Wolves played an excellent game and, have they capitalised more on (say it softly) first half domination at the City of Manchester Stadium, could have come away with more. When Milijas scrambled home a blocked shot on 12 minutes, it looked set to be a very long game for the Wolves fans. And so it proved, although in a more entertaining, but ultimately frustrating, way than certainly I was expecting.

The first half an hour was all Wolves and had we been able to get a second – with a poor shot in an excellent position from Jarvis the most notable missed opportunity – things may have played out very differently. As it was Kolo Taure get the credit for forcing home a 40th minute equaliser (although I had it down as off Dave Jone’s arse), and the teams went in 1-1 at half time. It was a disappointing goal to concede, especially as the corner from which it resulted was avoidable, but these things happen.

Worse was to follow defensively. Credit to City, and especially to Carlos Tevez (but with points deducted for the neck-warmer – seriously City are even producing these branded now!?) for attacking play that we could not live with but: 2nd goal – someone put a foot in please; 3rd goal – the worst, with the ball travelling the length of the pitch without even an attempted tackle (if you’re interested, here’s a diagram of where defensive tackles took place or, rather, didn’t).  Realistically we could have been down more and were lucky for a couple of misses after defensive errors. But to go on about this any more than I already have would be unfair on a day when the whole team deserves fulsome praise for an astonishing fightback.

At 4-1 down I knew by now we’d keep trying but no one I think in that stadium was expecting the nail-biting last 10 minutes City must have suffered.  A passing debt of thanks is owed to old boy Lescott for a definite, but stupid, penalty to get us back in it.  I was pleased to see Doyle slot that home.  A second goal can only help him.  But after that the Wolves team kept fighting, with Zubar bagging a third, and Mujangi Bia unlucky with a deflected shot that could have gone anywhere.  A Wolves team to be proud of despite the result, and despite the fact we’re back in the drop zone.

I’d like to finish with my four key observations from the game:

1. Midfield: A commanding performance from Milijas again, and Jones made a reasonable return to the team.  Jarvis may not have been as outstanding as earlier in the season, but still caused problems.  The quality of his crossing has dipped again a little though.  Here’s a picture.  It does confirm my impression that Hunt had an exceptionally quiet game (he also gave away at least two completely unnecessary free kicks), although he was key to two good moves – Jarvis’s first half miss and the penalty incident.


Purple: successful passes; Red: unsuccessful passes. Click to enlarge

2. Great to see Geoffrey Mujangi Bia come on and look to make an impact.  I believe he did enough to warrant longer on the pitch next week.
3. Zubar: Keeps improving, and a great force going forward, always looking to get in the mix and today hitting the post scoring our third.  Still prone to defensive lapses.
4. We’re in the bottom three, so there’s no point saying if we keep playing like this we’ll be ok – we have been and we’re still where we are.  Nevertheless, small improvements – defensively primarily – are certainly all that are needed at this stage, and Mick and his team are perfectly capable of delivering them.

Within the first two minutes we were a goal down (admittedly to a fantastic strike from Varney) and chasing the game. Early substitutions made a difference, but we conceded another and despite sustained pressure, couldn’t level the score. Plenty of parallels to Bolton last week, although I’d argue that we played better overall yesterday.

'What went wrong?' 'We couldn't defend and couldn't score, but the midfield weren't as bad as last week'

Over more than one game, results very rarely come down to luck. We have nine points from fourteen games and have lost the last four. We have played well, with the exception of some fits of hoof-and-hope against Bolton, in all of those four games but, self-evidently, we haven’t played well enough. Blackpool scored a wonder goal and defended splendidly yesterday. Our keeper made a rare but bad error, which cost us a goal, and our forwards lacked incisiveness in finishing and positioning. There were times when a player took on a shot and should have passed and vice versa. We were not good enough when it really mattered.

We weren’t far off, however, and the not-good-enough has come down to single decisions – chances not taken, tackles not made: Foley letting Varney in for the first, Hahnemann flapping for the second, Ebanks-Blake not being sharp enough to run onto a spilled shot from the keeper. Reverse those, which the current squad are capable of doing, get some belief back, and we’re good enough to stay in this League. Whether we will is a different question which, in a remarkably similar way to last season, relies on McCarthy finding and sticking with his best team.

