So picture the scene…
…It’s 11.55pm and the tantalising Natalie Sawyer is closing over the transfer window, ever so slowly, with those wonderfully elusive eyes of hers.
Her heaving bosom, packed in a yellow ensemble, is all that sits between the gap in the curtains but those eyes are still refusing to seduce you like you only wish they could.
But wait, a voice in her earpiece punctuates an intriguing Bale tweet about chorizo and Natalie is forced to look us right in the eye and mutter the words she barely has the inclination to impart:
‘There’s a breaking news development at Molineux.’
She grudgingly averts her gaze from the millions of Premier League lovers to mumble that Bakary Sako has completed a move to Notts Forest.
How would you feel?
Ask me only a week ago and I’d be thoroughly outraged.
A carbon copy of our 2012 madness, when our most potent outlets were released on deadline with no time to replace and a new manager subsequently marooned.
But after watching Friday night’s slender win over a mightily impressive Crawley Town, I’m wondering if there might be method to the madness of selling our proven match winner?
In a sobering reminder of all those games we’ve surrendered in recent years, our midfield was overrun, with one simple slide-rule ball by-passing our entire midfield on too many occasions.
If Kenny Jackett favours the 4-4-2 system like it appears he does, then surely a narrower proposition is the best way forward, to offset the distinct possibility of more performances like Crawley.
With Zele Ismail showing huge promise and Kevin McDonald looking so impressive in his brief cameo, could Sako’s replacement already be out on the training field awaiting his debut?
We could feasibly play Evans, Davis, Zeli and McDonald together, in a narrower, fluid take on the system we currently operate.
And after watching the under-21s at Molineux yesterday, we might just have the best young talent chomping at the bit for an introduction into the first team, as well.
The performance of Jack Price was a massively uplifting sight against a tough Stoke City outfit, reminding me of Mark Davies in his industry, endeavour and ability to shine in a congested environment. He oozed quality.
We’ve got a real player on our hands on that showing and while losing Sako – and the natural width he provides – would be a blow, the sight of Price in full flow will be arriving sooner rather than later.
Maybe we should be seeing both and maybe we should be buying instead of selling anyway?
But if Natalie Sawyer decides to impart those words that you could do without hearing, would she really be breaking your heart?
Sako is a weird one to be sure – he has bags of skill and can get a goal out of absolutely nothing – but he’s either very very good or below average. Nobody had expected him to still be here at this late stage!
The way I see it though if Sako goes then surely we would have brought in a winger to replace him? Or at least be back-up to someone already here?
Undoubtedly Sako is extremely talented, But he has a habit of going missing in games. I wouldn’t be at all sad if he was sold to Florist infact the vast majority of us would have expected to have seen him sold long before now.
He may be talented but he is also very adept at giving away possession in promising positions through a bonkers cross pitch passes which go out of play, or a wild banana shots from 40 yards. I would like to see his % of passes completed against Crawley – not sure it would make 50%. I would like to see him stay – as he clearly has bags of potential – and is a £10 million player in the making – although he is currently far from the finished article. Doyle on the other hand is a must keep – he is running the show at the moment, and is clearly too good for League 1.
Well he can go past 2 or 3 players, and he almost always manages to get crosses in or get a corner. Ismail lacks his penetrative skills and doesn’t always manage to get the crosses in – more of a light weighter, but has of course huge potential. I guarantee that it will cost us dearly, maybe promotion if he leaves. Sako’s “problem” has been the precision of the crosses, or that we don’t have enough players in the box. That’s the problem with playing Doyle too low in the field, in the pocket, and Griffiths isn’t exactly a target man. If he choose Nottingham Forest or another championship club I’ll be surprised and would go as far as tag him a rat. If a premier league club comes in and call their interest it’s understandable if he wants to move away from Wolves.
Good stuff mate.
I take your points about being too open and the potential and quality of Price.
But I’m definitely in the ‘keep at all costs’ camp when it comes to the Sak Man.
Sure he was a bit cack on Friday, but he still nearly scored twice. I like the fact he’s always involved too, even if that means 439 step overs and trying to beat his man eight times before crossing.
If he’s in your team you’ll always have a chance of scoring, simply because he’s prepared to try anything. That means when the team isn’t playing well, he can bail you out, as he did on a few occasions last season.
In between the ridiculous flicks, he also brings real quality. Case in point, he scored/created the goals at Bristol City. We probably wouldn’t have won that game without him.
Teams are also aware of his presence, which means they focus their efforts on stopping him, freeing up space elsewhere on the pitch. I don’t think Evans or Ismail would have made the same impact without Sako in the team.
