The fightback: Wolves 2 Man City 1

How good does this win feel?

At last a good performance has been rewarded with three points against a side hoping to be in a title race. Every single player did their bit to secure our first league win since the opening day. After Stearman's ridiculous foul, I thought that was it. For us and Richard. We pulled it together and got a valuable win.

Once again, Jarvis was excellent. It helps that we have an alternative option with Hunt, as it frees up some space for Matty and it showed. Micah Richards is very quick, but Jarvis still beat him every time. His crosses, especially from corners, were accurate and caused the City defence problem.

I keep talking about the same players, and once again you have to praise Kevin Foley. He's a top class player. On the ball he was confident, he supported his winger and made some vital interceptions.

The best player on the pitch for me though was David Edwards. He's always been someone who gives his all and annoys the other team, yet lacking in quality but today everything he did today was superb. He was a lot more positive today and was a threat when attacking. His goal was fully deserved.

City will be disappointed with losing but there's no way they can say we didn't deserve to win.

Hahnemann - 7

Foley - 8
Stearman - 6
Berra - 7
Ward - 7

Jarvis - 8
Milijas - 8
Henry - 7
Edwards - 9
Hunt - 7

Doyle - 7

Subs: Elokobi - 7, Mouyokolo and Mancienne - N/A

Next up Man Utd, where we were unlucky to lose in midweek. With us playing so well, we could go and give them a game.

Wolves v Man City Preview

Following close defeats at Chelsea and Man Utd, we return to Molineux hoping to gain some unexpected points to help halt a poor recent run.

Sure, the last two games were very good performances and we proved we can be a tough game for the best of teams but we need points. Anyway will do.

There is certainly a fight for places. Stephen Mouyokolo looked a class act at Old Trafford, and will be hoping to get his long awaited Wolves Premier League debut. Another Stephen, Hunt, completed the full ninety minutes for the first time in nine months. Jellle van Damme was brought off at half time last week, and didn't play in the midweek game so he should be fit and fresh to play. George Elokobi played well too, but this season he has often been dropped after performing well.

There are three reasons I think we can get something from this tough match.

1. Carlos Tevez is injured, so they lose a high proportion of their goals and all their work rate up front. With forwards such as Adebayor and Silva likely to play, this should allow us to play as we did at Chelsea and play the ball from the back.

2. Matty Jarvis is flying at the moment. In one week, he's caused problems for the best full back in the world and ripped apart to ex-England internationals. With Micah Richards powering forward, he should have space to attack down the left. 

3. Karl Henry is back. He'll give us something extra in the middle. He's had time to clear his mind and focus on football. Next to Milijas, he will be doing a lot of work winning the ball back for us.

Man City are a good side and in my mind, genuine title contenders. With three defensive midfielders, it allows their three forwards to focus on just attacking. Their full backs will be able to bomb forward and not worry.

Here's what I think the team will be:

Hahnemann

Foley
Stearman
Berra
Ward

Van Damme
Jones
Milijas
Henry
Jarvis

Doyle

I reckon it will be tight. 1-1. Jarvis to open the scoring, and Balotelli to score late on.

One more thing. Make sure you give Joleon Lescott a fantastic reception. He was a truly great player for us, and served us well. Who knows, he may even being playing for us sometime soon..

Is Premier League no longer 'best in the world'?

Here's an article sent to me by Thomas. Want to write for the blog? Contact me through the 'contact me' page.

Gyan - warming the Sunderland bench

Sky have repeatedly told me that I am paying to watch the best league in the world for more years than I care to remember. However, have the company's advertising men finally been forced to watch on as the last strand of credibility capable of backing up this claim disappears now that the Premier League has seen just three of its players included on the Ballon d'Or shortlist, and none of them English no less?!

Although the lack of English players on the list will, all too predictably, lead to accusations and outrageous claims from those looking at football betting tips concerning an anti-English bias, it is clearly the case that English football is not in the position it was a few years ago, despite the amount of money that has been spent on bringing the ‘top talent’ to the Premier League.

With Sunderland having their current reserve striker on the list, a man who missed perhaps one of the most high-profile penalties in World Cup history, it seems that it could be plausible that those voting for the shortlist could have made a few errors. However, it is undeniable that the Premier League's leading lights have not been at their best over the past year, especially when compared to the likes of Messi or Xavi, who have shone at a level Premier League fans can only dream of seeing on a regular basis.

Taking this into account, it seems that the Premier League’s physical nature has been at least partially responsible for players not wanting to cash in on the big bucks the league has to offer.

