The most disappointing aspect of this opening day defeat was the familiarity of it’s manner.
Only this time it wasn’t an Arsenal or a Man City carving us open with a succession of incisive passes, it was an average Leeds side strung together for less than a fiver that exposed our gaping vulnerabilities.
Different opposition, different tactics but the same problems.
Wolves just can’t defend, as a team or as a back four and the narrower shape has thus far shown little sign of addressing the issue.
Today it even contributed our downfall with Paddy Kenny’s long diagonal ball cutting open a defence close enough to be holding hands and the unmarked Becchio gratefully heading home the only goal of the game.
There had been warning signs before.
Stearman (who was very poor, particularly first half) and his desperate off the ball tug, Ikeme’s last ditch saves, the constant indecision, we’ve just seen it time and time and time again.
The deja vu continued at the opposite end of the pitch.
Sure the build up was prettier, the passing crisper, but the end product remains bitty, indirect and desperately short on cutting edge. One shot on target all game says more than I ever could to emphasise the point.
But without wanting to dwell on the negative, there were crumbs of comfort to feast on moving into winnable back-to-back home games.
Peszko showed enough in a 45-minute debut to suggest he could have a significant impact. Although the final ball wasn’t there, he was a constant nuisance to the Leeds defence. With games under his belt, he could prove a great find.
Ikeme was also confident and assured throughout offering encouragement that he can fill any void left should de Vries get his move to Liverpool.
I also thought Ebanks-Blake did enough and was disappointed to see him withdrawn. He got the ball into feet around the Leeds box on numerous occasions and was always probing and asking questions. Doyle wasn’t far behind, but I think it should have been him making way for Sigurdarson.
Jarvis was a willing outlet, although his impact was largely muted. As you’d expect, he seems happy enough to get on with his work until he’s told differently. On today’s evidence, he’ll be a painful loss.
Doumbia showed glimpses of what he brings to the side, namely energy, power and a decent eye for a pass. He encapsulated a team performance that showed signs of real promise before ultimately coming up short.
But lets take some perspective here.
The season is young, we knew this was a difficult opening fixture and Solbakken certainly deserves much more time to get his ship in order.
The summer has been long and not particularly helpful to a manager already having to come to terms with England’ second tier.
Things should get better.
A win on Tuesday night would be a good start.
Surely NOW we have to buy some defenders who can defend. I think the rest will eventually sort itself out but to concede a goal in such a depressingly familiar manner is….. well, at the risk of repeating myself, all too depressingly familiar.
really disapointed with doyle. we played far to direct again at times really need a creative central midfielder, i like doumbia but thought henry hid.
Well, at least we aren’t QPR…
Or Norwich. Or Liverpool, even!
No doubt the doom and gloom merchants will be out in force but I saw nothing today which makes me think Wolves will finish anywhere below 1st at the end of the season. There is quality running through that side and even the most pessimistic of fan will agree.
My mate is a Leeds season ticket holder. He hates everyone, but even he said that we won’t get beaten very often this year. He thought we had spells where we looked a very good side and once we’ve settled everything behind the scenes and the creases are ironed out in the new system, we’ll definitely be pushing for automatic promotion.
Of course it’s easy to be generous with the praise when you’ve just won….but I’ll take that!
Is that the same quality that got us relegated?
I see you’ve returned with your relentless brand of Ill-conceived optimism.
We’re a club in crisis imo.
Yeah we’ll finish mid-table but by the time this awful mess is sorted we’ll be no better off then when Mick took over.
Where is this war chest!!!!!
We’ll end up camouflaging a 20-30mil profit on transfers in outrageous amortisation figures.
While the £30mil that Scouse prick promised to invest still sits in a saving account or is spent giving his mates work rebuilding the North Bank! We’ll have to wait till the accounts are published to see which snide way he’ll hide the fact he renaged on a public promise to a knight of the realm.
I’ve never been so angry as a wolves fan. Give me meandering with little money over being made a mockery of in public any day of the week.
It’s only one game for god’s sake – calm down! We can improve, and I think we will improve under Stale! It was a poor game from us, especially defensively but as Thomas says there is cause for optimism despite the defeat, in particular our loan signings!
Stale seems to do good signings… now let’s see a CB/LB brought in!
Nevertheless the procrastination over transfers and the pompous boasting about our ‘finances”,imo, cost us points today.
What do we want, points or a savings account?
It’s still early days yet. There’s plenty of time to flex the war chest if and when we sell our assets. We all have the same issues with the running of the club, and God knows we should have done something about that leaky defence and lack of creativity in the final third by now. If what the club and the media are saying is anything to go by then it appears we are actively looking to strengthen the team as well as genuinely trying to hold out on selling our best players and not just trying to get big money for them.
Its very clear that there are a lot of problems behind the scenes. Stale has inherited a disgruntled bunch of players, he doesn’t need the fans on his back too. If we haven’t done any decent business, or the issues haven’t been resolved come the end of the transfer window then by all means blow a gasket. Until then we’ve got to just sit and wait because speculating and attacking the club is going to make matters worse. I wait with baited breath for the club to make their next move.
