Hull City v Wolves Preview

Last Meeting: A 1-1 draw that Wolves fans left thinking we should have won it, especially after Vokes good chance to win it at the end. Geovanni opened the scoring early on but Richard Stearman cancelled it out.

Form - Last five games:
Hull - DLLDDL
Wolves - WLLLD

Danger man: Without Jimmy Bullard (thank god) Hull will look to Stephen Hunt, the player Wolves have been linked with all month. If he plays, he will be the man we need to watch. He works really hard and has a great cross on him. If he doesn't play, expect to see him in a Wolves shirt soon.

We have lost way too many games to opposition around us. Especially at home, where we have lost to West Ham, Portsmouth and drawn with Hull. We now have to go get points away at these teams and this is where it has to start.


A win will put us four points clear of Hull, probably our biggest rivals for that final position in the bottom three (Pompey and Burnley looking down already). I think we will win this game, because it is away. Some of our best performances have come away, when the expectations are not so high and they boys aren't under pressure.

We will either play 4-4-1-1 again or 4-4-2 with Sylvan Ebanks-Blake in. Most likely the first one though.

Hahnemann

Zubar
Craddock
Berra
Ward

Foley
Mancienne
Henry
Jarvis

Milijas
Doyle

Two nil to the Wolves with Doyle and a late Ebanks-Blake goal when he comes on. If you are going, roar the lads on and have a great time!

Rock Solid

A very good defensive performance from the boys. They didn;t get behind us once and never threatened our goal properly. If we can defend like that every game, we won't see many goals fly in our goal.

I thought Zubar was fantastic, even if he messes up he just forgets it and tries to win it back. Mancienne was again flawless in centre midfield next Karl Henry, who really flew in with some crunching tackles.

Our attack was good. We were certainly more likely to score against them then they were against us. Jarvis was unstoppable, Carragher had no idea how to handle his kind of pace and we nearly scored from one of his crosses.

Doyle upfront on his own was too much for the 'Pool centre backs, all his performance lacked was a goal. Milijas off him looked comfortable, and tried hard too.

Hahnemann - 7
Zubar - 8
Craddock - 7
Berra - 7
Ward - 7
Foley - 7
Mancienne - 8

Henry - 8
Jarvis - 8
Milijas - 7
Doyle - 9 (MOTM)

Hopefully we can take this onto saturday, which we must must win. Will Mick stick with the formation, or go more attacking?

Wolves v Liverpool preview

Our second game in a few days at the Molineux, with Liverpool our opponents for the second time in a month.

Our last game against them filled me with confidence that this time had enough in the premier league. Until we had a man sent off, which brought a lot of controversy, there was absolutely no difference between the sides. If anything, we should have been ahead when Doyle missed a complete sitter.


This time round, the confidence is not so high heading into the game. We haven't scored since the Burnley game in the league, and we lost a big game last week. Liverpool have since won against Tottenham, but drawn to Stoke and lost to Reading at home.

I get the feeling Ebanks-Blake will be dropped for this game. New signings Mujangi Bia and Guedioura could be in for a starting place tonight. I think we will play two defensive midfielders, with three more attacking midfielders. Henry and Adlene in midfield with Jarvis, Milijas and Bia in front.
Doyle upfront of course.

Gerrard could be in contention to start. Whether he starts or comes on as sub, he will still be half fit and we need to take advantage of that. Without Torres and Benayoun too they are just not the same. If we can get at them from the start, we will give them a scare.

I think an early goal will be important. Get a goal early, and it will fill the whole side with confidence. Don't and they will be getting more anxious to.

Probable team:

Hahnemann

Foley/Zubar
Craddock
Berra
Ward

Henry
Guedioura

Bia
Milijas
Jarvis

Doyle

Two one to the Wolves, first goal inside five minutes from Doyle. Then Guedioura to become an instant hit with the fans with the winner late on.

Also, give Reina lots of stick if you go!

