I will go for a Wolves win as expecting Nuno can motivate the team to find that extra gear
Although have enjoyed last two games live looking forward to seeing it on tv, late kick off times make travelling tiring and sometimes impractical although if funds were more flush overnight stops in decent cities (like Bristol) would allow time to explore
Glad to see the fire near you seems under control Gem

expect, and be happy with, a draw.

Should be a good game on Saturday and the kind of game where we need to prove we are the best team in the division. A draw would be fine for us but a Bristol win just puts a bit of pressure on our lead at the top. The return to the team of Costa will give us a lift and I’m sure he will be a key player for us in the second half of the season. Been waiting to see him and Jota in the team together and they are surely both a level above this division. Boly could be a big miss for us on Saturday though and without him we have looked vulnerable to aerial threats as we showed in the away games at qpr and Millwall. Although Bennett and Batth are both more suited to the right side of the back three, I would play them both on Saturday and I wouldn’t rule out playing both on the right with Doherty moving to the left

This is a match where we should really make a statement. Having played well below our capabilities for about a month now, it would be nice to show the TV audience what we can do as well as put these West-country upstarts in their place.
With the most-expensive squad in the league, the two most expensive players in Championship history, the best team and one of the best managers, we shouldn't be looking for anything except a comfortable win.
Costa to replace Cav and Batth to replace Boly if he's not fit.

My prediction: 0-2

i hope nuno doesn't mess with the formation too much, DJ.

Bennett coady bath, or Miranda coady Bennett

assuming boly doesn't make a surprise appearance after all.

also expect bonatini to return to the starting line up, most likely for cav if he's injured too.

a point away will be a good result again in the circumstances. i don't think losing will cause the kind of panic we'd see from wolves of old (anyone remember losing to sheffield united a few weeks back when they were still challenging for top place?). and a win would set a huge marker for the rest of the season as we extend our lead on one of the strongest sides in the league to 11 points.

Despite being an evening game and live on tv Wolves have only 250 tickets unsold from their allocation of 3,500

Morning everyone. Late start this morning as was up most of the night monitoring the fire that was raging on the hillside less than half a mile away. Scary shat at the time with 60 homes evacuated during the night. The flying boat fire engines stationed here were up at first light and put paid to the fire once and for all thank dog.

Admin could we go live with this please?

comment by GeminMallorca (U18318)
posted 1 hour, 12 minutes ago
Morning everyone. Late start this morning as was up most of the night monitoring the fire that was raging on the hillside less than half a mile away. Scary shat at the time with 60 homes evacuated during the night. The flying boat fire engines stationed here were up at first light and put paid to the fire once and for all thank dog.
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Pleased to hear it gem

comment by Nige (U21403)
posted 2 hours, 26 minutes ago
This is a match where we should really make a statement. Having played well below our capabilities for about a month now, it would be nice to show the TV audience what we can do as well as put these West-country upstarts in their place.
With the most-expensive squad in the league, the two most expensive players in Championship history, the best team and one of the best managers, we shouldn't be looking for anything except a comfortable win.
Costa to replace Cav and Batth to replace Boly if he's not fit.

My prediction: 0-2
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Scary experience gem, glad they controlled it

Would quite happily take a point from the game as Ashton gate will be rocking and Bristol will be fired up big time.

Batth for Boly would be the obvious change given the aerial threat they possess and would start Costa, Bonatini and Jota and hope we start to see some fluidity up front again which has been missing a little the last month or so as all four have gone off the boil

comment by Cinciwolf-Wolves, passing the ball since 2017 (U11551)
posted 22 minutes ago
comment by GeminMallorca (U18318)
posted 1 hour, 12 minutes ago
Morning everyone. Late start this morning as was up most of the night monitoring the fire that was raging on the hillside less than half a mile away. Scary shat at the time with 60 homes evacuated during the night. The flying boat fire engines stationed here were up at first light and put paid to the fire once and for all thank dog.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Pleased to hear it gem
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Gem, did Denzy alert you the blaze ?
That sounds like real scary bud

Bristol city have scored 12 goals from set pieces, a league high along with Ipswich.

They also play the most long balls in the division but unlike some teams they do also have a short passing game averaging 350 a game.

If Boly is fit as I suspect he will be, Batth, Coady and Boly would be the obvious back 3.
Bonatini, Costa and Jota would be the obvious front three regardless of whether Cav is fit or not because he was terrible at Millwall.

Can't say i understand the criticism of Cav at Millwall, constantly looking for the ball and busting a bollok to get things moving whilst Jota was absent for 40 minutes.

