As encouraging as seven points from the first three games was, zero points from the last three was galling.
OK, so two defeats you might have expected sandwiched that miserable trouncing from QPR, but regardless, the feel-good factor around an increasingly vacant Molineux has well and truly gone down the toilet.
That glorious sunny afternoon we dismantled Fulham already seems a lifetime ago.
But nothing lifts the doom and gloom like a solid home win and it’s about time Newcastle tasted defeat.
In case you don’t know, Alan Pardew’s side have yet to lose this season, winning three and drawing three of their six Premier League games thus far.
That run includes two draws on the road against QPR and Villa, as well as a narrow one-nil victory over Sunderland.
Summer signings like Obertan, Ba and Cabaye seem to have bedded in quickly, replacing the likes of Enrique, Nolan and our old friend Joey Barton with the minimum of fuss.
They’ve got other highly rated players too, such as the tough-tackling Tiote and the returning Ben Arfa, who is a definite match winner on his day.
The Team
For Wolves, Mick has to go back to the drawing board after a trio of defeats.
The obvious solution is to revert back to the same starting eleven that began the campaign so impressively and that’s buylevitra.net fully what I expect him to do.
Richard Stearman is the only injury doubt that could scupper that plan, but I reckon he’ll probably play.
Should Stears not play, it seems young Matt Doherty could be line for a start. If that happens, I’ll be interested to see how he gets on after an impressive 45 minute cameo at Anfield last weekend. Good luck to him.
Guedioura, Hammill, Milijas and Edwards are all decent options from the bench, but with SEB still out and no news on the McFadden deal, we remain short of cover up front. Lets hope we don’t need it.
Prediction League
A giant 29 people got the end result correct last weekend, but only 3 got the scoreline spot-on too.
Well done Chippy Wolf, John I and Exeter Wolf.
I fancy it this weekend.
Newcastle have to lose sometime and I reckon we might do it.
They destroyed us at St. James’s park last season with a physical, direct approach, so we need a big performance from the skipper, which I think we’ll get.
3-1 Wolves.
If you’re going to Molineux on Saturday (or watching it over a pint – wink, wink) have a great time and get behind the lads.
Up The Wolves.
Wolves 2:0 Newcastle.
Clean sheet and a Hunt and Fletcher goal fest!
Gotta be a Wolves win, but I don’t think the defence is good enough for a clean sheet.
2-1 Wolves.
—-
As for being at Molineux, it can’t be much worse than it was at QPR – the poor 10 year old in the seat next to me learned some choice new words to describe Wolves.
Mate, why the red corner flags? Did you know that only the founder members of the FL can display their club crests on their corner flags?
Also, only clubs who have won the FA Cup can boast square corner flags if they wish, otherwise they have to be triangular like yours Thomas. Apparently.
Finally, did anyone go to the Millwall League Cup game? If so, did you get the question about which three teams apart from Blackpool have only ever spent one season in the Premier League?
Got me thinking anyway.
Right then. 2-1 defeat. Ba Ba.
did you get the one about the triangles and squares from Twin Town? class film.
as they say in llandau, ciao for now
Burnley, Swindon and I can’t think of the other. Perhaps someone who.went down in the first year?
Barnsley! Boom! Swear I didn’t cheat.
Nice work mate! i was wrong then as well…I forgot about burnley and went watford!
2-2
I think a draw is a decent result considering the form of each team, but three points would obviously be quite nice.
1- 0 to the wolves super kev sealing his new contract with a goal
Our bad run to continue I’m afraid.
2-1 to Newcastle.
4-0 Karl Henry to get one of them!
1 – 1 goals by Hammill and Cabaye
Newcastle destroyed Blackburn… but Wolves usually do me a favour against clubs my mates support (amazing record against Notts Forest growing up!). Not feeling too confident though.
At least the weather forecast is 29 degrees in London this Sat! Which is only just too hot to go outside – so a valid excuse to watch the game in my front room and get pissed!
I think 2-1 the toon.
I saw Newcastle when they came over here (Kansas, U.S.A.) this summer to play my beloved Sporting Kansas City. Newcastle were so uninspiring that upon leaving my wife (who does not like soccer) said “they weren’t very good, were they?”
3-1 Wolves (Henry, Doyle, Doyle)
Newcastle full of confidence, Wolves low on confidence. Added pressure of being at home and us being really shit = Wolves 1-3 Toon unfortunately.
Wolves 3 Toon 1 Fortunately.
I’ll go with my heart and a 2-1 win to the mighty wolves. Fletch and Doyler.
