We’ve been playing against 12 this season with all the crappy decisions handed down by the eye in the sky ref.
So thanks go to Nathan Collins for giving us the extra man tonight with his finest performance for Wolves.
Three awful passes directly contributed to three goals for his former side in an evening to forget for the £23 million defender.
Credit to Hwang for capitalising in the most ruthless manner possible – switched on and rapid for the first, calm and clinical for the second. Thank you and goodnight.
That’s 10 Premier League goals already for the South Korean. Hopefully that sore back doesn’t keep him out for too long. Finishing like that is so often the difference at this level.
I thought Lemina was excellent again too. Not just the goal, but his power and composure all over the pitch was exactly what we needed in another open game.
In the absence of Craig Dawson it took a while for Santi Bueno to get up to speed and he might have done better in the build up to Brentford’s solitary strike. But he improved as things went on and made some good blocks and interceptions. Hopefully he can grow as his understanding of the league develops.
There are plenty of others I could praise – Cunha for his running with and without the ball, Ait-Nouri for the trademark sexy footwork (if not often followed up with the right pass) and Gomes for another two thousand tackles. It all contributed to the result.
Brentford had never conceded four goals at home in the top flight and even with Nathan’s charity factored in, it’s still an achievement worth celebrating.
But for Chelsea’s late penalty in their win over Palace, we’d now be sitting pretty in the top half of the table at the halfway point of the campaign.
Still, plenty to savour after consecutive Premier League wins for the first time this season to complete a highly satisfactory opening to what was widely dubbed by many – including me – a season of struggle.
With Neto to comeback and the potential for January reinforcements, the season of struggle is fast becoming the season of hope.
Merry xmas,happy new year, Mr Collins!
I think the blogger who said Collin’s would gift us a mistake should get a prediction league point
At 3-1 up away we went into the mode of shit what do we do now until Bellegarde answered the question
Just a footnote but thought the last 2 games have been refereed as well as we could hope for especially with sterling falling all over the place,
That was my prediction but didnt expect deux
Great result from a team playing with huge self -belief.
Our best transfer activity of last summer ? Without doubt the transfer of Nathan Collins for the extraordinary fee of 23 million. He was useless when with us. Now he`s considerably worse. Talk about money for old rope !!
But all credit to Hwang, He`s developed into a clinical and very reliable finisher, a man playing with huge self confidence. Just what we`ve been missing for the past 3 seasons.
Lemino again a massive influence in midfield, well supported by his sidekick Gomes, who`s tackling and ball winning abilities are immense. These two are providing the energy and bite, so much missed in time past, which is giving us the platform to get results.
Our success so far this season has taken us all by surprise. Time now to keep the pedal down, and push on.
I bet that in the last few minutes, with the score at 4-1, most bloggers here were praying that finally Clive would prove to all doubters that he is watching over us, by getting another goal and landing his famous … 5-1 prediction.
Great result. Well Done to the whole team. Onwards and upwards.
And a Happy New Year to all fellow bloggers.
Hilarious opening to this post…and oh so true.
Exactly half way through the season and we’re on 25 points.
Do the maths.
11th place, despite the dreadful application of VAR costing us vital points.
Brilliant return, all things considered.
GON’s mission was simple; keep us in the League. He’s delivering.
A first win in London for 19 months.
Excellent game management.
There were some tired bodies out there tonight.
But they delivered. Again.
And then some. 4-1 !?
Particular mentions for Hwang Hee Chan, Toti, Ait-Nourhi, Lemina, Sarabia, Cunha and Collins, who provided 3 assists ?
GON out anyone?
One more point. “Channy” doesn’t seem to get the credit he deserves. We’ve been desperate for a goal scorer since Raul’s injury, 3 years ago. Now we’ve got one. 10 goals at the halfway point.
Considering the crap he regularly got from the stands, as recently as last season. It just takes a little time, patience and belief.
UTW
A great win for Wolves. Who amongst us can remember the last 4-1 victory away from home in the top division? Sure, some defensive errors by the opposition helped but the point is to capitalise on those errors, which we did with confidence. An excellent team performance and entertaining game. O’Neil has to take a huge amount of credit for galvanising a squad (or group) of players that was written off by his somewhat arrogant predecessor. Stay humble.
I can as I was there, Swansea 4 Wolves 4. Think we came back from a very poor first half
Meant last time scored 4 goals away top level. Still over excited from last night.
Excellent result tonight given the recovery time available.
I can’t help feeling a bit sorry for Collins after that performance.
But it still grates on me to think that Coady lost his place in the team and ultimately the club because of that acquisition.
Maybe Coady’s time with us was up anyway but I always thought he could have reverted to midfield to spray a few, à la Ruben.
All history now though so onward and upward !
Very valid point re Collins / Coady Hertdord. Lage left a string of appalling decisions behind him/
Maybe Cody and Nuno can come back next year.
Got to be honest, I didn’t see that coming but in fairness I didn’t take into consideration the twelfth man!
If you go through our starting 11 there are no water carriers and everyone including Bueno deserved their start.
