Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Milijas magic but more needed
Friday 11th December 2009, 9:15AM GMT.
Wolves blogger Nathan Lloyd is hoping midfielder Nenad Milijas can kick on at Tottenham after his super-show against Bolton.
All season our lack of creativity from midfield has been a real hindrance. If you ask any fan of any football club what they would most like to see introduced into their team, a creative midfielder is usually the answer.
Have Wolves finally found the player who can create the rest of the Wolves boys some decent chances from open play? Maybe, after Nenad Milijas finally announced his arrival into the team on Saturday with that thunderbolt of a shot from 30 yards.
When Mick brought him to the club for around £2.5million in the summer, much was expected of the Serbia midfielder who had banged the goals in at a ratio of more than a goal every three games for Red Star Belgrade.
Wolves didn’t have the best of pre-seasons, but Nenad – along with Ronald Zubar- showed flashes of brilliance in games that gave fans a little glimmer of optimism for the Premier League season.
But, like many others, I had been extremely disappointed in his lack of impact in games up until Saturday. Being a big fish in a successful team in the Serbian league is the complete antithesis of now having to scrap for points in the toughest league in the world.
Nenad got to grips with what it means to be in a scrap on Saturday – he tracked back, tackled, created a goal, scored, did the ugly stuff as well as the sublime and was simply brilliant.
Now one swallow doesn’t make a summer, but my god how we need somebody like Nenad to come in, make this Wolves side tick and to give it some direction on the pitch.
After all, there is nothing more tiring then spending the majority of a game chasing the ball, so that’s where Milijas can hopefully come in and weave some Serbian magic to give the boys a rest!
As well as his wonder strike, there was arguably an even more important moment in the match against Bolton. Stephen Ward’s incredible goal saving challenge on Tamir Cohen just after Wolves had gone 2-0 up was vital to keep the away side at bay just for a little longer.
Marcus Hahnemann also showed why he deserved to keep his place in goal with some fantastic top draw saves, while I thought Richard Stearman and David Edwards really linked up well down the right hand side.
But I am yet to be convinced that Mick is right to stay loyal to Sylvan Ebanks-Blake. Like many, I would love to see him start bursting the net on a regular basis, but he still doesn’t look on the pace and isn’t causing Premier League defences problems like he did in the Championship.
OK, the defenders may be worlds apart, but does Sylvan deserve to be in ahead of Stefan Maierhofer or Andy Keogh? Let’s hope Mick knows best and that his faith in Sylvan will be rewarded with goals aplenty.
Personally – I said it last week and I’ll say it again – I would start with ‘the Hoff’ from the start and let’s see what he can do. He doesn’t look like the most mobile of attackers and really should have buried Nenad’s clever cross on Saturday, but he will cause problems to defences and is one of the few in the Wolves team to have scored from open play this season.
Ultimately if we don’t start scoring on a more regular basis then at the end of the season it will be bye-bye to Premiership football. So if our current crop of strikers are not delivering the goods, then Mick will probably look to dip his toes into the murky and hazardous waters of the January transfer window.
Forget the rumours of Rob Hulse or Jermaine Beckford. It may be a bit of a desperation month, but owner Steve Morgan needs to get some serious cash on the table for a proven top-flight goal scorer.
As much I would love to see Robbie Keane return to the bosom of his footballing family, there is probably more chance of Mick McCarthy and Roy Keane getting together in a civil ceremony!
Perhaps if the James Beattie and Tony Pullis fall out remains permanent, then we might get a sniff at a great signing from the Potteries.
For me, Beattie was an integral part of Stoke’s first season of success in the Premier League and I’d love to see him join the relegation battle just down the road, although I’m guessing there could be a few clubs interested.
Wages would obviously be an obstacle as I’m sure he is on considerably more than any of our players, but then that is probably going to be an issue for any player of real quality that we try to bring in.
