And so the Saints march in to town tonight, surely not equipped to inflict on Wolves a similar score line to last season? writes Wolves blogger Nathan Lloyd.
That was a bizarre game 11 months ago. We had all the possession and bossed most of the game and they just kept going up the other end and scored goal after goal with almost every attack.
Kights missed a pen, Breen put in an own goal and Keogh hit the post. It was just one of those days.
But it was a magical day at Molineux.
Yes, it was our biggest defeat for nearly 40 years, but it was the joyous spirit of the home crowd that sung louder and louder with every Southampton goal that really made the game so memorable.
The Southampton fans must have been mystified.
And so to this season’s encounter and the Saints have been in freefall ever since Nigel Pearson took over from George Burley.
Unlike us, they don’t have a game in hand and so if results go against them, they could well be in the bottom three by the end of the weekend.
But my concern isn’t with a plummeting Southampton; it’s with a Wolves team hopefully coming good at the right time of the season.
That frozen pitch from two weeks ago is a distant memory.
Wolves have managed two vital wins since that postponement and its help lift the mood at the club, with the fans and although he probably wouldn’t admit it, Mick McCarthy.
I’m probably not alone in wondering why Mick has to keep reminding us that he strangely never looks at the league table.
I look it everyday and often try to calculate how many points we are likely to need to grab a play-off spot.
Perhaps I need to get out more, but with seven home games and only five to play away, I’m still optimistic of a top six spot come May, when Mick finally has a butchers at the outcome of the season.
The 4-5-1 system MM has adopted as a formation to play in away games is effective, if maybe a little dull to watch. But at this time of the season I think the majority of fans will take dull if it means three points.
Tonight Mick has already stated (rightly or wrongly) that he is likely to be switching back to a more attacking 4-4-2.
We will hopefully see the team switch from nullifying the oppositions attack as we have done so well away from Molineux, to taking the game to the Saints with more positive and ambitious football that grabs us those vital three points.
It will be interesting to see with Jarvis ready to come back into the team whether Mick decides to replace Gray or Elliott.
They have played out of position in recent weeks, but both have acquitted themselves quite well and I think it will be tough on either of them if they are dropped.
Collins will probably start alongside Breen in the centre of defence with Foley and Elokobi either side.
And up front alongside SEB I would expect to see Keogh there if he shakes off his injury, otherwise it will be Kyle.
I always look forward to games under the floodlights at this time of year.
It may mean that the temperatures drop to just above freezing, but unlike the Stoke game, I won’t have to shield my eyes from the sun every time we attack the South Bank!
Mick and the team have come in for a lot of criticism since the turn of the year, but tonight they need the fans behind them.
I’m going for a 2-0 victory, Edwards and SEB with the goals.
Good luck to Mick and the boys tonight. Enjoy the game.
Oh and a quick mention for Jan Rhodes; hope it all goes well at the weekend and that you are back at Molineux for the Scunthorpe game.
47 Comments
Let’s hope that cuddly uncle Jez remembered to turn the central heating on before he went to bed last night!
If we had lost the last two games he might have forgotten again!
Abdonwolf might well have a point.
Could we see another frozen game tonight?
Perhaps Mick never wants to play another game at Molineux?
Nathan, can I detect an under tone of starting to like MM again. I hope not, he still needs to go at the end of the season and we should not forget that.
Is it wise to change back to 4-4-2?
Judging from previous poor home 4-4-2 performances this season, we may have a team that plays better on the break as has been evident with our last two games.
Predict a draw tonight, sorry normally more confident.
3 points tonight is a must!! to reach the top 6 and stay there, means defeats are a no no and draws kept to a bare minimum. all the teams above us arn’t performing any better than us, so a bit of consistency should see us up there. a decent run could still see us as high as fourth or fifth.
so lets get behind them tonight and keep the momentum going, who cares if it’s pretty or not winning is the only thing we’re concerned with now.
come on you wolves!!!
3. Davewolf
Dave, fear not, I haven’t fickled my way back into the Mick camp.
He needs to be backed until the end of the season and then we will see what happens.