That isn't to say Cav was particularly good but he certainly wasn't the poorest of the front three first half

That said i would agree with your front three as Jota is certainly a better player overall and love the idea of Cav coming on against tired legs, a frightening prospect against any team.

Saiss has scored three goals this season

When did that happen?!?!?

if i can say this safely in a preview thread...

city are much more like wolves were last time we were successful in this league. they get the ball forward quickly, through a lot of long balls for wingers/front men to chase down, and they have a strong forward line with some decent quality. it will be a real test of two different approaches on Friday, as it was earlier in the season at our place.

just goes to show you can be successful playing in a number of different ways, so long as the team is well coached and you have players up top and in defence who know their jobs. there's definitely more than one way to get out of this league...and not forgetting the secret path that dean saunders knows but isn't telling!

Bristol seem a well rounded team in general and can hurt you in a few different ways, can actually move the ball when needed and get it forward quick and also have the beast from set pieces.

Hadn't seen this before but an interesting excerpt from a Saiss interview recently, basically confirming what we already knew about Lamtwat.



Saïss, jovial by nature, is happier at Wolves now than he was last season, when he lost his place after going to the Africa Cup of Nations with Morocco. He had heard of players being punished for departing on international duty in the middle of the season and found it curious that Lambert did not restore him to the starting lineup until a month after his return in February.

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“The team was in difficulty towards the bottom of the table, winning matches in the FA Cup but not in the league, but I wasn’t being picked; I’ll leave it to you to work out why,” he says, suggesting he has a theory. “I didn’t want to create trouble so just carried on working but at the end of the season it was important for me to ask the manager why he had left me out of the team for, strangely enough, basically the same amount of time that I had been away on international duty. I knew the truth but wanted to hear it from him. But he couldn’t tell me, he hid behind other excuses, which was a pity. But that’s life and I just got on with it.”

Lambert was replaced by Nuno Espírito Santo in May after Wolves finished 15th. Saïss says the Portuguese’s approach has been integral to the club’s rise to the top of the Championship and the upswing in his own fortunes.

“We have a new way of playing and you can see that some players who had difficulties are able to express themselves better than last season,” says Saïss. “The relationship between manager and players is very important and [Santo] is very close to us. And his style of play is ideal. When he came he told us his plan and started putting it in place from his first training session. I realised straight away I was going to enjoy playing in his system and with his style. I like running but not just for the sake of it. I like to have the ball and play. That’s how it is now.”

comment by Cinciwolf-Wolves, passing the ball since 2017 (U11551)
posted 4 minutes ago
Bristol seem a well rounded team in general and can hurt you in a few different ways, can actually move the ball when needed and get it forward quick and also have the beast from set pieces.
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If Flint is such a danger from set pieces let's hope that Nuno drums it into their heads to stop giving away silly free kicks on the edge of the area and to avoid giving away corners also whenever possible.
Let's not forget though that Douglas is non too shabby at set pieces either.

Up until 2am myself Gem, watching England smash the Aussies in the 4th Test. Good to see Cook regain some form. I also hope we can shut Shane Warne up after he stated at the start of the series that Broad wouldn't get 100 runs. Well, with his fine score yesterday he's only 3 short.

comment by Cinciwolf-Wolves, passing the ball since 2017 (U11551)
posted 19 minutes ago
Can't say i understand the criticism of Cav at Millwall, constantly looking for the ball and busting a bollok to get things moving whilst Jota was absent for 40 minutes.

That isn't to say Cav was particularly good but he certainly wasn't the poorest of the front three first half

That said i would agree with your front three as Jota is certainly a better player overall and love the idea of Cav coming on against tired legs, a frightening prospect against any team.
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Cav's decision making on Tuesday was worthy of Enobakhare. Holding the ball for too long, always trying to do too much instead of trying to bring the others into the game. Jota couldn't get on the ball because he was pushed into the cenral role where Cav should have been. As soon as Cav was subbed we looked better and more dangerous, Costa was able to provide 2 assists and Jota looked better too.

Forgot to say that Tim Spears gave Cav a 4 in his player ratings for the Millwall game. I don't always agree with Spears' ratings but I agree with that one.

Yeah we were defo better second half but think that was more down to having a proper forward on the pitch as Jota clearly struggle in there.

Cav definitely tries too hard to make it happen at times gem, forcing the issue, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, think he gets frustrated quickly as well and the first fifteen minutes of a game perhaps decides his performance overall, hits the ground running delivers a blinder or gets frustrated and it goes downhill.