Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Tranmere 0 Wolves 1
Sunday 3rd January 2010, 7:30PM GMT.
Below par Wolves survived a massive FA Cup scare thanks to Matt Jarvis’ late winner against Tranmere at Prenton Park.
The winger fired in from Nenad Milijas’ defence splitting pass just 13 minutes from time to atone from his horror miss of the first half.
Jarvis had earlier shot wide from six yards as Wolves struggled in their third round tie.
Kevin Foley stopped Ian Thomas-Moore’s header on the line, before Terry Gornell shot wide with the goal at his mercy in the second half.
The plucky League One strugglers matched Wolves, but it is Mick McCarthy’s men will now host Crystal Palace in the fourth round.
McCarthy made six changes from the 3-0 defeat at home to Manchester City as goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey, Richard Stearman, Stephen Ward, Jarvis and Milijas all started.
Rovers named Albion loanee Luke Daniels in goal while former Walsall striker Michael Ricketts was on the bench.
In a low key start Hennessey comfortably dealt with Gareth Edds’ 20-yard effort as the sides felt each other out.
McCarthy’s men hadn’t found their rhythm and were opened up on 32 minutes in Rovers’ best move of the match.
John Welsh and Ian Goodison caught the visitors on the break and, when the defender squared to Welsh, Hennessey claimed his shot.
The Wales stopper was then twice called into action by Edds, saving his 30-yarder before tipping the midfielder’s rasping drive wide on 35 minutes.
From the resulting corner Foley cleared Thomas-Moore’s header off the line.
The game had suddenly sparked into life and Jarvis should have put Wolves ahead on 36 minutes, but fired wide from six yards after the Tranmere defence switched off.
Wolves opened the second half much brighter and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake was denied by Daniels when the stopper produced a superb reflex save from the striker’s 54th minute header. Gornell then wasted a golden chance for Rovers on 66 minutes.
The midfielder challenged Hennessey then, when the ball squirmed loose, somehow shot wide from six yards with the goal gaping and the goalkeeper beaten.
It was a massive let-off for Wolves and they duly took the lead on 77 minutes, when Jarvis ran onto Milijas’ ball to rifle pass Daniels from 16 yards.
Hennessey had to be at his best to preserve the lead when blocking Craig Curran’s effort from point blank range four minutes from time, as Wolves held on.
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They huffed and puffed. And made life hard for us. But our quality showed in the end. Simple as really.
Next!
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Unnervingly poor,…but job done
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, We need a cutting edge up front, Big Chris,,, I am sorry Vokes deserves a chance more than you. However its a win so hopefully will instill some confidence.
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I could only listen on the radio but, Milijas aside, we sounded ordinary and toothless up front. What about Jermaine Beckford from Leeds? He’s a proven goalscorer and has got to be better than any ageing garbage we seem to currently be linked with, rumour-wise in the transfer window
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All you MICKO fans can you please take the NUTTER and go to TAIPAN!!
Another HIDEOUS performance can some one please tell me how many chances have we created this season?
The end product is so poor its unreal!!
LEEDS UNITED beat manchester and created and played excellent football we have not done this all season other than one move against man city and micko came out and said :some of the best football we played there:yet we could have lost by more….GET RID OF HIM WE ARE NOT EVEN DOING THE BASICS!!!OUT OUT OUT OUT OUT OUT OUT……..O……..U………T!
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After watching the game – albeit through squinting eyes on the internet – I have to say we were very lucky to get through this one. The only benefit of the doubt I can possibly give us is that the pitch may have been very hard and difficult to play on as the game wore on. If thats not the case – then alarm bells should be ringing in Mr Morgans ears !! The real Karl Henry turned up today – hopeless square passing – fouls and misplaced passes – Iwelumo and Ebanks Blake would not get into Tranmere’s side on that display and Jarvis redeemed himself only after the miss of the century ( well before the Tranmere miss that is) !! No wonder we are struggling to score goals in the Prem – we desperately need help for Doyle. Mancienne played well enough in parts and apart from a dodgy throw – Hennessey did his chances no harm. Apart from that – no one shone – although the goal created by Melijas and finished excellently by Jarvis – was top drawer !! Unlucky Tranmere – play like that more often and you will stay up !!
