensity. 10 points from 6 pl games keeps us on track to beat the drop, so well done to JL and his staff . Still a long way to go but following this up with wins against Southampton and Bournemouth should mean we will definitely feel like we’ve turned a corner. Keep up the good work!
couldn’t get my 5 v 1 prediction on sue to no signal at the lych
brilliant game but my mate who i sit next to was telling me that Fosun have paid off all loans and debts in full in recent weeks to pave the way for what he believes to be an arab / saudi takeover… anyone else hearing anything?
I think we are part of Fosun Sports Group. I think we are quite precious to them. I can’t see them selling up. We are a valuable asset and my opinion is that they will want us to continue to grow. Of course. I might also be talking a load of bollocks!!
not what i was hearing cheese .. i too might be talking bollocks but the bloke that told me is a very successful businessman who knows a lot about money and is a massive wolves fan .
No Cheeseburger, I don`t think you are talking rot.
It`s well known in financial circles that the Fosun empire is under massive financial pressure, in that their main trading operations have faltered badly in recent times. A take-over, or a massive injection of funds from another source has been rumored for some time, so the present rumor is not unexpected and may well have legs.
But the reality is that Mr. Goa seems not only to have a genuine interest in football, but understands the longer term benefits to Fosun of owning a successful Premiership team. This would explain his sanctioning of the massive spend during the recent January window
I believe that his long term plans for Wolves remain intact — despite the fact that the structure of his business empire could well change. From a PR perspective this makes huge commercial sense, in that relative to the value of the Fosun business as a whole, the investment in our club is relatively minor. If we are successful Fosun, in either its present s guise or within a new structure, would have much to gain on the international stage.
This is a time for us to be optimistic.
Brompton is surely smiling down
RIP my friend
Well, well, very well with knobs on.
2 goals in 12 minutes, one from our new striker, Craig ‘The Monster’ Dawson. I call that a statement win. The statement being, ‘We spent enough dough to keep VAR off our backs and our team in the Prem.’
Indeed Kenny Hibbitt now has a pass key at the Refs Monitoring Station, leaving no hiding place for the Men in Black.
Of course all the analysis will be about the Crises in Red, Klopp’s spiralling dental bills and isn’t it time they exhumed Bill Shankly?
But that’s just sour grapes, Wolves were awesome. A clean sheet for Jose Sa, and an upward adjustment to our frankly dismal GD. Options off the bench, a manager with bottle, who can now write home about the wonderful time he’s having in WV1 and the spirit of fair play in the English game.
We’re going to need more of these performances going forward, but the moment is superb. To quote the great man.
“Sickness would not have kept me away from this one. If I’d been dead, I would have had them bring the casket to the ground, prop it up in the stands and cut a hole in the lid.”
At least a result worthy of our great supporters Brompton and CFH who will be chuffed up top.
1 lv & COYW.
Great tribute there at the end Rasta to 2 of the most beloved blokes on this blog.
Respects, Cheese. 1 lv.
This was not just a victory. It was a comprehensive destruction.
Our planning of the game, and the team`s formation adopted to execute it, was first class. Specifically the manner in which our coach identified and then exploited the weakness of the over-rated Trent Alexander was a masterclass. How rewarding it is it is to have coach who really understands his business !!
Since the whole team performed so admirably, to comment on individuals is probably not desirable. But I`m goin to do it anyway. Lemino in middle of the park was immense, doing all the essential grunt works and absolutely bossing his territory. This was a presence which we have missed for a very long time. Perhaps this guy is the biggest bargain of the January window.
Then there was the performance and influence of Dawson. The goal was a nice bonus, but for me it was how he took charge of marshalling the defense, which was the really important feature of his play. How good was it to see him shouting instruction and giving encouragement to Kilman, who without doubt upped his game considerably in response. The man is not only a first class defender, but he`s the leader we have not had since Coady was disgracefully shoved out by Bruno. In the coming games this quality will be invaluable.
Finally a word for Semedo. His early season performances were dire, and rightly resulted in mass criticism from all of us. But since the arrival of the new coach he has been transformed, and today`s performance was a master class. Great getting forward, but now defending with confidence and assurance.
How good it is guys to be able to enjoy the rest of our weekend on the back of such a great team performance. We have not had such an experience for a very long time, but its no longer unreasonable for us to expect there`ll be many more to come.
What a fantastic day. Lemina and Dawson awesome. The others were all excellent. Passion, commitment throughout the team. And three goals plus a clean sheet. I’m so proud of this performance.
