Wolves rewarded for consistency

Here's an article sent in by Thomas Rooney. Want to contribue? Use the contact me form to get involved!

Stephen Ward believes that the win over Sunderland on Saturday was no more than Wolves deserved after a string of decent performances had gone unrewarded.

In what could end up being a turning point in the club’s season, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake scored a dramatic late winner at Molinuex after the home side had trailed with just 13 minutes left on the clock.

This was a change in fortunes for Mick McCarthy’s men after four Premier League defeats on the spin had left them rooted in the bottom three of the table.

They may well still be in the danger zone, but with safety just three points away, things are looking much more positive than they would have done had no points been achieved over the Black Cats.

Speaking about the victory, Ward said: “We've deserved that win on the back of the last few weeks. It's important that, after getting that win, we don't get lacklustre now, that we stay sharp and we kick on.”

It is certainly very crucial that Wolves do push on in the coming weeks. The Christmas fixture period is always crucial, of course, but it could be especially so this year.

Ward and co take on Blackburn next, followed by local rivals Birmingham and then games against West Brom, Wigan and Liverpool. There are some winnable games here and Wolves must make sure they are still in touch of safety when the New Year comes around.

One thing the players don’t lack is belief. They always wear their Wolverhampton Wanderers football shirts  with pride and go out there giving their all for the team.

As for whether they can survive the drop, Ward is confident. He says: We believe we can stay in this league if we keep playing the way we are and we stick to our plans.

"There's only one way to stay in this league and that's by playing to your strengths, so that's what we'll be trying to do.”

This is exactly the type of attitude Wolves need in the coming months. They mustn’t fear anyone and perhaps most importantly, they should keep turning performances into victories, much like they did at the weekend against Sunderland.

Jelle on a plane

Yep, after only five months and six games Jelle van Damme returns to Belgium with Standard Liege. His last spell in England had also lasted six games, funnily enough.

Good luck Jelle

It comes as a surprise to me, as it sounded like me might just be starting to settle in. He has a new born child, and it was believed that his family was moving to England in January.

It's a shame because he has all the makings of a premier League footballer. Strong, aggressive, good in the air (one of the best I've seen in fact) and decent on the ball. Perhaps not a left back, as we had hoped he would be but as a wide or central midfielder. It even sounded like he was one of the lads, but maybe being away from his family was too hard for him.

Moving on, what do we do with the two and half million we recouped for him? You'd expect us to go for a left back, a position we haven't had a regular in since Lee Naylor. Or could it go towards financing a loan deal for David Bentley, a player who plays in a position we could also do with sorting out?

I guess we will find out in January.

Turning point: Wolves 3 Sunderland 2

With thirteen minutes left, my facebook status changed to 'We're down'. I honestly thought we were, thinking it was another good performance ending with a negative result. But as Wolves have always seemed to do, when it most mattered, we came through with both of Mick's substitutions scoring the goals that won the game.

Mick rang the changes. Ronald Zubar started his first league game of the season, Ward came back in at left back and probably the most surprising to all was Wayne Hennessey's inclusion in the first eleven. A Wolves fan who had been informed of this on a forum had told me this yesterday (he also said we are signing David Bentley on loan in January) and I wasn't sure what to think. Did Marcus Hahnemann deserve to be dropped? I don't think so, it was the only mistake I've ever seen him make. There was nothing Wayne could do about either of the goals.

Matthew Jarvis continues to cause Premier League full backs problems game after game. He sent in a lot of dangerous crosses but we never seemed to have enough bodies in the box. Behind him, Stephen Ward supported him excellently. Kevin Foley played his part and got a goal, a tidy finish from a tidy player.

There were two stand out players for me today. I didn't think Michael Mancioenne had played that well this season in midfield but he was important in breaking up the play in Karl Henry's absence. He will need to keep this up for a while, with our skipper injured for two months now. Up front, Kevin Doyle was superb. He is so good at playing up front on his own, and when we brought another striker on he set up the winner with a lovely ball.

And who would have thought it eh? George Elokobi, Premier League centre back. He was a rock today, could he keep a place there?