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Yet another well below par display. Without Kevin Doyle we appear to be completely lost up front – there was no link up between the strikers at all.
I hope that MM and SEB particularly listen to the comments made by Gary Stevens on FATV about the front players and their performances.
They really were food for thought!
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What a load of rubbish, very lucky to get into the next round. We need to spend money on someone who can create goals and to put them away, both front men not in the same game. To many long balls in the first half on the hope of a knock down which didnt happen.
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Thank goodness we didn’t play anyone that was any good!! We will probably draw at home to Palace just to clog up the more important PL relegation battele fixtures.
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Watched on internet, whilst Tranmere had a few good chances never really felt that concerned. Had lots of possession in midfield and around their box.
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While a win is a win, this was a very poor performance against a spirited League 1 team that for long periods were the better team. The only quality move we made all evening saw the goal we needed. Milijas delivered an excellent through ball and Jarvis took the shot well.
It is embaressing to say that against this opposition our top players were Hennessey and Mancienne. We never seem to deliver a truly commanding performance – we should have the confidence and desire to want to go out and beat teams at this level especially when the draw is being kind to us. Ebanks-Blake and Iwelmo were quite dreadful and lacked any real desire,imagination or commitment.
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After going to every game this season i decided to sit this one out! PHEW! we kind of accept this type of performance when were playing other premiership sides because most are said to be far superior to us but this was a very weak league one side and our performance didnt change one bit! im not MM’s biggest fan as i believe the man has only ever got a plan A and that never ……….. ever changes! regardless of who we play tactics are exactly the same even if he rotates players! for me BLAKE is no way good enough for the prem and having no one to really compliment doyle is costing us big time! my feelings are he plays blake more often than not for the fans as they would jump on his back if he left him out and we lost! i agree he deserved to go into this season as 1st choice for what he did for us in chump-ionship but he has now had his chance and in my view failed! SO BUY SOME QUALITY !!
WE DONT NEED JUST GRAFTERS!
WE DONT NEED ANYMORE DEFENSIVE MINDED MIDFIELDERS!
WE JUST NEED QUALITY & IM AFRAID WERE GONNA HAVE TO PAY THE WAGES OR GET RELEGATED!!
PLAYMAKER & STRIKER THIS JAN IS A MUST!
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Terrible game.No quality and a shocking lack of movement.
It pains me to say it but our true quality players are Doyle and Milijas. Who else is there?
This game proves to me that Mick is wrong to state that he is happy with the squad. I’m sorry Mick but four or five quality additions are needed now before it’s to late. To rely on the likes of Edwards and Kightly coming back from injury will be a disaster waiting to happen as Edwards IMHO is not up to the required standard and Kightly is far to injury prone. Less talk and more action quality signings needed not average dross!
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Watched the match on the FA website – first half was garbage – hardly any movement from Big Chris and SEB – A win is always good BUT more worrying is that our strike force could not put anything away against a team struggling in Div 1?
Yes FA Cup games are about ‘giant killings’ but imv had we played a Chumpionship team we would have been on the wrong end of a mauling
Milijas throughball was quality BUT why was neither striker on the end of it???
Vokes when he came on had a good header cleared by a Tranmere defender and SEB header was saved well by their keeper – but Tranmere looked in control for long spells and certainly for the lack of better finisher would have put us to the sword in the first half!
A serious lack of guile creativity finishing and most of all a midfield general who can orchestrate the eb and flow of the team
A ball winning midfield general, a striker that can finish alongside Doyle, a real left back – S Ward has done well but needs competition and maybe a centre half with some pace on my wish list
UP THE WOLVES!
