In a desperate attempt to offer some symbolic prose to the late Bert Williams, maybe it’s best to reflect on the result itself, if nothing else.
The sun should have been shining, the ground should have been packed, the video screen should have been beaming and the opposition should have been Manchester United in order to do justice to the great man.
Amid a freak thunderstorm, via an inaudible PA system in front of 12,000 empty seats, Molineux paid its respects.
The manner of our 3-1 triumph over Bristol City might have been the only fitting tribute during a sodden afternoon, as we ultimately brushed aside our opponents with relative ease, like we might have dispatched more illustrious opponents back in 50s.
In keeping with the great man’s send-off, what this performance lacked in polish, it more than made up for in good intention.
Featuring Jackett’s favoured 4-5-1 (or 4-2-3-1), we picked up where we left off against Preston and actually offered that missing ingredient we’ve been striving for all season – pace in behind a defence.
In fact, Nouha Dicko’s opening contribution was so impressive that it actually played against us during the first half, as we searched for the very ball we’ve not previously been able to play, and kept squandering possession as a result.
Dicko’s deadlock breaker was a thoroughly uplifting sight, as he received the ball from Jacobs and dribbled with purpose before lashing home at the near post.
But in what could possibly be put down as the innocence of youth, Jacobs and Price (in particular) became profligate in possession and Bristol City began to dominate, possibly due to giddy excitement as they saw a nippy striker up ahead.
For all those acrobatic images of ‘The Cat’ at full stretch, there must have been days when he was barely called upon, a bit like Aaron McCarey against City, who was only really called upon to pick the ball out of the net after Sam Baldock equalised from the spot.
James Henry’s clumsy tangle in the area summed up the flow of the game and underlined how ragged we’d become.
Thankfully for us, we got a goal at the right time through more Dicko endeavour approaching half time, which we never seemed to get during our sticky festive patch.
Cue more encouraging passages of play in the second half, as our fluid passing and moving carved out all manner of promising openings.
Unlike Preston however, our final ball belied our build-up – whether from corners, free-kicks or open play.
It took sub Bakary Sako – in new found ruthless streak – to calm nerves with an unerring left foot finish, minutes after the referee ignored what appeared a stone-wall penalty on Dicko.
The Frenchman might now be a more compelling alternative to a one-paced James Henry in the future.
For one weekend at least, the future can wait.
When a humble legend passes away – who helped make Wolverhampton Wanderers a force to be reckoned with – the past is way more important.
Amen to that Ben. Goodbye to one of the greats. RIP Bert.
Judging from the highlights it looks like it was Golbourne who picked the ball out of the net….
Great post Ben, good for us to put in a good performance and win on a day we remember a a Wolves legend.
Good to hear we saw them off pretty comfortably , hopefully we can have some consistency from Dicko that we perhaps haven’t had from Griffiths as good a player as he can be. That will help us become more clinical from now onwards.
I’d be tempted to go with Sako back in the side for either Henry or Evans (putting Jacobs behind the forward where I think he is excellent). Great strike from him. Hopefully it means no Edwards anyway when he gets back from yet another one of his injuries.
Hopefully we can get some momentum going and gain on Brentford and Orient
So it was a fond Bon Voyage to Twixfix as he heads off to the Antipodes for a few weeks.
Good enough I think. After all, it’s sensible at his age to get stuck into the old bucket list and following in the footsteps of his convict ancestors seems a most appropriate trip for him to make.
As for Big Mark – didnt see much of him yday. He seems to have grown so fond of his new seat he never leaves it now. A mystery no doubt as not even the lure of an in sell-by date twix couldnt budge him.
Glad KJ didn’t listen to Twizfix’s suggestion to leave Dicko on bench for 1st half as his goal & assist gave us a cushion that Brizzle Titty never threatened to claw back.
Thanks for everything Twixfix. I effin love you!
I don’t know whether to laugh, cry or eat a Twix after that Scooped. For sure I thought that Jackett would start with Griffiths but of course he thinks he knows better. I did get the scoreline correct tho’ mate so it’s 2 points to me in the PL ! Don’t forget to keep our seats warm .. just think when the game starts v Bradford on Sat it will be 4am. how cool is that? see you at Monmore!! lol
Anonymous is me .. didn’t recognise the laptop.
Anonymous is me .. didn’t recognise the laptop.
Pleased with the result Dicko looking like a good signing, let’s hope we can get a good run going now & chase the top 2 down.
Thomas, the new look blog is fantastic now on the mobile ap, great stuff.
UTW
Great post mate .. got soaked coming to the ground. I agree that there were, at times , frustrating performances from Jacobs and Price, in fact I thought Jacobs would have been subbed and not Henry but hey what do I know. I also thought the pitch didn’t suit the ‘spectacular’ pass which most of the team seemed to be trying. I also thought that we lost opportunities to get the ball into the box after getting to the edge of it (Ricketts). All in all though another very solid performance and with Dicko set to become the next SEB only 3 times quicker things are def looking up .. Just need to keep this winning run going . Keep the posts going mate as will be in NZ for a while.
