Another game gone, another ghost exorcised.
The Dickensian Mick McCarthy, like a ghost of Christmas past, back to haunt us with his grim brand of pragmatism and lovable banter in the press conference.
Good old Mick. Having stalked the touchline next to his impotent sidekick Connor, he was to fashion an unlikely result from his Unlikely Lads before casting a crooked smile to thoughts of a £15 million holding midfielder. ‘World’s gone chuffing mad,’ he’d observe with a wry wink, delivered in obligatory Yorkshire gimmick.
Fuck off Mick.
Like so many scripts we’d conjured in our heads before kick-off, Nuno saw straight through it and dealt with the nightmare scenario with the ruthless efficiency to which we’re accustomed. A moment of magic from a bloke who’d have never seen the light of day under a bygone era and a general sense of calm, as we danced around Mick’s customary muck and nettles.
He’ll doubtless fester over our embarrassment of riches as he digests his turkey and Brussels sprouts, without giving a second thought to a quite laughably biased referee who gave his side most decisions. Maybe he was disappointed at his side’s play acting and cheating in the rare moments they did attack, with two players diving over themselves in feeble attempts to win penalties.
Not the brand of Corinthian spirit you’d associate with Top-Bloke-Mick, who at least proved that he can evolve. If Martyn Waghorn was called Diogo Jota then you sense he’d have reminded us all of such moments. ‘Not on my watch’, he’d growl.
Thankfully, we eventually got one over the old dinosaur and we move on to the next game, where Nuno will already be searching for more solutions.
With five minutes remaining it might all have been so different here, after Mick’s last throw of the dice almost reaped dividends. David McGoldrick almost justified one or two intakes of breath when introduced to the fray late on. He played a neat one-two and was in on goal. For a split second, an image of a fickle old man and a flying clipboard flashed across our minds, before Romain Saiss appeared from nowhere to intercept majestically.
It was a moment every bit as impressive as Cavaleiro’s in the first half, even if it fails to make the post-match highlights reel.
Having been starved of quality for so long, such contributions are appreciated all the more by a fan-base that knows that they’re not always easy to come by. Heck, under last season’s manager he wouldn’t have even played! It was a tackle quite emblematic of side which is laden with obvious quality, but underpinned by exertion. Ryan Bennett – another unsung hero – and another example of individual conquest.
Add it all up and the end result is barely believable. In real money it’s 54 points and 10 clear of third place, despite a selling-your-soul narrative that our detractors still portray.
But as a wise old ghost of Christmas past once said: ‘Opinions are like backsides — we’ve all got them but it’s not always wise to air them.’
So here it is Merry Christmas Santa Nuno’s Having fun
Look to the future now
It be-longs to Fo-su-uu-un.
And us too!!
Merry Christmas to everyone of an Old Gold persuasion.
And back atcha, Doogle and Sue.
Happy Christmas Eve!
Thought Saiss had a blinder, but I am not in the I love Bright camp, I’m afraid.
He had plenty of time on the pitch, but didn’t have a clue what to do when he got the ball.
However, my love affair with Big Wily is growing .
What a colossus!
One header/cruncher nearly sent the other bloke thru to China!
Was fun watching clipbored shouting totally ignored instructions, and McDickwadhead directing his plodding tractors like he knew what he was doing, and like they understood them!
Fun all the way to the points bank!
The other wanderers came up trumps, the stokies stuffed the shit, manure dropped points at the death, and villa, sheff u and bristol city all failed to win.
Life is good!
FOwb
Great write-up Ben, thanks very much.
I have to admit that over recent years I would have defined success as a return to something like the domination WWFC enjoyed 1957-60 – 2 Top division championships + 1 second place + 1 FACup all in three years. This season it seems to me that we are in fact seeing something much better than that. On reflection success in the late 1950s was in no small measure down to the great individual talents of the players and how well they fitted into the relatively simple tactical approach – based on the twin concepts of “If the ball’s in their half they aren’t going to score” and “It doesn’t matter if they do score so long as we score more”.
