After 25,000 pairs of hands remembered a great Welshman, Wayne Hennessey used his own to pay a far more poignant tribute to the man he knew as boss.
Seventy three minutes had passed when Seb Larsson conned referee Phil Dowd into a penalty, only for Wales’ number one to smother the spot kick.
Within 30 seconds we equalised and Hennessey acknowledged our chants – if not Gary Speed upstairs – with his great big healing hands.
The moment his gloves rested upon Larsson’s effort, all those primal, raw emotions of supporting the lads came flooding back for the first time in what’s felt like months.
We screamed with more intensity, we whistled for full time like our lives depended on it and the numbness of recent weeks gave way to those tribal instincts that some of us forgot we still had.
And while Wayne’s big palms can’t hide all the deficiencies of our sometimes stumbling side, they pushed us nearer to three points and a little bit closer to Mick in the process.
Sparked by Hennessey’s heroics, the supporters were absolutely brilliant and must surely have shut up those internal club critics who will know better than to utter the F-Word any time soon.
That Mick paid tribute to us all rounded off the day perfectly. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in genuinely appreciating his words, while feeling relieved that this rift between us appears to be healing.
“The fans deserve a huge pat on the back for their efforts today because the atmosphere was amazing. The fans were wonderful.”
“What was lovely was that the fans seemed to be delighted for me and the players.”
Mick’s last quote was as spot on as his second half substitutions.
Hammill and Sylvan replacing Hunt and Doyle gave us the thrust we’d been lacking and a genuine sense of purpose.
It was no coincidence that we improved when the two most indirect players on the park were swapped for two that are proportionately direct in comparison.
Hammill, keeping more Sunderland defenders occupied than Hunt managed, freed up Jarvis on the other side and the old Matty returned.
His ball for Fletcher was sublime, as was the Scot’s finish.
And as the momentum shifted further, Fletcher bagged again to trigger scenes of wild celebration – after we’d all momentarily paused to check where Phil Dowd was keeping his whistle!
A word for Jody Craddock too, who slotted back into the back four like he’d never been away.
It was a big, big call for Mick to drop his captain in favour of Jody.
Just like everything else inside Molineux today, it all worked out fine in the end.
Good win today, so credit due to MM, although I still want him out.
“Good win today, so credit due to MM, although I still want him out” what a fucking stupid comment.
Nick, I think your response needs to be a bit more constructive than that mate.
He’s only saying ‘good win and I’m giving credit to the manager but he’s not the man for me’.
Yes, I like you think everyone should enjoy the wins a bit more and see the positives, but people are entitled to say what they think.
That’s what makes a forum like this worthwhile – a cross-section of opinions.
I’ve been silent for a while on holiday but was following the minute by minute on the Guardian website today. My travel buddies were confused at the fist pumping when we scored the 2nd!
Delighted!
Out of interest – who was captain today? How was Zubar?
Ward skipper, Zubar a breath of fresh air. Like his old self. Apologies, I should have written about this too.
ward was captain today and zubes looked quite dodgy today aside from winning a few good headers but I guess he could be lacking abit of match practice, but on today i’d prefer stears to get back in the side
What a great win! I thought we played with confidence, no mindless balls towards Doyle from the mid circle, but actual communication and creative play. Zubar was good, I’ve missed his duel strength. I really think Johnson does a better job than Craddock though. Craddock is old, but somehow Johnson has much more routine and would not have made any of the penalty situations Craddock (and Berra) made. Nevertheless it was good of Mick to give Johnson a signal that only the best is good enough.
Suddenly the fans want Sylvan over Doyle. I don’t know what you guys were watching, but I think Doyle played well. Sylvan is fat and clumsy, zero control of the ball, and while he did have a good chance at scoring in his one decent move he made me hate him even more by getting a pointless yellow card for kicking the ball away. Like those 2 seconds we’re gonna make a difference. Run back to help defend..
Looked to me like the one chance that Sylvan got today he nearly scored a screamer after very good control (would have ripped the net if it wasn’t for a good block). As for not working hard, when he lost the ball in our attacking third at one stage today, he chased back well into our half won the ball back then started another attack (OK, I realise this occurred after he lost the ball, but not the goal hanging fat git that that he gets made out to be). Doyle is bereft of all confidence at the moment, he never looks to find space to be slid in on goal.
I just hope that this win will give the whole team a little more confidence. United away should fill us with dread but they’re struggling themselves at present and they’ve got a tough away game in the Champions League in midweek. You never know, then again if we go there and roll over like at Chelsea then it might be the game that gets United playing again.
Oh for a bit of movement up front, someone making runs from midfield past our strikers and someone willing to try a pass or two from midfield. Both of our goals came from crosses again today, we rely far too heavily on this supply, need to be able to mix it up a bit and pass our way in at times.
