Wolves blogger Nathan Lloyd gives his rationale on why his side are the best team in the world ahead of the trip to Southampton.
It’s the rule of the playground that if you beat a team who then go on to beat another team, then that makes your team the best in the world. Confused?
Wolves absolutely battered Burnley at the weekend, then Burnley then went on to knock out Chelsea in the cup.
By said rule, that therefore makes Wolves better than Chelsea and because they are top of the Premiership, that means that Wolves are the best club in England, if not the world. It seemed to make sense back in school anyway.
With the form they were bringing into the game, I really felt that we would have been given a much sterner test again Burnley. It wasn’t that our opponents were really that bad, it was more that Wolves were really on their game, pushing them back and not allowing them any great lengths of possession.
Michael Mancienne, who I raved about in last weeks blog, was even better against Burnley. The word has obviously reached Stamford Bridge that they might have a little gem on their hands, as there are Chelsea fans going on the radio saying he should now come home and go straight in the team.
Who can blame them, when they have Alex lining up in defence?
Defensively we were superb on Saturday, with central defensive partner Richard Stearman equally as composed and as fierce into the tackle as Mancienne.
In midfield, Karl Henry probably had his best game this season and David Jones was getting some serious whip on his corners.
Michael Kightly added two to his goal tally and was a constant threat all afternoon. I also thought Carlos Edwards worked extremely hard to win back possession.
Although you can tell he may not feel completely at home on the left hand side of midfield, I thought he had a decent game.
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake in attack was battered from pillar to post all afternoon, but that didn’t stop him being a constant thorn in the Burnley side. I thought he was exceptional.
It was a great game to watch and I thought Mick was spot on when he said it was the most complete team performance of the season. Even the most fickle of Wolves fans would be hard pressed to find something to moan about after a performance like that.
You could see Burnley becoming more and more frustrated by not being allowed to get into the game. You would have got short odds on the second-half red card.
Four wins on the spin and six points clear at the top of the table. Happy days.
Earlier this week, I was having a gander at my blogs from around this time last year. Things were already a bit shaky in the league and it was obviously looking bad, as I’d already started looking ahead to the January transfer window.
All season the hot topic was that we needed to bring in a centre-half with pace and a left-back.
How times change. In Stearman and Mancienne we probably have two of the quickest and talented centre halves in the league. Add to that, just about every other player on the books seems to be a left back at the moment.
This time last year, I was also having my usual moan about Jay Bothroyd and Stephen Elliott being useless, with Freddy Eastwood not being given a chance.
Although we all enjoy the odd moan, I much prefer talking about the positives and with so many to choose from this season, I’m spoilt for choice.
I’m sure we all wish goalkeeper Matt Murray the best of luck on loan at Sir Graham Turner’s Hereford. The debate still rages on about the No 1 jersey at the club.
Lots of conspiracy theories have arose that Mick has fallen out with Wayne Hennessey, or that he isn’t playing him to keep him out of the gaze or Premiership predators.
So what will happen in January? Despite Mick stating he doesn’t want to lose any of his three goalkeepers, will he be tempted to sell in January and maybe mount a serious bid for Mancienne?
As much as I think current No 1 Carl Ikeme is a decent player, Hennessey is a really special talent and for my money should be back between the sticks.
Looking to the weekend, I see no reason why we shouldn’t be able to go down to Southampton and get a win.
We drew both league games last season and we haven’t actually scored a goal at the new Southampton ground in any of our five meetings there, four being in the league and the other in the cup.
But remember that we are now better than Chelsea, so I think we can go there and win 1-0 with Mancienne getting his first Wolves goal, from a David Jones corner.
Remember: you read it here first. Have a bostin’ weekend, up the Wolves!
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40 Comments
Well lets hope we dont get carried away and blow it just like when Man City and Albion overtook us THAT season a while ago. Somehow tho, i don’t think we have the team to balls things up.
Wolves, Blues & Reading for promotion.
I really can’t see it any other way. Neither can the bookies. And they’re normally right.
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Please, Please stuff the Saints and in my football fantasy it will be at least 6-0, to avenge the drubbing we got a couple of years ago, but we are the best in the league and they are also rans already fighting to stay up. I hope that the “funny old game” phrase is not used on Saturday night and we put our bogey team to the sword….
