Unlucky?

It is weird for a team to play so well and lose 5-2. When we got back to 2-2 I thought we were gonna win, Kenwyne Jones' second was brilliant and the third Bent was offside before the corner. The fifth was just unlucky, a word we might get used to this season. The first penalty was NOT a foul. Then at the end of the half we were denied an obvious penalty. Things just didn't go our way, although they scored an own goal, and gave us a freekick for a back pass.

Now onto that back pass. When you stop a clear goal illegaly should you not be sent off? Had he been sent off and we scored, things would have been entirley different, it was a good poacher's goal by Doyle (our new top scorer!).

Bent and Jones is a very strong attackon it's own. I think Mancienne and Berra, again, were great. Berra looks solid and Mancienne brings calmness to the team. Halford's done well but when Foley is back we will be very strong.

SEB did not look quite fit, when we brought him and the Hof we played worse I think. Doyle and Keogh had much more energy even though they had played 80 minutes already. Sylvan had one chance he should have buried but lack of communication messed it up.

Hennessey: 7/10
Halford: 7/10
Mancienne: 7/10
Berra: 7/10
Elekobi: 7/10
Edwards: 8/10
Henry: 8/10
Castillo: 7/10
Jarvis: 7/10
Keogh: 7/10
Doyle: 810

Ebanks-Blake: 6/10
Maeirhofer: 6/10
Kightly: 7/10

MOTM: Doyler. has been superb recently, looks a class footballer and will score atleast fifteen this season.
Note: Edwards, Henry and Berra were also very good.

Fustration for the fans, but let's get ready for sunday!

To be dissapointed about losing one nil at Old Trafford for a newly promoted team can't be a bad thing. I'd have rather Kightly put it away, because the substitution when the quiet Macheda was taken off, was definitely changed the game. It was good to see Kites, Foley and SEB. Sylvan looked slightly off the pace of the game but Kightly should play at least half the game against Sunderland.

MOTM: Berra & Doyle. Another good perfromance form Berra, Doyle is looking every bit worth of the £6.5m we paid for him.

On to Sunday. Another game on the tele at the Stadium of Light, somewhere we have never one at, nor has Mick McCarthy won their in the premier league.

Hopefully the defeat mid week won't get anyone down. If we can press like we did last week, we will cause Sunderland some problems. It looks like Castillo will get the nod over Milijas. He was very quiet, and played too deep.

Prediction: Doyle to bang in another goal but Bent and Jones could create problems for the defence. 1-1

Probable Team:
Hennessey
Halford
Mancienne
Berra
Elekobi
Edwards
Henry
Castillo
Jarvis
Doyle
Keogh

Wolves v Man Utd - We're on the telly!

It's our first game against top four opposition. Luckily it's only in the league cup so nobody really cares. The only thing I really care about is the return of our key players. Ebanks-Blake returns to Old Trafford and Michael Kightly should get his first start of the season.

Owen looks set to start, Kusczak should start too for Manure. He'll get a bit of stick being ex West Br*m. Last time we faced a Premiership team in the league cup we got beat 5-1 by the Arsenal reserves and I was there. Cesc Fabregas made his first ever appearance. It was a bit worrying, and of course that season we were relegated from the prem.

Here's my line up.

GK: Marcus Hahnemann
RB: Kevin Foley
CB: Ronald Zubar
CB: Jody Craddock
LB: Matt Hill
RM: Michael Kightly
CM: Nenad Milijas
CM: Segundo Castillo
LM: David Jones
FC: Stefan Maiehofer
FC: Sylvan Ebanks-Blake

Prediction: 1-0. SEB?

Wanderer 2 Fulham 1

Our second win of the season takes us to twelth place. Last season the highest we got too at all was fifteenth. After a worrying performance at Ewood Park we definitely bounced back.

