Last Saturday was a hard reset.
Confidence boosted, belief restored, slate wiped clean to move forward and attack the season.
I’m pleased for Gary O’Neil. The result and the hyper-calculated way it was achieved pours scorn on the idea he doesn’t have what it takes.
As I said last week, all his words should be about moving forward, developing the team and preaching positivity.
If we can beat Man City, regardless of the players they had out, we can beat anyone and that includes an excellent Aston Villa side.
Aston Villa
The only league games Villa haven’t won so far were at Anfield and St. James’ Park. The comprehensive nature of those defeats will have smarted but they’ve confidently seen off everyone else, culminating in that demolition job on Brighton last weekend.
Unai Emery worked his magic there. I watched the first half and Brighton just couldn’t get into their rhythm. Villa forced them into dangerous areas of the pitch and continually hustled them off the ball.
In Olly Watkins they’ve got one of the league’s most reliable strikers. It’s taken him a few games to get going but he followed up the winning goal at Stamford Bridge with a hat-trick last week so will be full of beans on Sunday. I would personally give him the same man-marking treatment dished out to Haaland to restrict his influence.
I also watched the second half of their Europa Conference League victory last night and the only disappointment will be that they had to deploy so many of the big guns to just about get the job done. Hopefully that plays into our hands a bit with the relatively short turnaround time.
They look a decent bet for the top six, but then again, you could say that about a few teams and with the likes of Chelsea and Man Utd underperforming, it will take a monumental effort to improve on last year’s 7th place finish. It was a ceiling we could never quite break through.
Wolves
I don’t see any logical reason to change the team. If it was lesser opposition who were likely to sit deep there might be value in sacrificing a defender but Villa will come forward.
Their midfielders like to carry the ball so I think there’s a good opportunity to sit in a shape and wait for the opportunities to pick their pockets.
There are good options for Gary O’Neil to change it if we’re ahead or chasing the game, so I’d stick with the tried and tested formula and respond as the game develops.
Bellegarde serves the final match of his suspension and it will be handy to have him back because we don’t have any other made-to-measure attacking central midfielders.
Predictions
Well done to Dallas Bob, Dek, Norsk Wolf, DancesWithWolves and DeptfordWolf for keeping the faith and getting the scoreline correct against Man City. Wokywolf leads the way in the overall table at the end of Gameweek 7.
A draw wouldn’t be an awful result, just to keep the momentum going and I’m going to back us to take a point. That’s based on being as resilient defensively as we were last Saturday. I think it will be difficult to keep them out but an entertaining 1-1 wouldn’t surprise me.
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.
Up The Wolves!
Last week was a shocking result for all the right reasons for once. Not sure we can do it twice in a row. Predicting a big defeat led to us winning so here’s hoping for something similar,
I’ve been way off with all my predictions so far this season so, f**k it, we’re gonna win!
While they are no Man City, they are still a pretty tough nut to crack and, like last week, we’ll need every bit of of focus to get the points.
Confidence must be abundant in the squad though and, with the crowd in full cry, I get the feeling we’ll get the job done.
Stick with the same team and system please Gary and let’s whup ’em good.
After last week who knows what to expect.
GO’N must keep the 3/5 at the back which Nuno used so successfully.
OK so we won’t get as many attacking opportunities, but we don’t score anyway, and we are far stronger at the back.
Hoping for another win.
More of the same please
We always give Villa a problem.
yes they are playing well, But we are at home again and have more than a good enough team to give them a shock.
Football is weird – I wouldn’t read too much into the win they got against Brighton. I mean Everton did the same thing to Brighton last season a week after they beat us. They have it in them to lose by alot.
I just think, Neto and hwang will be too much for the full backs – as long as our midfield and Cunha can keep them at bay, we should be fine. We are scoring goals now with too of the most clinical players in the prem playing for us as it stands.
They have a striker who can hit the back of the net , the rest…Meh!
as Thomas states play same team and game plan to hit them on the break, wasn’t overawed by their defenders last night
Having beaten Villa in 3 of the last 4 Premier League fixtures, and drawn the other, they could arguably start referring to us as their bogey team, having put one of our very own bogey teams to the sword last weekend.
And there’s the thing. We beat Man City last weekend. Incredible. More to do with the game plan created and communicated by GON, and superbly executed by the team. 100% buy in. As opposed to City having a poor game.
