If yesterday was supposed to be about how many goals Robin van Persie would plunder in his quest to enter the record books, nobody told Wayne Hennessey.
This morning all the headlines deservedly belong to the giant Welshman after a quite remarkable performance to repel the Arsenal onslaught.
Wenger reckons they’d have won this game 19 times out 20, but surely if our goalkeeper had played this well in all of those matches Professor Football should rethink his figures?
Wayne will deservedly scoop all the plaudits, but the rest of the team also warrant a substantial slab of credit too.
Maintaining a shape, defending your 18-yard box and not allowing such slinky opposition to simply walk the ball in is a tough ask, particularly away from home. That type of stubborn discipline often gets overlooked, but it’s a skill in itself.
By the end, Arsenal were effectively playing into our hands by throwing crosses into the box for the likes of Berra and Johnson to gobble up, which is testament to the work we’d done up to that point.
The center of midfield, so often criticised for being wide open were phenomenal defensively. Henry made a string of fine interceptions and tackles to cut out killer passes, whilst Milijas once again dispelled the myth that he’s lazy when the opposition have the ball.
To see the Serbian dismissed with 20 minutes to go was both cruel and unjust. Quite what the referee saw in the tackle I’ll never know, but the game had certainly been bubbling towards a flash point for a while. To me the man in the middle simply failed to keep tempers in check.
Fortunately, it didn’t cost us and the injustice only served to make point gained all the more satisfying, not least when you consider we’d lost to Arsenal in all 6 of our previous Premier League meetings.
Speaking of satisfaction, what about another goal for Fletch? His superb reaction header just before half-time means he’s now scored goals at Anfield, Old Trafford and the Emirates this season – not too shabby when you consider he probably only had one decent chance in all of those games.
Once again the Scot was largely anonymous, left isolated by the formation and dominance of the home side, but yet he still managed to gobble up the only half chance that came his way to level the scores.
Keeping him fit will likely be the difference between survival and relegation.
A word too for Roger Johnson. There were moments where he wobbled, particularly in the first half, but as the game wore on his influence grew and the skipper made vital blocks and clearances to keep the scores level. That’s what we paid the money for.
Finally, well done Anthony Forde.
The youngster slotted in seamlessly down the right, looked neat and tidy on the ball and didn’t put a foot wrong throughout. He also looked confident and skilful in possession so I’ll look forward to seeing what he can do against lesser opposition.
Indeed it was wholly appropriate that Mick finally gave youth a chance on the big stage, on a day that unquestionably belonged to another academy graduate.
Thanks Wayne.
Hopefully this is a turning point for our season, because this performance will be all but forgotten if we f**k up at Bolton!
Still – what a fantastic game from Hennessey! Just watched the highlight, and there were some phenomenal saves! Glad to hear that Johnson had a good game as well, so hopefully we can keep this up!
This have given me extra confidence in the Bolton game, but we need to play well there as well! Three points is a must, and it is in our reach!
UTW!
Although I’m delighted with the point I feel it was more down to Arsenal’s poor finishing (coupled with Superb Wayne) than gallant defending. In all honesty they should have won it by a wide margin. We made the same mistakes we usually do but for once they went unpunished, Henry got robbed twice on the edge of his own box (once trying a Cruyff turn on the edge of his own box!), Ward turned inside the box instead of clearing the ball – giving it away. Arsenal had 17 attempts on target, this doesn’t point too good defending, just outstanding goalkeeping.
We can give the team and MM plaudits for the point but the performance and tactics weren’t good. Thankfully, like games which don’t go our way, the performance will be forgotten but the result remembered.
I think your being a little bit harsh, there were mistakes, but the performance showed a hell of a lot guts. Arsenal are always going to create lots of chances especially when there up against 10 men. I can’t have been the only one that feared the worst when Arsenal scored first and then who’s heart sank with the dodgy sending off. But with everything against the team, the spirit that has carried us through the last two seasons re-appeared and we dug in, yes we were lucky on occasion but we stuck in there and snatched a point.
