Respect? You need to earn it

An independent Regulatory Commission has today dismissed a claim from Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Nenad Milijas, following his red card for serious foul play in Wolves’ game against Arsenal on 27 December. 

Milijas has received a three match suspension starting with immediate effect.

What. A. Joke .

It's fair to say Stuart Atwell isn't my or any Wolves fan's favourite ref, he's cost us before, but he's made it ten times worse now. His failure to admit that he got this one wrong is ridiculous. We now miss an important player for three games, with no O'Hara and possibly no Edwards in the next game it leaves us with few options in midfield.

Time after time the FA promote their respect campaign, make captains at even Junior level where 'respect' armbands, but it needs to go both ways. He lost control of that game, and failed to admit it. He made horrendous decision after horrendous decision, and as a young ref he will hopefully learn from it, but why can't they reverse the decision?

Had Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United appealed against a red card for a tackle like this, do you honestly think it would have been dismissed?

How do the people also reviewing the appeal conclude that a one footed, sliding tackle that catches the ball is a red card offence anyway? Milijas hasn't got a dangerous bone in his body, and the footage shows that it isn't a dangerous tackle.

On video evidence, can they also not see that they missed two horrendous tackles by Song, which he only got booked for one of them? Both were stamps, and red cards in my eyes.

The FA really don't help themselves do they?

Wolves in 2011

It's been a year of ups and downs for Wolves, but overall I'd say I've enjoyed it!

We've defeated Chelsea and Man United, thrashed Albion and vitally, stayed in the Premier League. We've had some lows, like Stoke away, or QPR away but that is part and parcel of being a struggling team in the Premier League, something we need to move on from.

Our record in 2011

10 wins (plus three in cup)
8 draws (plus one in cup)
18 defeats (plus two in cup)

So in 36 league games, we lost half and won or drew the rest. 38 points over 36 games is not bad at all, especially considering the horrible run of form we had from September through to November. A win against Bolton could make it 41, I would imagine a huge improvement from 2010.

Team of the year.

Here are my picks for team of the year, and why I chose them:

Wayne Hennessey - What a year this man has had. Topped off by his performance on Tuesday, our big keeper has gone from strength to strength. He was a huge part in us staying up last year, and will be again (if we can keep hold of him)

Ronald Zubar - Even though he has only played around four months of football this season, I'm opting for Zubes. He always plays with great enthusiasm, gives us another dimension going forward and can be a rock for us when he wants to be. Consistency is needed from him, but his performances have generally  been okay.

Richard Stearman - Whether at right back or centre back, Stears has given us some great performances this season. He had a great game, keeping Bale quiet and he also had some great games at centre back, like the Man United game. I was hugely critical of him around this time last year, but he has really matured.

Christophe Berra - I'm starting to like Berra more with every game. He gets 'Berra' every game (sorry). He had a shaky period just before the run in at the end of last season but this year he has been one of our most consistent players and turned in some outstanding performances.

Stephen Ward - No brainer really, despite George Elokobi's heroics against United. Everyone was shouting for a left back, even me, but his standard of performance this season has been remarkable. I haven't seen him have a bad game yet, and with the fact that he was fantastic up front in the last four games of the 10/11 season means he has to be in this team.

Dave Edwards - Another one who had a long term injury, but has proved to be a huge player for us. He's played across the midfield for us, and always given us energy and willingness to get in the opposition box. Let's hope we see more of him because I don't think we've seen the best of him yet.

Karl Henry - Since losing his captaincy, has been rejuvenated. Put in some top, top performances and his late interceptions in the edge of our own area have become something of a trademark move of his lately.

Jamie O'Hara - Has generally been one of our better players, but from someone who is supposed to be a marquee player, we do need that bit extra from him. His quality does show, and I reckon once he gets fit again we'll see the O'Hara we saw when we first signed him.

Fletcher - our head boy

Nenad Milijas - Has been in and out of the team but I think, aside from a couple of wobbly performances, he had done well when he has played. It's a waste of a quality player when we don't use him, and we've seen how good he can be in the last couple of games.

Matty Jarvis - England call up, both player of the year awards, another Premier League season. You could say Jarvo has had a good year, and yet we haven't always seen the best of him. Lately he's been on fire and if he keeps it up, England will come calling again.

Stephen Fletcher - The man who kept us up, and is doing his best again! 13 goals this calendar year, in limited appearances too. Now keeping Kevin Doyle out of the team, an impressive feat! His goal scoring record is insane, he is going to be a top, top player and I can't see us holding onto him for much longer.

Freshening things up

If there's one thing I've noticed this season, is that everything seems stale. Here I take a look into what I think we need to do to freshen things up.

The playing staff

The obvious one is the players. Is our squad good enough? Does it have enough depth? We've been heavily linked with centre midfielders, and back up forwards. In a previous blog I mentioned Frimpong and Maynard (the former could well be on his way here in January) but what we really lack is out and out pace, all over the pitch. I think we need one most urgently at centre back, and a really explosive winger would be another position I'd look at. 

Nedum Onuoha has been made available by Roberto Mancini, while looking for a speedy winger is a bit harder. We do have Kightly coming back, but I'm not sure him, Hammill or Hunt have the pace we need on the opposite wing to Jarvis. Albert Adomah of Bristol City is pretty rapid, very direct and positive. A foreign player may be the option, someone unheard of to give us something different.

