Just like many young boys growing up in the mid-1980s, the sight of Howard Kendall’s all conquering Everton side was enough to make me realise how special the game of football was.
The thrill of staying up late to watch Sportsnight with Dad and the giddy excitement at the spectacle thereafter convinced me that the Beautiful Game was the one for me.
Thank God I wasn’t born a few years ago instead.
Because the team Dad diverted me towards in 1987 created its customary brand of wretched anti-football that does more to drive neutrals away from the game and take up tiddlywinks instead.
No shots on target (bar the penalty), no possession, no pace, no aspiration, no progression and no player within 40 yards of Kevin Doyle at any time.
And all this at the home of the club that first got me hooked.
We are the complete antithesis of those Canon League conquerors of yesteryear, let alone Graham Turner’s heroes of division three.
It was no wonder my two mates were spending more time checking their fantasy football teams than grimace at our pre-planned attempt to pervert the course of football.
Partly because they were bored out of their skulls and partly because all of their chosen players would never ever be playing at Goodison Park on November 19.
Not in a Wolves shirt at least.
It’s no wonder our (wonderfully voiced) fans can lay claim to the most self deprecating song in the whole of football, heard only two or three times a season when we actually take the lead away from home.
“We’re winning away, we’re winning away. How s**t must you be, we’re winning away.”
Doubtless they will be called numpties and mindless idiots by Mick McCarthy in the greatest irony of all.
If this is football Mick, you can have it.
If I wasn’t so desperately sad right now, I’d summon up some bile to throw at you.
It wasn’t the wasted £35 that has saddened me. It wasn’t even the defeat itself or the subsequent baiting by my Everton supporting mate thereafter.
It was the unashamed creation of a spectacle that bears no relation to the game I first fell in love with that really hurt, featuring none of its bewitching, spellbinding characteristics.
Where the good teams have skill, we have sweat. Where Norwich and Swansea have aspiration, we have pragmatism.
And where every other side have a chain of passes, we have a kick-off to Hennessey and a lump downfield to a striker who can’t win headers.
The game itself featured 11 Wolves players giving their absolute all to the cause, looking committed and hungry from the off.
For that, they will not receive any criticism from me. Certainly not Ward for his phenomenal block on the line, or Berra for an amazing last gasp tackle on Drenthe in the first half.
We took the lead through a needless Fellaini trip on Edwards and proceeded to squander possession with the reckless abandon of a pub team.
So what happened next? We work even harder to try to get the ball back and our tiring bodies give way to weary minds.
The agonising inevitability is bad enough. The reputation we have now garnered with yet another set of disbelieving fans just rubs the salt in.
“Thank God we only play these lot once at home this season,” said one pained Everton fan.
The pleasure was all ours.
Mick out
Clipboard out
Moxey out.
SHAMBLES
EMBARRASSING
NO HOPE
END.
what’s with this ‘clipboard out’ I keep hearing? Tactics?
clipboard’s connor, hamlet.
Alf white or any other monkey with a stupid opinion did you actually go to the game??
Why is he a monkey?
Just coz he has an opinion that differs from yours?
i didnt’ go to the game either, but guess what, they got these new things called cameras and I watched that excuse for a football team from 4000 miles away, and I agree 100%.
We are shit.
If you don’t like my opinion, let me know, I’m ready for a verbal fight, it’s been a while.
FOMM
Agree, I watched from China and we WERE rubbish.
well guess what clive,i dont like ur opinion and further more dont agree with it,there were two struggling teams out there today,the home team being capable of beating anyone in this league,im no happy clapper,or mick lover,far from it infact,but seriously get a reality check,where do u expect us to finish this season????? when its plainly obvious that micks brief is still SURVIVAL!!!
Thing is, most people hoped that our aim would be higher than survival…
Teams that don’t score don’t survive. Teams that don’t create chances don’t score.
Honesty, commitment and all those other fantastic virtues Mick has instilled in his team are all well and good, but if we don’t even register a shot on goal in open play against a team who’ve lost 6 in 7, look shaky at the back and have a nervous home crowd groaning after every mistake, it’s hard to see how we will score enough to survive.
Can you respond to that point without just blindly declaring your faith in Mick in general terms, or instructing me to start supporting the a****n?
my point is sleachy,i dont understand where all this expectation has come from,im really not surprised that we are down there scrapping again this season,why wouldnt we be??? we only just made it last season, just because we signed roger johnson or have another years experiance under ours belts in the top flight really isnt gonna change much (in my opinion of course},so u have to think that the board are happy with that and happy to just tick along with mick as long as we survive again
The expectation comes from the club mate. Back in august we were being told how we had a quality squad, are building a new stadium and training ground and were going to finish top 10. I’ve had a look through old blogs but can’t find this comment by someone (I can’t even remember who posted it) which listed and dated loads of quotes from various members of the Molineux hierarchy basically building expectation in the fans. Hopefully someone else can copy and paste said comment below…
With no changes to the present set up, I EXPECT us to be relegated.
I HOPE for survival, but don’t expect it.
I watched the entire game, and I failed to see a team capable of beating anyone in the league.
They were 2 poor sides, which is the whole point. We are incapable of beating a poor team, what chance have we against an average or good team??
Get real!!!
FOMM
Wigan was a poor team! 😉
To add to that comment, though…if we had played the way we played on Saturday, we wouldn’t have beaten them!
Thank you Hamsterlet, if Roddy ay ga or whatever his name is could shoot when he played us, we would have been our usual 2 down before we knew it.
We will not survive the way we are playing.
If you think we will, you are deluding yourself.
I support Wolves but for sure, with the present set up, we will not survive.
