Clearly the swirling thunderstorm was a bad omen before kick-off.
Sinister, black skies overhead, followed by one whopping great false dawn on the sodden Molineux pitch.
Successive League One teams have now come to town and absolutely embarrassed Walter Zenga’s side – and presumably Fosun – as Jorge Mendez’ precious little talents flap around hopelessly like little kites in a hurricane.
Forget the bootlicking drivel spouted after Burton Albion’s emasculation…Collectively and individually we were pathetic on that day and against an outrageously superior Barnsley side tonight, we were as bad as the very worst performances I’ve seen over the past 12 months.
At least Kenny Jackett’s sides were disciplined and knew what they were trying to do when they were boring us all to alcoholism.
Save for a Paul Stancliffe own goal at the South Bank end and this was every bit as embarrassing as when Steve Agnew and co thrashed us 25 years ago. Aside from Stale Solbakken’s consecutive nails in the coffin against Peterborough and Ipswich and these were the worst consecutive home games in short succession that I have ever had the misery to endure.
The writing was on the wall tonight the moment Zenga hooked Jack Price at half time, our one and only shining light who could actually pass the ball. A disgraceful decision.
The haplessly one-paced, one-dimensional Coady remained, as did our flawed 4-3-3 formation which saw £200k Portsmouth plodder Jed Wallace appal on the right and the apologetically meek Joe Mason apply chalk to his boots on the other side.
Aside from Reading, this game went the way of every single other this season, whereby we literally wrote off the first 45mins owing to misfiring formation and misfiring players within it.
Barnsley were quicker in mind, fleeter in foot, sharper in possession, stronger in battle and distressingly superior in every single facet of the game. Winning 4-0 was the very least they deserved.
With Jorge Mendez’ grubby pawprints all over most of the powder puff, pretty little lightweights I’ve had the misfortune of watching in the last 180 minutes – supplemented by the usual crap we’ve all grown tired of – then 4-0 defeats are just rewards for us, too.
The ensuing match reports will doubtless paint a different picture, with fawning mistruths and grotesque marks out of 10, (the boys need to bed in folks / the future looks bright / there’s positives everywhere / there’s strength in depth) as nobody appears to be able to call a match like they see it.
For Oniangue, see an inferior Olofinjana and for Texeira and Costa I’d have referred you to Adam Hammill, but that would clearly be an injustice on our ex-winger who looked light years better than the flaky pair put together. As I still shake my head from Cavalerio’s migraine inducing performance against Burton, I couldn’t even compare him to Silas.
Only Mark McGhee’s opening 0-1 loss to Port Vale can compare to this burst bubble. And with no heartbeat, spine or intellect behind this disparate group, I can’t see an another one being blown up any time soon, not unless Silvio, Saiss and Ola John are world beaters.
Oh well, Newcastle up next…
Hero to zero in seven games Lord help us Saturday.
Absolute joke…..thats all I’d better say for now..!
Shocking performance for me he needs a settled 11 and quick! From what we have seen so far my starting 11 would have to be this
Gk ikeme
Rb Docherty
Cb Batth
Cb Stearman
Lb Borthwick-Jackson
Rm Costa
Cm Edwards
Cm Price
Lm Cavelero
Fw Bovardson
Fw Mason
I know not all will agree, but I feel this gives a spine with championship experience and allows us to carry the 2 flair players in the wide areas. Saiss might replace one of the central players in time.
Tonight’s issues were caused by lack of work rate in midfield (no tracking back at all in the second half), no movement or outlets in front of the back 4 (the crowd were shouting for the ball to be played forward, everytime we did we lost it!! we were pass without move!!) and finally no support for bovardson when we wacked the ball long. This team would have midfield work rate, outlets wide and support upfront.
I agree there needs to be more stability in the starting XI.
Newcastle is a particularly bad fixture at this moment in time because Zenga is damned whatever he does. If he reverts to last season’s team and makes us more compact and difficult to breakdown, I think we’ll lose. If he persists with blooding more of the new players, I think we’ll lose. If he mixes it up, I think we’ll lose.
That’s not being negative for the sake of it, Newcastle just have more quality and their tails will be wagging after spanking QPR.
Like you say, there has to be greater strength down the spine as our midfield went missing second half. I also didn’t get what Zenga was trying to achieve with Wallace and Mason. They were plonked out wide but never offered width or got in and around Bodvarsson to support. This meant our full backs and midfielders never had a forward pass.
I would also field what might be considered an unpopular side at the weekend – something like…
Ikeme
Iorfa
Batth
Stearman
Doc
Cav
Price
Edwards
Coady
Costa
Bodvarsson
That’s based on nothing more than flooding center mid with effort and running, some genuine width playing off one of the best strikers in the league.
Two things for sure in my mind. Firstly we will not play 442. No-one does anymore, not really. Secondly if our best line up includes Price and Edwards – both woefully short of the quality required at the level to which we aspire, then we might as well bring Morgan, Moxey and Jackett back.
Ikeme
Doherty
Batth
Stearman
Borthwick-Jackson
Saiss
Oniangue
Cavaleiro
Teixeira
John
Bodvarsson
Subs: Lonergan, Iorfa, Hause, Coady, Costa, Mason, Dicko (if fit, if not Gladon).
Come on Ben, stop sugar coating it!
Say what you really think!!
I watched what we aspire to today, a Barcelona master class murdering Celtic, sublime football, absolutely mesmerising.
Newcastle, a ten goal gap in our performances tonight, will think we are gonna roll over and play dead, twice.
After thice shambles, maybe they are right, but I will never forecast defeat.
Onwards and backwards
Even this
Damn iphone
We lost the plot – completely! Barnsley were by far the superior side having players working for each other in a tight unit. We should learn from the way Barnsley play and emulate that against Newcastle. If you look at the goals tonight in the capital, NUFC were to say the least – lucky!
Disgusting and Embarrassing ..
Worst defeat at home since the S**t beat us 5-1 and we know what happened to Mick.
Forget the Promotion or the playoffs…
End of..
The honeymoon is surely over for Mr Wenga. All this crap about the advantages of having a large talented squad, and the need to ” experiment and rotate ” can already be seen to be just that. Absolute crap.
