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Aston Villa were one of the worst teams – or rather put in one of the worst performances – I have seen at Molineux this season (our own lacklustre fumblings included).  Wolves, on the other hand, produced by far their first half performance.  This game should have been won but for three things; Berra’s clumsiness, Henry’s stupidity, and Robbie Keane’s brilliance; and the greatest of these was, inevitably, Robbie Keane.

Plenty of people might have suspected it was written in the stars that Keane would get a goal today, but I suspect few foresaw what a pivotal part he was to play.  I’ve not been bothered for years about seeing him back at Molineux, but this was certainly the worst-case scenario for any Wolves fan his second coming.

The first significant action of the game happened when Berra dithered over a Jarvis backpass into the penalty box, allowed Bent to dispossess him, and then clumsily felled the attacker on the road to nowhere in the back corner of the penalty box.  A completely indisputable penalty and a completely unnecessary one.

Bent slotted away a poor penalty and Villa were ahead.  As seems to be the way with this Wolves team, going behind stirred them to show that they could attack, and as they proved on this occasion, in spectacular fashion too.  First on 21 minutes, Frimpong skillfully set up Kightly who produced a perfect shot from the edge of the penalty area to beat several players and the keeper and to level the game.  Kightly and Frimpong in particular continued to delight, with Jarvis also proving a headache for his opponents as we have so regularly seen.

It was unfortunate that the ever-energetic Edwards didn’t show the same composure and we had seen moments before, hitting a great opportunity unmarked from the centre of the penalty box tamely straight at Given.  Moments later he was able to atone by flicking Johnson’s header past the keeper from a few yards out.  Wolves continued to dominate, with the bad guys surviving another goalmouth scramble to go in at half time only one goal behind.

It was inevitable in the second half that Villa would improve: They’re not a bad team I hear, but actually they didn’t look up to much at Molineux.  Neither, unfortunately did Wolves after such a promising first half.  It could be argued that bringing on Warnock after the break stifled Kightly, but realistically he already looked tired, but was mainly isolated by Wolves’s insistence that attacking via Jarvis on the left was suddenly the only way forward.  While he was still often able to beat the pair of Villa players who were able to concentrate their energies on him, the tactic was predictable, and the quality of crosses in the circumstances inevitably variable.

Four things conspired to break this dull deadlock.  First Keane produced a brilliant quickfire strike from outside the penalty area.  Hennessey may well think he could have done better, and it was worrying to see the otherwise excellent Welshman beaten again from long-range, but there’s no disputing the quality of the strike.  Then Henry, slightly backheeled Albrighton who had been hanging onto his other leg resolutely for a few seconds while the referee watched on.  A completely indisputable sending off and a completely unnecessary one, although never a dangerous move, just a silly, frustrated one.   Granted it was frustrating that a foul should already have been called, and granted Albrighton made an embarrassing meal of the incident, but it was the worst way for Henry to end an otherwise excellent game for him.  Albrighton is the only Villa player I would have taken into our team based on their showing yesterday, but were he a Wolves player I hope I would still have had the sense to be ashamed of his behavior.

Then Frimpong, such a key driving force until then, was carried off with an eye injury after an unfortunate collision with Petrov’s boot.  I wish him a very swift recovery – apart from anything else, it looks like we’re really going to need him.

Then from long range again Robbie Keane produced surely the best strike we’ll see from him in the remainder of his career, and the rest is history. With 10 man Wolves had a frantic last eight minutes, but it was too little, too late.

So there we have it, in 90 minutes, Villa mustered an undisputed, but completely Wolves self-inflicted penalty and two brilliant goals.  This would not have happened on another day and we would have won the game.  This loss was not down to ill-luck, as McCarthy implied in his otherwise spot on post-match interview, but to both genius (of the type I’m prepared to bet we won’t see from Keane again) and of stupidity from Henry and, particularly Berra (of the type I’m prepared to hope we will not see again) and therefore, while trying not to read too much into a good 35 minutes of play, can be considered a freak result.

