Wolves v Stoke: Preview

From one derby to another. This one I suppose not quite so big but probably a game about big players. Physically. Rory Delap's thow ins will be coming from all areas, just like Greg Halford's. They have their big players, like Beattie, Fuller and Faye. But Christophe Berra has proved a menace at dead balls, often positioning himself where the ball is being aimed. He set up Kevin Doyle's goal at a throw in (our only success at throw ins) and set up a goal against Sunderland. I hope it's not a game of who can throw the furthest, as we can ply some good stuff. Credit to Stoke though, their style may not be pretty but what do they care if they succeed?

Tony Pulis is in his second spell at the Brittania, and has fast become a legend there. He's built his team well and this season made some very good signings. He has bought Huth and Tuncay from Boro. Huth has won the premier league with Chelski and Tuncay has shown he can do it in the recent European championships. And what a signing James Beattie was, his goals after joining from Sheffield United in January were crucial.

Something we will need to match is our chanting. Stoke are known for their noisyness (a word?) and are very intimidating. I often wondered last season whether they will ever move stadiums if they kept improving. We need some points from this game (our next two being Arsenal and Chelsea) to keep us out of the bottom three, somewhere we have not been in this season.

I reckon Mick will want us to try and play our way out of this game, but if trailing he will probably bring on his trademark substitution, a big centre forward.

I reckon the team will go like this:

Hennessey

Zubar
Berra
Craddock
Elokobi

Kightly
Henry
Castillo
Edwards/Halford

Ebanks-Blake
Doyle.

Hopefully SEB/Doyle ca get us something out of this game. 1-1.

Sometimes you just wanna...

So now we know why Matty Jarvis has been dropped. His end product isn't enough. I think that is absolutely ridicolous. This means he should drop Michael Kightly, who is yet to put in a decent cross! Dave Edwards (who I think has had a terrific season so far), Greg Halford, are also not great crossers of the ball, and Jarvis brings more to our game than them two. Speed. He is fouled countless times, one freekick leading to the goal against Wigan I believe..
Against Stoke I don't think he will pick Jarvis, or against Arsenal and Chelsea. But after that, we have Bolton and Brum at home, two games he has to play in for me. At home we need to attack them with both wingers, Aston Villa do it with Milner and Young so why not? It has payed off for them so far.

Got a different opinion to me? Or agree and want to let it out? Comment.

Wolves 1 Aston Villa 1: Sylvan finds his goalscoring touch

A decent performance, especially in the first half. We had a lot of possession without carving out any real chances. What the defence were doing in the first minute I will never know, but luckily Agbonlahor can't kick with his first left foot.

I think Dunne should have been sent off though, when he tugged Doyle away from a goalscoring opportunity. Our corners were getting nowhere, as most of Kightly's crosses were hitting the first man. If Mick picks his team by not losing your place when playing well, how come Halford was sub and Jarvis lost his place v Everton?

We came under it in the second half, we held them out well but they got the goal with ten minutes left and I thought we were out of it. Nenad had had some good touches and his flick was brilliant when Kightly got the penalty. There was no messing with our first penalty of the season, and a first goal for Sylvan. I think he will start scoring for fun now, and we'll need him to if we want anything from the next three games.

Hennessey - 8 - Did well at corners and made some good saves.

Zubar - 7 - Solid and did well against arguably the best winger in England.
Craddock - 7 - Some vital clearances when we were in trouble.
Berra - 7 - Defended well against Villa's big boys.
Elokobi - 7 - Miner hardly caused him any problems.

Edwards - 7 - Started well but went quiet towards the end.
Castillo - 7 - Sometimes his passing is great sometimes terrible. Strong tackler as well.
Henry - 8 - Very classy and hardly made a mistake.
Kightly - 6 - Doesn't look confident enough to take his full back on.

Ebanks-Blake - 7.5 - Held the ball up well, his partnership with Doyle looking positive.
Doyle - 7 - Great on the ball, nearly set up a few chances.




MOTM: Karl Henry - the captain has oozed class in this hungry side, an example for the others.

Wolves v Villa: Preview

Our first local derby of the season against a team who have beaten Chelsea and Liverpool, and have a very pacy attack. Don't forget that their last three goals have come from set pieces. Any reason to be worried?