2-0 to Wolves, need an early goal though
we’ve had some great results against the toon over the years, Bully 4-0 obviously but the FA Cup game when we got promoted under Dave Jones was another cracker.
I’m gonna keep predicting wins till we get one, so 3-1 wanderers, roger johnson brace and hennesey with a big goal kick. why not?
…. and why are we not doing guest house this week? it’s not even preview day till tomorrow!
Thought I’d give it a swerve this week.
Quite a lot of work to hunt down an opposition fan, send the questions, get them back and put everything together.
Plus I think it’s a better feature if it’s every now and again, rather than every week.
Also keeping my powder dry for next week’s Black Country Derby Guesthouse.
light the blue touch paper and stand well back….
2-1 to Wolves!
C’mon, let’s do this! A win would make my Saturday – I’m not even gonna consider a loss!
Yeah, I’m risking extreme disappointment but we can win this for sure!
2-1 wolves. newcastle have to lose sometime so hopefully to us. or do we only break the bad ducks like when we finally gave portsmouth a win after there terrible start!?
With Fletcher back on the score sheet last game, and ready for the toon army game, our chances getting 3 points should be formidable.
There’s also a chance that the imminent signing of J.Mcfadden participates in the game.
I’ve seen some stunning goals from him on youtube against some of the greatest nations ; France, Netherlands. His goal rate isn’t exactly impressing, though. I don’t know why, many factors counts. I remember one goal where he just chips the ball over a player and shoots, scoring a marvellous goal. He and Fletcher have played together before, and he could be the piece or alternative we need in those matches our strikers are not(Doyle and Fletcher) functioning as well as expected from them. Ebanks is also on his way back.
Wolves 2 – Newcastle 0
I keep predicting a win and we lose so this time i going for a loss and hope
we win,providing he can pick the right players.come on me babbies.
I’ve been following Wolves for more than 40 years from Malta and there are a lot of Wolves supporters on the island. Unfortunately we do not have premiership players in the squad and thus I am predicting another hard fought battle with relegation yet again.
I’m afraid it’s going to be another defeat 3-1, hope I’m wrong.
Heart says 2-0 Wolves, but the head points to an away win. What the hell, I’m going with my heart this week.
2-1 Wolves! come on!
Wolves 2-0 Newcastle
Time to get back to it!
Wolves 1, Newcastle 2
I believe this is the first time I’ve predicted anything but a draw. I hope I’m wrong FWIW
Wolves 1-0 Doyle.
Fletcher with a late equaliser. Our defense will be sorely tested.
Pessimistic 1-1
Wanderers prove me wrong!
3-2 Wolves for me that Cabaye lad looks a real find for them, its going to be tough but we turned the corner a bit at Anfield, we’re due a big game and some points. They’re due a slip up (I had them down as a team around the bottom this year – shows what I know).
Definite loss this week, again.
Only positive if we do loose is that it’s another nail in McDickwadheads proverbial coughin’!!
Be nice to be wrong though!
FOMM
3-0. Hepp hepp.
Wolves 2 – Newcastle 1
(Please)
2-0 Wolves. Think Doyle puts an early one in to put an exclamation mark on his new deal!
Wolves 0 Newcastle 2
Wot no “Guest House”, then? Must have run out of Newcastle Brown Ale.
Well I have improbably wended my way to the summit of the Preddo League off the back of grim and dour guesses, and I see no reason to stop the trend here. Even if we’ve got Superman and the most super-dooper England-capped winger since Mark Chamberlain in our side.
So, here goes …
Wolves 0-0 Newcastle
2-1 Wolves. Get in.
Its time to win again.
I can feel it in the air.
Wolves 2 New 0
Scores: K. Hibbit. A. Mutch
Newcastle are unbeaten and are scoring goals, not sure we’ve got the firepower to beat them I’m afraid, but I don’t think we’re particularly a worse team than them.
I would be happy with a draw, going to say 1-1.
Newcastle, unbeaten and conceded only one goal away from, whilst we have only scored 2 at home. Sounds like a dead cert 0-0 draw except for one thing. Me and my mate Nathan are going (courtesy of our wonderful blog and Electronic Arts) to roar them on to an unlikely 2-0 victory. Come on you Wolves!!
I’d love us to get back to winning ways, but Newcastle aren’t going to be an easy team to beat. I’ll sick firmly on the fence with a 1-1 prediction. O’Hara to come good.
Lets hope the Newcastle striker who got the hatrick last week is a flash git, and has one good game in six. Their forwards could be far too quick for our defence. Obatans will have a field day against our pedestrian left back, and their two strikers are very mobile.
