I should probably start with an apology.
Such was my conviction we’d be smashed to smithereens at The Etihad I’d probably have accepted a narrow defeat even before a ball was kicked.
How wrong I was so a heartfelt, grovelling ‘sorry’ to Nuno and this group of players who so rarely disappoint.
What a superb, exhilarating performance it turned out to be. The finest of a rapidly expanding catalogue of highlights in this golden age.
October still offers the opportunity for six highly gettable Premier League points, further progress in Europe and the possibility of eliminating Villa from the League Cup.
As is the Wolves mantra though, we go game by game.
Southampton
After keeping the Saints in the Premier League there was genuine cause for optimism about what Ralph Hasenhüttl might be able to do with a full season to attack.
It hasn’t quite gone to plan so far with Southampton pretty much where they finished last time, hovering precariously above the bottom three.
An opening day 3-0 slapping from Burnley and some heavy home defeats to Bournemouth and Chelsea have been offset slightly by a couple of useful away wins at Sheffield Utd and Brighton.
But they haven’t yet delivered the type of consistency to suggest they’ll do anything but struggle and come into this fixture on a run of three straight defeats.
Only Watford and Norwich have conceded more than their 15 and only three teams have scored less than their 8 goal tally at the other end. At least one of those statistics need to dramatically improve if they’re to climb.
Danny Ings and Nathan Redmond are their most likely route to goal and the latter scored twice to sink us at St. Mary’s back in April.
The away end
Some comments lifted from the pre-match thread on Saints Forum.
Is this a game we really need something from? Even a draw would be progress & a good result! Wolves are in pretty good form with their shock result against city, their pace will scare us. With Wolves, Leicester & Man City next, it’s very worrying where the next points are going to come from.
Wolves is one of those places we normally do OK at so I am going for a draw, I think our styles are mutually compatible.
If we steal a draw we’ll be lucky (fingers crossed), but I can’t see anything other than a 2-0 win for Wolves. We’re not near their level in most areas of the field, with the possible exception of Romeu. Time to take up our spot in the relegation zone.
We have quite a few Wolves fans near us and most of them say wolves blow hot and cold. Saturday could easily be a day where they slip up. We deserve some luck and we may just get it this time. Don’t forget Hughes was in charge the last time and we lost in the last 15 minutes because the rot had already set in with the team and his selections. Ralph has done his homework and I believe he can see where he needs to change.
Weird to be looking forward to away games more. Don’t fancy our chances at home in any game right now, we’re dreadful. But away we look more organised, although never enough of a threat. Optimistically we could get a 1-1 here.
Wolves often play a lot better against the best clubs. So, given we’re absolutely crap, we might have a chance…
Wolves
The result at City really put the cat amongst the pigeons in terms of team selection. A few players who were out of favour saw their stock dramatically rise, while others who’ve done little wrong may now find themselves on the outside.
Personally, I’d like to see us playing the 343 and being more attack-minded against a team with a fragile defence. If Jota is fit, the front three we played at Palace makes sense.
Vinagre did great last time out, but Jonny was one of our better players in the games before that so there’s a selection headache there. He could even play Traore on the opposite flank if he wanted to just have the two forwards.
Leaving Neves out feels wrong on many levels, but particularly after playing a major role in shutting City out, but his inclusion may come at the expense of greater attacking intent.
With such a small squad, it’s quite incredible how many permutations there are but with three consecutive wins from three different sides, it’s a nice situation to be facing.
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The Poll
Predictions
Well done to Wolfstroker, Oldandwise and jazzwolf54, who all collected a deserved maximum for audacious 2-0 predictions against City. You can check out the full Prediction League table here.
If you’d like to join in this week simply leave your prediction in the comment section below using the boxes provided.
That’s where you’ll also find my best guess for this one.
Up The Wolves!
Can we follow up the heroics at City with a positive return against Southampton and Newcastle? Positive for me is 4 or 6 points. We won both these fixtures last season and no reason we can’t do the same again.
It’s great to upset the applecart but I’d like to be rid of the Robin Hood tag and collect a few statement results against teams at the bottom.
The Saints have quality, but then again, so does every team in the Premier League and as many of their own supporters have noted, I look at that defence and wonder if it can keep the back door shut consistently enough to make them truly competitive? The statistics suggest a resounding no.
Nuno’s team selection will be key as always but with a full two weeks to prepare I expect it to be well-considered and because we’ve got better players, I expect us to get the job done.
This will be a test of how we play against teams who will set up defensively. We struggled last season and hopefully Nuno has figured it out. We shall see. If we get a goal in the first half I believe we will win comfortably.