Football is a team game, where individuals player`s skills are combined to produce a result. This necessitates tactical and selection continuity, which alone will allow team members to get to know each other, build understandings, and to generally appreciate what is required of them as a cog in the team machine. Both Burton and Barnsley demonstrated this to a tee. Neither comprised outstanding individual players, but both were well coached and showed excellent team work where all members worked for, and complemented each other.
Compare that to Wolves. Another 5 changes for no obvious reason other than the stated need to keep squad members happy, with the result that we appeared to be a group of strangers who had just met up in the pub before the game. This was farcical. We were doomed to lose before a ball had been kicked.
Then there is the question of squad quality. Where did this nonsense claim come from ? On the evidence so far it appears that we have signed a group of less than average prima donnas, who are light weight, and totally ill equipped for the battles ahead. Only Bod appears to be an improvement on what we had before, but how can he perform when support is so abysmally lacking ?
What is surely essential now is that Mr Venga identifies what he believes to be his best team, and then quits chopping and changing, but rather tries to coach them into something approaching a competent unit. If he can`t [ or won`t ] do this, I would suggest that his tenure at the Mol will likely be as short as many of his previous coaching jobs. Chinese investors are not known for their patience. ! !
Love this Mike and particularly your point about the construction of a team and the importance of working as a unit, which I think is something many football fans completely disregard.
I suppose what’s a bit annoying is that Zenga did show signs of doing just this in the early games when he only had last season’s skeleton squad and Bod, Costa and Tex to work in.
This made sense because last season’s cloggers, for all their shortcomings, showed that they were a bloody difficult team to beat. We just need a focal point (enter Bod) and some flair (Costa and Tex), so it was no surprise we had a decent start.
The last two matches we’ve compromised that solidity, which was the foundation of our early success and paid the price. It should have been a more gradual introduction.
The issue is Thomas that we appear to have just signed players almost for the sake of it, with little regard for the overall balance of within squad. Most of the new signings appear at best to be of very average ability, and worse, they are just not fit. Who on earth sanctioned this massive influx, and on what basis ?
The result is that we have a massive mediocre squad, and Mr Zenga appears to have little clue as to how best to select between them. It seems his solution is to keep giving them all a try just to keep them happy, on the basis that they are all equally brilliant so he can fit them seemlessly into the team, without any detriment to overall performance. Thus far, there is zero evidence that he is even trying to build a settled side, and this must be a cause for major concern.
For as long as we keep on with this crap system of player rotation for the sake of it, we will fail. It`s not rocket science.
You can only sign player who want to come. You can’t force them to move to the Championship and Wolverhampton.
As for being fit, would you pass up your summer time off just in case some team in another country, whose season starts before your current team’s season, is bought out by billionaires and decide to try to sign you?
I agree with your comments regarding fitness levels Tim. But my real point is that we have just signed a large number of players seemingly at random, who on the evidence thus far,appear to be of modest ability. There appears to have been little consideration given to the resulting balance within the squad, which is now out of kilter
Rotation system does work when it’s done right. When all the new players are introduced at the same time, young players, crashes like this occurs. We have to trust that Zenga knows what to do to turn it around, in his way. Saiss is one of few newcomers with physical strength and Silvio has Champions league experience, so there’s more to come. Jackett always waited a long time before he threw in new players, and it worked for him. Zenga throws them out for a baptism of fire. Not really surprising not when we know what Zenga stands for (passion and courage), a different approach than the colder and measured approach by mr Jackett.
There is no prospect of the team developing any cohesion and togetherness when the hapless manager changes half the players from one game to the next. Some may say it’s rotation,others may think it’s, ‘ I haven’t a clue what my best team is’.
The honeymoon is now over Walter and it’s time to prove the doubters wrong arnd to show that you do have some tactical nous behind the passionate facade. I hope I’m wrong but it’s very difficult to envisage an ex goalkeeper having what it takes ( Dino Zoff being the exception to the rule). The ridiculous decision to reduce the pitch size to a postage stamp was the first bad error, no central defensive reinforcement was the next (Stearman,folks, cannot be considered a reinforcement)when it was blatantly obvious that a defensive kingpin was required. Then we have the acquisition of various Benfica rejects,presumably on the say of Mendez the agent whose main interest is to line his own pockets.
There are bound to be rumblings in Shanghai and with 2 games against the geordies coming up things don’t look good. Patience may wear thin. If things continue to go wrong, Steve Bruce anyone?
Oh dear the honeymoons over already. Yes agree that’s as bad as I’ve seen for a while. In the same mould as the 5-1 Albion thrashing.
Rotation not good, players were clueless,disorganised & tired. Tim Spiers said it’ll take 6 months for the team to gel!
It’ll be too late by then. We’ve got too many players! He’ll never keep all of that lot happy. Hoping for a quick reverse & recovery but not with much confidence after that appalling gutless performance.
Blimey Mike, great minds think alike (or fools never differ!)!
lets not panic. Long road ahead.its gutting right now but
All these are learning experiences for the squad.
Back four should be same as Saturday, give the a few games .Don’t mess with that.
Midfield should contain Saiss.
Upfront should be bod plus one.
Keep that spine.
I think that the biggest problem we have is the expectation all fans had after reading the various descriptions of the incoming players. Let’s face it, I don’t think any of us had heard of any of the players coming into the squad. The only sight we had of them was a 45 second reel on You Tube. Well I reckon any player can look like Ronaldo or Messi for 45 secs.
Now we know that WZ reads this page, maybe he might hear the collective call to stop experimenting and play the best players for the next game. I wonder if he feels that all the players need some game time, sometime. Maybe having too much of a choice is a hindrance.
A good start would be to decide who is not up to standard and drop them into the reserves. Leave a squad of maybe 18 players to improve consistency.
Other than that, the general consensus of opinion was that it would take a couple of months for the team to gel. Let’s not start calling for heads to roll after 2 bad games. We will know when we’re in trouble when Clive changes his prediction 🙂
I see the editorial management here have been leading up to this..!
I personally rest my case as in the DB Steers partnership at the back..my only hope was that we were to be so dominant going forward that the risk was negated although tactically perilous..
The Championship is mastered by the statistic of how many conceded against the ability and consequential goals scored for,also with the hope that any goal scorer does not get pissed off that all his efforts are for nothing.