And then we are up against Villa. Who just stuffed Brighton 6-1. They’re flying high under the experienced and decorated Unai Emery.
Villa are the bookies favourites. This is not a pivotal game. But it is an important one. Loose and the murmurs of GON out will resurface. Win and it could become a turning point for our season. Draw and no one will be too disappointed.
O’Neil has rightly received a lot of positive press for the game plan that worked so well last weekend. It wasn’t just the well conceived strategy however; it was how it was understood and completely bought in to buy the team. They’re behind him. And that is despite our recent run of results. The whispers and snippets coming out of the camp are firmly in support of O’Neil. Some would point out that is always going to be the case, but that’s not true. If there’s disharmony, it usually leaks out.
However, it’s often the case that a stellar victory is followed up by a disappointing performance. So Sunday’s fixture is a really difficult one to predict.
It may well boil down to this; can Gary O’Neil come up with an equally effective game plan against Villa, communicate it as well and gain the buy in of his players to the degree he did last week? And will they be able to impose that plan on a side well drilled, high on confidence, and on a great run of form?
We did it last weekend. We can do it again.
UTW
I hope no one else excels in this game cos as soon as they do Liverpool / Areshole / city are going to buy them
Please don’t sell Neto … give us loyal paying customers a break . It wasn’t so bad before cos had Adama but now he’s gone too
we need a spellbinding rapid left winger to replace him in waiting before we let him go .
G O N deserves it and so do we. We e spent two years supporting him through injury and now we’ve got our finished article . For fuck sake wolves give us some hope
I may have a spare ticket for Sundays game.
If you can put up sitting next to me in the Steve Bull for 90 mins ….if interested please email me at Roger.Lewis@directlegal.co.uk (cost £20)
COYW
Ticket sold
Well, I had my arse kicked in the prediction league last week, for not having any positivity at all.
This week is a different story, I’ve got my gung-ho back and this is definitely a win this week too.
A tough team to beat but it’ll be 2-1 home win.
Unfortunately Villa will be ready for us, unlike City… think it could be a tough game…
Btw, Wolves have only failed to score in one game this season and that was only because of an incorrect referee and VAR at Man U, so I expect us to score in this one. A wonderful performance last week was helped by a couple of surprise tactics from O’Neil, which I think surprised Man City. So, Dawson man marking Haarland was one, and I agree with keeping Watkins quiet by doing a similar job, although Villa will be half expecting that and make make plans accordingly. The other change I enjoyed was Sa kicking out to the wings, rather than playing out from the back. Again, this was effective and I hope to this it again on Sunday. Villa are in a good place and I’d settle for a draw but feel optimistic that we can get another victory. 2-1 Wolves
Going to remain positive
If we can beat City then we can beat anyone especially at the Mol 2-1 to the Wolves.
Thomas put score on but hasn’t come up 2-1 Wolves.
GON showed us against Man U, Liverpool and Man City that he really has something, in spite of the underwhelming reaction to his appointment. Bournemouth’s self-inflicted loss is our gain. He has inspired Neto to equal or to even better his pre-injury form. He is a typical player’s ideal of a rising young coach, when chairman tend to favour second-rate coaches from Europe, as Bournemouth did. Gary has found the dressing room that Bruno lost. Lopetegui found it too but didn’t want to keep it.
I had a gut feeling that GON was suckering City out with his tales of woe. It worked but it needed the players to walk through hell-fire to achieve it, and they did. Villa will be a different opponent, and more dangerous knowing how GON pulled the wool over City’s eyes. Given that it is a local derby I was expecting a fiery draw, 2-2. I’m banking that Gary has something else up his sleeve. 3-2 Wolves.
PS I just saw an old tweet from Tim Nash, announcing that we had bought the ‘new Cristiano Ronaldo’. It was Fabio Silva! WTF ! ! I hope we haven’t bought the new Paul Gladon! If Gary can follow up with his success with Neto and make something of the Boy Wonder, we may be going places.
We seem to have found a knack to score so…
Tired legs on both sides
Villa are a strong side. I liked the idea of sticking to a 5 at the back for this one.
Keep the same team, and continue with 3 at the back!
It seems that slowly but surely, we are solving our goal scoring problems. This is such a positive for far too many reasons to mention.
Villa will be tough but with a good recent record against them, it is a real possibility that we will beat them. A performance like those against Man U, Liverpool and Man C, and Villa won’t is how to respond!