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He he, Lovely read and yup, its a real good place to be at the minute !!
Roll on Weekend. !!
COME ON YOU WOLVES !
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yeah up the wolves, come on we are better than chelsea and southampton
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really great to read something positive! long may the run of form continue!
cant see chelease letting him go though!
up the wolves
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ah those play ground rules!! Love it!
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I am going to Southampton this weekend so please dont make the long track wasted!. Lookign good so far and will look even better with 3 more points. 3-1 Wolves !
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Forget all the hype,I have my reservations about this game .
Soton have been our bogey team over many years ( who can forget the 6-0 game at the Molineux , even though we gave them a thumping that day )
Keeping fingers and legs crossed for this one , C’mon me Babies !!
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Another great blog. I understand your thinking in saying that we are the best team world. I have had the same conversation with a work colleague, who is a Chelsea fan, he wasn’t to impressed!!! However, I think we will win Saturday and Birmingham will lose against to Charlton, as Birmingham are not playing very well and have no width. I came away on Saturday full of joy and happiness after seeing Wolves show how they can really play football, I just hope that they continue to play like that. Burnley didn’t really get a look in.
Come on you Wolves
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cracking blog as usual old pal! Nice to see the fickle moaners are struggling for comments lately and it sure does make the E&S site a much nicer place to be. I tend not to agree with your possibility of signing mancienne because i think chelsea know exactly what they have in him and will not sell, they have sent him to us for invaluable experience, and i believe they sent him to us as they knew a promotion challenging team will benefit him far more than plodders languishing mid table. Heres to our continued success this season after our blip! that all the doom-mongers clearly thought was the end of the season for us!!!!!
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Liked the article, not sure about the goalkeeper debate Wayne is a great shot stopper but he does not command his area and his distribution is poor.
Carl and Matt are much better all round keepers.
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Can’t see Chelsea letting go of such a fantastic talent for less than £8million. Sell Hennessey to fund it maybe?
Think we will come a cropper at Southampton.
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I agree that Chelsea will not sell him but maybe we will get another year’s loan out of them if we can get promoted? it would be better than nothing
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Mancienne will stay!! After all if we are the best team in the world that would make Burnley the second best and Chelsea the third. Why would he want to go back to those bunch of loosers?
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Fortunately I’m not superstitious (I do however avoid walking under ladders for practical reasons)and find it hard to see how in their present state Southampton could score against us or indeed stop us from scoring. Therefor I fully expect 3 points tomorrow and whatever else other teams do is of little or no concern although to be nine clear might see Mrs Sandwich having the time of her life tomorrow night! But as Reidmail said, it can be a “Funny Old Game”
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well chelsea r just no good
accrington could beat em
liverpool to win premier
wolves to win championship
leicester to win league 1
shrewsbury to win league 2
kiddy to win blue square
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LMAO now this is an excellent blog. Can not fault one thing youv’e said.
if i was in your position i would of done exactly the same thing and said we were better than chelsea (Who by the way are going to desroy albion this weekend)
Im sure as do most wolves fans, i get nervous when the southampton fixture arises. Bogey teams ay!
Just as with west brom against stoke. We just cant seam to beat the saints.
But on the back of 4 wins and and impressive battle at molineux i cant see anything other than 3 points.
Matty Jarvis back soon aswel. No more injuries.. and its happy days !
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Great blog yes should lay the Saints bogey and come away with 3 points,Still think we should make provisions for Manc’s return to Chelsea maybe a bid for Berra in January,any way lets wait and see,
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Nothing less than a good win will do tomorrow. A well earned win and clean sheet to boot were impressive last weekend. Keep it up lads. Wear the old gold and black with pride. Up the Wolves!
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Nathan,Love the playground logic, in a brilliant book called Footypedia where players names are used in a dictionary style to describe football cliches it’s a Kosmina(n)- spurious principle by which if A beat B and B beat C, A must be better than C.
Popular with lower league clubs following a cup upset against a team who recently won in Europe!.
I’m sure we’ll put the Southampton curse to bed this Saturday (we need to, we haven’t beaten them since 1980) Saints 0 Wolves 3
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It’s interesting that Chris Coleman is having second thoughts over Freddy and is leaving him out after scoring 1 goal so far I think!