Great to watch as that was, this season we’re seeing something different. Yes the players have great individual skills – it has to be said that the last 40/50 years has seen a massive increase in individual skills throughput the game – but the teamwork and the combination play that we’re seeing now is the real key. The ease with which passing and movement is carried out plus the seamless welding of 11(or 25) individuals into a coherent team, ever ready to attack or defend as a unit depending on the needs of the moment is on a different level completely.
I can’t imagine where all this might ultimately lead us …. but I’m not half looking forward to the journey.
Thank you Fosun. Thank you Nuno.
I echo your every word, Jazzwolf, and would add that the team coherence of which you eulogise is all the more remarkable considering that Nuno and his coaching staff effected it so rapidly. It was evident as early as the pre-season friendly vs Leicester. I am exceedingly impressed and grateful.
Indeed BeerWolf. The Leicester match was a jaw-dropping experience. I’m almost getting used to it now.
Bright has unbelievable skills and talent, but surely there comes a point when he’s gotta be sent out on loan for the rest of the season ‘ just ‘ so to as actually learn how to score a bliming goal !
I’d love to know the stats , game-time he’s had, this and last season and how many goals he’s actually scored – has he scored any ?
But seriously every time he comes on, he’s actually depriving another player of possibly scoring – so for his own sake he’s go out on loan – sorry Bright..
Absolutely spot on. Great potential for sure. But is he ready for inclusion in this very good team ?
Definitely not.
Potential never yet won a game or scored a goal. So many young guys with supposed great potential never convert this to real performance. Hopefully Bright will not fall into this category but only time will tell. I agree with you, that a loan spell, preferably with a decent mid table Championship side will do him the world of good.
If we are to play in the PL then he’ll never make it..
Every time we’ve played Ipswich in the era of Mick, they’ve strangled the game. That’s not to detract, it’s an effective plan. I didn’t think they’d be able to make it work against Sako, Afobe and Dicko in that play-off decider but they did and it got them the top 6 finish.
Ipswich pressed all over the pitch again. Identical tactics as Ben says. But this Wolves team simply provide more answers, moving the ball in triangles to open the space. Even when they dropped in and banked up, Jota and Costa still got in behind only to be denied by blocks and/or wayward finishing. It’s true their keeper didn’t make any saves, but at least three good opportunities other than the goal were created and spurned. On another day it’s a Bolton/Leeds situation.
Jota was routinely buffeted in the early exchanges but again didn’t shirk the battle and it was his tenacity that drew the mistake and gave Cavaleiro the opening. I was glad to see them swapping wings midway through that first half. No doubt full-backs are drilled on how to defend against their opposing winger so mixing things up is never a bad idea. That decision probably won us the game.
Of course things got twitchy when the second goal wouldn’t come, which has been a familiar theme in the string of recent one nils, but I can’t see this team continuing to be so wasteful on the break. If they keep getting in front, the goals will start flowing.
As a counter point we won’t always get that first goal, so the response when we eventually fall behind will be interesting. I suspect some of those boys have a few more gears in reserve for times of serious peril.
Spot-on analysis and comments, Thomas. I thought we were outstanding yesterday in terms of teamwork, organisation, determination and resilience. Saiss and Neves in particular were exemplary in midfield, dovetailing brilliantly to tackle, cover, probe, maintain effective possession and, in one delightful sequence, almost score. A joy to behold.
Agreed mate. Those two in midfield make it look so easy because they retain possession so well. If you keep the ball and pull the opposition around it’s that much harder for them to hurt you in central areas even on the rare occasion they get it back. They have to be on it because I think N’Diaye is very useful at this level too.
Is it me or is this beginning to look like something special ?
Great article Ben,
Words fail me. Ruddy must be earning a fortune on his clean sheet bonus and long may it continue.
Nothing against the guy at all, just wish Ikeme could join the party….
Happy Christmas you filthy footballing animals.
My thoughts are :
Bright needs to go on loan somewhere geographically close so someone can continue to look after him and see if he develops .