What about Eidur Gudjohnsen, who I thought was still festering on the Barcelona bench until I Googled his name and found out that he is now enjoying the sun of Monaco. But swapping the millionaires playground for Wolverhampton in January, where the smell of hops from the brewery in winter is reminiscent of the stench of a trapped animal slowly decaying in a drain pipe, could be a tough sell.
There are obviously plenty of strikers banging in the goals in leagues around Europe, if that’s the route Mick wants to take.
Other clubs appear to have stolen a march, with Birmingham claiming not to be interested in signing Ruud Van Nistelrooy, only because they have probably already signed the exciting Jan Novak from Slovakia.
I’m sure the manager and the team have already identified their targets. But please Mick, don’t bring in somebody like Rob Hulse, it will be like Kevin Kyle all over again. I’m sure you might have someone in mind that you feel could come in and help keep us up.
I’ll chuck Matt Derbyshire’s name into the hat. Again, getting him to swap the sunny climes of Pireaus in Greece for the Poundland drizzle of the Black Country could be tough, but he is a player who I don’t think got a fair crack of the whip at Blackburn.
But, before we start even thinking about the fun of the transfer window, we have two daunting trips – firstly to Spurs on Saturday and then Manchester United on Tuesday night. We all know that a point from either game would be fantastic, before another must win game next Saturday against Burnley.
If the players show the same kind of bottle and determination as they did on Saturday, then who knows? On the other hand, if they perform like frightened rabbits caught in the headlights of superior opposition as they did against Chelsea, then they may as well stay at home.
Stoke delivered a sucker punch at White Hart Lane after absorbing 90 minutes of pressure and that’s probably what Wolves will need to do if they have any chance of a point or three.
I don’t think Mick will change from his winning side, but he may revert to a 4-5-1 and bring in Segundo Castillo alongside Karl Henry and Milijas. I would keep to the 4-4-2 script and not simply pack out the midfield with five and hope for the best, but I would still drop Sylvan and bring in the Hoff.
The likelihood is that we will remain on our unlucky 13 points before we kick off against Burnley next week.
Anyway, hope you have a cracking weekend and happy birthday to my Mum for Tuesday. What a present it would be to bring back three points from the North West!
Up the Wolves!
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Great post Nath, to the point as usual.
Have you singed up to TWF yet?
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Milijas is a one trick pony, he isn’t the answer to survival in the Prem.
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One phrase for you Nathan:
Support you team. Your incessant weekly attacks on the team I love are really doing my head in.
Why not just let us enjoy our win in a ‘must-win’ game? No… you just have to find something to moan about.
Go and and support the Albion if you really want to whinge.
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Problem with the Hoff is he has not really set the place alight when he has come on in games has he??!!
For me the coming back to fitness of Lumes is the key. He is the type of player we have been missing all season long and is a proper front man. For me the Hoff is too light weight for his size.
4-5-1 for me Saturday, get Nenad just off Doyle who can do the lone striker role. Keogh then as back up for Doyle or Nenad throughout the game.
Get Jarvis and Edwards at them on the wings with Henry and Castillo sitting in tight.
I hope Nenad continues the good form, but it is hope rather than belief as too many of these type of players have good and bad games during there first season. I wouldn’t be too suprised to hear him have a stinker tomorrow and back to form on Wednesday or something. Just the way it goes sometimes with these type of players.
As for Robbie, I, like every Wolves fan would love to see him return, afraid it won’t happen though. We parted ways years ago and not only in selling him was the parting, Keane became a top top player, a player you can genuinely call World class, something Wolves do not possess at all.
Would it be a good career move for Keane? at 28/29 probably not when he still has so much to achieve at the very very top.
Gutting really, as I am sure we would all love the little tallaght terrro back in a Wolves jersey.
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There is no point in talking about players such as Beattie, Gudjohnsen, Derbyshire etc.
This is Wolves we’re talking about.
We don’t pay the wages. Everybody knows that.