Don’t get upset with Clive or anyone for speaking reality.
We were utterly hopeless, one shot on goal and that a penalty.
Our manager is a moron.
We will be relegated if we continue as we are.
William Hill has us at 5/2 which I think is very generous odds.
Does anyone on the board care what happens to the club?
For some reason the sheer arrogance of the 3 M’s seems to indicate they think that they are, individually and together, far more important than the football club they run.
In fact their impotence to act, to me, shows that their vested interests, (financial), are more important than building a team because they, like us, are fans of Wolves.
Morgan is a fan of the building company that is building a new stadium.
He can take a parachute payment and a season in the championship as he is, by his own admission, a Liverpool supporter.
What alliance does McCarthy and Moxey have for the club? –
Their bile and contempt for fans show they think they are bigger than Wolves.
It is a terrible state of affairs.
Wigan are 1-3 favourites for relegation but personally, unless McCarthy goes, I think William Hill’s odds of 5-2 for Wolves, is offering considerable compensation to us fans, for what appears to be the inevitable!
There was absolutely no attacking potency from us – nothing whatsoever! I don’t know whether it was because we never tried or whether it was because we couldn’t…
Maybe we could have held on to the point if the ref hadn’t awarded the penalty (a soft one) but it’s no excuse for us losing or for us having no attack in this game!
Perhaps Fletcher might change that…I hope he does, anyway!
We did try Hamster. We always do that which is something I can never accuse the lads of. It is the arrogant disregard of proven footballing virtues that underpin all average Premier League sides, let alone great ones.
We don’t pass it. We don’t get behind teams. We don’t utilise pace. We don’t keep it. Instead we grab, push, scrap and HOOF it.
It is pathetic.
If my little boy exclusively watches this Wolves team play he won’t ever want to play the game.
Unfortunately for the poor sod, if his Dad has to suffer it then so does he!
Ben totally agree with everything u have said mate. I said after 30 mins why r we playing milijas when we are pumping the ball over his head every time!! We didn’t keep the ball for longer than a minute today and the long ball tactic has got to stop!! Didn’t agree with starting milijas but thought ok muck wants to keep possession , obviously not!! Hennessy was class today
Too right there – especially with the ‘hoofing the ball’ part! How many neutrals would enjoy Wolves’ style of play right now?
We are capable of it though – the Newcastle game is an example with the amount of shots we had, even if we couldn’t convert our shots in in that game!
Hamlet what are we to do,something is very very wrong.This manager and coaching staff got
to go.
Ben so sorry mate to read your post tonight,it sounded really dismal to say the least.
That said i can’t comment how they played or did’nt play by the sound of it i went down the smoke to do a bit of sightseeing.Why is it every time we have that dreaded break we play
shite,it seems to me we have’nt learned anything why after 1 win we think all is alright down at
the mol same old same old somethings not right and we all know what it is but we get lambasted by the happyclappers.then i pick up theE&S then read that fat moxey said that McIdiot never in danger of getting sacked.what a load of bollocks that is…This club is going down untill the board and steve morgan get rid of McIdiot and Moxey .
Don’t say sorry John – I am the mug who paid to go! The grim inevitability of it was a bit sad, as was the way we stank out a ground so synonymous with grandeur.
I know I keep wheeling this phrase out, but: ‘Good managers solve problems, bad ones create them.’
Mick has one huge problem right now, namely that he can’t play 4-4-2 as it is a proven disaster (Johnson even more exposed for a start, and he looked dodgy enough today)
We can’t play 4-5-1 either because we end up with the sort of obstinate shit we saw today, featuring one measly corner all game.
He also has his best player (Fletcher) on the bench, who can’t play with Doyle (Chelsea 1-0 aside)
It all comes down to January to me. No club should need this window more than us.
We HAVE to buy at least three players with pace.
Ward, Shackell, Collins, Van Damme, Berra suggests Mick will ignore pace in defence at all costs, so we have a huge problem.
He needs a rapid centre forward as a matter of urgency. A quick centre half also and something different in the middle.
Basically, the spine of the team needs surgery. It shouldn’t, after £49m, but it does.
If he doesn’t add to the squad then we are as good as down IMO.
And no waiting until Jan 31 either. We need to be signing players in the first week.
Ben agree with you on centre half and creative midfielder not so sure about the forward. I think a cover left back is probably more of a priority as Elokobi as much as I like him is not good enough. I think if we had the defender and midfielder it would probably allow us to play Doyle and Fletch together with Ebanks and a returning Hemmings or Vokes as cover.
The major issue I can is we only have one squad place left and can see the club wanting to sell before they buy in anybody. I personally think Mick was playing the party line in the summer and the real reason we didn’t sign anybody was that there was no money available after the signings of O’hara and Johnson until we cleared some of the squad players hence the quick sale of Meierhoffer even though we were short on strikers.
I too shelled out the £35 in fact £70 if you count the fact I took my dad, a life long Evertonian. Both of us came out of the game thinking our time might have been better spent at home. Both teams were shite resorting to long ball far too often and lacking any creative spark. So often there are games that neither team deserve to lose; in this case it was a game that neither team deserved to get anything out of.
However, I think the game was lost when Stearman went off injured, up to that point I thought our full backs had coped fairly well with the threat of Drenthe and Coleman and had restricted Everton to crossing from well outside the box. With Elokobi on and Ward on the wrong side the worst happened and Drenthe and Coleman turned up the pressure and Doyle got ever more isolated as our midfield dropped back to cover. If Stearman stayed on I think we would have had enough about us to take a point and we may have been able to sneak all three especially with the frustration that was evident in the Goodison crowd.
