If you could bottle whatever it is that brings out the very best in Wolverhampton Wanderers at White Hart Lane, relegation predicaments would be nothing more than a distant memory.
Indeed, an unsettling whiff of deja vu must have swept like wildfire around the home crowd as the old gold once again supped their half-time cuppa a goal to the good.
Steven Fletcher’s ninth Premier League strike of the season (moving him level with Adebayor and two ahead of Defoe in the top scorer charts incidentally) gave Wolves the lead in this fixture for third consecutive season.
One chance, one goal, ruthlessly gobbled up by our increasingly prolific talisman. Yes, it was a tap-in but no coincidence to see him once again emerge from the pack to poke home after Roger Johnson’s towering header was cleared off the line.
Speaking of Johnson, I thought this was one of his best games in a very long while, winning everything in the air and making timely interceptions to break up the free-flowing Spurs attack. That’s what we paid for.
The skipper no doubt benefits more than anyone when the gaffer deploys a 5 man midfield, closing the spaces and making his chronic lack of pace much less of an issue.
And Mick picked a good 5 yesterday I thought.
With Henry and Frimpong offering much needed protection, Edwards, Jarvis and Kightly were all able to get forward to decent effect when the opportunity presented itself.
Finally, some balance.
That theme also applies to the Foley and Kightly (as opposed to Stearman and Hunt) partnership down the right. For the first time in what seems a very long time indeed, we weren’t solely reliant on Jarvis as an outlet ball. I’m praying that continues.
Kightly continued his promising comeback with another hard working display including more sporadic moments of quality. It was lovely to see him cut inside his man in the first half and get a shot away, even if it was scuffed over the bar. The point is, he’s asking questions of the opposition again and trying to make something happen; things Hunt hasn’t been able to do of late.
As a side note, it was curious that Hammill didn’t even make the bench.
I thought Frimpong was immense yesterday, bombing into tackles, using the ball well and even bursting forward to support Fletcher.
That said, Mick was wise to withdraw him when he did as the home crowd definitely smelt blood with the Arsenal loanee on a booking. I would hate to have seen him sent off given that he already looks a vital cog in the midfield engine.
A mention too for Berra, who very rarely gets a nod. In his 100th league appearance for Wolves he did what he so often does these days, heading and kicking everything that came near him and making zero errors. It’s a mantra that has served Jody Craddock well in recent years and encouragingly it seems to have rubbed off on the Scot.
Ultimately though, aside from individual positives it was a disciplined, well-drilled team effort that won us this point. Tottenham poured forward time and time again but Wolves always did enough to slowdown their attacks restricting them to shots from distance for the most part.
Hennessey will probably feel he could and perhaps should have kept Modric’s fierce drive out, but given the quality of the strike and the fact it flew through legs, I think we can let our keeper off the hook. He was otherwise assured once again.
It was probably a measure of Spurs frustration that they felt the need to contest a ridiculous drop ball inside our penalty area late one, despite the fact Wolves clearly had possession of the ball prior to the stop in play.
You can blame the ref all you want, but it was despicably unsportsmanlike behaviour from the Tottenham players in my book.
Thankfully it came to nothing.
And yes, it probably should be noted we got the benefit of a few questionable decisions yesterday, for a change, but after recent events you’ll forgive me if I don’t cry a tear for the opposition.
I doubt they would for us.
Strange it’s taken Mick so long to get it right. Yesterday was one of the first times I’ve agreed with a McCarthy team selection. Good to see Kightly back. I never want to see Stearman and Hunt in tandem again.
Absolutely, I also think Foley will get better and better, and the combination of him and Kights on the right, and Ward and Jarvis on the left will make us much more of an attacking side. We Are Wolves.
O’hara in for Edwards when he is fit, and I think that’s our best 11
Best defensive performance we’ve had in a while. I actually felt confident going into the last few minutes that we weren’t going to let anything else in, as opposed to the arsenal game where, despite a good defensive display, i was convinced the never ending onslaught would lead to an arsenal winner.
Lets just hope with the defence seemingly sorted with our two defensive midfielders sitting happily in front of it, we can build on that and add some decent attacking performances on top of that to get 3 points from the teams that matter.
Kightly looks like he’s getting there, maybe confidence is the issue at the moment though. A few times yesterday he dallied on the ball instead of running at their full back and trying to take him on.
Foley, Frimpong and Fletcher were all immense. If those three stay fit and suspension-free for the rest of the season I think we’ll have a far better second half to the campaign than first.