It now seems the case that the lure of the almighty pound is no longer enough to draw the top players to the Premier League and, with that in mind, it may well be that the Premier League sides of the near future will no longer be able to fight amongst the football betting odds for the top prizes in European football.

Wolves 'will get results soon'

Here's an article by Will. Want to write for the blog? Contact me through the 'contact me' form.

Mick McCarthy claims his Wolverhampton Wanderers side have shown they can cope with the best in the league and results will come soon that can help them climb out of the relegation places.

Wolves have not won a game for over a month and that was a Carling Cup victory over League One Notts County. In the league they have not tasted victory since the opening day and as a result they sit firmly rooted in the bottom three with only the beleaguered West Ham below them.

They were defeated by leaders Chelsea at the weekend, and now have to face Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal in their coming three games and the Premier League betting  suggests Wolves will continue to struggle for another few weeks.

McCarthy reckons his side can take some encouragement by the fact they caused Chelsea "many problems" at Stamford Bridge and managed to handle them "as well as most teams" have so far this season.

"That's the level of performance that we have to have week in, week out," he said.

"If we play like that against other teams we'll get results."

His striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake has echoed McCarthy's sentiment that Wolves can recover, even if the Premier League tips hint they will have to wait a while for a win.

The 24-year-old claims it is "early days" in the league and every player at Molineux is "optimistic" that Wolves can pull out of the Premier League bottom three in the near future.

Didn't like this cup anyway

What a second half.

Man Utd came out with all guns blazing, Wolves came roaring back, Jarvis was unstoppable and in the end it was decided by a Little Pea.

Once again, Wolves put in an impressive performance that shows we are here to play and compete with the big sides. There were moments of misfortune, which shifted the game in United's favour but we didn't let our heads go down. Expect a good performance again on Saturday.

Surely someone has told Capello about Jarvis' performance last night? Against two ex England internationals with years of experience he ran riot. He set up four or five good chances that we should have converted. On Saturday, when we get these chances we need to be a bit more clinical. Even if we did score two goals.

Another Italian who should be watching our games is Giovanni Trapattoni. Our second best player, by quite some distance too, was Kevin Foley. He showed all the class required to play teams at the top end of the table, and if he keeps playing like this will be spotted by someone. He get's himself into some great positions, and despite not possessing any pace or power always causes trouble in the other teams area.

Hunt wasn't quite there today. He made some sloppy passes, and at times lost concentration. The impact he is going to have is there too see. He's an infectious player and once properly fit will boost us. Fletcher too was sloppy on the ball. He got himself into some great positions yet, unlike him, he couldn't keep his cool. Up front with him, I was impressed by Ebanks-Blake. Sharp, hardworking and creative and words most Wolves fans would use to describe him but he will be in Mick's good books after that performance.

Hennessey - 7

Foley - 9
Mouyokolo - 7
Berra - 7
Elokobi - 7

Jarvis - 9
Mancienne - 7
Jones - 7
Hunt - 6

Fletcher - 6
Ebanks-Blake - 7

On to City. I see no reason why we can't give them a game. Especially if Jarvis plays like that.

Prediction League: Want to win a signed Wolves football?

It's that time of the week!

Once again, well done to wolves1992 who scored the most points this week with a huge 82. That extends his lead to 102 points at the top. There's still plenty of time, anything can happen.

There's still plenty of time to catch up

Here are you fixtures:

Arsenal v West Ham
Blackburn v Chelsea
Everton v Stoke
Fulham v Wigan
Wolves v Man City
Man Utd v Tottenham
Aston Villa v Birmingham
Newcastle v Sunderland
Bolton v Liverpool
Blackpool v West Brom

Good luck!

League Cup Preview

So we travel to Old Trafford for the first time since that game (which will no doubt be mentioned, or more). Many will see this as a break from the pressures of the league, and give our first team players a break but this is a good chance to have a decent cup run for the first time in years.

Players in and around the first team like Mujangi Bia, Elokobi, Fletcher, Hennessey and Ebanks-Blake could have a good chance to stake a claim for a place in the side come saturday against City while Hunt and Mouyokolo will get more minutes under their belt.

Even a second (or third) string Manchester United side is a decent one, so whoever they put out will give us a good game. Michael Owen returns, while youngsters like Macheda and Obertan will be raring to go. They'll have a couple of senior players in the team, such as Carrick or Scholes who have the ability to create something out of nothing. We'll have to watch out for ex Wolves loanee Darron Gibson who has developed a taste for goals in the past year.