Elliot hasn’t been prolific either with 1 goal, and Bothroyd is a lazy crock so MM seems to have got that little lot sussed.
I agree that if Murray can stay fit he’s a better keeper than Hennesey and we should sell him to the highest bidder to fund the purchase of Mancienne.
I don’t fear for tomorrows game and we should win fairly comfortably, but we have difficult one’s coming up against Blues, Sheffield Utd and QPR if we get through those unscathed then I think promotion will definately be on the cards.
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Excellent blog Nathan. It will be fantastic if we get to keep Mancienne for the whole season. I think it unlikely Chelsea will sell, hey but let’s be positive. It might just happen, like a Wolves win tomorrow at Soton. Time to bury that bogey! Come on The Wolves!!
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3 Historically Horrible results against Southampton
1965 Southampton 9 Wolves 3
1976 Wolves 2 Southampton 6
2007 Wolves 0 Southampton 6
Time for us to give them a truly horrible result tomorrow !
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Happy days indeed! Great blog Nath.
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Carl Ikeme brings the best of both the other keepers to the party. He has Hennessey’s exceptional saving ability combined with Murray’s brilliant command of the box.
What about the 4 lads called up for U-21 duty? And with some of the bigger names out, you have to think that SEB will finally get a chance up front. Do we want that? Can you imagine if he shines and with the transfer window not far away, the bigger clubs will be looking.
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25) I totally agree with you. Wayne Hennessey has no god given right to go back in the team. I am far more confident from corner kicks if Ikeme is between the sticks. Anyway hopefully Murray will do a brilliant job for Turner at Hereford and Jarvis is a few weeks away. Things are looking great at the golden palace!
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god bless you nathan with a little help from my boss we will condem to hell fire.
god bless you all
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farther ted? Are you sure you meant to write farther and not father?
Not really sure what you meant, does it make sense to anybody else?
A draw tomorrow. 0-0
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Enjoyed your blog, Nate, mate, but could you please look at my post (Thursday) on the ‘the keepers are staying’ story. I would love to see your votes on the two questions I asked.
I’ve only been to an away match at Soton once. We lost 9 - 3. Put me off the place for life.
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Thanks ‘Ole Man….
To answer your Chelsea related question…
a) Wolves are the best team in England
FACT
and
b) Administer the spanking
You have to be positive don’t you?
We will win tomorrow. I’ve got a quid on Mancienne and a 1-0 Wolves win at 125-1.
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all wolves fans know we are the greatest team in the land.
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Whilst Im delighted with the situation and firmly believe we will get automatic promotion, cast a glance at the league table after 16 games last season. You will find Watford on top, 8 points clear (two more than us now) and 9 points clear of the eventual (& unmentionable)champions.
Maybe I haven’t recovered from 01/02 yet, but I would council caution, lets take each game as it comes.
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Another Norwichesque banana skin.We will lose this one 2-0Once a bogey team, always a bogye team.Trouble is with wolves , we seem to have 95 bogey teams
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Long overdue a win against Saints - forget the “bogey team” stuff - dont need to give any psychological hype advantage to Saints - Just get in do the job and let them worry about us!
Up the Wolves!
NB* Transfer rumour - Shaun Cooper (25 year old Utillity Player) from Bournemouth deal agreed recently coming to Wolves in Jan 09
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I agree but why no mention of the most consistant and outstanding wolves player this season.. FOLLY. We still need a left back all our goals conceaded come from that side of the pitch, WARD is not good enough.
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Macthewolf (35)
Who the hell is Folly? Why are you shouting the player names?
Foley (not Folly) has been mentioned numerous times in the last few weeks as being an outstanding player. Pathetic post, go back to school you fool.
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Come on Nathan, you weren’t born when Wolves had GREAT teams…how about the Harry Wood teams or any team Dougan or Billy Wright played on for example?
The current one is quite good and for sure can win games but lets not get carried away. A few pints after a game doesn’t change the fact that there is a long way to go in the season and we might not be at the top in a few months afterall.
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we fully deserve to be where we are and with performances like the one against burnley you cant see any one beaing us! Good read and YES we are the best team in the world!!!!!
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We have never truly replaced Mike Bailey.What a leader he was
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We where definatly going to win! Never dought the Wolves. We will stay at the top, it’s an early christmas present.
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