Wolves chance of survival

One of the blog's new authors has sent me an article alrady. Hayden is poster on the BBC's 606 forums. Here it is:

6 teams aiming not to finish in the bottom 3. Wigan, Burnley, West Ham, Wolves, Hull, Bolton & Portsmouth would all take a 17th place finish.

Business done in the next week could strengthen or weaken each clubs chances of this target of "17th or above"

It seems as though West Ham will be signing at least one striker, an area they do need to improve, I feel the rest of their team are quite capable of finishing above the dreaded relegation zone.

Bolton, who wont be strenghtening their side too much but will not lose any of their better players, one thing in Bolton's favour is Owen Coyle who seems to install belief into his players which will give them confidence they can finish 17th or above.

Wigan who are set to seal a £6 million deal for a striker who hasn't featured in the Villarreal first team will be seen as a gamble but its a gamble they are prepared to take. But Wigan could be losing some of their better players such as N'Zogbia and Figueroa to better Premiership teams. But if they can put a consistant run together I feel they will have enough to stop up.


Portsmouth look likely to finish 20th and with them not doing any buiness and maybe losing better players like James, will do them so favours whatsoever.

That leaves Hull, Burnley and Wolves, 3 teams and 2 can go down.

Burnley cannot bring anyone in who will be "quality", they have been linked with a good left back, Dan Fox from Celtic but will he be the difference between relegation and survival.......I wouldnt think so. Alhough Burnley wont be losing anyone its fair to say their sqaud as a whole is poor and with Laws in charge I really do think they will take one of the places Hull & Wolves dont want to find themselves in.

So after looking at 4 out of the 6 clubs it looks like Hull and Wolves will be battling for one survival place, which is interesting as our main target in the next 6 days is Hull most creative player Stephen Hunt.

Wolves need another creative player, a winger who creates chances, Hull need to reduce their wage bill, something they are struggling to do, so on the 30th January we may well see Hunt in Hulls colours but I am confident that on the 7th February Stephen Hunt will be lining up at St Andrews in Gold & Black of Wolverhampton Wanderes. To me the following quote from Moxey really matches with my thoughts that they really want to bring Hunt to Wolves.

"Chief executive Jez Moxey said: “We’re continuing in our efforts to bring in one or two players, but it’s proving extremely difficult.

“Clubs are very reluctant to part company with their best players, although there’s still time to do some business with the activity hopefully hotting up as the deadline – a week today – approaches.”

If we don't get Hunt I think we should focus on a Striker, as there aren't many other wingers available. I'd rather spend the "£4million" on a good striker than splitting the budget on 1 average winger and 1 average striker. I feel if we add Stephen Hunt the need for a striker isn't so urgent and will will be well equipped to reach our target we all wanted, Premiership football in 2010-2011 season.

Not alot has happend at any club in January regards to transfer dealings, but I get a feeling we might see a few players move on in the last 3 or 4 days of this window.

We've signed another, from the same club.

Adlene  Guedioura has signed on a loan deal from Chaleroi (the very same club our other signing this month has come from)

After seeing a video, he looks like quite an agressive player but good on the ball. Good enough in all areas. I think this might see us change to four five one. I was in favour of this at the start of the year but have gone off it. Ebanks-Blake could be out with Guedioura in the more defensive midfield position next to Henry, with Milijas in front of him.

In other news, it looks like both Kites and Edwards have had minor set backs. Keogh has started running too!

Saved

I think had we lost we could have counted ourselves unlucky, a draw was probably a fair result. Annoying that we have to go to a replay now, and it will not help our cause in our battle for survival.

Our debutant from the bench Mujangi Bia looks very promising. He made the second equalizer and caused Palace problems with his pace. Hopefully he can create some goals like he did today in the future. Once again, Doyle was one of our best players. He completely changed it when he came on and hit the bar with his first touch, what a start that would have been for him.

It's good that we kept fighting back when we went a goal down, we showed some spirit and for some points in that game I thought it was going to be the usual Wolves, dominate but can't get the goal.