Both teams looked desperately short of ideas and confidence and it showed with all of the goals coming from set plays. Our side lacks creativity generally and players that could usually be guaranteed to take the game to the opposition; Milijas, O’hara, Hunt just didn’t do it today. Karl Henry again was our most effective driving midfielder despite him playing a more withdrawn role.
Ben I agree, my personal bug bear with McCarthy (apart from the constant selection of Berra despite his manhandling and lack of pace) is the tactic we have of passing to the keeper straight from the kick off. Don’t get me wrong I don’t think Wolves have the players to play tiki taka football but surely we should be able to string half a dozen of passess together in our own half after kick off!
I don’t think Berra was bad yesterday actually, but I agree with you, we looked to be holding on for the draw with Stearman on – he was coping with Drenthe to be fair.
Elokobi vs Coleman (or anyone) was a disaster.
I think I would have been more tempted to play Edwards at LB and bring on Jarvis at that point and tell him to get at them.
When we got that penalty Mick must have thought all his bloody Christmases had come at once, cos we weren’t gonna score otherwise.
We are a bad team bereft of any form of self belief.
I think that MM’s philosophy has made it much harder for the players.
I cannot see us avoiding relegation with out change of management.
Surely Morgan can see that we have no chance of avoiding relegation without drastic action.
Are there any good, intelligent players who will want to come and play for MM in January? –
I doubt it.
Take a punt on Darren Ferguson quick, we have nothing to lose other than the next game and with MM in charge we are certain to lose.
Another terrible performance.
Not a bad idea Robin about Darren ferguson,perhaps his dad will loan us some decent
players to get us out of this shite were in.
No amount of United trainees will make up for how incompetant a manager Darren Ferguson is. If were going to get rid of MM can we at least get somebody in who is good at this level or has led a team to promotion from the Championship. Anything else is a retrograde step and will only do more harm.
Anybody is better than what we have at the mo.steeler.
This blokes an Idiot..er have you read the E&S. ” I’m delighted with players,”He’s lost it..
There is a “sahcah” game over here tomorrow, LA Galaxy v my very own Houston Dynamo.
The MLS cup final/play off final thing.
Very non event, except for one interesting fact.
Our very own Robbie Keene plays for L.A.
Oh how I wish we had him at the Mol.
He has pace.
He can beat a defender.
Lordy, Lordy, and he can shoot…at the goal… and sometimes scores!!!
Oh how I wish we had him at the Mol.
We were beaten today by a very pedestrian, boring Everton side, who started the day 4 places below us. That in a nutshell is how bad we are.
No pace, from anyone.
No one able to beat a defender and shoot.
No one able to command the air, either in attack or defence.
No telling passes.
No forward thinking.
Leaden footed and leaden brained, from manager down.
No ideas how to change tactics mid stream.
Just a big boot up field.
Utter garbage.
Total lack of thought or ideas or any sort of footballing nous.
And if Fletcher was fit enough to be on the bench, why wait until the 86th minute to bring him on???
We are the laughing stock of the Prem, and it is only a matter of time before we are rooted to the bottom, with no hope of getting off, while we still have the 3 M dinosaurs in charge.
Pathetic, crap and shit, and not in that particular order.
If there are any happy clappers left, quite honestly, you are welcome to that trash that purports to be our beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers, I personally am ashamed right now to have been associated with them for over 55 years, they are not fit to lick the boots of our past players.
FO3M
Did you just say Keane has pace?
Compared to the snails we use, yes.
No creation.
No attacking football.
I didn’t actually realise that Milijas was even playing until towards the end of the first half!
It’s so fucking stupid to expect us to go away and ‘park the bus’ and try to hold on for a 0-0 draw. When do we get a clean sheet, home or away?
I had to sit there and watch wave after (not very good granted) wave of attacks coming at us by Everton. Jagielka’s header was very good. Leighton Baines is clearly dangerous.
But other than those two I think the rest of them were pretty pedestrian to be honest and certainly ripe to be beaten or drawn against. Yet…we have basically gifted them a win in my opinion.
Never have a I seen a team playing 4-5-1 have so little possession in midfield! I mean at one point in the first half Everton had 75% possession! THAT alone takes the piss out of McCarthy.
Hunt and Edwards looked good, busy and potent. Ward played out of his skin again. Berra and Johnson looked fairly solid and I have no complaints against either of them. Doyle never stopped running and really did do his best given that he had no support. Big Wayne was very, very good.
The rest of them? Pretty shit to be fair, just making up the numbers.
I predicted a loss based on the last time we met and we got tonked at home and were very poor. I thought that, “Everton are a good side and have talent so they’re going to turn it round eventually.” But honestly, they DO look poor for some reason and good value for their low position this season, perhaps there’s some kind of malaise in their club due to lack of money etc. We should NOT have lost this. I think if we’d have got at them we could have had results.
Could Mick not see that Hunt was having a decent amount of success? Why not have a go?
I, unlike others, haven’t been overly vociferous in my criticism of Mick this season, preferring to complain about lack of investment in the team. But this time MICK GOT IT WRONG.
We were dealing with their attacks well enough, so why continue to just play SO negatively and defensively?
I think it IS wrong to lose and not even try to win and a dereliction of duty by Mick in this case. I’d rather we lost 3-1 as long as we’d taken some shots on goal and put it to them a bit, but we didn’t and once they’d got the penalty i went to bed as I KNEW there’d be no fightback which is sad.
At one point we had the chance to cross the ball in from the left, but it was eventually passed through to Henry somewhere in front of the box who proceeds to pass it all the fucking way back to the Keeper who then promptly launches the long ball upfield which is headed away by Jagielka and possession is lost.