The reality is team has not progressed since Mick McCarthy took over. We have declined over the 3 years since promotion, and we are back where we started, which was the reason the guy should have been sacked a season earlier than he was. When you look at that team that was put out yesterday it is no surprise that we struggled yesterday. The midfield two offer little or nothing going forward, we have a defence void of its player of the year (Foley), no Craddock who I am not a massive fan of, but a better bloke I imagine to have in the dressing room than Johnson, then you have a very limited right winger in Forde. Also, in the promotion season Stearman was dropped in the promotion season for Berra, but now we see the clown lining up in the first team. But this is still early days, it could look better in a few weeks if we sign the defenders we are crying out for. Apart from the obvious defensive problems we have had for years, my other concern is the central midfield partnership of Henry and Doumbia. In that promotion season, Henry was the weakest of the four midfielders and last time we won football games regularly but fortunately he was partnered with a creative player like Dave Jones who I appreciate is not a world beater but he had a better touch and eye for a pass. Doumbia is not that type of player (I don’t think)? Where is the prompting and creativity coming from? There is no range of passing, skill or ability to unlock opportunities. Also, they have to have so many touches it makes the possession look so pedestrian, it needs to be much quicker but I just don’t see Henry being good enough to do this. Cue everyone talking about that rare Henry pass (that would have been intercepted yesterday if the defender had not slipped) but he is simply not good enough.
Karl Henry is f*cking sh*t
I agree with this Danny. I thought Doumbia looked decent, assured on the ball and had some drive. I caught myself thinking though, “he looks like a decent holding midfielder, but less limited than Henry”. The David Jones point is a good one – I’d have him back in a heartbeat. We are crying out for someone to come and get the ball and be able to use it inventively. With Milijas on his bike and our other creative midfielder shown the door scoring the winner for Forest on Sat I think we need another central midfielder (that is based on my preference to play Edwards only wide in a 4).
‘I saw nothing today which makes me think Wolves finish below 1st at the end of the season’. Unbelievable comment. Living the optimism, but how bad do you think this league is. If we’re going to win it a few efforts on goal might help. At least the next two games should (hopefully) yield some points.
We have won 3 out of our 37 league games.What are you expecting a lifetime achievement award? Apart for an over hit free kick from Jarvis we failed to have one effort on target.You don’t win many football matches if you cannot hit the target.And the defence was all over the place.The Baggies beat Liverpool by 3,Kightly and Guedioura both score.I cannot see any reason for Wolves fans to be full of doom and gloom,unless of course they actually care about the state of the football club.Still nice new stand,which will be followed by another nice new stand when they get the money in for Fletcher and Jarvis.
What do results elsewhere matter about the state of our football club? As I’ve said Stale can fix this, I think he will, give it time! And don’t imply that I don’t care about ‘the state of the football club’ just because I’m not buying into this doom and gloom stuff okay? There is reason to be optimistic – remember Reading only won 3/9 of their opening games, promotion is by no means out of our reach!
Especially as one thing which was obvious from Match of the Day etc is that there are not so many ‘fans’ going to football matches.
Result I expected after the Aldershot game. SS simply hasn’t had enough time. For me it’s a bit worrying that Batth doesn’t even rate a spot on the bench. Surely he’s got more to offer than Berra.
Excellent blog BTW. Really enjoy the banter on here.
Was disappointed with the lack of tempo and desire particularly in the first half.Encouragingly 2 players that did show these qualities were Peszko and Sigurdarson.Steve Morgan says he wants to hold on to the best players but it maybe even more important to rebuild.
Agreed, Colin. Sigurdarson in particular, I thought was really encouraging. Clearly not fit, but there were a couple of lovely balls he played and one really good run where he also showed good upper body strength. If he’d have put that one shot away where he leaned back, everyone would have been raving about him – and rightly so.
Thought Peszko did ok, but didn’t necessarily see that final killer ball – hopefully that will come. Although there were still far too many moments where the wingers or full backs had the ball in a good position to cross and there was nothing to aim at in the middle – and that is a criticism of both Doyle and Ebanks-Blake.
Also thought Ikeme did well behind another poor display from our defence. We need a central defender to come in and take control of that back four. Johnson should be doing it but clearly he isn’t, therefore we need someone who will/can do it.
All early days yet, though. Maybe we’ll beat Barnsley 7-0 (please don’t count this as my guess for the prediction league, though!!).
Jarvis was generally out of the game, unfortunately. But if he goes we’ll have to learn to do without him.
Not really what I expected in todays result. I thought a draw would gain us some confidence but alas, not to be. Keeping my fingers crossed for Tuesdays game. If we lose on Tuesday, expect the fans will start to be gloom and doom.. Thanks for the site, awesome.
Sorry but I thought it was a desperate performance again. Leeds had us rocking every time the ball went into the box.
Johnson is TOO SLOW and Stearman is never going to make it. I hoped Stale had seen something in training with these two together but clearly they are just the best of an abysmal bunch.
Must buy 2 central defenders and still need a right back. Zubar NEVER tracks back quick enough after set pieces. If he must play dont let him cross the half way line. If we can’t get a defender before tuesday, I would play Henry as a central defender probably with Batth. It just can’t be the 2 who played today and surely Johnson has played his last game in a Wolves shirt.
Finally, don’t let Fletcher go. We looked toothless again. Doyle is, and always has been , a waste of space. He shields the ball well we are told but he never turns and he never does anything with it. Without Fletcher we wont score 20 goals all season.
Anyone still want to sell Guedioura and Kightly ?
Kightly? We offered him a contract and he buggered off instead remember? Not going to blame the club for that but Adlene did have a good game for Forest today…even scored the winning goal…
Kightly was offered and signed a one year extension to his existing contract in July 2011,,that took his contract to 2013. The mistake made was only offering a one year extension,this was yet another footballing misjudgement by Jez Moxey.At the time Kightly was coming back from injury,surely it would have been relatively easy to persuade him to sign a longer contract at that time.Instead we waited until he was fully fit and proven in the Premier and offered him a 3 year contract this summer. By that time we were relegated and Kightly would have been getting offers to more than double his salary.Think about it,when he was injured we only offered him a one year extension.If he had failed to recover from his injuries his career would be over with no contract after 2013.As for looking after Kightly when he was injured,isn’t that exactly what every professional football club do,look after their valuable assets.Moxey messed up with Kightly and we have lost a really good player,who was sold on the cheap[because his contract was running out}.