We need to move the ball quicker as we were doing earlier in the season as we are not creating the chances as a result .
We are actually in practice 4 wins clear of third with so much clear water on our goal difference .
Can you believe Warnock was complaining about his team being kicked yesterday ?!
Wolves top at Christmas, just doesn’t roll off the tongue easily does it, but it’s feckin true, we are the best team in the Chumpionshite we are top on points top on goals scored and now the top defence, 3 of the 6 top scorers in our league are Wolves players.
But, the most important thing from my point of view, I think I may have a chance of being top of the prediction league at Christmas.
I’m in Nuno land, dancing like a Jota, flaunting it like a Cavalerio, sticking out proud like a big willy and shouting it out like a Warnock who knows feck all.
Have a great Chritmas lads and lasses, we are where we are on merit, we were patient (at times) we waited for real management and now we’ve been well and truly Fosuned.
Whoaaa we’re half way there,
Whoaaaa, living on a prayer.
Forever Old Gold & Black
Your best post of the year…Happy Xmas S..
And to add to all that us bloggers have someone like you Stu who goes the extra mile for everyone else. You travel in to Wolverhampton to sort away tickets for us like you did for Me and Sue on numerous occasions this year. We came out of Reading and had a 2 minute walk to our hotel – you were driving a minibus for the DSA in the dark and the pouring rain all the way back to Wolverhampton. You are a top bloke and on behalf of me and Sue and I’m sure many other bloggers, I would like to wish you, Jen and your family a very merry christmas.
Bring on Millwall – give or take the influence of the neanderthols ..this one political and historical not over convincing regarding scoreline but as I’ve said before if
the back is solid then a 1 goal lead will do….simple formula
Build from the back..we outplayed them as we should of..
MM welcome back..
We def need another striker though to keep up the scoring momentum I wonder who it’s going to be? I suspect another
non English player…
The CRISIS that happened on the 9th December is now behind us.
25 points from 27 on offer is awesome….. Clinton Morrison says that …” for the past 9 years the team top at Xmas has been promoted “
What’s not to like about following WOLVES right now.
Yesterday was another masterclass of controlled football, scoring first and seeing the game out …trying also to add to the goal tally as the minutes tick by.
Reality of yesterday is that Ben has hit the nail on the head …some of our more cultured players probably wouldn’t be on he team sheets of Lambert, Jackett or McCarthy.
What class players we now have and how they work hard to get the results we’re currently enjoying.
I’m in heaven … Thanks FOSUN … I can’t wait for the Jan transfer window to come along.
Merry Xmas fellow Bloggers … and hope you’re on the mend Mike (Upton)
When Nuno arrived, he made the observation that good teams are built from the back. And this is exactly what he has done for us.
We all, rightly, applaud the great skills and attacking talents of Cav, Jota, and Leo, etc, but how comforting to have a central back three of the quality of Boly, Bennet and Coady What a fabulous unit they now form. Of these, for me Bennet is the really big surprise — he seems to have has just slipped in under the radar. A no nonsense hard man who never gives an inch, is good in the air, strong and committed in the tackle, and never seeks to do things that exceed his ability. I don`t know the actual numbers, but I believe that we have hardly conceded a goal with Bennet playing alongside Boly and Coady.
And to think that last year we were dependent upon Batth and Stearman ! !
We all love a Christmas Story, well this one is a doosy.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10155865819976953&id=609781952
His pieces are always good Stu. This one is brilliant. Daft, but brilliant.
great write up as usual…one little tiny thing worries me………we are wasting too many chances…..on 1..0 i always worry that something fickle…like that last gasp cross in the box nobody hit ….would spoil the party…..we need to make our superiority count…..possession, beautiful soccer does not count …its the goals…..we murdered most teams and yet grinded a one zero result…..at least we learned how to defend and be really strong under pressure…..onwards and upwards…would like to wish all wolves supporters a happy Christmas and happy new Year…..its nice for us overseas supporters to watch every match at least from the comfort of our homes…….greetings from Malta
It’s so very good to be a Wolves fan at the moment. Talent oozes through this team. Cavaleiro’s goal was absolute class.