The kind of performance, the kind of result, we haven’t enjoyed since those halcyon early Nuno days. And the feel around Molineux during this game also reminded me of that period. The buzz is back. On the terraces. On the pitch.
The dream is alive once more.
We’re Wolverhampton, we’re on our way back.
Out of darkness, cometh light.
And ain’t that Lemina something else.
COYW
I hoped Wolves would “MAKE MY DAY” a la Clint Eastwood! Well, not only did they make my day, but they made my week! Brilliant performance from all, and if there is any downside, it is that we did not score four! Beautiful goal by Neves too! I
What a performance, it was a long time coming, but when it arrived it was pure joy! One for the memory banks!I
Ole, ole ole ole ole, how I enjoyed that at the end!! Ole ole ole!!!
Lemina 9 million.
Dawson 3 million.
Sarabia 4 million.
Bargain basement buys, but WHAT BARGAINS!
The whole team were superb today. Lead by an inspirational captain and a manager who is forging us into a proper team.
I don’t remember hearing Molineux as loud, or visiting Liverpool fans so quiet. The only one who showed any passion was taken away by the stewards.
A perfect afternoon rounded off with some serious celebrating at The West Parkian residence.
We raised countless glasses to Steve and will no doubt regret it in the morning.
But, in the words of the great Barry Davies “Frankly, who cares?”.
I saw that. Why was he taken away.
One word…. Justice.
Oh, send them the bill for the damage done to the seats, yet again. and ban those responsible too.
KTF
With the general IQ of that lot, probably though they were hub caps.
BISH.
BASH.
BOSH.
Lopetegui is building something special. The signs were there on the day of his arrival. He’s a big personality, great energy, vast experience; a winner.
We should savour the win over Liverpool. Then it’s back to work.
17 games to go. “How far up the table can we get ?” That’s a far better question to ponder than “will we survive “.
Let’s enjoy the rest of this season. I’ve a feeling it’s going to be a spring board into another Old Golden Era.
UTW
A great performance but, because I’m a Wolves fan, I can’t look on the bright side for too long! LOL
The Express & Star report has J-Lo mentioning that we have lost Hwang for a while with a ham-string injury, but I’m more concerned about Lemina; was his substitution precautionary?
Please don’t tell me we’ve lost another debutant to injury after less than 90 minutes?
As the bloke was battered and bruised and limping to boot, it wasn’t precautionary but hopefully his recovery powers are good.
Yes great win that and one to savour. Lopetegui called for more English influence in the dressing room, enter Craig Dawson and Darren Bentley. But also the choice of music before the game was an unusual blast from the past! The Smiths! Plus a real standard favourite from the glorious early 70’s The Wonder of You!
Anyway he’s made a real good start to his quest of keeping us up, we now have the right options from the bench that you need to have a fighting chance of staying in this toughest of tough leagues.
It’s not done yet and there’s plenty more blood, sweat and not too many tears to come(I hope), but we now have the right Manager in place.
With Lopetegui’s current points return out of 6 games, we’d have been at the other end of the table now if he’d been with us from August. Wishful thinking, yes, but a vivid illustration of how poor choices lead to very poor outcomes.
All players did their bit yesterday, Samedo continued his upsurge in form, Limina looked awesome, and Neves played an almost perfect game.
Not counting my chickens just yet but this is a great boost to survival chances. No letting up now. Onwards and upwards, for the re-born Pack.
The refreshing choice of music was noted by the PMDG’er and myself too.
And also the “Hi Ho Wolverhampton” shout at the start of the second half.
We had a brief meeting and decided that we approved.
Maybe next time a bit of Led Zep and Elgar to honour two Wolves fan music greats. But I found the choices of sounds before the game worked well. The great performance that followed topped it but more of the same in both Music and football departments would be great.
Well, there is a bit of Led Zep now.
Just before the teams come out.
‘Kashmir’ from the Physical Graffiti album.
Still waiting for the Elgar piece though.
If anyone from the club is actually reading this, take note. The music before the kick off DOES make a difference. Previously it has been an abysmal cacophony of noise which doesn’t inspire or motivate anyone to clap, shout, chant or cheer.
So on Saturday we get “Bop in your seat” to Fleetwood Mac and then a good old Elvis karaoke “The Wonder of You” . Then HiHo gets belted out and the scousers below me are drowned out. This is more like it. This is like it was in the Nuno era and the ovation at the end was special and thoroughly deserved and we all trooped out to Rule The World, even a singalong in the Steve Bull concourse. So is it a coincidence that Wolves set fire to Liverpool’s defence in the first 20 minutes? No, because everyone on and off the pitch was up for it.