Devastating as the second half was to witness, the selection was right, Kightly and Frimpong both showed themselves to be game-changing additions to the starting line up, and I’m sticking with the whole team, management and all, to turn around this sinking ship.  Just.

Having been asked to answer a few questions by the folk at the lovely bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk, I sensed a fine opportunity to 1) actually have the energy to write a game preview and 2) recycle some content – very eco.

Out of politeness, of course, I took the opportunity to ask some searching questions of them in return, which went something along the lines of: “So, I assume you’re reasonably happy with how things are going…What’s your predicted line up and score?”

Hart

Richards
Kompany
Lescott
Clichy

Barry
Yaya Toure

Silva
Aguero
Milner

Balotelli

and I think it’ll finish 3-0 to us.

My own humble contribution is as follows, but I really struggled to forsee what team the usually eminently predictable Mick might pick.  Am I kidding myself that yesterday might have changed anything?

1. Who are Wolves’ key players?

Stephen Ward, who in most people’s mind has always been a makeshift left back, has been a revelation this season.  He’s not had much in the way of a competition from the rest of the team, but has been the one consistent player this season.  Unspectacular but excellent.

Jamie O’Hara has got a lot of stick recently – often justifiably as he’s been very careless – but he’s got enthusiasm to burn and, if he gets a chance to play further forward than he has often this season, will be instrumental.

New arrival Roger Johnson will, I suspect, be key one way or the other. Judging by recent form it will be by bungling to let in a goal or two, but we’ll need him to be up to his best to keep the defence tight.

We’ve got a few patchy geniuses in the squad.  Milijas, Guedioura and Hammill all have it in them to change games, but Milijas puts in nearly as many anonymous as commanding performances, and the other two are still pretty hit and miss – always wanting the ball, but either great or completely
overreaching themselves.

2. Were you happy with the business conducted during the transfer window?

I wouldn’t say happy, but I think it’s sensible.  Lacking either the recklessness of other teams or the flowing oil money of others (mentioning no names; brushing chip off shoulder) the amount we spend is always going to be relatively modest.  With that in mind, I would still have liked to see at least another quality centre back, but thought we got did well to get Roger Johnson and Jamie O’Hara.  I am getting less happy as the weeks pass though. Johnson and O’Hara both looked excellent buys but neither has played to their potential so far this season.

3. What are your expectations for this season?

Finishing 16th, with a lot of pain and bickering on the way.

4. Are you happy with the manager?

Yes.  We’re on a very poor run, and going 2-nil down at home against Swansea was a touch trying at the time but he’s the most successful manager the club has had for more than 30 years.  I like him and think he cares as much about winning as anyone, although I do wish he’d shut up moaning about the fans booing him.  Not that he’s wrong, just that it’ll only make things worse. It’ll stop soon enough if we win a few games.

5. Are there any rising stars in the squad that we might not have heard of?

Wolves used to excel at bringing young talent through the academy, but haven’t had done well of late, with Mark Davies at Bolton and Joleon Lescott being the most notable ‘recent’ products  We do have a better recent record of improving ‘bargain basement’ players, with the core of the squad – for
better or worse – still composed of the team that won the Championship a few years back.  Matt Doherty is the only youngster to make it into the first team of late, and judging by his two appearances this season, could go far. At junior level and now in the reserves, Zele Ismail has been making gentle waves for some time, but he’s a secret and if I told you I’d have to kill
you.

6. If you could have any City player in your team who would you choose?

There’s quite a choice and we probably wouldn’t be turning any of them down, provided they’re willing to take a little pay cut for the glory of playing for Wolverhampton.  I should say David Silva on recent reports but, for sentimental reasons – and because I think our comedy defending of late is
the main reason for the ongoing lack of confidence amoung the team – I have to say Lescott.

7. What is your perception of City as a club?

Obviously a quality bunch of players, and finally looking like gelling as a team, but overriding perception would have to be summarised as “upstart oiks ruining the league (further) for the rest of us with lots of money and being very good”

8. Likely Wolves starting XI for Saturday, and score prediction?

Predicting the score is a scary prospect at the moment.  Wednesday was one of the best Wolves performances of the year so however much I want to say we’ll surprise everyone, I think I’d be going out on a limb.

