If you’re an optimist, you might suggest that now is a good time to be playing Chelsea. They’ve only managed one win in their last seven Premier League games and are statistically in even worse form than Wolves. And we’re bottom (in case you didn’t know).
Their results away from Stamford Bridge have also been disappointing by title-challenging standards, with only three wins from their ten games to date and four defeats already.
On the flip side, it’s perfectly reasonable to point out that they won’t go on dropping points forever and at some point, their season will take an upturn. They’ve got too much quality to just fade away.
So the question is, do Wolves have enough to prolong their struggle?
Well, your guess is as good as mine. Jekyll and Hyde and performances against Blues and Wigan were followed up by even more contrasting fortunes in the Liverpool and West Ham matches.
And I expect much the same side will take to the field as have done in those previous four fixtures, meaning a starting eleven of:
Hennessy
Zubar
Stearman
Berra
Elokobi
Hunt
Foley
Milijas
Jarvis
Ward
SEB
Wolves are boosted by the return of Kevin Doyle, but I’d be surprised to see him thrown straight back into the side, even though he certainly should be if fully fit. Fletcher, Jones and Edwards offer further options for Mick, should he choose to mix things up again.
Personally, I’d go 4-5-1 bringing in Jones or Edwards for Ward, to make sure Chelsea’s midfield aren’t afforded time and space. We need to contain them as an attacking force because I think we can certainly get at their defence, which has been shaky in recent weeks.
Prediction League
Well done to Jed, Dazza in Brisbane, Stourbridge Wolf and Aikiwolves who all correctly predicted a 2-0 defeat at West Ham. All of you pick up three points. Ben also got a point by correctly forecasting the outcome but without the correct scoreline.
I just can’t see us containing Chelsea tonight and I don’t think we’ve got enough at the other end of the pitch to go and get 2 or 3 goals ourselves. So it has to be a defeat. I’ll go with a courageous 3-1 loss.
Blues scored a priceless victory over them a few weeks back by keeping things tight at the back and nicking a goal. If Wolves are to get anything out of this one, we need that kind of performance, but I just don’t think we’re capable of delivering it.
If you’re going to Molineux tonight, have a great time and get behind the lads.
Up The Wolves.
In this fixture last season I thought we were superb, with only Drogba the difference in a 2-0 defeat.
The team that day was: Hahnemann, Zubar, Craddock, Berra, Ward, Foley, Guediourra, Henry, Jones, Jarvis, Doyle.
Tonight’s team is likely to include just 5 of that line-up. Of that 5, only Hunt will feature as a summer signing.
So Mick is right. We are worse off through injury (Guediourra, Craddock and Henry), but to have just one summer signing bridging the gap after £18m spent explains why we have regressed so alarmingly.
Unfortunately, I can only see defeat. I’m going for a 0-3 scoreline.
Ben I have to point out that Guedioura was a summer signing, Wolves making his loan permanent.
He was part of the £18m like Hunt (who now has secured us 8 points with his 3 goals; if you count tonight’s as his goal). Add in Fletcher and you have 3 good signings and c.£12 spent. Add in Van Damme, who would have been a good signing had he settled and we are at c£14.5m.
I don’t see the issue and I’d like to see people stop banging on about the £18m.
Yes talk about Moyokolu and Bent as unambitious signings and not really delivering value. Talk about JVD and the fact MM might have anticipated his failure to settle.
But tonight, let’s talk about another landmark Wolves performance, 4 wins in 7, out of the bottom 3, optimism guys…
You’re right mate, I do need to be more optimistic, particularly when I see a performance like I did last night. Makes me get goosebumps thinking about it! (my glass always was more half empty than full)
My point was however, that IF Mick had played the team that Thomas suggested above, he would only have played one of his summer signings.
The fact he didn’t kind of proves my point. He played Fletcher, our £7 million record signing for only the 7th time this season.
If he’d have done this before, then nobody would keep banging on about it!
