There was as much to lament as admire about this gutsy performance against the best team in the land.
The Premier League leaders were pushed and pulled for an hour, but as great teams do they absorbed the punishment and ultimately cantered over the finish line.
George Saville could have altered the course but squandered the game’s clearest opportunity to give Wolves an invaluable foothold.
The former Chelsea man typified the collective efforts of his side – industrious and committed but wasteful and ultimately found lacking in the end.
Paul Lambert set Wolves up bravely, playing a high line and keeping their illustrious opponents boxed in for much of the first half.
He’ll be disappointed that the quality of the balls into the box were repeatedly so poor with Costa and Coady in particular often failing to beat the first man.
Equally the wide players might point the finger at those in the middle for not making the runs or finding enough space to make the most of the opportunities.
That’s three home defeats in a row in which Wolves haven’t even managed to score, again begging the question why we didn’t recruit a striker last month?
Jon Dadi Bodvarsson was much improved yesterday, making the ball stick effectively and finding those pockets of space to turn and run.
But he didn’t get on the end of a single cross and that must be a concern for both Lambert and the big forward himself.
It’s always said strikers shouldn’t worry about not scoring if they’re getting in the positions to miss chances but the Icelander is failing on both counts.
Diego Costa barely touched the ball but still found himself ideally positioned to sweep home a loose ball to kill the game. That’s what goalscorers do.
Chelsea’s opener was more skilfully worked with Pedro smelling blood after Coady was caught downfield, timing his run beautifully to head home a perfectly weighted cross.
Much has been made of their wing back system and in that instance it worked beautifully, pulling the Wolves defence in and leaving oceans of space at the back post.
Victor Moses continually profited too with inch perfect balls pinged out wide from Cesc Fabregas who was probably the standout performer for the Champions-elect.
Credit to Batth and in particular Hause who were both faultless for the defeat. The latter must surely be in line for a more regular start?
It’s Birmingham next as the focus of the season shifts back to one crystal clear objective – staying up.
* For insights into the best trail running shoes, check out this excellent article by GearWeAre.com.
Felt sorry for Saville .. would have been a great goal for him to have scored , only to hit the woodwork .. what a shame . To go in front at that point would allowed wolves the comfort of not having to both attack and defend in the second half ,
Come on boys and girls , We know that results have been poor lately ,but what a performance especially in the first half yesterday against the best team in England
PROUD OF YOU WOLVES ,
It was very enjoyable to watch Costa dribbling off Chelsky players. I fear he’ll be off to another club in the summer. He did a terrific advertising job, that’s for sure :=).
Said it yesterday and with hindsight will not change my view, we were basically crap.
Ward like room given to Moses, no punch at all in midfield, Batth in particular only concerned with hoofing the ball anywhere out of defence, Costa and Hause the only two who could really hold their heads up with any sort of pride.
There has got to be a complete upheaval of the team, and heads must roll, if we are going to stay in this division.
The game also showed us two other things.
We are miles away from having more than a couple of players who could stand their own in the Prem.
We have a support base second to none in the country, who deserve much better fare than is being served up at present.
Totally agree with you Clive, yet another case of “Out of the darkness, we came up short” as we always do and as we have done for as long as I can remember. Though entertaining, the game was always going to end as it did with thousands of Wolves fans saying “if only…” yet again.
Many on this blog are reflecting on ‘a great performance’ and what a shift our players put in – well that is exactly why they are paid such inflated wages; a good performance and leaving everything on the pitch should be the minimal requirement for EACH and EVERY game. I’m no longer satisfied with such limited progress to where we know all Wolves fans want us to be. I know I’m not alone in holding this opinion, that’s why we usually see so many empty seats.
Very proud of the players yesterday and the magnificent fans, who sang their hearts out.
The performance of the players was exceptional, their effort was first class.
Saville cannot be faulted for his effort on goal, yes he missed but he did what our strikers were unable to do, that is get into space in the first place.
All the players put in a shift and they can hold their heads up high.
We are Wolves, be proud of their efforts.
In the main thought they played well, with discipline and energy. Hause was good and physical, Price relentless and Saville played the best game I’ve seen him in. The quality of delivery into the box is still poor however and, ever since we let MacDonald go, there is no-one capable of playing the QB pass that Fabregas was so good at some of the time. Bodvarsson gave Terry a fine old time but, as ever, was too isolated (not his fault).
Hopefully, though, now this pleasant diversion of a Cup run is over the players can re-focus on what is really important; climbing the league. I hope that Lambert does not make too many changes for Birmingham. Some consistency of selection wouldn’t go amiss.
Thank you Wolves. Thank you. We saw the difference in class yesterday, but you tried, and that is all I ask of you.
We must reinforce in the Summer, as if we want to get to the premiership we need a better team than we currently have. I will say no more on that topic.
Amazing day yesterday, meeting up with the usual suspects, Mike and Lilian Twixfix who I got an actusl twix from too – thanks, Stuwolf and Jen de wolf, Dave aka Bedford Wolf and Mark theDoogooder and Sue. Great to see you all.