Kevin Doyle grabbed his first goal of the season, of what I've seen of him, 'Doyler' looks like a good signing. We had to score eventually from a throw in. MOTM Berra had a hand in it, nodding it on for Doyle. I don't want us to be known for that though.

http://www.wolves.co.uk/page/LeagueTable
/0,,10307~20030920,00.html

That will show you where we were six years ago today. We lost five nil at home to Chelsea live on television. One point in six games, minus sixteen goal difference.

http://www.wolves.co.uk/page/LeagueTable/0,,10307~20090920,00.html

That is the league table for this season. We are twelth with seven points, minus three goal difference. A bit better eh?

Back to our performance. On the sky sports updtaes website, the person writing the updates kept saying how much pressing we were doing, and it was working. Jarvis and Edwards are very hard working, Castillo and Henry are hard in the middle and Keogh chases all day long. Milijas was injured so he didn't start.

Hill and Stearman were also injured, so Halford slotted in at right back and Elekobi gained his place back after being dropped for being late. Elekobi is a premiership footballer. So solid, fast and good on the ball. Halford made the first goal, so he had an impact, and he's a good defender.

We held our lead into half time. Mini-Stat: All of our games have been one nil at half time. We went for it in the first ten minutes and we were rewarded. Keogh got past the Fulham defender, layed it off for Edwards who smashed it into the roof of the net. Two nil.

But, of course, we had to let them back in the game. Mancinne was the man who gave away a penalty. Murphy stuck it past Hennessey, who was also impressive.

They looked certain to score, I was shaking in nervousness. We held on though, Hennessey made a catch at the end and we all knew it was over.

It was fantastic to see Kightly get his first premier league experience, he did a good run and looked comfortbale. Ebanks-Blake looked a bit stiff, it's nice to see him back. 'The Hof' had a late introduction to the game.

Wayne Hennessey: 7/10
Greg Halford: 7/10
Michael Mancienne: 7/10
Christophe Berra: 9/10*
George Elekobi: 8/10
Dave Edwards: 7/10
Karl Henry: 7/10
Segundo Castillo: 7/10
Matt Jarvis: 7/10
Andy Keogh: 7/10
Kevin Doyle: 8/10

subs:
Stefan Maeirhofer: 6/10
Michael Kightly: 6/10
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake:6/10

Star Man: Christophe Berra, fans haven't been too convinced with him, but he showed us why Mick bought him last January for two million.

Blackburn 3 Wolves 1

Well, we've shown that we are still finding our feet in this league. A silly mix up between Karl Henry and Michael Manicenne made it hard for us. To conede from a corners was dissapointing, we need to sort that out.

We should have been one nil up, Berra's miss was shocking. whether he thought he was off or not, he still should've made sure it went in. Wayne looked like he played quite well, he made a couple of good saves.

We made Rovers look good today, I didn't get to see any of the match apart from our 1 minute stint on MOTD ;). we missed Elekobi I think, Hill looked alright but Elekobi's presence juts seems, important. With Foley, Kightly, SEB still out let's hope they can be back as soon as possible because we are missing them so much. With Milijas, Jarvis and Kightly in a midfield, there is no doubt we will create chances for Sylvan, Doyle and 'The Hof'. He took his chance quite well I thought but it was too late for any sort of comeback.

Hennessey 7/10
Stearman 6/10
Berra 6/10
Mancienne 6/10
Hill 7/10
Halford 6/10
Milijas 6/10
Henry 6/10
Jarvis 7/10
Doyle 7/10
Keogh 6/10

Subs
Maierhofer 6/10
Surman 6/10
Dave Edwards 6/10

Our MOTM: Matty Jarvis - set up the goal and is always bright for us.

Wolves v Blackburn Rovers - Preview

And we're back after a nice week or so off for most of our players. Doyle, Milijas and Maierhofer all scored in one of their matches. Milijas and Doyle look like they are going to the world cup, maybe a chance for some of our Irish players aswell (okay, Foley).

Blackburn have one point from four games, they are desperate for a win. On some football forums, Blackburn fans think this is a big chance against a 'weaker' opposition. I think if we win we will move up into the top ten, which would be an acheivement. Foley, Kites and SEB are all out they reckon. So the team line up is most likely to look like this;

Hennessey
Stearman
Mancienne
Berra
Elekobi
Halford
Milijas
Henry
Jarvis
Doyle
Keogh

Not a bad time, If we are chasing the game expect Mick to throw on Maierhofer.