Watch out on the South Island, they had an earthquake there this past week!!
Probably rumbling in anticipation of the increase in candy bar sales which will no doubt happen the moment you land.
Hope you come back tattooed like the All Blacks cheer leaders!!
Great result yesterday, especially following a layoff when we traditionally do badly, onwards and upwards to Oldham I do believe on Tuesday.
Nice to see the shit didn’t win again this week!
Thanks for that heartening news .. they’ve only just started to rebuild Christchurch after the last one. I’m going to need toilet paper rather than Twix’s if an E.Q comes along. I’ve had a few ‘ the earth moved for me as well love moments’ but lets hope nNOT for the next few weeks eh!
Cheers mate .. make sure Scooped is well behaved while I’m away.
Cheers for the write up Thomas.
I agree about the Bert Williams tribute.
How difficult can it be to get a PA system in a football stadium that you can actually understand what is being said?
I do think that you have rather underplayed our performance though.
Yes, we should have scored more goals – it would have been approaching double figures if our final pass had been better.
Yes, we had a period after they scored when we looked rattled and allowed them back into the game….
However, I thought our all-round play was as impressive as I have seen in many a long day.
And McDonald’s display was absolutely consummate.
He looked to me to be the complete midfielder.
He seems to move in slow motion while everyone around him are running about like blue arsed flies.
But he has so much time on the ball and always uses it to great effect.
His covering and tackling back were unbelievable considering the conditions.
And at the other end of the pitch he was always involved and almost curled an absolute beauty into the net from outside the penalty area.
I hesitate to use the word ‘Beckenbauer’ but in my opinion his all round performance yesterday certainly bore more than a passing (no pun intended) resemblance.
I know that City are not the best opponents but you can only run the game that you are playing in.
I managed to film some of the action and hope to upload a few minutes of the game tomorrow.
In spite of the ‘Manflu’ and conjunctivitus I thoroughly enjoyed freezing my nuts off watching that match yesterday.
And also a very convivial couple of evenings spent with Martin and his lady.
I have nicknamed Martin ‘Remy’ after an incident at the hotel on Friday night.
You’ll have to ask him to explain but I’ll give you a clue that it involves alcoholic beverages and not Liverpool strikers.
I hope to upload a few minutes of the game tomorrow.
Forgot to mention that Dicko was hugely impressive on his debut.
One goal, one assist – Not too bad thanks!
Although I would like to keep him I think that Griffiths has edged another few inches towards the exit door.
A sale which generates enough cash to buy L. Clarke from Coventry. Welcome home Clarke!
For the first time since morgan – moxey took power, i felt that they finally got something right off the pitch with regards Bert Williams send off. It was very nicely done. On the pitch, again we played 3 in centre midfield which allows us to dominate possess, but in horrible footballing conditions, our midfield passing was not as accurate as it should be. Dicko gives us a nice option of having true pace down the middle, something we havent had for years. I would still like to get a big target man in as this would give us another option. All in all well done wolves yesterday – on and off the pitch.
On a day of remembrance for our beloved Bert,i think he would’ve been pleased with the way
we played today,
It looks as though we may have found our missing piece of the jigsaw in Dicko.
His pace will frighten defences in this league no doubt and his distribution as gotta
be a plus.
One thing is a must,we should kill teams off, thats my only criticism of the games of late.
I hope before the weeks out we get another striker in and get rid of the dead wood
but I would still keep Sako.
Lets hope we can keep it up on Tuesday and again Saturday.UTW
Good right up and I take your point about the opposition no disrespect to Bristol City I do mean that a city the size of Bristol you’d think they would be in a higher league but we are both where we are and we both just have to get on with it I hope they get out of trouble the brought a good support considering the distance, weather and where they are I have to admire there supporters after all we’ve been there our selves only to often so to the City fans hats off to all of you who travelled sincerely.
As for the game we played well at the start, middle and the end in terrible conditions so all that matters is we won and we did. Diko looks pacey, strong and hungry and more importantly full of goals, I hope
Sako scored a blinder with his left foot to kill City off and looked like he had a point to prove, although he still manages to thrill and frustrate in equal measure his passing in particular was sloppy but he’s still a class above most in this division.
If he’s go he goes what we need is players who form week in week out and for all his flare and undoubted skill Sako’s blown hot and cold to often.
Oldham next and hopefully another 3 points. A away fixture at Olden in deepest January is not the most appealling of games so as long as we win I’m not fussed about the performance to much. I’ll carry on with predicting a loss as every time I have we’ve won so why change a winning formula ?
In the days before national league football was played on a Sunday, Bert Williams and some of his contemporaries used to come down to this part of the world (Worcester/Hereford) and play a few pro-am games of football much to the delight of the many local Wolves supporters. I never saw Bert play but my Uncle who first introduced me to the Molineux watched some of these games and remembers what a pleasure it was to not only see but meet and talk to the heroes of the day, such a contrast to the distance between the players and the fans today.