Hennesey was immense but he has been class all season its good to see him get some of the plaudits that have been reserved for Krul and Vorm up to now. Fletcher is a wonderful poacher, and finally Jarvis and Johnson put in better performances.
Bring on Bolton!
Putney I must have been watching a different game to you.
Yes, there were defensive mistakes, but overall it was a fantastic team performance.
There was a point, about 10 minutes after they scored, when suddenly Milijas dominated the midfield.
Psychologically you could see our team gain confidence and their midfield lose confidence.
It was a vital moment in the game.
Not spectacular, but equal to one of Wayne’s stupendous saves, in terms of the final result.
Yes, Hennessey’s performance was phenomenal but the back four/five all defended brilliantly.
Johnson finally showed he is worth the money we paid for him.
Thomas’s summary is excellent and as he says, well done to Forde.
I’m not a happy clapper but if we maintain the spirit we showed yesterday, in our remaining matches this season, we will stay up.
i.e. the sort of spirit we had in the first three games – especially the Fulham one!
I agree it will be great for the teams confidence and the result is fantastic, I just feel we were very lucky. 27 goal attempts for Arsenal overall, to me this indicates poor defending and finishing. We defended poorly for their goal, from Henry and Hunt letting their player running half the pitch and Zubar not staying with Gervinho. And up until our goal I bet all wolves fans were worried how many they were going to get. Then the last 30 mins it was all Arsenal again, without big Wayne playing so well we would have been thumped…
I think Wenger is probably right when he says Arsenal would have won 19/20 of those games.
Does your analysis apply to the 25 or 26 goal attempts we had against a (then) unbeaten Newcastle side, when we lost 2-1?
If I recall, Krul had a fabulous game – so they defended poorly and without Krul Wolves would have thumped them?
Oh, and Newcastle had 11 men on the field…
Well done Wayne. Now let’s kick on and turn the corner, as another series of losses now will be a disaster AND this shows that we CAN grind out results against much stronger teams.
Listened to the second half on Radio 5 live, and David Pleat said we defended absolutely brilliantly. Just how often can our players rise to that extraordinary level remains to be seen, because to stay in this league they may well have to every match from now on.
A draw against Arsenal away is almost as good as a victory, very few pundits expected the 1-1 draw, so well done to the team, especially Wayne, and MM.
For those who have criticised our captain, Pleat made the interesting observation that Wolves play with a much higher line than Birmingham used to, as evidenced by the much lower goals against column they enjoy, this partly explains maybe why settling in at Wolves hasn`t been easy for Johnson. Form is temporary, class isn`t though.
The big game is on Saturday, but keeping a draw at Arsenal was a fantastic achievement.
How quickly will the Milijas appeal take as we are quite thin on the ground. Will it be sorted before Saturday. Also, Zubars injury, will he be fit for Saturday and if not when is Foley due back. These answers are pivotal to the chance of winning against Bolton. Fingers crossed.
If is the biggest word in the English language.
If this, if that, if the other………blah, blah, blah.
If my Auntie had bollocks she would be my Uncle.
Who cares what might have happened 19 times out of 20?
Who cares if Arsenal had 5 million shots on target?
I don’t see Wenger bringing up the shots on target that didn’t go in, or the penalties not awarded, in our other matches this season. Why not? Coz they are irrelevant, that’s why,
just like all the other lame assed excuses he trots out.
Accept the result. Your team was held at home, not luckily, but deservedly, by a “lesser” team prepared to do battle.
Not pretty, not skillful, very lucky at times, but still getting a deserved point.
I don’t see anywhere Wenger mentioning the double scything down in 2 seconds of 2 of our players, first Fletcher, then Hunt, by that thug Song.
OK, he was booked. But for which offence? Both were minimum yellow card offences, so he should have been off, and if he was booked for one and not the other, should we as a club appeal, on the basis that one of the two offences was missed by the officials?
I bet Wenger would be moaning like an overpaid whore if it had happened to one of his precious babies!!
