Wolves blogger Nathan Lloyd talks about the players off with their countries, the need for an old head and attempts to escape the house chores as the international break kicks into gear.
As a staunch Wolves fan, I always have a slightly paradoxical view on our players that take part in the Internationals.
Part of me is filled with great pride that the likes of Hennessey, Iwelumo and Vokes are playing for the home nations. The other part of me worries that they will pick up a knock and Wolves could suffer as a result.
To be honest, the international break could not have come at a better time for Wolves. We were blown away by a very good Reading side and then took our injury ravaged squad to Swansea, where we suffered the inevitable defeat.
Robbie Dennison spoke after the Swansea game about a lack of leader on the pitch for Wolves. Although Henry’s play has improved since last year, I still don’t think he has the qualities of someone like Craddock to lead the troops.
Obviously we have a very young squad, so with Craddock out, you might turn to a wiser, older head to captain the side. Apart from Iwelumo, no other player anywhere near the age of 30 is currently in the starting 11.
I know it isn’t just about the age of the player but I do think, as Robbie stated, we haven’t really found anyone with strong leadership credentials since Ince was bossing everyone about.
I laughed this week when some fans excalimed that we should have the strength and depth to cope with any injuries or suspensions.
I’m sorry, but when you lose your two best strikers and your two starting wingers plus your first choice goalkeeper needs a rest, then the likes of Chelsea or United might able to bring in half decent replacements, but at Championship level you have no chance.
We have stormed to the top echelons of this league because of the scintillating form of Jarvis, Kites, Iwelumo, SEB and Hennessey. Take them out of the equation and is it any wonder we suffer?
Twenty two points from our opening 10 games is better than most of us could have expected. Did anybody think that we would also score 24 goals in the process?
So I think now is a good time to look back and we should all feel proud of what we have achieved so far.
In eight days time we should be almost back to full strength, with the exception of Jarvis and of course the unfortunate Craddock.
By then we can welcome back the player who was as divisive to the club as he was intoxicating to watch, the player who I spent a lot of my time petitioning to get in the side, the one and only Freddie.
I’ll leave that one for next week, so I’ve got something to write about. Hopefully I won’t be mentioning any injuries picked up during the international week and we can look forward to the Sky Blues game, starting another fabulous sequence of results to march onwards and upwards.
Have a good weekend and try not to get roped into too much DIY or gardening.
59 Comments
Be better if Wolves players didn’t play for their country, but what can you do?
I bet we pick up an injury.
Did Reading really blow us away? I must have gone to a different match.
mouthbreather
I stand by that comment that Reading blew us away. They were stronger in every department.
It’s no shame to admit it though is it?
I agree with number 2. How did we get blown away by Reading? 1-0 down after 4 mins due to a punching blunder from Hennessey. We went into half time still in the game and could easily have been level at 1-1 if it wasnt for some excellent Reading defending. At the end of the day Coppell came here with a plan, to attack everytime down the right because they know Stephan Ward isn’t a left back… and to always double up on our two wingers. And hey presto!? it worked. I wouldnt call that getting blown away… just excellent management and an excellent footballing team.
2 yes they did and so did mighty Swansea,
Live with it you are serial Losers.
Never mind you still have your 2 best players fit S Ward And Collins.
Hi Nath nice blog and again thanks for the sponsorship.
One thing i would say and it will probably make me as popular as a condom machine at a Cliff Richard concert is this.
You are only as good as your squad as a whole, yes all teams have star players but it is upto the manager to ensure you can still win without them. Last season we went to Leicester with 10 first team players injured and won 2-1. We also had Phillips and Miller out at the same time for five weeks, in came Bednar and we continued to win. The fact we continued to win games glossed over the fact we had many many injuries during last season, with the Championship having so many games to play it is the strength of the squad that is key, not your fit starting eleven.
HI NATHAN.. WOULDN’T SAY READING BLEW US AWAY AS SUCH..BUT SWANSEA CERTAINLY DID!!!!
NEED TO BEAT COVENTRY NEXT WEEK..A GOOD START YES BUT IF WE DON’T KEEP IT UP THEN IT MEANS NOTHING.
i agree with cpt_wolves you watch now more injuries
Whats the odds on Freddy scoring against us?hope not but i reckon most of us are dreading him coming bacm to the mol.even though his scoring record is pants im having a £10 bet he score first with a 3-1 win to to the wolves.
baggy 1, its ovious you aint got nothing to say about the baggies because there isnt anything you can say about them, who are ya. black and gold all the way
4 Boggy1 go back to your own site just read it NO COMMENTS up for sale no takers no sponsers cant fill the sandpit for a local derby need i say more
4) Shut up you clown. You have beat the mighty Fulham and Middlesbrough - sides that we could put up a good show against with our full strength side. We had 7 players out at Swansea that would have more than likely played. How is Luke Moore doing? An awful signing!