And how tough was Jota shaking off the Ipswich player to provide the cross for that goal. In Sky Sports stats he’s the best player in the Championship. But it seems strange to see George Saville as 2nd best player!
Great indeed to see King John Richards at H-T take the mike off keep to the script Steve Daley, & wax lyrical over the current set up & team.
What’s more the cheese & onion cobs are back on at the Great Western, & the Holdens Bitter as sublime as a Neves pass.
Mind you I’d say Saiss was my man of the match yesterday. As Ben says what a saving tackle at the end. Also his all round game was excellent. The only blot he missed that header late in the 2nd half that would have sealed the win earlier.
According to a fellow blogger I am no longer top of the prediction league….not happy!
The problem (for me) is that we’ve stopped scoring 2 goals and while I have no problem (grrr) with 1-0 scorelines, it is not, as another blogger pointed out, ideal. Too precarious in this league!
So while our defence continues to be as tight as a nuns nether regions I will continue to be happy, but to the forwards….come on lads, you’re letting me down here!!
Everything has been covered on here regarding Bright, he’s got everything but the final pass! So a loan would do him the power of good I reckon.
Make sure you travellers all come home safely from Millwall. We don’t want any von Ryan’s Express cameos with the dodgy train timetables down there.
Fantastic win, pissed off Mick, pissed off Colin, Wolves march on! Merry Christmas!
UTW
No Larry, this is what I said.
With my luck no chance as it’s not been updated for a while. 🙂
I think I may have a chance of being top of the prediction league at Christmas.
Clive can’t. Even with him attempting to do so with 3 different entries …….. and he had the gall to suggest I was cheating!
Merry Xmas everyone.
To be honest Stu, I reckon with the correct amount of counselling I’ll just about be able to handle the disappointment; but only so as long as Wolves finish top of their league…:-)
Merry Christmas
If we win the next three games and add a Premiership quality striker in January, the rest of the division will be playing for second place.
They are already playing for secound place. Merry Christmas one and all.
Agree totally with most of the above. Wolves looked in full command, the only worry in football is that daft things happen and narrow leads lost to fluke, so I was surprised Bright came on before Helda as he seems likeliest to end opposition resistance.
Big Willy was my MOTM,the original immovable object.
Thank you Fosun, Nuno and the whole squad.
Merry Christmas to you All.
So at last we’ve banished the Mick hoodoo and somewhat more convincingly than the 1-0 scoreline would indicate. Another great goal from Cav. Another great defensive performance from the whole team.
We seem to have added a large bucket of grit to the silky skills we have displayed all season. Cardiff led the way by bullying us to defeat and as others tried similar tactics, it seemed we would toughen up or fail in our ambitions. We chose to toughen up. And few have toughened up quite so well as Diogo Jota. Rarely have we seen such an unlikely hard man and the more he gets kicked, the more he shrugs it off and looks for a way to make a point or two of his own. Admirable.
Neves too never shirks a tackle, and with Saiss, Boly, Bennett et al, we are perfectly well equipped to cope with the oft quoted ‘muck and nettles’ Championship. Our point and clean sheet totals prove that.
So we find ourselves top at Christmas, by some distance, and Santa won’t be bringing me anything better this year that’s for sure. With the January window about to open, I’m sure NES will be getting some super presents from our Chinese benefactors which will help us cement our place at the summit of the table and take us onward and upward in 2018.
Brill innit. 🙂
Oh yes, I forgot. Merry Christmas to all my fellow bloggers. I’m sure it will be.
McCarthy went to script both on and off the pitch on the evolution scale McCarthy is the first primate and Nuno has evolved into a man……..that’s how far apart they are light years apart…..and although it wasn’t Amur best performance we never needed to get out of secound gear even Merlin who powers have diminished to pulling hankies out of his considerably large ears admitted we’ve even learnt how to win 1.0
What a sad and and telling reminder how things got towards the end of McCarthys end was to see Clipboard still hanging on to Merlins coat tails.
