I used to spend a long time fretting about a future Wolves midfield that didn’t have Neves and Moutinho running the game.
But we’ve struck it lucky again with Lemina and Gomes; players built in a different mould but with the same capacity to win games of football.
What they lack in passing range and delivery, they more than make up for in tackling and athleticism, qualities we’ve desperately lacked in recent years.
Super Mario delivered today, excelling in the disjointed, hustle and bustle of the midfield, winning the ball back time and again to put his team on the front foot.
He also headed in the opener and fought like a Trojan soldier to keep Chelsea out, culminating in one final smash right on the final whistle to bring the curtain down on an excellent afternoon’s work.
Gomes was briefly the villain after getting his pocket picked by Sterling, which should have seen the match heading in the opposite direction. He can thank Jose Sa for saving the day, even if he felt it was the goalkeeper’s fault he was robbed in the first place.
But that one suicidal lapse aside, he too got around the pitch superbly – tackling, intercepting and generally having his say on proceedings. It’s what he does.
I sometimes don’t feel they have the same impact away from home but at Molineux, they continue to dominate. We’re now unbeaten in our last seven on our own patch and those two have been a major factor in that success.
This was probably the most chaotic performance in that sequence and I never felt we had a firm grip on proceedings – albeit with a big dollop of that owing to the bizarre mish-mash that is Chelsea these days.
They’ve got bags of energy and good intent but lack structure, discipline, focus and experience. All of that aside, they may still have won if they had that other elusive quality – cutting edge. Broja, Jackson and Sterling were all culpable of squandering great chances before Wolves took control.
Poch’s response was to load up on attackers and force the issue through sheer weight of numbers so it was to our defenders credit they repelled everything up until that late Nkunku header that ensured pain and suffering to the very end.
We’ll take it though. With 22 points on the board and still a game shy of halfway, there’s little to fret about.
And that’s enough to ensure a very Merry Christmas in my book.
Great summary Thomas. A bit of a struggle at times but in the end a well deserved victory
In short we are very much a team of journeymen, but somehow we are overcoming the lack of quality in key areas through effort and superb teamwork. Credit is due to GON for instilling this work ethic. He is certainly maximising the output from the squad he inherited.
Your comments ref Lemino and Gomez are bang on the mark. Today both were immense, setting the basis for the win.
But a word about Sa. He maybe a great stopper, but his distribution is dire– and is getting worse. The incident in the first half where Gomez lost the ball setting up the Sterling opportunity, was brought about by Sa`s ridiculous distribution which unnecessarily put Gomez under pressure. If this distribution issue is not rapidly sorted out a lot of points are going to be sacrificed.
But today`s the day for positivity. so let`s celebrate a great early Christmas present. Enjoy the turkey guys, and then let`s give Brentford a right ol drubbing mid week
Mike
In fairness to Sa think our outfield need to be a lot more aware of his desire to get moving FORWARD quickly rather than sideways and backwards at pedestrian pace, which is one of our great limitations; glad to see him back – good to see a proper PL GK between the sticks again and thought he was excellent today.
Maybe so PJB. But that was a suicide pass to Gomes. He was closely surrounded by Chelsea players with no Wolves player behind him. There can be no justification / reason for Sa making that distribution
All I`m saying is that Sa needs to sharpen up in that area of his game. No question that he`s a Premier league quality keeper, but his distribution awareness is something that he needs to work on.
Molineux was the key to keeping us up under J Lo. And so it continues under GON. We look a different team at home compared to away. Sure. A big moment for Chelsea but it’s the Prem. When you have players like Chelsea it is not going to be plain sailing. 7 points from the last 4 games. Not to be sniffed at. Nick something at Brentford Wednesday and a jolly nice Xmas. FWAW!
Well firstly a huge thank you to Thomas for putting this out just a few hours after the final whistle (in a game running over by 11 minutes). .. thanks from Twixxo.
I thought today was a truly magnificent, battling performance, bodies on the line, effort, pressing and organisation to secure 3 magical PL points.