Agree with your assessment of SEB – really nice control and powerful shot. He does look heavy though and I don’t think he is a viable starter in place of Doyle.
Ebanks is explosive and his finishes, when he is in form, clinical. I wish he was more mobile and took initiatives. For instance a situation when Fletcher won a header. Ebanks should have gambled that Fletcher won that header and made a run behind Sunderlands defence. Instead he started after Fletcher won the header and nothing came out of it.
Larsson fucking dived! Craddock didn’t make that penalty situation, he also took flight from outside the box. No Johnson might not give away penalties, he gives away goals. As for Berra, he’s always been like that the bumbling idiot.
Rich, Berra ran himself into the ground for the cause on Sunday afternoon – he deserves a great deal of credit for the way he has played not only last weekend but all of this season – yes, he likes to use his hands, but he’s a centre-back playing in the Premier League and he isn’t the only one (note comments on Shawcross doing the same winning at Everton).
Note I was a big critic of his towards the end of last season,
Touch and go but a great win in the end.I know there are a large section of fans who dont like MM but as a season ticket holder all through the championship years(Turner,Taylor,Mcgee,Lee,Jones, Hoddle)there is definetly something now that was not there before.
I agree mate, the players we have, play for the shirt, put a lot of effort in – but they are not getting coached very well, or they are severely lacking in confidence (none are willing to try anything a little different). I’m guessing that Doyle no longer tries to find space in the box because he’s bored of waiting for a clever little killer pass. That and the fact that if he gets the ball in a good position now he’s forgotten how to finish.
Lets hope that this win boosts the confidence levels, Man Utd don’t turn up on Saturday and we pinch a win there, then you never know we might start seeing the team that we keep getting promised.
Did you see the replay of that last free kick of theirs? It would appear that finally we got a bit of luck, the Egyptian guy that collected the ball was onside. Its about time though.
Yup, we rewound that to check. He was definitely onside… got very lucky there!
Great stuff, it’s nice to see us get a good result! (And I predicted the correct outcome!)
I’m still pretty certain that the same areas of the squad need strengthening, but it was good to see MM go with a different selection than normal (namely no Elokobi).
Not the most convincing win in the world, but thanks to two of our best players Hennessy and Fletcher we got it, so I hope he plays Fletch more. If there’s a choice between Fletcher and Doyle at the moment I’d certainly go with the former.
I hope he’s sent a message to Johnson that he needs to shape up!
From what i can see, we were the better of two poor teams.
The 3 points are of course very valuable, but this win only papers over the cracks of a creaking defence, a plodding midfield and a one striker front line.
We have absolutely no strength in depth, training methods from the last century, and a manager who seems to have a life tenure.
I will be very interested to see if Mr. Johnson opens his gob about being dropped.
FO MM
You’re right Clive, it’s absolutely disgraceful that we’re not as good as Man City. We should be the best team in Europe because we’re Wolves. Even when we win we could still do better. Even when the manager has the sense to drop Johnson and to bring off an under performing Doyle he’s still clueless and should be sacked. If I was you I’d stop supporting Wolves now because it won’t get much better than what we’ve seen today. Actually, it won’t make much difference whether you support us or not sat it your armchair far, far away.
He still thinks its the 50’s or 70’s Nick, the poor old chap but we can be as good as Man Citeh. We just need about 43 gazzillion pounds which is probably in the nooks of Clives settee. He simply doesn’t understand the modern game and lives soley on our glorious but very very past success (and he was there, he tells us every week…look at me…I’m in the crowd!!). Shame really for the old fella.
Great result against a team who had a massive lift before the game and players who were out to prove a point.
do you ever have anything positive to contribute Clive? This performance was so much improved, yes there were still some shaky moments but not 90 minutes of them!! and we won, dont know if you missed that bit 🙂 atmosphere was amazin, and the boost it will give the lads will certainly help in the next few weeks.
Enjoy it for once 🙂
Good performance although you have to wonder how much of it was due to the relatively poor state of the opposition. Still, I’ll take it. We looked more to have more pace than recently and the penalty save gave us a massive shot in the arm. Fletcher is a real predator; full-backs Zubar and Ward were both very good throughout; Jarvis filled his season’s quota of decent deliveries; and for once the midfield was not overrun in a 442.
On the downside, Doyle looks like he does not belong anywhere near the first team, Jarvis filled his season’s quota of decent deliveries, and Hennessey was all at sea for their goal: the spot-kick save later saved his blushes. We also looked quite disjointed at times, and it cannot be denied that the match was evidently between two struggling teams.
Finally: an excellent decision dropping Johnson for Craddock (has MM been reading my postings here?)
As usual Kowloon wolf, i agree with what you say and Mick definately is reading this site!