Predicting the Wolves line up is usually very easy: Fans – me among them – will bay for some combination of Milijas, Hammil or Guedioura to start and for a change in defence, but Mick will stick with the same team as last week.  This time I think a few players made a good case for a place in the starting line up and we might even see a little bit of a reshuffle. I’ll go (with no confidence this is what we’ll actually see, although surely we won’t play two up front):

Hennessey

Stearman – Johnson – Berra – Ward

Henry – Milijas

Hunt – O’Hara – Jarvis

Doyle

and wouldn’t be surprised to see Guedioura and Hammil make an appearance.

Hell, I’ll say it anyway – we’ll surprise everyone…

and only lose 2-1.  But I always hope for better.

Come on Wolves!

Protected by a flying start to the season, Wolves have amassed an unenviable record of late, culminating on Sunday with a defeat to West B**m to complete an unmatched run of 5 straight losses – their worst run since 1984.

Many fans are baying for McCarthy’s head and performances have been worse than most last season, with the notable exception of some decent spells against Liverpool, Spurs and Newcastle, against whom we deserved at least a point, and would have got it were it not for the sterling work of Mike Halsey and his boss-eyed assistants.

Perhaps it’s my own streak of that McCarthy stubbornness that makes me say this, but Mick deserves longer to prove people wrong.

That his record at this club – in the Championship and the top flight is better than any Wolves manager of the last 30 years speaks for itself.  We are in our third Premier League season, and not the only team to find it doesn’t get any easier. McCarthy has built a sound Premier League team with relatively modest resources (still primarily from the best of a Championship winning team, but I’ve no problem with that).  Of late there seems to be some frustration in the ranks, but there’s still no doubting McCarthy’s ability to get the best from good hard-working players (I’ll save the debate about whether he can get the same from less hard-working but more creative players, as that’s not what we have).  His players are underperforming in whatever tactical formation they play.  This will change.  Johnson has clearly yet to settle, and there’s no reason to believe that the rest of the team are suddenly worse players than they have been in recent years.  I wanted Hammil to play on Sunday – he did and he was as average as the rest of the team, Ward excepted again – but that’s no reason to think he or the rest of the team are no longer good enough.  Seven points from eight games sees us in 16th position.  Had those points been spread more evenly over the eight games, I’d be feeling dissatisfied but not panicked.

With good early results against poor opposition we did flatter to deceive; results since against average-going-on-good opposition have been poor.  Of course this has to end – and soon.  The below results, give or take a couple of points, are both achieveable and important, and would see us in solid mid-table form.  Nothing more can be expected, slightly less is more realistic.  Early results might have raised expectations that signing two decent players over the summer might have somehow turned us into something more, but the club continues its course of steady and safe investment, which will prove to be the best course as more teams implode in a futile attempt to stay near the biggest spenders.

My wishlist:

Swansea 3pts
Man City 0pts
Wigan 3pts
Everton 1pt
Chelsea 0pt
Sunderland 1pt

Fail to achieve that – fail to address last season’s pattern of being very nearly good enough – and I might just change my mind, but right now, there is no reason to do that.

So, in the end it did come down to the magic 40 points, but Wolves found themselves yoyo-ing either side of the survival line numerous times on an action-packed afternoon.  Alternately thrilling and devastating, it was a nail-biting rollercoaster, and ultimately when the music stopped, Wolves found themselves still playing with the big boys.

It’s not often a loss can be the subject of such celebrations as we saw today but, believe me, us Wolfies will be partying into the night, and probably a fair way into next week too.

Let's get the party started

So many times it could have gone the another way.  Wolves have never been a team to do it the easy way, but going three nil down was a hammer blow.  Blackburn came out the blocks fighting, and Wolves looked in danger of going down more brawling with fighting, with Henry sailing particularly close to the wind.   Defensive frailties that have plagued us throughout the season came back at the worst possible time.