Which means we will probably win, we need a victory for sure so let the glass be half full, and i`ll take a 2-1 win. MOM Hennessey.
Still trying to claim Ward isn’t good enough? Give it a rest, even Clive is giving up!!
Yeah, Henry’s the scapegoat now – get with the times! 😛
Ward is and always will be shit, end of story.
He will never be good enough for the Prem, or for that matter the Championship.
He will also never be dropped while we have this dickheaded arrogant obstinate manager.
Henry is another undroppable, with Berra coming a close third.
The sooner you little happy clappers take off your blinkers and look around you will see the trees for the woods, compare our pathetic trio with most of the rest of the Prem.
And while I’m on the rant, all this recent bollocks about us playing well, it’s only one bad game, blah, blah, blah is just that….Bollocks.
We are currently in a freefall, playing second division standard football, and beginning to get the thousand yard, deer in the headlights stare.
If you don’t know what that refers to, then there’s no hope for you either.
A VERY BIG FOMM
Hear! Hear!
As they say in the House of Commons…
Why would Ward be dropped when he has yet to have a bad game? Today he played well once again.
Fourth defeat on the run now, two poor goals conceded but cheated by Halsey as usual. He just doesn’t like us, unbelievable decision not to give at least one penalty and then the linesmen caliming the ball went out of the play was jsut ridiculous
Ward did play well in a team that lost. Even MM had the balls to admit it was defensive mistakes that cost us the game not a bad referee.
Too many ‘could have’s’ in the last four games.
Relying on the referred just snacks of desperation. Halsey did get it wrong yesterday, but we were already 2-0 down after being outplayed in the first half. Newcastle’s passing and possession was far superiror to the turgid stuff we served up before making substitutions in te second half. At the moment, we can’t even compete with QPR and Newcastle at home and have got what we deserved from those games – bugger all.
No-one said anything about us relying on the referee, but the fact was that we were disallowed a goal that would have gained us a point…
Yes, the defending for the two goals was horrible and yes, we didn’t do enough with our chances but we should have got the point – crap playing or not!
“Yes, the defending for the two goals was horrible and yes, we didn’t do enough with our chances but we should have got the point – crap playing or not!”
If we don’t do enough with our chances then we won’t score the goals to win matches. Halsey missed the penalty while the linesman ruled out a perfectly legitimate goal, but if we keep giving goals away and only playing well for 30-45 minutes then we don’t deserve any luck.
Whichever way you look at it, we lost again because the manager picked the wrong team and employed the wrong tactics (we don’t have the players for a 4-4-2). Simple as that.
But my point was that it would have been 2-2 were it not for the linesman’s decision! Even if we didn’t deserve it, we should have got it!
I do agree that our play led to the loss as well though, of course…
0- 0……ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
2-1 wolves and less of a headache. Fingers crossed.
Sorry, but I never get tired of seeing this. BULLY BULLY!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIVHAlkMzcU&feature=related
All great goals. But that 4th…
just got much gip in the office for watching that on full screen. still smiling though…
So with nothing better to do, I followed the link, watched Bully piss over Newcastle, then watched that fabulous winner against Blues, then followed a few more links to watch various Hi Ho singing, closely followed by The Liquidator, at Chelsea and other places,….then watched the shit fans trying to sing it.
Pathetic.
Crap.
They sing “…. Off Wanderers,….West Brom.”
Doesnt even scan properly.
And most of them don’t know the words, just a series of grunts.
Bringed tears to me eyes with loffin’!!
FOWB & MM
PS sorry about the WB swear words.
I’m not sure this weekend, think it win be a cagey affair. 2-2. Obviously hope I’m wrong. Cmon me babbies, we need a win going into that darn international break.
Well if Pardew reads the E&S, he will know exactly how we will play and counteract it.
My prediction, in this case is, predictable Wolves 0 Newcastle 2.
A similar disaster to QPR.
On the other hand I hope I am wrong.
Doherty replaces Stearman as a change, he plays brilliantly.
The other lads all put in a good shift and we get a 2-0 victory!
Doyle and Fletcher.
Hammill will be on the bench.
Wolves 2 Newcastle 1
Close game, their run has to stop at some point, why not tomorrow!!
My Prediction NewCastle and Wolverhampton Match Draw 1-1 if they play at home ground NewCastle good performance they can win but not easy to break their defence
Hopefully we’ll end the losing streak.
1-1
Wolves 2-1 Newcastle, we’re due a performance and Newcastle aren’t good enough to go unbeaten that long
Four consecutive defeats will be too much, we are not THAT shite… This game has ‘draw’ written all over it for me. 1-1, Fletcher to score.