I'd love to see a couple of youngsters given a go. Batth sounds like a promising defender and I can see him getting a chance. David Davis, recalled from, his loan spell at Walsall may get a chance simply because we have no one else.

It's hard to know, but I think:

Hennessey

Chance to shine

Foley
Mouyokolo
Batth
Elokobi

Mujangi Bia
Mancienne
Milijas
Hunt

Ebanks-Blake
Fletcher

Hopefully we'll have a good old go at United and I can see us winning. 2-1 Wolves.

A cause for optimisim: Chelsea 2 Wolves 0

Typical.

Wolves put in their best performance of the season away to the best home team in the country. Rolling it out from the goalkeeper, fluid football and plenty of possession against the highest goalscorers. That's probably the best performance from a visiting team Chelsea have seen in a while!

Almost everything seemed right. David Jones and Nenad Milijas looked like they'd been playing alongside each other for years. Why have they never played together before? Berra was outstanding at the back, as was Foley. Stearman hardly made a mistake all game, and a part from a couple of sloppy passes Ward was fine.

We always looked comfortable on the ball, playing it around and getting it into our wingers feet. Jarvis, not even playing in his favoured position was superb against probably the best left back in the world in Ashley Cole. When Stephen Hunt came on, he freed up a bit of space for him as they couldn't double up on him. We had some natural width and it looked good.

The only player who didn't play that well was Dave Edwards. He looks shot of confidence, you can see it in his passing. Too often he puts someone in trouble, a bit like Ward does. When Henry comes back, you'd expect him to drop to the bench.

Why can't Jelle Van Damme finish a game? He was solid, as usual and always troubled them in the air. But if he can't play more than an hour what use is he? It's very similar to last year with Milijas, and he's playing full games now so perhaps he's just blooding him into the Premier League.

Milijas has finished each of his last three games

Hahnemann - 7

Foley - 8
Stearman -7
Berra -8
Ward - 6

Jarvis - 9
Jones - 8
Edwards - 6
Milijas - 7
van Damme - 7

Doyle - 7

Subs: Hunt - 7, Fletcher and Ebanks-Blake N/A.

If we can keep this standard of football up will we start getting some good results. We've got the league cup next to give players like Mouyokolo and Hunt a chance to get fit.

Wolves up for titanic battle

Here's an article sent to me by Will.

Wolves need to work incredibly hard if they want to pull themselves clear of the Premier League bottom three as they have one hell of a month ahead of them.

Mick McCarthy's men ended a run of four successive defeats last weekend, but even then they only scraped a draw against the team at the bottom of the table, and West Ham could have got a winner as their forwards wasted chances and had a goal controversially ruled out near the end.

It looks increasingly likely that Wolves could be marooned in the Premier League relegation places in the coming weeks. They face Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal in their next four games - and given their recent form the Premier League betting suggests Wolves face a monumental task.

McCarthy has called for his men to "be ready" for what the teams fighting for Premier League title will throw at them. But one of his players thinks it is not out of the realms of possibility that Wolves could create a stir and take points off the big teams.

Striker Kevin Doyle claims the club "should have got something" in the matches at Molineux against Chelsea and Manchester United last season, so they have no need the opposition in the coming month.

"We definitely improved against the bigger teams as the season went on," he said.

"We've got a run of games against some of the best players in the world. It's exciting for us and if we can get something from the games, it will be a bonus."

All four sides are Premier League tips for the title, but the pressure will be off Wolves and that may help their chances.

McCarthy himself said he was not scared of the coming run of games, issuing a rallying cry for his players to "get something" off their more illustrious rivals. That does seem unlikely however and many fans could fear if the club are adrift in the Premier League relegation battle in a month's time.

Thanks Will. Want to contribute? Send me an article if you'd like to get involved and I'll post it. Use the contact me form to get in touch.

Chelsea v Wolves Preview

The run we'd been worrying about for weeks starts here. Away at the champions.

They started as they left off, scoring goals, goals, goals. West Brom and Wigan both conceded six against them, both teams considerably higher in the league than us. Of course, they couldn't carry on scoring like that all the time and the goals have dried up in the last three leagues games, scoring just two. They'll still be in a confident mood, rightly so as they face a team with one win in eight.

It's difficult to know what on earth the side will be at Stamford Bridge. No Henry, no Mancienne and no Guedioura in the middle. Does Foley take the holding midfield role? If so, then who goes to right back? I get the feeling Van Damme might be set for a role in the middle of midfield. He'll have a lot of work of work to do against some of the best midfielders in the world.