Good blog and I agree that we need one or two older heads. A great start. Let’s keep it up.
We are yet to see Sylvan score his 2’s and 3’s - it’s sure to happen!
I agree with Nathan about Reading being better than Wolves on that night. I am afraid that they were tactically aware that if you stop Jarvis and Kightly Wolves dont have creativity coming through the middle. Having said that I still predict that the Blues will self destruct at some point and Wolves and Reading will be the 2 that go up.
I am glad of the break as I think this will actually re-focus the players and I predict a big win against Coventry.
Freddy hasnt been scoring freely for Coventry, but from what I’ve read, he has been playing ok, setting up a goal here and there.
Oh well, I dont miss him with the strikeforce that we have in Iwelumo, Keogh, EB and Vokes.
7 and 8 Premier league thats us
Fizzy pop wolves league you have spent so much time in that league they are going to name after you. Live with it you are losers Collins and ward your new hero’s. Still cant fill your ground, Norwich even get bigger crowds.
Freddies injured aswel
Good blog again Nathan
2 – mouthbreather
yes reading blew us away muppet!! They put 3 past us!! Took out the 3 main attacking threats in the team!! Made our defence look like a Sunday pub team & showed Mick’s big weakness in that he’s tactically inept!!
(B4 every1 thinks im takin a swipe at mick im not!! Still think he’s doin a good job just pointing out a slight chink in his armor thats all!!!!)
I do agree tho with Nathan that it doesn’t come as a shock that we don’t have strength in depth!! We may have replacements such as Gray, Vokes, Dan Jones ect…. But non of them have the style or flair as the guys we lost!! The subs bench is filled with players that can hold their own but wont cause the same type of danger!! The only players that cud make a difference such as Davis or Gobbern are still injured or lacking a lot of fttness!!
Never the less lets keep the faith!! Onwards & upwards!!!!!
up the wolves!!!!
Was expecting a “sack mick” blog after the two bad results. Another sit on the fence blog. Where is the old Nathan, who said what most of the fans think, well those who have half a brain cell and do not wear gold tinted glasses. Or have you been gagged by the E&S… bring back Nathan!!! We have beaten poor teams in a poor league. Will be lucky to make top six.
4 boggy be a good little boy and jog on, there’s only one team in the mids thats LOSERS and that’s you steptoes. Idiot.
No 4 - idiot
Why does it always end up on here being a pathetic mud slinging contest between Albion and Wolves?
Baggy1 (11) should read his sentence back and see if it makes any sense. And Wolves1877 isn’t much better.
Come on guys, grow up.
No chance of half decent replacements? So Ikemi, Friend, Vokes and Carlos Edwards are no good?
I still say that we should have got a result at Swansea despite our injuries. Also, Swansea had players out with injuries too!
Lets just accept the players did not perform on the day and should have done better!
Coming to a premier league near you the wolves aye boing boing
Nathan, I totally agree with a leader on the pitch. I like Henry but is he a type of person to give a rollicking to players or gee up players?
However with injuries having our frontline players out at same time is unfortunate, but we should have a squad of players for all positions, isnt that what MM wanted. I think Reading was going to be tough, but I thought Swansea would have been a better bet to pick up 3 points. Anyway thats done now, so Coventry next and the Freddie debate is bound to re-surface.
Baggy1 - Odd that you’d mention us not filling our ground. 25700 for a home Premier League match? Must have been Mothers Day again…
Im in agreement with what you say about players heading off to the internationals Nathan but I have to question why is it that the first international scheduled games always take place 1 full week following the last domestic match and the second game only 2/3 days before domestic clubs play their next match?
Surely it would be better for the domestic clubs if the international games took place on the Wednesday immediately following the last domestic game and then the second on the next Saturday therefore leaving 1 full week for any injured players to recuperate - after all it is the clubs who pay the players salaries not the national teams!
If the national teams have made the present arrangement then the domestic clubs should state a good argument that their players, particularly the outfield ones, could possibly return injured and that hampers team selection.
National teams can select players from many clubs but that does not apply to domestic teams even the Man U’s and Chelsea’s etc whose players are flying off here, there and everywhere representing their countries!
England for instance could choos a squad of 100 if they wished then whittle them down as necessary, can Wolves etc do that?
12) Do not talk to us about attendances. You went up as champions, yet had a lower average than us.