Well,in this case are goals for was 0 so odds were that there was big trouble brewing..
Add the disjointed and some half fit new team members with the tactic of rotating players and you have a dangerous formulae ..
Add also to the Moleneux expectancy of PL tomorrow and we have a disaster waiting to happen even though even here this result was unpredictable.
I said in the preview We needed atvleast 2 players to shine and we had only Bod ..Coady for all his running is not up to an average KMac type performance and our new guys seem to be overwhelmed by the surprise strength of the opposition ..(Zenga too?)
I suggest that the top teams in this league will not concede many goals.. that method is proven by several teams past and present and which I have been obsessed about to the point of paranoia..
As Stu said to me last night how can we expect any different if we play the same guys at the back (we even bring back Steers who wasn’t good enough before !!) who can only emulate past situations like this yet again …
4-0 is an unfortunate reminder of the risks.
It unfortunately’s down to the manager also seeing this and I would point out that unless Barnsley romp this league and win it then with other top teams to play – the odds are that it’s def going to happen again..
Oh,so I wish that Williamson was fit but as he’s not thenDB and Co will have to be put on stage to prove our
Vulnerability which means we are going to suffer..
Points make prizes and our prize at the moment doesn’t look like the precious promised land at all very unfortunately..even with money behind us Wolves fans are back in that zone again ..ask Amanda Cape,
she predicted Mr Zenga would slip and by God he’s on his Arse with this result.
The Answer: buy a defence…Make our new midfielders play,and note that other floating left winger will be available on the mkt soon….
He’s sitting on a bench somewhere….
Afraid Bens report rings all too true. Fear for the Mendes/Zenga axis. Jeff might need to find new friends and quickly.
Maybe the ‘axis’ is Mendes/Fosan, with Zenga the outsider trying to make sense of their joint decisions.
The first half was like a Cliff Thorburn master class, as we slowly and predictably passed the ball across the back hoping to lull Barnsley to sleep before launching the ball forward like a North Korean ballistic missile. Barnsley were not intimidated by these coma inducing tactics. It was like watching modern ballet performed and written by tax accountants, Batth Stearman and any midfielder clocking up the pass completion stats whilst in our own half before giving the ball to Barnsley. The midfield have to take responsibility for moving the ball upfield and they have to do this as a unit. I was going to say we lost our shape in the second half but we were pretty shapeless throughout. At times we looked more like a Subbuteo team with players waiting to be flicked into position.
Bodvarsson put a shift in but even he looked clapped out at the end of the game
Love the line, ” like a Noth Korean ballistic missile ” you made me laugh again, thank you god……thank you….!
Embarrassing!!!!
Fucking barnsley!
Oh well up.to st James Saturday should be a easy one, please walter read the blogs let’s start playing a settled team, your,not going to get four foreigner s in midfield tracking back aswell
Onwards and upwards cmon the wolves.:'(
You mean foreigners like Ngolo Kanté?
As someone who firmly believes in accentuating the positives, even I’m a little flummoxed as to what to say about last night’s performance. However, I would echo one of the chap above’s sentiment about not panicking and remembering that prior to the international break the emphasis from the majority of us was that the team would take time to gel. And whilst none of us were expecting things would get quite this bad before they got good, I still think that sentiment rings true.
I’m not pointing the finger at any one particular contributor to this blog but I have to say some of the attitude of our fans is ridiculous at times. Yes, we’re paying customers but some of the guys around me in the North Bank Lower (Row V if you’re wondering) were actually booing individual players last night. What on Earth is that going to achieve?!?
Sometimes I feel like turning up to the games with a few dictionaries in tow and the word supporter highlighted. If you’re really that disillusioned with the state of the team then why would you fork out a small fortune to watch them play every other week? Again, please do not take this as me lambasting any of you individually but I really am at a loss as to why some supporters put themselves through what appears to me to be an absolutely disdainful experience for them.
For what it’s worth, I am highly sceptical of Jorge Mendes’ influence on the club and am not taken with many of his clients. Teixeira is far too lightweight for this division and appears to have a rotten attitude, Costa spends more time on the floor than he does with the ball at his feet and Gladon looked distinctly average on Saturday. Oniangue looks better than most of our midfielders but like Tongo Doumbia before him lacking in the stamina needed to thrive in the Championship.
Hopefully they’ll get better with time but early indications suggest we may have to lean on the experience and professionalism of KJ’s old charges. It’s worrying therefore that WZ has thus far made such players the fall guy when it comes to tactical tweaks (I’m in full agreement that the decision to hook Price at HT last night was extremely misguided). Speaking of tactical tweaks, WZ needs to do away with this fixation on chopping and changing the eleven – players shouldn’t need a rest in September!
Saturday threatens to be a more chastening experience than last night and it’ll be interesting to see how much time WZ gets to engineer a promotion charge, especially now Jeff Shi is back in the UK. I think he ought to be given the benefit of the doubt but suspect Fosun may not be so patient…
On another note, wouldn’t you all love a penny for Kenny Jackett’s thoughts right about now?
Oh Dear!
My ‘Two Spitfires’ omen was right, I just didn’t interpret it correctly.
The perfect barrel roll performed by one of them foresaw us rolling over and dying against Barnsley.
It’s so obvious now.
When I said that I was disappointed with Saturday’s effort, I mentioned that I couldn’t make my mind up whether our foreign immigrants were highly talented players who would take time to settle or a load of ‘Fancy Dans’ who fell over a lot.
It looks like Ben has made his mind up.
Zenga has a lot to learn about success in the Championship.
And wearing thick rimmed glasses may make you look more intelligent but doesn’t mean you are.
Big Walt has to get his army of mercenaries marching to the same beat because, as smiley as Jeff is, he ain’t going to accept this sort of return on his investment for long.
A bit early yet but there might, sooner rather than later, be a new terrace chant.
“Fee Fi Fo-sun
I smell the blood of an I-tal-ian”.
It can flip both ways, in my opinion. If we give the newcomers experience they may adapt fast, or it could take some time and we ends up in a mid table spot. With previous managers failures in mind it’s not surprising that people begin to question the choices done by the gaffer lately.
I was working away in sweltering London yesterday so didn’t go to the game or listen on the radio. I was expecting a tough match but never in a million years did I see this performance or result coming.
