‘We’ve scored 10 goals in three games, we have beaten Liverpool at Anfield already,’ screamed the PA announcer before kick off.
‘We can do it again today, and take a giant leap up the Premier League,’ he yelled.
At 12.44pm, we were everywhere and nowhere baby, so where were the team?
Nowhere. In a performance to rival our hapless Boxing Day no show against Wigan, the lads were at it again, producing a first half performance that Jamie Redknapp described as the worst we will play for a year.
Thirty eight minutes before a solitary shot at goal and a complete inability to string more than two passes together as we lumped ball after ball after ball in the general direction of Doyle and Fletcher.
In some ways, this was worse than Wigan because we didn’t have the ‘early goal ruined our plans’ excuse that was pedalled so idly in the aftermath.
This time, there was no plan.
Liverpool, with their extra man in midfield, cut through the rusty Henry and anonymous Milijas like a hot knife through butter.
And when the two midfield men are having a tough time, our 4-4-2 formation looks as ugly as the Molineux pitch itself.
Speaking of which, how can our state-of-the-art, £1 million surface have ever fallen into such a shocking state of disrepair?
A horse of the year show would struggle to do such damage, never mind a glut of fixtures and reserve games week after week, which the turf hasn’t been subjected to this season.
If Adam Hammill felt intimidated before he stepped onto the ‘grass’, then God knows how he felt when he realised he had to run with the ball at his feet through the terrain for 17 minutes.
Not that this is an excuse for what happened today. Liverpool put paid to the myth that they are a two man team, full of useless, foreign failures.
In Meireles they have a real class act, whose bald pate was head and shoulders above any other player on the ‘pitch’, while Dalglish has added organisation to their previously failing back line, replacing flakiness with feistiness throughout the rest of his team.
And we all know about Torres.
Couple this with a listless home performance and there was only ever going to be one result.
How can Milijas, who ran the Anfield midfield so majestically only weeks ago, look so anonymous? Even Sammy Lee – who covered 24 miles of technical area according to Pro-Zone – looked more proactive.
How can a team, who could all claim to be man-of-the-match contenders at Anfield, look so utterly lost this time around?
Zubar trod water, (or was it the quick sand pitch?) Berra looked ponderous, while Stearman did at least battle on gamely, annoying Torres frequently and catching the eye occasionally, if not the odd divot and ballboy.
Collectively, the back four were inexplicably incoherent, summed up by Zubar’s daydreaming for the first.
Stephen Hunt started the game feverishly, but ended it lost like the rest of his team.
Then there was Jarvis, who played as badly as most can remember, in another showing that defies explanation.
Forget the ‘harsh scoreline’ nonsense. 3-0 was more than fair considering all of Liverpool’s misses in the first half, featuring fine Hennessey saves off Torres and Maxi, not to mention Meireles’s rasper that grazed a post. In reply, we had a Fletcher half chance easily saved.
Liverpool started the second half as they played the first and scored a belter through Meireles. Anyone who dubs his 30 yard strike as ‘unlucky’ is frankly delusional, considering the same player had a one-on-one saved by Wayne within minutes of his wondergoal. Was that unlucky too?
Yes, we created numerous crossing opportunities as the second half progressed, but none in the vicinity of our strikers, whose happy knack of being in the wrong place at the wrong time is starting to grate.
And if we are to keep peppering the box in the games to come, then surely we need a big man who can head a ball with meaning towards the target?
A couple of shots on target in 90 minutes tell their own story.
Adam Hammill at least offered one glimpse of promise on an otherwise unfathomable afternoon.
Of whom, Mick said in ominous belligerence: “He’s going to be a good player for us and will fit in because he’ll work hard and is prepared to put a shift in.”
Our 14th and heaviest home defeat of the season suggests we might need a bit more than hard work Mick, however much we love the lads for it.
We’ve already beaten them once what happened today!! Fresh new legs on the pitch and still we come Out of another game wih nothing, but this time it sounds like that’s all we deserved.
We’re running out of games now and by the sound of things the players are running out of hope
Disappointing, very disappointing 🙁
How disappointing, I have to say hardly suprising. I have to say I had little confidence at the end of last season after we escaped, and with the players we’ve bought in I just don’t see where the extra strength has ever been.
I’m sorry, the likes of Fletcher, Hunt et al are not the future. They never were.
We still haven’t strengthened in the areas we were weak in 3 years ago… sadly I think the signing of kids like Hammill shows where our ambitions lie!