I used to enjoy this site but the negativity is getting ridiculous. I haven’t been here for a while but after todays result I thought I’d check in as I couldn’t imagine there’d be too many complaints. I can’t believe there’s still calls for Mick to be sacked and players getting critisised. Maybe my expectation levels are much lower than most peoples but I thought the lads were great today. The usual 100% given by all and I can’t ask for much more than that.
Oh you must be one of the happy clappers who only comment when we win, hence the reason why you aint been on here for a while.
Lost 8 of the last 10 games before today, and you don’t bother commenting, win 1 game which the law of averages says we have too at some stage, and your on here blowing smoke up MM’S arse.
Guess we will see you in another Ten games, when we get another win.
Fucking happy clappers
I comment every week you sandwell donkey
I was talking to dick head Dalton .
Dont get all touchy calm down.
Easy mate, I don’t like making it personal.
By all means express your view, but don’t direct abuse at other people in the forum.
That’s a massive no-no.
Nick, I think criticising the blog is a bit harsh, particularly after such a positive, upbeat post from Ben.
We can’t make all people think a certain way and everyone, including you, is entitled to their opinion.
I’d personally say the mixture of responses accurately portrays the mood around Molineux.
Thomas, I’m sorry for that comment. I didn’t mean to criticise the blog. I think you and Ben do a great job. It was aimed more towards some of the comments.
I had a few too many beers celebrating the win on Sunday which may explain my rather aggressive comments. As Ben will, hopefully, confirm I’m not normally like that.
I’ll happily admit to being a happy clapper and I can’t understand how anyone can complain when we’ve won and played well. But, as you say, I should respect other people’s opinions. I’ll try and refrain from commenting when pissed in the future.
Hallo Nick.
I was going to write some scathing remarks about you and your pram toys and mommy letting you play with the computer again…………………but I remembered the old adage, “you can’t argue with a closed mind”
So I decided to let you carry on in Clappy Happer heaven in ignorant bliss.
Have a wonderful day.
FOMM
Why did MM drop Johnson. To give him a kick up the arse. Good.
MM – played 4 4 2 – with close to our best squad.
I think Hamill first choice over Hunt.
Thank you MM. You needed this win, pressure is off a touch now.
Excellent performance, entertaining football. If i was a Sunderland fan i would be worried after that performance.
Jarvis had a cracker.
Zubar – i know he makes the odd blunder but he is a handful going forward, i love to see him in the first 11.
Craddock – still think he is the man to replace but thanks Jody.
Berra – solid although a little huggy on one occassion.
Ward – has now silenced the critics unlesss they are fools.
O Hara – worked hard, quality.
Edwards – solid
hunt – gave his all, great player
Doyle- not his best game but i still love him
Fletcher – class
SEB – as good as Doyle tODAY
hennessy – suprised the goal gt past him, then he saves a penalty!
MM – what will he now do with henry in the next few games. In mick we trust.
Wolves – thank you for ;ifting my week and any idiot making negative comments after that game can f off to sandwell.
UTW
i like everything you have written here and totally agree with it all – nice to see someone can take the positives and enjoy them
Three things:
1 – never a penalty. I was bang on line with the diving bastard, on the right side as well. First thing I said was ‘that was theatrical’
2 – O’hara did handle the ball prior to the second goal. I don’t care, but in the interests of fairness, I should point it out.
3 – the result failed to mask some serious deficiencies during much of the game, with a lack of thrust. Having said that, another good show of determination and support, with Fletcher continuing to impress me as our key player to winning games, alongside Jarvis
Definitely agree about the penalty. Looked a flop even from my seat on the halfway line. MOTD2 only confirmed this suspicion.
I’m all for being fair, but it wasn’t handball by O’Hara. Looked it at the time but having seen replays, I think the referee got it spot on. Even if it did graze the top of his arm (which I don’t think it did), he was pulling it away so deserved the benefit of the doubt.
Lack of thrust and not much creative spark in the first 45 definitely, but I thought we were much improved in the second half, although a better team might have made us pay on the break given the number of times we were caught short at the back.
When Sunderland ‘earned’ that penalty, I honestly thought that it was over, that we were going to lose another winnable home game…
A minute later, I had jumped out of my seat!
A great Wolves win – much needed too! Anyone else notice how hugely ironic it was that if Larsson hadn’t dived like that, Hennessey would never have made that save which spurred the players (and the fans!) on? 🙂
Great blog my friend. You always sum up a victory more poetically than I ever could. Hopefully more of those to come over the next few weeks.
I thought the support was just phenomenal yesterday. There’s just something special about Molineux under the floodlights. I think that will serve us well in the other two winnable home matches in December.
There are a handful of players I’d single out for praise.
Hennessey – will be gutted about their first goal, even though it was a great hit on the run from an angle, but the penalty save and his all round handling more than made up for it. Fast becoming a colossus.