After the match I met LA Wolf and we dined with Mark and Sue. What an amazing young man, extremely articulate and worldly wise, discussing a lot of topics and political views – was quite taken with the views of an 18 year old – pleasure to meet you.
I have provisionally booked a table for 20 on the 6th May, dining at 8 pm. More details to follow soon on a separate thread.
All in all an excellent weekend – see you all in May.
Wonder how much Fabregas would cost ?
Oh and on the train back to London we’re wolves supporters from Greece
Now you are talking, London.
We need to be looking at these “fringe” Prem players, offer them Chinese wages, and get the cream of who is not in the plans of the top six Prem teams.
If Teves and Oscar are “worth” the gazzillions they are getting, then some good players are worth more!
Get ’em together, yes on silly wages but who cares, it’s not our money, and gel them into a force to be reckoned with, a force that wants to prove that their old clubs were wrong to let them go.
Then we’ll have a team that others will want to join, and off we go!!!
None of these “ones for the future”, or journeymen championship players.
Yes, bring in a sprinkling of the great kids we’ve got coming through, but the likes of Edwards, Saville, Evans, Price, Bod, Weinman ( whatever his name is, apologies ) Batth, Dougherty, Coady…..just not gonna cut it.
Desperate times, desperate measures and all that.
And yes, Brompto, looking forward to slapping your head in May!
Mine’s a Lemoncello.
Agreed .. with the exception of Helda Costa , Hause, Ronan ,Price, Wiessman Bodvarsson and Dougherty . I think that these players deserve the opportunity to step up with wolves
I ve just been watching Mcdonald having a difficult day for Fulham against decent premier players (spurs ) by the way … he wasn’t the answer!
To join the debate – I think these players should be part of our squad aiming for automatic promotion next season ;
Ikeme, Burgoyne, Flatt
Coady, Iorfa, Hause, Doherty
Saiss, Oniangue, Ronan
Costa, Marshall, Enobakhare, Cavaleiro, Graham
Dicko, Bodvarsson, Zyro
These ones I think should not ;
Lonergan
Batth, Stearman, Williamson, Silvio, Borthwick-Jackson, Deslandes
Evans, Saville
Henry, Wallace, Weimann
Gladon
These ones maybe kept on as squad/cover players but not starters;
Ebanks-Landell
Edwards, Price
Mason
Hee hee. Bring it on yankee, bring it on. Loved your “force to be reckoned with” quote.
And I think I can manage a lemonade mate
Clive, the Financial Foul Play rules are terrible and I hope Donald Trump campaigns to abolish them, but they are still in place. By limiting the proportion of income that can be spent on wages, the FFP rules attempt to fix the system in favour of the strong clubs.
If Wolves have a sporting chance of gaining promotion, I am all in favour of ignoring the FFP rules. If we are promoted to the Premier League, there is nothing the Football League can do except fine us—likely to be peanuts compared with the rewards of the Prem.
However, if we flout the FFP rules and get stuck in the Chumps’ division, we run the danger of having points docked. Fosun has to play its cards carefully.
No one can question our commitment, determination and pride in the shirt. Our work rate was outstanding. We played with great passion.
But we still lost.
We cannot win football games if we can`t score goals. We have no natural strikers, able to make or take half chances. This puts enormous and unreasonable pressure on our defense not to concede. How we allowed the January window to pass without addressing this issue is remarkable. It may now result in us playing in Division 1 next season.
On a positive note, I thought that Hause was quite magnificent yesterday. He must surely be given a sustained run in the side.
We gave them a game and that’s all you can ask for. It’s a bit harsh in my view to compare this to league games and say it’s a losing run extended. This was a one off and we looked a lot better than we have in recent weeks. We need to show the same bravery and effort against Blues which is an absolute must win.
Oh George Saville. He has to score and if it did it might have been different, could we have got a replay? Perhaps.
It’s clear we’re desperately short up front and it’s a worry. Why we didn’t bring in a proven scorer in January is beyond me. If Costa or Edwards doesn’t score then nobody does apparently.
I’d say we made a great fight of it against a team from, in terms of quality, another solar system.
Fans,the noise & atmosphere were wonderful. But that Wigan debacle has placed a cloud temporarily, I hope, over this team for me.
I really hope they play with similar bottle on Friday night. Play the same team? Might be worth it. But we need at least several high quality players to have a slither of a stab at the play offs next season.
Lose to Blues, perish the thought, & it’s Dean Saunders territory. Oh dear oh dear. Not renewed as yet. I’d only watch league 1 football if a reduction in price was on offer. £119 would be good. The chance of 16,500 being sold took one hell of a nosedive after last Tuesday night.
Agree a lot with Mike above….I had a quick look back at the season’s results up to now……13 points lost with last minute goals !! 10 games in the league…1 friendly and add Liverpool in the FA Cup….that is 12 games conceding in the last minutes ! and guess what is interesting…Burton, QPR and Wigan all bagged the points Home and Away with last minute goals ! Yes, they did the double scoring in the last minutes of the match….I wonder if there is another team with such a negative record at conceding at the very end……That and not scoring are the two big problems Wolves have at the moment….no one can question their commitment BUT and a great big BUT ….that is just not enough! a1wolf Malta
On our day we can hold our own, playing players in the right positions we can mix it with the best, (Stoke, Liverpool, and now Champions elect Chelsea) the class void is glaring, but, we could have turned in a complete shock if Saville’s goal had been 3″ to the right, but it wasn’t and we didn’t.