This isn’t a dig. It’s the plain truth.
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I wonder how Mick would have handled Beatie’s Xmas party demands? I don’t think he’s the sort of player Mick would entertain at the club.
I think it’s nailed on Mick will be looking for an orthodox right winger in Jan because of the injury problems of Kightly.
Another left back as cover for Ward too would be a good shout on how Mick will play it.
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all i hope is that mcarthy plays the same team he did against bolton, or maybe add mancienne to mark defoe, ive got a good feeling about tomoz hopefully a shock result. come on wlves
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Agree with everything you have said especially the futility of running with Sylvan who is clearly under performing, and may never rate as a Premiership player, giving ‘Hough’ a start and allow him to prove or otherwise his worth to Wolves, and find sooner rather than later a few experienced players to compliment the skill of Milijas, Doyle and to a certain extent Edwards, Keogh,& Foley.
From this mornings news we should look no further than South East London and the Crystal Palace crisis, with very good players such as Ambrose, a goal scorer, Victor Moses, and keeper Speroni…Those three alone would lift Wolves to another leval, especially if we exchanged Palace Manager, Neil Warnock for Mick McCarthy
Keep pushing, maybe Mr Morgan may hear you
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Milijas is a must every week, as until Jones is back, the only other creative outlet is Jarvis. He was quality against West Ham, set up the winner at Wigan, got us a point at Stoke and set up the penalty v Villa. He has had a hand in 6 goals this season in a very limited time on the pitch!
Keogh is out now for 3 months, so Hoff does need a run out. The only other changes that might need to happen over the next few weeks are Foley, Zubar and Castillo. The players whose places are at threat are Berra, Edwards and Henry. MM is keen to point out that Milijas will be dropped if they do not sustain their levels of performance but this needs to be the same for others.
Ward and Doyle were quality last week.
Let’s have a good day in London tomorrow and who knows we might sneak a 1-1 draw!
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I hear were getting Charlie Adams in January from Blackpool. Hes another goal scoring Midfielder who i recon will compliment Mils nicely.
UTW
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What’s the betting that Milijas will be man marked by Spurs, thus cutting out the the only successful supply channel, which we have from midfield, in open play.
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8# Parish
Warnock for McCarthy…. on yer bike son!! I nearly chocked on my coffee reading that!
What a load of rubbish!
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While I agree with MM about Milijas needing to keep up his performances, why does this rule not apply to the likes of Edwards and Henry? MM’s saying Milijas has to work hard AND create whilst the rest of the midfield can merely work hard and stay in the team. It doesn’t really send a very good message does it?
IMO Edwards has been rubbish all season, I’d run my socks off but he can’t tackle, pass or is especially quick. Saying he makes late runs into the box ala Lampard is fine IF he gets on the end of things and even when he does his finishing is pants. We desperately need to replace the Championship players with quality come January but we refuse to break the Championship wage structure (why?) and so I can’t see this happening.
When Stoke can afford Beattie’s wages in their 1st season in the Premiership but we can’t (even with a rich benefactor) then I’m afraid the writing’s on the wall already. We need to either put up or shut up. Break the stupid wage structure and get some real quality in or take a look at why we’re in this league in the 1st place.
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LIQ said: Dec 11th, 2009 at 10:17 am One phrase for you Nathan:
“Support you team.”
Support you team? Haven’t heard that phrase before, is that straight out of the Tesco dictionary for morons?
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2. Baggie SilasLuzhny. What exactly is his one trick? Great range of passing, his eye for a killer pass, his creative link up play, his superb first touch, his deadly set piece delivery, his incredible long range shooting? Which of this is his one trick??? Clown!
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This has to be Sylvan’s make or break game if he is to continue his current run in the team. What has been said (by Mick) about other members of the team has to apply to him also. For me, I would “rest” him from the Spurs game and, had he not picked up the injury, I would have picked Keogh to unsettle the Spurs defence – or at least let them know he was there, something that I find lacking in Sylvan at the moment. Andy, this is terrible news and we feel for you – stick in there, lad.