Today was a classic of this not happening and plenty of questions will be asked about McCarthy after this result. However much Blackpool have surprised everyone this season, they only had one home win prior to this, and these are the games we’ll need to pick up points from. Leaving out Milijas was strange, but then he had played in Bulgaria on Wednesday, but as he came on to good effect after 30 minutes, perhaps he should have started. Conversely, he’s been too keen to integrate Hunt, who could make a difference to the team in time, but is not up to pace.

The whole game was frustrating, but the margins between success and failure have been extremely narrow. McCarthy should stay and be given the chance to tip the balance and turn things around. But this does have to happen very soon.

Wolves start digging

We’re no further up the table, but a little pride and confidence has been restored after recent results. Watching the Wolves today I was delighted not to have chosen to watch the overpaid mercenaries in blue every week, for all the wins I’d get to see.

It may have ended as a routine win for Chelsea, but Wolves gave them a good game, and created their own chances along the way. Most significantly, we continued to attack and put players in the box right up to the end of the game. In a game of plenty of positives, there are however, two glaring negatives: 1) no points; 2) if we’d shown this belief against West Ham, we’d have won the game.

All credit, however, to McCarthy and the team for not only recovering from last week’s self-inflicted disappointment by looking to the take the game to the champions, but also trying to play a bit of football for a change.

Wolves ultimately were punished by a skillful counter attack on 20 minutes, after their best patch of play, but didn’t use this as a excuse to stop trying for a goal. With more clinical finishing and a bit of luck we might even have got a goal of our own: Edwards, Van Damme and Doyle all had decent headed chances, and it was good to see Milijas with the confidence to go for goal (would have been even better to see him hit them anywhere other than at the keeper). Chelsea it was who got the next goal, however; finally killing the game off in the 80th minute. Wolves played at the top of their game, but Chelsea always had the class to punish even the smallest mistake, without really breaking a sweat.

In the centre of defence, Stearman and Berra both didn’t get too much wrong, and were beaten by two very slick Chelsea moves. Ward wasn’t too bad, but Foley was excellent, linking very well with Jarvis going forward.

The enforced changes in the midfield worked out very well. Jones gave a generally assured performance, and played a good passing game, with Milijas also looking comfortable on his return to the team. Edwards worked as hard as ever and was involved in some good attacking play. I’ve always liked Jarvis, but he’s rapidly becoming my favourite player.

Van Damme was decent in the first half, but it was a big boost to the team to see Hunt come into the team in the second half. Despite a predictably hostile reception from the home fans, he looked sharp in the attack, and made a couple of important defensive interventions.

At the front, Kevin Doyle looked sharp, lively and much more the player of last season.

Chelsea were better, but the Wolves team did us proud today. Keep it up and we can dig ourselves out of this hole. The season starts here…

Lets look at the absentees: With Henry suspended, Mancienne ineligible to play against his parent club and Guedioura injured, Wolves suddenly look bereft of decent central midfield options (and, let’s face it, still a bit shaky on the wing with Hunt unlikely to be up to speed yet).

Interestingly, McCarthy has apparently – according to the Express and Star - signalled he’s ready to hand Milijas a start (see, all he needs to do is wait for the rest of the squad to fall apart around him). McCarthy also came up with my quote of the week in praise of his player.

Nenad’s a very talented player who can keep the ball and pass it to a shirt the same colour as his.

Milijas - can pass, might play

While the E&S reports this with no sense of irony, I’m sure there was a bit of a twinkle in Mick’s eye – I hope our definition of ‘very talented’ hasn’t sunk that low yet. That Milijas may be good enough to play, even if only in the absence of the rest of the central midfield, comes as a bit of a surprise. I hope he takes the opportunity to impress but, Chelsea not being the easiest of opponents, I also hope he doesn’t get completely written off if he sometimes fails in his assigned role.

Fletcher will probably keep his place on the right wing, despite looking completely unsuitable whenever played there. I’d like to see Van Damme brought into the midfield as he’s shown the strength we’re going to need in this game, with Jones or Edwards dropping to the bench.