Zubar – I’ve noticed one or two questioning his performance, but I thought he was fan-bloody-tastic. Made one Ronaldesque mistake in the second half, but his energy, power and athleticism were abundant throughout. For me, he gives you everything Stearman does defensively but ten times more going forward. If fit, he simply must play every single game.
O’Hara – Always wants the ball, always looking to make something happen. I’m not a fan of his quarter-back style cross-field passes but I love the fact he never goes missing in matches. Not frightened to get into the box either as demonstrated in the lead-up to Fletcher’s winner.
Fletcher – Anonymous for long spells, but then kiss, kiss, bang, bang – the three points are ours. A 20-goal a season striker without question. Please, just stay fit.
Hammill – Direct, pacey and not afraid to take on his man – everything Hunt wasn’t. Deserves more game-time, but needs to do more in the games he starts. Seems to play better as impact substitute when the game opens up in the second half. I imagine that will continue to be his role.
A great effort all round though. Well done Mick and the boys!
Happy we won, though not going to get carried away.
Funny how a bad refs decision turned the game and ignited the passion, which has been missing from the team.
My brief note of the season so far is the massive improvement in Ward.
Yesterday he was again a colossus and is the only player, other than Hennessey, who has consistently played well for us.
I take back any criticisms I’ve made of him…
On the other hand, much as I like Zubar, his mistakes yesterday, would have been punished by better teams.
Another relegation dogfight this season and like Clive still think we’d perform better under another manager, hope MM, like Ward, proves me wrong.
We must keep the passion in our game, I think it will determine which league we play in next season.
Zubar – Decent enough run out to say he has been out that long but couple of dodgy errors could have cost us
Jarvis – a little bit light weight at times but second half improved immensely. Would like to see him attacking the box more
Craddock – his experience is always valuable and his effort but reality says his diminishing speed will catch him out
Berra – decent game but only a matter of time before he gives away penalties for the embracing techniques he uses. He needs to knock that on the head
Ward – ok game and seemed to do a decent stand in on the captains slot
O Hara – worked hard but gave too many passes away in midfield putting unnecessary pressure on the defence
Edwards – can’t make my mind up with this guy one minute he seems ok then he goes and does something that makes him look so mediocre
Hunt – for a little fellah wins way more headers than he should, decent game
Doyle- maybe worth resting for a couple of games to get his sharpness back
Fletcher – Really like Fletcher so much more to the guy than just goalscoring
SEB – don’t know what some of the posters on here saw but thought he had a good game, worked hard
Hennessy – as the man himself said, he got it wrong by assuming the cross was coming in so he had started to move for it. Besides the mis-timed departure from the box had a good game. Week in week out probably our best player. Pen save was a just reward and the rest is history repeating itself like last season against the same team
Hammill – Why does Mick not start this guy more often. For me the kid would be on the start sheet every week. Dynamic, confident and will try different things. The pace of the game changed as soon as he came on
Johnson – thought he did ok when he came on. Big decision by Mick to leave him out but I think the right one as he has had some atrocious games lately, hopefully the wake up call needed
The manager – I have always been a Mick fan. Purely from following the rollercoaster ride that is Wolverhampton Wanderers he has achieved more in the last 5 years than all the managers mentioned in an earlier post have combined. It is so easy for fans to get on the backs of managers and teams these days but the realism must be leaving football. Not everyone is top 4 or has the money to buy their way into those positions. For me surviving in this league is what it is all about. If I wanted success that much I would have changed teams a dozen times over. It is our lot and most days not a happy one but when we do win it is always a high and so much more meaningful…just think how boring it must be winning every week 🙂
The Fans – brilliant. If only they could start a game like they finished that one they would shit the living daylights out the opposition
Here’s to mid table mediocrity
UTW
Bloody brilliant. Was once again sat in a Horsham pub as the only person who gave a rat’s chuff about the game on the TV (hence they had the jukebox on AGAIN rather than the commentary from Sky), but I was buzzing when Fletch did the business. Still think we looked a bit ropey, but these are the games we need to win if we are to make it four years in a row in the Prem, so was chuffed. UTW!
Who partner up with Fletcher in the next game?
I would select O’Hara. O’Hara was together with Fletcher and Hennesey our best players against Sunderland. However, I would like to see O’Hara behind Fletcher against Man U.
And Karl Henry and D. Edwards in a central midfield position, Jarvis and Hammill on the wings.
I think Doyle could profit on resting in the next match. We saw the advantage of the rotation system last night. Both Hunt and O’Hara, which didn’t play, due too many yellow cards against Chelsea looked really fresh, and contributed to our victory with exeptionally high workrate.
Zubar played well and managed to postion himself in attacking positions, which is great. His attacking minded play did, however, created a couple of instances where we were out of balance.