Another goal for Sylvan

Hennessey - 7

Zubar - 8
Stearman - 7
Elokobi - 7
Ward - 8

Foley - 7
Jones - 7
Mancienne - 8
Milijas - 7
Jarvsi - 7

Doyle - 8

I think this might be the turning point. Next we've got Blackburn who will want to bounce back from their seven one defeat today, but I think we can go and get something.

Prediction League: Chance to win signed Wolves football

This was a good week for predicting scorers! It seemed like the obvious choices scored the goals this week which is why there was a bit of movement in the table. Box-clever moves into third, but isn't much closer to Wolves1992 who is still very far away at the top.

Here are your fixtures:

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


Good luck.

'Make the team' campaign

‘Make the Team’ is organised by v, the National Young Volunteers Service, which helps 16-25 year olds to volunteer and gain recognition for what they do through the vinspired awards scheme. vinspired.com attracts over 90,000 visits per month and has provided over 900,000 new youth volunteering opportunities across England.

v’s new national campaign, ‘Make the Team’, hopes to harness the passion and enthusiasm that young people have for football and their favourite club to encourage young football fans to volunteer in their local community.

Sky Sports commentators Martin Tyler, Andy Gray and Chris Kamara are helping  the project, along with footballers Kieran Gibbs, Stuart Pearce and David Seaman, and the campaign is being advertised on radio stations such as Galaxy, Choice, Capital and XFM and in publications such as FHM, 442 and Metro.

(Chris Kamara can be seen promoting the campaign at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIObhppBH6A)

In addition to helping communities volunteers will also benefit from the work they do. There are a wide range of opportunities covering a broad spectrum of interests and any work completed can help to develop their skills and enhance their CV. In some cases volunteering may also lead to other opportunities - such as the chance to complete the FA level 1 coaching badge - and new opportunities are being added all the time.

Examples of volunteering opportunities include:

• Coaching young children
• Stewarding at local matches
• Helping to run football groups for people with learning disabilities and mental health problems
• Delivering footballs to children in Africa
• Promoting ‘Make the Team’ online

(The full list of opportunities can be found at http://vinspired.com/make-the-team)

Volunteers will also be entered into a draw and given the chance to win tickets to see Premier League clubs. Details of how they can do this are given below.

This explains how you can volunteer:

1. Go to http://vinspired.com
2. Sign up (it’s free)
3. Go to http://vinspired.com/make-the-team, select ‘click here’ and then ‘I’d like to do this’
4. Select your favourite Premier League club and state male/female
5. Volunteer for one of the opportunities on offer
6. Upload a photo of yourself volunteering for the chance to win tickets to see Premier League clubs

(There will be two prize draws: one on 1st December 2010 and one on 1st February 2011. The opportunity to enter the prize draws will end on 31st January 2011)

As a fifteen year old, I think this is a great opportunity for people out there aged 16-25 to earn recognition for hard work and something I would certainly be interested in when I turn 16. 

Same old problems for Wolves

Here's another article by Will. If you'd like to get involve and contribute, please use the contact me form.

Mick McCarthy was left bemoaning the usual concerns of his Wolves team after another loss, this time to fellow relegation candidates Blackpool.

In McCarthy's own words, they have "problems in both boxes". Wolves are the only team in the Premier League yet to keep a clean sheet yet this term, and their strikers are still misfiring.

"I'm not blaming them (the strikers) because we've not managed to keep a clean sheet all season, we’ve not even had a base from which to play, and maybe the strikers wouldn't be snatching at things and be anxious in front of goal if that's what the case is. We're always chasing and that's difficult," the manager said.

Both Ian Holloway and McCarthy agreed that Wolves were the better side in the first half, but this will come as scant consolation to McCarthy, who has now seen his side win only two of their opening fourteen Premier League fixtures. If they are to improve this dismal record they are going to need to address both of these issues because the Premier League is an unforgiving environment for a team with even one weakness and the football betting reflects this.

Despite having nineteen shots at goal and eleven corners at Bloomfield Road, Wolves failed to come away with anything. This is especially surprising given the nature of their performances against Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United - a run of games during which their attitude and application was commended by all.