I agree with your team selection, I think that’s definitely our best back 5, if we could collect 6 points the next 6 games that’s would be a real upturn in form and remind everyone what a good side we are. As always onwards and upwards.
What? 6 points in 6 games? Do you mean 6 points in 2 games?
Whilst we beat Southampton at home last season there was a great deal of huff and puff without a lot of quality for long periods of the game before we scored. I think that this will be closer than a lot of people are predicting. That said I do think we will sneak it 1-0 Wolves with another late goal.
You’re definitely right about last season BG. As I remember, it was them looking the most likely for much of the second half before Cav scored. I still think there was an element of ‘finding our feet’ at that point in the season though. Both teams are better now than they were then, but I think Wolves have improved to a greater extent.
Sounds like Jota still not fit so Traore to be key
Nuno probably needs to play a more attacking side for this game. Guarantee they will park the preverbal bus so we need some flare up top . For me I would play Jimmy , Patrick and Diogo(if he’s fit) or Adama as an attacking three with Jimmy playing in front of our trusted midfield .
Pundits have got us down for a comfortable win and I agree……COYW
PS. Can someone please explain why Jimmy wears a wrist cast every game ?
He did it in training, due to the busy schedule he has never had time enough to get it broken and re-set with surgery. So he’s playing withit protected until he can get it fixed.
Now that’s commitment to the cause.
My eldest son Daryl is over from Dubai for a week and so we are going to the game together for the first time since August 2018 and the opening day 2-2 draw with Everton. Thinking about it – his previous game at Molineux was the 2-2 draw with Norwich in the Championship so hope that isn’t a scoreline that is repeated tomorrow.
Nah!
OODCL
I want to meet up with the 6’6″” beanpole that sneered and took the proverbial on the way out of the St Mary’s ground last year. Apparently “we were going nowhere near Europe and would be in the bottom half come the day of reckoning”
Well that didn’t turn out quite like his prediction and I would enjoy telling him so.
That aside,
I agree totally, we can still mix it with better teams that want to play football, which allows us to counter attack at speed, but we really do have to set the bar now with the lower teams. This should be the day we see what Nuno has learnt from the Huddersfield’s, Watford’s and Cardiff’s of last year.
Looking at Nuno’s bigger picture, I’m going for a good performance from the guys, injuries and team selection during the International break has been favourable to us, so no-one should be totally knackered.
Wolves 3 Traore, Neves, Jiminez.
Southampton 0
Oh, did I mention, we’re going to Bratislava on Wednesday. 🙂
You don’t half attract trouble at away games Stu .
Yes, you did mention Bratislava…
But not as many times as Clive mentioned that he met King John Richards!
King John Richards was Santa Claus at my mums 65th Birthday Party!!!
At least I managed to give a duck a proper blow job!!!
What does that entail???
I kind of agree with BG wolf above , I think they all be a tougher nut to crack than we would think , which was partly our undoing last season . Hopefully we’ve evolved to realise that what ever team come to us in this division they will have eleven players that must be exceptional footballers to play in the premier league .
Having said that , based on what we all witnessed last match … Fu###ng hell … what a
Fu###ng good side we are .
First forecast for a while as I am visiting my ill father.
He really perked up when I live streamed the Citeh match for him to watch.
I think Southhampton will park the bus and try to nick it from a counter attack, if Wolves play attacking football we should win, if Wolves play counter attacking football it will be a draw with no one in the centre of the park.
Gotta go for a narrow win.
Give yer dad a hug from the bloggers BARDwolf!
2-0 win with Jiminez back on the score sheet. Would like to see us revert back to the 3-4-3 for this game as well, more attacking.
Tomorrow’s opponents always had the reputation of getting over- the- top players, just about past their sell by date, and recycling them for a couple of years.
Any future good players they developed left as quickly as they could, knowing they would go nowhere, and win nothing, if they stayed at The Dell, and St. Mary’s.
This team is one of those in the Prem purely to make up the numbers, get an occasional “shock” win, and generally bore the pants off everyone.
For me, this match is one of those defining games.
Win, as expected, and we are off to the Slovan races.
Lose or draw, and all of the euphoria from Manchester is down the shitter.
Having said that, Nuno once again proved what a genius he is with his tactical brilliance two weeks ago, and he will be on top of this week’s needs as well.
So, I ay skeered!!
Routine victory, and perhaps one of the contenders for my usual prediction coming true!
FOwb
We are on a little bit of a roll recently and there should be no reason why that cannot continue tomorrow.