Stephen Hunt looks like he'll play a part too, I reckon he'll join Van Damme in the middle at some point. Him and Jones can be the players we get the ball too for some kind of creativity while Van Damme looks after the defence. I hate to say it, but Fletcher will be on the wing. I'd rather have Doyle out there, as he is more mobile but Mick seems to disagree. Doyle and Jarvis will complete the attack. If we are to get something from this game, we need these two to cause the Chelsea defence some problems.

Team:

Hahnemann

Foley
Stearman
Berra
Ward

Fletcher
Edwards
Van Damme
Jones
Jarvis

Doyle

Mick might go for something completely different though. It would be a huge shock, but maybe young David Davis who is travelling after returning from Walsall will get a game. This will be a huge test of how we can do over the next few weeks, I expect a decent performance but Chelsea to break us down eventually. 3-1.

Prediction League: Want to win a signed Wolves football?

We had plenty new people predicting this week! Keep 'em coming.

While Wolves1992 still tops the league, it's second that scored the most points this week. Bob China has reduced the lead at the top to 38 points.

 Here are this week's fixtures:

Tottenham v Everton
Birmingham v Blackpool
Chelsea v Wolves
Sunderland v Aston Villa
West Brom v Fulham
Wigan v Bolton
West Ham v Newcastle
Stoke v Man Utd
Liverpool v Blackburn
Man City v Arsenal

Good luck!

Wolves look for cup run

Here's another article sent to me by Thomas Rooney.

So the draw for the League Cup fourth round is in, and it’s Wolves who have been gifted the glamorous tie at Old Trafford. For lower league teams, this is the draw that all the fans (and increasingly, the chairmen) have been praying for, but Wolves may be forgiven any feelings of regret at not having been drawn against the likes of Northampton Town or Ipswich.

And no disrespect to those sides, but with the job facing Mick McCarthy’s men this season in the Premiership, a cup-run could be just what the doctor ordered – but if this is to materialise, it seems they will have to do it the hard way.

Carling Cup betting pundits note how Manchester United will almost certainly continue with their policy of squad rotation, despite heavy criticism following their dour 0-0 draw with Rangers in the Champions’ League, but will still fancy their chances against a Wolves team struggling for form, and more importantly, goals.

Having previously beaten Southend and Notts County, despite both games requiring extra time, it looked as though Wolves may have fancied themselves in this competition – especially having seen the likes of Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool all eliminated in the last round.

But Manchester United at home have to be seen as strong favourites with Carling Cup Odds for both this tie and the whole competition, especially considering the manner of their comprehensive 5-2 victory away at Scunthorpe in the last round.

Wolves will be hoping to recall the previously injured Steven Hunt, who has been stuck on the sidelines for the last eight months with a broken foot, but with Manchester United’s strength in depth, and considering Michael Owen’s ruthlessness at Glanford Park, it seems likely that the current holders will be strong favourites to book their place in the quarter finals.


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Wolves hungry to show ability

This was sent to me by Will, from BetFair. It was sent a few days ago but I couldn't post it. Anyway, here it is:

Having had to sit back and listen to controversial Fulham skipper Danny Murphy argue that Wolves are too aggressive in their style of play, Wolves fans can nevertheless take pride in the fact that theirs is a side which has obviously got under the skin of a few of their Premier League rivals.

Despite enduring a difficult start to the season, Wolves are quite clearly capable of rising far further up the table than their current form suggests. However, they are facing a run of tough games against Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City, so it may be some time before Wolves stop being talked about as potential relegation candidates this season in the football predictions 

Should Wolves manage to pick up a few points from these upcoming fixtures, something that isn't altogether impossible bearing in mind the shock results seen already in the league this year, they will be able to carry a high level of confidence into their fixtures against sides which they will believe are more than capable of being defeated with relative ease.

However, even if, as the Wolves betting suggests may happen, the side come unstuck and find themselves on the wrong end of a few high-scoring games, their fans will take solace in the fact that the number of games left this season in which their team will be expected to come away with nothing has reduced drastically.

With sides such as Blackpool highly likely to find themselves hitting a dip in form sooner rather than later, and West Ham still failing to reach the heights that their owners clearly believe they are capable of, as long as Wolves can avoid losing their belief in their own ability they should stay up and start to become a lasting fixture in the Premier League, something that their fans could once only dream of.

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Blown it: Wolves 1 West Ham 1

It all seemed to be going perfectly. One nil up early, dominating and playing well. But we couldn't find another. Had we got a second, I'm sure they would have folded.