Wolves' last five league games - LWLLD
Villa's last five games - WWLDW

And yet I remain confident. This side is very good at bouncing back as we did after Portsmouth, and tomorrow let's hope we continue that. The performance away at Everton was superb, but we'll have to be better than that if we want to win. It looks set to be a game based around wingers. Young and Milner could cause us problems, don't forget Agbonlahor. We have our own, if they both start which seems unlikely. Mick is too stubborn to change the team. Jarvis and Kightly need a run of games together and then they will really get going. If he does play Jarvis, it will be at the expense of Dave Edwards, as Mick will play two holding midfielders to be safe. He will want to have Halford for the throw ins, espeically as Rory Delap's throw ins saw Stoke give Aston Villa a scare last season.

Martin O'Neill has done a fantastic job, guiding the Villans to consecutive top 6 places. He's never won in march with Villa, which is when we play them away! His signings have looked odd at times, but always come good. He has set up a brilliant team which can change it's play with Carew and Heskey. He is wary of the threat we pose, and won't undermine us.

Our problem at home is we don't press like we do away. They think they have to try and control, and give the other team to much time on the ball. Mick needs to change this, it's just not working. Mark Lawrenson has put us down for a 2-1 win, and I'll say the same. Doyle and SEB.


Probable line-up
Hennessey

Zubar
Craddock
Berra
Elokobi

Kightly

Henry
Castillo
Jarvis

Doyle
Ebanks-Blake

Player Focus

This week I will be looking at Andy Mutch (bottom, duh!).

Andy spearheaded the Wolves attack with legend Steve Bull, and struck a mouth watering partnership. Signed on our way down, an impressive 7 goals in 15 games wasn't enough to keep them up. The next season he joined forces with Bully and just missed out on promotion through the play offs. The following season their combined goals added up to 53, and Wolves lifted the 4th division title. They improved on that the season after with their partnership scoring 58 league goals (83 in all competitions!) bringing wolves a succesive league title.

While he never played for England, he did make the England 'B' team 3 times and the under 21s team once, but didn't score.

Andy was a trainee at Liverpool and Everton but never made the grade at either. He started his professional career at Southport, where he returned to in 1999 for a year. He played 75 times for s'port, and bagged 29 goals. In 1986 Graham Turner snapped him up at the Wanderers.

Part of one of Wolves' greatest partnerships, and in less of the limelight than Steve Bull, but he did something Bully never achieved. A season in the premiership. Bull did score in the top flight for Albion, but only lasted two games in the world's best league. Mutch left the Molineux in 1993 for £250k to newly promoted(to the prem) Swindon. He scored 6 goals for them in his 50 games there, but left for lowly Stockport County, where he won promotion and got to the League Cup semis under Dave Jones (who was later to be Wolves manager). He lasted two seasons at Edgeley park, and left for non-league Barrow. He returned to Southport for one game but soon joined the Telford United coaching staff.

In 2007, he stepped up from his assistant manager position to manage Vauxhall Motors. His first managerial job ended badly, and resigned after losing 6-0 at home to Kettering. His next tenure didn't end well either, where he was manager at Burscough for a a season, and was recently sacked.

Andy has also worked for a car company that specialised in selling to footballers.

Any thing horribly wrong, or something important that I've missed out?

Player ratings

Wayne Hennessey - 8 - Made some top class saves.
Ronald Zubar - 7 - Solid debut.
Christophe Berra - 7 - Only one slip up, kept Saha in check.
Jody Craddock - 7 - Had to have treatment for his head but carried on.
George Elokobi - 7 - Still improving but solid as usual.
Michael Kightly - 6 - had a quiet game and not really fit enough.
Dave Edwards - 9* - Everywhere. Positive and good on the ball.
Karl Henry - 7 - protected his back four well, and lead by example.
Greg Halford - 7 - Decent throw ins and worked hard.
Kevin Doyle - 8 - A top top player, one of the best we have had for a while.
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake - 6 - Held the ball up well, but otherwise non-existant.

Maierhofer - 7 - Unlucky to be sent off
Jarvis - 7 - Bright when he wanted to be
Castillo - 6- Added steel to the midfield.

MOTM: Dave Edwards

ROBBED

Feels like two points dropped, but asked if I would have been happy with a point, my answer would have been yes. The journey up was the time for predictions, I went with 1-0, Doyle (so close!). The first thing I will talk about will be the Everton support.

They were shocking!

I can't remember them singing one song. The wolves end enjoyed singing, 'There's only one, Joleon Lescott!'. They were very subdued and didn't look all too pleased with their team's performance.

