Wolves Blog

It's a blog. About the Wolves.

Ben Rasmin

Wolves 2 Crawley Town 1

Blog, Crawley Town

If this marked the dawning of a new era at Molineux, then the football on display was eerily reminiscent of the regime just gone.

Coady Crawley

This is of course to be expected given Walter Zenga has had less than a fortnight to coach his new charges but it made for an often chastening viewing experience nonetheless.

After a bright start earned us an early goal, slack defending of a set piece provided Crawley with a route back into the game. Considering the first goal we conceded at Rotherham on Saturday was in similar circumstances, this was a particularly frustrating way to lose the lead.

These events aside, the first half of this modestly attended cup tie was forgettable at best.

Laborious in possession and largely bereft of ideas, Wolves churned out a performance akin to those served up towards the end of last season.

The introduction of Helder Costa and Jón Daði Böðvarsson at halftime was therefore most welcome and it was reassuring to see Walter Zenga’s tactical manoeuvring pay off for the second game running.

Our second half showing, though certainly not the stuff of dreams, was an improvement on the preceding 45 minutes.

Böðvarsson’s impact on the game was once again crucial as his aerial prowess and astute hold up play provided his teammates with more space and time to probe the Crawley backline.

Though Connor Coady’s winner came from a corner, it’s hard to believe a breakthrough would have been found without the introduction of our new striker. Already he looks like a crucial component of the team.

Costa also had a pivotal influence on proceedings, with his willingness to run at the opposition fullbacks a stark alteration from the more tentative wing play offered by James Henry and Jed Wallace in the first half.

When combined, the efforts of Zenga’s halftime substitutions even earned Mark Connolly, Crawley’s lunge happy centre half, an early bath.

By that time we were well on our way to victory and, though it would have been nice to gloss over an underwhelming full time score with a third or fourth goal, it seems wise to take encouragement from the nature of this win.

Once again the players and coach saw their initial plan disrupted only to overcome the challenge and although we remain in the early forays of the Fosun era this has to be seen as an encouraging sign.

With further recruitment and patience from both the boardroom and terraces, the memories of last campaign could be erased more swiftly than imagined.

Nottingham Forest 1 Wolves 1

Blog, Nottingham Forest

What do Dimitri Payet, Mesut Ozil and Dave Edwards have in common?

Forest Wolves

If an answer doesn’t immediately come to mind then you’re forgiven as there is a rather blatant gulf in class between our number four and the diminutive playmakers of West Ham and Arsenal.

Nonetheless, Deadly Dave now stars in a rendition of Billy Ray Cyrus’ ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ to match those belonging to his altogether more celebrated contemporaries.

It’s taken us eight years to come up with a song for the amiable Welshman and it’s fitting that a ditty has been found in this most dispiriting of seasons.

For all his endeavour, Edwards is an ordinary footballer and, whilst the dedication he shows on the pitch is fully deserving of appreciation from the terraces, it’s a tad depressing to think that we were hailing the trio of Dicko, Afobe and Sako during our last visit to the City Ground.

Still, we have long come to accept the reality of our situation under the M&M regime and the ordinariness of yesterday’s performance is therefore a far less bitter pill to swallow.

The first half was tedium on a par with the Rotherham game and, though we started the second half well, it was one way traffic after the break, with Carl Ikeme once again ensuring we escaped with a point in tact.

To put an optimist’s spin on things, Joe Mason put in his best performance for the club since signing and Dominic Iorfa was again imperious at centre back.

It was refreshing to hear Kenny Jackett talk in the week about building the team around Iorfa and I certainly hope that the board will support him in rejecting any offers for him from Premier League clubs.

Were there players of Iorfa’s ilk available throughout the rest of the team, I’d be looking to next season with optimism.

But the fact is that, even with the much missed Dicko and Graham to return, we are an average team and another season of mid table obscurity beckons without considerable investment being made.

I think we’ll all be glad to see the back of the 2015/2016 campaign and I just hope that KJ uses the summer to recharge his batters and refresh his approach because I’ve been totally bewildered by his tactics over the last few weeks. James Henry at number 10 and George Saville on the left is not a recipe for success at any level of football.

At least watching Nottingham Forest is a reminder that we are not the only set of supporters clinging to memories of better times.

Those times will come again, though when is anyone’s guess.

Leeds United 2 Wolves 1

Blog, Leeds

And so this season brings yet another ignominy.

Leeds away

Losing to Leeds twice may not be chief amongst the sins we have borne witness to this campaign but it is jarring nonetheless.

Though the margin of this defeat suggests otherwise, feedback from Elland Road suggests we were well beaten by Steve Evans’ side.