Well said chris
It’s easy to say that with hindsight but what if Kightly never fully recovered from his injury? If it was clear that he wasn’t going to be back to his best then the one year extension would have justified itself…
Of course Jez was counting on us still being in the Premier League if he ever came back to full fitness…
hamlet, Sure it is all hindsight,but equally is is about judgement,or lack of it.If you pay a Chief Executive over a million pounds a year you expect him to get most of these judgement calls right.Sadly in footballing issues this is not the case with Jez Moxey.He made the same call and got it wrong on Mark Davies,didn’t offer him a decent contract extension when he was injured and by the time he was fit ,it was too late and Evans poached him .Kightly and Mark Davies are potentially excellent football talents and anybody who knows his football would have taken the risk and offered both decent contract extensions when they were injured.Also when injured these players are more likely to agree to long term deals.You can cover injury risks by insurance.To be fair to Jez Moxey he did get it right by agreeing a long term deals with Jarvis and Fletcher.
Such judgement is extremely hard to have I admit and every board will make mistakes – Moxey’s mistake had us relegated with one of the worst scores in the history of the PL whether you like him or not depends on whether you think he has learnt from his mistakes, and it’s not just me who thinks he can – it may not seem like it on here where many people are predominately anti-‘Moxley’ but some fans do have faith in him and I’m one of them. I also believe he cares for this club and wants it to be as successful as possible – because remember, he gets more bonuses in the PL! 😛
Dear Stale
Welcome to our world
To be fair (well, second half) I thought we were ok going forward, frightened to death though everytime Leeds came at our defence. Peszko looks a great acquisition, Sigurdarson looked ok, but surprised to see SEB come off. Does anyone think Stearman has been playing with Berra too long? Shirt tugging, poorly miss-timed tackles, he was nothing short of useless. Please Morgan/Moxey, for the love of god…we need a defence! 3 years we’ve been asking!
Oh, and gutted we lost Adlene…. He showed today what we’re missing
Average performance from a very average wolves side and another loss to Leeds who will imo
finish below wolves in the championshite,but i don’t know where we’ll finish.
We need to get that defence sorted QUICK.
Good blog Thomas.
I know we lost but am more optimistic than when we won on the first day of last season.
There was a gulf in class between the players brought in by Ståle and those who remain from the MM/TC era.
Peszko potentially better than Kightly and Jarvis.
Sigurdarson very clever player and Doumbia, a new Viera in the making was a class above everyone on the pitch.
Also Henry’s play was improved by his presence.
For me Ward should never play for Wolves again, nor Stearman and at best Johnson should play as the 2nd centre half.
We need a defence and fast.
Jarvis played like he didn’t want to play.
I would suggest that hanging on for the extra money, re Fletch and Jarvis, cost us at least one point today and probably 3 points.
Watched the match on Sky and for me the best moment was the camera on the Wolves bench.
Ståle was looking one way, while TC shouted in his ear which he ignored.
He turned to the new coach as if he had heard not a word of TC’s verbosity.
TC threw up his arms in disgust, then folded them, shut up and sat down….
Why think Fletcher would have improved us today?
He didn’t want to play, like Jarvis, so would not give 100%.
This is obvious and illustrates the stupidity of seeing football in purely economic terms.
I agree let Stale clear what he needs to clear and move the club on – the money from the sale of Jarvis and Fletcher would give him the money to build his team.
Totally agree. Give Stale the time and the money from the impending sales and he will make this club great again. I believe he is the breath of fresh air we have needed for a while. The shoestring budget signings he has already made appear to offer more flair and promise than any I saw under MM. Right now, I anyway feel anticipation, not fear and dread like last season.
The future is bright………………the future is Stale.
The doubters and gloom merchants need to give the guy time……….and mark my words, they will be eating their’s.
Come on me Babbies!!!
All of what I’ve read above sums up much of what I saw yesterday . The defence was woeful – particularly Stearman and Ward . For Gods sake , Ward had his head down at the first kick-off !!
So , on another note , not being for ever a Leeds fan or of Warnock , can anyone help me with this ? On leaving the game a friend pointed out that with about ten mins to go all the ballboys were withdrawn . I didn’t notice this , but the Leeds fans being allowed to keep the ball with no replacement backs this up . Said to be a typical Warnock tactic , but , now I’m not saying it would have affected the outcome , but ?
Anyone (foolish enough ) to have kept the tape of this game – please can you confirm or deny this rumour please .
Further , it is only one game , Keep the faith .!.xx
Morgan said he wants to fight to keep his star’s but at what price will he let them go and if he does what will he do with the money give it to stale or will he feed the compton building project.me thinks the later.
Johnok-spot on.
If a team that has only won 1 game in 27 is offered 24 million for 2 of its players surely its an offer worth considering ?
Thomas is this comment giving grief ? Seems to keep getting removed.
Hiya. For some reason both you and Colin seem to be using the same email address and computer to comment leading me to believe it’s the same person deliberately commenting under different names. There have been 4 other commenters using different names but the same email address as yours too. Can you offer an explanation? I emailed you but didn’t receive a response.