Wouldnt blame the players so much as the manager today. Mick got it wrong, plain and simple. 4-4-2 with 2 wingers hugging the touchlines saw Henry and Milijas overwhelmed as a red tide poured through time after time.
And he had plenty of time to change things as the writing was on the wall long before the opening goal. But he didnt and what followed was inevitable.
Agree with Ben that 3-0 didnt flatter the scousers at all. It could have been 6!
Back to the drawing/clip board but hope we dont see these tactics again this season.
Agree completely Scooped.
Whenever we play a team with 5 in midfield, it’s a struggle because we can’t cope defensively and simply end up shelling balls forward to bypass the middle completely.
After half an hour yesterday, Mick should have had Jones on and matched Liverpool like-for-like.
The problem is, when you go a goal down, switching to a 4-5-1 seems negative, when actually it’s not, particularly if you can get your wingers more involved.
What on earth is going on with that pitch?A million pounds to produce that, unbelievable.How’s it so difficult to grow a bit of bloody grass?As for the game, simply totally outplayed by better, far more expensive players on far higher wages. Quite simple really isn’t it? We want to be in the premiership but we don’t want to pay the price for it. We think we can do it on the cheap. I say starting acting like a premiership club or get back to the championship where we belong. Our best player up until this week was a Barnsley player. Says it all really.
Oops, must have got out the wrong side of the bed but that’s what watching us lose all the time does to me. To be fair, they all had a go and if we knew how to play off side we might have kept in the game. Hammill looks like a very good buy so that’s a plus. But i do feel that we can’t expect to stay in this league if we don’t compete financially, at least with the lower level teams. Just one other thought, but why does Hennessy concede so many long range goals.The same happened last year until Hanneman came in. They seem unstoppable but is it his positioning or something?
Agreed with the financial point of view, perhaps Morgan and Co should be looking at the team instead of concentrating on the stadium !
I thought Hennessy played well yesterday…..some excellent one-on-one saves (that kept the score respectable) and apart from one kick that i remember, thought his distribution was excellent (considering we insisted on playing the ball backwards rather than forwards)
The only light in a stadium of darkness was when Adam Hammill came on. I had a little chuckle to myself when Hammill produced a couple of step overs that would rival the great ‘Cristiano’. I haven’t seen the likes of those quality step-overs since the days of Tony Daley and Steve Froggatt !!
Put a couple of lovely crosses in too.
I fancy MM to give him a start against Stoke this coming Saturday.
Exciting prospect and great to see an up and coming player sign for the Wolves.
It’s McCarthy who decides who to buy, not Morgan. Morgan’s prepared to stump up the cash, remember 7 mill for Fletcher? But Mick doesn’t want to do it that way, just scour the Championship and Scotland..
Hennessey’s positioning was very good, the only slight problem was that he wasn’t quite balanced as the ball was struck. He had an 8/9 out of 10 game for me. Yours in goalkeeping nerdery, t’OM.
He did have a good game and has played well generally for me since he came back in.It’s just my memory from last year was that he got beaten fairly often from long distance and Hahneman didn’t. I might have to splash out on last years dvd to check it out. But if it was the case, could it be positionig or maybe he doesn’t direct the defence to close down as well. Or maybe he’s just plain unlucky!
I agree Hennessey’s positioning was good and he had a good game for him on Saturday. He is commending his box better than the last couple of seasons they have obviously been working hard on that. I am a Hennessey fan and believe he has a very bright future.
He has a problem when it comes to long range shots and it is a fairly common problem amoungst younger keepers. He rests on his heels too much when he doesnt believe he is in danger of a shot at him. This is why he was off balance slightly. He should be up on his toes whenever the ball is in (or on its way to) our half. On the occasions he has been on his toes he has managed some stunning saves. Are you listening Mr Mountain?
Having said that Im not sure he would have saved that strike even if he had been on balance!
Long Live Super Mick!
I just wish Mick would go back to playing a 4-5-1, make it tight in the middle of the field and offer the defence abit of cover,
Cross, Cross, Nothing. Cross Nothing, Cross, Nothing. Decent, actually brilliant cross (Hammill), nothing. So predictable yesterday.
Excellent report Ben.
Agree with pretty much every word.
Crap midfield. Crap pitch. Crap crossing.
But most of all, I agree about our hapless strikers who for all their useful link-up play can’t get on the end of anything in a crowded penalty area.
All Doyle’s best work is out wide or about 40 yards from goal. Fletcher shows neat footwork but again, there’s not enough threat inside the box.
When SEB’s fit, I’d get him back in. And I’d also be looking for another striker before January 31st.