It’s nice to be able to confuse the opposition (and us) with what NUS’s team selection is going to be, especially with the relatively small squad that we still have.
Going for all the points and a few goals.
Really fancy us tomorrow – Southampton are in a bit of disarray and there for the taking.
If Doc is 100% fit (I know he’s said he’s not quite right still) then I’d go 343. Let a confident Traore wreak havoc v a shaky Saints defence without the worry of defensive responsibilities.
Bennett did a sterling job when coming on v City but Saiss did nothing wrong v Watford or Besiktas. Plus I like the extra distribution he offers.
I’m still trying to keep an open mind on the Donk but his performances have really bothered me this season. He’s been awful on the ball, his positioning is all over the place and his late runs into the box have equated to very little. Problem is; Neves isn’t warranting selection either. If he would stop dropping back and get on the ball/influence the game higher up the pitch, it would be a different story. Anyhow, Moutinho is certainly being given too much to do!
Saying all that, I think we’ll have too much for Saints. Our defensive shape/organisation is back to what it was last season, and Traore/Raul/Jota will scare the living daylights running at Southampton’s back line.
Might be an idea to give Jota a little more time for his toe to heel (yes, I know).
We’ve got some depth now at forward what with Pat and Pete.
Also, let’s not forget that Jota seemed to improve immensely after being moved in closer to the centre of the pitch when Nuno switched to a two man forward line. Maybe pushing him back out is not the best idea. Let the other guys try playing wide in a three man forward line since we don’t know if that will adversely affect their play or not.
I guess I can’t blame you for being so negative as your blogs are written before I give my optimistic guidance.
Tough game to call as this is the sort of fixture we dropped points in last term. That being said, Southampton fans seem woefully pessimistic about their chances so a home win should be more than achievable. Great to see talk of a selection headache returning as it means all of the players are bang in form, which wasn’t always the case last season.
In terms of the starting eleven, I would be tempted to rotate a little here and keep Vinagre and Adama at wing-back. Cutrone needs a run of games and could realistically bag a goal against a vulnerable Saints backline. We’ve a tricky game in Bratislava on Thursday which could have a lot of permutations in terms of knockout round qualification, so I’d be tempted to go with a stronger eleven in that game.
Whatever team we put out, we should be aiming for 3 points.
I can’t see this being a high scoring game but I can see us winning. The last few games have seen a definite upturn in our season with a return of both defensive solidity and fluid footie going forward. Southampton are struggling, but we had our travails against the strugglers last season and this will be an interesting pointer as to whether we’ve learned any lessons. The result against Watford suggests we have.
Good to have club footie back again after the international break. With the Wolves doing so well, you just want the games to keep on coming.
Seem to recall Nuno talking about taking the summer up
In the mountains so the wolf pack can study their prey down
In the valley… or something like that
Well sir here is some prey and with two weeks to plan this feast and an unstoppable Traore to
Let loose there should be only one outcome..
Results last season taught us that we often find teams that are struggling hard to beat. And Southampton could be the same.Ings is a proven goal poacher and Ward-Prowse is a danger from set-pieces.
That said I expect Wolves to have too much for Saints. I think it may be interesting to see a confident Traore paired with Jiminez from the start.
Would expect Saiss to keep his place if fit in the back 3. Other than that, Nuno has to go with pace against a team that will park the bus. So options must include Traore, Neto, Jota ( if fit) and Vinagre, either as starters or on the bench.
For me it depends which wolves team turns up if its the one that beat City and Watford an easy win if its the one that played Everton and Chelsea we will lose so fingers crossed 4 -o to the wolves.
That’s stating the bleedin’ obvious, Dek.
Southampton have been better than their numbers suggest by expected goals I believe. We usually struggle with these games at home so a 1-0 win would be fantastic.
Managed to get tickets for this one so me and Border plus her tractor boy will be along to enjoy it in person.
Would like to see Nuno play 3-4-3 and really go for it against a team we should have no problem with.
Wolves to win in style I hope
This is definitely winnable…so lets win it !
I expect Southampton will try to do to us what we did to City. If they sit back it will negate the pace we have up front and Redmund in particular is capable of hurting you on the break in the way that Traore hurt the Sky Blues.
However, their defence will not be as organised as ours was at the Etihad and I fancy us to have the trickery and confidence to break them down. If we can do it early enough and force them out from the back we may well romp home comfortably.
A lot of patience req. tomorrow as the saints will use an early goal then shut up shop strategy which seems to be the norm now for lower ranking teams.
Expect a crap first half followed by a rip roaring second.
Team selection?
After nuno pulled that one against city most of us thought he had lost the plot so who knows what masterstroke he may come up with this time.