Anyway, the little bit of feelgood from this result does nothing to gloss over our previous two dreadful home performances, and we cannot go into the next match thinking we are world beaters, just coz we snuck a point from Arsenal.
Ward was his usual crap self at left back, only Jarvis helping out all the time prevented them running total riot down that side, especially in the second half.
Johnson was improved, but still had my heart a – fluttering on occasions.
Berra did his level best, as usual, to try and wrestle his way into the book.
Forde was quietly impressive…….but what has Hammill done wrong?
Sunday will tell us if our management has any ambition, first of January, let’s see how many we’ve got lined up to buy.
Torres? Drogba? Anyone?
Happy New Year to all of you lot.
FOMM
Great result-now more performances like this and we could stay up. QPR AND Norwich slowly slipping as the reality of the second half of the season takes hold. We must push on-make some signings-keep Wayne-and get to safety. 3 points at Bolton first priority.
UTW
The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type the complete works of William Shakespeare. The Clive from Houston theorem states that a Clive from Houston hitting keys at random on a keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type the complete encyclopedia of churlishness.
Ward was his usual crap self.
You are confusing abuse for insight. I understand you do not rate Ward as a player and despite his contribution to the team this season you would prefer another player at left back. I also understand that you would prefer a different manager to Mick. I am sure I am not alone in understanding these two points. What I do not understand is your need to repeat them in such a dull and unamusing way. Is this how you were taught at school? A teacher repeating information until your brain submitted. You will need to up your game for me to keep reading your comments for the rest of the season.
Ironically Danny your comment is incredibly boring too! And Ward was shocking yesterday!
I was at the Emirates yesterday and cannot recall thinking Ward was ‘shocking’ at any point in the match. To my mind he was his usual reliable self. I am willing to revise my opinion if you can point to any mistakes Ward made yesterday which justify describing his performance as shocking….
Ward was his reliable self – reliably wank!
Was he? Gervinho got past him a couple of times when he came over to the right, but that was about it, plus a couple of mad moments in the first half. He made some good tackles, one great incepted header and also gave Jarvis support and when we attacjed we looked threatening, because he got forward so quickly. One of his passes through was B-E-A-Utiful
Turned inside into their player conceding possession in OUR box. Continually backing off the forward allowing enough space so the attacking player could cross / pass / do what ever the f**k he wanted. Continually out of position. On one occasion Stearman came across to the left to help out as Ward was MIA – do I need to go on?? He was his usual crap self and we would benefit from a replacement, until then he is the best we have, and that I’m afraid says a lot about the useless idiot in charge!
your first criticism is the only valid one.
continually complaining about continually backing off is inane. watch arguably the most famous tackle of all time (moore on pele 1970), Bobby doesn’t exactly dive in. At the emirates on tuesday his ‘jockeying’ resulted in forced errors (poor crosses, over running the ball – do i need to go on? they scored one goal and it wasn’t because ward backed off)
‘Continually out of position’, name those instances because i was there too and all i saw was what Clive of Houston described after the match as ‘a tremendous collective rearguard action’ (before reverting to playground bully type on wednesday) and Ward playing a major part in it. We repeatedly hear from Wardists the suggestion that Jarvis covers for his mistakes, isn’t it strange that Jarvis plays so much better when he’s on the left? wonder why that might be? And as for the bit about Stearman, i mean really, in the first half i saw Roger Johnson win the ball in the right back spot and advance down the line before passing, oh my god where was Zubar?
No i’m afraid this is simply Wardism of the worst kind. We must stamp it out!
LKWOOF
Excellent comment. Couldn’t have summed up my own thoughts any better
beautifully put Danny. and only boring to Clive’s most dedicated followers
Firstly, I didn’t go to school, unless Borstal counts.
Secondly, what on earth do you mean by “I’m confusing abuse for insight”?
I’m not abusing Ward, I’m stating my opinion…he was, is and ever will be crap.
It’s not his fault he’s crap, he just is.
Insight???
From a Wolves fan?
Now you, like the bullshit, are getting way too deep for me.