The coaching staff

Crap pundit, good coach

When you look at our coaching background we have Terry Connor as assistant, at Mountain for the keepers and then Tony Daley for fitness. While lower numbers will create a tight-nit unit and a great spirit, I think we need some new ideas to help out. Is it possible that the players are bored, or lack motivation? Someone new, or a well respected face could help out big time. Someone like Sammy Lee, or Ray Wilkins are both coaches available with fantastic experience and great reputations as coaches.I still believe Mick has what it takes to take us forward, but I think he needs more help.

The System

In modern football, you don't get many teams nowadays who play 4-4-2, and get a huge amount of success from it. Even Manchester United have struggled lately and with the quality of their players, it shows that when you don't play it right, you give yourself problems. The two in the middle are key, and that's where we seem to be weakest. Karl Henry does a great job of tracking, battling and tackling but he's not the best on the ball, which is fine because it shouldn't be his job. We need two dynamic players in the middle, and our closest pair to that is Henry and O'Hara, both players who like to come deep to get the ball. They are two of our most important players, and we need to start using them better.

In my opinion, our best form has always come when we have gone with a more fluid 4-5-1/4-3-3 with two attacking wingers. The three in midfield give us enough to protect the back four and also give us impetus going forward.

Mick's biggest problem is, what do we do with Doyle and Fletcher then? Fletcher is too much of a goal machine to leave out and Doyle, when in form, is superman. The closest to a solution Mick has come to has been at Old Trafford when he shifted Doyle out wide. Play him and Jarvis as more forwards than wide midfielders and it gives us the pace and power we often lack when we attack.

I would suggest a midfield and attack of this:


Edwards
Henry
O'Hara

Doyle
Fletcher
Jarvis 

Man United v Wolves preview

I'm pretty sure everyone is thinking the same thing about tomorrow's game.

Backlash.

United crash out of the Champions League, facing Channel 5 football and missing Vidic and Young through injury. It's all set up for them to play Wolves at home in their next game. Like the Chelsea game a couple of weeks ago, I'm expecting a beating.

Mick faces a few interesting dilemmas, good ones I bet he would call them. First of all, Karl Henry returns from suspension. I think we missed him last week, our vulnerability to the counter attack showing it. While we were certainly a bit more positive on the ball, Karl gives us that security and cover for the back.

Secondly, no Jody Craddock. A shame because he put in a strong performances and with a few more games may have been at his best. It would look like Roger Johnson will be the direct replacement, but a fit again Richard Stearman may be a good option. At Old Trafford last year Stearman was fantastic at centre back and right now I'd take him over 'RoJo' in his current form. Finally, our other wide midfielder. Stephen Hunt looked lacking in confidence, and I can't see him starting tomorrow. Adam Hammill impressed when he came on last Sunday and played a part in the winning goal but I see us going with Dave Edwards on the right side of midfield. I think Mick is desperate for Edwards to get a run of games under his belt so that we can finally see him at his best.

I think we will go for this side:

Thanks for that goal george, but I hope you don't start

Hennessey

Zubar
Johnson
Berra
Ward

Edwards
Henry
O'Hara
Jarvis

Doyle
Fletcher

It's quite dangerous to play 4-4-2 at Old Trafford, but at least it's a bit positive and we shouldn't see us just defending the whole game. Man United will be eager to bounce back so I only see this going one way. 3-0 United.

January Targets

Over the last couple of seasons the most we have spent is £500k in the January transfer windows, so it's silly to expect us to go out and splash the cash. There are however young players available who need games and would be a good addition to our squad. The loan signing of Jamie O'Hara should encourage the three Ms to look for more of that type. The following are players who I think we either should, or are trying to bring in.

Emmanuel Frimpong: A couple of weeks ago a friend told me we had enquired about this guy, and then a few days ago said it was a done deal. The papers seem to have picked up on it and now it's everywhere. he would be a certainty to be a crowd favourite with his all action style. He's strong in the tackle, fast and good on the ball like any Arsenal player would be.

Nedum Onuoha: I quite wanted us to go for him in the summer. It's a real waste of a good player for him to be rotting in the reserves at City. He's limited to the odd League cup appearance, he would surely be interested in a move to us. Whether it's on loan or a permanent signing, he's exactly what we need. Can play right back or centre back, a good defender and rapid.

Nicky Maynard: This is a very unlikely one, seeing as it's unlikely we'd pay 4-5 million for another forward or that he'd want to come and be back up (at first). I've watched him a few times and he's always looked class. Skillful and an eye for goal. A very good goalscoring record for a team that has struggled in the Championship over the past few years.

Michael Kightly back from his loan spell: Okay, not a signing but someone who should be back in a Wolves shirt when his loan spell at Watford ends. Hornets fans have been impressed, raving about him at times and saying he'll be back playing Premier League football soon. I'm glad to hear it, and with a run of games over the next few weeks he should be ready for first team action at Molineux. A fit and firing Michael Kightly would be a real bonus.

Got any suggestions? Think my targets are a load of rubbish? Comment below with who you think we should be going for next month!