I’ve not said this often of late but credit to Mick. Credit for playing a positive attacking team and finally having the balls to drop Johnson. It wasn’t the best, we were cut open with ease numerous times as Sunderland played on the break, but a lot lot better. Two wonderful finishes from Steven Fletcher too. God I love him!
Hennessey saved us from losing but Mick’s subs won the game for us. One of Hammill’s most effective appearances in the old gold in my opinion. So credit to Mick. His decisions have been baffling at times this season but he was spot on yesterday.
It’s games like these that make a season ticket next to the away fans a wonderful thing. Incredible scenes.
Only other thing to add is that I’ve only just realised how young Fletch is. At only 24 years of age I hope we’ve got several more seasons of him at Molineux to look forward to. He was a joy to watch yesterday.
In case anyone missed it: http://i.imgur.com/H3Q7i.gif
Cheat!
I only managed to watch until Sunderlands goal but I was impressed with the team. Craddock looked immense, winning everything and at one point outpacing the whole team to track back from a corner! I was also really impressed with Edwards, he may have lost the ball a few times but his pace and engine out shone anything Henry has done, he’s a proper box to box midfielder and lets O’Hara get on with his game.
Must admit my surprise at claims we played well. Our passing and possession was once again dreadful, with absolutely no creativity through the middle. As one person on here has already pointed out, we rely far too heavily on the wingers (mostly Jarvis) to lump balls into the box. When that fails, we have no plan B.
We also rely far too heavily on Steven Fletcher – imagine where we’d be without him? I was completely shot down for criticising Doyle following his contract extension a few months back, but the bloke remains utterly ineffectual in my eyes. His hold up play is still poor and the guy never gets a sniff of goal. Ebanks-Blake should be starting alongside Fletcher in a front two.
Anyway, that’s enough ranting from me. Despite my concerns about the team, we did win yesterday and McCarthy finally showed some balls by dropping Johnson. Let’s hope the result galvanises the team and inspires Wolves to a famous victory at Old Trafford.
At last the penny dropped and Micks selection was so right. Henners and Edwards the pick for me. Fletcher showed he is a top goalscorer. Hammill injected much needed pace-should start.
Jody very secure-hope Johnson was watching.
Crowd-best I have heard for a while-reminded me of the old Mol-many years ago.
Drive back to Norwich much easier arrived for a take-away and 20 mins later am watching all over again. I love my team!
UTW
I wonder how many “Get out of Jail” cards MM has in his wallet. Against Wigan, their striker misses a one on one with our keeper from 10 yards out, and from the kick off 30 seconds later O`Hara scores. Yesterday it took only 25 seconds from Hennessy`s penalty save for Fletcher to head in Jarvis` sublime cross. On such moments do managers keep their job or not.
As a specator it is so much more enjoyable watching 442, and it was great to get the 3 points. It may be churlish to say this win only papers over the cracks that are so evident in our side.
Is it only me who thinks Hunt has lost a yard of pace since we signed him, and what an impact yHammill made, lets see more of him please. Can`t fault the detemination, effort and sheer bloody mindedness of our players, maybe we deserved a bit of luck yesterday.
OK guys, first things first, Captain Ward played like a captain today, stopped a certain goal tacking back, and did well up front his confidence is showing. He’s turned out to be a good player in the end. Admittingly its taken a long while.
Jody did what he does, heart and soul. Never a penalty should have chinned Larsson for the dive, showed Johnston how to play.
Berra is a liabiity, his taking down of O’Shea in the box should have been a penalty.
Yes Hammill is a better bet than Hunt which is surprising cos Hunty was always a pain in the backside to the opposition snipping back when he looses the ball.
Zubar yes big George, can sit and keep Mick warm.
We have a real goalscorer and game winner in Fletcher, we need him on the pitch more I think he’s scored 12 goals in his last 15 games, shame is thats nearly 10 months. We have to keep him fit, and if we play 4-5-1 he has to play.
Doyle, no I think he should sit with Mick too, and like others on here I would prefer O’Hara to play in the hole, and bring in Milinjas to create the opportunities.
Nothing to lose away at Man Utd next week, so why not give it a go and have a pop at the Champions, they will be tired, with their tough schedule, lets give them something to worry about play 4-4-2 and see if we can bring home a point at least.
There’s talk of a Chelsea clearout, we need one too, I hope Frangipan from Arsenal comes then we can discard Henry, we need a class midfielder to create chances, and a proper holding player like Scotty Parker, any ideas where we can get one ?
More consistency and I think we should be OK for a mid-table finish as long as we can keep outr best players fit and on the pitch.
Hail Steven Fletcher, terrific finishing. Credit to MM for the changes. Things are feeling a whole lot better after this win, enjoyed the fighting spirit of the team. Interesting transfer rumours today, this is exactly what is required. Its nice to have some thing to smile about.