It was the games after the fixtures against these top-drawer teams where Wolves were supposed to kick-start their season, but this simply hasn't happened. The Wolves betting now indicates the side are close to being in serious trouble.

They're yet to win away this season, so maybe it's fairer to judge them after the host Sunderland next week, but if they fail to get anything from that game their problems will only worsen.

Old Gold Tune

" We banged the leather for goal!"  With original music written in Elgar's hand

 

Best known for his Land of Hope and Glory Elgar's beloved Wolves have enjoyed less of the latter in recent years. But when Elgar was a fan in the late 1890's Wolves had just enjoyed their first FA Cup win, in 1893, wearing not the club's more familiar 'old gold' but their favoured toffee-coloured strip. 

In 1898  Elgar was inspired to write the world's first football chant by Billy Malpass, the Wolves' star centre forward of the time. The Philosophy Football features the original music written in Elgar's own hand and the chant he penned 'We banged the leather for goal.' And squad number? If he'd ever kicked a ball himself Elgar would have surely been a composed player, yet a bit of an enigma with the ability to inject plenty of variations of rhythm to the midfield, well at least 14.

Perfect Christmas present for Wolves Fans. Available from www.philosophyfootball.com
  

Should've, could've, haven't

That was the most one-sided game I have ever seen in my time watching Wolves.

And we still lost.

Of course, we had to give them an early advantage inside the first three minutes didn't we? It's an amazing strike, a contender for goal of the season but I do feel Kevin Foley could have done better. After that, we settled into the game and were the better team for the rest of the half. We had all the ball and created some half chances but they still looked the more dangerous side when attacking.

Marcus Hahnemann made a very rare mistake. He misjudged the cross and watched in horror as Marlon Harewood poked home. Harewood was full of energy and running, something he never displayed in his loan spell with us.

I wasn't particularly surprised that Milijas was dropped to the bench. He had played for Serbia in the week and had been playing a lot for us recently. I was surprised however to see him come on not long until the game. Mick opted to bring him on for the injured Foley and move Mancienne to right back who I thought was superb there.

Does anything ever go our way? There were numerous penalty appeals, including one where two Blackpool players hand balled it and Nenad Milijas being brought down inside the box. Crosses fired in, never seeming to bounce the right way.

I can't understand why some Wolves fans think Doyle needs to be rested. He worked his socks off, on the ball he looked a threat and got a deserved goal. I'd back him to score again next week.

Hahnemann - 5

Foley - 6 (Milijas - 7)
Stearman - 6
Berra - 7
Elokobi - 6

Hunt - 6 (Ebanks-Blake - 7)
Jones - 7
Mancienne - 8
Henry - 7 (Fletcher - 6)
Jarvis - 8

Doyle - 8

The next few games are going to shape our season, we need some results.

Blackpool v Wolves Preview

Despite only being 13 games into the season, this could be quite an important game when we look back at the end of May next year. Lose, even draw maybe' and we could be propping up the table with West Ham. Win and we are back up there and likely to be three points off the bottom assuming West Ham don't get any points against Liverpool.

I'm hoping that we will revert back to the 4-5-1 system we had been playing so well in. Keep the ball on the ground and we can carve out chances. We did it against the best so why not against Blackpool, who have the worst defence in the league.

Kevin Doyle is still looking for his first league goal this season

I get the feeling that Nenad Milijas will be important in this game. He has a knack of producing the goods when we need them, and with his good form of late he'll be in confident mood. Alongside him we will need Karl Henry and Michael Mancienne to watch out for the likes of Charlie Adam and David Vaughan who have been pivotal players for our Tangerine opposition.

I'm quite confident that we will see, potentially, our best defensive line up. At the back Mouyokolo and Berra our both fit and I can see Richard Stearman dropping to the bench. Stears has played excellently at times but he's made quite a few blunders.He'll learn from them however I think he needs a rest. The only position I'm  not sure of is left back. Elokobi came in and did ok but Stephen Ward is Mick's first choice when fit.