I had reservations from the start about the wisdom of recruiting a foreign manager and the volume of foreign players who have no experience in the Championship or in England but I’m not going to get too carried away one way or the other just yet. Xmas will be the time to judge if this path is the correct way to go.
Ben Rasmin’s post above is excellent – I agree with everything he has said.
Out of all the summer signings so far only Bodvarsson and Borthwick-Jackson look up to speed and CBJ wasn’t even in the 18 man squad after playing well the weekend. Is he injured or just being rotated!?
Moving forward less rotation please WZ. Work out the best 18 and stick to them with minor changes where necessary. I also question the tactics of taking off Price and Iorfa, moving Coady to right back and having a lightweight midfield of Costa, Oniangue, Teixeira and Cavaleiro. No coincidence that Barnsley ran riot in the last 15 minutes…
Thanks mate.
I was also a bit bemused to see CBJ out of the 18. Can’t see the sense in dropping Iorfa for one game, he needs a prolonged rest after a poor start to the season. Think we’d be wise to remember that he’s still young, learning at this level and has played a lot of games for club and country in just under two years.
The midfield was appalling after Price was removed and Coady shifted to RB. Hopefully Saiss proves to be a good addition and can offer the defence a little more protection.
The problem we have with Iorfa and also Hause is that these two guys are regulars for the England U21’s and now can’t even get a game in the Championship in order to develop. How will they react to that? I have no problem at all with Stearman and Batth or even EEL and Williamson but these two have the most potential out of all our centre halves and should be nurtured not buggered about and become disillusioned.
Perhaps an Italian style 5-3-2 might work but that would mean sacrificing our wingers. Plenty to ponder over the coming months.
Leicester played 5-3-2 with success. A very good solution ;=) DEFEND!!!
Before the storm broke,I thought with the side that finished on Saturday we would stand a good chance of victory against a Barnsley side who had had a great start to the campaign.
Then I saw a the side WZ put out and was flummoxed to why he made so many changes again,beyond comprehension,the rest is history.
I like most wolves supporters think its to early to press the panic button but I think Jeff will think otherwise if we continue the way of the last two games.
Newcastle looming Saturday and can’t think at the mo what will happen come 5pm, UTW.
Stearman still for England, Clive? He was turned this way and that and left floundering in the wake for the second and fourth goals.League 1 defender at best (as his his central defensive partner in my opinion)and unfortunately those of us who were not exactly extatic on hearing of his return are currently being proved right. Hopefully, Walter will see that the defence needs some stout midfield protection and will act accordingly.
Yes, most deffo!!
Zenga should be given his marching orders and replaced by Steve Bruce, a man who knows how to build promotion-winning teams. Walter has a dreadful track record, some bizarre aversion to picking the same players and no idea how to get the team playing for 90 minutes. Zenga out!
The Wolves Blogger sums up so accurately what we all felt.
You Rob, while all these on the forum are full of passion and in love and want to give Walter and the legal migrants more time, have offered the reality solution.
SACK him now so the season 2016/17 has,nt already gone.
H was useless in the past, turning out to be useless in the present and will be useless in the future.
Like a classroom of excited children, many of you should read back your comments and return to Peter Pan and Never Never Land.
Hairless of Houston the Albion are laughing at us, we are embarrassments, tell your forum what the answer is old wise one.
Some of the words used in the press as Walter blames his staff.
Hammered-Humiliated-Thrashed-Overwhelmed-Shameful Collapse-Battered-Unacceptable.
Another Solbakken like Wolves experiment don,t give Zenga more time to worsen the situation,employ a competent person.
Come on Slack Alice, give us a clue, who would you pick, as you seem to think you know it all?
First of all Zenga needs to decide on a settled team. Making five or six changes every game you are never going to get consistency or develop a winning habit.
While it all feels it could go the way of Solbakken right now, I still believe these players could do something. Perhaps it’s just blind faith but in those games Ben mentioned or the dire 0-0s of last season we did not have a player of the supreme quality of Bodvarsson up front. The guy is the real deal and the only bit of service he got last night, from Texeira I think, he almost scored. Costa too and others have shown quality, it’s the tracking back and putting a foot in that’s been missing. We all saw the performance we put in at Birmingham. Hopefully that will return.
Another question is whether Zenga is working them too hard in training, never giving them a day off, and whether the players will buy into it.
Well, well, well…………couldn’t make the match last night and couldn’t believe the scoreline this morning. T’is a wake up call for Walter and make no mistake about it.
The squad rotation has to come to a halt and a settled side put in place.
To take off Jack Price the only really protective defensive midfielder and go gung-ho in attacking midfielders a catastrophe waiting to happen – Walter must learn, but already we have the doom and gloom merchants calling for his head…how absolutely moronic can you get!!!
Until Willamson, Dicko and the rest return it looks as if our best line up goes like this:-
(which pretty much agrees with Pottsey above)
Ikeme
Doherty, Baath, Stearman, Borthwick-Jackson.
Costa, Price, Prince/Saiss, Cavallero.
Bod, Mason.
The honeymoon period is definitely over and it is with trepidation now that we face two consecutive trips to Newcastle…………fingers crossed……
Stearman for England!
Why is everyone putting Stearman in their startling line ups. We’ve had 2 games with him and conceded 5, we only let in 6 in the previous 6 games without him. He is absolute garbage.
Absolutely right. Look at how well Fulham are doing without his inept performances. The guy is total garbage. So many contributors point to the Mendez factor influencing the influx of players but there is absolutely no way he’d have Stearman on his books so who is really identifying signings for Wolves?
2 games played. On Saturday he gave away a penalty and was totally out of position for their goal (he is sprinting to get back into position (too late) if you watch the highlights). Last night he gave away two needless 1st half free-kicks in dangerous positions and couldn’t put a tackle in.
Send him back to the Cottagers, I’d rather have one of the training ground dummies play centre-back, at least you’d know it would be in the right position for some of the match.
It should be noted that given the managers comments he does seem to realise what a risk it is to do what he’s doing – his excuse being that giving everyone proper game time is the only way to find out what his best 11 actually is. Its impossible to predict Zengas team at the moment (CBJ wasn’t even on the bench!) because of this but you would expect wholesale changes again vs Newcastle with the performance we just saw.