And most crucially of all, In this league he’s good for 10-15 goals and as many assists over a season. For that reason alone, his value to Wolves is immeasurable.
Do not sell him.
agreed 100 per cent…sometimes Sako is lazy …but….and a great big but…when he has the ball you feel that he will create something…he is exciting and you never know what he is going to invent. He has skill and he will only get better….i would try and keep him yes..
I’m in the “keep him” camp as well.
His goals will be vital and he’s capable of winning us a game out of nothing.
Pointless judging him on the Crawley match.
They consistently doubled up on him, restricting his space and the time in which he had to operate. Keep him unless a big offer (+/- £4 million) comes in from a Premiership club. Looking forward to seeing Price in action.
Couldn’t agree more mate. A must keep at all costs
If we sell him and not manage to find a similar replacement then we are in serious trouble out wide as I think we need a winger even if we keep Sako, If we can replace him with a Donaldson type player from Brentford its not so bad as we have someone to replace him, my fear is its too late to sell him now and find a replacement that is suitable to replace him unless we have anyone on the radars. In this league keeping Sako gives us an edge in any game along with Doyle. id love both to stay but if they have to go, make sure to get a good deal and replace them with the right player, were in last week of transfer window don’t forget.
living in Oz, Molineux is one of the things I miss most of all. TV games at 1am is as good as it gets these days and they have been pretty painful late nights as you will imagine. But now you tell me I’m missing out on Natalie Sawyer as well!
It’s all to much, It’s bad enough seeing Jarvis for WHU or Fletcher for Sunderland. Sako at Forest would be really taking the piss.
Sako frustrates me more than he impresses me to be honest. Ok he is talented there’s no doubt about that but he certainly can be a bit of a luxury when he inevitably goes missing for an hour each game. Perhaps his best position would be in a free role behind the striker in a 4-4-1-1 and not as a left winger where he’s expected to track back and help out the full back?
The squad to me looks sufficient for defenders and strikers but the midfield needs new faces. If Sako and Boukari both leave then that will only leave Ismail and Forde as wingers. In the middle Evans, Price and McDonald look promising, Davis isn’t the dominant ball winner that we need badly and Edwards is a decent squad player when fit (which isn’t often).
Still I’m a lot more optimistic now than I was 6 months ago. Keep up the good work Kenny!
From what I’ve seen so far this season, I think Doyler is a better asset to hold on to than Sako at the moment. To be honest I’d like to hold on to both but I think doyle is adding more maturity and leadership to the squad and could be a really good asset to have this season.
“Doyle to Celtic” would probably be the words I cringe at.
I’m of an oposite opinion. Doyle doesn’t exactly score a lot of goals. He works hard and can flick the ball further to other players from a deep position, but so can Sigurdarson. And then there’s the abilities Sigurdarson has which Doyle hasn’t: pace, the ability to go past players, aerial ability. Griffiths can also play in the Doyle role. Sell Doyle and bring in Carlton Cole which is released from west brom.
Sell Doyle to Celtic and bring in Carlton Cole which is released from West brom :=)
As long as we replace Sako and Doyle with good players then I wouldn’t be too disappointed to see either or both leave.
I would rather keep them both but the costs suggest they will be sold or loaned out.
I just worry this will all be left until the final day and leave us with no time to bring in replacements.
Even if they stay I still feel we need a left sided centre back, midfielder, winger and striker.
As for how best to deploy Sako and not leave us exposed in midfield, I hope in we will play 4-3-3 over 4-4-2 in the future.
A midfield 3 of Davis/McDonald/Evans and a front 3 of Siggy/Griffiths (or Doyle)/Sako(or Ismai)l would suit us best with the current personnel.
An interesting week ahead. I hope the board don’t fail us.
Agree with wholeheartedly Ben.
I am very impressed by Jack Price and a narrower midfield might be advantageous.
Still, Sako is a mercurial footballer who can make the unexpected happen.
I think it will be up to the player.
After all his best chance of Premier league football, ultimately, might be to stick with us for a couple of seasons.
Either way I shall not be heart broken…
We may get left with Sako anyway as suitors do there homework interest seems to cool. Perhaps he is just too much of a rough diamond. Cant really see kenny and Joe going with a narrower formation but there preffered direct style may still get us out of this division.
Sako is our best player and if a Premier League don’t come in for him, we shouldn’t sell. If we keep him I find it hard to see us not winning the league.
Nice writing Ben, if ever an article of the blog begged for me to read it, it was one that started with Natalie, and ended with Natalie but had a dollop of thought provoking Wolves banter in the middle for good measure.
That’s one hell of a sandwich I could chomp on more regularly.