With a new manager Nigel Pearson in charge, we should see a different Saints at the Mol tonight -Just hope we dont play too deep otherwise we may well give Saints opportunities to run at us
A tight game - cant see either team wanting to slip up - hopefull 2-1 win
UP THE WOLVES!!!
Nathan, I am confused.
Could you clear something up. What is the cut off point that means we get rid of mick at the end of the season ?
• We fail to make the playoffs - Mick gets the sack
• We make the playoffs but lose to West Brom in the playoffs - Mick get the sack / stays
• We go up via the playoffs - Mick stays
I agree there is No POINT to screaming for his head. so i wont. but as with everything in life, we need to look at our future, and I for one, have NO CONFIDENCE in this man charging us into the prem (for starters) , and us having a hope in hell under him in the prem (a la sunderland’s record breaking season)
We are wall Wolves fans, and we ALL want whats best for the club.
What we want is an ACTION PLAN. Do we have one mick ?
1-1 tonight
COME ON YOU WOLVES
The reason for the reaction against Soton last season was a combination of us over achieving lowered expectations but, more importantly, the fact that the squad was mainly free transfers and kids putting in great effort. As you say, it was one of those days and it certainly was a tad surreal.
This season, the fact that virtually none of the kids have been playing, instead replaced with regulars were purchased for a fair few quid (and the wages that presumably comes with the higher transfer fees) has been a key difference. Combine this with the fact that more effort seems to go to telling us how much the “booing” affects them rather than putting that effort into the 90 mins on the pitch has been a kick in the teeth for us having to watch the carp we’ve been served most weeks.
I think we all realise that we overachieved last season - although I think the absence of Kites has been the major difference - our great run coincided with his arrival from Grays. However, when spending the amount we have, both in the close season and during the transfer window, how could we not have raised expectations?
The style of football was good last season and a pleasure to watch. This season couldn’t be more of a contrast. That is another of the key differences behind the change in fans’ reactions. And yet we still have a realistic chance to make it into the playoffs (along with about 8 or 9 other teams).
Although the Saints are in poor form at the minute, I predict that they will come to Molineux and try and nullify us! They always let in goals though, so I’m going to go for a 2-2 (SEB, Edwards, with Wright-Phillips and Surman scoring for Saints).
forever the optimist, we win tonite, beat the Baggies and make the play off.
problem is boys, who’s gonna replace mick if we sack him. apart from big sam, there’s no one else who really stands out. but i will say this. micks premier experience with sunderland was identical to that of dave jones. he got them up, but given no backing by the board. and like us they came straight back down. mcarthy is a decent manager there’s no question about that, but don’t forget the wolves job is notoriously one of the toughest jobs in the football league. who ever gets it starts under pressure which increases with every match. i think mick would do alright in the premier with wolves, as i doubt steve morgan would be as half soaked aboutit as sir jack was. he’d spend to keep us there no problem. but unfortunately we’ve got to get there first.
My guess is a typical Mick exciting 0-0.
Yawn !
I am not a massive Mick fan only because he says the most ridiculous things. Yesterday he claimed the tactics against Cardiff were rubbish but they are all right now…………errrr honesty Mick but rubbish tactics?? Great bit of management to send us crashing out the cup then.
I hope we make the playoffs, although I will say if you’d have asked me a week ago id have said no chance and still feel its a massive uphill struggle.
If we get promoted then what?? Is Mick a Premiership manager??? If we make the playoffs and lose he will be sacked and if we dont make the playoffs he will be sacked. I cannot see the guy in charge next season whatever happens.
Anyway good luck for tonight and ill be there as always. Fingers crossed we can sneak another win.
west ham united - You say apart from Big Sam, but wont he do??
what’s a west ham fan doing on here?
COME ON ME BABIES 3-0 Seb 2, kyle 1 (in injury time). I think we will make the play-offs and i would love to c us in the prem lge, but i’m not sure if this season is to soon for us . i think if we go up we need 2 centre backs 1 centre mid (ince/downing/rae type mould) whos going to battle in win things in the middle for us, and another strike (proven) to play along side Seb then i think we will be stronger enough to hold our own against the bottom half of the prem.
rich5wolves, exactly and don’t you think the board know that. they won’t sack mick until a suitable replacement is available reguardless where we finish at the end of the season.
better the devil you know, as they say.