THIS IS HOW WOLVES ATTACK! Brilliant. Opposition teams must be pissing themselves thinking, “We just need 1, those mugs aren’t gonna score.”
This is why we don’t score goals and this is why if we keep going like this we ARE going to be relegated (I think we will be in the relegation zone by Christmas now…look at the games ahead).
Albion won well again, Swansea lost but gave Utd a very hard time, Norwich played well against Arsenal and scored a cracker, QPR continue to be fairly imperious. Are we really going to stay up at the moment on balance? i know it’s a long season, but the cracks are already showing.
Would we play well against Utd, Arsenal etc at the moment?
So, Clive, I’m with you. Goodbye Mick and invest in the team in January. I’d rather see fresh ideas and some attacking football, even if we lose. I feel like we’re slowly stumbling our way out of the league and, like last night, it’s needless and wrong not to at least go down fighting and keep just rolling over. Shit.
Yes, committed but turgid and toothless stuff. Headless chicken football. We never looked like scoring in a month of Sundays. The stringing together of more than two passes only occurs in our half of the pitch. And all this against a pretty ordinary Everton outfit.
Ward, Stears, Berra all good, but Johnson gave away the free-kick leading to their equaliser and then never challenged the delivery. Doyle often looks completely abandoned. When the commentary first said the word “Milijas” after 25 minutes I had to check the teamsheet again, because I’d clean forgotten he was playing. Hunt was industrious, as was Edwards. Everyone else was ‘meh’.
Bottom line, as Ben blogs: we need something big to happen in the January window, because as we are, we must surely be going down.
I must start by saying I did’t watch the game, I was at the darts. Gutted to hear we didn’t play well but I wasn’t expecting anything from this game. Everton have got no money but we’ve got a long way to go before we can go to them and realistically expect anything other than a defeat.
When people are moaning about us loosing at Goodison I start to think that expectations are too high.
We’re just about out of the bottom 3 and if we finish the season there I’ll be more than happy.
Anyone who isn’t happy with the team and manager that we have now is mental as far as I’m concerned. Remember where we’ve come from.
I disagree Nick on a number of counts which means that I am then clearly mental according to you 😉
Firstly Everton were poor. I actually predicted a loss, but watching the game it didn’t look like we would lose until the 80th minute when they got a penalty. Nor did it look like we would win and that’s my problem. It is naive in the extreme to expect us to go away and hold on for a 0-0 draw, especially with our defence. We were just SO negative you wouldn’t believe. We just pumped long balls forward, conceded possession over and over again and passed backwards pretty much exclusively.
Had we not got that penalty we would never have scored in the first place.
If we’d got battered by a much better and team and then people were moaning then I would agree with you, but they weren’t better and didn’t deserve the win. We essentially gave them all 3 points.
Secondly, I think there’s no point in focusing on the past. Yes, we’ve had a long hard road to get in to the top flight. But that IS the past and is it wrong to aspire to see us play good football and not scrape survival by the skin of our teeth every season?
I think your expectations are too low frankly.
Of course we can’t expect Europe or anything like it, but if teams like Sunderland, Stoke, Wigan, Bolton and Fulham can become established Premiership clubs then why not us?
(Finishing 17th on goal difference in the last 5 minutes of the season does NOT count as established, it counts as lucky)
Please watch the highlights (lowlights?) of this game and then see if you’re honestly happy with our team ‘playing’ like this.
I know you’re behind them, me too, but I aspire to see better from them I’m afraid and it’s just not happening week after week.
Sorry Nick, Got to disagree massively. This Everton team was hopeless. After they went 2-1 up their fans actually booed after jagielka pumped his 24th ball out for a goal kick. (Mindless idiots Mick?)
Everton have had a terrible run of results, they opt for similarly attritional tactics and look half the team we’ve seen down the Molineux the last 2yrs.
I’m sorry, if I can only realistically expect defeat against that lot, then by rights, I should expect no more points away from home.
Why are the notions of hope, aspiration and progression associated with the mind of a mentalist – when we’ve spent 49m in 3 years.
I think I am going mad Nicko. Seriously.
It’s not the fact that we lost at Everton that people are moaning at, it’s the lack of attacking threat we showed. This is a side below us at the start of the game who had only beaten Wigan on their own patch. Set up for a draw, with our two best attacking outlets left on the bench.
You didn’t see the game, Nick?
You didn’t expect to get anything from the game, except defeat?
What is the point of playing the match then, why not just tell Everton to have the 3 points, and we’ll save our players for the easier task next week at Stamford Bridge?
Are you McIdiots son?
Remeber where we’ve come from?
Using that “mental” logic, I can remember us playing in Europe, and winning trophies, such as First Division Championship 3 times in the fifties, FA Cup, and a couple of League Cups.
That’s where we’ve come from, not some poorly supported second rate, never-won-anything team from the suburbs of Manchester or London.
So yes, my expectations are a lot higher than skin of the teeth 17th place, thank you very much.
I’ve typed this slowly so you understand.
I just knew there would be at least one happy not-been-to-the- match clappy out there!
Congratulations, Nick, you win this weeks award!!!
FOMM
Wank! Nuff said
MM never learns from mistakes and reacts to criticism with bile and anger towards Wolves own supporters. I hate him for that. I’m sorry you wasted your money Ben. I’ll never pay to watch Wolves while he’s still here and i can’t wait for him to go.
Appalling display. We lack any pace, movement or urgency. For me this game is completely Mick’s fault, I’m concerned with the way he set the team up. We could have considered ourselves lucky to get nil!