Many times at Molineux you have not sold your allocation. I remember when we used to take 10,000+ to your tin shack ground. Put up and shut up!
Don’t recall making a Freddy comment before - except to moan about all the Freddy comments but we do have a habit of creating mystic messiahs at the Golden Palace aka Freddy, Davies, Rosa etc. I’d guess Keogh might have been on the list if he didn’t get games!
Personally I’ve no idea if he’s any good or not as like everyone else I’ve hardly ever seen him play 1st team football. That said he’s not exactly been on fire for Coventry.
Quite honestly I don’t care if he does score against us as long as we win, frankly we’ve got bigger fish to fry.
Freddy,Freddy who?
I agree with the comments about Karl Henry he has improved as a player but don’t feel he is vocal enough for the captaincy. I think giving the armband to Big Chris would be a good shout with his experience and he is vocal.
Rare I can comment on games but I was at the Reading game. We were not blown away. Reading were simply better organised, they kept the ball better, distributed it better and closed us down fast. They often looked like scoring and we simply never did, in fact I cannot recall one decent effort. Wing play works well against disorganised teams but Reading’s plan was to close us down and force us into the middle where we looked poor.
Good news is we will not be playing Reading more than once more and a lot of the other teams we can put to the sword. Swansea was a hangover game and it came too early, get over it. Coventry is perfect to push on and I have every confidence we will.
As for playing Internationals, it is great for me living overseas to see Wolves mentioned on the local news. We should all be proud.
Hey baggie trousers 1, talking of fizzy pop,why doh yoh fizz up and bost !!
Baggy 1. Or is it Baggy Pants. Quiz question for ya. Who’s the only team in history to get promoted to the Premier League and then reduce ground capacity.
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E or what.
reading blew us away after- an own goal in the first 4 mins by our our keeper in what otherwise would have been a close game then kightly went off then jarvis ward then got injured in a clash with henry and as a result of this jarvis did his hamstring when covering 4 ward. Get your facts right these crucial events swung the match in there favour.
sorry stephen ward
sorry stephen ward got ahead of myself
sorry stephen ward got ahead of myself lol. agree re: hemry he has got better but still isnt talking and controling play enough yet.
Calm down Dave, take a breath.
Let’s be honest, we were lucky it was only 3-0 in the end. We can all watch Wolves through Rose-tinted specs, but there was no doubt that Reading were in a different class.
Nathan, in your previous blog you said, despite our injuries, we would still be good enough to beat the likes of Swansea. Today you say, because of them, it was inevitable we would lose.
Now, I am not going to repeat my previous comment but I will say that I predicted we would lose that one. Here is another one: after the next match we will be in 3rd place.
And here is some food for thought. The team occupying 7th is only 7 points behind us at this stage.
I am disappointed with your blog today. I had hoped you would have at least raised the questions of why we went into a match playing a formation that played to our weakness instead of our strength and why we did so without a recognized goalscorer in the line-up.
Hello Grumpy
I wrote the blog a little bit too late in the evening for it to make a lot of sense! Your right, I think the team put out at MM was set up not to lose, rather than to win.
I would like to have seen Vokes played up front with Keogh or Edwards behind. Perhaps I got a little too excited about the prospect of Carlos Edwards turning up and making a difference. Completely lacking match fitness, it was obvious he struggled from the very start.
Your rather pessimistic view that we will be in 3rd after the Cov game and that 7th are only 7pts behind us is a bit of a strange observation. A 7 point gap this early in the season is incredible and I fully expect a revitalised Wolves to win against Cov.
Keep the faith grumpy. Mick isn’t always going to get it right, but what a start to the season we have had and I fully expect us to carry on the good start.
Hopefully you will find the next blog more to your taste!
Cheers, Nathan.
26)Just for the record we always sell out for the mol.I have had to wait all night just to get a ticket. But it is a pointless argument on both sides.
As its a site for opinions here is mine i am 100% baggie so therfore have no desire to really have a pop at wolves due to its irrelevance. I feel the E & D website would do better if everthing stopped turning into tit for tat arguments between us.
THERE IS NO ARGUMENT !!!
We are prem you are mediocre championship.
We have a future England manger you have a muppet.
We have an England goalkeeper , you have a Welsh lad who can’t get in your first team
We are 3 places off Europe in the prem , you just got beat by Swansea and Reading
We are champions of your league, you are not
We nearly always hammer you Home and Away. You dont
So really lads why do we argue
36.Grumpy Ole Man
We simply cannot win every game, but you sound like me are going to lose every last game of the season.
Get a grip.