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The complaint that Wolves don’t pay enough is a valid one but if we are to bring in some extra experience in January then perhaps we should make an exception?
‘The other players will not be happy’, I can hear some of you say? – Well ask yourself this…if you were one of those players, being paid Premier salaries, even by Wolves standards, would you want some experience brought in to keep Wolves in the PL and keep your PL salaries OR maintain the low salaries, new players would not then come and Wolves could well be back in the Championship come the season’s end!
If I was a Wolves player, I would welcome any new players we could get in, no matter how much they were being paid!
Now I am not suggesting we break the bank but just being realistic. If we continue to play Scrooge then we will not be buying or loaning anyone in January and we certainly cannot miss out on an opportunity to strengthen the squad.
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I think Nathan is right to question MMs decision to continue with the Doyle/Blake partnership,the fact is its just not working Blake wins nothing in the air and spends most of his time falling over,what we need to partner doyle is a ballwinner who will compete with the Centre Backs for the long ball.The only player that we have that could fulfil that role is Iwelumo if not someone like Beattie.The truth is we have the potential to be a big Club again with the Fanbase we have but the management is strickly Championship with no ambition for anything else.
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Love your post, the only thing that gets to me is not just you, but the negativity that comes in regarding the higher teams in this division, not just from you Nathan beacuse I respect your opinion, but from a lot of Wolves fans “Oh well we aint going to get anything out of these games are we”. My question is Why Not, every team is beatable. Apart from the Birmingham game I don’t think we have played too badly,even though some of them have not gone our way, we had too much respect for Chelsea but any team finds it difficult to play against them. If we go out with the sheer guts and determination that we have been showing, then there is no reason why we can’t come away with something from these two games.
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same old rubbish from muppet mick saying milijas
must perform each week, seb there every week has not perform any time then edwards/henry have they perform every week not at all,then maierhofer a few subs for , 15/20 mins who know if he is any good
the only certain thing is that muppet mick is clueless,had he played the right player in the right position an not change them each week i am
shure we would have 6/7 more points now, if he
stays sorry can not see us staying up.
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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again-Sylvan will score more goals than Doyle this season if he plays off the Hoff or Iwelumo.He is a predator around goal,not a “chase everywhere”type of player as he is being asked to play now..More of a natural goalscorer than Doyle.Keep the faith SEB!
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I never played pro but I was paid to play for several sides and some players came in and were paid more, but it did not bother me, I was getting money to play which is something I would have done for free and the players paid more were excellent players that I wanted to play with, they improved the team and we won things and that was what was important. So why should players be upset if top players come in on higher wages? Do they want to be in a successful team or a struggling one? None of them are on a pittance and could retire tomorrow and be much better off than any of us for the rest of their lives.
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I cant believe how many fans and journalists couldnt see the potential in Milijas before Bolton.
He has been the outstanding player all season to me, when hes had a chance. And let’s face it, under McCarthy, he hasnt had the chance, until Saturday. He started against west ham, and for me, was Man of the Match.
The rubbish from McCarthy yesterday about him needing to settle in. What garbage. The manager didnt play him, because he couldnt see his quality. Same as Swain and Nash. They are all blinkered.
What drives me really mad is the fact that Henry and Edwards play week in week out and give at best, championship performances.
I had said all season to play Milijas, and I’m now saying to play Castillo along side him.
Castillo is twice the player as Edwards and Henry put together.
The problem we have now, is we are running out of midfield options. I would like to see Milijas Castillo in midfield. Edwards on the left as sadly we have no one else, and Jarvo on his natural right hand side.
But, the manager wont see this, until March April at the earliest.
Maybe he thinks Castillo needs time to settle in too.
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13. Yep Edwards has been rubbish. Agree 100% but, I’d also say the same of ‘championship’ henry.