Just woke up in the sunny Caribbean and first thought was Wolves play today. Cannot imagine not being a Wolves fan. Good luck Wolves, going for a 4-0 win with SEB hat trick! Well the sun is shining!
As a baggies fan I hate to abmit I dont like seeing the Wolves role over and die like they have,they are a proud team with plenty of history and even though our rivals ide like to see them up there with us fighting for the top flight,which can only be better for midlands football,I for one would love a Wolves/Albion Premiership Derby game….
Yes, what a strange day that was? The very thought of us going 0-6 down tonight would just echo chants of MM’s head (and every player on the field too). Just shows…what a difference 12 months makes? Expectations sky high and patience plummets. Mick has already stated he willl revert to 4-4-2 (publicly, which I dont know why). So maybe he will return to the SEB-Keogh winning formula that for some reason he previously abandoned!
Lets hope! Up the Wolves!
12. West Ham United says…
“mcarthy is a decent manager there’s no question about that”
Really?
Wolves won’t sack him before the end of the season so the question of immediate replacement is redundant. Summer replacements will be a different story!
Still, McCarthy may take us up yet and if he does he will keep his job without a shadow of a doubt.
We could be in the play offs again by 10pm tonight. Thats if Ipswich loose at home to Sheffield United and Plymouth to Colchester!
I predict a 1-1
He loses games, and gets “Sack Mick,” he wins games and gets “Sack Mick.” No more fickle fans left then? If we make the play-offs, he should stay, whether we go up or not. His signings have been mostly good. The only one I questionned at the time was Kyle. I have seen his every game for us, and he has had one bad game. (Cardiff.) I’m sorry, but I think that we have a better squad now than we had a year ago. Kights, Jarvis, Breen, Craddock, Collins, Craddock, Davies, Murray, Gobern, and others have all been injured long-term this season. Which teams in the Championship would not have struggled to fill the positions these injuries have caused? So he has had to juggle players, and play them out of position. Could he have bought more right wingers? We already have three or four who can play there. How many players can you sign to fill each position? We would need a squad of about 50 or more. Of course Mick has made some errors. Buying Eastwood was the big one for me. He is totally overrated, bone-idle and a bad team player.
“mcarthy is a decent manager there’s no question about that”
he is, he proved that last season. i said it before and i’ll say it again, if kites hadn’t injured himself at west brom this season would be totally different to how it looks now.
can you imagine how good we could be if, we had kites and jarvis on the wings. with blake and eastwood upfront and keogh playing just behind them. especially now dave edwards and big george elokobi have proved valuable additions to the squad. we’ve still to see that kind of team out, and i for one can’t wait.
Just beat the Scummers tonight Mick and I’ll take back everything I’ve said about you this season.
You all(mostly) hate the Albion - I hate Southampton. 28 years is a long time to wait for the privelige of stuffing this lot. COME ON YOU WOLVES ! SUPER, SUPERMICK.
24 - west ham utd
What a statement :
“can you imagine how good we could be if, we had kites and jarvis on the wings. with blake and eastwood upfront and keogh playing just behind them.”
were we signing clint eastwood as freddie wouldnt get a game.
Mick is a good manager, he will get us to the playoffs and he will be here next year - get used!
24. WHU
Perhaps we should live perpetually in last season then?
Hello Brereton,
you only question 1 signing, Kyle and Eastwood!
Isn’t that two?
Then there are all the strikers that can’t score and the midfield that are all the same, very impressive!
It’s a good job Breen has been injured most of the season, his legs just might last now!
Need some realism here!
Can’t post again today, off to work, 1-1 tonight!
were we signing clint eastwood as freddie wouldnt get a game.
tell you what jj he’d get game at west ham, he’s been wasted at wolves.
eastwood plays a similar game to tony cottee and he was a legend with us, regular football and a good partner ( blake is ideal ) and freddie could be another legend at wolves. but he’ll be gone in the summer, just hope the hammers show an interest.
Brereton Wolf ‘Buying Eastwood was the big one for me. He is totally overrated, bone-idle and a bad team player.’
Exactly! Im getting sick and tied of being harping on about the bloke. Its as if he is some sort of saint!