Chelsea pressed for sure but so did we, and Hwang’s chance should have at least tested their keeper.
Sone heroic efforts today .. with Lemina and Gomes as stand-outs but also high praise for Ait Nouri to get through some of his ankle pain, Cunha for his thrusting runs, Dawson for his courage and The DOC for making Lady TWIX’S Christmas that much more special with a ‘Johnny on the Spot’ finish ..
oh how much was she salivating this evening .. no not that ..
I’ve got a couple of Cup tickets for Brentford if anyone is interested as I’m having minor surgery that day ..
Happy Xmas All ..
Twix, completely understand if a more frequent blogger/poster gets priority over somebody who enjoys reading this blog from afar, but I would be keen for the Brentford cup tickets if they are still going. Merry Christmas to yourself and the rest of the blog!
No worries about that Bromsgrove Wolf..
drop me an email (oldfield23@btinternet.com) and I’ll sort them out with you .. happy Xmas ..
Valuable 3 points, specially with bottom 4/5 starting to pick up.
Very scary finish and I thought we started putting 10/11 men behind the ball far too early not to invite trouble a la McCarthy. And the inevitable happened.
Spirited performance all round and it must be a rarity to pick up a win with 31% possession. Why don’t we play with the same commitment away?
Great t0 see Doc come up with another match winning goal after all this time, a real blast from the past!
On a cautionary note – with Hwang and Ait-Nouri off on their travels for several weeks the make up of the bench was terrifying. And please. please don’t think you can sell Sa and get by with Bentley Jeff. You need to get your “recruitment team” (you?) to pull some rabbits out of the hat over the next 5 weeks.
Because-
Tough January coming up, but great Christmas present for us all today.
Final word – hats off to Gary; 22 points on the board on Christmas Day is way beyond the number my expectation would have been when you (or probably anyone else of a more stellar background) were parachuted into the aftereffects of a fire sale back in August. Great stuff!
Glad to see Guo in the stand today. Hope he said get a grip Jeff we are where we are in spite of you not because of you. And hopefully well done on FFP but ffs get your act together on incoming transfers (Cuitrone, Jordao, Guedes, Nunes, Sasha, Silva = £150 million among recent failures).
Happy Xmas / New Year to all participants on here and WWFC supporters wherever you are.
Is it a failure if the coach that comes in after you buy them decides he doesn’t like them?
Don’t think you can count nunes or Sasha in that list.
Nunes may have been awful but we made a considerable amount of cash.
Sasha has been unlucky in having a horrific injury and then having the coach change. I suspect he will get more game time this season and probably grab a few more goals to boot.
Fabio is just awful business hands down only beaten out by Guedes.
I mostly agree with you PJB but as it turned out Nunes was an inspired piece of business.
Well I’m not sure I’ve seen a game with two teams so disjointed it could have been 4-4 with better finishing. I would just like to say I’m glad we won but forgot sake can we try and pass the ball to someone in a gold shirt. A lot of Wolves problems are there own making by giving the ball way witch is more often than enough. Why can’t we just play fast flowing football that everyone knows we can with out the heart racing 50 two the dozen.
Not sure why some meanies have given thumbs down to this. The points that you make are all valid. I’ve tried to redress the balance a bit with a thumbs up.
Maybe a little harsh Dek?
Both teams were committed to attacking football at every opportunity, the effort levels from our lads was incredible and they literally ran them selves into the ground.
Mistakes were forced by relentless pressing and the standard of football was both exciting and fast flowing.
If we continue to see allout commitment and skill at this level for the remainder of the season I will be a very happy Wolves fan.
I’m not sure why you think what Dek says is harsh. His points are all valid and don’t have to be seen negatively. I’m delighted we won but it could have been 4-4 and we did cause ourselves problems by giving the ball away (we were very lucky they didn’t score after the Sa/Gomes mix up) and my heart was racing for the last five minutes.
But I also agree with what you say. The effort levels were indeed great and I’d too be happy to see this level of commitment continue. The viewpoints are not mutually exclusive.