You wrote Kightly off last week before this game, claiming Hammill has more talent and fitness.
Fitness, yes but talent? Kightly tore up the Championship for at least 2 seasons. Hammill had a decent 6 months at Barnsley. He’s shown nothing to prove he can be as good as Kightly was. Admittedly Kightly has shown nothing to prove he can be as good as Kightly was but he deserves the chance.
I’ll happily admit to being a supporter of Hammill, I think he’s got a lot to offer. But you’ll have to let me know when and where I ‘wrote Kightly off’ – I don’t think I said a single thing about Kightly before this game??
Thomas, a nice summary.
While I’m yet to be convinced by Kightly, I agree with your assessment of the effectiveness of the right side pairing with Foley (who I’ve long been a big fan of). Fletcher wonderful as ever and Frimpong demonstrating real quality in the middle – looking forward to seeing him play with O’Hara.
We should all take confidence that Mick and the team can once again steer us to Premier League safety – my current view is that it is Bolton, QPR + 1 that will go down this season, I’m heartened that it now looks less likely to be Wolves. However there is work to be done, starting next Saturday with Villa.
UTW!
QPR are safe – Hughes will see them right and they’ve got plenty of cash. I reckon Wigan and Bolton are down and hopefully Blackburn if they lose Samba
“despicably unsportsmanlike behaviour from the Tottenham players” ? They are like this everytime we play them ! I am no fan of Manchester teams but I really hope they both finish above these shits. Their dirty Dutch midfielder should have been sent off in the first half. Anyway now thats off my chest, what a fantastic performance from the lads. Difficult to pick individuals but great to have the real Kightly back and as for Fletcher and Johnson, absolutely immense. Carry this performance forward and we should comfortably reach mid table. Well done lads. So very proud to be a Wolves fan.
Footnote: Lampard has scored in his last three games and Milijas back to the subs bench. Where is the justice ?
And match of the day didnt even show it (Southern biased c*nts)
I aint seen the game, or highlights yet, so no comment except to say a point very well won.
Slight change of subject, but my dark horse for relegation is the shit.
They seem to be in freefall at the moment, and perhaps we can help them on their way down soon!!
FOMM
I have to say, it is especially pleasing to see Johnson finally starting to play well for us – he’s starting to prove that we didn’t waste money on him! A great defensive display yesterday, and we made a few threats of our own too – brilliant!
All the same, we need to keep this up – it’s starting to look like we can climb up the table to relative safety but that idea goes tits up if we lose to Villa next week! There’s 3 points we can get, for sure!
UTW!
You can’t say “tits up” !!!
This is a family show!!
You never see me using sweary words!!
FOMM
okay then – “this idea goes to waste if we lose to Villa next week” – better, Mr Family Man? 🙂
…jeez, that sentence is SO boring! 😛
I was lucky enough to attend the game. Have to say the wolves supporters were great. Agree with your summary Thomas, except when you say Berra made no errors. He defended solidly but he must have screwed at least 6 clearances straight out of play, was very frustrating. I was very impressed with kightly, from the start he was closing down, made a great tackle of van der dickhead in the first 5 mins. Frimpong and Henry were solid, although henrys distribution and decision making on the ball seemed suspect again. He always wants to take another touch instead of an early pass, which allowed spurs to close us down and got us in trouble a couple of times. I thought fletcher was fantastic, he won nearly everything against dawson but there was a huge lack of support to his flicks and headers. Overall I thought we were deserved of a point but I reckon spurs were there for the taking yesterday.
Imagine if David Edwards hadn’t scuppered that chance that he had! 😉
Remember he’s Mick’s secret goal machine – so secret even Edwards doesn’t know about it.
Shocking finishing btw…
That made me laugh. Well done.
Agree with most points but we need someone to help Fletcher. We are too lightweight up front….Its a credit to Fletch that he scored all those goals! He needs a target man….someone who will hold the ball for him and take the pressure of him. Other than that …good display by the lads….keep it up boys!
Encouraged but we now need to grind out some victories.Would be wary of going back to 4-2-4 we havent scored anymore goalsthat way and have thrown away some winnable games.
Any chance of sending some more players out to Watford to get sharp ?
Joking aside I have thought that the likes of Ebanks, Doyle and Hunt might benefit from the confidence and the sharpness that would come from a month on loan in the championship. If one of them were to go it wouldn’t leave us too short especially if were playing 451. Also we could put a clause in so we can recall them if injuries or suspensions leave us short.
Hopefully they’d return invigorated and back to their old selves, rather than the confidence free players we see now.