20. Well said. As a Wolves fan I would like to see WBA and Wolves back in the top flight. I have a
colleague at work who is from the South East and (you’ve guessed it) he supports Manchester United.
Give me a break, these people don’t even go to the games and have never been to Manchester.
The premiership is tedious, predictable and needs clubs like WBA and Wolves with real fans.
Forgot to mention… a quick congrats to Kights for winning the young championship player of the year the other night, well deserved.
COME ON WOLVES!
“mcarthy is a decent manager there’s no question about that”
Have to disagree with that statement, no two matches the same team and tactics. The man is totally confused. His press statements are inane, and his lack of a plan of any sort fills me with trepidation about going into the Premiership.
Anyway, lets get behind the team, it would be good to get a win tonight. Those recalling last years game were right, it was a special team moment and it reminded a bit about the tingle at the Cullis games in the 1950’s when we had 50,000+ behind the team all the time. Now that was atmosphere and the beautiful game!
The premiership is tedious, predictable and needs clubs like WBA and Wolves with real fans.
don’t forget millwall too!! they’d certainly liven it up a bit. but yes do agree with above. except albion cause there boring no matter what division their in.
I reckon Southampton will be a tough game tonight.But the spirit that Mick is trying to instill into the team & the recent return to some sort of promotion push, will see Wolves taking another step up the ladder with 3 points in the bag.
Les Mitton Moxley has taken to having a regular pop at me just lately.I really don’t mind.
While he’s poking fun at me because A)I now live in Kent & B)I’m disabled,he’s giving MM a break.
I used to get rediculed most days for asking for a lift from Kent,but as it never happened,I changed my nickname to Kent Wolf.
I haven’t always lived in Kent,spending the first 40 odd years of my life in the heart of the Black Country & I haven’t always been disabled.
If Les (or anyone else for that matter)would like to chat over a pint, I will be in Tipton on friday & saturday night,hopefully imbibing a pint or three of my much missed Banks’s!
CHEERS.
First blog of yours I’ve enjoyed reading. Nice one Nathan! I’m tempted to go up there tonight, haven’t been to Molineux since the Albion play-off and I really miss the place. It’s all well and good going to Ipswich, Colchester and a few London games but there’s no place like home.
Essex Wolf. Disappointing that it has taken me 50+ attempts to write a blog that you have enjoyed!!!
Come up tonight, I think it will be a good game. I’ll buy you a pint!
Theres no doubt, MM will have regretted the day he ever purchased Freddy (though why he did - given his refusal to give him even a fighting chance of succeeding with us - is anyones guess; as I would have hoped he would have known what kind of player he was buying), as I strongly believe that had he not, the feelings many have towards him (and that some have hade for a while) would not be quite as crystalised (and consequently, perhaps not quite as strong) as they now are. I will explain what I mean: The farce that has been Eastwood’s treatment by MM symbolises everything that we have really always known about MM and are increasingly discovering: That his team selections are governed exclusively by a player’s ability to ‘put in a shift’ at the expense of individual flair/abilities and players playing in their natural (and supposedly, most effective) positions. It also illustrates the fact that, like most managers, (though many not to the extent of compromising their teams performance/effectiveness) MM has his favourates within the squad, and that those who do not fall within this category (i.e. freddy, rob edwards etc) are always going to play second fiddle (despite being better players/better for the team etc) that those who are in this group. It has also shown that, (although it is good for a manager to do things their own way) when faced with questioning from other sections - i.e. the fans and the media, MM becomes even more entrenched into his basic principles - almost to the extent of wanting to publicly defy those daring to question his decisions (see recent comments for examples of this).
I for one do think that MM is a decent manager and some of the football played last year was a joy to watch, however, what he needs to understand is this: All fans love to have an exciting goal scorer in their team - and this is another reason why the ‘freddy question’ still lingers as it does. Also, all many fans want, is to feel that they see a semblence of the direction that THEIR team is heading - i.e. basic team shape and style, logical team selections and that the manager and players understand the frustrations us Wolves fans have had to endure over too many years of the team severley under achieving. Its not personal Mick (well, thankfully in the vast majority of cases its not), its just that we - the life and blood of the club - are increasingly feeling disallusioned and (as a result of your recent defensive comments about us fans etc) alienated from what is increasingly going on.