Damn. Missed my prediction last wk! just like the wolves i seem 2 b stuttering after a great start! Hope we can both get some points on the board this wk so i’ll go 2-1 wolves. fletch and doyle to score
Will be another tough game. 1-1, fletch to get the goal.
This is turning into a fucking joke.
Where are you now, happy clappers?
Game over by half time………………….again.
McCarthy MUST go now.
The problem is that he won’t be given the boot until he gets us relegated. Too much faith in his management ability coming from behind the scenes. Shit in the market, shit with his tactics, shit at motivating the players and chats needless and embarassing shit in his interviews. Is there anything the man CAN do right?
Just being outplayed here, pure and simple. Ba, Tiote and Cabaye look like very good players indeed. Meanwhile our big-money signings of Johnson and O’Hara are looking pretty ordinary, to put it mildly.
We should have had a pen though …
The penalty decision was an absolute joke and might be the one thing that deflects from the obvious problems we have within the team. O’Hara has been aweful so far and Johnson has the turning circle of a combine harvester. Even Hunt looking a little disinterested today for some reason.
Gutted. Especially after the disallowed goal 🙁 Between that and the pen we really should have had at least a point.
Well, just like last week, the 2nd half was much better from everybody, especially after the substitutions. Hammill in particular looked like he should be in the starting XI. If we start performing in the 1st half like we are in the 2nd, then we might get start to get some results.
You’re right, but how many teams are going to let us turn up in the second half and maybe pinch a point. Adlene played well and should surely be starting ahead of Henry in the next game.
I noticed Mick really laying into Hammill when he played a pass into touch after just coming on. He worked bloody hard and made a great assist for Flether’s goal. Doyle was very unlucky, but again, it’s not enough for the team to start playing in the last 30 mins of each game.
All of the headlines will read ‘Wolves unlucky in defeat’ when in reality, we just weren’t good enough, regardless of the officals decisions.
Something has to change.
Our inability to defend or score is killing us. Yes, we played better second half but the crossing was wayward and no one other than Fletcher seems capable of getting shots on target. Doyle’s ‘goal’ should have stood, but if we continue to gift teams a head start then we’ll always struggle to pick up draws, let alone wins.
A loss at home is bad. A loss at home when it should have been a draw is worse. A loss at home when it should have been a draw and a disallowed penalty in the first half just leaves a horrible taste in my mouth!
We could have played better, sure, but crap referreeing doesn’t help!
Robbed or not, we gave ourselves a mountain to climb once again, and when you do that you don’t deserve anything. 3 home defeats on the spin, we won’t get those back! Two long weeks of misery ahead followed by The Hawthorns where we haven’t won for 15 years.
Well, think about the record before the Blackburn game…
Still, with our form so far I’m not feeling optimistic…
Wank defence, wank mid field, wank tactics, wank manager and that’s New castle so how white are we!
New castle were promoted last season, lost their best players in the summer and still look head and shoulders above us. That should tell us all we need to know.
McCARTHY OUT
MOXEY OUT
white = shite bloody autocorrect
I agree Jed. It is gobsmacking how the 3M’s expect us to watch them set such a low achievement level and accept it as good enough! It just is not McCarthy is a walking contradiction
I’m still waiting, clappy happers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NOW will you agree McCarthy needs to go?
FOMM
I only wish there was a chance it would happen. In fact there is more chance of milijas starting instead of henry than mcmuppet getting fired and we know there’s no f**king chance of that! I mean why start a guy that can actually play football when we can play a useless clogger instead. And don’t even get me started on the defence!
Ben, Thomas, once you chaps have dissected the Newcastle performance, can we have a blog about the merits of manager Mick McCarthy?
Here’s my take on the situation. Mick has done a fantastic job building a squad from the wreckage that was Glenn Hoddle’s tenure and getting us into the Premier League. He’s also kept us up, albeit by the narrowest of margins last season, which deserves credit.
Now here comes the ‘but’. It’s all good and well saying how fantastic Mick was two or three years ago, but if I were brilliant at my job in 2008 and awful today I’d be sacked. None of us are judged on past performances when it comes to our respective roles, so why should the Wolves manager be any different?
This season, Mick has stubbornly refused to make wholesale changes to a side that has lost four games on the bounce. Neither Henry nor O’Hara has played well this season and yet both still occupy the central midfield slots. Remember, Mick came out a few weeks ago and said there was no one challenging Henry for his position. This despite some poor performances so far this season.