Berra, Ward and Hennessey stood out. supposedly championship players eh? Henry and Johnson had decent games but the rest were either anonymous or isolated or both.
We need drastic changes, we need to bring some pace into the side (basically jarvis), play to our strengths and have a positive approach. Will Mick do that? I’m not sure.
First off, let me say, I agree with every word.
I watched the match and it was most definitely as described – a turgid, sluggish affair that neither side can take much from (other than the significant comfort of the points).
That said, I felt they definitely deserved the win, simply because they showed the greater intent.
Wolves came to defend and anything else, such as the penalty, was a bonus.
However, the result is ultimately what shapes the response.
Had we won or even hung on for the point, I don’t think we’d all be climbing the walls.
We’ve employed similar tactics before, won and lauded the performance. If we’re prepared to do that, we have to also accept that things will go south sometimes when inviting teams onto us.
What irritates me is how cheaply we’re prepared to surrender possession. With players like Milijas, O’Hara and Doyle in the side, we have enough quality to keep the ball and move it around. Instead, as reported, we hoof long to leave our sole striker chasing shadows.
Whether it’s 451 or 442, we have players who can get the ball down and pass. The matches against Fulham and Spurs (albeit in defeat) proved that to me. We must start having the courage to do that.
I have had overnight to consider my last blog and I am not mental or a mindless idiot. I’ve seen Wolves relegated many times before and with those hideous memories still fresh-relegation is written all over our team-without drastic surgery. Lions led by Donkeys-Mick’s lack of tactical awareness and blind faith in some players will not cut it for a third time. The luck has run out and opposition players must be rubbing there hands with glee at the thought of playing us. I don’t like saying it-but can’t see a way out with the current set up. Its not about over expectation-I get fed up with hearing-where we have come from-We are Wolves and there’s nothing wrong in thinking we should be better than the dross that’s being served up.
Trouble is every time Moxey says anything my heart sinks-its just further evidence that there is no plan to develop the team-just PR for Morgan. What happened to strengthening the team? Ask yourself-would I want to come and play my football under Mick-don’t think so.
Wholesale changes required.
Very well said my friend, in my opinion. Of course to other more intelligent souls, you’re just a mindless idiot !DLLLLLDLWLMM.
As an evertonian I thought it was a pretty tight game – not many clear cut chances – both sides lack a real ‘number ten’ style player who can provide incision and both are reliant on crosses – more so for us since losing pienaar/arteta. I’ve done some tactical analysis on my thoughts if any of you would like to read it its here –
http://theexecutionersbong.wordpress.com/2011/11/20/everton-2-1-wolves-5-point-tactical-deconstruction/
Best of luck for the rest of the season.
Very nice analysis. Makes interesting reading and actively demonstrates the problems we had.
Wolves lost because we couldn’t retain possession where it mattered in midfield. What was interesting is that Everton played us at our own game pushing up the field and disrupting play and we didn’t have an answer for it. Our stats for balls into the box are particularly alarming though and neatly demonstrate why we created so few chances. Our wingers were incapable of beating their man and couldn’t cross early because the team were sitting to deep. As much as I can understand McCarthy playing Milijas to try and retain possession it was clear at half time it wasn’t working. I would have moved Edwards into the middle and put Jarvis on the wing. At least when we he came on we had a get out ball other than Doyle.
For me, Milijas for all of his skill and technical ability fails to apply it consistantly enough and often ghosts through games. I wouldn’t be to sad to see him go in January if hes replaced by another decent midfielder with pace and creativity or god forbid a centre half with pace!
Quite simply Mick has taken all the fun put of going to the Wolves for me.
I’d prefer being shitter but at least feeling respected and watching a Wolves side at least trying to make a game of it.
i agree wolf, not since the hoddle era have I felt such abject apathy for our team
When was the last time we played ANY football to be proud of ,not since fulham,this management are totally inept. morgan and the board need to take stock and have a long hard look what happening down here,can’t see it getting any better soon.you might get the odd result like when we played wigan who i thought played better than we did but did’nt take their chances.THERE MUST BE CHANGES MADE SOON…OR ELSE.
Was offered a free ticket by a mate and went to the Albion, hoping to see Bolton follow on from their 5-0 thrashing of joke city. I was amazed at what I saw, 10 classy outfield players who can string 10+ passes together, a midfielder called Gera who played like David silva and a striker playing the lone role brilliantly and shock horror scores as well. This told me MM must go, they have net spent about £15m in 2 years and we’ve spent £49m in 3 yet they are more established in the prem than us, as are Newcastle. In albions case it helps that they have a very experienced manager who can spot things during a game and make the right changes. Please Morgan, shake hands with Mick, says thanks for everything and get someone in now so he has time to draw up his list of January targets.
Not defending MM but I do think its a bit harsh to compare the spending at Wolves and Albion. Albion have been a yo yo club for the past decade and so have had the money and the kudos from that and have been gradually building a solid team. Wolves have only had two years at this level. It the same mistake as people who tried to compare Wolves to Newcastle last year.
Personally, I do think Wolves have players to play football and we’ve shown it on occasion. Unfortunately, we don’t have the key players necessary to play the game in our ideal formation 442. Were missing a pacey centre half and a creative midfielder with the ability to hold the ball and pick a pass. Whilst it can be argued that those are MM transfer failings I do think we are in a situation where proven quality in those positions is expensive in price and wages, so your left experimenting with players like Milijas and Guedierra who are unproven. Unfortunately, our gambles haven’t paid off, Van Damme is probably the classic example.