As for the performance, first class demolition job, Salah chasing shadows while we do the “Ole” , Henderson hands on hips shaking his head, Klopp having a grump, brilliant.
Dawson – a proper defender, Craddock like, no nonsense. None of this silly mark the space / zonal rubbish, get your man and stop him scoring.
Lemina – if it moves tackle it, if it doesn’t move, kick it, then tackle it.
Traore – has he finally learned to run into space beyond defenders and deliver a cross to a gold shirt? Adama sorted hopefully
Sarabia – has obviously played before, very classy
Neves – Imperious, keep him and pay him whatever Barca have offered.
Jimenez – with better service and support around him, He’s Raul and he will score!
No nonsense defending by Ait-Nouri. Just put it to the touch line if there is any question.
Other players, too.
There were too many goals given up by the opposition getting the ball because or players were trying to be too fancy around the edges of the 18 yard box.
Apparently Klipperty said the Wolves 3rd goal should not have stood.
His argument was that this was the only time that Wolves had been in their half for the whole of the second half, HOWEVER that was a Freudian slip what he really meant was VAR should have intervened to prevent liVARpool from conceding any more than 2 goals per game to anyone.
Bad losers anyone?
Fantastic performance and a vital result as Everton and West Ham also picked up “unexpected” results. But what a fantastic performance!!
Post World Cup mini league:
(1) Forest P6 11pts (1 gd)
(2) Wolves P6 10pts (1 gd)
(3) West Ham P6 5pts (-3 gd)
(4) Everton P6 4pt (-6 gd)
(5) Leicester P6 4pt (-5 gd)
(6) Leeds P6 3pts (-4 gd)
(7) Southampton P6 3pts (-7 gd)
(8) Bournemouth P6 1pt (-10gd)
Nearly forgot to say… credit where it’s due.
Paul Tierney refereed excellently yesterday.
What do ya say to a really good blast of Harry J Allstars Liquidator every time the lads score ?
I say yes!
Massive yes. The S***e always play it and the inevitable anti Wolves lyrics are belted out. Why shouldn’t we get it back out there ?
Woolly Bully by Sam the Sham & The Pharoahs. That’s what they came out to when I was a kid!
At least the commentators on the broadcast I saw were an ex-Wolves’ player and a commentator who knows Wolves and is a supporter.
I don’t see why they don’t use them for every Wolves home game instead of the other clubs’ broadcast team.
I thought they went out of their way to be unbiased and fair.
Did you notice the last mascot with Cunha. He was over 6 ft tall.
So what are the opinions regarding how Raul played?
My bet for a Wolves win came in at 3/1. I also bet for the win with BTTS to score at 6/1 but I’m glad I lost that one as the clean sheet was poetic justice. I have a feeling that even the authorities are wising up to VAT decisions going Liverpool’s way time after time. A week or two ago that Kilman ‘handball’ in the box might have been penalised immediately by the ref and not overturned by VAR, as no ‘clear and obvious error’. Revenge is soooo sweet…
I noted that the Man City error today leading to the Spurs goal was the sort of goal we used to concede, pissing around with passes in and around the penalty area. Not anymore. Craig Dawson has instilled and radiated confidence in defence.
RUBEN HERE. RUBEN THERE. RUBEN EVERY FUCKING WHERE!!! LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA.
So whats with Podence’s hair-do? It’s… special.
Right up there with when they went through the beard stage.
Maybe he lost a bet.
This was arguably our greatest win since promotion. To the best of my knowledge this is the first time we have beaten a big 6 side playing with a back 4. Granted, Lemina acted as a third centre back at times and his energy and bite shows how important he is to this side.
But JL had the bollocks to take Liverpool on. I feared he wouldn’t but we set our stall out from the off and rightly got at a side low on confidence. They couldn’t handle us. Once we were 2-0 up there was always going to come a time when Liverpool began to dominate the ball. And we were happy to let them, we had something to protect after all.
Klopp’s bitter and frankly ridiculous comments about our third goal really embarrass someone of clearly high football intelligence. Too often he comes across as the sore loser. We had to weather a storm at the start of the second half but we came through it and were worthy winners.
Much has already been said about Dawson and Lemina. What additions they are. Sarabia and Cunha both had decent outings too. And still Gomes to come! Something special looks to be brewing.
But for all the new arrivals, the old master wasn’t going to be overshadowed. Ruben Neves. What a delicious touch from that Adama centre which was fired into him. Many would have panicked, but he stayed ice cool. I still remind myself how lucky I am to watch him play. 6 points from the next 2 would be nice.