Now where did I moor my motorboat…
Thank you sir! I did tweet the scrummy Natalie Sawyer with a link to this blog…Think she may have blocked me.
Now that’s just rude. She should show more respect and send us a personal video message… or something similar ; )
OK, my concern with the sale of Doyle and Sako et al is not so much the impact on the squad (though Doyle in particular I feel will be a very noticeable loss) is that we are not likely to see a penny of these transfer monies … the 4+mil will disappear up the 2Ms sleeves never to be seen again.
It is for this reason I am compelled to wish that they stay …
For me it’s a no brainer – keep both Sako and Doyle. True that Sako isn’t your “leave it all on the pitch” kind of guy, but he is able of making something out of nothing with his class and win a game for us which otherwise we may not. We need experience in the team. We all know how we fared against Morecambe with a youth-only team. I like the youthful energy the young players are showing, but I dont believe it’s enough to push upwards. We need that spark and class from guys like Sako and Doyle to complement it in my view.
Also, right now I don’t think we would get the kind of money for either player that would make much difference. Neither of them are probably showing at their best and after last season there is a stigma around the whole team that won’t fetch top money. So why sell?
Let’s keep building and pushing up!
I’d have football walk out on the Sky and BT deal. And offer coverage wholly back to the BBC and ITV to share with only one live game from the top two divisions moved to a Sunday each week and the rest of the games having a 3 o’clock Saturday kick-off.
That would be the best news football could possible have.
As for Sako I am undecided. I’m not going to be weeping if he leaves, if we get a good price for him then it’s good business. He is nowhere near as good as he thinks he is, nor as good as the price we put on his head.
On the other hand there is no doubt that a player like Sako is an asset in Division Three. He will score and create goals for us this year. We would miss him if he leaves.
As much as you miss Pferdepferde Kevin?
Johnson to Albion – please
O’Hara to Millwall
Sako to Palace
Doyle to Celtic
I know I’m dreaming but I then see a team of proud Wolves players trying their level best to win every week and that is all I ask. In Spud I trust.
The Crawley and Morecambe games indicate that promotion will not be a cakewalk. So, with Boukari gone, we need Sako unless we’ve got a replacement on the radar. I have no idea whether we have or not but, on the basis of previous seasons, right now I have to say keep him.
At this stage in the transfer window, neither Doyle nor Sako should be sold unless we get £3m, and then only one of them.
The news about Price is great, but we have to consider future injuries and suspensions, so no way we should sell both Doyle and Sako.
Great blog Ben, you had me going there for a while.
For me, Sako and the Doylester are important pieces in the new Wolves jigsaw.
Don’t let that little minx Natalie Sawyer utter those words that will break my heart.
And another thing:-
“Her heaving bosom, packed in a yellow ensemble…”
I love it when you talk dirty Ben.
Gretrude Stein’s bosom?
Thanks DOOG! I am so sad I could probably concoct a top 5 Sky Sports News babe list, with Natters somewhere near the top of the list. I’m still going Charlie Webster at no1 though! Have a look on google. Yum yum.
We don’t have Sky in the DOOGooder household.
Mainly because while there is sport on, particularly a Test Match…. more particularly an Ashes Test Match, yours truly would be sat in front of it all day with a bottle of red in one hand and some sort of junk food in the other.
Seeing young Natalie and young Charlie makes it even more tempting but working from home means you have to be disciplined.
Best left I think.
Not a patch on Katherine’s puppies 🙂
It is really quite simple.
We have to achieve promotion this season and our chances of doing so are far more likely by keeping hold of Doyle and Sako.
If Morgan and Moxey are genuine in leaving no stone unturned in helping the club get out of our current mess then we should keep them both.
Not sure about Sako but that image of Miss Sawyer will be keeping me company for the next few months!!
To be honest I’d like to keep him for his capabilities and we might need his 10 minutes of magic now and again but it won’t be the end of the world if he goes. Mainly I don’t want that fat bastard pocketing the transfer fee for it never to be seen again!
Sako and doyle are not league one players,,but the fat man presumably doesn’t think (I hope) we are a league one club,,,for me we need one year where we take a calculated risk on keeping a couple of class players and add in key positions, another winger and a cover centre half with real pace, I think Macdonald needs to be a regular with others supporting. So for me we tell sako and doyle they stay for a year. All too often he fat man has held the club back waiting for us to be successful before investing..it hasn’t and never will work in the long run the club needs building with step by step investment and this is the problem, whilst calculated it is a risk and lard ass will NEVER do anything that may compromise his personal position. I’m not saying throw millions and millions at it but take at least spend the parachute money in an attempt to recover from this shocking position,.