Hope to keep the 442 and have a go at MU, Ferdinand is well dodgy, and with the injury problems we should try for the shock win instead of the defensive roll over. Keep the faith, especially during this critical December/January period
Anyone else think £3 million for January transfers is ridiculously low? Another example of how unambitious Morgan and Moxey are.
Yes, hardly a ‘war-chest’ as the e&s put it is it? That’s not a lot considering we forked out 10 mill for O’Hara and Johnson. I think Mick’s accepted he’s going to have to work with the loan market. Maybe Morgan should have pumped some money into the team before the stadium.
Or another example of how much shite the Express and Star spout?
I am glad we won even if it was against a poor team.Yes we do look poor at time but its a win and you need these 2 boost confidence. Only things i would like 2 c is some 1 replace Berra as i think it is a only a matter of time before he gets sent off. He ay gd enough period. Also why do we always seem 2 do better when Henry doe play. Dosn’t that tell us sum thing.Not an mm fan but did get the subs spot on.Hope i’m proven wrong and mm gets us up 2 at least half way where we should b!
Seems the policy is to invest in the stadium and not the team.
£3million hardly buys a donkey these days.
Can anyone see Doyle going in January in some sort of part exchange?
What if we are offered £10m for Hennessey would Moxey sell?
This season is going to be a retake of the previous two, scrambling to stay in the top flight.
On another note Garth Crooks put Hennessey and Fletcher in his team of the week.
Fletcher in midfield? Blasphemy! 😛
We need to buy a Striker on loan, That is what we need to stay up someone to help fletcher (avg 2 goal every 3 games) score Goals. Lets pay a striker a low base salary with big pound bonuses for each Goal. Any Stiker worth his salt would agree and we only then pay for results. After the tansfer window is closed there is about 18 games left so we expect 9 or so goals from them if they score 12 or so pay them a lot more. If they don’t score we don’t go broke but it would be better than holding onto Doyle. We might even get 2 on a deal like that, with bonuses if we stay up. Sturrige was that type of player last year, the big clubs have all got someone.
John
Disagree – success on the pitch is needed to fill a larger stadium.
Hennessey and Doyle going is fantasy. Let’s be real.
You dirty, cheating bastard Larsson – As the game continues not to punish such terrible sportsmanship I personally hope you do your cruciate.
Thank you for inspiring our team more than McCarthy ever seems to manage.
Wow, way to take the credit away from the manager… >_>
Your welcome, after sitting through the first part of the match it was Hennessey that turned that game – not our manager.
I know exactly what you mean there, but it is strange logic… it’s like saying in the Fulham/Liverpool game that Clint Dempsey turned the game and not Jol…
Not the strongest of examples perhaps but hopefully you understand what I mean – don’t suggest that McCarthy had nothing to do with the win!
Think Robin may be right about Henners and Doyle-Doyle not as affective as he could/should have been yesterday. £3m not a lot but are we going to offload some players like Keogh. We’ve got 10 players out on loan-maybe thats where Moxey gets the 3 mill from! We’ve seen it before-haven’t we?
First and foremost great win and three precious points and lets ALL be happy because its
been awhile.
The game itself was’nt the best football but its all we can expect when your scrapping for
anything you can get.Thought we were the better side overall as said, The peno save was the catalyst and the subs gave us a bit more energy going forward with the help of the crowd.
Man U up next i wonder what side he’ll put for that one ? will there a place for Henry will he
change a winning side. we’ll have to wait and see.
Great News a win. The goals scored by a striker we played 4,5,1 again.
Sorry to rain on your parade but to stay up we need to keep it up.
Fletcher needs a partner, Doyle is only a midfielder and not as good as some of our others. We need a striker in the transfer window and Doyle can fight for a spot in the midfield.
Name Goals Minutes Played Goals Per 90 minutes
Fletcher 5 660 0.68
Hunt 2 817 0.22
Edwards 1 467 0.19
Doyle 2 1145 0.16
O’Hara 2 1162 0.15
Ward 2 1260 0.14
Jarvis 1 878 0.10
Here is the data, who should be our new striker to partner Fletcher ?
Or do we have one hiding somewhere.
Go WOlves let have 2012/13 in Premier League as well.
John
Kevin Doyle. No question.
What we do need is:
1. Hammill to start – give the lad a run Mick
2. Right back – biggest gap in the team for me; Stears in a CB not FB…
3. Defensive midfielder – Karl is good but not great
McCARTHY OUT!
It’s my opinion and I’m sticking with it. The man’s an arrogant buffoon.
…Could you at least wait until another blog post to post this? We won! – and you have to admit that McCarthy got things right on Sunday!
Yes, he did, for once. The question is can he do it again this season.
Y’all know my thoughts on that!!
Change of subject.
Why is TV evidence not fully utilized?
A red card can be appealed against, and sometimes overturned;
a card can be issued after the fact for a missed infringement, punch, kick whatever;
So why can’t other forms of cheating be retro punished?