You are possibly right but shouldnt we be able to re-invigorate players in house – dont really see why our own fitness coaches couldnt get kites back to his leaner quicker self.
Our fitness coach spent nearly all of his career on the treatment table, so I wouldn’t bank on it
I don’t think fitness was the real problem in Kights case it was match practice,and that could be said of Ebanks blake as well; he’s not really had a injury free sustained run in the team for 2 years.
With Doyle and Hunt it’s probably more to do with confidence rather than anything else and a punt in the championship where they’d stand a chance of getting amongst the goals (much like Kights did) might do them the world of good. Ebanks too would benefit and if nothing else it would at least put himself back on the market if he went on a goal fest for a few weeks.
Jones from Stoke would be my bet!
Kenwyne Jones would work as a target man I think
We had one The Hoff.He was’nt given a real chance.
Great game. O’Hara instead of Edwards and we have a good team in my book.
I saw the game.
Everyone played well, though my heart was in my mouth, when Elokobi came on.
However what stood out to me was Kightly.
He inspired our regeneration in the championship only to succumb to injury once we reached the Premiership. In fact, I thought, at one time, he’d never play again.
Yesterday he showed some glimpses of his real footballing talent and he and Foley worked the right hand side well.
Frimpong great addition and Johnson man of the match for me.
On another note I’d play Milijas, in the attacking role behind Fletcher, before Edwards and O’Hara.
Amazing what can be achieved with the right team selection and tactics for a change. First time in ages we looked a really decent outfit. Solid, defensively sound and with some attacking threat.For me, Foley made a huge difference particularly in his control and distribution. First choice RB for me, whoever’s available.
Same team again next week please.
Great unexpected result did’nt think we would get anything,a solid perfomance throughout
nice to see johnson have a decent game at last starting to get his confidence back,
Lets hope we can beat villa next week that would be much needed win gotto keep it going if
we want to retain our premier status.i hope he keeps the same side as long as he can its the
only way i think.Hennessey should have got down to that shot for the equaliser,thats the only fault with him he does’nt get down to shots he always seems a bit late to me,but saying that
he went on to make some great saves later on so no complaints.perhaps we can get in another
striker to help fletch someone with that little bit of pace then i think we would start winning
a few more game.
Yesterday reminded me that Foley & Kightly down the right played a bigger part in our promotion than Ward & Jarvis did on the left. If Stearman ever starts another Premier League game ahead of Foley at right-back it would be a disgrace.
+1 Foley is head and shoulders above Stearman at right back.
Its quite simple really. Foley is the best fullback at the club, in fact he is the only natural fullback we have. There is a much better shape to the defence when he plays in his natural position. When fit the right back positon shouild be his. Any one can see this so why on earth has Muppet Mick played him R.Mid in the past just to accomodate someone else at R.Back??
Another obvious point, Jarvis is a threat to any team and should alaways be played in his best position, L.Wing. Rednap knows this and thats why he was prepared to sacrifice Bales attacking play to bottle Jarvis up. Basically they cancelled each other out.
And Fletcher obviously should be first choice C.Forward regardless of Micks misplaced loyalities to Doyle.
Hunt should be nowhere near thre first team!!
Stick to this Mick, keep it simple and hopefully we can get out of the hole that some of your inept tactics and team selections have got us into.
Absolutely spot on and its easy to see this. Why has it taken Muppet so long to work it out?? However don’t be surprised when you are absolutely stunned by the Mad Man’s next mind boggling selection.
Misplaced loyalties to Doyle? You can hardly say that when he’s been dropped for the last couple of games!
Should have been first choice a long time before that though Hamlet. Took Mick too long to act imo.
Good point, that
Agreed. He was first choice for me after the first half of last season.
Pure class – one of the best transfer deals of the past two seasons.
Andy Carroll £35m one of the worst!!
You aren’t THE Geoff Palmer are you?
I was wondering that too!
Yes, well played the lads. I thought it was our best performance since the start of the season. Spurs are obviously a quality side, but we restricted them for the most part to hopeful long-range shots; their frustration was clearly evident. The 4-5-1 with Henry and Frimpong looks very strong and we should certainly persist with it. [So why do I half-expect MM to never play it again?!??!]