For me, this season has reached a nadir comparable with Glenn Hoddle’s ill fated tenure as manager.

Our style of play is certainly every bit as directionless as it was for the majority of the 2005/06 campaign.

And whilst we have now pored over Kevin McDonald’s omission from first team proceedings for what seems an age, it’s a topic that’s nigh on impossible to ignore when the team is so destitute in attack.

The Scot hasn’t had a vintage year but remains our most creative outlet and is surely worthy of restoration to the team, irrespective of where his long term future lies.

I’ll neglect Kenny Jackett’s illogical persistence with Bjorn Sigurdarson up front as it seems folly to do so when his immediate rivals for a first team berth are doing so little to displace him.

With no clarity on next year’s budget forthcoming from our board – a reality which is hilariously ironic given the name of our new sponsor – it appears the burden on Nouha Dicko’s shoulders will be plentiful next season.

I found it disappointing to see Dominic Iorfa return to right back after having the best game of his difficult sophomore season against Hull.

I appreciate that Danny Batth is our captain but, with only four games left to contest prior to kick-off and diddly squat left to play for, it’d have been nice to see KJ give Friday’s partnership an extended trial.

Still, if there’s one thing we’ve learnt from this season is that our Head Coach is a man that certainly knows his own mind.

It’s just a shame he’s not so sure about his best team.

MK Dons 1 Wolves 2

Blog, MK Dons

From 1ok to 1,653.

Wolves MK Dons

The fall in our travelling contingent since the last visit to Stadium MK, lay bare the extent to which apathy has taken root.

Back in March 2014, few could believe the speed in which Kenny Jackett and his new look team had managed to reinvigorate a club that had been left reeling after a succession of humiliating relegations.

As Liam McAlinden was besieged by teammates in the aftermath of his winning goal, many of us toasted a bright new era that would lay memories of the previous two years to rest.

To say that things haven’t quite developed as we’d hoped since then would be an understatement.

But at least we can celebrate the anomaly of a victory secured by goals from George Saville and Jack Price.

Few of us would have foreseen either starting ahead of Kevin McDonald at the beginning of this season but both are in on merit at present.

Price in particular is enjoying the best run of form to date in his fledgling Wolves career. Surely a permanent place in our starting eleven is now assured?

Saville also deserves plenty of credit for resuscitating a Molineux stint that looked certain to end prematurely after an underwhelming debut year.

On a good day, he brings both tenacity and vision to a midfield that has been lacking in both at different stages of the campaign.

James Henry made a major impact on proceedings upon his return to the team, laying on both goals and sparing his manager’s blushes whilst doing so.

I’ve not always been enamoured by the former Millwall man but, in this most perplexing of seasons, he’s my pick for Player of the Season as things stand.

At the very least, he’s brought maximum effort in the games in which he’s played and has weighed in with some important goals and assists along the way.

It of course helps that Henry and fellow winger Michael Zyro – who sadly appears to have fallen victim to another cruel injury – had a proper outlet at which to aim for the duration of the game.

Adam Le Fondre and Joe Mason would offer more of a goal threat if blindfolded than Bjorn Sigurdarson could ever hope to and we can only hope this is a reality that has finally dawned on Kenny Jackett after weeks of fruitless persistence with the hapless Icelander.

If a similar team to the one fielded tonight – namely one in which players are fielded in their correct positions – is selected regularly between now and our final fixture then we might just see enough to give us cause for optimism going into next season, though that is admittedly a remark once again made through rose tinted glasses.

Irrespective of what comes next, we can rest easy in the knowledge that at the very least we have memories of ‘1Ok to MK’ to call upon when bleak times come around.

To paraphrase one Fred Astaire, they can’t take that away from us.

Middlesbrough 2 Wolves 1

Blog, Middlesbrough

Few will have been surprised by the outcome.

Boro Wolves

But although only one goal separated the sides, to say the scoreline flattered Wolves is an understatement.

Aitor Karanke’s expensively assembled squad never looked likely to succumb to our patched up eleven and should have won the game by a much healthier margin.

In a disappointing sequel to last week’s morale boosting victory, Wolves were passive throughout and never got to grips with the fluidity of Boro’s midfield.

Though it seems folly to castigate particular players for their performance, we were particularly poor on the flanks and I imagine both Dominic Iorfa and Nathan Bryne will want to forget this particular Friday evening in a hurry.

The marking of Gaston Ramirez (or lack thereof) for the first goal was pitiful and it was no surprise to see the diminutive playmaker net his second, albeit fortuitously, from their side of the pitch.