Hi Thomas thanks for your reply.(I missed your email) i have used different names when i wanted to make a different type of comment.I use the mobile format and did not know this was an infringement.I will nolonger do this – regards Colin.
Wolves fans literally arguing with themselves?!?!
Is this what it’s come to?
I was sort of agreeing with myself – i think !
Just watchin the shit beat liverpool 3-0 after watchin the dross wolves served up losing to leeds. How can wolves have fallen so far behind the shit so quickly. The players, board, ceo and chairman should be ashamed of themselves. Poor Stale havin to work with these muppets.
Wolves4ever-Moxey thinks he’s got another sacrificial lamb-Think Stale is more than his
equal in so many ways. MORGAN it’s up to you do you eant a sussesful football team, or WHAT?
I ‘m a bit over the top-made my Mrs go through thevgame by locking myself in a darkened room.
Just want to see Wolves win-is that too much to ask?
Sorry for the misspellings-just want to feel proud of my beloved team.
But even last year we could see that where Wolves were going wrong, Albion were doing the right things. For a start, they pushed the boat out to bring in a good manager (Hodgson) at the right time.
What did we do? Sack Mick after the transfer window was shut and then dither before appointing ‘the novice’ TC.
I have as much love for WBA as any of us, ie 0, but they’re arguably a similar sized club and have really shown how it can be done with sensible financial AND football decisions being made in tandem.
Sad to say…
The answer was Mick McCarthy and TC. Give Stale a chance to repair the damage!
Sportsnet World here in Canada were showing this game live this morning but at the last minute switched it to Ross County v Celtic – says it all really!
I dont know why but i have faith in Stale. His aquisitions have given me a positive feeling and if we can add some strength to our defense and keep Jarvis i think we will be in the top six. If we keep Fletcher as well, automatic promotion, qualified by the fact he has a positive attitude. If he goes and Stale is given the money to spend, i think we will do well. Fletcher and Jarvis gone and no funding, i will feel rather depressed with Mr Morgan, at the end of the day Mr Moxey is only his puppet.
All too familiar again. The back was the usual flat lack of pace and decision. Midfield a bit more promising … Still would love to see someone take the ball forward thru the middle.ebanks Blake will do a job again I think . The new signings offer hope . Early days
i think that stale has brought in the right players- hes bought more players in this window than i think mick has done in his life
defence- the defence was seriously poor this game and stearman and johnson seem to be to slow and when the go in on tackles they are so big that they end up putting the guy on the floor! surely stearman should be sold now. as for zubar he had a good match considering how much games he played last season.please stale get some defenders. ward i have great belief in but think he had a bad game.
midfield-jarvis didnt get enough of the ball and i think he also s a little dazed by all of this talk about him moving to sunderland, as for peszhco he has great potential but needs to learn what to do with the ball once he has got it, doumbia is a great playmaker and he will do well. sigardson is alrite. and as for henry hes just the normal old henry fouling left right and centre.
strikers- doyle is now just a waste of space and he cant pik up th pace and i havent saw him score in a league match since qpr in january, as for SEB i think he is slowly but surely improving but is main downfall is his position and how much ball he gets, i havent saw him score a goal for about 2 seasons now.
Oh dear, same old same old. Can’t defend, can’t score goals. End result of course, null points and a host of unhappy Wolves supporters. Not to mention headlines of ‘Liverpool humbled at West Brom’ and ‘Kightly and Guedioura score winning goals.’ Another day in the life of a Wolves supporter.
Yesterday’s game showed what a big job Stale has on his hands and how much he needs that £20m that Moxey keeps turning down. We need a completely new defence, but then we’ve known that for years. I’m not sure that either full back cut out a single cross(except on one occasion when Ward’s plan worked and it did hit him up the arse) and the centre halves were caught square and flat footed.
Our attacks are so ponderous they are easy to defend against. There’s no tempo or movement, no square runs beating the offside trap which you see from other teams. The stats speak for themselves. One attempt on target i think, yesterday, which is about par for the course.
And possibly the most worrying thing is this is a team that has forgotten how to win. There’s no confidence and this is why we need new personnel fast. We need people with a winning mentality and not just ones going through the motions.
There were plus points though. There are signs that our possession play is improving slowly. All Stale’s signings, Doumbia, Peszko and Sigurdarson look good ones. And SEB’s looking lively and fitter and will score goals at this level, while Ikeme looks a very good keeper to me.
Moxey now has to support Stale while the transfer window is open and maybe we can still look forward to a successful season.
Come on people hands off the panic buttons it was just the first match !!!!!!!!!
First game of this season but the same weknesses that have been there for a very long time.
I’ll do 1 if i hear we’ve only won once in 26 games again. Its past and can’t be changed. No we were not really good at Leeds, defence is dodgey, the long ball to Ebanks never worked, keep it no the floor. Baldy headed man will do it, and as for the worry of what to do with £30m,there is enough donkeys out there to blow it grr.
1 min 58 secs Johnson drops off man, I thought here we go again. Our defence is all over the shop. Stale has a big job to do in very short time. I love to read the optomistic comments but my rose tinted specs need new lenses on yesterdays performance. Time will tell, one way or the other.