Another plus was to see Zubar score at the right end! Sounds like a cracking goal and Jones scored a good goal too. I think Jone swas probably our most dangerous player. He kept on delivering perfect corners in and made some chances with his range of passing.

Hennessey - 7

Zubar - 7
Mancienne - 7
Berra - 7
Elokobi - 7

Foley - 7
Henry -7
Jones - 8
Surman - 7

Ebanks-Blake - 7
Vokes - 7

Subs: Doyle - 8, Bia - 8, Ward - 6

I think Jones deserves man of the match, closely followed up b y Doyle and Bia.

The only positive I see out of getting a replay is I can probably go to it!

FA Cup preview: Wolves v Crystal Palace

Palace come to the Molineux this weekend, and will probably come witha lot of self-belief. They have been doing well in the recent weeks (on the playing field, not off) and have some players who on their day can produce something.

A lot of attention has been on young talent Victor Moses. He has shined recently and even himself said he thinks he is ready for the premier league. Rumours are he won't play so that he's not cup tied when someone buys him.

Someone else who has been performing well for Palace is Darren Ambrose. He has had a superb season and is the second highest scorer in the championship - all of his goals comning from mdifield.

Our new recruit Mujangi Bia looks set to be thrown into the deep end. This will be Bia's chance to prove himself to the Wolves fans.
Most people will be interested to see how Mick picks his team tomorrow. we have a game on wednesday which is arguably more important so he might rest his stars. Mick being Mick though, may pick a full team.

I don't think he will, some first team players but not all.

Hennessey
Foley
Zubar
Berra
Ward

Jarvis
Henry
Jones
Surman

Iwelumo
Ebanks-Blake

Sylvan really needs a goal, and I hope he can get one. I've been saying for weeks now he will score and soon I will be right!
3-1 to the mighty Wolves!

The transfer window finally begins.

We've signed another attacking midfielder to help us with our goalscoring problems. Mujangi Bia has signed on loan doeal with a view to a permanent deal. He looks quite exciting with lots of promise.

I think now we might see a few more, I wasn't expecting many signings at all. Just shows you though, lots of rumours about Hunt, Beattie and Johnson but we sign someone we had no idea about.

I think Mick has hinted at a couple more. This might rule Fode Mansare out, and any other winger we have been linked with. If we get Mansare we would have to buy, as we have used our non-english loans up.

Come on you Wolves, looks like he could even play on saturday.

Keep the faith

It was a dissapointing result on saturday, and everyone has seemed to turn gloomy all of a sudden. I don't think there is a need for us to panic. Everytime this young team has suffered a setback , they HAVE bounced back. When we look down, they find something within themselves to conjure up a brilliant performance. We have the perfect chance in our next league game against Liverpool.

I didn't think we were as bad as people were making out. Ebanks-Blake should have put us ahead, but he missed that soley on confidence not ability. In that first half our best performers were Milijas and Mancienne. Hahnemann saved us after Stearman stupidly gave away that penalty, there was no need for it and he left us deep in it.

The second half started better. We controlled for ten minutes but then we were caught out. What Webb was doing I do not know, it was terrible. When their guy Thomas was sent off I thought 'yes, we are back in it' but the Wolves team obviously thought otherwise. We didn't go for it, and let in another.

Hahnemann - 9

Stearman - 5
Mancienne - 7
Craddock - 6
Ward - 6

Foley - 6
Milijas - 7
Henry - 7
Jarvis - 6

Doyle - 7
Ebanks-Blake - 6

Subs: Iwelumo - 6, Jones - 6, Surman - 6

Wolves v Wigan preview

Two wins from our last three home games suggest good home form. Ok, so the wins have been Bolton and Burnley but they are the teams you have to beat at home. Wigan definitely fall under that category, especially as this could be our chance to get our first ever premier league double over a team.

