If you’re feeling charitable, you might put this meek, disappointing performance down to ‘a bad day at the office’.
And given Wolves recent good form, it’s tempting to call this a blip and move on.
But the ease with which an average Newcastle outfit brushed us aside is of significant concern.
Nothing highlighted our shortcomings more than their embarrassingly soft first goal. A long punt up the field, a flick on and eventually a tap-in for Kevin Nolan. Awful defending but why oh why did Hennessy just stand there like a rabbit in the headlights? He’s been exceptional of late but should have been off his line to gobble that ball up before Nolan prodded it home.
Still, the lead was nothing more than they deserved. They’d pressed us high up the pitch, showed a greater appetite for the battle and generally bullied us into submission.
Minutes before half time though a crucial decision went against us that would have certainly altered the course of the game. Adam Hammill sprinted clear from the halfway line and Nolan cynically took his legs from under him. The nature of the trip, combined with the fact that Hammill would certainly have had a clear goalscoring opportunity surely warranted a straight red? I don’t care if he was 40 yards from goal, I think Nolan was incredibly fortunate to remain on the pitch.
And as if to rub our noses in it, they only went straight up the other end and scored a valuable second moments before the whistle. Again it was slack defending as we twice gifted them possession prior to Ameobi powering home a header at the far post.
Not good enough.
It got worse before it got better too, as Coloccini strolled out of defence, nutmegged hapless Elokobi and set Barton free to cross for Lovenkrands. 3-0 and game effectively over.
It was at this point, Wolves decided to turn up. Some decent passing saw the ball worked out to Jarvis and his cross was swept home by Ebanks-Blake. It was the least our number 9 deserved having already seen a header smartly saved by Harper in the first half.
He almost got a second too when another header, this time from a corner, was cleared off the line. By this time though, Steven Fletcher, who’d entered the fray after just 20 minutes, had squandered a glorious opportunity to reduce the deficit, heading wide at the back post when it seemed easier to score.
You sensed it wasn’t going to be our day after that and so it proved, when Gutierrez scored a fine individual fourth on the break, adding some gloss to the final scoreline. I think 4-1 slightly flattered the magpies but without question, they deserved the win.
Wolves can take a few positives from the game, namely the performance and goal from Blake as well as the return of Michael Kightly, who enjoyed an extended cameo and will only improve over time.
Questions have to be asked of the defence and goalkeeper today. None of them were at it and worryingly, the type of mistakes we’ve ironed out of late started to creep back in.
We’ve got two home games to come now and with results going against us today, our good form at Molineux must continue, or all the good work of late could quickly prove pointless.
Still, it’d be boring if it was easy though wouldn’t it?
It would have been nice if the ref would have called the blatant handball in the box on that Jarvis cross and then actually did what he was supposed to do and send off Nolan for a clear goal stopping tackle. The game should have gone to half 1-1 and a man down for Newcastle. Still we are only one win from getting out of the drop and I am still confidant we can do so over the next 2 games.
I got the scoreline right, do I win the cuddly toy and the conveyor belt???
I’ve only seen highlights on MOTD but one thing struck me. If USA had been in goal, not only the ball but Nolan as well would have been cleared right out of it instead of us going one down. I know Hennessy has his fans on here but i never feel confident with him in goal. Bad defending all round for the second but beaten at the near post plus other occasions when he made strange decisions and got away with it. I know the team played badly but for me, it’s time to bring USA back for the vital run-in. I saw the Everton game at Molinneux last year and he was vital in securing a valuable point against a very good Everton side.
To be fair USA was probably exhausted after flying the players to the game…
Some decisions did go our way but at the end of the day you have to play the hand you are dealt we have had similar situations against man city a game which we wud have took three points from as replays show we shuda had 2 penalties and the one they were given was outside the box
moving on i dont believe you will go down i think it will be west ham, blackpool and wigan
Goalkeeper at fault for two of the goals IMO – concrete in his boots for the first, got a hand to one too. USA, USA, USA!
Still, cant win them all.
karl henry was at fault he bombed forward when he shuda been marking nolan if henry was marking him then there is no need for hennesey to make the save
Oh dear, Hennessy is getting a bashin. I can’t condemn the guy over this one game. Name me another where you can say he was “the blame” for a goal nevermind a loss and I’ll name you 10 saves which has kept our goal difference comparable to those teams around us, nevermind saved us a game. The guy can’t win. Obviously the people who are touting him a keeper that is ready for Man City/Liverpool/Arsenal can’t afford USA so they’re eyeing up second best…. Come on, he’s a 24 year old keeper who is in demand and we’ve got him.