FOJM
When Peszko came on my 11 year old said: “Look Dad they’re doubling up on him”, to which I replied “No mate, they’re doubling up on everybody”. Too laborious to even muster a single attempt on target from open play. I’m not against possession football and patient build up play but sadly didn’t see any evidence of what we were building up to. There has to be more desire and more incisive passing from central midfield. Henry finally played one decent pass worthy of the name but, in truth, it only served to highlight how woefully inadequate he is in that role. Later on we gave him a free kick (the mind boggles) and he reverted to type with his standard ‘chip it out of the bunker’ routine although at least on this occasion it wasn’t straight into the keepers hands. I know people will argue Henry’s job is to break up the play and I agree we need a ball winner but they have to be capable of more than just that. To most of us, it’s been painfully obvious that we’ve needed a new back four for the last three seasons and yet another transfer window has come and gone without us signing a single defender. Since we’re stuck with our captain for another four seasons, maybe it’s time to turn him into a right-back and free up a central midfield role for someone who can actually play a bit.
Accepting this a belated comment,why have we given a four year deal to a 29 year old who has shown he cannot hack it at Premiership level ?
So we start with a defeat which was nothing short of what i expected and my score prediction on the Friday blog will bear me out on that.
However, i’m not going to start jumping up and down just yet because i like Stale and i for one am prepared to give him time to implement his vision on how the team should operate and play before i make any judgement on his ability as the manager of our club.
I like his forthright and honest opinion and the way he tells it like it is. No bullshite papering over the cracks and pulling the wool a la MM and TC.
By the way Stale’s blanking of TC on the bench was a laugh out loud moment, TC was trying to give Stale the benefit of his vast tactical nous and say something in his ear but Stale completely ignored him and turned to say something to Johan Lange much to TC’s exasperation. Pure class. Mind you Lange seemed to be in charge of the clipboard on the bench too so TC must have been right pissed off.
Judging by Stale’s signings on show yesterday i think he has an eye for a player too. All three of the new boys looked good acquisitions as opposed to MM’s ones for the future!!!
Having said all that i feel the need for a bit of a rant now and its a rant about my favorite subject, so here goes.
HOW THE F*****G HELL DOES DICKIE STEAR-OHDEARME-MAN GET IN THE STARTING ELEVEN. He should not be anywhere near the bench let alone get a start. He is surely the luckiest man alive ever to sign a professional contract. A total liability, an utter clown and a pub player at best. My heart sinks every time i see his name on the team sheet.
He must be a right brown nosed a** licker (I’ll get the bibs boss, i’ll blow the training balls up boss, i’ll put the cones out boss, how many sugars do you want in your tea boss) because there’s no way in the world he gets in the side on ability ffs.
Johnson gets some stick on here and if I’m honest some of it’s justified but playing in a central defensive pairing with that clown is bound to affect his decision making during a game and consequently alter the way he would normally play.
So Moxey open your purse and give Stale the funds he needs to bring in some much needed defensive reinforcements before you end up with egg all over your fat face again.
By the way while i’m on the subject of money, people keep saying let’s get the money in from the Fletcher and Jarvis transfers and buy some decent defenders. Why?
Didn’t Morgan promise Stale a substantial amount of money for transfers at the press conference to announce our new manager?
Do we not have the parachute payment to fund such signings? After all uncle Jez keeps putting out bulletins saying we don’t need to sell our best players to operate and how financially stable we are.
Are we not in profit from our transfer dealing this season already? (3 million in for Kightly, 2.5 million out for Sigurdarson) Apart from the loan signings that’s half a million in profit by my arithmetic.
Ahhh how you love that word eh Jez. PROFIT.
Get it sorted you fat t**t before Stale sees right through your bullshite and lies and does one.
Rant over.
Excellent post Yosser.
It was priceless that cameo between Ståle and TC yesterday.
It illustrated the flux at Molineux.
Forget Fletch and Jarvis moxey, open your wallet and bring in some defenders asap….
As i said Robin, it really was a laugh out loud moment. Stale obviously doesn’t think much of TC’s input. It did prove to me though that TC is only there on Moxey’s insistance. Probably one of the reasons why Curbs turned us down
Yep TC is there cos of Moxey and Ståle must be letting him know that he’s a ‘figurehead’ and no more. You are probably right about Curbishley as well
The only reason TC,(Totally crap) is sitting along side stale can only be for one reason
spying on stale and reporting back to moxey,me thinks..
Sorry, but that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!
There’s plenty more where that came from,lighten up i’m only taking the piss,
But while we’re on the subject of TC whats he doing there anyway ???
I mean, think about it – TC may be a crap manager but he’s a decent bloke, and if Moxey doesn’t trust Stale then why in blue hell would he have appointed him in the first place?! Only a complete idiot would even consider that – and though I’m sure some will disagree Moxey is no idiot!
I was there yesterday (I’m actually in the photo used above) and I was very disappointed in the performance. Although I thought that there were some players to come out of the game with credit.
Doumbia and Doyle I thought were decent and then behind them Ikeme, Henry and maybe Jarvis. SEB always needs 4 touches before he controls the ball and is too predictable, but hopefully will show his ability at what is his level. Zubar was a total liability yesterday, shocking performance. Ward not far behind but I’m confident that Ward will improve to a consistent level as the season progresses, my confidence in Zubar to do the same frankly isn’t there. Defensively as a unit we always looked a fraction off the pace and as mentioned above similarly hapless as we’ve all sadly been used to over the last few seasons.
Peszko showed enough to suggest that he can cause problems for most teams at this level, with a few more games under his belt.
All that said though, it’s early, early days and I’m confident that performances and results will improve soon and we’ll be thereabouts come the business end of the season.
This result makes me so bloody angry. I hear everything folks say about patience and dont hit the panic buttons . I know teams need to jell, I know we are not the finished article BUT I am afraid under Moxey it is always going to be this way. It happened with Dave Jones, truth be told its why Hoddle very quickly lost interest in us and good candidates walked as soon as they heard is vision. He says we dont have to sell our best players but then makes it pretty clear he is going to. I always recall Dave Jones saying after our firt promotion that its now up to Jez and his team to do the business….yeh right. I dont mind tight fiscal controls but whats going on now is ridiculous.