All i do know is he has a wonderful pool of ever improving talent at his disposal who are now capable of playing in all sorts of differing formations .
A clean sheet and 3 goals please dr nuno
With another week of travel coming up and vital points needed in Slovakia, I’m not sure how high we’ll rate this match. Rooting for the win, but won’t be surprised if it’s a slog.
I just hope this isn’t the ” After the Lord Mayor’s Show ” game.
If we had lost a City we we would be expecting to beat the Saints and the fact we beat City this one has banana skin written all over it.
The Saints won’t come out and play they will try and do what we did to City.
Can we break them down…….I think we can…!
Tough game this Paul.
Hope we can shade it to consolidate where we are in mid table.
COMBs!
They say Ralph Hassenhuttal is the ‘klopp of the Alps’. We’ll take it from me Ralph and his boys will be systematically deposited to the Alps tomorrow. The confused Ralph unable to get to grips with the rampant Wolves to the extent that he makes 3 substitutions in the 60th minute. He brings on 3 mountain goats to try and shore up his defence. It is little more than a gesture which Ralph thinks will help him reassociate himself with the Matterhorn and an assortment of mountain based wildlife. It is all too little too late. Even Matt le Tissier can’t find solutions . Just as he is about to call Ralph to offer instant advice he is swept away by a nasty avalanche. This causes Le Tissier to call for mountain ranges to be kept away from football grounds. Particularly mountain ranges with lots of goats on. Whilst all these Alps based issues are going on WWFC sweep to a 3-0 victory. After the game Nuno said ‘ one game at a time. I can’t do anything about mountain ranges and goats but I have sympathy for Ralph. Perhaps he should have played a goat at sweeper. In a 3-4-3.’. Ralph said ‘ up in the hills with the lonely goat heard. Yodel ay Yodel ay oooh ooooh. Or summat’
After our outstanding performance against Man City I wonder how we will fair against a team that will probably sit back and counter attack – just like we did against City.
I still think we have enough to see them off, though I don’t expect it will be by much.
Well, we’re playing against a struggling club, who’ll park the bus and fight for their lives, right after an International break.
I’m afraid I only see one outcome here …
All this negative talk about only winning three nil! Its got to be four at least. I’m with Captain America from Houston – five nil to the team who put a smile on my face every long drive from Norwich!!
A 3:00pm ko on a Saturday means that myself and Mrs Wing can spend another fab weekend in our favourite city. Love our Wolves weekends. I predicted a win against Man City and ended up £130 better off and I am going to go for a good win again tomorrow. Raul Alonso Jimenez Rodriguez will be like a wolf unleashed after his break and will be taking the match ball home after his hattrick , along with another from Adama. Looking forward to meeting some of you pre match and I promise to get Susan to behave.
Behave?
Why?
We’re Wolverhampton we’ll do what we want!!
See you at the B W statue tomorrow pal.
I’m feeling particularly positive at the moment (apart from being told by the nice nurse that my cholesterol level is 10.3 when it should be under 5 apparently).
In the last few days the PMDG’er and I have been to see ‘The Music of Cream’, in with Ginger Baker’s son, Jack Bruce’s son and Eric Clapton’s nephew performed a load of Cream classics ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANTLY! A stonking night.
Then we went to see “Havana Moon’, which was the film of the Rolling Stones 2016 epic concert in Cuba – with added light show and live dancers. Me and Sue ended up cavorting with a bevy of semi naked Latin girls and making a general nuisance of ourselves.
Another stonking night!
They say that good things come in threes (or is it bad things, I never can remember).
But whatever, I’m looking forward to another great performance – and result – tomorrow.
I like the look of your team Thomas, but whoever Nuno puts out should light up Molineux with a convincing win.
Well that’s a choker mate with your cholesterol.
There’s no criteria for this sort of reading as when I was found out with a 10.7 reading … I was running 90 miles per week.!!
I’m still here though (25 years on) having listened to the doctor’s advice and taken on the statins….
You need to stay around mate as you’re such great friends…. it’s not always a lifestyle thing … look after yourself buddy….
What coffee you drinking tomorrow..?
Double cream, chocolate, cheese, turkey dripping and lard latte please mate.
As usual anything could happen but I’m going for what I hope will be a comfortable win.
Yes, Nuno says in the E&S that Raul has rested while the others were on international duty. I’d like to see him back among the goals. I’m expecting a good win to nil, at least 2-0, could well be more.
After the brilliant win against the champions anything other than a win, will undermine that result.Keep to the old adage about never change a winning team,and 3points guaranteed.simples.