Fair play to the 14 players that played, they all gave everything for the shirt and that’s all I ask, contrary to belief I’m not stupid, I know we are just not good enough, we did not invest as PL stated he would in good quality players in January, Duckens Nazon, Weinmann, Marshall I just don’t believe they are going to save us. I’m having concerns with PL, only because of his claims which in my opinion he is not backing up.
If inded there is still an old guard causing a division within the bowels of Molineux then I fear the worst, having locked horns with the said Thelwell at the fans parliament, I do have a suspiscion that our fears are well founded. He appeared Arrogant, slimey, egotistical and condescending compared to Dalrymple and Lambert. If indeed he is still pulling strings then I am disappointed with Lambert for not being true to his word.
Let’s focus on Wolves, support the team and put out our best side week in week out, we fans clearly are doing our part, show some heart Wolves I believe we have a sembelece of a team in there we just need to produce the goods every game.
I fully expect things to change soon, I am confident Thelwell, Daley, Mountain and Edwards are history if not, then it will be more of the same next year. If our guys are as fit as they backroom staff claim they are then I’m a Klingon.
Fosun, wake up, take action, finish the job.
Stuwolf, this is a very interesting message. 1) Why are you confident that Thelwell, Daley, Mountain and Edwards are history? 2) Your impressions of Thelwell, Dalrymple and Lambert are eye-catching. 3) What do you mean by, “If indeed he [Thelwell?] is still pulling the strings then I am disappointed with Lambert for not being true to his word”? Did Lambert threaten to quit if he was not in control of transfers?
If your opinion and your expectations about Thelwell, Daley, Mountain and Edwards are correct, then their departure will have to be accepted, but I will be sentimentally sad, especially about Daley, who was a marvellous player for Villa, and Edwards whom I have always liked since he came to Wolves. As for Mountain, I’m surprised: the development of our goalies seems to be a rare shaft of light in our darkness—I’ve no complaints about the development of Hennessey, Ikeme or Burgoyne. (However, I heard a rumour that may be BS that Mountain worked to undermine Solbakken from day 1. If so, God knows why! But, if so, thumbs down!) Re Thelwell, I was pleased to see an internal appointment to Sports Director, but I don’t know enough detail about what is going on to pass judgment. If your impression is correct, too bad! I’m also disappointed that the post of Sporting Director seems to have gone into limbo.
Nippy Lobo,
My comments are bourne out of my wishes/hopes to see an overhaul of this club, but it is based on an interesting set of comments by others over the last couple of Months. If you check our last blog, you will see the stuff I posted from various people and an addition from one of our own blogfers. So it’s me putting 2 & 2 together and hoping for 4. Quite frankly I am a tad disappointed with what is happening at Molineux. Fosun state they are keen (speding £20 million in 6 Months) PL states he would walk if not allowed to pick his own squad and all the players do their PR stuff before every game, but it’s always whoever had a good game that particular match, good PR tactics.
In answer to your questions,
1, Why am I confident that these guys are history.
Based on what Fosun stated when they took the club over, how quickly they dumped KJ and then Zenger and what I was told about Lambert being dragged over the coals and him going into the dressing room telling the players, “that Fosun would have no problem sacking every one of them and him too and would start from scratch if they didn’t start performing”
2, My impressions of Thelwell Dalyrmple and Lambert.
Purely based on my meeting with them at my first fans Parliament, as stated above on Thelwell, Lambert was the most open manager Iv’e met and Dalyrmple I have met a few times and had a meeting with him for 2 hours a couple of weeks ago. I like the bloke, no edge or agenda talks straight definitely not a Moxey.
3, what I mean about PL
Paul Lambert spoke calmly, silently and very openly about his treatment at Villa, he said, “he would never defend people like he defended the Villa board ever again” if he was not allowed to choose his players at Wolves, he stated, “he would walk, end of, no if’s or but’s he would go” my problem with that, is he so naive as to offer a player like Lee Evans a 4 and a half year deal when according to all at the club from Fosun to the cleaner, we are destined for the Champions league.
On Daley and Pat Mountain.
Our claim to fame is fitness, no-body has played as many as Doherty, well, unless he had a serious viral infection on Saturday and Tuesday he looks knackered to me. The second goal against Chelsea is there for all to see, he came running in, hadn’t got the stregnth to clear it and it bounced off his body and he just stopped dead and didn’t attempt to chase it. Prior to that he was dead on his feet, FFS, John Terry played 94 excellent minutes and he ain’t played for yonks. Our fitness levels are poor especially around the 85 minute of each game.