That drop ball was a disgrace, I haven’t been that angry in a long time! I wasn’t happy about Gareth Bale constantly moaning to the ref as well. Talented as he is, the monkey faced turd, is always hobbling after tackles and moaning to the referees and I for one hope Spurs reallystart to slide after the behaviour of their players. It was good to see us get on the right end of some decisions, it’s almost like over the course of a season decisions even themselves out. (Ben this is me being smug, feel free to offer some abuse if you like 🙂 ) . On a tactical note, the 4-2-3-1 really works and Frimpong offer Henry some pointers how to really play well in that position, Modric should have been closed down a lot quicker, but again Henry was sluggish to do so. Agree re Johnson, I thought he looked really good, hopefully he can continue to improve.
I still think we are owed about 10 big ones yet, before it evens itself out Tafkag!!
It strikes me that when crappy, little old Wolves skimp a point or upset the formbook against the bigger teams, their players’ toys go straight out of the pram.
Did you see Van der Vaart kicking Henry off the ball, in front of the ref, but he didn’t even get booked?!
Then to contest the drop ball was a scandal. If they were 3-0 up and crusing, Adebayor would have nudged it back to Hennessey with a big goofy grin, rub the keeper’s hair affectionately and jog back to the halfway line like some sort of saint.
Funny how things change when it’s 1-1!
Lots of positives from the game, only question, as you mentioned, where is Hammil ?
I think we’ve just about found our best 11, now here;s the scary bit, mad mick is famous for tinkering with things… lets hope he resists the urge, and aside from putting Hammil back on the bench would be happy with the same selection next time out. (perhaps Doyle back in for Edwards, or Ohara even)
Ad Mant. For the first time I totally agree with you mate. Let us just hope that no tinkering happens. Your view about playing Doyle for Edwards I like. Whilst I appreciate Doyler is a Striker I see him more as an attacking midfielder, and I feel he would play well in that role.
I agree with Doyler playing in behind the strker sounds good.
Definitely agree, swap Edwards for O’Hara and i reckon that’s our strongest team.
Hold on.
A great result against Spurs but this wasn’t our best 11.
How many comments on here about Henry dithering on the ball – surely Milijas with Frimpong & O’Hara would offer more?
Also, doesn’t Hammill deserve a chance? Is Kightly that great by comparison – tonight Silva’s free kick described as outstanding – looked exactly like the free kicks we get from Hammill…
First season in the Prem, took McDickhead over half the season to realize what was wrong.
Very first game of last season, he reverted to type, and we only just beat Stoke, and he didn’t get it right again, and we luckily stayed up.
This season, he’s got it wrong most games.
Great performance to get a valuable point, but the really big question is why can’t we perform like this every match?
The top teams, for the most part, are consistent, and play well every match, so why can’t we?
All this result has done is keep us exactly where we were at 3.00pm.
As I’ve said over and over, we have the players in our squad (Ward excepted) who are capable of keeping us in the Prem, but a manager who isn’t.
One swallow and all that bollocks.
Our next four league games are very winnable, and we should expect a minimum of 9 points from them.
Anything less and the good work done in North London recently will be for nothing.
FOMM
Im certainly no mick fan, but i think sticking with Ward has paid off… he is OK at LB but really gets up the field quickly to help create chances… Until we get a dedicated LB (dont hold your breath) I dont see anyone better.
I hope mick has seen the light (though i remain skeptical) and we no longer have to endure the likes of Stearman or Elokobi at the back… or the inconsistent Milijas and Hunt in midfield… Bring in 1 central defender and a capable (not one for the future) Striker and I will feel more relaxed.
As you say Clive, the next four games will be a great litmus to our survival chances – the spotlight will well and truly be on mad mick to see if he builds on Saturday, or flushes it all down the loo
Ad Mant, Have you made a New Year’s resolution mate? Your comments of late are totally positive and I like what I read. I hope MM realises that he is nearly there and that he should stop tinkering and play the team that just held spurs. We looked good and fairly comfortable. and he should retain those players so that they are used to playing together. I feel that is key to our success/survival!
True, but had we lost we’d be 17th below blackburn, and would be thankful that QPR hadn’t won to knock us into the drop zone… still, I agree with this – the Villa game should have the same formation as the Tottenham game, save perhaps Edwards off for one of Doyle or SEB
No.
Doyle has had his chances, and has got worser and worser this season.
Fatty Blake has proved himself no good at this level and should be sent out to pastures new.
Bring in one of the academy lads, or, heaven forbid, put your hand in your pocket Morgan, and fuckin’ buy someone!!!!
FOMM
I agree that Doyle isn’t the man in the hole behind Fletcher, it isn’t his best position and he has had his chances this season.
Not sure who is though with O’Hara missing; Edwards doesn’t have the quality we need at this level.