26) I promise I wont talk about attendances, even though the away end capacity at Elm Park was about 4,000 so Wolves did well to fit 10,000 in. However I do appreciate that Wolves do have more fans than Reading, so instead I will talk about record point totals whilst winning the championship.
I would also like to agree about Henry being a better player - against Reading I thought he was superb at winning and distributing the ball wide. However I maintain Wolves lack creativity down the middle and despite being good players I am not so sure that either Edwards or Jones are the answer
11.
Wolves would put up a good show against Fulham and Middlesborough….hahahahahahahahahahaahahaha!!! My God, some (not all of you) are so deluded it’s embarrassing! And don’t get spouting off about injuries, Swnasea were missing 4 players when you played them and the Albion won the league after suffering numerous injuries both short and long term!
Good blog as always though Nathan…a voice of reason in a sea of whinging
Good blog, Nathan. Plenty good reaction apart from those more interested in winding people up; sad, friendless characters with nothing to add to an intelligent debate other than puerile name calling.
even if volks scores an hat trick mm won’t start him,we were rubbish against swansea,good luck to all the wolves players this weekend please no injury’s.
42, No they are not, But Ward and Collins are.
Someone tells me Mad MM is going to play Ward in Goal, because your 10 million keeper can not get in to your failing team
Really would like to disagree with Grumpy - but I can’t cause he’s the only one that laughs at my jokes!
40. Baggie
I thought you were going to offer a mature perspective on the rivalry, but no, you are just as bad as all the rest.
By the way, what in god’s name in a manger?
At least I got 2 responses!
Appreciate your added input Nathan. As to the other, I did not say we would lose to Cov.
It is reasonable to expect Brum and Reading to win their next game. Historically, we have a poor overall record against Cov.. They are rapidly improving whilst we may well be a little punch-drunk right now. There will (undoubtedly) be some needle in this game and having observed our players dispassionately, they look good when dominating but some go missing and lack guts in a scrap.
It would be vulgar to offer Dave Jones as such an example, so I won’t.
The most likely result is a draw = 3rd place.
48 - its where Tony Mowbray was born !!
42) The comments have changed position. We were talking about the side down the road who are less famous, won less honours, have many less supporters, have no sponsors, can’t sell the club, have a manager that looks like a cabbage patch doll, have a £3.5 million forward who has not scored and dress like Steptoes and wear tesco carrier bags.
Not get off our page you Boggy!
40 just stay on your own website 100% crap remember carlisle top xmas relegated end of season
as i pointed out earlier local derby 26000 5000 villa 21000 boingers PREMIERSHIP?
Look everybody! The guvernors back in the shape of Iwellumo - can’t loose:-)
And dear Baggies - when we do go up this season and stay up, we will drag in the whole of Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire Staffordshire and loads of West Midlands as we have a history oosing with class - the giant awakes!
Better do: I had £100 each way at 13:1!
Ron, you have to feel for the guv’ after that horrible miss for the Scots
2 na more like raped.think we need to look at the stenth in depth.we dont have the replacements to cover. that was prved at swansea upto the reading game life was brill but then we had no cover hope that was just a blip but my herat sez thats our weakness.
usual drivel. Fits in well with the Tim Nash school of sitting on the fence, and offering nothing but neutral comments on everything and anything.
If I remember Fulham and Middlesborough were the worst teams we saw at the Asda Dome in our short stay in the Prem-But no matter we all seem to have seen the Reading game in a different light we can argue the point-We lost and I feel the class of some of our players was lacking-I do agree we have no leader on the pitch-With Incie you could hear his direction and we were meaner in defence even if we lost-This is a good start in the Blogg it is easy to generalise but we are there we have to keep it up-Forget Mr. F thats the way it should stay–Best team fielded should see us home–Be positive we have to move on-Keep the dream alive–Crazey Dave Wolves to win 3-1 two goal lead first half-One sending off and a positive display the writtings have been seen.
“Inevitable defeat at Swansea”..?? Comes to something when, on top of the table, we expect to lose to an avearge team that has just been promoted to our League.Typical deeatist attitude isntilled in us by years of mismangement and underachievment.If tight wad Hayward had invested in his club he supossedly loves so much, we wouldn;t be reading this now.But no, this is Wolves, and we just have to deflate the best fans in the country. I presume, against Coventry, we will lose to the inevitable Eastwood winner? Or will be get back on track?
With the exception of the last two games, Wolves have done well this season, they are a team og champions…not a champion team, and would be easy beats against the likes of Arsenal- Man u or Chelsea, if they were lucky enough to be promoted to the Premier league .
The boys need guidance in becoming a good team, and MM needs assistance.
Hear ‘El Tel’ may well be available……
Love him or hate him….He is a real professional