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That must be the worst performance of the last few years. Again why cannot we pass or head the ball to another Wolves player. No creativity no shape in the defence, no leader. The defence not for the first time got themselves in trouble time & time again square passing back passing and passing to marked players except possibly for Mancienne. Henry,was clueless,ineffective and incapable of a forward move without giving the ball away,pulling shirts, and he is “Captain”. You cannot blame strikers if there is no quality service to them. Henessey played well even with having that shambles in front of him. Oh for a Mike Bailey, and the defence that played along side him!!!!
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Showed our striker’s are just not uo to it.
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riffardwolf i watched it on tinternet a good picture by the way but your right Milijas is one hell of a class act and he showed it once again if we hold on to him in jan i will be surprised his vision is way beyond the rest of the wolves team and the pass he done for jarvo,s goal was fantastic he didnt even have to break his stride to score we are turning into a 1 man team and that man is milijas!and if milijas doesn’t play we are usless so cmon mad mick get players in of his quality or run to the hills run for your life,in mad mick we dont trust,,,WE ARE WOLVES,,,ilk
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Tricky tie in tricky conditions. A dull game, but the atmosphere and freezing temperatures hardly helped. Tranmere played well and gave us a few scares, but in the end our quality told – thankfully! Was never going to be a great game, but we’re through and thats all that matters. Decent draw in the next round, hopefully a good cup run to follow to give the lads a boost. Up the Wolves!
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At the end of the day,a win is a win!Now let’s get down to the business of winning games in the Premier.
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Almost a full strength team humilated by tranmere Rovers, an outfit desperate to stay in division 1, I saw the game, it was the worst I have seen Wolves play, changes MUST be made, starting with the crazy man we call a manager, McCarthy, he HAS to go and soon, and we need more players.
With the exception of Hennersey, no Wolves player put in a shift last night, and would struggle to be included in any professional team
Total rubbish
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Got to watch the game live in the States (thank you Fox Soccer Channel). I have to agree with the comments above. What the forward line do not seem to realize is that the movement off the ball is just as important as with the ball. Both SEB and Iwelumo were lazy and reacting to the ball being moved forward rather than working hard off the ball to drag the defenders around. Doyle is an expert at this and we need someone with his skills, energy and appetite to be an effective partner up front.
One moment of quality from Milijas decided this game and I was also pleased with the workrate of Jarvis (who in my opinion has been much more effective than Kightly when fit). Mancienne showed his class at times and is developing into the quality player everyone knows he is.
Got to say that Henry was a complete donkey today. Every time the ball came to him, he seemed to forget how to play the game. The ball was either passed backwards or square and never pushed with any kind of pace. Give that man a bag of carrots!!
Hoping that someone delivers a late Christmas present during the transfer window for the midfield and forward line.
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The only important part of the game is the score. Ask Man Utd.
We now have a chance of more income, and a winnable game at home against cash-strapped Crystal Palace. Those of you calling for Neil Warnock earlier in the week will get the chance to see why we don’t want him.
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Double substitution at the end, sums up the clueless, pathetic, attempts of mad mick and the clipboard to win matches how can these two compete in the subtleties and strategies of premiership management? god help us.Get Megson in now before somebody else snaps him up.
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Awful conditions last night freezing,and a pitch like astro turf!Job Done!!
On to the Happy Hammers.
Up the Wolves.
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There are 2 or 3 posts so far from people who appear to have watched the game through rose coloured spectacles. The fact is that we were absolute rubbish in the first half and only slightly better in the second. Passing from side to side or backwards in the middle third of the field, no creativity, no penetration and no movement up front. Because we had no idea how to break through in the first half, we resorted to the long ball to SEB and Chris who won very little. Tranmere had much more idea.
For me, Mancienne was our best player and Wayne also did well in goal.
Had Tranmere had that bit of cup luck on their side then they could have scored 2 or 3 goals. However, although the result shows that we won the match, the real story is that after that performance, we have a lot to worry about.