To channel my inner Monty Python I have to ask the question:
What have Fosun ever done for us?
Well, apart from rescuing us from the depths of the championship and a parsimonious penny-pinching owner? OK, well apart from that? Well, apart from buying two of the finest players ever to grace the old gold? Well, I grant you that, but apart from that what have Fosun ever done for us? Nuno? OK, I’ll give you that, and apart from Nuno? Promotion? Well, yes, OK but apart from that? Playing in Europe? All right, playing in Europe but apart from that what have Fosun ever done for us? Lopetegui? Thought you’d bring him up, but apart from Lopetegui what have Fosun ever done for us?
J Lo record 10 points. 6 games. Repeat that over next 17 games and we get to 46 points.
And when you think that 3 of those games were against Man Utd, Man City & Liverpool it makes even better reading.
This manager is seriously good.
Agreed
I think Hwangs (Injury) came at the righ time. Looked like he had no legs left somehow.
Awesome effort up to that point that.
( the reason is because when Semedo gave him the ball to get out of trouble, Hwang didn’t even turn and look, just gave it him straight back and that led to a Darwin chance)
however – apart from that.
JUST WOW – THANK YOU J LO (and the team)
Living up here (in Liverpool) makes this one, much much sweeter.
To me the real difference was Lamina particularly in the first half. Tackle after tackle after tackle with great distribution.
Enabled Ruben to play further forward and to have greater impact on the game.
Dawson also superb in defence, and forwards chasing every ball defending from the front.
Remember somebody called Guedes who couldn’t be arsed to chase anything!
This is my first post in absolutely ages, there were several reasons but all pf them minor.
One of my golf buds came running up to me the day after we appointed J Lo.
His words were along these lines with added expletives. Bob Bob Do you know anything about this new manager? Me “No” Well he’s done this done that and he will sort Wolverhampton out, and low and behold he has. This came from a man who watched Duncan Edwards play football when he was a youngster. That 25 minutes of the second half when we really under the cosh was the best ever defending the I’ve seen from any team in the last 65 years, Feb 1956 was my first game, so like the other bloggers of a similar age I’ve seen it all before but not quite that good. That really was the icing on the cake. A mention to Adama the pass for the third goal, more of the same please.
Condolences to all that have passed since my last post.
Onwards and upwards. Forever Wolves a we.
Bob Bob you should post more often. Well written with wry humour and pleasant nostalgia. So different from those who ‘ve invaded this previously pleasant space. Full of entitlement, ranting and figure wagging, asking repeated rhetorical questions but supplying no answers. Unsurprisingly they are mostly missing this week when they should have been on apologizing for their loud mouthed hectoring.
OK my own rant over.
Your post sounds like “figure wagging” to me.
Live and let live, eh?
Yes it is but has the virtue of being very rare. Unlike those my rant addresses who are usually always with us. Except of course when they need to apologize.
I’ve just read that two thirds of the globe are covered with water the other third is covered by Mario Lemina
Liverpool are surely joking when they say they are going to buy Ruben in the summer. Why would he want to leave a successful club like WWFC where he is legend status and go to a club that needs VAR assistance to win games
In all honesty we need to hold on to our manager and Ruben if we want to go places. Our squad looks as strong as I can ever recall especially when you consider the talent we have to come back from injury and some of the youngster’s showing their abilities out on loan and let’s not forget our young Brazilian yet to show us what he can do
Could anyone honestly see what we have now back in September. We now know it’s a short time in football. COYW
It taken me until today (Thursday) to recover enough to write anything remotely coherent – and that’s debatable. (I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve watched various versions of the highlights; I can testify that we crossed the halfway line at least twice in the 2nd half before that sublime 3rd goal.)
I loved that! Two goals up in less than 12 minutes!! Texted my (non-football following) son “Unbelievable Jeff”; he replied “Pardon?”!
Atmosphere at this point was good but, imo, slightly shell-shocked. But it got going pretty soon after that until, after the 3rd goal, it was the best I’ve witnessed for ages (long may it continue).
Journey back to London was good too. Great company and conversation on the train and a steward who brought drinks right away (some wait until New Street before even appearing).
And the tube and the bus were just waiting for me to arrive.
Thinking that one (or both) of the next two games could produce a Clive but, being a longtime Wolves fan I don’t want to get ahead of myself.
On music, even though older, I liked the thumping beats. Elvis not my cup of tea (ducks) . Continue with Led Zeppelin, bring on Judas Priest and the Liquidator.