Jarvis looks a shadow of the player that won an England cap last season, but still retains his position in the team. Johnson is out of sorts at the moment, Hunt is industrious with no end quality and Stearman doesn’t look comfortable at right-back, which is hardly a surprise given that it’s not his natural position. Why not play Foley who is a natural in the position?
So, four consecutive defeats and yet Mick simply will not drop underperforming players for the likes of Guedioura, Hammill and Milijas (who wasn’t even on the bench yesterday) – players with a modicum of creativity that could liven up our impotent attack.
Mick supporters will no doubt point to the chances we had on goal against Newcastle, Krul’s outstanding display and some truly awful decisions by the ref. Sorry ladies and gentlemen, but none of it washes with me. Any team that gives the opposition a 2-0 lead at this level will always struggle to pick up points. Poor decisions cost us the match, according to McCarthy. No Mick, a pathetic defensive display and failure to retain possession in the first half did.
What frustrates me most is knowing Mick will likely send out a similar team to yesterday’s at The Hawthorns in two weeks time. Ok, so we’ll probably revert to 4-5-1 with Doyle the lone striker and Fletcher (our best goal scorer) dropped for another midfielder, but it will mostly be the same players on show. If that’s the case, then who would bet on us picking up a point, let alone three, at a ground where we’ve failed to win since 1996?
Moxey and Morgan also have to take responsibility for our current plight by backing a poor manager and investing in a stadium refurb instead of bringing in some decent Premier League players. But that’s for another time.
Mick has, in my view, taken us as far as he can. If we don’t change the manager then we can expect another relegation battle in which we might actually go down this season.
Now is the time to allow an experienced, respected Premier League manager to take charge. Step forward Mark Hughes.
“Poor decisions cost us the match, according to McCarthy”
He’s admitted that it was poor defending ‘first and foremost’ – you have to give him that at the very least!
But Wolves did get better after the two substitutions yesterday – hopefully that gives MM food for thought on our starting XI for West Brom
Playing well second half when we’re already 2-0 down just isn’t good enough, especially when the end result is another defeat.
Clearly, the substitutions made a difference, but will Mick actually take that into account when picking his side for West Brom? His blind faith in underperforming players suggests not.
“Playing well second half when we’re already 2-0 down just isn’t good enough, especially when the end result is another defeat.”
Spot on – if a change in the starting XI lets us play well both halves then it should be done!
Woke up to http://twitter.com/mrjamieohara and his comments this morning. I think he is completely missing the point with his comments. He said that once we got behind the team they started playing well and created chances. I’m sorry Jamie, but 20,000 fans chanting at the start of the game for the last four home games hasn’t appeared to make a blind bit of difference. He also said it was ‘shocking’ that wolves fans cheered when Henry was substituted…too fucking right we booed! But we weren’t just booing the fact that he was shite, we were booing the whole fucking situation – being that we are playing the same failing formation, tactics and players time and time again. The fact is that they started playing well and creating more chances once Mick changed the midfield and played hungry players who were willing to gamble a bit and have a fucking go at the opposition. Heroic failures in the last 15 minutes is simply not good enough and Jamie is as much to blame on the field as anyone because he was missing for the majority of the game. Don’t try to point the finger at the fans, Jamie, take a fucking good hard look at yourselves and sort it out.
I would like to see Mark Hughes or Martin O’Neil have a go, but I have to wonder how much the board are prepared to invest in the squad – I know the signing of Johnson and O’Hara showed that they are prepared to spend, but I think it is clear that more was needed.
I don’t think a top manager would come unless he was given assurances of a decent amount to spend and I’m not sure he’d get that with us.
I’m getting tired of staying up late to watch this shit.
Don’t you just hate those people who spread doom and gloom, and then get proved right, and then rub salt in the wounds by saying ” I told you so”
Well, clappy happers, I told you so.
Unfortuneately, I still feel as gutted and upset as the rest of you, coz the club I love is being so badly managed.
He’s got to go.
I agree, it’s completely soul-destroying to watch us limp to defeat every week but we shouldn’t expect anything more as long as McCarthy is at the helm.
We are useless and bereft of creativity.
Edwards on the subs bench not Milijas? –
Bit like Kightly before Hammill.
We played much better with Guedioura and Hammill, but McCarthy will revert to Henry and Hunt ,(or Jarvis), against WBA.
Why?
Because trying to prove what ‘he thinks is right’, is more important to McCarthy, than the team he manages – Wolves.
It has been proved time and time again.
There is no justification for him to remain but the board continue to back him.
Yesterday was so predictable, it is almost heart breaking to watch for a Wolves supporter.
There must be some agenda we know nothing of, at ‘board’ level, that keeps him as manager, otherwise he would be sacked.