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no. 23 are you mad we dont want megson bolton fans clapped when he got the sack and you think he can do a better job than mm at the end of the season if we a religated then yes you can all call for mm head until then support the manager and the club and STOP MOANING keep believing and keep the faith up the wolves
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Though we ambled through the game at quarter pace really, of course it is going to be an easy target for the moaners, but it is the the FA cup and United lost to Leeds and if we had lost to Leeds most of you would have been on here wetting yourselves, so get a grip eh!
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Totally agree with Brummie Nick – pitch was rock hard and in terrible condition
You’re never going to get beautiful football in conditions like that
Job done and and fairly straight forward home fixture in the next round.
Good finish by Jarvo despire previous howler. Agree about Big Chris though – he’s looking out of sorts and from the 14 mins Vokes played, looks to have benefited from the loan spell.
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The tactics leave a lot to be desired. Why can we only pass the ball across the back four? They were stronger in the air, and the goal showed that passing the ball was the way through them, not over them. But we persisted with 30 yard balls pinging off players and bouncing badly on the pitch. The result was the only good thing to take out of this match.
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As the players were running you could hear the crunching of the ice it really shouldnt of gone ahead as the conditions were dangerous but job done I suppose. Watching Westham yesterday I think we should expect a high-tempo game but they really lack a physical edge and I feel that we can get something from the game.
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I think the performance showed what we really are under this man and that is very ordinary. Basic skills we learn as schoolboys are just not there and when the hell is someone going to shoot instead of walking the ball in the net Upton Park next may god help us
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Forget the overall clueless performance,most worrying for me was Mick’s ‘clever’ tactical switch with 5mins to go, changing to 6-3-1 which resulted in a very hairy last few minutes of shots in at our goal. He thinks he is much better than he actually is. I think he’ll be gone soon.
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BRIZZIE–Keep the faith mate-Did not see the game and had difficulty finding a mention here on the Costas BUT this is the CUP everybody needs luck”Crazey dave
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Got back from Birkenhead at 11pm last night. £20 ticket. £25 petrol. £10 food n drink. Proper football at a proper football ground. Give me this over the boring, over-hyped Premier League any day. Pitch was frozen and rock hard. But two teams battling it out and having the banter with the home fans to the left of us was brilliant. Forget the performance. We got the job done.
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Just thought i would say that Leeds beat Man Utd at old trafford and they are 2 leagues below us.
Well done Leeds.So it can be done MM.
Still sick to my stomach over that 10 player change and surrender of 3 pts.
Well done lads beating tranmere, bring on palace…
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wanderer in eire-HOW MANY MATCHES HAVE YOU BEEN TO THIS OR ANY OTHER SEASON,I am a MM nutter has you put it, but I am a season ticket holder and have been for 38 years, not a far away “fan” who gobs off without going to matches-shut up and go away.
Anyone who thinks that this match was going to be anything other than what it was knows “NOTHING” about football,Has soon as the tie was drawn it was always going to be a possible banana skin job,lose and ! win and ! unless it was 10 nil (has most of you idiots think we should do every week)it could have been worse re Man U, and before you go on about leeds – it was a one off, they were to Man U what Tranmere was to us only we won, pity we didn’t lose so you so called “fans?” could have a moan, support or go away losers! inc “expats” moaning from afar.
Super Mick McCarthy……..We are Wolves……
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1. Golden Blood
Hello Jez, working late I see.
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wanderer-I am wandering if you have a brain! get Megson, watch out the men in white coats are a coming, it’s nearly has bad as the muppets on here calling for Ince, ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha, god I’m P’ing myself laughing so much as with some of the posts above- keep them coming.
SUPER, SUPER MICK, SUPER, SUPER MICK, SUPER MICK McCARTHY………WE ARE WOLVES…….
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Woeful, Shocking, absolute negative, No enthusiasm,they were a disgrace, Henry, big chris(what a joke) sebs, the miss by Jarvis, this is all down to negative Mick, Fa Cup is always goin to be a bit scrappy but will someone tell me were our scrapping was, Tranmere at least deserved a draw. MM and his so called band of Wolves are a disgrace to the shirt,
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Quick, find me a peg for my nose… that performance stunk and is the worst ever under McCarthy. What is frightening is that was probably our best team!