“Ball puts a shift into the net.” LOL! Great photo caption. At least that’s some cheer on an otherwise bleak weekend.
Was the pitch that bad in the Doncaster game also? (I never heard anyone complain …)
Bad day at the office.
My take on the performance was that Liverpool stopped us playing; didn’t give us time or space; hit us fast on the break. 3-0 wasn’t a scoreline that reflected the balance of play but we struggled to create shooting opportunities and ended up chasing the game.
For me Milijas and Fletcher were the only players that had the ability to hold onto the ball in the Liverpool half.
Let’s put it into context – we are Wolves; we are a recently promoted team mixing it week in, week out with some of the best teams in Europe and actually doing a pretty good job. We have some defensive frailties that could yet send us down; let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
It’s not over by a mile and we can prevail. Don’t give up on our team!
Surely contect would be he invested £18.5million in new players and £17m on wages this Summer and we have gone backwards. Little old Wolves who have a team put together on peanuts should be glad to be here.
I can’t agree we have gone backwards; our performances against the Big 4 show that this isn’t the case. Additionally we are creating more chances and scoring more goals and looking a better attacking side.
What hasn’t worked are MM’s attempts to bolster the defence – the failure of the Van Damme transfer; Mouyokolo’s injury and lack of form (quality?) – problems exacerbated by the loss of Craddock. Fix this and our results will improve dramatically.
I still believe that this team will come good.
We may have performed once or twice against the big clubs, say 3 times coz we beat City, Liverpool and Chelsea.
But, we haven’t performed against anyone else.
Wigan, West Ham etc etc etc
Doesnt matter how you try to sugar coat it, the tactics are wrong, the players are in the wrong places and we are absolutely crap.
The tables do not lie, we are second bottom, and I cant see us getting another win this season.
McCArthy HAS to go.
Mark Davies says it right, he is a fuckin’ dinosaur.
Let’s give him a new nickname, hoe about Diplodopeus??
This team will come good? We are well through the season! People normally make that comment after maybe 6 or 7 games, not 23! Mouyokolo is fit now, he doesn’t pick him so that is a poor signing, the fact he still hasn’t replaced Craddock, signed a decent left back, thinks Christophe Berra is a first choice premiership defender tells me he simply can’t improve us. The fact is we have had a couple of big wins but what about our performances against the teams around us? This is what sends teams down – we have been well beaten by all the worst teams so you picking out 2 games in 23 doesn’t show to me we have improved. We have lost 14 games out of 23 and 19th in the league. Compare that to second half of last season afetr massive spending for a small club like ours and it’s regression. Just cannot believe he hasn’t done something about that defence.
We haven’t gone backwards. That’s just rubbish. Last season we were playing 7 or 8 defenders in a starting 11, and would have gone down if Doyle got injured. Now we’ve got cover, the ability to realistically play 442 sometimes. It is a tougher league, maybe we haven’t advanced enough, but we haven’t gone backwards.
last season we finished 15th, this season we are 19th. But heck we can tell the world “we even play 2 strikers” – Yeah tougher league, that line is making everyone comfortable with relegation. Blackpool with Marlon harewood and DJ Campbell have shown that. Also, many critics will say Chelsea are not the team they were, Man Utd are not the side of yesteryear, Liverpool are having their worst season in years, while Villa are near the bottom of the league. Mind you, the quality oozing out of Blues, Fulham and Stoke is something we just haven’t managed to keep up with. I am talking about league standing here – we have gone backwards. That is the aim of the game for me, wolves finishing in a better league position and not living the season for the odd monumental victory. We beat a very ordinary Chelsea team and that is enough for some wolves fans and it is pathetically small time.
I went to another no show at the molineux,how many more times must we suffer the big match blues,any body cauld see what was going to happen when liverpool have five in the middle and we have four,anybody could after five mins what was going to happen.They controlled the midfield with ease, what did he do sweet fanny he left it to late as usual when you’ve got square ball +back in midfield Henry, who dosen’t know what forward pass Iis unless he’s facing his own goal.Its about time mr morgan gets wise and realizes we need a quality midfielder who can take somebody on and beat them for pace our midfield are to cumbersome.ALSO we need a big forward who can win a ball and hold it up to stop it coming back at us and not forgetting a leftback,then we may have a chance of stopping up.playing like that i can’t see where the next win is coming from,God help us please,..does anybpody know if we are worse off this term than last ?