Keep the momentum going!
As the tractor boy actually bought himself a Wolves jumper the other week (with no input from me) I suspect he’s turning into a full member of the pack!
Mind you he’ll need it as we’re in the SW corner tomorrow!!
After a rest the lads should be chomping at the bit. Home win.
COYW
Try meeting up with us at the BW statue about 2:15 BorderW…
Ok thanks, will see if we can find you
I think this is gonna be closer than we think, I totally underestimated the lads against City and last years dizzy heights towards the top of the Pred are nothing like this year, second season syndrome for me!! Need to get back up there, starting this weekend…..
Although Southampton are near the bottom end of the league they’ve got some decent players.
They dominated play last year but were undone with Cavaleiro and Jonny goals at the end…. so tough game ahead.
Nevertheless I think we’ll still be on a high following the Man City drubbing….. closer than last year though….
Think this is the match that breaks the “play to the level of the competition” cycle that they can ride from time to time with a convincing win.
On our day we’ll beat Southampton. Need to really start on the front foot though. And the home crowd need to do their bit.
PaulAD67 said “I just hope this isn’t the ” After the Lord Mayor’s Show ” game.” I don’t know about the game, but it will almost certainly apply to my prediction – after my three-pointer last week anything less than another correct score will have that distinctive air of garbage about it!!
I’m going for a win for us – in the hope that we really have found a way round losing to poor teams. It’s probably about time we conceded, so I’ve ended up with 3-1. At the end of the day three points for the team is far more important than three points for me 😉
COYW
I’m guessing it’s going to be a bit of a climb down after the highs just before the break. Hopefully Jimenez will be fully refreshed and firing on all cylinders and Traore picks up where he left off.
The Saints will be tough to breakdown but Wolves will just sneak it.
Am I ok for parking tomorrow Dougie…..
Nice one, Mike. We haven’t exchanged on the house yet. Might go to mid November.
We’re homeless from next weekend so I’ve just sorted a rental in Wolverhampton.
Think we need to go 3-4-3 against a team that will probably pack the defence. This is exactly the sort of game we were getting nothing from last season. That needs to change and this would be as good a time as any.
We’re still deceiving to flatter up front but we should be able to get a couple past them. I’m also backing our rearguard to do their job.
I think another win.
Jimenez back to his goal scoring best after a well deserved rest…. hat-trick for our Mexican marvel
Solid performance and I would start 352 with Adama to come on if we need a breakthrough. Will need to work hard and a moment of Jota brilliance to win it. Saints desperate for the points and we will have to remain patient. Just love the last minute winners even if tough on the nerves!
Wolves 1
Soton 2
This should be a solid 3 pointer for us. Hopefully the lads will be full of confidence after the recent results. If we can get the first goal and make them come out of their shell and unpark the bus, we could get a couple more. Going for a 2-1 win.
3 points needed, even if we need to win ugly
I’ve got to say I’m not concerned anymore about where our points come from because we are able to take them when we need them.
My only issue is, it don’t matter the game but Nuno switches tactics after every match, and that’s fine but that’s why we get found out in my opinion against the teams we should take points from. Against the top 6. The sitting behind the ball and counter attack works. But it doesn’t against a non counter attacking team that parks the bus.
I’m confident today. 3-0 wolves. If we can take advantage of there back line and use our speed nice and easy today.
On my hols so first home game that I’ve missed in donkeys years. One of those Southampton fans’ comments was that they’re crap and that we struggle against crap teams. I’ve a feeling that he/she may be close to the mark, so:
After our heroics against City, we are all quite Rightly expecting a win. We all know there’s no easy game in the prem. Hoping for the win, but not expecting it. Come on Wolves, I love you.
Routine win if that’s possible for us.
This will not be a walkover – either a draw or we might just squeeze it.
I’m slightly worried about our David & Goliath tendency. When we’re cast in the role of David we’re more likely to pull off a shock win. The Etihad saw Goliath put to the sword. But along comes a team like Huddersfield and their David trounces our Goliath. Twice!
Now that our good PL form of last season is returning, my obvious point is can we consistently start winning against the lesser teams? We have less trouble against the top teams. Nuno obviously fancies his chances against the best coaches, and deservedly so.
I’m backing the boys to show our teeth today. 2-0 or 3-1.
Jesus………for Gods sake send him back to Madrid…………shocking if Madrid are watching him he will never get near there first team…..!
He should be sent back before he does any more damage…….I’m sorry folks but I seen him now five or six times and he is useless…….shocking he is on Madrids books.
Eight points from last 4 games. Sorted.