But he won’t he will sit tight talk about youth and being hungry and fill his personal bank with yours and my money..
Sack the fat man
Morgan and Moxey genuine? Think we all know the answer to that one.
Can’t see anyone of note coming in. The younger players may struggle as the season kicks on.
Think Strait will be working flat out to keep up with the start we have had.
Bet your bottom dollar Sako goes. Not sure about Doyle.
Hi all,
must admit not really a big Doyle fan based on what i have seen from the first games of the season i think him and Griffiths are a mismatch personally. Doyle drops back and leaves the little scot by himself and then offers little support. Although Doyle does make some good runs into the box. I would prefer to see Griffiths and Siggy upfront. I think Griffiths does an excellent job of bringing players into the build up play and Siggy makes some nice flick ons.
Sako for me can be lazy a player who doesnt track back and i think teams then exploit that wing knowing he isnt going to be working hard to get a tackle in. Also he isnt a 90 minute player and by about 65 mins needs to be brought off. However, he has got a couple of goals this season one being the awesome freekick against Bristol. I would like to see Zeli and siggy on the wings for one game.
Peterborough 6 – 0 Reading. DF couldnt get an interview with Dullwell lets hope he gets a bigger job sooner rather than later.
for me its simple, despite his short comings sako can win you a game single handidly. he will score plenty and create plenty and that’s what we need if we want out this division. keep our best players and reinforce what we have. we have the money.
I would love him to stay but won’t be at all surprised when he goes and probably less than we paid for him. Doyle will be gone too.
What I’m really worried about is the insane decisions to come (like last season)! Loaning out our better players to rivals (stearman) and releasing first choice players (zubar). Unfortunately I have little hope whilst the nutters are still running the asylum.
He’s selfish and lazy but the best player in the league. He can score from nothing and i also agree that price is an exceptional player.
The present Mrs DG’er and myself have managed to get some tickets to see one of the Great Gods of rock tomorrow night at The Colston Hall in Bristol.
She isn’t sure whether to go to the concert in her Led Zep Tshirt or full Wolves kit.
I told her it might not be advisable to be seen in an Old Gold – or Lavender – outfit in the centre of Bristol after the other weekend.
I will try and have a word with the great man after the gig to see if he would be interested in investing a few quid in a young, up and coming football team.
I’ll let you know how I get on.
Deadline day approaches and no news of anyone other than McD coming in – just as it was under SS and DS. Squad needs a bit of strengthening to bolster our promotion push. Will we hear from M&M that we will bring in a couple of loan signings again?
Perhaps to answer your question and render this debate academic, Kenny has now said on the official OS that he expects it to be quiet until Tuesday, with no ins or outs.
He seems to imply that we will get loan players in later if we need them.
3 young prospect joins Wolves
http://www.wolves.co.uk/news/article/dvelopment-trio-sign-290813-1021587.aspx
Golbourne bid accepted:
http://www.wolves.co.uk/news/article/dvelopment-trio-sign-290813-1021587.aspx
Golbourne is a utility player which can play wing as well as fullback. A quality addition to our squad, if he choose to sign for us.
So far I’m really satisfied how the things are. If Golbourne has enough quality to replace Sako if he leaves is another matter. I rate Forde and believes he can do an okay job, but he’s not a player of Sako’s calibre yet.
Thanks I wasn’t aware of that and I’m a little surprised to hear it.
IMHO we could do with back up in at least a couple of positions and it might be prudent to be prepared in case of injury / loss of form etc.
I can remember similar things happening with SS and DS and a lack of movement when strengthening was obviously needed. Good to hear Sako and Doyle are staying.
Mmmmmmmmmm – expects it to be quiet but is bringing in a left back!!
Mmmmmmmmmm – expects it to be quiet but is bringing in a left back according to E&S!!!!
Despite KJ saying that it’s likely that Doyle and Sako will both be staying, I still wouldn’t be surprised if one of them goes late on. I’d be surprised if it was Doyle for the same reason that he hasn’t gone up until now-nobody is going to give us any kind of decent fee for him while taking on his outrageous wages. If Sako goes, I suspect we may have a deal lined up for that Ephraim we had on trial from QPR or the Barnsley left sided player that we’ve been linked with. God forbid we brought one or both of them in addition to Sako to actually strengthen the squad! We have a pretty promising squad that may just about be capable of getting promoted with some astute management. However, it really riles me that having got rid of tens of thousands of pounds a week off the wage bill since the end of last season, we are clearly 3 or 4 good solid astute championship/league 1 signings short of pretty much guaranteeing winning the league. KJ seems like the sort of manager capable of bringing in 3 decent players for the same wages as that useless prat we’ve just got rid of back to France was earning. Yet again we are being sold short by a board insistent on doing everything on the cheap. Nobody is saying do a Leeds but just a bit of sensible investment at the right time would so enhance our chances of getting promoted instead of leaving things to chance with a thin young squad. Exactly what they’ve done in previous years relative to the position we’ve been in and in the long term it’s cost them money and us fans the enjoyment of following our team. Will they ever learn? While the present bunch of useless twats are in charge, I’m afraid not.