Thank you George can only say what I see.
I think we were very lucky that goal line tech is automated.
VAR would have looked at that and declared it a goal despite the image of the ball…
Their special secret mic would have known by the sound of the ball on Toti’s boot that there was some air out of the ball and it had therefore deflated the 2mm that were showing as inbounds – so “clearly” a goal!
That was just the Christmas present we all needed! Three points in the bag against Chelsea.
Full points for me in the Prediction League too! 🙂
Lemina and Gomes were, indeed, awesome and great to see Matt get his first goal on his return to the club.
Happy Christmas to all you bloggers in old gold!
COYW
Yes well done Thomas for some speedy work on a day when none of us are short of other commitments.
First point, I wonder if there is a more advanced role that Doherty could fulfil ? I only pose that question because whilst he does not have the obvious traits for a striker, he does possess a poachers instinct that we seem to lack, Hwang aside.
For those of a certain vintage, I give you Alan Sunderland ?
Also, I know that having a second team are frowned upon by many but I have one for a multitude of reasons…. OGC Nice.
I have to confess at being baffled by the purchase of Lemina because I never once saw that player during his time down there.
But how wrong was I because what a player he is now !
Merry xmas. My fellow bloggers, God bless u, wolves aie we!
Just been reading on twitter. ‘Talking Wolves’. Wolves have scored in 16 consecutive home games in the top flight for the first time since Aug 1969/March 1970. I don’t know who drags these stats up but that is a long long time ago !
Merry xmas cheeseburger
Thanks Binda. Enjoy your festive drinking ! Merry Xmas to you too.
Information courtesy of Henrietta..
have a good Xmas Cheesey .. ..
Cheers Twix. Yes Henrietta the psychic slug was instrumental in the 2-1 victory prediction. A rare correct prediction for me. But I never predict a Wolves defeat and we have lost 8 times this season. Which is why I am so hopeless in the prediction league. Happy Xmas to you too.
Dogged.
Battling.
Deserved.
Sums up our festive fixture at fortress Molineux, where we overcame Chelsea for the second time this season. The first time we’ve managed that in over half a century.
Super Mario, back to his best, was just that. Super.
Toti’s goal line clearance was as important as Mario and Doherty’s goals.
As was Sa’s save after he and an otherwise impressive Gomes conspired to almost gift Chelsea a goal.
Dawson’s contribution was encapsulated by his desperate challenge that resulted in his injury. Thankfully it was a deep cut nothing more serious, and he should be in contention for Brentford.
GON’s tactics and tweaks during the game were on point.
This was probably our best performance for 5 games following last week’s illness impacted poor showing v West Ham and some indifferent form previously against Burnley, although we won, and Forest.
Even so there were still players unavailable yesterday due to illness, including Bellagarde and Silva.
The latter may well be sold next month, along with Kalajdzic, who doesn’t seem to fit in O’Neil’s plans, and Jonny, whose position is probably untenable.
That would raise much needed cash for a striker and winger.
Encouraging to see Guo Guangchang at the game. A reassuring reminder that Wolves are still important to Fosun.
18 games. Almost midway. Brentford and Everton to come. 11th and 22 points. Not to be sniffed at. When GON parachuted in 4 days before the season started, no preseason, none of the players his.
And we have the mercurial Neto to return.
We all know we should be further up the table but for VAR. That underlines the outstanding job he is doing. And it is just that. You can bet plenty of clubs will be keeping an eye on him. Wolves were a basket case last Summer. Not anymore. The young coach is proving his doubters wrong.
The future looks bright.
Merry Christmas one and all!!
UTW
Surprised not much mention of Semedo. He said he was going to put in a performance and he certainly did. Definite improver under GON.
And I love all the love shown at the final whistle with the Gary and his troops, we are adding to the great spirit in the camp.
Things are definitely looking up for the coming year. The return of Neto and maybe another punt at strengthening the ranks.