On Goalies,
I don’t see many other teams continually hoofing the ball towards the sun every single time, completely ignoring players in oodles of space screaming for it to be released early. IMO, only Lonergan on Wednesday seems capable of coming out to punch a ball away from danger or catching the casey for Dog’s sake. Strange goalkeeping in my opinion.
I threw Edwards in because everyone around Molineux were holding him up as a shining light a beacon at the Molineux for his tactical nous and his talents as a coach, ???? Not what he showed us in his couple of games in charge, I know he only had a couple of games, but it seemed to me that Kenny Jackett had been cloned, more of the same.
Christ, I sound like a real disgruntled fan, when in fact the footy did get better in January, but in the league our basics are not good enough and I wanted to vent my spleen.
Nippo.
I did write a long reply to you, it seems to have disappeared. Evey time I try to repost it it says I’m duplicating the message.
So I expect it will suddenly appear when tne buggerence gods decide Iv’e waited long enough. Maybe Thelwell is editting this page.
Or maybe it was too long.
Duckens Nazons on the score sheet for u-23: http://www.seagulls.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/brighton-hove-albion-wolverhampton-wanderers-3586831.aspx
Have you tracked his performances and development since he arrived to the club?
Was there to see it tonight. To be fair everyone played well again, first half better than the 2nd because they took Donovan Wilson and Duckens off after they both scored, both well taken goals.
Mike Williamson played a lot, lot better and did a full 90 minutes.
But the main man was Morgan Gibbs-White he ran the game.
Big worry was Brighton scored in 85th minute, we just can’t defend till the end can we.
Thought all players had a good game. Kept on an equal footing for an hour until Chelsea scored an excellent goal, created one very good chance and on another day might have had a penalty.
Kept Hazard out of the game for long periods and left Diego Costa scrapping for half chances right up to the last minute.
Solve the goal drought and get the same performance in the league and Wolves could be safe this season and make a real run for promotion next.
We played great. We did ourselves proud. It has been such a great experience to progress in the cup and have a manager who sees how important it is to the fans.
Back to reality now. Relegation battle looms.
Hopefully we stay up and hopefully we hold on to Costa. Then, apart from Ikeme and a returning Graham there are 20 odd players who need to prove that they belong in the side for a promotion push next season or bog off.
Yes, Haus and the recent academy debutants are looking promising and its always handy to have a wise old head like Edwards … but apart from them thats it for me. I wouldnt be too sad if any of the remaining names moved on to other clubs.
We are bloated with mediocrity.
Tis a season only Wolves could manufacture – Billionaire owners and on the verge of being relegated.
Couldnt make it up.
Your comment ‘bloated with mediocrity ” just about sums us up to perfection.
Why we should be gloating at signing the likes of Evans and Dicko to major contract extensions is beyond my understanding. At best, both are decent Division 1 performers. Surely we need to aim far higher than this is if Fosun is serious as to its stated lofty ambitions.
I am also concerned at the lack of real quality in the signings in the January window. Weiman is a journeyman footballer no better than the contingent already on the books, while Marshall appears to be a bloated individual in his own right –unfit and at least 2 stone overweight. Is he really a million plus player ? ? Why have we signed either of them ?
If we are lucky enough to stave off relegation this season, nothing more than a major clear out of mediocrity will suffice come the summer. Let`s hope it happens
I really can’t agree with anyone who slates our performance yesterday.
I thought the effort of everyone was magnificent and, for half an hour, we had Chelsea rattled.
If Saville had scored I really think we could have gone on to win.
And I’ve seen penalties given against us for less than the shove on Weimann.
The team gave it their all and the crowd was loud and proud. It took me back quite a few years to when all 30,000+ that were there yesterday could have been shoehorned into the South Bank.
A great occasion that will live long in my memory banks.
OK, Chelsea finally showed their class but they are 8 points clear in the Premier League for God’s sake and by a long chalk the best side in it.
And they fielded a strong eleven.
But there were a lot of plus points:-
Batth and Hause showed that they could hack it against one of the best, and evilest, strikers in the game.
Costa showed that he certainly doesn’t look out of place in such revered company.
And every one of the fourteen players used yesterday proved, to me at any rate, that if we play like that in every game we have a decent basis on which to build a team that can challenge next season.
Bring on the proven striker that we all long for and we’re on the way.
Really good to meet up with the usual suspects pre and post match.
And excellent to see Blake (AKA LA Wolf) again.
That’s my idea of a true fan. An American who is going to University in Wolverhampton because he loves the football team.
We said goodbye to him this morning and then wandered up to the Molineux shop to buy a shirt.
Blake’s got about ten of them.
When we got there, he was there too. I asked him what he was buying and he replied “Oh just some gloves. I had a bit of money left over so I thought I’d spend it here’.
If anyone connected with the club is reading this they should immediately contact him and give him the freedom of Molineux.
Fans like him are like (Old) Gold dust to football clubs like ours.
Love that expression
Bloated with mediocrity!!
Great game,great atmosphere.
Pity about the result but we all knew it was going to be the end of our cup run.never the less though I came away not to disappointed because we played 200% better than Tuesday night.I hope Fosun looked on with envy and will make plans for us to buy big next season and get us to the promised land,that’s if they really mean business.Lets get back to the nitty gritty to make us safe then we look forward and hope they invest
I agree with Clive.