Our worst two players, who wern't entirely bad, were Kightly and Ebanks-Blake. Sylvan did hold up the ball well, but apart from that had no impact whatsoever. He really needs a goal and should have in this game. Kightly needs Jarvis in the same lineup. They just marked him out of the game, while Jarvis only really came alive in the last ten minutes.

Zubar had an excellent debut, and Edwards was immense. He just seemed to be everywhere. He's really positive and with Henry behind him, he can be. Big George did alright but lost the Russian for the goal, he is still a slight liability but is improving. Bar the sending off, that was certainly Maierhofer's best game. On the ball, he was good and held the ball up quite well. Needs to learn how to jump mind.


What on earth was Tim Howard doing? When the line-o came rushing over to Stuart Atwell, I just assumed he was off, but instead he sent The 'Hof' off! He must surely be banned for that?

And finally, their goal shouldn't have been. We all went crazy when Doyle was fouled and the freekick not given. I knew they were going to score as the were attacking.

View on our performance? anybody else think Everton are lucky to get a share of the points? Comment.

Also...

I will be a junior reporter for the Wolves game!
I'm supposed to talk about the journey, the match and include some photos. I will be in the programme for the arsenal match apparently, but I am so excited.

Note: If the followers part does not come up properly, go to www.mywolvesblog.com, that's the new address.

Wolves v Everton Preview

On saturday morning I will be off to my first Wolves game of the season. The last time I went to a match in the premier league was at the Valley. we were beaten two nil. All I remember was 'the horse' (Luzhny) having a good game. I hope this is a more enjoyable experience, because I'm a travelling a bloody long way to see the Wolves.

Everton have had a mixed start to the season. They were thrashed 6-1 to Arsenal and were beaten at Turf Moor, but that's nothing to be ashamed of looking at their home form. Burnley have made Turf Moor a fortress, which is what we need to make the Molineux. They have some very talented footballers, many of which are missing but some great players who can fill in. I really like that Rodwell. Can't see him starting, but he looks like one for future. The russian left winger is making an impact with his dead ball abilities and crossing at Goodison park, who I have yet to see. We cannot slip up at the back, Louis Saha rarely misses and neither does Tim Cahill at the back post.

Ronald Zubar looks like he's edging towards a premier league debut. Mick has hinted, and maybe Wolves fans could be in for a shock? He'll definitely be on the bench. I think Mick will go for five in the midfield, if Castillo is fit after playing in Chile, he will start with Karl Henry and Dave Edwards/Nenad Milijas. More likely Edwards who I think has played rather well.

Probable team:
Hennessey
Foley
Mancienne
Berra
Elokobi
Kightly
Castillo
Edwards
Henry
Jarvis
Doyle

Prediction: Not expecting much, hopefully a good game but I think we might lose.

Player Focus

Ok this week I shall be focusing on..
Peter Broadbent.

He started his career at Brentford, leaving for Wolves after a year. He became something of a legend at the Molineux, playing 497 times and scoring 145 goals. He only played 7 times for England, with both of his two goals against Wales. His first goal for Wolves was against the baggies!

Broadbent had many admirers, including George Best who grew up a Wolves fan, with peter being his favourite player. Of Wolves fans I have met, lots of them have spoken about him and he sounded like a wonderful player.

Being in that team that won those three titles in the 50s, he had to be pretty good. He played alongside Billy Wright, Bert Williams and co and was one of the main players. He could fill in as the number nine, but I think he preferred to play just off the strikers. He had a powerful shot but he also had the skill to take on players.

After football he ran a babywear shop in Halesowen and then he moved to Codsall for retirement.

Have I got anything wrong? I'm just getting this from what it looks like to me. Please comment on any experiences you had of him or anything interesting you know about him.

Can we really win the world cup?

It's around the time when people start to say, we have a massive chance and all that stuff.

But do we have what it takes?

In goal we have either David James or Green (unless matt murray gets in the wolves team and keeps us up)

Our defence - we have three of the world's best in JT, Rio and Cole. Right back used to be a no-brainer. Gary Neville was great there for us but it is over for him. We need Johnson to get used to international football for him to get more experience.

Again in the middle of the park, we have two of the worlds finest. Gerrard and Lampard are fantastic players and if we have to play Gerrard left wing, with Bary in the middle, to get him to play well then so be it. Our strongest position is right midfield/wing. Becks, Lennon, Walcott, SWP, Young. All great wingers but at most there will be three on that plane to Africa but who? I think at the moment it is Beckham, Lennon and Walcott as a striker aswell. Beckham's experience and set piece abilities are invaluable. Don't forget his passing and work rate. Lennon absolutely ripped Croatia to pieces and deservedly has kept his place, he is too quick.