Feeling positive about this one!
A very tough game for both teams.
I’m confident that we will just pip them.
Fans need to make non- stop noise for the whole game
My mate said it before that a pumped up molineux is like nothing he’s ever heard before.
It’s toss a coin time and see where it lands. Like my bowls game, Wolves are consistently inconsistent.
Was last week a turning point, or was it one of our upsets that we manage to carry out every now and again.
Home advantage should help us so I’ll plum for a close win.
My guess is that Villa won’t be looking forward to this, especially after the exertions of Thursday night.
We may have a plan for Watkins but they will have a plan for Neto …..maybe the way Spurs went for serial fouling of Traore a while back.
Please dog don;’ let him get injured,
We need another option and maybe its Semedo in midfield? Bueno and AIt Nouri as attacking options? Hopefully Gazzer has brighter ideas than me.
Will take a draw
Gary and the team rightly took all the plaudits for last week’s win although I do think we caught City at the right time to cause an upset.
Villa will be confident too but if we employ the same team and attitude as against City, I’m going for a one nil home win again.
All I ask is that Fabio does not feature, I just don’t think he has the mental or physical attributes for the PL- hope to be proved wrong but I’ve seen no improvement in the last 3 years.
World beaters we are now….Worldbeaters!
We’ve been here so many times, one win and we’re untouchable. Rather like when we lose and everyone down to the kit man’s cat should be sacked.
The truth of course is neither tell the true story and in a game of very fine margins anything could happen.
I went all gung-ho last week and predicted a pasting so I’ll be a bit more positive this week and hope our form – and their midweek European trip blunts what is starting to look like a fairly useful Villa side.
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We must not lose or i will be staying in for a week .
They are a pain in the ass there supporters already convinced they will win the champions league next year ther delusion knows no bounds.
Thinking back its the same every time we play these brummie ass wipes i get very nervous as i will take losing to most but not that lot.
Gazz has it covered trust me.
Living on the outskirts of Villa-land can’t be easy .. especially as you’re a committed Wanderer…
Let’s hope that you get the bragging rights come 4pm Sunday afternoon ..
Too right twixy its a bloody nightmare with those delusional morons
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I find this game to be very different to scorecast. Villa are a good side and our boys must have a real spring in their step after last week’s heroics.
Looking at the goals for and against for both teams so far this season and adding in the potential consequences of our great result against Citeh I’m going to have a dip at a score draw. Hope we win though really of course!
Well, yes … where do we go from here? As a many have said, if we can beat Man City then we can beat anyone. Similar tactics against Villa seem the best way to go, but can we put in that level of performance two weeks in a row? Villa will come prepared for it too so could be a bit of a managerial chess match before we are likely to see where it is heading.
And then there’s Villa. Scoring for fun, and yet when they get beat, they seem to crumble and get mullered in the process. We’ve been scoring consistently recently. If we bag the first goal dare we dream of a big score line?
Almost any result is possible here, but I’m not one to get carried away by one good (enormous understatement) result though. On recent form other than the Man City game, Villa have got to be favourites.
Pulling for a win!!
I’ve been conditioned to expect a letdown after any great Wolves performance.
It’ll be tough but keep the focus, discipline (no more silly yellows please) and stamina (bring subs on sooner rather than later once anyone starts to flag) and tie Watkins up in knots and a win is on the cards.
The spirit of October ’21 at Villa Park please (without going 2 goals down).
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0-4 to vile ,it work last week
What a wonderful week this has been. Forgotten what it was like to have a win like that and the crowd and team all together. Hope we can do the same Sunday and that the fans are just as loud again. Who can we boo this week?
A testament to Gon if he pulls this one off. We notoriously flip when we should flop and flop when we should flip think I’ll stick to my winning prediction formula
I think this will be a very difficult game for us. Hope we can build on the tremendous win achieved last week but would happily take a point now to keep some momentum going. Watkins is a very different type of player to Haaland and my impression is that villa carry more threat in wide areas, so it will be a very different challenge for our defence.
2-2 draw for me, but we could well win this one if we defend properly or effectively.
I’m banking on a continuation of our recent good record against them.
Well if there was a prize for the most wayward score prediction, it would have been mine last week. Hope we stick with the same formation as last week, as really seemed to be effective.. Villa are a good side, but hope our renewed confidence will really help us in what should be an interesting game. There will be goals.