This could well be the start of what happened with Solbakken and I hope to god that it isn’t – but its far too early to conclude this to be a disaster just as it was too early when we beat Reading to say that we would be a force to be reckoned with…but if Zenga really does learn from defeat then it should show against Newcastle. You never know – Dean Saunders’ team beat Hull City who went on to be promoted
The one positive point from all this malarkey is that no matter what happens over the next few weeks: whether we lose the next ten matches fifty nine nil and Walter goes mad and Stearman is sent back to Fulham in a concrete overcoat and all our foreign imports throw their toys out of the pram and flounce off back to Barcefica or wherever it is they’ve come from…
…We’ve got owners who are not going to sit on their hands, look the other way and whistle a happy tune.
They are going to do something about it.
Which is more than can be said for the last incumbent.
Well said that man !!!!!!!!!!!
Dogooder stop being so silly Morgan has gone and did some fantastic work for Wolves.
You now slather over the new owners and assume, that they will still get Wolves into the Premier.
What about the billionaires at Blackburn,Cardiff,Forest,Fulham and QPR, what they have achieved ?.
Wolves have achieved nothing so stop either, your slathering and influencing Spikeyboy.
This made for painful listening on Wolves Player; so sorry for those who went to Molineux.
I hope that the Wolves post mortem today will see some positive results and some collective resolve stiffening. That said, Newcastle away seems a game too soon.
Agreed, that we need to find our strongest team and then stick with it . I’m a bit out of the loop concerning Silvio – is he injured or just not match fit?
Def agree with that one DG ..please tell me even you can see the Steers DB alliance is like us giving them a 1 or 2 goal start..
Please please tell me before I need a shrink ..see Jack Duckworth and Finsbury too..
With all your years watching wolves you MUST agree?
That would be too easy SS.
I wanna see you suffer first!
MESSAGE to WALTER
Following my previous thoughts I’ve had a long re- re-think on this and to bring all this together as we’ve got too many players being experimenting with rotating etc..I can see no choice and no options but to address this head on…
Buy for about £8M-£10M a new Central attacking no5 and new Captain and drive the team around him..
We should of bought the Brazillian …this should knit all the options together and have a player a bit like an Emlyn Hughes in his hey day..
We’ve got the resources and players waiting to be led..
It would stop the rot at the back but give confidence that we are serious to address our weakest link..It might save your job too WZ..
Mendes and Thelwell start looking..
Who’s it going to be?
Trouble is mate we have to wait till Jan next year ….
Well down to Earth with a bump!
Still, not time for the panic button though.
CJB in the centre of defence perhaps?
The doom and gloom is somewhat funny.
Also, Amanda seemed to be the only correct prophet ,relative to our performance last night.
Looking forward to the next instalment against Newcastle!
No Colin I also predicted a defeat..
So many fans are Blinded..
Nothing yet this season has suggested a play off Challenge..
This Squad is still weaker than 2 years ago.
Hope I am wrong of course
First of all, I think going with offensive midfielders to try to tie the game or possibly win is a good strategy. What is the point in protecting a 0-1 score. Goal difference only matters when the teams are tied for points. Rather have 80 point and a -20 goal difference than 79 points and a +20 goal difference.
Not excusing the players for the last 15 minutes but I think the strategy was sound.
In a lot of sports, players are shuffled quite a bit. In ice hockey, there are 3 sets of defensemen who are switched throughout the game. Same goes for the forward line.
Players have to learn to work with each other, regardless of who is on the pitch. If you know how Bodvarsson plays, you should know, as a midfielder, where to put the ball for him to run onto it. There are only so many forwards and being able to know how they play should not be rocket science.
Team
Too early of course to hook the manager, but last night’s performance was the pits.
I’d love Zenga to get it together & make us a decent side, but it looks a massive task.
Ikeme’s kicking last night was awful, I’m a big defender of Batth & Stearman but they were not up for it last night.
Why did’nt Zenga persist with the side that played against Blues? That was a top performance I thought we’d cracked it.
Also share concerns about the development of Iorfa, Hause & some of the young players not in the squad like Ennis, Herc & Ronan. I’d have liked to have seen one or two of them get game time. But with this bloated squad no chance of that.
I’m going to Newcastle on Saturday, I hope Zenga & the coaching staff can improve on the schoolboy or Sunday league level we got last night.
Anymore performances like that I’ll be applying for a 20 per cent refund on my season ticket.
Departing Molineux last night the mutterings of discontent were clearly audible as were the jeers at what as a shocking display. We just drove home to Bedford in grim silence.
As someone commented in the loo, the last manager to send out a Wolves team that was mullered and embarrassed in every respect similar to the performance last night was McCarthy after the 5-1 shambles at the hands of West Brom. He was sacked a day or so later. By definition I think the thought behind the comment was get Walter out now. How impatient Wolves fans are.
However Walter has only been with us a few weeks and with 13 additions to the squad clearly he needs time to sort matters out. You could argue he never even had a pre-season to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the newcomers and what game plan and selection criteria is best suited to the squad he has to hand.
Yes I agree with some of my fellow bloggers that with this constant chopping and changing we are never going to see a settled X1 any time soon and yes it baffled me why (for example) the Man Utd youngster was dropped and Doherty was shunted to left back when he only used his left peg top stand on.
However this is the wind of change which virtually everybody was pining for after the gruesome twosome finally let go of the reins. Sometimes it simply does not work out immediately as everybody prays and it may get worse before matters improve but and lets give Walter a chance. Even Pep would need more than 8 weeks to turn this club around.
The Championship (or division as I prefer to call it) is the most difficult league in the world to get out of – upwards that it – as we well know having spent about 30 of the last 35 seasons in this division from hell. Teams such as Barnsley and Burton have a bunch of players who fight and scrap for everything as well as displaying a mean amount of skills – look at two of those goals last night – absolute class.
Walter has never managed in a division like this and he obviously knows what a task he has in front of him.
I am confident he will eventually find a winning formula and I say stick with him. All this talk of Bruce et al is garbage to my eyes – get behind the guy and if matters do not improve in a few months or so you can be sure the Chinese will find someone who will succeed.
BOG
Well said that man!