Though my Uncle is no longer fit enough to attend games I dropped in with a programme after yesterday’s game and he immediately inquired as to whether Bert had been given a good send off; unfortunately the answer had to be ‘sort of’. My son who knew little of Bert Williams listened attentively to the new speakers in the Stan Cullis but admitted that he couldn’t really hear, the lack of video footage was a disgrace and thus most younger fans will be none the wiser as to how big a legend Bert was in his time.
The lack of video screens not only meant we didn’t get to see any archive footage but also, unless you were sat close-by you didn’t get to see Ron Flowers or Phil Parkes. Things were satisfying on the pitch during the game but my afternoon was spoiled by the club’s inability to really mark the passing of our ‘greats’.
I was pretty disappointed that Bert didn’t get a mention on Football Focus but I guess that’s what you expect from the London centric media.The game was unfortunately hampered by the state of the pitch which didn’t allow for free flowing football. But never mind 3 points were all that mattered. Respect to anyone going to Oldham on Tue nite .
This was my first chance to see the boys live since two unconvincing wins against Swindon and Sheffield United back in September.
A ‘freak’ thunderstorm indeed Ben, accompanied by a torrent of hailstone abuse for which even ‘Ming the Merciless’ may have shown a measure of contrition.
Awful weather for the match and for the tribute to a true Wolves legend. Can’t blame anyone for that, of course, but video screens and a PA system that don’t work when the owner’s personal wealth INCREASES by £90Mm in a mere 12 months?
It could have been so much better.
The football though, in very difficult conditions, was far more satisafactory.
The team has come a long way in the 3 months I have been away. You can definitely see how they have been working on the training field on their passing and movement. A high level of athleticism and fitness runs throughout the team and, particularly now with the inclusion of Dicko, some real pace in places.
Goals actually look likely at last and yes, the floodgates may well open now we have Nouah on board.
I maintain King Kenny deserves huge kudos for what he has achieved. Now SIX, excellent signings and the first team squad littered with young home-grown talent.
The only disappointment for me was the attendance. This Wolves outfit is full of spirit, determination and energy (Not a Flash Gordonin sight!). They play attacking, skillful football that is pleasing on the eye and far more enjoyable to watch than many of the dire performances in the stadium-packed Premiership years.
These boys deserve more support.
There were good solid performances throughout the team.
McCarey is a competent (and confident) replacement for Ikime.
The back four, in which Batth again shone, was generally solid although i would welcome the return of Doherty at right back.
The midfield shape was good although Henry had an off day for me and was rightly, and successfully, replaced by Sako.
Dicko provided not only the extra pace i was expecting but also a venomous shot, which i wasn’t. Griffiths on ‘speed’ you might say.
On most days his goal and assist would have guarranteed him the MOTM award.
That accolade, however, must surely go to Kevin McDonald. He not only orchastrated proceedings with consummate ease and poise, but he also covered every blade of grass in both attack and defence. A tribute to his superb levels fitness.
The only blemish on his performance was allowing a curling long range effort to be tipped over the bar.
Mind you, it was a save even The Cat might have been proud of.
A very apposite, concise and accurate summing up of the events on Saturday Martin.
Unlike mine in which I have just realised that I was not only wrong about the author of this blog (sorry about that Ben), but also confusing Victor Moses, the Liverpool forward with Remi Moses who briefly lit up the turf in the local cesspit that shall not be named here and then went on to play for Man U.
Apologies to all concerned.
I guess a combination of the lurgy and a weekend spent on the pop with your good self was just too much for my frail constitution.
Fancy a large Remy?
Only if you’re buying.
It was a good game of football I thought on Saturday, both teams trying to play, in poor conditions. I thought a couple of spills from their keeper just died on the soaking turf instead of bouncing back for our forwards.
I agree with others I though McDonald was immense, and while the conditions didn`t favour our pass and move on the deck play, at least we, under Jackett, have found a way to play which is pleasing on the eye, and its clear the players enjoy.
Now where is that big forward we need as well?
Two questions:
Don’t you just love Bakary Sako? Oh, don’t you? I do. I think that when he plays, anything can happen, which I don’t feel with Jacobs and Henry, although they may be more hardworking. Sako is a matchwinner. and I like his new boots, too. Please keep him, KJ.
Isn’t Dicko just a like-for-like replacement for Griffiths rather than a strengthening of the squad? I’m very sorry that Griffiths is going to go, which I assume to be the case, either because his heart isn’t in it any more or KJ doesn’t like him or something. I thought Griffiths was a super player on his day and would improve as he matured. But hopefully we’ll be able to say the same about Dicko, who does have more physical presence than young Leigh.
Surely Dicko is substantially quicker which is a vital ingredient in a striker. So, no, not like for like.
Starting to get late on Tuesday night in Melbourne and no preview of Oldham game yet… So putting the all important prediction here.
Hoping that Oldham exhausted their goal allocation on Sat
Oldham 0 – Wolves 1
Same here. Oldham 1 Wolves 3
Us Aussies are panicking – another prediction from Melbourne! I will go for a 2-1 win for the Wolves.