The likes of Semedo Sarabia and Cunha, probably our big earners are now showing why and the younger guys are proving their worth too.
We’re still a bit squad light but it’s all looking positive.
No doubt there are bumps in the road to come but the future is looking good.
When you think about it. Unless you a Liverpool or Citeh in this league winning 4-1 away for a club like Wolves takes some doing. And all those times game after game when it is on a one goal turn around. What a pleasure to sit in the pub and finally relax when JLB fired home goal number 4. And make no mistake those decades of insecurity were piling on as I prayed Brentford didn’t get a second. And at the end the fans chanted Gaz give us a wave. I think we might be on to something. But let’s get the two more wins and a couple of draws first !
One word… Fantastic!!!
COYW
Amazing how well we are doing even with Jeff making many of the decisions.
Maybe he’s not that bad after all.
I don’t think he’s making decisions regarding the team etc. That’s the point. Matt Hobbs is running the club day to day. GON was his appointment and the last two transfer windows have his finger prints all over them. And they were very good windows.
Better for the Chairman to not be involved in the day to day and keep a distance.
Just to play devils advocate, I believe Hobbs was the one pushing for Beale from qpr , had he got his man, I would suggest that we would now be playing championship footy.
Don’t get me wrong muttleigh , I’m pleasantly surprised with where we are now but I don’t want a big push towards ‘ British is best’ anymore than I wanted only Portuguese.
The best players, wherever they are from will do for me,
Utmw
Did predict a Nathan Collins howler on here pre match , didn’t expect 2
Congratulations to GON, his staff and the team. An excellent performance and even more encouragingly a mindset within the team that good wins here and there needs to be turned into consistency. Whilst 3, possibly 4 wins will likely be needed to deliver on GON’s target, we will soon hopefully be exclusively looking up the table for the remainder of the season. GON has far exceeded my expectations so far and the fact he still only has c40 PL games under his belt as a manager means he is still learning and will surely therefore only get better as time goes on.
Well
That was fun
Thank thank you dear Lord Twix
Linda and I tucked into the howling hord who never stopped singing all
Game long
I didn’t want the final whistle … that was blissful
Maybe we should visit for Santa’s presents every year?
N O matter .. looking down on Bournemouth.. hah!
Flying home today and back as ever in May24 for bloggers ball or whatever brings the happy season to a close
UTW
You’re welcome Marin ..
You put a massive effort in to watching Wolves and living so far away so I’m glad to help ..
I did think of telling you that you’d be slap bang in the middle of the headbangers but thought you and Linda can handle it ..
Great result .. have a safe journey back ..
It is only fitting that Nathan Collins appears on the December page of the Wolves calendar
Am I getting a bit ahead of myself if I suggest Lemina is as effective as Declan Rice as a midfielder. With, currently, goals part of his contribution.
Certainly he’s as important for Wolves as Rice is for Arsenal. His industry, tackles and interceptions are, alongside Gomes, the basis on which Wolves current success is built. And now he’s added goals
I don’t recall his time at Southampton and on loan at Fulham being particularly distinguished. So all the more credit to GON for developing this latent talent and making “super Mario” so vital in Wolves revival.
I agree, Rural.
From what I have heard and witnessed myself, he had great aspirations to be a world beater but failed to live up to any of them at Southampton, Fulham or OGC Nice.
But from filling in gaps at the back to arriving late in the box, he’s got it all now, it seems.
Thankfully, he retired from playing for Gabon during his time at Nice and although they didn’t qualify for AFNC it’s hard to see how he wouldn’t reverse that decision. If he hasn’t already.
In the grand scheme of things the sense of injustice which burns and motivates had a little bit of payback last night. We won’t get the 7 points back but we were fortunate that individual errors gifted the 3 points. I was anticipating a draw but let’s say we got 2 points back from the 7 VAR deducted. To be 11th at Christmas is a terrific end to the year with 25 points on the board already , this wasn’t predicted in August was it?
So in the same vein we can hope that the other 5 points are gifted by own goals, dodgy pass backs, lunatic goalkeepers trying to be Beckenbauer or any other individual errors, also hope that Gary decides who he wants in the squad , that Hobbs pulls his finger out, Jeff says yes and Guo signs it off.
Not too much to ask for?
Happy New Year folks.
Curled up on the settee in front of the telly and the fire last night, brandy in one hand, thePMDG’er in the other, I thought I was dreaming when I suddenly got a hint of Fine Shag….
…Let me finish.
It was the pipe tobacco that the old guy, who stood next to me in The Enclosure back in the late sixties, smoked.
It was our first goal that awoke that memory. A cold, mist and smoke shrouded evening at Molineux. A skinny little blonde guy putting over a perfect cross from the left on to the head of a lanky black haired, mustachioed dude who despatched it arrogantly into the net.
Waggy and The Doog flitting briefly back into my vision from across the years… but transformed now into Sarabia and Lemina.
The rest of the game passed like a dream too.
It would be churlish to pick out individuals, so I won’t.
Suffice to say it was a superb performance – perhaps with a touch of fortune at times – no VAR nightmares, a decent refereeing display and a fifth columnist in the opponents’ ranks.