In any case, whoever he picks I need to predict something a bit more ambitious than a 3-0 defeat from now on, because last night was bloody unbelievable.
1-0 Wolves, ideally thanks to a John Terry own goal, somehow involving an Ashley Cole mistake.
Right it off and move on…
Wolves 0 – Chelsea 2
I think Mick said yesterday to expect a few surprises in the team selection.
Why am I not excited?
You never know…It could be like an Andy Gray-type signing in front of the John Ireland stand, with the mystery player in a similarly striking beige suit?!
What’s the betting that with 5 minutes to go before KO, the rotund, self satisfying little man with the microphone will chortle knowingly to his fellow PA announcer in the stadium and tell us to get excited.
Jack Sparro will momentarily fade into the background as the bald man pipes up…
He’ll say it gives him great pleasure to introduce to us all a prodigal son, who has returned to his spiritual home.
Ladies and gentleman, please introduce onto the hallowed Molineux turf (along with Geoffrey Mujangi Bia for a separate cheque presentation) JOLEON LESCOTT!!
Yeah, Ward in goal.
i have to say clive your recent rantings and ravings have done you no credit, but that has seriously made me laugh!
I don’t rant and rave, I just don’t have a filtering system on my gob!!!
Fuck it all, in 100 years no one here will be alive or care what I say……………………but Ward will probably still be in the team!!
i was predicting a loss all week in my head… but when it comes to putting it on paper i just cant do it. i really hope, i mean really really hope that a decent starting lineup goes out and gives chelsea everything we have. i reckon milijas will have a blinder in this game, and i bloody hope so as he is my personal player of the season (i know jarvis has been magnificent, but milijas has obviously really worked on the ‘lazy’ side of his game to be a really good central midfielder).
so yes, ive found my rose tinted glasses that mysteriously vanished whenever mick’s nose poked around the corner. please dont let me take these off again.
wolves 2-1.
Wolves 0:2 Chelsea (if we are lucky)
I dont care how “well” we play either – a loss is a loss, you get zero points for it and remain bottom of the league. Numpty Mick if you are listening most fans would prefer for us to play badly and win (you get three points for that!)
As Super Kevin Foley always says, we should get a result tonight!
A 0 – 5 thrashing is a result, just not a good one.
Therefore I predict that there will be a result from tonight’s match.
FOMM
Interesting to note that the last time we beat Chelsea at home in the top flight was in 1975, and we didn’t just beat them, we stuffed them royally 7 – 1.
Anyone else remember that?
More to the point, anyone else prepared to stick their necks out and predict the same scoreline????
If that happened, McCowardly would be knighted and Ancelotti shot!!
Can’t see us containing Chelsea but would expect a wolves goal so I’ll go 3-1 to Chelsea.
1-0 Wolves (Doyle coming on late as a sub and snatching the win…)
2:1 wolves. Fletch and foley.
Thomas – I’m pleased you’re now setting out the predicted team and your team, makes much better reading. Personally I’d stick with 4-4-2, Edwards replacing Hunt (who I think has been dreadful two goals aside), Ward to LB and Fletcher up front.
Ben – I thought Guedioura was excellent but having his injury constantly rammed down our throats is rather gauling as he was never (to my amazement) a first team regular – and that included when we weren’t at full strength.
The gauling part is that Guedioura should have been a first team regular!
My point you numpty 😉
My point exactly you numpty 😉
Dont you start! Bad enough Muppet Mick is calling us bloggers numpties!!!!!
Very Tongue in cheek mate don’t worry
Well I`m taking half a days holiday to travel over form Nottingham. See my mother on the way over, and thats where the nice part of the day ends. If we score one goal we`ll be lucky, so how many for chelsea. Hope it rains heavily and is very cold to put off these johnny foreigners, if that happens I fancy a rare but honourable 1-1 draw.
On the bright side I`ll be home just in time for the cricket on sky around 11pm.
1-3 tonight. SEB.
Given up with optimism, 5-0 Chelsea.