Even with a torrid first half though, we looked likely to be helped out by the teams around us until Blackpool took a plucky lead (it’s ok to patronise them now they’re in the Championship again) away at Man U.  As Wolves recovered in the second half, with the introduction of Ebanks Blake and a more confident approach almost having an immediate effect, the numerous permutations played themselves out in front of our eyes when Man U went ahead, Birmingham went behind, but then Wigan took the lead.  Then when Birmingham equalised, we were suddenly on the way down on goal difference.  We should take satisfaction that Hunt’s goal to take the game to 2-3 meant that in the end we probably had done enough to save ourselves without Tottenham’s injury time winner against Birmingham.

We may not have done it in style, but we did enough, and so it’s goodbye to West Ham, Blackpool and Birmingham.

When the partying stops, of course, they’ll be plenty to think about.  Despite some brilliant spells, Wolves made heavy work of their survival – I hope – will have to take a long, hard look at their defensive options next year.  We were recently flagged up as one of only four teams in the league to make a profit in the last financial results and, discounting Arsenal’s boost from property sales at Highbury, the only one with any significant profit – £9m in the first Premier season.  The gamble paid off, but in the greed league there’s a fine line to walk.

But that’s for the future.  For the Wolves fans for now, there’s just the party.  Congratulations to McCarthy, Morgan and Moxey and to the whole team for a remarkable end to a remarkable season.

It’s been too long: too long since I last blogged, and too long since Wolves put in a convincing performance.  Newcastle seemed at the time like it would be an aberration, but it has proved to be the start of some serious relegation standard play.  Our away form has always been poor, and home form seems racing to catch up.  It has always been clear that Doyle was a pivotal player, but I for one have still been surprised how little we’ve been able to create in his absence.

Today could have been just the jump start we needed to launch an undeserved (on recent form) escape from relegation.  Wolves were gifted the early goal with an undeniable – and completely unnecessary – penalty conceded by Ben Foster for a foul on Ward, who was going nowhere.  Six minutes in, Fletcher slotted home confidently and Wolves had the lead.  It could have been our day for once.

Player advantage: 1. Shots on target: 1

A further gift came in the form of the sending off of Craig Gardner for a second yellow.  The Birmingham fans will have been unhappy with the referee giving a second yellow for a dive, but should perhaps spare their ire for the player who sought to get an advantage by cheating, even when the advantage to be gained was not that great.

Unfortunately by this point Wolves had already surrendered the lead in an all too familiar bout of shocking defending – this time with Mancienne the guilty party (a change at least from Berra or Stearman, I suppose) and Hennessey weak in trying to atone for the midfielder’s shocking header into the path of Larsson.

It can be notoriously hard to break down 10 men (and Wolves certainly find it so – when did we last beat 10 men? Ok, Blackpool, but other than that I can only remember the failures: Man U, Gillingham off the top of my head, but they’ll be many more I forget) but we failed to create any real chance of note despite the advantage.  The replacement of Jarvis by Hunt killed what attacking threat we had carried, and a 1-1 draw was a fair result.  O’Hara continued to raise expecations only to frustrate them; Henry gave the referee every chance to level the playing field by sending him off; Hammill looked, when he first came on for the second half, a candidate to give us real attacking threat, but too soon joined in the tactic of long balls into the box.  Ultimately, there was a lot of running, too little passing, and almost no spark.

Can we stay up?  Absolutely.  By definition, the teams at the bottom of the table tend to lose games – we’re bad but not alone.  Despite picking up only two points from the last five games, we’re only one point from safety, with three games to play.

Will we stay up?  The squad’s not changing and we’re unlikely to get anyone back from injury now, so if the players we have available now can’t play better as a team (and there’s been no sign in the last month that they can), we’ll need a very healthy dose of luck to get the results we need.  We were gifted plenty of luck today, and completely failed to capitalise, so let’s hope Santa’s willing to give us a second chance.  I find it hard to be hopeful but, while there’s everything to fight for, I’ll keep believing!

Next up West Brom, and I’m sure we’ll have no problem beating them, but we have to play for a win, and we have to believe we can achieve it.  Belief is a difficult commodity for teams in our position to come by.  Mick McCarthy has a week to instill it in his team.