It has been obvious for years we need some better defensive players no one with half a brain can deny this.
But clearly Jez wont let SS spend money until he has sold the players that he says we dont need to sell??????. Lets not kid ourselves if and when he collects the 25 Million for Jarvis and Fletcher, does this mean SS gets to spend it. No way. There will be no blockbuster signings coming our way.
A couple of decent solid defenders are not going to cost a fortune. Cough up 8-10 mill and SS will transform that defence. So what doesnt make sense is why are we waiting to collect the money SS wont be allowed to spend anyways.
I like what I hear about SS and his disdain for TCs advice, frankly he will always have it because any good self respecting coach would have walked when he bought in his own man.
MY patience has worn thin with whats goes on. The basics in soccer are pretty straightforward.
The season starts this time every year, how hard is it to be ready?
All succesful teams have/need a solid defence, its basic Chaper one Page one stuff.
Even the best strike force can not consistently score more than a bad defence lets in.
(Cloughie when he broke records buying Shilton, we pay millions for a striker to give us a few extra goals, why not pay the same for a guy who will save me one a game).
I am sorry someone at the Mol continues getting it wrong his name is Jez and I am just fed up with hearing the same old bullshit.
If at the end of the season we miss play offs by a point or two, how much did yesterday matter then!!!
Another basic is and its pretty obvious every single point matters its about steadily winning them losing three like we did yesterday is not trivial., its criminal.
NY, i think i agree with virtually every word. Except one. Saaaacer! Never call football soccer, please!
Why is it called American Football ? Given only one player ,the kicker, actually kicks the ball,it’s baffling. Maybe Clive or NY Wolf have an explanation. I need the distraction.
I’ve been trying for 25 years to educate the uneducatable, the American redneck.
Whenever I meet someone new, the things that get asked are:
Which part of Australia are you from?
Oh, you’re English, which part of London are you from?
And you must be into sahcer, Go Manchester.
Morons.
I think they call it football coz they can’t get their heads round “A bastardized form of Rugby”
I tell them it should be called pussy boy throwball, coz they are all padded and helmeted. Bunch of ponces.
I would have more success teaching shit fans to speak in something other than grunts.
I made myself watch a complete “game” some years ago, and I had a stop watch. On average there were 5 seconds of action for every 34 seconds of inaction.
No wonder Americans have a short attention span. Now where was I ??!!
Anyway, no comment on yesterday’s result from Elland Road, except for “spend some money on defenders, you fat greasy turd, greasel!!!
FOWB
Thankyou Clive for your entertaining,as ever, “answer” . The question is still out there ,but as Fiona Bruce often says to me “Who gives a fuck”.
Usain,
I hear you its force of habit no one over here has a clue Man Utd plays football. If you dont call it soccer they dont understand. I agree everything Clive says, I am sure he and I could regale you with stories of the average US guys sports understanding.
It took me 5 yrs to get a basic undersanding of NFL “Football” I mean everytime its starts to get interesting it stops. Going to a baseball game is an absolute waste of time, no one really seems to concentrate on the game which is understandable anyway, but then they are up and down its impossible to watch. Just a constant stream of people getting beer and hot dogs. Clives right they have absolut zero attention span. Our local sports radio guy is amazing where I am real football is quite popular but he doesnt get it and just bad mouths it needs more goals how can a good game end in 1-0 he is continually yaking on. If he had is way they would double the size of the goal or tether goalllkeeppers to a goal post.
His classic was refering to the World Cup final rounds, he asked “How the hell can they call it the wolrd cup, when most countries are not there” Not a clue about qualifying. Of course when I called him to explain this and to ask hw the hell they could call it the World baseball series when there are only US and Canadian teams playing I was soon talking to a dead phone.
I am niot complaining about SS or denying him time its the fat controller who has to carry the can.
Wolves until I die.
I also got some great soccer coaching stories from over here . The kids were great it was the parents I COULDNT HANDLE.
Thanks for taking the time to reply and again,good fun to read. It hasn’t answered the question but I don’t care anymore,if I ever did ! To coin a phrase,this correspondence is now closed.
Absolutely spot on NY, i couldn’t agree more mate. All of the best managers down through the years had the same philosophy, i.e. to build a good team you start from the back.
Our back four have been dire for the last three seasons and still we wait for it to be addressed. Stale has said that he wants to bring in a couple of defenders but i just get the impression his hands are tied by Moxey. Apparently Vadim Demidov came for talks and then high tailed it to Eintracht Frankfurt as soon as he found out what Moxey was offering.
Well said NY, don’t forget money for Vokes and Gued plus others given frees and loans.
Probably the most well-based argument against the board I’ve seen here, but there are a couple of points I’d like to offer;
– both board and SS should realise the urgency of getting in new defence but what if he can’t find anyone yet? For example, whoever he had been targeting beforehand we couldn’t get because he wanted the Spanish Premier League – can’t remember the guy’s name. I’m sure when he does sign one though he’ll be great because his other signings has looked decent and there’s no point getting a defender just ‘cos ours is crap only to realise said new defender is crap as well! I’m wondering whether Batth should get a chance…
– Our last answer to our defensive problem was Roger Johnson, and very few could have predicted how disastrous he was for us last season!
