Lalley’s Super Six for Wolves
Tuesday 27th October 2009, 9:15AM GMT.
Wolves’ Sporting Star columnist John Lalley picks his ‘Super Six’ performers of the quarter season as the race to stay in the Premier League hots up.
With winter here and a quarter of the season completed, we sit in 17th position in the Premier League, a placing many of us believe will represent success if we still occupy the spot come next May.
Every club will have its hard luck stories citing examples of points that slipped away, but the unnecessary concessions we gifted to fellow strugglers Hull and Portsmouth at Molineux means that, instead of basking in mid-table security alongside the likes of Stoke and Sunderland, we sit closer to the bottom three.
Nevertheless, we have not been humiliated, we have not lacked conviction and no Wolves player has come up short in terms of effort or endeavour. Even at Blackburn, where we were rotten, we started the game at the very least on a par with the home team until we gifted them the opening goal before capitulating.
In the following away game at Sunderland, the undeniable fact is that we shipped five goals, but having hauled ourselves back from two down, we missed a genuine opportunity to take points from the fixture.
The Everton match should have provided our second away win and, for clubs such as Wolves, any points prised out on the road are like gold-dust. But to have left Goodison Park in credit and to repeat the result against Villa surely gives cause for optimism. Not in a blinkered flurry of hope but based on a reasoned assessment of our performances so far.
Anyway, let’s indulge in half a dozen positives from this first quarter in no specific order: -
Kevin Doyle
An outstanding signing, Doyle is a cultured, confident international class performer. He has added an extra dimension to our attack with his superb control and sure first touch.. Goalscoring chances at this level are infrequent, but he is ice-cool in front of goal and has such a range of talent that is adaptable enough to pair him with any of our other strikers.
Our record signing is demonstrably a superb acquisition.
Wayne Hennessey
Hennessey has shown admirable strength of character in returning to top form after a few hesitant displays last season resulted in a totally disproportionate barrage of unwarranted criticism.
Too many people quickly forgot his youth and comparative inexperience and just how monumental his progress had been. Still a rookie in goalkeeping terms, he has been magnificent this season, and he has got the next 15 years of a career in front of him to become one of the best goalkeepers in this club’s history.
Karl Henry
‘He will be out of his depth’ ‘Not good enough’ and ‘another of the manager’s favourites’ were some of the more restrained comments directed at the captain after we won promotion.
Boy, has Henry scotched this criticism! Man of the Match against Villa with a towering display of industry, his commitment and determination has been an inspiration. Big enough to come back strong after a serious clanger at Blackburn when the carping reared its ugly head again. So far, this bloke has exceeded all reasonable expectations.
Jody Craddock
Craddock has smashed to smithereens any misguided notion that this year’s contract was awarded as a sentimental gesture of thanks for services rendered. The paint brushes can stay in his studio a bit longer, as the veteran displays a fanatical commitment and desire which shows just what a terrific professional he is.
Christophe Berra
The biggest critic of his last season was me, the biggest doubter of his ability to crack it in the Premier was me – now the biggest dollop of egg on the face is now squarely dripping off my ugly mush.
Berra has been an absolute revelation, showing a colossal application and desire to succeed. He is growing in stature almost on a weekly basis and, given proper time and patience, can become a formidable defender. Boy, did I get this bloke wrong?
Support for the team
Fantastic. Now, let’s start winning some games at Molineux!
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Great article.
Its reassuring that many players who were written off before a ball was kicked have really risen to the occasion, and is testament to MM’s ability to motivate his team.
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Man of the Match against Villa? No chance, I was there, Castillo was Man of the Match, and KArl Henry is definately out of his depth. So Many times this year I’ve seen him go either sideways or backwards with his passing, and there’s more chance of Wayne ?Hennessey scoring than Karl Henry. The midfield is our weakest area of the team by a long way. Lets face it we are hovering over the relegation zpne and I certainly don’t expect West Ham to stay where they are.
It should be Milijas who I thought looked really sharp when he came on and Castillo in the centre without a shadow of a doubt!
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Agree with all your comments as i’m sure most level headed Wolves fans will.
Fancy us to get get a win at Stoke.
1-0 Carl Henry Goal.
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I have got to admit that I doubted a few of the above but I love being proved wrong. I think Karl Henry has been superb and looks like an excellent holding premier league midfielder. Doyle is a class act, Craddock is monumental for us, Hennessey is another ive had to be proved wrong and he has started controlling that box excellently. Very hard game on Saturday and will be one hell of a battle. Great to see Milijas come on and make an impact on sat.
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Spot on with the 6 players chosen.
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Still not a fan of Berra,his mistake in the first minute against Villa was appalling and he was at fault for at least 2 of the goals against Sunderland and lost his man against pompey…to many mistakes….impressed with Zubar,would like to see him play with stearman in the coming future,though Craddock who i am not a fan of has been excellent…player of the season so far Karl HENRY
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No 4 you have never played a game in your lie its so obvious either that or you are an Albion fan
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2) I was there and although Castillo had a good game, there was no one out there to touch Karl Henry. That is why the likes of Sidwell and Petrov were ineffective.
The squad will be very important so the likes of Foley, Stearman, Mancienne, Jarvis, Milijas and Iwelumo will have significant roles to play.
What I have seen so far is that we certainly are not one of the 3 worst teams in the division!