We were outclassed.
We could not be faulted for commitment & industry.
Some say the problem is the strikers cannot score.
However, our midfield do not create that many chances for them.
Conte said Jack Price had the potential to be another Iniesta.
Praise indeed.
The key is to stay up and see what the summer brings.
Anyway thoroughly enjoyable game to see & we acquitted ourselves much better than Fulham did against Tottenham!
There’s no shame in losing to better opposition if you can walk off the pitch having given it your best shot which is exactly what happened yesterday. We are a pretty average Championship side at present and they are probably champions elect. All of our players performed to the best of their ability and we gave them a good game. Stand outs for me were Hause and Price and thought Batth and Saville played well. Costa looked a bit out of sorts to me but still our main danger man by a long chalk.
Play like that in the league and we shall be alright but come what may there will need to be somewhat of a clear-out in the summer.
Was thinking during the game would a 3-5-2 work for us? Our strikers are too isolated in the current set up so could we play Costa through the middle alongside either Bodvarsson, Dicko or Weimann? The current lone striker system seems to be turning all those players from strikers into non-strikers!
Comprehensive conclusion for Fosun..and considering the Chinese take everything as it is literally then this match has evaluated accurately where we really are..
Pretty good in a big match but lacking quality to make sure.
Great match great result for 80mins but showed we are still 6 players short to get into the premier inc a very expensive striker..
Almost, not quite, nearly, good effort,next time HAS to be comments that should be banned nxt season…give or take £50-80M
In the meantime let’s not get relegated…
I thought Hause DB and Doherty had a great game incidentally..
Spot on Newt. Made exactly the same suggestion on the preview to game.
Bit surprised at the negative reaction of one or two bloggers. Worth noting: Wolves wage bill 15.6 m pounds, Chelsea currently strolling to winning PL 218 m pounds.
Why are differing viewpoints always classed as negative?
Are we all supposed to agree, all the time?
How boring that would be.
Different points of view are what this blog is about Clive including finding some are of the half empty school while others are half full.
I’m keeping my comments solely to this game…. other issues are for another day.
I was proud to be a Wolves fan last night after a courageous and dogged effort to progress in the FA Cup.
Come on guys Chelsea are the Premier league champions elect and to give them a game like that is commendable….ok we’re not PL quality but last nights outcome hinged on a couple of “what ifs”….. Saville’s post hit shot and the shove on Weimann in the box.
I thought the ref was extremely inconsistent giving a foul against Baath for a push in their box following a corner and overlooking the Willian shove on Weimann …still I didn’t expect any 50:50 favours.
Let’s face it we only got undone by the first Chelsea goal when Coady got sucked into the middle to leave a Pedro a free header. (Edwards being guilty of poor tracking …bit harsh though to blame him)…. Chelsea’s second was pure fortuitous.
I thought we pressed them high up the pitch and never gave them too much room to show their individual skill sets….which glimpses showed were formidable……as I say a game that went away from us with a couple of what ifs.
House deserves a big mention along with Price.
As for the future…the players we have are charged with retaining our championship status….NOT for being considered as PREMIER LEAGUE winners….that’s all hyperthetical.
Great to meet up with the Blogger gang (for you Amanda)…. Doogooders (Mark and Sue), Stuwolf and Jen, Bedford wolf, Brompton wolf and a big mention for Blake (LA WOLF).. read about Blake above…what a fan.
Big applause too for the 30000 plus fans who did us proud….
Well said that man!
A day to remember.
Not faulting the players yesterday. They gave everything they had against a strong Chelsea line up. So now back to business and Blouse Friday night. I am worried. 1 goal in last 4 games. A penalty. Wigan,Bristol City and Burton all play mid week. We could be sitting on the relegation line 2 points above Wigan by the time we kick off. Pressure indeed. Blues on a lousy run of form and we all know what happens when bad runs come up against us. So sorry to be a bit negative but WE NEED A WIN ! And to win we need to get the ball between the 2 posts and the cross bar. Simple really ?
I have reflected on this result and want to make a couple of observstions, mainly about the manager:-
1. Substitutions were poor and a bit late
2. At the point where we were losing why didnt Ronan or Enebakarie get put on? They both had good games against Wigan and were most likley to affect the game.
3. The final third is a big concern; crossing, through balls and finishing.
Players did fantastic but PL concerns me if he thinks he can afford not to play his very best / in form players – after the substitutions we got worse?
I guess what I am trying to say is that we need to overhaul this squad if we are to progress and PL doesnt seem to be saying this is a fact.
Agree serious questions need to be asked of Lambert..
Zenga was here for 14 league games
Over PL first 14 league games he is 1 point better off than Zenga was..
Will he be sacked tomorrow ??
The same problems are still there the players are too inconsistent
Hi Blake, your chat to camera that we did after the Burton match last season is now live on YouTube. I could have sworn that I put it up before but, then again, I am a bit confused at the best of times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPH087lJRbM&feature=youtu.be
Commitment effort put a shift in haven’t we heard that before………..A certain manger we had from Barnsley it wasnt good enough to keep us in the Premier League, never mind get us there.