– I’m not sure I believe this ‘sell before you buy’ philosophy I’m hearing – but if it IS true then I’m not happy with it either
– We were going to lose games, and we will lose games – to say that one loss is ‘criminal’ is a bit of an over-exaggeration in my opinion, and if we miss the play-offs by one or two points then there will be other results we’ll be cursing. If we miss the play-offs because we never strengthened our defence then somebody fucked up – but it’s only Game #1, let’s see who else comes in because Stale has said he wants to bring in more players and we can make a good guess as to what area he’s thinking of! 🙂
Hamlet,
You make good points. I had wondered about your first point, in the current situation I would like to see Batth given a chance. I do think it is a fact that players are wary of joining us and agents try to steer them away.
Maybe criminal is a bit strong but I do think they are three points lost that we were unable to propelry compete for. What I mean is we know our defensive tool box is lacking and to send SS to Leeds with the same tools is pretty unambitous. The old cliche about the height of insanity being continuing to do the same things and expect different results applies.
Anyway maybe our season starts tomorrow lets hope so, every point counts.
Like everyone on this site we share a commone desire for our team and to see that bunch of crap down the road beating L.Pool and laying claim to being the biggest team in the West Midlands is killing me. But God damn it Jez and Steve if you dont wake up soon they will be! God i cant beleive I said that but maybe thats what it will take.
In SS I trust
It seems without o`Hara, Ward has the only left foot available – so he takes all the corners from the right. Trouble is he can`t run to get back, frankly both full backs were shite, and both strikers powder puff. EB got his goals playing with big Chris, Doyle & EB were so ineffective.
I agree the managers new signings were our best players, Ikeme was class too, the rest created nothing, no drive, no pressure, no momentum. no passion, no quality. I bet the manager wonders what the hell he`s got into.
Enough!
Here are the facts:
– We lost
– Away
– With a team that hadn’t played together in a competitive game
– Against a Leeds side that are proving difficult to score against based on pre-season (and my mate’s assessment, as a Leeds fan)
– It was the first game of the season (we don’t win many of these!)
– The goal we conceded was poor
It wasn’t the result we all hoped for, but we were better and we should remain optimistic – because if you can’t be optimistic after one game you have a problem!
Let’s see where we are after 8 to 10 games then judge how it’s going.
I agree, Lets give the guy a chance.
After all We Should beat Barnsley on Tuesday…
One tough game away at Leeds is not enough to write off our season..
Work in Progress
Guys,
I am not knocking SS, or giving up on the season. I am always optimistic and cheerfully predictied a 2-1 win for the boys. I am not a negative supporter in fact quite the opposite.
I respect your opinion, and I think we are both wanting the same thing.
I just beieve that to be succesful in anything there are certain minimum standards required to give yourselve the best chance. They are pretty basic. In my opinion there is no justifiable reason that SS had to work with same inadequate defence that we have known for a cple of years was not fit for purpose. Regardless of the ongoing transfer circus for us to go to Leeds without addressing that fundamental problem was criminal. It was not SSs fault. What I am saying is that we are not giving ourselves the best chance of success. We are not going to have a load of high priced players at Wolves but we can at least be ready for the start of the season.
Well two games in and guess what our defence is still trash and our attack lacks guile. Solbakken has started on the second and has been blocked on the first. Morgs get your chequebook sign that defender we so desperately need to shore us up.
A shapeless and aimless performance, epitomised by no shots on target and the same issues at the back. Midfield looked better (notice who scored the Forest goal though?). Trouble is we look like a team with a losing mentality and that will take time to turn around.
The Jarvis/Fletcher situation is unsettling and needs to be sorted pdq with West Ham and Sunderland given a deadline. Jarvis played well and I think both will knuckle down if they have to stay.
Trouble is Moxey thinks he’s a big player and he’s no doubt enjoying his 15 minutes of fame. By the time they’ve gone – as they inevitably will – it’ll be too late for permanent replacements (unless we spend the cash on another stand)!
Woody,
I fear you are right about Jez. I am sure he means well and is still working to his finacial obsession of producing the best P&L statement, which is great. The problem is in business its not difficult to do this short term. The trick is to get the balance right. Anyway I guess we can not do anyhting about him.
On another rant from me I am hearing TC seems very much involved. OK fair enough but have others fans noticed the unfortunate trend of new players joining and showing flair and creative tendencies but these quickly diminish. I just hope it doesnt happen with the new boys who do appear to look good. The reverse also seems true with players leaving and improving. Is it TC I dont know but it happens for sure.
OK here goes 3-1 Tuesday for me.
Interesting comment on the sanitised.
The manager revealed discussions are continuing about possible ins and outs.
“This is always a discussion, if you are going to buy before you sell,” he says.
“That is a continuing and ongoing dialogue between myself, Jez and Steve.”
Continuing and ongoing dialogue is polite for arguing i suppose. STS wants to buy someone but he’s not allowed despite our financial stability, parachute payments and the rest.
Not sure who is to blame but I do know it smacks of what went on under MM when we didn’t move to strengthen obvious weaknesses in the squad and ended up being relegated. The same appears to be happening now. We’ve spent less than 3M on Sigardarson and Tank, (the latter probably won’t feature much this season), and brought in other players on the cheap. You might describe them as exciting and as having potential but most of all they were on the cheap. If they were any good they would have been snapped up by other clubs – just as Kightly was. If we are looking to be back in the premier next season we need to start bringing in players who are of premiership standard, not guys who struggled to score in Division 2.