My prediction: Not that I'm ever right be either 1-1 or 1-0 to the mighty.

Friendlies against the likes of Slovenia - pointless?

Well it's the international break and I'm bringing up the debate. Is there any point in international friendlies? I'm not sure. Maybe against the big teams like Spain or Argentina, who will test us and show what we need to improve. The Holland one was quite good I must say, the thing that have made the friendlies less boring under Capello is the tempo. For the last few years it had been a lot slower, not what English football is like. It worked with Sven (we lost one qualifier in three qualifying groups) , it didn't with Shteve McClaren.

I hope England give us something to cheer about. I'll be half watching it.

Moving onto wednesday. We draw and we are through. I'd like to see us end with 30 points. Everybody will realise we are contenders for the world cup.

Summer Review!

We'll 16 million spent. 9 players in, all looking like decent signings.

Kevin Doyle (6.5m) Our record signing. When he gets his first goal he'll start scoring a lot.
Nenad Milijas (2.5m) Looking the business already. Going to be a star for us.
Ronald Zubar (2.25m) Not played in the prem but looked decent in the league cup.
Greg Halford (2m) Played in the place of injured Michael Kightly. Can defend and has long throw ins
Stefan Maierhofer (1.8m) Helped knock Villa out and looks like a target man if we need him.
Andrew Surman (1m) Player for the future. Can play in a few positions.
Michael Mancienne (loan) Hasn't put a foot wrong yet. A great signing.
Segundo Castillo (loan) Another with experience. Played for everton last season.
Marcus Hahnemann (free) Brings prem experience for the likes of Hennessey and Ikeme.


16 million well spent, it looks but you never know. We have to wait til January before we sign anyone now.

Two in, but who's on their way out?

We've signed Segundo Castillo, an Ecuador international and the Austrian Peter Crouch, Stefan Maierhofer. Maierhofer looks like a replacement for Vokes who might benefit from going on loan to a championship team.
I've seen both these players, Castillo didn't have a good time at Everton (despite one fantastic goal) and Maierhofer looked good against Villa.

Apparently someone is on their way out. Collins, Darren Ward, Hill haven't been playing much or maybe Jones who hasn't started in the prem might be on his way out.

We've also been linked with Welsh midfielder Joe Ledley. He's quite good but is he worth 5 million.

Seen anybody in Wolverhampton that could be on his way? Tell me!

Wolves 1 Hull 1

I hardly saw anything, only the match of the day highlights really. But I can tell that it was a game where yet again we couldn't convert our chances into goals. Keogh definitely should have scored that one on one. Doyle's effort was cleared off the line and I would have put money on Vokes to at least get his header on target.

The goal we conceded was poor, Stearman gave him way too much space (he made up for it eventually) and Hennessey's positioning was not great. The worst bit was how Geovanni beat two of our defenders to get the goal.

We need to start winning at home though, and I think we should be in the top half now.

Hull didn't look great, dangerous at times but without Turner (has just signed for Sunderland) their defence looks very vulnerable.

As I said before I hardly saw anything of the match, so I'll go by how I saw them in MOTD.

Hennessey - Maybe could have done more to stop the goal but otherwise comfortable. 6/10

Stearman - Got our 1st home goal of the season and good on the ball. 7/10

Mancienne - has he done anything wrong this season? 7/10

Craddock - I think Berra/Zubar will replace him soon but his experience shows. 6/10

Elekobi - Impressed again. Competition for places between him and Ward. 8/10

Halford - Again throw ins caused problems but didn't do much. 6/10

Milijas - Hardly saw him at all. Needs to settle and get fitter. 6/10

Henry - Composed again, protecting the defence again. 8/10

Jarvis - A threat every time he gets the ball, nearly set up the winner. 8/10

Keogh - Missed a sitter, worked well but needs to work on shooting. 6/10

Doyle - Starting to look worth the money, needs a goal to get up and running. 7/10

Man of the Match: George Elekobi, first start but looking good.