He’s completely out of his depth at this level.
We need to buy two midfield players as a matter of urgency.
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richwolf64, what are you talking about? Do you actually go to games? Henry has probably been our most consistent player this season. Edwards was excellent against Bolton and has made the transition well from lower league.
Very constructive. Its negativity like that, thats gives our fans the fickle name it probably deserves
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WE ARE ALL DOOMED!!!! Get in a striker to score some goals next month and I think we can still compete to stay up. It needs to be a proper player though. Unlucky to Keogh as well.
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I think a lot of you are being a tad unfair on Edwards.You need a box to box midfielder and I think he has been one of our better players at adjusting to the pace of the Prem. If only he could improve his composure in finishing, he will then make a decent player.
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Can’t believe the negative vibes on here. Dudes, we are in the Premiership! Tomorrow we play Spurs. This is the big time, relax guy.
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Good blog Nathan. I agree with pretty well everything you said. No further comment.
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Cpt_wolves, you talk absolute rubbish week in week out. Have you forgotten you said Milijas wasn’t good enough and shouldn’t be playing?
Well, I havent forgotten what you said.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… you know nothing about football.
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We have to go into the game with the attitude this is a cup game and every other game for that matter, we all know anybody can win a one off game. So come on Mick lets instill some belief into these boys, we know were not gonna win every game but you have to believe you are. So lets make a game of it and get Harry to do some real head twitching.
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Confused, So am I, as Hoddle once said to Burkenshaw, how come I get criticised for not tracking back and tackling, but the people who track back and tackle don’t get criticised for not creating and scoring goals.
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Come on Mick unfortunately for keogh it means The Hoff should get a run at last with Iwelumo on the bench.Ebanks-Blake is off the pace.Why are you putting the pressure on Milijas Mick I`m sure an arm round the shoulder will do.By the way Beattie would be good for us Mick,don`t be frightened to handle him,Campbell at the back to organise defence,And we could dream about Robbie back home,but where are you looking? you walley, at Blackpool for another cheapo.Go to hell Mick,the sooner the better.
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Thanks Simon! Surely you can’t agree with everything this week?
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richwolf, you are too kind. Have a nice weekend.
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I can’t understand why we can’t get Keane.
£100,000 a week until now and the end of May 2010 is roughly £2.5mil.
Isn’t that what we got for the Lescott City deal?? Why not use that money, we didnt expect it, so nothing lost.
In addition to that, the increase in season tickets, shirt sales, Premiership cash and only paying £10 for the club, we as fans should be demanding a loan deal like this.
Keane would be the difference bettween £15mil parachute or £60mil Prem dosh.
Morgan/Moxey, show some ambition, whats the chuffin’ problem??
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13 Confused; So am I, as Hoddle once said to Burkenshaw, how come I get criticised for not tackling, but the guys that tackle don’t get criticised for not making or scoring goals.
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36.Super Lupi…why not just pay 2.5M out of the 6M Robbie Keane’s already earned us. Bet over 11 years the interest on Robbie’s lump sum would pay for his wages alone.
32.Wolf1966. Interesting point. I think certain players need to save their energy to do what they do much better…like Robbie Dennison, and lol, Mark Kennedy. But there’s a big difference between lack of tracking back & tackling than Hoddle’s refusal to do anything unless the ball was placed on his feet. Bottom line is we can’t afford a luxury player in the Premiership that doesn’t ‘put a shift in’.Vice versa, we also need solid players like Craddock to score goals, & look where we’d be if he didn’t.
LOL, I’ve just read Mick “I never look at the table till May” McCarthy’s observations on our current position in the table.
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silasluzny, get lost idiot, inferior complex me thinks
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2. you obviously dont know anything about anything
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BRING ON UNITED!
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Truewolves
Bite me. Opinions make the world go round, I think Cloughy came up with that little nugget.
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