DG you trouble trouble..why should (we)all suffer ..haven’t we had enough of that shit..you friendly misguided philosophical reminiscing old hippy …
PS We are a rich club…..
Seems we’re pretty much all united in our disappointment and disgust at this performance. For all our impatience with KJ, he never sent out a Wolves team that lost by 4 clear goals. Team selection, game plan (if you can call it that), use of subs last night have all rightly been derided.
But it all goes deeper, I’m afraid, and Fosun must be held to account just as Morgan and Moxey were.
First, the appointment of Zenga, a man who has never stuck around as a manager and never worked over time at building a team, is down to Fosun, as is the questionable involvement of Mendes.
Second, buying 13 new players, all in one swoop, is really a crass move especially when the quality is questionable in most cases and their particular fit with the team, our team, apparently not even considered. So again the midfield is bloated to bursting while the key central defence is utterly neglected with the acquisition of Stearman literally a retrograde move. Again down to Fosun, who, for all Jeff Shi’s professed respect for the Club’s history and traditions, have been breathtaking in their lack of cultural awareness. By which I mean, chiefly, building a team by acquiring players who are some sort of fit with the best we already have and are equipped to deal with the rigours of the Championship. Instead what we’ve largely had, courtesy of Mr Fix, is a wholesale delivery of guys of virtually unknown or dubious quality and no experience of the league or indeed country into which they’ve been catapulted. And who, I guess, the Head Coach knows little about and did not choose.
It all reminds me a bit of the history of colonialism where the incoming rulers assume they know best what the natives need.
How much more sensible if the Head Coach had used what time he had to assess the 3 main priorities for the team and then draw on those targets supposedly identified by the Recruitment team. Even if we’d only signed a really talented central defender to go with Bod, we’d have far more of a team than we have now.
But no, Fosun wanted to shower us with cheap gimcracks. As many bloggers have already said, the only possible way forward now is for Zenga to decide his best team and stick with it as far as possible. But is he the sort of guy to stick with anything?
Words fail me. Wolves were lucky to get 0. Perhaps the Football League should have the power to deduct points for such inept performances.
The player I feel sorry for is Bodvarsson. He is class but he can’t do anything on his own, he’s crying out for the occasional cross or cutback from the bye-line but none of our players seem capable of delivering it, and that goes for the 3 Portuguese as well. None of them can beat a man and the lack of pace in building an attack is alarming. I hope to goodness things will improve but some of these new players, with the exception of the Icelander, seem too lightweight to flourish in England.
With all the money that’s been spent, let’s hope that Mr Zenga isn’t the first Wolves manager to make a sow’s ear out of a silk purse.
I was expecting a bumpy ride in the first couple of months.
We must be patient.
Tip to Amanda.
Post reactions to blogs on CURRENT streams, not hidden away on outdated ones.
That way, many more of us will have access to your rambling inanities, not just me.
I must admit, you are getting funnier, your drivel is so far out there, Donald Trump might come a calling for a speech writer.
Keep it up, you will soon be in line for Pulis’s job.
Careful Clive. If things don’t improve on the pitch, our Amanda could be one of the few of us not wiping egg off her pretty face.
We don’t even know if she is a she, do we?
Rughead from CarpetWorld.
We don,t even know if its you under your profile pic toupee ?
Do you still wear incompetence as well as incontinence pants Herbert ?
You must stop your ramblings into your pants, for the benefit of your blog gang, old timer.
Yes, I do still wear incontinence pants, because, unlike you, my shit is on the outside, whereas you are full of it.
Amanda? I’m yet to be convinced “she” is human!
Bucknell another old timer taking Viagra with his boxing glove. Classic bishop batterer Buck.
Well, we’ve been here before haven’t we ? Got a problem ? Throw loads of money at it ! Jack Hayward also did it, and it got us nowhere for nigh on 20 years.
Clearly rotation is part and parcel of the modern game. Problem is Zenga’s rotating them so quickly they’ve all got a bit dizzy.
Its an old adage in football that if you’ve got a problem (and I think we have) look at your midfield. Well, whilst Tim (above) makes the valid point that at 0-1 you have to go looking for a goal you should also not leave your defence exposed, which appears to have been our undoing last night. If we are chasing a game we MUST have one remaining ‘holding’ midfield player, whether it be Price, Coady or (my preference) Saiss. Otherwise we’ll be seeing a lot of repeats of last night…
Interesting to compare the results with and without, Evans in the team.
True – I’d forgotten to put him on my list.
Walter you have till January as a student of Brian Clough to find a Shilton,Lloyd,and a McGovern (hated him as a player but did what it said on the tin for 90mins every game)to save your job,and gives us belief.All his teams were built from the back first.
In some ways we are in a bigger mess than last season despite having ‘shedloads’ of money. Last year we didn’t have enough players, now we have too many.
I suspect Zenga has had little say in the arrivals with Mendes transporting over those that aren’t quite good enough for Benfica’s first team. He has got to try and keep a ‘contented’ dressing room of 28 ‘first teamers’ and he still hasn’t seen some of the players perform on the pitch. l can therefore understand that he is trying to have a look at the new arrivals.
But how much does Zenga and Mendes know about English Championship football? Not much l guess. We all know that a settled team is essential, just look at Burton, Barnsley and of course Leicester all punching above their weight. If Zenga kept a settled team, half his squad would never play and that’s without the likes of Dicko, Graham and Zyro returning. Also it is unlikely we will ever see the likes of Enobakhare, Ennis, Herc and Ronan get a stab at the first team. What is the point now of the Academy? Part of the excitement of being a supporter is seeing your own young talent coming through the ranks. Sam Winnall doesn’t seem to be doing too badly does he?
The other thing is do these overseas players really want to be here or are they being told you must come to help your development.
We have gone from one extreme to the other. Morgan’s idea of developing the youngsters from the Academy and limiting big transfers. Now we have Fosun’s ‘throw money at it and see what happens’.
It is not primarily Zenga’s fault, he is bound to make mistakes and is doing!. It is Fosuns’s fault for trusting in Mendes, they picked the wrong man. We maybe benefitting from their money but not their footballing knowledge. Mendes (whoever he is) recruited Zenga, he is calling the shots in terms of players and now we are left in a mess.
Why can we never seem to get it right!!