Wigan have been the most inconsistent team in the league. Their win on the first day at Villa was followed up with defeat at home to us. They beat Chelsea, lost nine one to Tottenham and then the next week kept a clean sheet.

There is no doubt they have some quality players though. On their day, they can play some terrific football. Obviously that has come with their manager Roberto Martinez. Rodallega has been their main source for goals, while Jordi Gomez and Charles N'Zogbia provide him with the chances. Their defence has been nothing but leaky, despite having one of the best keepers in the league and some not bad defenders in front of them. Mario Melchiot is a great player, with the experience while Titus Bramble is slowly proving those critics wrong. They have just signed the SPL player of the year Caldwell. Their left back, Edman has done well except against Aaron Lennon.

On to the Wolves. We are probably favourites in this match and will have some expectations. This doesn't really suit us, but we have to step up and get ourselves up that table. If every result goes right we could see ourselves at the lofty heights of twelth.

I think our line up will be pretty easy to guess, unless Mick just changes the whole side.

Hahnemann

Stearman/Zubar
Craddock
Berra
Ward

Foley
Henry
Milijas
Jarvis

Ebanks-Blake
Doyle

I think all of us are desperate for Sylvan to score, and I'm backing him too soon. I predict a 3-1 win, Ebanks-Blake, Doyle and Milijas.

West Ham game off

The match tomorrow at Upton park is off. I think it is mainly because of safety around the stadium.

Another weeks rest for the boys instead then. Bring on Wigan!

100% record so far.

We made hard work of it but we earned a tie at home to Crystal Palace. A decent draw I must say, Palace mid table in the championship, we should send them out of the cup.

It was a good goal, the pass by Milijas was sublime and the finish equally as good by Matty Jarvis
A better team would have scored at least four. They had a few chances but they weren't as good as us on the ball.

Hennessey - 8

Stearman - 7
Mancienne - 7
Craddock - 7
Ward - 7

Foley - 7
Henry - 7
Milijas - 8
Jarvis - 8

Ebanks- Blake - 7
Iwelumo - 7

Subs: Vokes - 6, Elokobi - 6, Halford - 6

Despite his moment of madness, Hennessey was superb. He made two fine saves and commanded his area well.

Onto the new year.

What does 2010 bring us? Will we end the year in the premier league, or in europe? Maybe a cup run is on the cards. I'm content with premier league football, and this month could prove vital. We need to make the right signings, and I'm confident we can.

A french winger Mansare is supposedly in talks for a loan move. He is probably a right winger, with Kites and Edwards injured. I'm not sure why Mick wants him because they are back pretty soon.

FA Cup Preview

An away trip to Tranmere is what the FA cup draw brings us, a team struggling since the end of last season. John Barnes was brought in after Ronnie Moore took them to seventh, it's all been donwhill since then. Barnes has been sacked, they lie third from bottom too.

Usually I feel very worried of an upset but I don't think I really care. We have more important matters this season, and a cup run might even be bad for us! Mick will field a storng eleven, but I doubt a full strength one. He will give some a chance and rest some fo our star players.

Of course it is unusual to watch on the internet and it be legal, we are the first ever premier league side to play live online. While I won't be bothered if we lose, it might be good for confidence if we get some goals.

I think he will start with Ebanks-Blake, he could easy get some goals which will leave him mich more confident for the West Ham game. Vokes has been brought back from loan, and will most likely be sub. The Hof could start, but he might miss due to illness.

Elokobi and Mancienne were very good at centre back at Man Utd, and I expect Mick to play them again. Zubar and Hill should fill the full back places. Kevin Foley will continue to get some games and play right mid. Castillo and Jones could make a good pairing. Last season Jones was our creator and contributed massively, he will want to take his chance to show us why he should be in the team.

I reckon the team will be this:

Hennessey

Zubar
Mancienne
Elokobi
Hill

Foley
Jones
Castillo
Surman

SEB
Iwelumo/Maierhofoer

I'll go for a 3-0 win, SEB to get two and Jones to score a curling freekick.