Once again, we've been unlucky and it's swung the game around. From various reports I hear that it's never a penalty, and then we had an appeal turned down!

You have to look at the team, we needed a goal but we offered nothing and created nothing. I like Edwards, and the booing is not helping but he's not someone you look to for a bit of magic. Where was Milijas? In limited appearances last season he saved us with moments of magic or a decent set piece.

Why give Ebanks-Blake four minutes? He earned his place in the team, and was dropped while in good form. You could tell we missed Henry, which is terribe because we won't even have Mancienne in the next match to hold it together. It looks like it will have to be Kevin Foley.

It's all looking very bad, and with these four fixtures coming up we could be adrift with no wins in eleven. Somewhere, somehow we need to get some unexpected points.

Prediction League: Win a signed Wolves ball!

Sorry for missing the week before last, huge computer problems going on.

Well done to Wolves1992 (again), with 40 points. Can anyone catch him?

Fixtures:

Arsenal v Birmingham
Bolton v Stoke
Fulham v Tottenham
Man Utd v West Brom
Newcastle v Wigan
Wolves v West Ham
Aston Villa v Chelsea
Everton v Liverpool
Blackpool v Man City
Blackburn v Sunderland

Good luck!

Murphy is the brainless one

Does Danny Murphy honestly think his comments will help?

This will do him no good in anyway. Against the teams mentioned, they will be fired up and he will be a target. Let's hope the FA ask him to explain his comments. It's stupid.

Have any managers complained? Chris Hughton didn't, Mark Hughes didn't, David Moyes didn't. Tackles are part of football and if he can't handle that he should quit.

What's weirder is that he's not exactly a clean player. When we went to Fulham, the two worst tackles of the game were by his side and one of them by him!

As good as player as he is, he has certainly gone down in my estimation. He'll get a great reputation at the Molineux, not forgetting the Britannia and Ewood Park.

Wigan 2 Wolves 0

The international break can't come any sooner. We need to regroup, maybe makes some changes and put together a strong performance against West Ham.

Karl Henry has really let us down. He's been a vital player for us in the premier league, but that's a terrible tackle. A first glance at it and it seems harsh, but each time you watch it it gets worse.

It's an awful result, which leaves us looking deep in the brown stuff but we can't panic. It's way to early for that. There are plenty of points to play for and it wouldn't surprise me if we got a couple of shock results. After the break, there are many faces you expect to have a chance of breaking into the side. Hunt , Mouyokolo, Zubar and Van Damme will be fit by then and I'd expect a couple of them to be in the side that faces the Hammers.

We weren't left with much of a chance after the sending off. There were some good performances in the team. Foley, Craddock, Berra, Mancienne and Doyle were excellent. Jarvis was never in the game, he had to much work to do. Ward was disappointing again, I thought it was very unfair on Elokobi that he didn't start. Edwards, for all his work, isn't creative enough. We were crying out for someone to make something, all Edwards could do was pass it straight back to the person he had received the ball from.

Hahnemann - 7

Foley - 8
Craddock - 8

Berra - 7
Ward - 5

Jarvis -7
Edwards - 6
Mancienne - 8
Henry -5
Fletcher - 6

Doyle - 7

We have to sort ourselves out before the game at the Molineux, otherwise we are going to be in a huge mess.

Wigan v Wolves Preview

It's no six pointer (too early for that) but this game could prove crucial over the next month. We need to win this won or at least get a draw as we have a tough run of fixtures to come after this and the West Ham game.

Last season, at points in the season, when we really down we managed to pull ourselves together and get a result when it mattered. Both times after losing to Birmingham we looked deep in trouble, but we dug deep and beat Spurs both times. The game at West Ham, which basically kept us up was another when we produced. You could even say this fixture last season, when Andy Keogh headed in our first goal of the campaign was another.

And like last season, our good performances will turn into points. We could easily have seven more points than we do right now, but our concentration has let us down. If we keep playing the way we have been, we will start picking up points.

I would expect two changes from the defeat against Villa. George Elokobi in for Stephen Ward. George was excellent when he came in, possibly the best I've seen him play. The other change being Jelle Van Damme in for Dave Edwards. Despite his homesickness he's been an important player for us this season and has always played well.

My team:

Hahnemann

Foley
Craddock
Berra
Elokobi

Jarvis
Henry
Jones
Van Damme

Doyle
Fletcher

Lawro thinks Wigan will sneak a win, I disagree. 2-0 Wolves.