The season has just started and we are already playing for three points less than the other fancied clubs. How costly could that be come the end of the season? What if we miss the play offs by a point or two? Surely it’s been obvious for at least a couple of years that we have problems at the back yet nothing seems to have been done to rectify the situation. Our total inability to keep clean sheets was a major factor in our relegation for goodness sakes. The longer this situation continues the more points we will drop and the more difficult it will become to regain premiership status. The statistic of one shot on target all game indicates there are problems in other areas.
We should beat Barnsley at home, it is a must win game if you expect to be taken seriously as a promotion contender but you also need to be picking up points on the road at places like Bolton and Leicester. I’m not sure we can do that consistently with the current squad.
I was full of optimism when SS was appointed – now? Nothing seems to have changed and it looks like a long and hard season ahead of us.
Sorry to appear so negative so soon.
Just wanted to share this link that made me chuckle.
Apparently Berra has spelt out that he wants to join a Premiership club…good luck with that Christophe, I hear that the Indian Premier league is hiring.
Here’s the story: http://www.expressandstar.com/sport/wolverhampton-wanderers-fc/2012/08/16/christophe-berra-spells-out-ambition-to-move-on/
Henry made it into the box once all game, failed miserably to protect his back four – what exactly is his function in the team? Stearman and Johnson shocking, there truly is no hope for the former, Ward is chronically short of any attributes I can see and Doyle spent the majority of the game on his Gadd
Absolute crap
Groundhog day, playing a 2 man midfield with two isolated wingmen was MM`s preference, and look where that got us.
A 2 man midfiied will never protect the back four, which badly needs some cover or new players. The team needs new blood, refeshing with new players, there is no point in playing hardball and not getting in some money, if the manager is starved off funds.
Always look on the bright side ……..
It wasn’t a good display.
Ward and Zubar both had awful games, both their touch, passing and positioning was atrocious. Playing two defensive midfielders meant there was no link up play with the strikers, this only changed when Peszko and Sigardsson came on. Peszko played some neat one twos, cut inside and was keen to attack. Sigardsson started to drop short to create a link between defense and attack. Both players seemed to show more committment in the time they were on than the rest of the team, I think this was epitomised when Diouf was time wasting at the corner flag and Zubar wasn’t making a challenge then Peszko came flying in and won the ball.
Tonga looked decent but faded after the first half. Henry was OK, still annoys me how long it takes him to release the ball, especially after he was dispossessed in the first minute.
Barnsley has a great win over MIddlesborough on Saturday so I dont think its a dead cert we’ll win. They have a decent team who were looking to push for the playoffs at a point last year.
It will be interesting.
I really am nervous about Barnsley. Just the sort of must win banana skin that gets us everytime. What odds Craig Davies finds the net?
Can we keep a clean sheet? No evidence of that.
Can we score more than once? See Aldershot.
I think 1-1 is the best we can hope for. That sort of a result might be a blessing in disguise because it would ensure that any delusions Messrs Morgan and Moxey may have about our prospects with the current squad will be shattered. This needs to occur BEFORE the end of the transfer and BEFORE our adopted scouser signs any more contracts for building work.
Well said mike,
I have been chided for being a bit premature with my concerns but make no apologies for being cincerned we have started the new campaign with the same defenders that have impressed us for so long. Like you I have hoped in the past another defeat would prompt some action. Looking on the bright side I am predicting 3-1 but as you say that has its downsides
If I were Ba’ath I wouldn’t want to play with either Drearman or Baldric. Both are joke defenders.
What’s wrong with our club when we all know what has been needed for so many years…
Think we all know the answer. Sky are saying MON is closing in on Fletch.
All the talk of Fletch and Jarvis, not a defender in sight!
It is a mess, why concentrate on those who do not want to play for Wolves?
Are we not pursuing anybody?
Are we supposed to think it’s good for Wolves this haggling?
It is not.
We have lost one game and still it continues, Fletcher and Jarvis.
I will be surprised if it doesn’t cost us more points tomorrow.
Report I saw indicated Wolves stance had softened, Makes me think one of two things:
1: Morgan/Jez finally woke up to our needs
OR most likely
2:Jez blinked when he saw MON and Big Sam threaten to move on, does he honestly think they are kids? I bet he had throw his under wear away.
He neednt worry he never tells us the fee anyway so will will never know.
Come on my boys 3-1 Tuesday no idea how but you got to beleive.
Having watched the Wolves for over 50 years I think this has got to be the worst squad of players I’ve ever seen in the old gold and black. May be that’s a little harsh to the new lads who have come in over the summer, but for the lot who got us relegated there can be little argument. Apart from Zubar, who was bought as a centre half and has never been played there, the rest of the back four wouldn’t make it into my local pub league! The commentator on Radio WM described Stephen Ward as a pub league centre forward being asked to play left back. How true> He’s been targetted by EVERY team we played against in the Premier League and so to on Saturday at Leeds. Johnson’s got the pace of a Blackpool donkey and Stearman cost us SO MANY goals last season he’s a joke. To make matters worse they gave Karl Henry a new four year contract last week. Now am I the only one who thinks that goals win games? If so, what’s he doing in our team? Every time he gets the ball he plays it sideways or backwards. He hasn’t got an attacking bone in his body. If he is the extent of our ambition this year God help us! From what I can see the owner, but more especially Moxey, will be quite content with a mid-table finish this year. We certainly wont be seeing many goals scored at home or away, except in our goal, until the Board admit that there is VERY LITTLE real quality in this squad of players and do something about it. Ship the rubbish out and bring in some quality players who really want to play for the club. Our true fans deserve better!
Well said.
For the last three years everytime the opposition has the ball in our territory I see fear and sense they will score. Wheras i should have confidence in the ball being collected controlled and moved upfield.