And a word for the take your hats chant, brilliant ?. More of that and less of the woke busting, there is really no need, just condemn the old chelsea chant to history, you know it makes sense.
Happy new year and up the wolves.
So Santa came early… maybe distracting Sterling from laying on a certain goal and then nudging Toti to get on the line
Two sliding doors moments
Then …hats off to GON
Bueno made the crucial plays to nick the ball then run in and square it..
I leapt up in the pub and people shook my hand … so so many folk hate Chelsea … I of course accepted the congratulations
But Linda and I had already found perfect spot ( see pic if it works)
Now and thanks to my nominee for Man of the Year Lord Twix
Off to Brentford
Happy Days!
Happy Christmas Marin .. and it’s lots of lurve to you and Linda..
just make sure you come away from the Bees stadium full of the joys of Xmas .. with 3 points of course ..
Thanks Twix-y
Nothing less than 3 points as we join the Away pack!
COYW
Hmm don’t think pic came through
Pub called O Neill’s
Well
Close enough
Thanks and a Merry Christmas to Tom and all involved in this site.
I have a big problem in that every time I predict a loss we win. I’ve also missed some home games this season which we have then won… Through illness and having to be elsewhere yesterday.
I shall be there for the next home game hoping it’s not a draw or worse.
Excellent performance by some of the guys yesterday, particularly Mario, whose Dad I wish well…
A sad indictment on myself.
Thomas puts a blog up a millisecond after the final whistle goes and I can’t be arsed to make a comment until nearly half past two the day after.
I blame my ability to arrange a piss up in my house rather better than The Premier League could. (Re my previous comment on the last blog).
Gary O’Neil will probably never cut the mustard for some supporters but he showed yesterday that he has the ability to change tactics part way through a match we were almost certainly going to lose, and it changed the game.
All thanks to Ait-Nouri’s well timed ‘injury’ which lasted just long enough for GON to hand out lots of bits of paper and advice to the team.
A knowing grin between them afterwards was a little bit of a giveaway as if we needed one.
Well, Arteta and the other big nobs have been doing it for yonks so why shouldn’t we?
Gomez and Lemina are really looking the part of a dominating midfield duo and The Doc did what he has been doing for years – getting in the box and putting the ball in the net.
I’m a happy Christmas bunny.
I hope all my fellow bloggers feel the same. Enjoy the day!
The commentators said they had it on good authority that Ait-Nouri did go down on orders from the coach.
A big shout out to all the lads after that tremendous but at times nerve wracking, for us fans, performance. Everybody put their bodies on the line and put a shift in. It was a great Christmas present for the fans made even sweeter by seeing the massed ranks of blue and white Santa hats wearing the longest of faces at the end! Chelsea are a rag bag of talent but not a team! We are a team!
Let us salute our midfield Super Mario and Joao. Just lovely to see Hugo Bueno (had some hard times recently) and the Doc (get him in the box more) giving us that crucial second goal with their positivity. A shout out for Toti too, a no nonsense performance by him! Sa has to up his game when distributing the ball and I also think he should have come to punch if not catch the floated ball that led to their only goal (Matt Murray would have claimed that as his own).
Bring on the Nylons and the Toffees. Can GON conjour up the necessary strategy or strategies (nice sit in by Rayan when needed) and can we maintain that intensity and skill we showed yesterday or will we revert to that lacklustre stuff seen against Wet Spam and Forest? Who knows!!
That was a great early morning Christmas present for me. I noticed all the British press saying “Chelsea lost ….”, ugh?! And good to see Chris Sutton get it wrong … again.
The Brentford fans have been asking all season “When will Chris Sutton forecast a victory for the bees?” Well, he’s done it for next match. With his record and kiss of death that’s a good omen for the lads.
Watched this match on telly with my Dad on his 100th Christmas and given the nervy finish it was nearly his last! Well done Wolves for battling to a Christmas Eve win for him, and all the other Wolves fans around the world. 11th at Christmas is pretty good considering, and if we had the 7 points that VAR robbed us of earlier in the season we could be 7th. Nice one Gary!