Diving especially. Refs are not perfect, linesmen neither, and if Sunderland had scored we would probably have lost, which could have disastrous consequences come May.
There has to be a way to punish this sort of playacting, to try and stamp it out.
The other side of the coin, however, is how far to go. Do you retro “unoffside” someone when he scores from an onside position, and the goal is disallowed?, like SWP against the shit on Saturday? In that case definite yes, but seriously, is there a workable solution to the diving problem?
If Hunt had stayed down when clearly fouled in the first few minutes against Wigan, we would have had a penalty, and settled nervous fans a lot earlier!
Whaddya’ll think?
I agree with that – there are far too many cases where a TV/video replay would have changed the outcome of the game! I honestly don’t know why the people upstairs are so scared of it!
I’m with you Jed – read my comments above about how well we could play with a manager that was able to fire the team up,
Agreed Stourbridge – the only time our players are fired up is against the big boys or when they feel agrieved about something.
My opinion, which I’ve aired on here before. is that the players are terrified of McCarthy and play within themselves because they are terrified of making a mistake. You watch the next time one of our players makes a bad pass, misses a tackle or (heaven forbid) shoots wildly at goal – the first thing they do is take a nervous glance at McCarthy as if they believe he is going to give them holy hell, or in the case of Milijas, take them off.
The guy is a neanderthal, a dinosaur schooled and stuck in the 70’s. I don’t want him to be at the club and I will cheer loudly when he gets the sack sometime during the next few weeks!
Crazy. The players love Mick and you can how much it means to all of them whenever we win. Except Johnson maybe.
I’m not so sure Louie, guess we’ll find out in a few weeks 😉
I don’t follow..
I disagree Hamlet, we were a penalty save away from another defeat against a p*ss poor side. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled we finally won a game and I hope we go onto win a few more before xmas – but regardless I still want McCarthy out of the club. I’m tru to my belief, and would hate bto be called fickle 😉
Ah, but that penalty was saved, wasn’t it? 😉
Guess it’s a good thing that you’re true to your belief though – Clive would be proud! 😛
There you go, dragging me into it again!!!
OK, you asked for it…..
FOMM
i`m with Jed on this, one win does n`t mean our manager is now able to walk on water, even he conceeded they were two ordinary teams on Sunday, and we remain as strugglers with a relegation battle on our hands.
I also thought Ward gets a ` competent `review for his reading of and clearing off the line, but his distribution throughout was appalling, and worse than that his leaden footed play meant he was standing off the winger too far, and going forward, particularly with Hunt in front of him was distinctly average.
When Sunderland ran at our defence they caused real problems, MM has had long enough to find players and tactics to sort out this problem, but hasn`t, and which would probably have beaten us except for a poor penalty kick.
The player should have been booked for not just running past Craddock, if he had stayed on his feet he may have had a better end result. I recall Sunday`s two centre halves were the same who let in 3 goals against Blackburn at the end of last season, so hardly moving forward are we.
Don`t get me wrong – I enjoyed the final whistle and the win, but once the euphoria winds down, reality kicks in. i`m with the owner, whats to show for the £50m spent on players since we got promoted,
The 2 centre backs v Blackburn were Mancienne and Craddock, so one was the same.
If you read between the lines of MM’s latest, slightly bemusing comments, he seems to imply that had we lost on Saturday, Morgan might have sacked him.
One swallow doesn’t make a summer.
We were the better of two bad teams and another winter battling relegation is before us.
UTW eh Robin? Let’s see how the games in the run up to Christmas pan out. We can beat both Stoke and Norwich; who wouldn’t bet we could get a draw against Man Utd? I think that it will be tight this season, but I don’t see us occupying the bottom 3 this season.
After our first three games I was optimistic.
Since then we have had two lucky wins in my opinion.
Extremely glad we beat Sunderland but on the overall performance it was not enough for me to think we will get anything against Utd.
Hope I am wrong, but our form and manager suggest a relegation dogfight.
Well the better of two teams is exactly where we “want” to be. Relegation won’t strike if we keep beating teams like Blackburn, Wigan, Sunderland and Norwich, as well as snag the odd point against the slightly better teams.
Besides, unless you get a sheik owner like mancity you’re not gonna go from bad to world domination in two seasons. Let’s be pleased if we survive for the time being, and we can gradually build a team reaching higher places on the table. No need to do the “sack Mick” talk if we don’t get anything out of Manu next week, though i think we could get a draw with some luck.
All I am saying is it is best not to get carried away.
Personally believe we would be a better team without MM, whether we draw with Utd or not.
You are assuming we will win against Norwich, but we failed miserably against QPR.
As a supporter for 40 years I am not convinced by the present set up and one win against Sunderland doesn’t make everything in the garden rosy….