I am sorry if you are, Queen Victoria like, not amused. I didn’t realize we had to write blogs to make others laugh, I’ll leave that for our crap performances.
And I am obviously wasting time writing this reply, as I haven’t upped my game, whatever the fuck that means, and you will no doubt not read this.
As to followers, ebeneezer, only gods have followers, and I may be a lot of things, but a god certainly aint one of them!!!!!
Thanks Jed, was I the only one apart from you who thought so?
FOMM
only gods have followers? yeah that’s right clive
I enjoyed that Danny! Come on Clive, that takes some beating! Great point yesterday too, which I enjoyed even more. Sorry to sound negative, but we will lose against Bolton now. Why? We always lose at the Reebok and with expectation higher, we’ll definitely lose. Sorry!
But with that logic, our expectation will now be lower, and as we don’t expect to win this game – like we didn’t expect a result at Arsenal – we will win the game.. but with that knowledge, our expectations will raise and with raised expectations then we will lose… but thinking like that –
Ah, f**k it – I say we draw against Bolton! 😛
I am one of those boring people who can see both sides i think Ward has improved as a player but have got used to Clive’s fiesty comments and dont take them to seriously – basically i like MM but recently his weaknesses as a manager have run neck and neck with his strengths lets hope a couple of positive results can tip the balance back.
Can’t comment on the the way we played only heard it on 5 live and by all accounts we were lucky but unlucky by the sending off the ref was shocking but we always get shite refs.that said its another point to safety i hope as long as we don’t f..k up against bolton or else it means nothing.
OK, the ref was very poor. But thank god he was, he missed a Berra handball in the box, a penalty 100%. Thank god we had a shite ref.
I don’t know how poor the ref was but he’s a total wanker for not having another look at the sending off,just heard that our appeal has been rejected,thats a three match ban for
milijas,If it was any one of the top six teams i’m 100% sure it would have been rescinded.
just goes to show they don’t give a shite about the so called smaller clubs.so that to me the ref is a total wanker.
You mean the FA are total wankers – does anyone know anyone who thinks that that was a red card offence?? It’s ridiculous!
Forde looked solid, we will have Jonsson next week and O’Hara should be ready by the end of January hopefully. Mick has made his cheap, low risk, potentially high reward player. Now lets add a player of true quality (don’t care if it is a loan) that will instantly insert in the 11 and help us slowly move up the table so the last couple of games we don’t have to worry about going down.
Not having to worry about going down…Wouldn’t that be a novelty!
With McCarthy in charge, the only way we will ever avoid worrying about going down is the season after he takes us down! He only has enough ability to keep us in the league by the skin of the teeth, and only depending on the utter wankness of 3 other teams rather than our own ability
That wasn’t exactly true last season, was it? Only West Ham were truly out of it by the end of the season, our 40 points would usually have been enough to survive and the last game had five teams trying to steer away from two relegation spots – and we managed that! It doesn’t matter what the circumstances were, we managed that!
That was ‘skin of the teeth’ stuff, I admit, but you can’t say that in our second season we only survived because other teams were shite, can you?
We lost our last game, but so did all the teams below us, which means we were all shite.
If Birmingham hadn’t been shite, they would have got the point they needed, and we would now be lauding our new manager, playing attractive, attacking, championship football, following McDickhead’s sacking.
So your comment don’t hold water my friend, we did survive coz all around us were shite, not by our own performance on the last day of the season.
As I am constantly being told on this blog, stop living in the past, it’s done and dusted, just like last season. We have to concentrate on the future……………but a future under McIdiot doesn’t bear contemplating!!!
Where is the Bolton match preview Benny Boy?
FOMM
impeccable logic as ever. your argument is shit because i said so.
Actually, because of Hunt’s goal a Birmingham draw wouldn’t have been good enough – we were ahead of them based on the number of goals scored! In fact, they had to push forward and ended up conceding as a result!
Then B’ham got relegated and we stole one of their best defenders, who turned out to be a immediate success for us… for three games…
Well, we saw better from him against Arsenal so more of the same please, Johnson!