What a fantastic second goal was Liverpools second. I notice there were around 3 opposition midfield players who could have taken the ball wherever the clearing header landed. So where was our 2 man midfield, overun, out manoevred and overwhelmed. Not their fault but MM dinasaur tactics playing 442. Wingers isolated and on the periphary of the action, but of course not for the first time this eason, last season or the season before.
We have lost too many games this season, where last year we may have got a point by playing 451. On Saturday with our set up, against a team that has taken Dalgleish 4 matches to sort out, we had no holding midfielders, so our defenders were left facing midfielders running at pace. Its all down to tactics I`m afarid – or the lack of them.
The crowning glory was I had the radio on driving home, and I heard MM complain about the lack of quality up front, and the failure to get anything on the twenty or so decent crosses into the box. Well Mick you signed both £6m strikers – they are very similar players but lack real height and physical presence. Another reason playing 2 wingers is a luxury we cannot afford. Blackpool are set up with 3 in midfield, so are Birmingham, Wigan, and almost every other team, and with Arsenal and Man Utd the next two prem matches, we have to strengthen numbers in midfield or our season will be over before we knowm it. Now wheres that new left back?
Mark Doyle & Fletch are both over 6 feet tall, how much taller do they need to be before they stop lacking height?? Both are quality strikers, but both struggle to get good service. We are forever throwing crosses in but rarely do they go where they are supposed to. Our midfield is incredibly weak and spends most of its time supporting a shit defence which means both strikers have to come seeking the ball in midfield which puts them out of position. In a team with a decent defence and midfield, both would be banging in goals. The strike force and wings are the only decent hing about our team other than the supporters of course!
Doyle is under 6 foot, Fletcher is 6’1″. When they are playing against big defenders in Skrtel and Agger both 6’3″ they’re not going to have much chance in the air. Liverpool also seemed to get men back from their midfield very quickly and outnumber us in the box. They also managed to counter with the same players, which I can only put down to us having our wingers isolated and out of the game.
I wasn’t sure Henry should have started, he’s at his best breaking up play but with only 2 centre mids he also had to push forward – which he can’t do. I think Jarvis’ crossing was dire, he produced too many chipped left footed crosses instead of cutting back on his right foot and playing the dangerous cross towards the back post.
I hate to say it but I think Ward’s attacking play was good, especially the lovely back heel that set up Jarvis. His was caught out defending as usual but I feel most of the defence were, especially Zubar.
I dont see us getting anything out of the Arsenal and Man U game, which makes the Bolton game a must win to keep up with the rest of the relegation pack!
I counted four decent crosses all afternoon. Our delivery was generally garbage with Jarvis having a stinker (in fact I don’t think I can remember him playing well since the phantom England call up!) Kick up the jacksie me thinks.
MM got his tatics wrong, well not the first time!
Henry walks straight back into the team.
No need for any transfers Mick cus we beat Liverpool and Chelski!
Thoroughly hacked off by that non peformance.
Not seen Jarvis play well since Hunt came in and he has been moved over to the right.
Doyle is barely 6’0″ and Fletch only an inch taller.
Against Liverpool’s defence they did look like they lacked height; add to that the fact that Doyle isn’t a naturally gifted header of the ball (I feel Fletch is – see goal against Doncaster…)
Fletcher is quality and MM needs to stick with him; not sure we have seen the best of Doyle yet this season – my choice would be SEB/Fletch as our front two.
Agree on the delivery point – for all of Jarvis’s pace and commitment his crossing and corners are too low and flat. Contrast this with Hunt and from what we saw of Hammill.
Agree on the midfield point, although Milijas deserves some credit; he was one of our better players on Saturday. I would have liked to have seen Jones instead of Henry also, but kind of understood MM’s reasoning in a 4-4-2 line-up. Be interesting to see how he plays it vs. Bolton – any thoughts?
Love the supporters…
AT THIS POINT, RECKON FIGHTING RELEGATION IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP NEXT YEAR
Any coincidence that Henry back in the team seems to stop us playing any good football? I love his passion and constant running. But we’ve seen enough players over the years who can pick up a ball in their own half and pass it sidewards (Keith Andrew, Carl Robinson to name a few) I know he’s been injured but Dave Jones was a mile better midweek against Donny. I really think we can only afford Henry in a 5 man midfield. Jarvis has lost it, hasn’t been at it for weeks. And how much longer can we afford Doyle’s great work everywhere apart from inside the box, I always feel when Sylvan plays that he’s going to get on the end of things.