Bjorn Sigurdarson, though admittedly feeding off scraps, once again did little to justify being selected ahead of Joe Mason, who did more in his late cameo than any of his colleagues had prior to his introduction.

Given the considerable outlay that was committed to securing the player’s signature, it goes without saying that Kenny Jackett needs to find a way of accomdating him in the side.

I suspect there will be many more evenings, afternoons and lunchtimes (depending on what Sky deem fit) like this to come before the end of the season, so it’d be wise to contemplate what the next campaign will bring.

Though investment is unlikely to be forthcoming from our stay away owner, we can at least look forward to welcoming some considerable talent back into the fold.

Dicko, Edwards, Graham, Williamson and Zyro will improve the team immeasurably and it’ll be interesting to see how we fare when afforded a clean bill of health.

Perhaps it’s naivety speaking, but I believe we’ll be much more formidable next time round.

Before I sign off, allow me to raise a glass to the supporters who made the trip to Teeside last night – you’re all a credit to our great club.

Brentford 3 Wolves 0

Blog, Brentford

Christmas is long gone.

Wolves players at Brentford

But enduring this torrid campaign is akin to opening a sick advent calendar.

Each passing disappointment brings us closer to the fabled day of 7th May 2016 when, barring a remarkable end to the season from one of the division’s bottom three teams, we will conclude the campaign in the middle or lower echelons of the table.

Having keenly followed coverage of the game on Twitter, I feel confident in concluding that tonight was one of our most abhorrent performances of the season.

Brentford sliced through our midfield at will and exposed the season long frailties of our back four.

Carl Ikeme has been far from faultless this term but it’s hard not to have sympathy for our beleaguered goalkeeper. Irrespective of what defensive combination has been put in front of him, he’s been left woefully unprotected.

But let’s face it, our problems don’t end with the back four.

Our midfield, though admittedly deprived of key players, is desperately short on character and thus incapable of being combative against skilled opposition.

We’ve been clamouring for the reintroduction of Kevin McDonald since his surprise demotion against Preston but he made little impact in tonight’s game.

Whether that’s due to the quality of the players around him (or lack thereof) or a decline in his influence on the team is a moot point for debate but, irrespective of what side of the fence you sit on, our deficiencies are clear for all to see.

As for our strikers, it’s unfair to criticise their current output considering the fact that none of them, Joe Mason aside, were intended to be regulars at the beginning of the season.

Let it not be forgotten that Bjorn Sigurdarson, for all the endeavour he has been shown, had spent the two years prior to January 2016 out on loan at clubs situated well away from Wolverhampton.

The fact that we are expected to believe spells at Molde and Copenhagen that yielded a cumulative total of four goals have made him any better a player than the one who couldn’t get a sniff at League One level is indicative of the presumed stupidity we have been treated with all season.

If no serious rethink of strategy is  forthcoming in the summer I fear buy gabapentin neurontin online we’ll be spending next season battling a return to the division from where our embattled manager found us.

Ben bites

Ben returns with an editorial on the destruction of a once great team.

‘Some of them don’t look as like they want to play.’

Batth Brentford

There spoke former Wolves hero Steve Daley, who could never be accused as such, nor his heroic teammates from a glorious old gold era, which will soon be a lifetime ago.

Whatever happened to all the heroes?

All the Shakespearoes? We’re watching Rome burn.

Two years and a day ago we won 3-0 at Griffin Park to end their 19 game unbeaten run in League One.

Michael Jacobs dazzled, Sako and Dicko mesmerised and our back four consisted of Golbourne, Batth, Stearman and Ricketts.

Today’s bastardised team is a pathetic, pale imitation, which will go on a 19 game run of their own at this rate – without winning a single game.

The parts of this team are inferior, the sum of them is collectively clueless and all the while, our once splendid manager looks on with his hands in his pockets.

And now, a much loved player from yesteryear who once commanded an English record £1.4m transfer fee is genuinely unsure if they give a toss.

Jackett at least picked a team more in line with what many have been crying out for in recent times, with Nathan Byrne making a rare start on the opposite side to van La Parra, who can console himself in the knowledge that he will be getting paid.

But whatever the permutations on paper, the end result is horribly familiar.

In the good old days we’d keep the ball irrespective of personnel. Whoever Jackett shuffles from one week to the next, the team surrender possession quicker than Dean Saunders lost his marbles.

So regressive is this brand of football and so completely alien is it to Jackett’s original principles that you wonder if they’re doing it deliberately.

However much Jez Moxey tells us to count our blessings (he did effectively say this at the Fans’ Parliament – the notes of which to follow), this feels so depressing that I can barely summon the words anymore.

No more inclination. No more heroes.

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