Agree totally Honey Monster……..Mendez has far too much sway with Big Jeff. This is not Spain or Italy these players must be thing ” what the fuck am I doing here ”
There used to a slower pace of football played in a much more warmer climate where there is less physical contact that’s why they keep falling over…!
Its nothing to do with the players.
Wolves like many other sides need a good manager,its that simple.
The most important man at any club is the manager yet all you bloggers talk of is nonentity players with a very poor manager.
Sack Walter tonight Jeff Shi…te
M & M suffered from not getting a good manager after Mick now Fuson are suffering the same.
Abuse the board now on matchdays and from this blog if you dare.
Better still arrange a protest or raise a petition and pretend you all would be listened to.
Price removed = leaky defence.
Batth is still not convincing and to see stearman come back, I would say was a backward step. To get 2 million for a defender that every time he makes a mistake results in a goal against, I was amazed! It was almost as good when we sold Akinbye for 5. Tbf this rarely happened but I agreed with moxey about the stearman sale. Still plenty of matches to come hopefully with positive results.
Well what a night. I was bemused by the whole fiasco in front of me. Not happy JP was taken off at h/t and I remember saying he was the only bloke in a Wolves shirt who could pass the ball. However a night to forget and I have been busy avoiding texts from gloating S**t fans all day. I knew it was gonna be a bad night when my telly went bonkers after that lightning storm about 5ish. My bad mood was not helped on return home from the Mol when I found a spider the size of a small rat had taken up residence in my living room. I removed it with a broom and a bin. Took it outside over the road and tipped it out by the bus stop. It probably caught the 11.14 to Dudley. Hope so. Any way leave you with the words of a baggie fan at work today after the initial piss take “knowing that league yo lot will probably go and beat Newcastle on Saturday”…
Surprised a shit fan knows big words like that.
Boo, Hiss. Seems we are now searching for the goldiliocks zone of team changes in our own little fairy tale. At the moment it certainly isn’t just right and it doesn’t look like cinders is going to the ball.
Will we all end up happily ever after? Its just too early to call, after all its barely act one and there are plenty of feet to try to see whose fit the golden slippers!
I’m just glad I cannot get the time of to go to Newcastle with my brother and his mates, on last night showing I don’t think, in fact I know any of them are looking forward to it now.
Losing I can take after all its just as much part of the game as winning ( espeacilly in Wolves case ) but it was the manner of the loss that was so shocking.
No leader on the pitch, no direction from the dug out, rotation during a game. For the life of me I don’t know even today what formation we were playing can anyone enlighten me was it 4 ,4, 2 or was it 0,1,9,0,2 or was it 3,2,1 what ever it was it should be binned.
Ben was spot on the Portugese men of war never turned up and what’s so alarming is we are having one of the best September’s on record weather wise and a bit of rain and there not interested, god help us when they have to turn out on a cold January night with sleet and rain blowing in there face some where up north.
Barnsley were well worth there win, they showed passion, commitment, desire, drive and worked for each other they have all the ingredients you need to get out of the god forsaken league, Wolves we have a collection of players who on paper look the part but on the pitch don’t act the part.
Walter as much as a character he is got it horribly wrong last night hauling off or best midfielder who was doing a good job protecting our fragile defence……madness Walter….madness.
I’ve already written this season off, I know shoot me down if you will if I’d had a gun last night the way I felt coming out of the ground I would have shot myself save you all the trouble.
Walt can say he hasn’t had a pre season and its true he hasn’t but if he currys on with this rotation system and doesn’t sort out his best 11 fast, he won’t be here come the end of the season…!
If he carries on like last night he won’t see the end of the month !! Good post Paul.
Expectation, as ever, has swamped cruel reality. Welcome back real world. I feel some of the comments have been disingenuous to kenny jacket. He took over a team in disarray , got promoted with record points and nearly made the play offs. Yes it was awful in the second seasonbut it was a club up for sale with no money, he had to adopt a pragmatic approach, ie not to lose., anyway hes gone now. Zenga’s record is awful …… why on earth was he appointed. Early to say this but i think Zenga has alrwady had his high, we need to appoint someone else
Much too early to write off Walt. He has to be given a fair crack of the whip otherwise we’ll end up like Leeds and others who change managers at the drop of a hat and achieve nothing in the process.
I haven’t totted up how much Fosun have spent in this window, but the wages bill alone must be something else nowadays. Either way, my guess is, that if Fosun had spent similar amounts on four or five proven Championship performers, and chosen a manager with similar credentials,or yes,kept Kenny, we’d all be feeling much more confident today. But we are where we are. Nothing’s gonna change before the Christmas window and hopefully by then, with Nouha and Jordan back in the fold, our fortunes will have taken an upward turn anyway.
I really want Walt to succeed and I feel sure he can. But not until he bins the fancy Dans to the shadows and remembers who played so well for us in those early, heady weeks of the season.
It could be worse, we could have spent 3 times as much as we’ve spent and still be rubbish!
I Listen to WM on the way home from work! Must be fantastic to be a villa fan so sure you’ll finish in the top 2!
The greatest team in the midlands, full of 12m and 15m pound players, brentford must be champions league material!!
It’s made me feel better anyway!
We’ll improve, just need a little less focus on the positive attitude and a little more on tactics and organisation!!
This is very informative from a bloke we have not really heard from since the take over.
Well worth a read.
http://www.expressandstar.com/sport/wolverhampton-wanderers-fc/2016/09/15/interview-kevin-thelwell-on-a-crazy-few-weeks-and-why-wolves-were-right-on-richard-stearman/
Informative how? He washes his hands of any responsibility for buying players by saying Zenga has the last word. So Zenga went and scouted Stearman and went back to Fosun saying “this is the best central defender in world football, I must have him in my team and look, we can get even him for free”? I doubt it very much. Mendez wouldn’t have even heard of him so who put his name forward?
It’s not all Stearmans fault but the stats since his return point to a major failing in the defence. What this Wolves team needs is an Ince, Irwin, Robertson or even a Breen. Someone who understands the game, has authority and can lead on the pitch, directing the play, making tactical decisions, geeing up the team, etc… I thought we’d found that with Williamson but alas I doubt we’ll see him for a long while. Neither Baath or Stearman have that within their kitbag, Doherty and Iorfa haven’t the experience and the midfield are all too new and mostly young to assert themselves in that way.