Chelsea 1 Wolves 0. Sorry
So we have Seb, Doyle and Fletcher fit – if he plays Ward up front today then my days as a Wolves fan are done until the muppet is no more.
Our form suggest a win today – by form I really mean stats win lose win lose win lose etc
However Chelsea are not Liverpool, therefore Wolves 0-2 Chelsea with Muppet McCarthy praising Ward for yet another era – defining display by managing to touch the ball 8 times in 90 minutes.
Sky are reporting that Birmingham are in talks with Spurs about signing Robbie Keane.
I will never forgive him if he signs for Blues – it will be another nail in the coffin of this season! I’m sure Keane probably supported them as a child too!
Keane will never come to Wolves, and not because he doesn’t want to but because Jez Poxey will refuse to pay him the extra 50p required to get him to sign.
Wolves 1-4 Chelsea.
We’ll go 1 nil up, get very excited, Mick will sub Elokobi and swap him with Ward from up front, change the formation to protect the lead, then Chelsea will score 4 goals from pushing forward down their right wing.
Wolves 0-2 Chelsea.
For some reason i fancy us tonight, what with Chelsea’s bad form and our good form apart from teams around us
Wolves 2-1 Chelsea
3-0 to Chelsea.
Am I dreaming? Somebody please wake me up!
Ward has been dropped with Fletcher actually starting up front with Doyle!
Shame for SEB though, as he has done well of late. Hoped he may have started with Doyle coming on in the second half as been as he’s been out for a while.
Can I change my prediction?
Wolves 2-4 Chelsea. Doyle & Fletcher.
Milijas on the bench?????
Oh I get it! He couldn’t possibly leave 2 golden boys on the bench. So on comes Edwards to balance the team with teachers pets!!!
One step at a time EW you can’t expect everything to happen all at once, just be thankful that big nose Ward has been benched!
Yeah yeah fair comment. He’ll probably come on and score the winner now!
a shock 1-0 to Wolves! dunno why I’m predicting this but I would really like the result!
maybe cuz you just watched the goal go in judging by the time stamp 😉
haha! I thought it was an 8 o clock kick off and missed the goal! As soon as I got the stream up I realised it was a 7:45 kick off and we’d already scored!
Anyway I’m willing to forfeit any Prediction League points for being a plonker and getting the kick off time correct! (Though thats only because we won!):D
Easy easy easy….. I can’t believe this has happened….
Sky Sports News is going to melt given happenings this evening.
Great stuff, but the Jekyll and Hide stuff is killing me!
I think I’ll continue to predict heavy losses for the Wolves! It seems to be doing the trick!
It’s never dull being a Wolves fan!
I never want to be a Man City fan…Arsenal fan….Manure fan…you can keep your millions, your over inflated egos , and your ridiculous salaries that you pay to prima donnas and tin gods. Not one of you could ever replace my team… the team that doesn’t have much, but, on a night like tonight, gives every last ounce of passion and fight for themselves and, more importantly, the fans
When that cheat Drogba , and his lily livered mates slouched off the filed, they were a disgrace to this great game. Arguing with the ref, with the Manager, even looked like the over hyped slacker was arguing with the PA announcer too… what fools, what tosspots you all looked. ..and there was MY club… it wasn;t pretty, and it was the epitome of “winning ugly”…but you know what? and I don;t mind admitting this…. at the end of those long 4 minutes of time added on…I put my head in my hands and I sobbed like a baby
Berra, I have been a mega critic…tonight… you were the rock, a colossus an absolute giant of a man… you shade my man of the match just over the other 10…12 …13 heroes
The fans… you were the 12th man, incessant noise, and those fat wallets from Kings Road can only dream of having a set of fans like you
I’m going to enjoy today, because this roller coaster has given me hope again….and by God I hate that!
Here f**king here!
God my throat is in bits after tonight, what a performance!! For all the stick MM gets maybe we have overlooked his biggest attribute, the way he motivates a team to give everything. That could just be the thing that keeps us up……..