You need skill consistentcey determination and most of all AMBITION…….in the BOARDROOM.
You can run all day but if you cannot score a goal or create a goal or stop the opersition from scoring a goal you end up where Wolves have ended up.
Just interested in how LA Wolf came to support the best club in the land ?
It was an interesting story mate. But I wont steal his thunder and let him tell you himself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPH087lJRbM&feature=youtu.be
You’ll find out here mate.
Nice one LA wolf ,
I applied to the uni of Wolverhampton in ’97 from Ireland and got rejected.
Ended up at the uni of north London and traveling up when I could afford it.
wasn’t ideal but at least I was in the same country.
Agree with the comments on the effort and commitment, it couldn’t be faulted, however the lack of quality showed, especially in the final third. The opposition seems to have worked out (altho not too difficult) we only have one player who can make things happen – stick two on him and we are a bit knackered.
I thought Hause was MOTM followed by Price.
Can’t see why PL isnt playing Ronan instead of Saville, get the lad playing more games he is only going to get better, whilst Saville isn’t.
I think we have to question just how good our performance was when, 100% effort whilst most commendable ( and why not every week ? ), if it has them ‘tiring’ after 60 minutes or so, it’s not a winning formula. Like a horse making the running going flat out for 6 furlongs in a mile race and weakening.
In the end another plucky losers scenario. Amazed Tim Spiers gave Costa only 6, he was dazzling as usual.
We all thought our brilliant win at Liverpool would transform our league form for the better.
Didn’t turn out quite as we hoped, did it?
If the players can “get up for the cup” then they damn sure better get up for the league, or a lot of them are going to be scratching for a job next season.
If we do not beat Blues this week, I predict certain relegation.
Nobody is too good to go down, we havent scored in open play for ages, and to be brutally honest, dont look like we will ever again with the team that keeps getting picked.
We like you, Mr Lambert, but our patience is only so thick.
Get it sorted for fucks sake, or risk the ire and derision we recently reserved for greasel, morgan and saunders.
Agree Clive Lambertts had enough time now with theses players to sort them out looks like he fell for some of the charms and thinks some of them are world beaters well Mr Lambertt we don’t want world beater, beating the likes of Burton and Wigan would do for starters.
He seems to have been hood winked by a lot of average players……where was the promised clear out……instead handing out 3 and 4 year contracts to League One players at best that’s what gets me its like ground hog day we were doing that ten years ago and we are still doing it giving very average players long juicy contract for very little in return performance wise, I’m telling you it’s a curse not matter the manager or owner still making the same mistakes season after season manager after manager owner after owner…..ridiculous……..when will the y learn….?
Great to see the stadium full and in full voice, and at least one of Fosun`s top men was there to see it. So moving forward:-
1) can PL motivate the players to play with the same level of effort and commitment every game
2) we play an extra man in midfield to protect the back four and to stop the opposition playing, means we have no bodies going forward to support the so-called strikers. No wonder we can`t score, three home matches on the spin and not a goal in site.
3) PL quite correctly recently said that the money we spent on Costa (club record or not) was peanuts compared to the investment by other championship sides over the last 2 or 3 seasons. He`s quite right of course.
4) There was no point in Fosun buying Wolves unless the club gets into the premiership. As others have said that won`t happen unless at least £50m, maybe more than that is really needed, to build the squad capable of getting promoted next season. We`ll stick with midtable mediocrity unless significant investment is made on the paying side in the summer.
Maybe the game on Saturday will prompt some transfer activity. Maybe even a proven goalscorer please.
5) I`ll be renewing my early bird in any case, but I`d like to see my and others faith is backed by our very cash rich owners.
Good game I thought, a couple of points
1,I’m sure saville got the nod based on playing well recently in the cup games and also being ex Chelsea, you know how ex players always score against their old clubs, except for wolves of course ,
2 , pl must be feeling the pressure a tad now as somebody already pointed out his record so far is no better than zinger, and I’m not so sure it would be an easy sell for another bunch of millions to be given to the same people who signed and extended contracts to a team finishing in the bottom six?
There’s a huge difference between PL champions-elect and a relegation-threatened Championship team, but it looked a lot closer on Saturday. Chelsea put out a side good enough for any PL fixture and we competed well for most of the match.
Shame Savile hit the post instead of an open net. Shame we didn’t get a penalty when Weimann was shoved in the box. That’s football.
We competed well and didn’t suffer the pasting many bloggers though we would. I only watched this one on TV but I was at Stamford Bridge in September 2012 when we went down 6-0 in the League Cup. Now THAT was a pasting, and a pathetic one at that, but Saturday was a very respectable performance.
I was certainly happy overall with our performance, although when I saw the effort we were putting into pressing their possession, it was obvious we would have tired legs well before the end. Sure, a goal from Saville may have made all the difference, but maybe not and at least he didn’t blaze it over the bar. I mean, at least it was close.