I reckon:

Hahnemann

Foley
Mouyokolo
Berra
Ward

Hunt
Milijas
Henry
Mancienne
Jarvis

Doyle

It will be tight, but I'm hoping for a Wolves win. 2-1, Doyle and Hunt.

Prediction Leauge: Chance to win signed Wolves football

I've got a confession. I completely messed up last week. On posting the article on the 606 forums (where I get a lot of entries) I forgot to oput it on the Wolves board which is why there was hardly any entries. So I'm just going to miss out that week as I feel it would be unfair on them.

Here are the fixtures for this weekend:

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

Good luck!

Typical Wolves?

And it all went horribly wrong. After a string of excellent performances against top class sides we once again failed to beat the teams we need to be beating.

Bolton were excellent, but I felt they were there for the taking. they were always a threat but we gave them two of the goals and we played to their strengths too much. I wasn't happy when I found out we had changed the formation, a system that was starting to come good and make us look a really good side. Instead, we choose to play to strikers and hoof the ball up to them. Why? Both strikers I thought did fairly well considering how little service they were given. Sylvan looked sharp, Doyle more positive but it just wasn't working.

We were out battled in the middle, Holden and Muamba won almost everything there and Henry looked half the player he is. Next to him, I thought Nenad Milijas was probably our best player. He came close with shots a couple of times and he created a lot despite the ball being in the air all the time.

In only his first Premier League start, I thought Stephen Mouyokolo did reasonably well. Another Stephen, Hunt needs more games as his touch looks off and he's not quite running at full pelt. We did look like we missed Berra, who is often critisiced but we lacked his leadership in the middle.

Hahnemann - 7

Fletcher's goal meant nothing

Foley - 7
Stearman - 6
Mouyokolo - 7
Elokobi - 6

Hunt - 6
Milijas - 8
Henry - 6
Jarvis - 8

Doyle - 7
Ebanks-Blake - 7

Subs: Fletcher - 7

And just to top off a terrible day, Jarvis isn't even selected in the England squad.

Prediction League: Want to win a signed Wolves football?

Another week passes and it remains the same at the top. Wolves1992 extends his lead at the top with Bob China over 100 points behind now. Old Beaut got the most points this week with 72.

Here is the top 20 of the league:

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

Good luck!

Another late goal: Man Utd 2 Wolves 1

Blimey, that was hard to take. Such a good performance and what do we get from it? Nothing.

United took a very undeserved lead. We kept the ball from them, created the better chances and on an occasion that they had the ball in our half we shut them out. Apart from in the dying seconds of each half. And that's what has been killing us all season.

While I'm sure Mr.Capello was their to watch Jarvis and Ferdinand I wouldn't be surprised if he took note of another English player. Richard Stearman was the best player on the pitch. He was rock solid today, winning header after header. It was clear he had learnt his lesson from last week, as he stayed on his feet as Hernandez turned and lost it. He also offers class on the ball, which is why I think he should be in instead of Craddock from now on. Sure Jody has been great for us in the last year but he has made mistakes this season and it's someone else's turn.

All Mick needs to do is keep their heads up and keep calm, which he is usually good at. We have one game left of this horrible run of fixtures and once again we can go into the game believing we can get something. Hunt, Edwards and Milijas will be a bit fresher having been taken off towards the end. Hunt is still gaining the sharpness required but at times he was a threat.

Ebanks-Blake is now our top league goalscorer. Considering he's not played all the time that's an impressive tally. He now has more than he got in the whole of last season and if he keeps this up he could get into double figures. Every time he plays he looks fresh and works his socks off. Fletcher, who came on with Sylvan, had a great chance to win it. Had he kept a cool head after Mancienne's superb knock down we would have been ahead. Sometimes he doesn't look like he's gelled yet. That's understandable for a new signing but it's a shame that his sloppy pass resulted in United's winner.

Hahnemann - 7

Foley - 7
Stearman - 9
Berra - 8
Ward - 6

Hunt - 6
Henry - 8
Edwards - 7
Milijas - 7
Jarvis - 7

Doyle - 7

Subs: Ebanks-Blake - 7, Fletcher - 6, Mancienne - 6

Ignore the results, we are one of the form sides in the league. Play like this against the 'lesser' sides we will be fine.