OK, fantastic result but still want Mick out. We need to beat Wigan and West Ham not CFC and LFC.
However, tonight I’m just going to enjoy it, we beat the Chelsea tossers, seeing Drogba sulk off the pitch has made my night!
ABB SEW LOOT LEE FARKIN BRILL EE ANT RESULT.
For me, Zoobs was man of the match, but I thought we’d blow it when Ward came on.
Thank you very much to Chelsea for keeping the ball away from Ward, so he could’nt do anything stupid.
I reckon he must have been dropped coz he has impregnated McCowardly’s daughter!
Cannot take anything away from the performance tonight, Chelsea played well, couldn’t argue about not given penalties or any other bad luck, they had their full team out, they just were not good enough on the night.
We had that one slice of luck with Hennessey’s foot, but apart from that, they were never a threat.
Just as all our hard luck losses despite playing well will go down in the history books as losses, this ugly win will go down in history, as a defeat of the champions.
Proud to be a Wolves fan tonight, excellent result.
What was even nicer as seeing the few Chelsea fans sneaking out of the pub, tails between legs!!!
FOMM
No way Ward has impregnated McCowardly’s daughter, for that he would have had to shoot one in the right direction!
Now that’s a cracker Jed. Oh i love this blog.
Interestingly, in the programme last night they had an interview with Jim Barron, who mentioned that his best mate’s daughter was Stephen Ward’s partner, and they’ve just had a baby together.
Nails the story that he’s seeing Mick’s daughter (unless Mick is Jim Barron’s best mate, of course!)
Fantastic result tonight! My boss strolled into my office shortly after kick off and asked the question ‘When did you last watch the Wolves in the pub?” Well living here in Canada its been a very long time as most games are played either at 8am or 1pm here, so off we strolled, he bought the beer and a very fine afternoon at work was had!
I am extremely proud of all the players today, and of McCarthy and Terry Clipboard.
Thank you Wolves for making the journey an unpredictable yet exciting one!
Louie get shouting fella, and make us old gits eat some humble pie!
oh and a special mention to the Molineux faithful – all I could hear on the TV was the crowd singing, cheering, shouting all through the match – it’s days like today that I wish I still had my season ticket back!
My word that was fun. How good is Hennessey? Amazing, he’s been absolutely 10/10 since he came back. George’s goal celebration was a highlight, given he aimed and missed a flick in the build up. Foley’s first touch was excellent, Doyle was back to the Doyle of old, Zubar was huge except for one missed interception. The two at centre half pretty much grew a foot each during the game, immense. And Mick, credit to Mick, for bringing on attacking players not defenders in the last 20 minutes.
Any news on SEB? I had to watch the game muted.
Horrible watching the game muted…but at 4am in the morning…. I suppose you have to
Enjoy that one t’OM ?
Normally it’s ok but my headphones broke, and I didn’t realise until about 3:30am. Tough to find a retailer at that hour. Still, worth every second. Just watched the goal on the replay on Foxtel – I still think it hit Fletcher last. How gooooood was Zubar’s shot that drew the corner? I’m a massive fan of his as I’m sure I’ve articulated before, as whilst he’ll have the odd ‘mare he’s pretty much built for the Premier League.
Ugly but effective. Brilliant result. I’m knackered. Zonked. Damn these time-zones.
Well played the lads!
Hoarse! Great night at the Mol.
Stearman and Berra were standouts for me. Henns was faultless.
Foley and Jarvis (going fwds) were disappointing.
Top performance from the lads just need to get some consistency.
Well mick credit where its due a great performance last nite, lets use this to push on we got some toughies coming up but don,t need to be afraid we all know we aint gonna win em all but a few hard earned points will surfice and keep the pressure on the rest below us. we {the fans} will always be behind the wolves just give us the belief that u and the lads will be giving 110% for the rest of the season and no repeats of wigan and west ham please.