UP THE WOLVES!
Essex, still in the Force ??
Mancunian Wolf
Spot on mate, I totally agree. That is the best post i have read on here for months. I think the same, i dont hate Mick and i think he is a decent manager but sometimes it seems as though it is ‘Jobs for mates’ at Wolves which should not be the case. It should be the best player available for that position plays but Mick has favourites who he will play no matter what. The Freddie thing has been spoken about enough so i will not even bother to comment. Mancunian Wolf has said it all.
MM a better manager than Jones ever was , who is a latter day John Bond who fooled everyone but me . Jones will end up either taking Cardiff down or getting the shove . Oh I know he got Wolves to the promised land , but spent an awful lot of money doing it . Once again the Wolves sacked the wrong man . Should have got rid of Jones , then kept the superb Ward .
I’m afraid, some of the responses to this blog mirror a number of the problems at the club and
its fortunes this season. I’m always astounded by the negativity that surrounds Molineux and its ‘fans’.
I have been a Wolves fan for nearly 30 years, but in the last two seasons have had reason to visit that lot
down the road (a friend works for them).
It is with a real sense of shame that I witnessed first hand how the Albion fans stuck with their team and didn’t boo misplaced passes or get on their team’s back if they hadn’t scored within the first 10 minutes.
I have thought long and hard about our fans and why they should be so negative - after all it is a problem
that has accounted for a number of previously very successful managers.
Is it a lack of knowledge, intelligence, patience or a combination of all three? I can only remember two seasons in the last 10 where the fans have truly been behind the players and not looking to crucify them.
Last season was obviously one and the season we were in the Premiership where no one seriously expected us to survive with the signings Dave Jones made or was allowed to make.
It is a real shame that the spirit of those two seasons has not been created this term and, while I accept that has a good deal to do with the brand of football that has been delivered, we do at least try to play the right way even if our formation is rigid and without the fluency of our near neighbours.
Whether Mick should stay or go is a question for the end of the season.
We can all see we are not good enough for the Premiership; a collection of centre halfs which are
slower than a weekend in jail is not a recipe for survival in the world’s toughest League.
However, a positive finish to the season (and the next half dozen games are very winnable) would help to return some of the feel good factor from last season.
Ask not what your club can do for you, but what you can do for it. Think twice before moaning and criticising
as the glass is half full not empty, we have a great club with a real chance of achieving something in the next couple of seasons, lets break the mould and throw our collective weight behind their efforts.
To say that McCarthy should stay if we somehow bungled our way into and then won the playoffs is not at all sensible.
In the Premiership we would be up against teams managed by the creme de la creme. To compare Mutt Mick with Alec Ferguson is like comparing a Ford with a Ferrari! (I originally wrote a Reliant, but that was not fair. He is better than that.)
If we are going to stay up there we need to find a young manager, with a proven record as a gaffer, on the pitch and as a manager, and the natural ability to make it to the top in whatever he does. I think that I just described the CV of Paul Ince… how did that happen?
Once we have such a manager we need to give hiom rope, he may have to learn, but if he’s good enough he’ll stay up there and then get better. Then they’ll see that we are not boo boys, were just frustrated Wolves!
Nathan
Just arrived back from the game. Wish I’d taken you up on the pint offer but I’d already set off when you posted on here.
Crap game but enjoyed being around the place again. Won’t leave it so long next time
Essex Wolf
Thank god it wasn’t me who convinced you to travel up to watch the dire game last night.
90 mins worth of football condensed into the last 30 mins.
Painful.
mick mccarthy is a stupporn,clueless,negative,boring joke of a manager, and Roy Keanes famous words have come back to haunt him! Any wolves fan who has any faith and hope, watching the dire rubbish served up week after week by this man can clearly see that his time is up. He is never going to change! He has his way of playing the game which is about as tactical as a sunday morning pub team.He is never going to play the young guns we have,who have more potential than the likes of Collins,Ward d,Ward S,Henry,Elliott,Kyle! Mr morgan this excuse of a manager is preventing Wolverhampton wanderers from Progressing!
Nathan, it’s butcher’s, not butchers. It’s Cockney rhyming slang - butcher’s hook (look).