Having been to the two previous games at Goodison the scary thing for me was that both teams looked worse after three years of “improvement”. I still feel that we will stay up as I feel there are at least six teams that will struggle for points this year. But we do need to improve quickly and get talent in in January. My biggest fear is that the real reason we didn’t buy more in the summer is that there is no more money until we thin the squad and wage bill hence the reason we rushed the sale of Meierhoffer.
I’ve supported Wolves for over 50 years. I live on Merseyside but couldn’t be arsed going to Everton because the limitations of the team and the manager are all too predictable and pathetic. I haven’t been so disheartened since watching Mcghee waste loads of cash on loads of players who were well past any usefullness and were drawn not by ambition, but a final big pay day.
What grieves me just as much is the failure of McCarthy & Moxey to acknowledge the reality of what’s happening – do they live on cloud cuckoo land? There is no reason for any optimism and the future looks bleak unless someone with clout takes command of the situation.
I recently applied for 2 sim cards from Wolves Mobile and as a “reward” received 2 tickets for the Stoke game on 17th December. Such is my disenchantment with Wolves at the moment i’d rather go christmas shopping. Therefore, i’m offering these tickets (free of charge) to anyone with more patience than me. The tickets are for seats 0264/5, Row K, Area J10 in the Steve Bull stand upper tier. The tickets state “Adult” with a price of £24. The first one to email their name & address to me can have them. I cannot reply to all responses so if you don’t hear from me please just accept that you haven’t won. Good luck.
Nice jesture Brizzie hope you will get some taker for your kind offer?.What you say is true
i know a lot of supporters like you who have supported the Wolves for a long time who have
given their tickets away, can’t stand the dross he keeps dishing out what he calls good
football the mans a joke. I like clive and many others say FFMM&THE REST OF THE SHITE.
Like Brizzie I am a 50 yearer and I find it galling that he is so disenchanted-surely the club have got to listen? His blog says it all-changes have got to happen-Sooner I hope than my mates Lincoln City who have paid the ultimate price for prevaricating-going out of the league!
Gates are already on the decline-and will continue to if we don’t get a grip. UTW
If Mick McCarthy had refused any tv and radio interviews because he had stated he was furious with his players and apologised to all those who travelled then I might, might, just about give him till christmas to turn it round.
BUT, oh no not our stubborn, arrogant, self conceited Mick. Instead he tells us he thought it was `a terrific performance and but for a dibolical refereeing decision we would have got a point`.
He`s taking his money and he`s taking the piss. In a few weeks time (please god, hope its no longer than that) he`ll be laughing and joking with Lawrenson on the sofa on football focus as an out of work manager, where he belongs, thats his level. Until then we are stuck with this guy who sadly is out of his depth. I wish him no harm and infact I`m sure he is a very nice bloke and loyal family man. However he`s being paid for a job he is not qualified to do.
Frobo wolf, I`ve seen posts from you before and as such I believe you are a wolves fan and not an albion fan taking the Mickey. Your post is spot on in that albion have better players, a better system and a better manager even though btheyve spent a lot, lot less and only came back into the prem last season.
Absolutely agree. I started listening to his postmatch interview but had to stop before i threw up. Seems like his anger and threatening attitude to criticism has frightened the interviewers from asking critical questions as well.And what is all this ‘ Wardy’ and ‘Doyler’ crap. This is not a pub team for his mates. Can you imagine Ferguson talking about his players like that? He is the boss and if they fail they’re out. Scholes was asked recently how he felt about Ferguson. He said i was frightened of him and i still am. Even those great players knew the club was not a bout them but about the shirt and the supporters. McCarthy treats the supporters as an irritant
As an Everton fan I was disappointed with our performance, but a win is a win. That said it was an awful game.
I suspect we’ll get better as results pick up, although that is by no means guaranteed as in seasons gone by.
I sat next to Ben as he became increasingly agitated with the lack of attacking intent of Wolves while I flicked between my fantasy football team and watching my beloved team scrape the bottom of the football barrel.
My only hope is by the time Ben and I go to Molineux for the return fixture we’re both in a better position.
If anybody wondered what Trappatoni meant when he said Doyle was playing in a “desert”, only had to witness at Goodison the side MM has produced after 2 and a half seasons, and realise it is totally inadequate for the premiership.
Can`t deny the effort and commitment of our players, but the lack of pace, ability to pass and move, and the mobility to get forward to support our centre forward bears testament to the fact that MM clearly has no clue what is needed to move forward in the premiership. To leave our quickest player on the bench, along with our top scorer was a joke.
To give MM money to spend in January wo`nt solve anything if its wasted on more players lacking in pace and attributes suitable for the premiership. If the best MM has is to pass back to the keeper from the kick off, it confirms he is a dinasaur and to save my club from gradually suffocating back to the champioship, MM has to go. He promised midtable with his squad, and with Chelsea & Man Utd away it will be the bottom three by Xmas. Morgan – for heavens sake put MM, the club and the fans out of the mire he has landed us in.
I’m not a fan of sacking a manager during the season. I don’t think it achieves much, unless you land an incredibly talented replacement who can inspire a limited team to perform above expected (O’Neil?)
Whether we stay up or down I think it’s time to move on without MM.
Hi Guys
Very interesting reading most of the comments.
As I have said, goals are hard to score with a 4,6,0 formation playing Doyle. I know we lost is in the mid field, there was action a little when fletcher came on, but only when we were down.
It is well known, The BEST form of defense is attack, maybe every where but the midlands? 🙂
Ward plays defense and has played as much time as Doyle, they both have 2 goals fletcher 3 goals 488 minutes less 50% Ward and Doyle. Can anyone see a problem!!!