I went home with my head held high, metaphorically speaking of course, ’cause I watched it in the pub so couldn’t hold anything very high by the end.
Now we’re out of the cup and have lost that particular distraction, I can see our league form improving greatly, starting with them Bluenoses on Friday night. Y’know,I think we may even score a goal.
No we wont, it will be 1-0 to Brum. You heard it here first lol
Come along Brompto my friend. Have a little faith.
It was,great to see,molineux full I wonder how long we have,to wait to see that on a regular basis
We huffed and puffed fully committed credit to them but class one in the end. Let’s move on now very important game v the blues I would go as far to say a must win game we can’t afford to lose the confidence will drain from them, I reckon we will beat them though another biggish crowd again Friday.
What can we take from this cup-run ? The issue remains that we don’t have a system geared to scoring goals for home matches where it is expected that we take the initiative. (And I get the impression that PL is scared to experiment with any new system in case we get dragged further into the relegation mire). But I’m convinced that IF we can recapture our Liverpool/Stoke form for the remaining away fixtures we will be safe.
So, if we work on the assumption that we will eventually be safe, NOW is the time to experiment with different formations. For me I’d like to see Costa given a free role to go looking for the ball wherever he wants. He’s a mini-Messi and could cause real damage moving through the middle and avoid being doubled-up on. To keep a balance in the 4-2-3-1 I guess Ronan could be used wide-right which would have the added benefit of giving us more creativity. One thing is certain after Saturday- effort, commitment, work ethic is all very good but if you don’t put the ball in the net somethings gotta change…
Southwell 2.10pm Tuesday
Hazell Berry
11-1
Worth an each way bet – especially if you are old enough to remember that great centre back pairing from the late 70’s/early 80’s.
I loved Berry’s haircut. Hazel was the caibbean guy I think. Late 70s. Did he come back on loan?
And it’s running in Wolves colours by the way.
My abiding memory of Berry and Hazell was away to Arsenal in the FA Cup and they had the prolific Malcolm MacDonald in their pocket all game as we led 1-0 through a Kenny Hibbitt goal until 5 minutes from time when Hazell was sent off for reacting to an ‘allegedly’ racist comment from MacDonald – Berry was so angry he almost got sent off too. We lost 2-1 with MacDonald, freed from his shackles, scoring both goals.
I DO remember that pairing!
And to celebrate that fact I’ve just put a tenner on each way.
…..A tenner on what?
Where’s me slippers?
Amazingly George Berry is now bald. I recall a corner in a snow storm and as George connected at the near post a flurry of snow bounced off his afro. I see Small Heath Alliance have a thread devoted to Wolves away Fri night. We are all knuckle draggers. We are not a city where you can walk around freely. We are a town. Anyone remember the lovely welcome in Digbeth 2 years ago when some kid in a Wolves shirt had a brick off his head. Classy Blouse fans as usual. Small Heath ? What a fuckin shit hole.
Birmingham Friday lets see the same effort commitment that we scene against Chelsea. Blues are on a losing run which does not bowd well as we always always seem to end teams bad runs……..!
I like to see Wolves end their own bad run, now that would be commitment to us fans, a bit of effort in the Chumpionshite..
Totally agree with a lot of the comments on here concerning the effort and commitment shown by Wolves. I was a little fearful of the team being on the end of a mauling but they more than held their own for the first hour. I was surprised that Ronan didn’t come on off the bench as I thought he could have made an impact.
We now need to see the same application over the next few games and for the team to pull away from the relegation places. I am pleased to say that my good lady and I have just bought tickets for the Rotherham game, by which time I hope we have made some significant movement up the table.
For anyone who is interested in LA Wolf’s back history, well you can now find out.
I actually filmed an interview with him last year after the Burton home game and thought I had posted it on YouTube but apparently I didn’t.
Apologies to Blake for misleading him on Saturday.
Well, it’s up there now so take a look.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPH087lJRbM&feature=youtu.be
Mark – could you re-post the link to the YouTube clip of Adolf Moxey getting upset about not having been invited to the Bloggers Ball-Bash? It is very funny and despite being last year’s model so to speak it will help pave the way for this year’s extravaganza (unless of course you have another little gem up your sleeve waiting to be posted?).
For those unsure of the Blog’s end of season get together, as I was until I went last year for the first time, I would urge you to come along and join in or even just come along and say hello. This year’s format will be a meal and a drink or two (or three or four) at the A Park View Hotel by West Park in Wolverhampton on the evening of Saturday 6th May. There is talk of a fun and relevant quiz after dinner. Then on the Sunday morning after breakfast and possibly one last pre-match beverage it will be all off to Molineux to watch us smash Preston North End.
That’s it. Nothing fancy or lah-di-dah. No airs or graces. Just a group of fanatical and dedicated lifelong Wolves supporters getting together with like-minded people. Everyone is very nice (except Clive obviously) and very welcoming (once again except Clive) and I guarantee you will have a great laugh and make friends that you will see again and again (just don’t make friends with Clive or you’ll never get rid of him).
No sooner said than done.
I haven’t seen it for ages. It was quite good wasn’t it?