Defensively it looks like we’ll be missing Craddock for a bit longer. Much as we’d benefit from his experience, his absence is unlikely to be felt as greatly: Stearman came in last week and did a good job in partnership with Berra.

Despite a lacklustre showing against West Ham, Doyle is the best option solo up front.

So, we can’t field our regular team against the Champions (lost one in last 15 at Stamford Bridge) away from home. Oh, and Drogba will be back for them. Does this mean we’re bound to lose? Of course not, a number of teams have gone to Stamford Bridge and very nearly given them a scare. McCarthy will have kicked his team into shape after last week’s terrible second half capitulation and they’ll play out of their skins for the whole game. Milijas will seize the opportunity to show he really is the player we all want him to be and we’ll defend hard to grab a 2-1 victory. (Milias & Doyle)

And then I woke up…3-0 Chelsea.

Is that a Fulham fan I see before me?

Another solid defensive display against an uninspired Fulham side.

A large and loud Wolves contingent had filled the away end and taken over much of the ‘neutral’ Putney End of the ground, but in truth there was little in the game to get the pulse racing. But on a beautiful sunny day in south west London, the neutral stand made a refreshing change: Although the vast majority were behind the Old Gold, there was a fair smattering of actual neutrals or Fulham scarves cohabiting very amicably. Perhaps this can only be achieved at a relatively trouble-free (fan-free?) club like Fulham, but it was good, and I would be happy to see more of it.

Oh I do like to be beside the riverside

There was probably less to say about the game than the crowd. Wolves made a habit at times last year of a certain gung-ho ‘score one more than you’ approach to games. This season, for obvious reasons, couldn’t be more of a contrast, as Wolves adopt more of an ‘if we’re not going to score, nor are you’ line.

It’s immensely satisfying to see the defense shored up this year with an unexpectedly brilliant central defensive partnership. Craddock was fine again, this time against Zamora, Berra was sound and Zubar continues to impress on the right. He was tough defensively, survived a couple of hard tackles, and willing to get involved in the attack when possible. Elokobi had one of his best days, so an all round impressive defensive display.

It is clear, however, that our attacking options will need a serious shot in the arm in the transfer window. Kevin Doyle didn’t see a great deal of the ball with the midfield failing to create much of note, but managed a couple of shots wide of target. Edwards, otherwise fairly quiet, also saw a shot go (some distance) over the bar. Jones was disappointingly quiet, given recent performances. Jarvis, also not living up to recent form, and then Jones repeatedly failed to deliver corners which cleared the first defender.

Guedioura came on to little effect for the last 15, closely followed by Milijas, who put himself about a bit and worked hard to get the ball forward, but without having much more impact than anyone else.

Zamora came closest for Fulham, seeing a good strike sail past Hahnemann and off the outside of the post in the second half.

Other than that, neither keeper was seriously threatened as the game played itself out to a quiet stalemate and a good point on the road to Premier League survival for Wolves.

It would be nice to feel a great deal more secure, as even with only three games remaining, the table can be changed a great deal with a few lucky/unlucky results, but I’d rather be us than Hull.

‘Stealth Craddock’ managed to thump in a goal in the third minute from what looked like a suspisciously off side position, but no one at the club was about to spurn that piece of luck. Wolves went on to dominate in the first half, with Milijas in particular in fine form, but went in only one goal to the good at the break.

Bolton raised their game in the second, but it was Wolves who got the crucial next goal, with an absolute stunner from Milias from 30 yards out. Cue a Bolton revival and a certain degree of panic evident in the Wolves defensive ranks. However the team held on for those all important three points against fellow strugglers, ahead of trips to Spurs and Manchester United.

A good all round team performance, and an impressive return to the starting lineup for Stephen Ward.

Feeling quite positive at 0-0

Still, plenty of positives as well as worries to take from the game. Mancienne, Milijas and Halford all looked good additions and Henry better than I expected. Wolves played a good attacking game but need to learn to be a great deal more clinical. And most of all, the season’s back on and there’s another game on Tuesday

Right, now I’m off to teach my new friend ‘the unamed wolfie’ (more on this later) how to talk proper…