at 70 minutes i thought i was going to have to go home and hose the gloomometer down as we finally reached absolute zero.
for those who weren't there to witness that first half, you lucky, lucky bastárds
for those of us who were there to see what may be the turning point of the season as hunt tore the brizzzle defence apart for 5 glorious minutes, us lucky, lucky bástards
probably the worst two sides i've seen at wolves for many a year, brizzzle were even worse than wolves and must be certs for the drop on that form.
ikeme - 5: actually had NOTHING to do for 45 minutes, except close his legs, which he failed at.
doherty - 7: our best player first half and continues to look solid at the back although as with the rest of the back four, not really tested today. did more getting forward this match and gaining in confidence
RJ - 5: solid enough, though a few wayward punts up field when better passes were on
gorkss - 5: solid enough, though a...see above
robinson - 6: couple of stand out crunching tackles first half, solid enough second half though a few wa...you get the idea
edwards - 4: anonymous until injured
o'hara - 3: will miss henry more than any other player as he is now the worst man on the pitch
davis - 4: a few decent tackles and tracked back well but scrappy and did nothing going forward
sako - 5: never really got the ball to feet and soon injured
doyle - 5: thought he looked lifeless and disinterested up until SEB scored. bonus point for a good winner
SEB - 6: worked hard, didn't let his head drop, but missed two or three decent chances and wasn't really at his best until a great turn, controlling the ball off his chest and volleying home
hunt - 8: two assists, countless tackles back, never let the brizzzle defenders settle and was back to his jack russell best. could only have improved his afternoon if he'd hurdled the advertising boards on 90 minutes and started kung fu kicking the ignorant twáts that booed him onto the pitch and had the cheek to sing his name later on
siggy - 6: must wonder what he did to get dropped? must have dared to ask saunders what he has done with peszko. looked decent again in his sub role and had a couple of good shots saved.
saunders - 4: still gives me no confidence that he knows what he is doing. not sure on the true story yet, but subbing ikeme at HT leaving us to play 45 with no more substitutions available? dog knows what team will start next match, or what formation we will play.
view from the match and player scores
posted on 17/3/13
Thanks for that report gb.
Are we playing any better than when Stale was in charge?
Was Ikeme injured? If he wasn't, then to gamble on 45 minutes without another injury seems mighty bold.
Still think DS was a mistake, but if he keeps us up, then we can re-think again during the summer.
You've missed a few rounds in the ol' comp. mate.
posted on 17/3/13
Fair assessment gb. The first 70 minutes were awful, the worst I have seen at any football match. Even more woeful than the Ipswich game. But saying that with a little bit of luck and composure Wolves could easily have been two up at halftime.
We do seem to waste the ball a lot, hopeful punts and mislaid passes throughout the game. The number of times the ball was played long to SEB & Doyle. Why? Am I missing something here. I didn't realize they were both the stature of Crouch. Lucky for us Bristol were even worst. The goal aside, the only shots they had first half were 30 yards wide.
O'Hara didn't seem to be interested today. Without Henry he looked lost and very slow. Davis to me is a better option simply because he has more desire, and the legs, to get forward. Need to find some one to fit in along side. With Siggy up front with SEB and Doyler in the space behind we do have better balance.
I must admit it wasn't good for Hunt to get the reception he did. It was great he set up the two goals. He was his usual self getting about and hassling their defence. It did take a while for him to get involved, but the more he plays, hopefully he'll get better.
Finally, the South Bank. despite a couple of moments when it was out of order -- the Hunt boo especially -- I thought was on top form today. Big hand for the lads in the top corner who never stopped in the first half, despite the quality of football we were watching. After the first goal the place was rocking. Both supporters and players need to work together to get us out of this mess. There has been too much talking and not enough doing in my view. If the players perform we will get behind them. If the players are struggling the support needs to be raised. It is a two way street.
posted on 17/3/13
GB - I think your comments about SEB are fair for his overall season but I thought yesterday was one of his best 90 minutes of the season and to me he was our best player and crowned it with a vital goal. I have always said about strikers that its not important how many chances they miss its how many they score that's important and SEB remains the most likely of our strikers to get a goal.