Look at the Wolves teams that have been promoted from this division, this squad has similar skills but totally lacks a leader. Whilst I doubt there’s such a player currently out of contract and able to be bought in immediately, one has to be identified for purchase on January 1st 2017 whilst there’s still a vague possibility of making the play-offs.
Well Finsbury, it taught me that Thelwell is still well and truly the arsehole we thought him to be and that he is feckin clueless like some who thought our defence is good so we should only target expensive forwards. Steve Showcase and I have been saying for two seasons that we need a No 5 who could also be Captain to the ruderless ship called our defence. Stearman is a Thelwell addition and it reads that way in the interview, the man obviously still has his head up his feckin arse amd is still living in M&M land, the fact that they split his role leads me to believe he is on trial, and so far he’s failing.
So Thelwell says the coach has the final say on players and then says in the next sentence that Stearman was sold because it was a great business decision…(so KJ agreed to the sale then did he)
The man is lying through his teeth.
Trying the Moxey way of treating all the fans like fools..
Big Jeff seems like a lovely Chinese bloke, but has to wake up fast and realise that some are using the Fosun fortune as a smokescreen for their failings..
I’m putting this done as a one off – our season stinker.
I am certain that Walter, and us, will not see a repeat performance.
*Putting this down as a one off** not done !
Gotta act as devils advocate, against myself.
All the talk about Benfica being a top club, blah, blah, blah is bollocks.
They havent been a top club since Eusebio left, and why all their reserves and nearly made its are going to be better than our reserves etc beats me.
When the likes of Borthwick Jackson and our Icelandic find have been identified and recruited, it appears someone knows what they are doing, so why has a bunch of half fit, lightweight second tier guys been brought in as well?
Lining Mendes’s pockets comes to mind.
Where have we heard that one before, Jez?
If WZ is as good a coach/manager as we all want him to be, he should be screaming himself blue in the face at Jeff to go after the best center half, and striker in the world, and to be prepared to offer whatever it takes to get them.
When we get to the Prem, and we will, we are going to need to spend big to stay there and play with so called big boys, so why not start now?
All joking about poor old Richard Stearman apart, if our defence doesnt get tight soon, we will be doing a Saunders.
Thelwell appears to me to be a waste of skin. If Mendes is doing all the recommending, and Walt is having final say, what is Thelwell there for?
Bringing in a permanent crock like Williamson, who, lets face it, should have been identified as suspect from the get go. Missing the obvious in that case is a clear indication of someone not doing what they are paid for.
Its not rocket science, if a bloke has a history of injuries, there is a bloody good reason he is being sold.
As for Walt, my jury is still out on him. If he gets it wrong over the next month, then its off with his head.
He may be the most likeable of fellows, but when you have a revolution, and the expectations and hopes are high, collateral damage is inevitable.
I, like a lot of my fellow bloggers, am too old to be patient enough to wait another twenty or thirty years for real success.
If the likes of Chelsea, City, etc etc can achieve instant glory through spending obscene amounts of money, then why not us?
If yow cor bate, ’em, join ’em!!
FOwb
They brought in second tier guys because Wolves are in the second tier. And top tier guys don’t want to play in the second tier.
Do you think you just have to make someone an offer and they have to accept it?
Roller coasters don’t just keep going up ! There will be lows obviously , Walter has barely been here two months , half the team a month! And the rest are still proving themselves , we have to change the side in order to have a look at everybody , give the guy a chance
Don’t get me wrong I was a little shocked by the score but name me one player from burton or Barnsley who wouldn’t walk to the moll to join us tomorrow ! They deserve their days in the autumn sun , we can have ours in May
Early prediction
Newcastle 4
Wolves 6
( both games)
Utmw
Marney, stop predicting ludicrous scores……………………it will be 5 – 1 to us in both games!
We only get to win 6 – 4 when we play Gillingham ( it was them, wasn’t it?)
Jeeeez, talk about over the top!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WZ was the Italy goalie for a long time and if he doesn’t know how to organise a defence no one does. Come on Walt. Back to basics and let’s go again. I am sure there will be a reaction on Saturday. Even if it is just to put up a fight. No more collapsing in a heap like Tuesday thank you.
Well you started it Clive , ha
Think it was Rotherham
I knew ham was involved somewhere
It’s a depressing thought already knowing that we’re probably going to lose this weekend.
Other than an open, end-to-end game – with the Bod getting a hat-trick – I have absolutely no hope whatsoever.
Thankfully I have F1 as a distraction.
I think this would be a good time to make a bet, if the odds are high enough. Nobody thinks Wolves have a chance but if they show up, they have an equal chance to Newcastle.
Why not go for an upset?
Steve Bull Anniversary do
London Wolves, Finsbury and Brompton – please pay for your tickets. Email me if you not got the bank details. dave@mcgirls.co.uk
StuWolf – 2 spaces left. You and Jen? Go on!
Dave are you saying there are only two places for me and Jen, I had my name down for 5 before it was full?
Interesting team in the Europa league tonight. Hapoel Beer Sheeva. Having the word ‘beer’ in your name is a huge plus point so I am officially declaring them as my second team. See if i can find a t shirt on google. They are bound to have a club shop. Probably get 4 cans of carling in there.
Copied this earlier. Food for thought?
Wonder if that fat turd who shall not be named, currently residing in Norwich, has read this?
Bet he’s gnashing his teeth, trying to get in on the action!!
I saw this weeks ago..
Google the most powerful man in world football…
Its Mendes…
Make of it what you will. if he short changes big Jeff I’m sure Fosun wont be happy..
Would rather have him on our side than against us…
I’ve been catching up and “Amanda” continues to fail the “Turing Test”
Definitely a ‘bot’ designed to wind up people it mistakenly ‘perceives’ care what ‘she’ ‘thinks’.
Boring Barry Bucktooth, change your name to Barry White and you may get a woman friend, to keep you up all night and clear your frustrations. Rather than being on here 24/7 with your child like spewings, to page commander,Chrome Dome from Houston.
Chris in Newcastle
I ment we had 4 inexperienced champion ship midfielder s left on the pitch, come on! Do you understand football.