Berra ran himself into the ground for the cause on Sunday afternoon – he deserves a great deal of credit for the way he has played not only last weekend but all of this season – yes, he likes to use his hands, but he’s a centre-back playing in the Premier League looking to get an edge and he isn’t the only one (note comments on Shawcross doing the same winning at Everton).
Note I was a big critic of his towards the end of last season, he’s improved and we should be grateful to have such a good young international centre back.
Hennessey helped turned the game around, Ward and Berra solid as usual, Jarvis looking confident and Fletcher is a hero!
I thought we looked vulnerable to the counter attack, which atleast means we were attacking! Dave Edwards did a decent job but Karl Henry will come back into the side – rightly in my opinion.
On the subject of Henry and with you being a bit of a statto Louie, can you do me a favour – work out what our results are like without Henry in the team compared to when he plays – I have a belief that results improve without him – would be interesting to see.
I can’t be bothered to go through all the games with him and without, but it’s likely that our win percentage is better without him. But, he hasn’t missed that many games so it’s not really a fair comparison.
Henry has been one of our most consistent performers this season, and I do think we missed him against sunderland as we seemed very, very vulnerable to the counter attack.
but we also had a little bit more attacking intent – Yin and Yang Louie!
To a few regular contributers a Wolves victory seems to undermine there mission in life.
No, quite the opposite……it gets you happy clappers wound up real tight!!!!!
I fail to understand how on earth Berra, Ward and a couple of others are good or great players in your opinion.
It would be understandable if they were the only players you saw, week in week out, but if you take off your blinkers for a few minutes and look around at the rest of the Prem players, and even some in the championship, and you will see examples of good and great players.
Berra is a plodder, no pace, and always last gap tackles or bear hugs, and as long as Ward has a hole up his arse, he will never be Premiership quality.
Yes, let’s see where we are, with this idiot in charge, come May. You clappy happers may just be awoken to reality.
FOMM
both have been standout performers and looked at home in the Premier League this season
As i said, take off your blinkers.
Watch a replay of the Sunderland match, and see how many of Ward’s passes went astray.
The bloke is useless!!!
FOMM
just keep digging clive, you’ve got more than six months before the euros and our new captain makes you look even more of an arse
Are you a newbie, or Louie/Nick Dalton in disguise?
The euros are going the way of the auk………………extinct, unless the Germans and the French can save the day, and they’ve never worked well together before!!!
Or were you refering to the European Championships?
Difficult to tell from your obscure blog.
Now, on this site we take it personal when you get personal, so watch your words, or I will destroy you with my rapier wit and repartie.
New captain?
McDickwad has now reached new depths of taking the piss.
FOMM
ps please refrain from replying, i will be off the blog for a week.
Little overseas trip to Old Trafford in the offing.
Football is foisted on us now as mass entertainment so hail the new fan who through any lack of real interest loves to hate what they feel forced to watch.
You wanna try that again in English???
Hamlet they killed your father and married your mother dont give them the time of day.
qHamlet they killed your father and married your mother dont give them the time of day.
Well, it was Hamlet’s inaction that led to his tragedy so I’m going to strike now so it doesn’t happen to me! 😉
Mind you, it would have never happened in the first place if the Ghost hadn’t informed Hamlet that he was murdered by Hamlet’s uncle…like you’ve just done…
Oh dear!
Cannot get over fans actually rate Berra n Henry.Do u watch football at all they r ok at best.I watched wolves me whole life n wud never say they r gd enough 2 put the gold shirt on.Fans keep going on about how bad johnson is.If u watch carefully he is trying 2 do everything on his own cus he doe trust the others 2.I cant say i blame him.The same was said about Lescott n the Deano RIP!
Delighted with win-but squad woefully thin. Mick I believe has eaten humble pie-but does a leopard change his spots?
Long, long way to go yet-upcoming games v Stoke and Norwich should test our resolve.
There’s never a dull moment.
Clive will be in New York from 10th-if you fancy a jaw.
I’m flying to England today, and will be back next week, sorry.
Great blog Ben, encapsulated my exact feelings after watching this game. So nice to see a bit of positivity back about the place.
What did you make of the O’Hara/Edwards centre midfield pairing? I was impressed, they appeared to take it in turns to sit or join the attacks. I really hope they get a chance to play more games together to allow the partnership to develop. Will be interesting to see what MM does now Henry has returned from suspension.
Firtsly, I was delighted with the result.. But anyway I’m here to say that if any1 wud like to do a blog I have 2 ideas. The first is about our academy, u could sum the best players up and say if they wud get in our first team etc. Being from Ireland I dont see any academy football so it would be nice to know how they are getting on. The 2nd is about our january transfer targets, ie, who u would like to see us go for and why etc,. Similar to the one at the start of Summer. These are just suggestions but I would be happy if u take them on board