Anyway, suck in that air and lets get on with it. There’s still alot of football to play.
Nice to see SEB hit the net. That will help him and I hope he’s the consistant natural sucessor to Doyle.
Lots of games at the start of last season before he lost his place to USA!
Not a fan (can you tell!) – Man City are supposed to be sniffing round him so I hope they make a large bid in the summer!
Its you whos got “Hennessy” tattooed on his back then!!
Fair point but I think hes proved his place overall this season mate given the “defence” he has infront of him.
If we are going to sell him then we obviously want to deal with Citeh tho. Shay Given in a swap plus bags of wonga??
You’re probably right about Wayne – once I make my mind up about a player I very rarely change my mind!!!! (Milijas is the most recent exception to that!).
A straight swap for Given would do nicely if we stay up!
Haven’t seen the game yet (don’t want to, actually) but this goalie bashin’ is a bit harsh.
If a forward or a midfield player makes a mistake, it does not usually result in a goal against, whereas it does if a goalie fucks up.
It is not only his fault that we are in the position we are, that is the fault of bad play throughout the team, bad management and bad tactical decisions all season long.
We are still not doomed, and this result HAS to be the biggest kick up the arse for the players of the season.
Get the next 2 results wrong and we are fucked.
Now, have a nice day y’all, I’m off to see John Mellencamp in concert!!
FOMM
Have you been on the “peace pipe”????
If Ward was in goal you’d be having a field day!
john mellencamp!!!…suddenly, it all makes sense.
I watched the highlights,sorry i mean lowlights on M.O.T.D. lastnight.
what a f..k.up that was ,schoolboy defending not just once but all the
goals we conceded. when we have bad un we have a bad un.But micks
got to take some of the blame for playing 1 up front for the halfhour of
the first half as it showed when we went 4-4-2 we started to create a few
more chances.As for the goalkeeper i too think at this time of the season
hannamann should be wearing the number 1shirt.With 7 to go we don’t
want any more f..kups if we want to stay in this division.Tree wins from
7 i think will be enough.I suppose i hindsight 3 pionts from 2 away games
its not so bad…Keep the faith…
Come on guys! A 60 yard straight punt should be dealt with by the centre half or the defensive midfielder. At the very least the full back should be covering before it even becomes an issue for the keeper. It was crap defensive work which persisted throughout the whole game.
Wayne pulled off two very good saves to keep us in it lets not forget. His form since he was dropped has been good and he deserves the shirt.
The game could have been 6-3 easily with the number of chances for both teams although I cant say we deserved anything from it.
Thought Fletch did well when he came on and won numerous balls in the air for us.
Cant play SEB upfront on his own for the next game. Either play two up top or play Fletcher as the lone striker.
Still, it could be worse – we could have a statue of Michael Jackson outside our ground!
OK Mat fair point,but i still think the keeper should have done better
at least for 2 of the goals even if the defence was crap.I just think that
USA could give us a little bit more experience in the final run in..In this
squeaky bum time of the season.
NICE TO SEE KITES GET BACK IN ACTION,COULD BE A TALISMAN.
I’ve got 2 tickets for “An evening with Matt Jarvis & Jody Craddock” available for tomorrow night (Tuesday), in the Boardroom at Molineux.
I won them courtesy of the SportingBet Wolves Zone competition. But due to my location and late notice, I’m unable to attend.
You’ll need to be at Molineux by 17:45 for a 18:45 start.
If you can definitely make it, send me a quick email to stuparkes@mac.com, with your name and email address. I will then forward your details to Teresa at SportingBet.com who will then send you the necessary details. She was kind enough to transfer the prize and I thought of you guys here on the blog who may like to attend.
The 1st to send me an email wins. The 2 tickets were for me and a friend, so I’ll need your details and your friends.
I don’t know much about the evening. But from what I can gather it’s a sit down with the 2 players and you can fire some questions at them. Check out the website at wolveszone.co.uk.
Cheers
Nice thought mate.
I need your details by midday if anybody is interested???
Cheers
I’d be well up for it mate. I’ve sent you an email, so if you fancied giving me a buzz!
I’m alright for tickets thanks, but my iPhone 3GS is lost and I’m having a nightmare with the insurance company – can you sort a brother out?
So the spin merchants say ` it was just a bad day at the office`. Well out of 15 away matches we have lost – is it 12. For me thats rather too many bad days at the office, an 80% failure rate. If I was that bad a manager at work I`d have lost my job a while ago.
Since then we`ve heard Mijas was tired, poor lad played 2 internationals in four days or so.