And very prescient with the McDonald reference.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg-gA9J8qO0
It was awesome. And it still is ….
Thanks, Bedders.
I love you too!!
Who ate all the pies
Who ate all the pies
Sutton Betfair Bassa
Sutton Betfair Bassa
He ate all the pies
Mind yer fingers Wayne, you’ll need a few to count the winnings.
That is just SO sad.
Sutton’s brilliant cup run will be remembered now for some fat idiot cheating.
Fuckin hell. That blokes a keeper? Looks like Meat Loaf on acid.
Couple of questions re bloggers get together in May . The PNE match kicks off 12 noon so being the piss ed i am -what time does the bar open at APV on a Sunday? I might make a special effort to get down there by about 9am – is that possible ? Liverpool away I was happily supping carling at 7.10am in the moon wolvo so 9am is a piece of cake .
I was going to say that it ain’t that type of place cheese, I’ve stayed there one or twice and like you … I love a drink . On saying that … that is hotel breakfast time and at any good hotel if you wanted a beer with your breakfast than you get one . I can’t see why not but I stand to be corrected
Bedders, take it from me, you don’t need to stand to be corrected, sitting down or rolling on the floor will do nicely!!!
Or even London!
Must stop drinking IPA.
It’s ok as I know we are easily confused. Both London born and bred, both incredibly good looking, both super intelligent, both support Wolves etc.
Yes but you ve got a slightly better arse than me !
No he hasn’t!!
Yes he has…………….. which one are we talking about now?
As long as you are there by 8.00 am, I will be down for breakfast so we can have a few together.
Brompto and Bedders will probably drink the night away Saturday, so will still be in the bar, trying to get off with the barman, like they did last year!
Did they have a barman? God, I thought she looked a bit rough but thought it was the pints you forced down my throat.
Whey hey! Fuckin sound.
Clive – what do you mean ‘trying’?
By the way Bedders.
That horse you tipped is still running. He’s about as slow as Stephen Ward on the turn.
That’s £20 you owe me.
Its a bit like Danny Batth – it’ll get there as soon as it can.
I know we don’t come on here to talk about other teams and don’t get me wrong as I have always had some respect for them but it don’t half look like the villa have got a touch of the wolves
Some Good players , great ground , well supported an excellent manager ( in my opinion any way )
And rapidly heading towards the trap door . Although, I think wolves will be ok .. and villa not so ok !
English football.
The 1974 League Cup final saw two English owned clubs play against each other each with an English manager and with 18 English players in the starting line-ups. The other 4 were Scottish. Foreign representation? Zero.
The 2016 League Cup final saw an Abu Dhabi owned club with a Chilean manager play an American owned club with a German manager and just 5 English players in the starting line-ups – the other 17 being foreign.
So we have gone from 85% English, 100% British and 0% foreign to just 19% English/British and 81% foreign.
Progress?
And yet still there are people who cannot see the link between statistics like those and the demise of the English and Scottish national sides.
The flaw in yer argument, Bedders, is that even back in 1974, the English national team was crap, and Scottish football………………now there’s an oxymoron if ever I saw one!!!
But I agree about the bad influence all these johnny foreigners bring.
Diving, mouthing off to the refs,………………….. loads and loads and loads of money.
You watch, this time next season, when we are walking away with the league title, none of us will be complaining about the infiltrators among us, both Chinese and Portuguese !
England weren’t crap in 1974 – a bad decision on making the corrupt Revie manager aside – and neither was English football. World Cup 1970 we did well and English teams won the European cup 7 years out of 8 around then (and the only year we didn’t an Englishman scored the winning goal for some Germans). The last time the England national side did well in a World Cup? 1990. Premier League introduced 1992. Co-incidence? I think not. Back then too Scotland’s better players headed South to play for English teams and gained experience of the ‘big time’ – players like Denis Law, Billy Bremner, Frank Munro, Ian St John, Jim Baxter, George Graham – all good players and all of which did help their national side. Where would Scottish players go now? Most of the top Scottish clubs have gone ‘foreign’ so their path into Scottish football let alone English football is now blocked.
p.s. as for next season when we are walking away with the league title some of us will be definitely regretting the death of English football regardless of club success.
Come on you two get a life.
If we had had goal line technology and a decent un-paid linesman back in 1966 then you would
have nothing to write about, English football has been worse than the history of Wolves since 1961.
Alex Rae, Frank Munro, jim Mcalliog, saved English football after that fixed game of “66”
I was going to say, “stop living in the past, but Weem Wolves fans” that’s all we have.
Corruption goes from the highest level in FIFA to the stupid Piegate scandal at Sutton, that’s the corrupt
World we live in. Money talks we are but a distraction to their money games.
You seem to forget that we won 4-2 so, even if that perfectly good goal had been disallowed, we would have still picked up the trophy.
If we didn’t have all this Bad Luck, we wouldn’t have any luck at all.
Conor Ronan is now out for the season with a stress fracture in his back.
Ah well, we didn’t really need him did we?, I mean, we’re safe as houses.
Bugga……