And to our strikers. We have one of the best talents in the world. He hadn't played well for England since Euro 2004, but Capello is slowly getting him back to his best with that position behind Heskey, who has done a great job holding the ball up.

Finally, the gaffer. He's a bit of a no-nonsense manager. He's strict but he's getting the team playing well. He's the first England manager in a while to not get sucked in to other international team's plan, slow it down. He wants England to play the way the players do in the Premiership. I think some countries, good countries, might be blown away but sometimes we might be careless and throw it away.

Can we really we win it? We have the quality, and if they carry on where they left us against Croatia, they will start to show us why they can.






Tell me what you think!









can Roonaldo silence his international critics?

Player Focus

I think every week I will do a profile on a player or even ex-player. After hearing some rather harsh citicism, I thought I'd start with fast becoming my favourite player, Michael Mancienne.

I think what impresses me most about this guy is his calmness. When he looks in trouble you don't see him panic and kick it into row z. He finds a way out which ends in us having the ball. His positioning is also very good, he likes to clean up behind after a ball has
been knocked down.

Mancienne spent the two years at QPR, and became a fans favourite quickly. He played in defence and midfield in his 58 games at Rangers without scoring.

His father Michael Snr was voted best ever footballer to play for the Seychelles national team. Although Michael Jnr rejected the chance to play for the Seychelles, I can almost guarantee he is the best ever player who could have played for them. He has already been called up to the England squad, after his impressive performances for the Wolves last season.

But what does the future hold for this man. I think he can be Rio Ferdinand's replacement, he has the quality and he will get the experience this season. He is certainly one of the best Wolves defenders I have seen, definitely the best since Lescott, with the potential to be better.

Don't agree with me? Or maybe have something to add to that. comment your opinions!

Oh yeah, and player ratings.

Hennessey - 8
Foley - 6
Mancienne - 7
Berra - 7
Elokobi - 6
Halford - 6
Henry - 7
Edwards - 6
Jarvis - 7
Doyle - 8
Keogh - 6

Subs
Kightly - 6
Maierhofer -6
Ebanks-Blake - 6

MOTM: Hennessey, made some two good saves and could do nothing to prevent the goal.

Embaressment at school...

I went back to school and was harrassed alot about the wolves. We were terrible in the first half and not great in the second. Not that it went without controversy. With atleast half an hour left we were denied the most obvious penalty I have seen this season. The linesmen was right in line with it. Had we scored frpm that, I belive we would have gon onto win. We missed a couple of sitters, The two players you'd like them to fall to most, Doyler and SEB missed them.

Hopefully the boys will get a good rest and really press against Everton, while I am there. Yep, my Dad won tickets and I could possibly be a reporter. I won't get my hopes up too high though.

Another bit of good news for me, I'm on the wolves fan of the month section, and could win a signed football. http://www.wolves.co.uk/page/GoodBadHistoryDetail/0,,10307~1817403,00.html :)

Crunch time.

Here we go.

Tomorrow we face a team who have lost all seven of their league games, haven't paid their players this week (or more) and have a man promising to inject fifty million smackers but nobody knows where the money is. Surely we can't lose
James
Johnson Dystin Campbell Belhadj

Utaka Diarra Muntari Krancjar

Defoe Crouch

That is the team from about a year ago, maybe slightly more. Only 3 are still there. That is one hell of a team but now 3 left for Spurs, 1 to Everton, 1 to Inter, 1 to Real and 1 to liverpool. Campbell left on a free and had ashort spell with notts county.

James came very close to leaving and so did Utaka.

Here is the team I expect us to play.

Hennessey

Halford Mancienne Berra Elokobi

Kites Edwards Henry Jarvis

Keogh Doyle

This could be a big game for jarvis and Kightly. Their first premier league game together properly. If we can get a lead these to will provide the counter that will destroy Pompey. Kightly impressed me against Manure and Sunderland but Jarvis has yet to rip apart a full back properly and now with another winger, he won't be so heavily marked.

When Doyle and Keogh were taken off, the game changed. For the worse. SEB and The 'Hof' failed to make any impact what so ever and when the chance arose, they got in each others way. Doyle is an exciting player and should be our biggest threat.

Portsmouth will make a mistake, and when they do, Wolves have to pounce.