Some heat this morning over Stephen Hunts comments but a bit of controversy and a few headlines wont do us any harm – siege mentality and all that.
Interesting.
If Wenger had not taken Song off immediately following his booking I reckon there would have been a wonderful bit of retributuion from Hunt, he was steaming at both the ref and Song, and an astute substitution from Wenger saved an almost certain fight!
Maybe Hunt is defending the ref in hopes that he will go lightly on him if we have him officiate again this season, coz I’m sure Hunt used a few choice expletives during the match on Tuesday!!
Anyway, it’s all McCarthy’s fault.
FOMM
Left back A Left back B
Percentage of successful passes 76 83
Percentage of successful tackles 55 57
Percentage of successful clearances 68 56
Free kicks conceded 10 18
Blocks 8 4
Shots 10 9
Interceptions 29 23
One left back plays for a team which has conceded 14 goals the other for a team that has conceded 33 goals this season
Apologies table format not kept when posted
What on earth is that all about?
Only one fact matters, where we are in the league come the end of the season, and on current form, it will be in the bottom 3.
FOMM
yeah, that post by Danny was so hard to understand, wasn’t it? I feel positively giddy just thinking about it.
Your assertion that “on current form we will finish in the bottom 3” is (most probably intentionally) wrong Clive.
On current form we won’t finish in the bottom 3. In fact, our form over the last 5 games is superior to that of Blackburn, Bolton, QPR, Newcastle, Norwich and Wigan (We’ve taken the same number of points in that period as Everton and Swansea, though at a greater cost to our goal difference).
Forgive my wrong reading of the table, but are’nt 5 of those above mentioned teams above us?
Must be my old fart glasses, I suppose.
FOMM
Yes they are. I was responding to your point about current form though, clearly.
i`d personally give our left back a C-, clearly he isn`t an A or B candidate.
Lacks pace so has to stand too far off wingers.
Lacks pace so quick wingers can also go past him. Got lucky when Walcott was ill on Tuesday.
Has to rely on Jarvis helping him out, thereby reducing the teams attacking potential. Then
gets rewarded with a new 3 and a half year contract for scoring 2 goals. No wonder Malone saw no point in staying.
If the team is to improve and become that mid table team the owner and Moxey think we should be by now, and not be involved in another relegation battle this season or next, we need to buy better players, (maybe costing more than £200k), employ better tactics, have new ideas, a fresh approach, oh – sounds like we are ready for a new manager. Lets have some balance here though, good point MM at the Emirates, what about the six previous away defeats on the trot though.
Like my school report regularly said, must do better or else!!
ignoring the facts is always the best policy argument wise.
Wardism! We have to stamp it out!
LKWOOF
You Ward lovers really have no clue, do you?
He was bought as a forward, which in my mind means he is there to score goals.
Up until the beginning of this season, in 4 years, he had scored the magnificent total of four goals for us.
A fantastic return for a forward.
Now, this season, he has scored two. Whoopdee doo.
So, as a forward, he is crap.
Now he is being played at left back. As anyone who watched the recent Arsenal game saw, when Doyle was brought on, and put in an unfamiliar role, he was all at sea.
This is exactly what the problem with Ward is, he’s all at sea. He is in a position where he has no clue how to play, AND DOES NOT HAVE THE FOOTBALLING SKILL TO PLAY THERE!!!!
It’s not his fault, but he is just not good enough as a person to be in The Premiership.
Now will come the “you keep bringing out the same old arguements, and he’s improved over last season” rants, but what you fail to admit and acknowledge is how bad he was, and his slight improvement this season still leaves him woefully short of the standards required for this division.
The main reason he “appears” to play better is the quality of most of the team around him has been, for the most part, pretty awful this season.
And let’s not open the can of worms regarding who of the rest are worthy of Premiership places!!!
FOMM
‘Now, this season, he has scored two. Whoopdee doo.
So, as a forward, he is crap.’
A classic example of Wardism. he’s been playing almost entirely at left back this season so how does that reflect on his abilities as a forward?
we must stamp this kind of mindless bigotry out!
