Wolves 0 Birmingham 1: It's not looking good.

When I saw the team line up on sky sports, I was angry. Hahnemann (who did ok and made a good save) in for Hennessey. Here's a stat - Marcus Hahnemann conceded a goal on his PL debut for Wolves without having touched it. The goal isn't his fault, it was the midfielders not covering that space. It happened vs West Ham and it's happened now. If it had been at the other end, I'm sure Lee Bowyer and Barry Ferguson would havebeen there to put the atacker off.

We don't have a settled team. Last season we had Wayne in goal, Foley right back, Stearman and Mancienne when he was there (later became Berra and Craddock) with ward at left back. Jarvis and kightly on the wings with Henry and Jones in the middle. Sylvan and Iwelumo upfront. Ok, injuries have stopped us. But you'd expect some kind of consistency with the formation. Mick went for 3-5-2 for the first ever time away at Chelsea. I do think 4-5-1 would suit us but 4-4-2 does too.
I thought it was obvious at the start. Milijas in for Jones. Dave Edwards has had a good season so far though, which has gien Mick soem choices.

Onto the performance. It was horrible to listen to. Birmingham would win 9/10 headers and on the 10th, which we won, they got the second ball. We didn't create at all and had no shape I hear. Why narrow the pitch when our style is supposed to be with wingers attacking? You can't try to combat the other teams style, your have to have your own.

Here's what I'll give for marks based on what I have heard and seen.

Hahnemann - 7
Mancienne - 7
Berra - 6
Craddock - 6
Stearman - 7
Halford - 6
Henry - 7
Edwards - 6
Jarvis - 7
Ebanks-Blake - 6
Doyle - 6

Milijas - 7
kightly - 6
Ward - 6

Stearman sounded good when attacking, and the man I kept hearing winning the ball in the air was Michael Mancienne. Hahnemann made a very good reactive save too.

VitalWolves

I have jutst written an article on VitalWolves which is posted on newsnow. VitalWolves is for the fans and by the fans. You can join in, they have a forum which people post on and talk about the Wolves!

My articles is about us needing a clean sheet!

The Site:
http://www.wolves.vitalfootball.co.uk/forum/category-view.asp

My article:
http://www.wolves.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=179205

Wolves v Birmingham preview

With Portsmouth, Burnley and Hull all getting beat and Blackburn drawing, we could really stop a potential gap with a win tomorrow. We have failed to beat the teams around us (maybe Wigan), but it stops with a win this weekend. It is crucial we win, not draw and especially not lose.

Birmingham fans must be delighted with the start they've had. They have beaten the teams they need to beat and given Man Utd, Tottenham and Liverpool a decent game. Mick has admitted that he was interested in Johnson and Dann. We all knew about Dann, who had pretty much signed for us until The Blues offered him a better deal. Johnson I have never been that convinced by, and Dann I have never seen but they are being praised a lot so far.

Last season I never thought they were going up. They just didn't seem that good and they hardly scored at all. McLeish, someone else who has never convinced me, has created a decent team at Birmingham. He has been a manager at bigger clubs but this is arguably some of the best work he has done.

We have had a miserable league record over them in recent times. No win in seven (5 of them draws) but overall we have had the better record. We have won 55 of the 116 clashes while Birmingham have won 34. 27 have ended in draws.

Zubar is out, which I reckon means Stearman at right back with Stephen Ward at left back. Ward only played 60 minutes in the last reserves match which I means Mick is making sure he is fit for the match. Doyle will return to the side and hopefully Matty Jarvis will have done enough to ensure his place on the left wing. I reckon Kightly will start, which will make us more of an attacking threat. Kites and Jarvis haven't had the chance to play with each other, but this will really bring concerns to the Brummie defence. SEB sounded alright last week, a bit isolated but he nearly scored a great goal. let's hope he gets his second and third goals of the season.

I reckon a one nil win. Milijas to score his first, a real cracker which he is known for in Serbia.

Team like this?
Hennessey

Stearman
Craddock
Berra
Ward/Mancienne

Kightly
Henry
Milijas
Jarvis

SEB
Doyle

Come on you Wolves!

What should the starting eleven be?

With nearly all of our key players coming back from injury, Mick has a selection dillemma. Which defenders will play, one or two upfront? I was wondering what people think we should start with on sunday?

I like this:
GK: Hennessey
RB: Foley
CB: Michael Mancienne
CB: Christophe Berra
LB: Stephen Ward
RM: Michael Kightly
CM: Dave Edwards
CM: Karl Henry
CM: Nenad Milijas
LM: Matty Jarvis
FC: Kevin Doyle

With Hahnemann, Craddock, Zubar, Castillo, Halford, Maierhofer and SEB on the bench.

It is hard to leave SEB out, but I would go with two wingers who need to play together. Doyle has enough to play upfront on his own whilst I don't think Sylvan is as mobile and hard working.

Berra and Mancienne should be the two centre backs, but my guess is Craddock will pair Berra at the centre of defence with Mancienne at left back.

Mick might go with four in midfield. That will mean either Edwards/Milijas has to srop to the bench. It would be harsh for Edwards who has been one of our best players. Then Ebanks-Blake can play upfront with Doyle.

What formation do you think we should play? You may feel differently to me, so comment what you think.

Don't worry wayne, I'll stick up for you.

Alright, a bad result. A demoralising result. We must hold our heads high because it is after all one of the best teams in the world. We knew that getting promoted meant a few beatings, so we must not get too moany. We aren't going to go around beating all the top four. Hey, we might even get a mention on MOTD today!

Jarvis had a top game I hear, which is why I have been backing him recently to start. He is our biggest threat and created chance after chance in today's match.

Cech made a world class save, we missed a couple of chances so it wasn't all one way but our defending needs to be better. We will get better at that, expecially with Mancienne coming back. He will make a real difference, he is top class.

Searching around some articles, I have already seen the comments on Hennessey. Come on. Leave him alone, he is only 22 and is already a Prmeiership goalie. He is young and going to learn from his mistakes. I personally believe he will play for a top four club for ten years (maybe us!). Get behind him, as you would with Matt Murray and he will get his confidence back.

I think some of Mick's decisions of late have been very weird. Surman and Halford are suddenly ahead of Kightly and Foley! Surman souunded good but I think it's unfair. Milijas has dissapeared again. If we are to have a go (as he says) then why don't we play our style, instead of narrowing ourselves down to other teams styles. Mick made the pitch wider at the start of last season, and we won the league. This season he made it smaller so that we could play against other styles. What's the point? If we don't win on Sunday, he could be in trouble.

Hennessey - 6 - Made a top save from Essien.

Halford - 6
Berra - 6
Craddock -6
Stearman - 6

Jarvis - 9
Edwards - 7
Henry - 6
Castillo - 6
Surman - 7

SEB - 6

Subs: Keogh - 6, Kightly - 6,