I think Henry works best at the base of a 4-5-1. I’m a massive fan of his (even got Henry 8 on the back of my kit when I saw us beat Palace in the promotion season), however at this level, with the game we’re trying to play, he’s too limited going forward to make up part of a centre midfield 2. In a 3 man centre midfield he’s invaluable.
What we need is a bit of steel at the back, I think I have found the solution…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwHzCtRa2SE&feature=player_embedded
Oh dear. That is one of the worst tackles I have ever seen in my life. That actually makes me sick. As someone with perennial knee problems, I can’t actually describe how bad I feel for that bloke, nor how much I hate Kevin Muscat for doing that.
It’s not the best is it – nice to see kevin has the skin head he always secretly desired! Just the Nazi tattoo now!
Horrific. Hang ya boots up cobba.
At least Muscat wouldn’t have played Liverpool onside like Zubar! ha,ha,ha!
That guy is a disgrace. He finished the career of Matty Holmes and Wolves had to pay him £100,000 compensation and i think he did someone else didn’t he? I’m ashamed he ever wore the Wolves shirt.
What we do need is a team that know exactly what they are trying to achieve. The last “performance” beggars belief… the hoof and hope…the misplaced passes, the piss poor attack… and central defenders playing like strangers….don;t even start me on Ward and Hunt…what a waste of space….
Totally useless performance..
Nothing going forward, two lazy bits of defending to gift two of the goals. How many times did our £7million striker (Fletcher) lose the ball? How many long balls were launched up to our “short” strikers? How much longer do we have to see Jarvis put out on the right and be ineffective? What happened to Milijas – back to his performances of last season. Stearman – Torres made you look like a mug.
Still think we are going down, and it’s too late to do anything about it now! McCarthy should have gone the beginning of December – but given our lack of investment in the January window what decent manager would have come to Wolves anyway.
Nothing more to add really guys. After the dust has settled I suppose I’m happy with the 3 points we have got off Liverpool overall.
Its back to the drawing board though. I want to see Doyle and Fletch on the pitch every week but this is the kind of pain that we have to take.
Lets take our medicine.
Keep the faith.
Ground redevelopment decision has now been delayed!
I wonder why? Morgan and the fat controller must think we are going down too.
Rather spend the money on the team rather than the stadium. We made that mistake the last time round under Sir Jack. Newcastle built the team first and then the stadium and had a sustained run in the Prem. We had years of having the best stadium in the Championship (which made it a nice day out for away teams and harder on the home team)!
The only ground developments needed are
1) More catering in Steve Bull upper for more pies and more pints
Here, here! There’s never a Balti pie left at half time in the Steve Bull – they need to extend half time by another 15 mins to ensure you can get your food and back to your seat in time!
In the modern game teams defend as a unit and attack as a unit. Man Utd, Arsenal and Man City only use one winger, but with pacy athletes in midfield to support. Stoke, Wigan, Bolton only play one winger why is that?No one except MM plays 2 wingers. The reason is patently obvious.
Liverpool play one striker Torres, no out & out winger, play 4 midfielders and bomb on, and scored 3 goals. Wolves play 2 wingers, 2 strikers and scored exactly 0, the reason quite simply is numbers in midfield protecting their defence. All teams have at least one holding midfielder, except MM. At any level of football three midfielders will out pass, outrun, and out manouvre two midfielders and how many times do we see this at the Molyneux. Given our position in the table, and our still championship defence with a liability at left back, surely common sense dictates we should beef up our midfield and try to provide some protection for our defence. We did this last year playing 541, and won hard points by drawing games.
We survived last season, but kamikaze tactics like Sunday wònt see us survive this time.
Finally saw the goals last night.
Even the missus, who is American, said “what’s that guy with the bandage doing, shouldn’t he be watching the guy in the middle???”
Yeah, Torres all alone in the box, with Berra running full tilt away from him, stopping on the goal line, turning round as though he’s gonna save a penalty.
It really beggars belief.
And the first 2 goals, Ward is seen strolling aimlessly around, lookng for someone not to mark.
Got to go down as 3 of the worst goals conceded this season, and let’s face it, there have been some good ones already!
However, on a brighter note, we still have enough games left to concede even worse ones, and I’m sure we will.
Never mind Andy Gray and Co criticising the female linesmen (women?) let’s give ’em a Wolves shirt and play them up front!
Quick flash of tits to distract the defenders, and bingo, lottsa goals!!!
Absolutely disgusted to be a Wolves fan at the moment, but thank heavens I will(hopefully) live long enough to see Morgan, Moxey and McDinosaur no longer associated with our beloved club.
FO all of them.
Good Morning, Mr. Davies!!!