We move on and Mick and Terry will carry one not evolving just doing the same thing over and over again in the hope of getting it right.
Merry Christmas and a Happy Newr year to all in the Wolves pack……!
Are we the citeh of the championship?Its just that most teams top of the league @xmas go on to be promoted.Im just asking this question as some bookies are paying out on citeh winning the prem and,wondering how long till they do the same for us.
Overnight bag packed for Melbourne and the collusium that is the mcg packed with 100 000 convicts , they can take the piss outa my England cap but not the wolf on my shirt , will have a crap Xmas dinner on the plane to be there for Boxing Day morning to watch a very average team who barely deserve it but I still can’t stop smiling thanks to all things wolves,
I think I’m becoming a football snob , I’m not too enthusiastic with Grabban, Afobe et el , I want someone exotic, someone with an ‘o’ on the end but iv no doubt Nuno has it all under control
Merry Xmas all
Utw
Merry Christmas you lot
Back at ya Matt. 🙂
There is a lack of respect for what Mick achieved. Taking over a disjointed squad from Hoddle who fucked off and bottled it Mick worked wonders to get us in the play offs. Then auto promotion. Morgan failed to back him when it was needed. The rest is history. I don’t think he said anything terrible either before or after the game. Just normal Mick banter. We have had worse than him. A lot fuckin worse.
With you on that Cheese. Mick’s a good, honest manager who does a solid job wherever he goes.
Nuno’s doing a fantastic job, but could he do it with the resources Mick is working with? We’ll never know……..hopefully.
I asked the fella below for 3 points for Saturday, he obliged.
Merry Christmas you lovely bloggers,
From Jenny and Stuart xx
And to you both from down yer in snowy Devon. Well, Devon anyway.
Same to you Stu, see you on the coach tomorrow, I’ll have my present then!
Hopefully we will all have a cracker from the lads, and another 3 points from Saint Nuno.
Merry Christmas one and all.
The only thing that beats being a Wolves fan right now?
The enjoyment of seeing two of my granchildren – 3 and a half and 21 months – opening their presents with such wide eyed pleasure and excitement and seeing their faces when they realised that Santa had eaten the mince pie and drunk the wine they’d left out for him and the reindeer had had a good chew on the carrot.
Shear unadulterared bliss.
Merry Christmas to Mick Mccarthy too and thanks for what you did for us. Some of us will always ge grateful and appreciate what you did.
Getting the decorations down last week I found a wrapped present from last year for my granddaughter, that I forgot to give her.
Her face was a picture when she opened it this morning…………pity it was a puppy!
Another top-notch performance in which we controlled the game from start to finish. Thought Ipswich looked to have settled into the match but then on 30 mins Bennet (!) played a superb through ball and after that they started to look a bit nervous. Pity Douglas’ free-kick and Saiss’ header didn’t go in as that would have given a more realistic scoreline.
As for the January window, yes we need cover for Leo but we also need an attacking midfielder so that we can vary our game and, more importantly, the opposition will not know how to set-up against us. With a good ‘no. 10’, we could, for instance, revert to a 3-5-2 formation retaining our defensive solidity and adding some attacking variation. I think all this press talk about Martin, Afobe and Grabban is just a smokescreen and Nuno will come up with another relative unknown. And, yes, cover for Doherty would also be appreciated…
Merry Christmas everybody, and an even better Boxing Day!
As for Mick, I would love him as a drinking companion and will always be grateful for that wild day in Cardiff. I also enjoyed his humour in many interviews.
Morgan provided £36m net in our three years in the Premier League, the sixth highest during that period. Basically, Jez and Mick squandered it.
Perhaps Jez was mainly responsible for that fatal record; but Mick cannot avoid all responsibility. I love Mick, but it’s not fair to blame Morgan for Jez’s (and Mick’s) mistakes.
Let’s stop quibbling about the past! Look forward to a happy new year!
Dave Jones even. Xxxx