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NO 2 bang on. castillo is the player henry is supposed to be. Milijas has to play, he is the only player in the squad who can pick a pass in the middle of the park.
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no 2 – you astound me! Henry has done precicely the job asked of him this season and done it bloody well. Like many of our fans you don’t seem to realsise that the majority of teams require someone like Henry to get stuck in, break up the oppositions play and keep it simple. The ball is allowed to go backwards in order to keep it and build better quality attacks. I seem to remember Makalele making rather a decent name for himself by doing exactly that! (and before the obvious retort I am talking relatively and not saying Henry is that good!) would you rather us just stick the hoff up front and lump aimless balls at him everytime we get it?
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7,LW akwiz bun baggie fan,thats why he always on our pages,aint that rite shadrag aye boing boing lvsu xxx
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Very positive article by the E&S. No 7. have you ever taken an English class.
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Elokobi is the only player I saw on Saturday who is suspect at this level. I would play Mancienne instead. Or possibly have Stearman at RB and Zubar at LB.
Elokobi, will come good I am sure but needs a little time to get to grips with the quality of playing in the Prem.
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10.. IF I astound you then clearly you have little to zero in footballing knowledge.
What area do you think is our weakest then ?
Karl Henry is a journeyman, we bought him cheap because thats what he’s worth.
The ball is allowed to go backwards in order to keep it and build better attacks ?? lol now, that is the funniest thing I’ve heard on here for a long time
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Never seen a player pass the ball backwards and sideways more than Henry. Other than that you can’t really knock him.
Craddock got turned on our own 6-yard box n Villa scored, he’s too slow.
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Something tells me that Zubar will be in that top 6 performers by the end of the season. He reads the game very well. UTW
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Chris Iwelumo to Middlesboro – forget it!
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Yes Henry has got stuck in and produced displays full of energy and determination. Unfortunatly there are two areas that he has been poor. 1) His distribution is unimaginative and at times it’s almost as if he doesn’t trust himself to play the correct pass just in case he messes it up. 2) His marking is poor. On many occasions this season I have watched him follow an opposition midfielder for a while and then just left them when they try to make a run behind our defence – Even when we do not have a covering defender.
Can we accomodate these issues with a central midfielder? I’m not convinced.
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Hello Richwolf64. Try facing the pitch when the game is going on and try and remember Wolves are the ones in gold and black.
I think Castillo has helped give Karl Henry more freedom. He was unbelievable against the Villa and yes he’s proving us all wrong.
Berra had a poor first half by his standards this season, but, he was marking Carew who is one of Villa’s most effective players. Fair play to Berra he gradually got control of the situation, particularly in the air and in the second half the boss.
I still can’t believe RichWolf 64… it was a joke….right ?
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Karl Henry was quality against Villa end of!
Hows about everyone stop saying who they think should play and just get behind the team that MM puts out!
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7. What are on about? It’s all positive. If i was a tescobag I’d probably be very worried now!
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Lets not forget Keogh.
The milky bar kid has played well when picked.
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rich wolf you are unfortunately typical of too many of our fans. The likes of you are dotted around the ground simply to annoy the s**t out of everybody else with your constant moaning and drivel. Henry has been superb this season. He knows his limits so if in doubt would rather go backwards or sideways and keep the ball, as opposed to try speculative 60 yard balls that i’m sure you’d love him to play as you could then moan at him for giving it away. i can’t recall one occasion he gave it away on saturday. As for milijas looking sharp on saturday I don’t know what game you were watching? I watched him closely when he came on as i really held out hope for him being superb this season but short of his back heel for the goal he looked lazy and un-interested.
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Most of the sunday papers gave Henry man of the match, richwolf i dont know what game you were watching, or are you one of those muppets that just does,nt like a certain player and gives them stick no matter how well they play. At the end of the day if he,s got a Wolves shirt on and giving 100% thats good enough for me.
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The criticism of Henry seems to be that he doesn’t take unneccesary risks with ambitious passes in areas where a mistake could cost us the game! Yes, all he does is wins possession and keeps possession against some of the finest midfields in the world.
Richwolf64 so he’s a ‘journeyman’…from Wolverhampton playing in Wolverhampton. Some journey!
Simon :)
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14) What area do we think is weakest ?
Easy. Where you sit…… Krusty !
Your last paragraph sums your knowledge up. Try watching all the top international and club sides and see what they do to keep possession.
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karl henry cant be that good otherwise tony pulis would not have got rid. I think a manager who has never been relegated with the teams he has managed probably has a bit more credability than mick. Yes he has played to the best of his ability but for me his ability aint good enough
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Err…..am I missing something here? I can only see 5 named as positives in this article…Doyle, Hennessey, Henry, Craddock and Berra. So who is the 6th named Positive?
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No4-my sentiments entirely. I really doubted some of these especially Craddock and Berra but they are the top 6 , so far anyway.
The criticism of Henry is unfair. You need to look at him on and off the field and including the dressing room. He is a good captain and has got a great team spirit going. He does a lot of shouting on the pitch. And the lad is from Wolverhampton, how many clubs in the Prem other than Liverpool have a hometown lad for captain (pop quiz?)
I think we will find Zubar, Castillo and Milijas end up being first team players though. You can see their European experience coming through. They can slow down the pace of the premiership game and have that extra bit of composure on the ball.
Charlie
ATLANTA WOLVES
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