As far as Collins is concerned, you’ve got to feel sorry for the kid as he goes eternally through his ‘Groundhog Day’ hell.
I’ve been trying to come up with an apt quote about learning from your mistakes, but the best I found is by the comic genius that was Peter Cook.
“I have learned from my mistakes, and I am sure I can repeat them exactly.”
How true.
Love the whimsical reminiscing DG- those were special times or were we in the full flush of youth and just enjoyed the moment more.? Sometimes we over analyse a game forgetting both sides are busting a gut to win.
I, too, have some sympathy with Collins- he seems unable to maintain the level of consistency required at Premier level, maybe Championship is more fitting? Should the manager take some blame too for picking him. I don’t follow social media but sincerely hope he is not being hounded by so called fans for his errors last night. This could break a very likeable young man.
Well DOOG .. I thought we were heading for some censorship then matey ..
.. the PMDG’R is a lovely lady but I thought it was heading down the ‘onlyfans’ route at the beginning.
Though personally knowing how godly you are ..(yeeaah).. I thought there was a play on words here .. and yes .. I was right..
We’ll be missing you on Saturday but thankfully your loss is our gain as Laura and Poppy will be keeping your seats warm ..
Have a lovely New Years Eve .. and let get smoking some more regal tobacco ..
Cheers My Lord. I hope Poppy and Laura enjoy the seats. The grumpy lady next to us actually spoke and shared a joke last time we were there, so after six years or so it looks like the ice may have broken.
Let’s hope she doesn’t fall through it.
Have fun.
Can only add my endorsement to the euphoria on here and hanging over Molineux at the moment. I will admit that I was very pessimistic about our prospects back in August specially after Lopetegui jumped ship and the summer fire sale. Credit to Gary O’Neil in turning an apparent bunch of rag tag and bobtails into a surprisingly effective unit in a relatively short time.
Still concerned about the next few weeks with the current squad being so short on numbers and about to lose AIN and Hwang for weeks on end so let’s hope we have fully fit Neto plus some inspired incoming reinforcements up our sleeves. But at least 25 points at halfway gives us a good cushion but another win in a tricky fixture on Saturday would be very welcome.
And would like to add my thanks for the Christmas gifts to Nathan Collins who if possible looks even worse than he was with us.
Somewhere in the background I swear I heard: “C’mon me babies, just 1 more!”
People have to remember that a lot of our concern was over depth, not starting 11 talent level.
This isn’t really that surprising.
Agreed. This is the team that beat Brentford in April when Neves was suspended and much the same team beat Chelsea a week later. Those matches were a good taste of what we are seeing this season. All credit to GON for refining it.
1 Sa
22 Nélson Semedo
15 Dawson
23 Kilman
24 Gomes
27 Nunes
35 Joäo Gomes. ( Traoré 73′ )
5 Lemina
21 Sarabia. (Hwang Hee-chan 64)’
12 Matheus Cunha ( Bueno 89′)
29 Diego Costa
Week earlier not later.
I’m not going to comment on the game .. as everything that needs to be said has been .. but …..
Those were the days my friend I thought they’d never end .. we’d sing and dance forever and a day .. we’d live the life we choose , we’d fight and never lose .. those were the days oh yes those were the days ….
Mary Hopkin .. 1968 ..
Here is my preferred line up for Brentford side in the FA cup:
1. COLLINS
2. COLLINS
3. COLLINS
4. COLLINS
5.COLLINS
6. COLLINS
7.COLLINS
8.COLLINS
9.COLLINS
10. COLLINS
11. COLLINS
FA CUP 4TH ROUND GUARANTEE ?
Latest PPG. With Luton back to back wins their PPG projection is now 32 points. As is Everton. So safety line a season high 32 points. My view going forward from now on is the safety line will be somewhere between 31/32 points and 35/36 points. I will say when WWFC get 3 more wins and a couple of draws we will be safe for another season. And dare I say it looking glass half full maybe Europa League. Currently 25 points at half way. Times that by 2 and looking at 50 points. Dreaming is for free!
An enjoyable evening enlivened by some bordering on comical Brentford defending.
Let’s face it, our Christmas came a bit late in this and we can’t expect gifts like this in many games. But our boys were there to take advantage and clinical enough to put the ball away.
Generally, we’ve been pretty fortunate with injuries so far this season but, if finances allow, we really do need to address the lack of depth when January comes around. For sure I’ll be watching the Everton game through my fingers as three games in six days with little chance to rest our top performers is tailor made for muscle pulls and the like.
However, if we can do the biz on Saturday, it will have been a very, very happy and productive Christmas.
COYW
Hwang’s first goal straight from the kick off was like Competitive Dad scoring against his son Toby in the Fast Show. One of my favourite moments of the year, particularly as I’d avoided the score for a day while travelling until I could get home and watch the match as live on Prime in my own front room.
If VAR hadn’t robbed us of 7 points earlier in the season we’d be pushing for European places. Gary O’Neal looks like a really excellent manager and very happy that the club I’ve been supporting for over 50 years has him as our manager.
Happy New Year to Wolves fans everywhere!