If New Zealand could play 3 games in the world cup 2010 against, Italy, Slovakia and Paraguay for 2 score draws and a scorless draw, it is not too much for Wolves to expect a draw at Everton after being 1 up.
We need to score first and stay aggressive and keep going forward, pressuring the oppositions back 4. The mid field is the key. The problem is, it not performing even with 6 players there or 5 and a midfielder playing sticker (Doyle).
If we keep persisting with him give him a better midfield or play a stiker and have Doyle in midfield.
John
What’s infuriuating is that the rest of country see MM as a down to Earth, solid guy and they love him. I see an insecure man, who is stuck in football’s dark ages responding to criticism with all the intellectual sophistication of a toddler. He reels out cliches about hard work etc butis so stubborn in his dated principles that eh will take us down before admitting he’s wrong. As for Jez Moxey, words cannot express how much I despise that man, I can tolerant incompetence (I’m pretty crap at my job if truth be told), what I cannot tolerate is wilful arrogance and downright deceit in his dealing with the Wolves fans. We all have a real emotional attachment to this club, that is being trampled on by these two arrogant, egomaniacs. What’s more, I feel genuinely powerless to stop them? I’m in a dark place.
Stearman’s injury a broken arm/wrist is more of a concern for me than the result at Everton. Admitadly he’s not the most solid of defenders and has his fair share of clangers especially at full back but he is our only defender with pace. I had hoped that Zubar’s return would see Berra dropped with Stearman moving to the centre slot and Zubar coming in at right back. But we now face the prospect of going into the games with United and Chelsea with no pace in the back line at all. I think MM showed his desperation on saturday as well when Stearman went down he had both Elokobi and Craddock warming up, I think he knows that at the moment our options at full back are severely limited. As it was he could have brought on De Vries at left back for all of the good Elokobi did. Again it takes us back to the summer: Was McCarthy really happy with the strength of the squad? Or was the purse empty after O’hara and Johnson? The answer to those questions probably puts you in the FOMM or FOJM camps or both!
In my (and my Dad’s unbiased Evertonian) opinion Everton made our back line look better than it was by playing to our strength by constantly booting high balls forward for Berra and Johnson to mop up. The couple of times that they played it along the ground they really opened us up as shown by the admitadly superb saving tackle from Berra. I remember at one point in the game a simple slow turn from Saha completely split our to centre halves and he was only stopped by Henry tackling back. The prospect of Johnson and Berra up against Rooney or Hernandez really does worry me.
I think our problems at the back spread further forward as well, can someone please explain to me why our supposed technically gifted midfielders Milijas and O’hara find it so hard to pass to a player in a gold shirt? I can give them the excuse of a lack of movement by the rest of the team but to often its simple five yard to feet passes that go awry. To often we lose possession cheaply in midfield which puts under pressure at the back. Whats more frustrating is the fact that on our day were a fairly decent passing outfit the Fulham and Spurs games showed it. We’ve also showed it for brief spells in recent games, we had one brief passing move after we scored the goal at the weekend that had Everton back pedaling. Unfortunately, Johnson gifted Everton a free kick about thirty seconds after which led to the equaliser, and we reverted to our terrible type.
Here’s one of the problems. I said above I’m not really for sacking a manager during the season but MM really can test even a conservative, naturally cautious Wolves fan.
This is, apparently, MM’s comments in the Express and Star:
“We didn’t light up the sky for everybody with flowing football and create plenty of chances, but away from home I’m not sure that’s going to happen too much. I was delighted”.
Hmm?! Why can’t we create flowing football away from home? Why is he delighted? We lost. To a not very good team.
I’m not a Mick hater but does he even know what he’s on about anymore?
Can I bore everyone with some stats?
A lot of people have been moaning on here and on the E&S messageboards about Wolves not having any shots on goal. This may have been the case in the Everton away game, but it certainly hasn’t been the case this season in general.
The Opta stats for the Premiership show that, by 9th November, Wolves had had 135 shots, a number bettered only by Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City. And 44% were on target, which is actually quite a decent rate, comparatively.
Now I know you might say ‘There are lies, damned lies’ etc, but facts are facts, Mr Gradgrind. Whatever problems we’ve had this season, a lack of attempts on goal is not one of them.
On a separate point, Doyle is often criticised for not scoring goals. In a 4-5-1, he has been described on here as a 0. That’s actually a fair comment in terms of his goal-scoring stats.
However, when it comes to his chance-creating stats, Doyle suddenly goes from zero to hero. He is fourth in the entire Premiership in terms of the number of chances he’s created for other players to score.
Therefore, our lack of attempts on goal are not Doyle’s fault. Far from it.
On the other hand, we can clearly see from the stats that Doyle is a goal creator, not a goal scorer, so he should not be the lone striker in a 4-5-1.
And now I’m actually boring myself so I’ll stop boring everyone else.
Thank you
Interesting stuff cheers – but stats can be produced for most arguments. The last two away games we have managed 3 shots on target, 2 of which were penalties and one was a specualtive long range effort, which is pretty poor. What’s worse is that MM seems to refuse to acknowledge that there is even a problem. Which is both worrying and isnulting to the fans, people he seems to at best, regard as a nuisance and at worst, actively go out of his way to antagonise.
Its interesting that it illustrates the point that Wolves have a fundamental tactical issue. We have a choice of playing 442 where we create chances but are incredibly frail at the back or 451 where we are stronger at the back but severely restricted up front. Both formations tend to work well when we are confident and have a full strength team but if key players are missing or our form is poor we look terrible.
We have a strike pairing that would be awesome playing 442 but our slow centre half partnership is extremely vulnerable playing that formation and our centre midfield choices are restricted creatively or defensively in 442. But our wingers have more freedom to get forward and get more time on the ball in that formation.