To play 451, and let 4 goals in is an absolute disgrace. Surely someone on the coaching staff could get the feel of the players , whether they were up for it, tired, or not really ready for the game. Sorry for me its just not good enough, again. MM and his squad had better pull their fingers out for Saturday.
Here, here! Never forgiven MM for selling you to Bolton either!
Just seen the goals.
Pre Christmas rubbish defending.
Sack the fuckin’ lot of them, and the sooner we get rid of Fletcher the better, he should be shot for missing that sitter.
Oh where is Steven Ward in our time of need????
Absolute crap, back to the drawing board, and fuck off MM
PS I’ve been on the Boddingtons, and after a very late night at an excellent John Mellencamlp concert, Mr Visitor, I’m knackered, and my fingers are typing before my addled brain is in gear…………….as per usual I hear in unison from all points Wolverhampton!!!
FOMM
I only saw the short highlights on MOTD but saw a match report that said Fletcher was our best player?
How long do you give it before Craddock is back in the first team as we didn’t buy a decent centre half when we spunked £18m in the summer?
Blip. (hopefully).
Well said Mark Davies,Could’nt agree with you more.Mad Mick still
thinks we will survive, i wish i had his optimism.Big game saturday i
hope we win because if we lose i think thats it.Just don’t fancy the
championshit football.
I was amazed Milijas started really. He played 90 mins in Serbia then 90 mins in the snow in Estonia didn’t he?
The E&S lead with “Wolves boss could go with 4-4-2″ with Fletcher and SEB starting against Everton.
Correct me if I am wrong but the only game I can remember us winning whilst playing 4-4-2 this season was the opening game against Stoke?
MM said: “I guess how well 4-4-2 works is determined by how well the two centre forwards play” – no Mick it is deternmined by results and the last time I looked we lost the game 4:1 as without five in midfield our defenders can not even cope with the attacks of a newly promoted team.
“Fletcher and Sylvan were our best two players on Saturday – I thought the pair of them worked really well. I was very pleased with them. I changed the formation after we went 1-0 down because it wasn’t working.” – is it just me or what? And we went on to conceed another 3 goals so 4-4-2 worked a treat?
I am sick of the cr@p that comes out of our club. IMO the reality is we need to play 4-5-1, but dont have a front man that can play the lone roll now Doyle is out.
I wouldn’t totally blame the system for Newcastle’s goals. Maybe for their third we got overrun in midfield, but the fourth was on the break when we were pressing, and the second was powerful work in the box by Ameobi after we’d gifted the ball to them on a plate; either of which cuold have been conceded if we’d been playing 4-5-1.
And at least we created a few half-chances after Fletcher came on (we’d created jack-all before that).
I think 4-4-2 might work, but if we do it, I doubt we could afford the luxury of two out-and-out wingers who don’t cross (accurately) all that much (Jarvis/Hammill). In fact I’d be tempted to drop both wide men and pick a midfield four (assuming all fit) of Hunt, O’Hara, Milijas and Mancienne with SEB and Fletch up front. Fletch and Hunt could provide the width when needed, and that midfield foursome have enough bite and guile to get us results in the upcoming fixtures.
4-5-1 has served us great, and yes it’s our best formation when Doyle plays. However, frankly, without Doyler, the prospect of either SEB or Fletcher as the lone target man kind of depresses me. I just don’t see where the goals would come from.
We beat Stoke, Liverpool, Birmingham and Chelsea with 442.
I’m not counting Liverpool – as Ward played up front!
Even though he scored the winner? That’s madness
Louie, when will you take off your Ward colored specs?
The only reason he scored at Liverpool was he was totally lost, looking for the left back position, but hadn’t realized we were kicking the other way, and thought it was an own goal!!!
Oh yes, of course, that must be the answer.
Hey Stourbridge Wolf.
i tell you what, it must have been another bad day at the office when the club let my young namesake leave the club. Plays out of his skin for the wrong Wanderers team currently sitting pretty in the higher echelons of the premier league.
Absolute madness – the best lad our academy produces after Robbie Keane, and MM appears not to want him, prefering the likes of the inept Mr Ward in his squad. You called that very wrong MM, wonder if you will ever apologise to the fans for that crass error of judgement.
i`ve bought an early bird anyway, could be our defence will be more at home in the championship next year, even with lower sky money. My partner is an Everton fan so I`m in the s–t if we win anyway on Sat, whatever formationMM picks out of his hat saturday after breakfast.
Totally agree about Davies – a player with obvious talent that didn’t fit in with the ‘putting in a shift’ ethos.
Our defence will be the same championship defence if we go down anyway! four transfer windows on god knows how many millions spent!
Enjoy the match on Saturday.