Actually sign before we sell??? I think there is more chance of Moxey winning CEO and slimmer of the year in the same season. The man is a bean counter and a bad one at that… I went to watch spurs with work at weekend and apart from the obvious class difference from Friday I couldn’t help note they only get 36000 fans and have a proactive tenacious CEO who has taken a calculated gamble and bought before he sold…I know in a broken record but the club would be better without the fat man….another example of poor management.. I managed to guess scorer and result on day one and won £170, when I went back to claim cash Friday the poor mans betting company moxey hired this summer said they can only pay out £40 at a time… This man really really must go knows cost of everything and value of nothing…the whole business is so poorly run… Sack the fat man
Congratulations on your win mate! I agree totally, the club is very badly run from top to bottom. Just started watching the second leg of Celtic’s champions league qualifier and it has prompted me to rethink my assessment earlier that Doyle won’t be sold. It could be that Celtic are waiting to see if they get another seasons champions league money before they come back with another bid?
I really hope we do keep Doyler n Sako if we do I think we have a great chance of promotion,
JK reckons we don’t have to sell but as iv’e said before we mustn’t under estimate moxey.
But I still think we need a steady old head in midfield when things get a bit tougher and they will.UTW.
When Sako was out for a period last season, a mate of mine with far more tactical nous than I’ll ever have said ‘you’ll do better without him’. He had a point, and that’s reflected in this blog. Not as great a loss as Jarvis or Fletcher, even if we’ll probably miss the odd occasions when he’ll single-handedly rip through a L1 defence. Build the team, let him go, take the money.
Looks like the prophecy could be coming true.
If the reality is that we could do without Sako then fair enough, but I would like to see us stand up to offers for our best players and refuse.
They all got us into this mess, Sako is less culpable than most as he was one of the few bright stars from last season, but I don’t see why we can’t say, “You’re under contract and we’re keeping you for when we’re back in the Championship next year.”
Let’s also consider, if we got several Million for him, would M&M actually spend that, or would it disappear into the ether as usual?
I think it’s reasonable and far from presumptuous for us to plan a season ahead for life in the Championship.
Living in the backwoods of Texas, I have just one question.
Who is Natalie Sawyer, and why all the drooling?
Actually that’s two questions.
A piece of really fit ass
Just been reported that we’ve agreed a fee for that Golbourne from Barnsley. Would love to think that he’s been brought in to strengthen the team by finally nailing the left back position. However, can’t help but think he’s been brought in to pre-empt the sale of Sako and give us cover for both left back and left mid. We’ll wait and see shall we……..
Yesterday the E&S reported at the bottom of the report saying that Sako & Doyle look likely to stay
“Meanwhile the Wolves head coach distanced himself from interest in Barnsley’s Scott Golbourne, the latest name to be thrown up by the endless pre-deadline speculation.”
So we cannot believe anything we read at the moment.
If we sell either of them (undisclosed fee of course) the money received will stay in the bank and we will be weaker as a team.
I would not believe the date in the Express & Star let alone anything concerning football ! 😉
With Barcelona, Alax and Milan to play in the Champion’s League I imagine Celtic will have enough money assured to buy someone with a rather better goalscoring record than Doyle.
In fact Celtic have gone for Schalke’s Finnish forward Teemo Pukki.
Yeah – that was a bit of a sickner.
Talking of the Champions’ League (and this time putting the apostrophe in the correct place) I’ll be interested to see if Stalle Solbakken lifts FC Copenhagen out of their awful start to the season. I see his opening game this weekend was another disappointment a 1-1 home draw with Vestsjaelland. They’ll have to pick up some to present any problems to Real Madrid and Juventus.
Good luck Stalle.
Here’s hoping that Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City all get eliminated in the first round of groups. They won’t, but wouldn’t it be fun? Sky would implode.
I agree that would really be fun, especially Man City!! Then wait for all the excuses to arrive as to why they were beaten!
Personally I would like to keep both Sako & Doyle, Sako as on his day he can be a match winner, Doule for the experience. However we all know that the powers that be see the pound signs not the footballing matters, so if he goes how much money would be made available for replacements?!!!