Red Fever

Tales of a virus spreading through the United team have been emanating from the Old Trafford dressing room all week. Neville, Brown, Fabio, Evra and O’Shea (anyone who ever turns out at football, basically) are all sufferers and now it seems that even the old war horse Sir Alex himself appears to have gone down with a bout of….Jarvophobia!!!

Fortunately, our Matthew is a level headed young man who, so far at least, appears unaffected by all this talk of an England call up. Here is his typically unassuming response to a few words of praise from old red face:

‘If Sir Alex was impressed by what he saw, that’s fantastic coming from a manager of such standing in the game. But I’ve got to stay focused and keep doing well and make sure my performances don’t drop’

The form of Jarvis aside, this has to be our best opportunity (and that’s not saying much) of coming away from the ‘theatre of dreams’ with anything but a spanking in many years. Indeed, local grammar school boy Mel Eves is the last Wolves player to score  a winner there, and that was more than thirty years ago. So, why the optimism?

Well, Rooney, Ferdinand and Nani are all out injured. Fletcher, Gibson and even Fergie are reportedly ‘under the weather’ and struggling to be fit. But the real reason for the growing confidence of this young Wolves side is the way they have been playing in recent weeks. And not just in last weekend’s win over City (fine though it was). They gave Peter Cech his busiest ever game at Stamford Bridge and scared the pants off League Cup holders United ten days ago with a very attractive passing game that is deservedly winning them plaudits from Ancelotti to MOTD’s Lee Dixon (‘keep playing like that and they’ll be zooming up the table’). It’s surely no coincidence that Nenad Milijas is playing such an integral part in the revival but who would have guessed that Dave Edwards would emerge in the just behind the striker role? Or that Richard Stearman, bringing the ball out from the back, would have such an effect on the style of football being played? Sir Mick needs to be congratulated on the confidence he has shown in these, often maligned, youngsters. Kevin Foley is playing he did in our promotion year (in his natural position) and Doyle and Jarvis are a handful for anyone. If a fully fit Stephen Hunt can begin to be the pest we all remember from his Reading days we can go into games knowing we can do some serious damage whoever we play.

Of course, that spanking is never out of the question away at Man U and Obertan (like Hernandez) is definitely not to be underestimated but something tells me that Mick and his boys might be on the verge of a major breakthrough. 

2-1 to Wolves! 

by Bob China 

Prediction League: Want to win a signed Wolves football?

Another points, and plenty of points won. I'm not even going to say it, you know who is top. The highest scorer this week was AnotherSalisburWolf with 88 points.

It's never too late to enter, all you have to do is comment below and you will be entered.

For full size, go to the prediction league page

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

I will not be doing predictions for the midweek games next Tuesday and
Wednesday.

Good luck.

You're Wolves, and you know you are..

..the Wolves fans chanted to Joleon Lescott.

It sounds insane, but could Joleon be on his way back to Molineux in January? Hes not in the team, and unless Man City have two or three injuries he's not going to be for some time. And if they were to let him go out on loan I'm sure they would rather he went to club like Wolves (and pay a percentage of the wages) than to another top half team. That's why City are paying for Craig Bellamy to play in the Championship instead of Tottenham.

Obviously, he is loved at Wolves. It would be a real sign of the ambitions of the club and with him in our team we would surely be a much better side. He said:

“If the situation was right I would always come back. Wolves have been a massive part of my life.
“I plied my trade there, I’ve got a lot of very close friends behind the scenes and if the opportunity was there I’d definitely come back.
“I’m a City player and I’m fully focused on them but if the situation changed then I’d love to play for Wolves, I’d always love to play for Wolves"

Currently he's behind Toure, Kompany, Boateng and Boyata. When Boyata was sent off against Arsenal, instead of bringing Lescott on he moved Yaya Toure to the back. I'm sure he doesn't want to sit on the bench all the time so go on Mick, give Mancini a ring.

Agree, or think I'm just being daft?