LKWOOF
Exactly my point. He has been told to play left back, but he can’t, so off he goes up front, gets in the way, out of position, Jarvis has to bail him out, and now you lot are trying to make him out to be some kind of Messi like hero, Batward, or SuperSteve.
What cock!
The guys crap, period.
FOMM
It is data Clive. It is what rational people use to form opinions. And while I would defend your right to express your opinion, I don’t respect your opinion or how you express it.
He is in a position where he has no clue how to play, AND DOES NOT HAVE THE FOOTBALLING SKILL TO PLAY THERE!!!!
It’s not his fault, but he is just not good enough as a person to be in The Premiership.
Ward is likely to be playing in that position in the summer for Ireland and if he does play it will be because Trappattoni believes he is good enough.
Now you are getting insulting!!
Me?
Rational?
Never!!
The only reason Ward might be playing in the summer is because there is no one else!!!
It may have escaped your attention, but anyone Irish who puts on a Premiership shirt automatically plays for Ireland, and if it’s a Man Utd shirt, even the fourth team tea boy, he becomes captain of Ireland!!
FOMM
Surprise, surprise. Milijas looses appeal. What a poxy, bent league this is. Hateful bastards stitched us up good and proper.
Shocking. Can you appeal a rejected appeal?
I Attwell hasn’t got something on one of the big boys in the FA then I don’t know how this has happened. I need to find out the facts on this…
These are the same wankers who reduced Rooneys 3 match ban for blatantly kicking an opponent to 2. Sick and corrupt the lot of them.
I’d forgotten about that… well that pissed me off even more!
To be fair there is a difference between Rooney and milijas. A 3 game ban in international football is half a tournament, which is a much heftier consequence than 3 PL games. Also, the part of the FA which deals with the PL is separate to the part of the FA which deals with the national team. Not that I agree with the Milijas decision, it’s a f**king disgrace!
We have had some bad decsions but should now use this to create a siege mentality – not to distressed at losing Milijas – good left foot but is one leg shorter than the other ?
Firstly, let’s focus on enjoying a great result from a fantastic performance against an Arsenal team that’s been flying. A great team effort; Wards an’ all…
I’m confident we’ll beat Bolton and set a course for a mid-table finish.
Moving on to the position of left-back, it remains is a problem position for many Premier League clubs; in Stephen Ward, we have an experienced Premier League player who continues to improve and offers much more than most in the Premier League in the LB position.
This weekend at LB were:
Arsenal used a centre-back – Vermaelen
Swansea used Ashley Richards, a midfielder, replacing Neil Taylor
QPR used Traore
Norwich, Adam Drury
Spurs, Assou-EKotto
Chelsea, Ashley Cole
Fulham, John Arne Riise
Bolton, Paul Robinson
Newcastle, Ryan Taylor
Liverpool, Jose Enrique
Bolton, Gamst-Pedersen, again a midfielder
ManU, Evra
Wigan, Figueroa
Sunderland, Phil Bardsley
Everton, Baines
WBA, Shorey
ManC, Clichy, more of a left winger?
Stoke, Mark Wilson, another midfielder
Villa, Stephen Warnock
I count six or seven ahead of Ward, all of them out of Wolves’s league based on salary.
Thoughts?
I think Ward is becoming an established left sided player in the Premier league – at the same time he has been a favourite figure of ridicule for those who want Mccarthy out and he will probably never win some of those over.
Now there’s an interesting question… If Ward is still around for Wolves’ next manager, will that new manager still use him at left-back?
Ward just signed a 3 1/2 year contract. If he stays that long, it will be because McDickwad is still with us.
If McDickwad is still with us it will be:
a) because we are still in the Prem, in which case, hats off to all of them.
b) because we are in the third division, have the newest emptiest stadium in that division, Morgan and Moxey will be long gone with all the money, and no one else will play for or manage us………………….and we’ll still be arguing whether or not Ward can play!!!
Before I forget, A Happy New Year to y’all.
FOMM