By packing the midfield we reduce the amount of pressure on our centre backs but the formation encourages us to sit back to much and as a result we tend to lack cutting edge.
Although the performance was terrible I think the choice to line up 451 away from home was the right one and I can understand the arguments for putting Milijas in the team and retaining Doyle up front. In the long view a point would have been a decent one had we got it and I feel the Stearman injury was the turning point and was out of MM control. However, fingers have to be pointed at player recruitment during the summer, we all knew Elokobi is not good cover at full back, we all knew that our options at centre back were limited for pace (Except Stearman) and we all knew we had limited striker options. This season has been frustrating because Ward apart all of our pre-season fears have been realised. Couple that with raised ticket prices, some fairly spectacular publicity gaffes from the management and players, some bad luck with injuries (Fletch being unavailable for key games, first and second choice right back out for the season so far) and questionable refereeing decisions and its no wonder things are looking so bleak.
Who cares if we are fourth or fifth in stats in shots, shut outs, shits or whatever?
The ONLY statistic that matters is where we are in the league come May.
If we don’t score, we don’t win.
Fuckin’ Rocket Science, it aint.
Bollocks to all the statistics, statisticians and clipboards, let’s get someone in who knows about football, players, and tactics.
FOMM
If you don’t care about statistics, Clive, you won’t care what our league position is in May. Because that is, of course, a statistic. And, for that matter, one that depends on the outcome of other statistics. One of which, as you rightly point out, is the number of goals scored. Though I’d say it’s the number conceded that’s our bigger problem this season.
If you read my blog properly, I said the only statistic that matters is where we are in May.
The rest of the statistics are irrelevant, much like most of our management team and playing staff!!
FOMM
Damn right Clive. Defenders who defend-Midfielders who keep the ball and create-Strikers who score-with a set of tactics they all know and have proven to work-Oh I’ve seen the problem….At this time and place we are a stuttering about and The Manager is pleased with the performance.
None are us are happy with this shambolic state of affairs..blind faith will get us nowhere-and we all know where this is heading-don’t like it so change it.
For all the people who want to keep Mick out of loyalty-If the Ireland job came vacant who would be first in the queue?
It is glaringly obvious Mick McCarthey is not a Premier league Manager, he will do ok in the lower leagues.
The more i watch back the Wolves performaces the more it reminds me of the Sunderland team that bottomed out the Premier League under McCarthey, horrible to watch, no attack & no quality losing almost every game in the second half. Who wants to pay to watch this?
Lets Have a little think now..
Doyle, relegated with Reading
Johnson relegated with blues
Fletcher relegated with Burnley
Hunt Relegated with Burnley
O’hara Relegated with Portsmouth and outcast at Spurs.
Last but not least, McCarthy relegated with Sunderland.
That’s the Manager and half the team, the other half are good championship players.
What does that tell you..
Well Guess what ? they all will get relegated with Wolves..
Why should we believe any different
On the other hand…
Doyle avoided relegation one season with Reading and two with Wolves
Johnson avoided relegation one season with Blues won the league cup
Fletcher avoided relegation one season with Wolves
Hunt avoided relegation one season with Wolves
O’hara avoided relegation with Wolves was a highly regarded young talent at Spurs
Last but not least McCarthy avoided relegation with Wolves twice.
That’s the manager and half the team, the other half are good championship players that have avoided relegation at least once with Wolves.
What does that tell you..
Well guess what? Nothing!
I’m not defending McCarthy or the team but if your going to hit him with a stick at least let be one thats bloody stacks up. After all there are plenty of them. Shit defence poor recruitment this summer, questionable tactics and public comments.
Gloss over if as much as you likeThe team and manager are not good enough for the premier league.. Yes the pliers have avoided relegation for 2 seasons, but the point being made is that non of them are established premier league material.. that’s why we are going down. You need to invest in established players and spend some money on wages in this league or we won’t keep being this lucky..let’s hope Blackburn stick with Kean that at least means we may have only relegation place left to fight against… What a sad state of affairs after 3 years in the top league in the world?? No progress no style no swagger and worst of all no hope..
I disagree, I’m not glossing over just stating the facts, by your guide Demba Ba and Charlie Adam are useless as are Newcastle. Some of the players we have are good enough. Were not talking chsing titles here but they’re certainly good enough to win the bottom of the table mini league. We just lack strength in key areas and depth in others. Thats a fault of poor recruitment and that can be clearly laid a hands of the heirachy of the club. Like I said beat the club with facts rather than vitriol.
One minute we have players good enough to compete, the next we have a recuitment problem.So the same point that I was trying to make then, all in all, investment… Splash the cash to stay in the league.. Glad you agree.
Investment is always needed in this league, because if Wolves don’t everyone else will! I was making the point that the investment needed is not to replace the entire team like you were saying, just key positions, a pacey centre half, a creative midfielder and cover for left back. We have first team players good enough in some positions, Keeper, Full backs, Wings and Strikers although investment in these areas could increase options its not essential. But I wouldn’t mind if we picked up players from Brum or West Ham to fill those positions if the individuals were up to scratch and an improvement on what we’ve got. Just because a player gets relegated it doesn’t make them a bad player.
I’d play 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 with a front three of Doyle-Fletcher-Jarvis.
Don’t even think Doyle does his best work centrally anyway – he’s a channel runner and can do that from the right. Not ideal but I work from the principle that (a) Doyle and Fletcher both need to be on the pitch, and (b) we need a three man midfield.
As for Jarvis, we’re a slow team when he’s on the pitch – without him we’re absolutely turgid.