I guess the scores for defenders just depends where you pitch things when they are not busy but do nothing wrong. I am used to seeing our defenders have little to do and then screw up so I give some credit when they hold firm. You are right that our central defenders are not good passers of the ball. Shame Stale didn't realise that and continued to base his game around passing along the back line when it was getting us nowhere.
Minster - cant agree that yesterday was worse than the Ipswich game. It was always going to be a nervy affair given the importance and anyone that went expecting to see flowing football was kidding themselves in my opinion. Our general performances are better than they were under Stale. Yesterday we had 54% possession and most of that was in the opposition half. Against Ipswich we had 43% possession and most of that was passing along our back 4.
Agree with you that Davis was an improvement on what we have been seeing from Henry. I do think Wolves fans need to take a different stance with the young players. Seems to me they call for them to play then get disappointed very quickly when they are not brilliant from the word go. What Davis needs is a run in the team and like Doherty, Sigurdarson and Batth he can be an important player for Wolves in the future if we just give them regular opportunities rather than pick them occasionally.
posted on 17/3/13
Thanks for that report Crikey.
But are we playing any better than when Mick was in charge?
posted on 18/3/13
Ikeme 4 two mistakes for the own goal otherwise had nothing to do
Doherty 6 decent going forward, little to do in defence
Gorkss 6 distribution not great but a solid performance
Johnson 6 see Gorkss
Robinson 7 a couple of excellent tackles and not bad going forward
Edwards 6 what you always get from Edwards – energy and effort without massive quality.
O’Hara 4 O’Dear
Davis 6 Did well not to let the blunder knock him too badly.
Sako 4 Anonymous. Probably his worst performance for us.
Doyle 6 Well taken goal but lacked his usual energy
SEB 8 MOTM and a very well taken goal. Missed a few chances but got on the end of those chances.
Hunt 5/8 Disgraceful treatment by the SB and a poor start from him but how important will the two goals he set up prove to be? Love him loath him he’s a tryer!
Siggy 7 Didn’t realise he was that good in the air.
Doris 6 Had very little to do.
Saunders 5 The rumour circulating is that Ikeme hurt his hand punching the tombola machine Deano uses to pick his team every week. Need to get behind him and hope he can keep us in the division but serious questions need to be asked in the summer as to whether he’s the man to lead us into next season regardless of whether he keeps us up or not.
Overall the worst first half performance since Ipswich and most teams in this division would have punished us further in that first half. Good battling performance in the second half but we should be despatching teams like City without breaking sweat.
posted on 18/3/13
Thanks for that report tatter306.
But are we playing any better than when Mick was in charge?
posted on 18/3/13
MM>DS>SS
posted on 18/3/13
Pretty much agree with all your player assessments tatter. The first half was terrible with two very poor looking teams, but such was the importance of the game I dont think it was a surprise that the quality was so low and it all looked very nervy. Hopefully the win will have lifted the elephant off the backs and lead us to play in a more relaxed style in coming games.
As for the manager, we had the ridiculous period under Stale where things weren't working but he carried on doing the same things. Now we have Saunders who is looking to find the right formula but changing things far too much. And bizarrely leaving out the likes of Batth and Sigurdarson when they had been two of our better players. But for me all debates about managers are meaningless until the summer. The only thing that matters right now is staying up
posted on 18/3/13
comment by wolfieintheSunshineState (U16306)
Are we playing any better than when Stale was in charge?
Not from what I saw wolfie, but we are playing 100 X worse than when MM was getting effort, organisation and motivation from these and similar players.
posted on 18/3/13
Cyp you were luck/unlucky enough to see our best result and worst performance under Suanders. As a rule performances have been better than under Stale and even on Saturday we had far more possession and far more shots than we ever did under Stale.