McCarthy is hopelessly out of his depth and needs putting out of his misery now, not when we drop back to the Championship!
-McCarthy bought the players
-Trained the players
-Picked the players
-Picked the tactics
-Motivated, or not, the players
Only McCarthy and clipboard to blame, please Mr Morgan correct the problem!
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A shocking performance and the ideal performance! Ideal because in the Cup, winning is the only thing that matters and ideal because it showed up what we need to know…..We just ain’t good enough with the current squad.
Only Mancienne played up to standard. The rest were complete tosh. Specifics:
1) Iwelumo to be a secret weapon in the Premiership….Don’t make me laugh!
2) SEB clearly has no confidence, can’t compete at this level or both of the above!
3) Foley is clearly another of MM “wonder buys” in the Ward category who he will play anywhere in the team regardless of position. A midfielder he is not! Why did we take Castillo on loan?!
4) Hennessey caught the ball well but was slow off his line and pulled out of a challenge which should have cost us a goal.
5) Doyle is the only consistent Premiership-standard player in the whole squad. We need an infusion of class and we need it quickly.
Yes it was a banana-skin game and yes the pitch was difficult but we either weren’t up for it or not good enough to impose ourselves and I’m not sure which worries me most!
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15th in the league and as good as through to the 5th round in the cup (since Palace will lose their star striker soon).
Well done Mick.
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I hope some of the fans on here are finally getting the message,and that is that there is no substitute for quality. Yeah you must have determination and a will to win too, but just just at the pass by Miljas to set up the goal. Now that was pure class! Apart from him we have nobody who can create or pass the ball consistently apart from maybe Mancienne, and thats why we looked struggled against Tranmere, and could have played all night against Man City and never got close to scoring,and off course Miljas was an unused sub. Lets hope he doesnt get injured.
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I think yesterday just shown why Hahnemann is now our no.1. Hennessey bottled the one on one and made quite a few mistakes, does not control his box and his distribution needs work. I think we need a few players in the transfer window possibly:
Joe Ledley
Jermaine Beckford
Craig Gardener
Nicky Shorey
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Most of you seem to think we’re not even good enough to be a League 1 side reading most of the comments on this board.
We won with a quality goal and then scrapped against an up for it side in tough conditions.
Good to see Milijas play 88 or so minutes and put in a hard enough tackle to get booked – the lad is going to be good. Need someone up front who is on the same wavelength as him together with Doyle.
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Well said 42. I would love to go and visit many of the clowns on here in their places of work before brainlessly criticising everything that they do! I know that football is a fickle game and becoming more fickle by the day but us wolves fans surely take some beating in the fickle department. We’ve competed well in the prem in the majority of games this season and are giving ourselves a good chance of staying up. Henry has been a revelation in the prem so far yet first chance to slag him off for a while is jumped on by most of you! Last night wasn’t pretty but at least we’re through. Those of you that have ever played much football will know how dificult it is to play good football on a bumpy frozen pitch. UP THE WOLVES!
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33 Billywiseman – I was at the match mate so I think you will agree that my comments are in line with the majority of others who saw it. Faith is a bit thin at the moment but the next few games may make a difference.
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I am not one to really moan about our boys in Gold n Black, but yesterday was pretty awfull stuff really.
Am I alone in my thoughts about Carl Henry ? he had another poor game in midfield, everything goes sideways ( remember Keith Andrews aka the crab ), and he gets caught in posession far to often,Mancienne seems a much better option in that role for me, did Ebanks Blake and Iwelumo play last night ? they may have been on the pitch, but did little else.
All in all we made hard work of putting away a very mediocre League 1 side.
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Convinced? Not really.
But let’s look at it this way. We’re halfway through the season. We’re not in the relegation zone. We’re still in the FA Cup. The club is still very much solvent with no fears of going bust.
That makes us a much better prospect for the much needed transfers targets than it might have been.
So, can we have a decent forward playing central midfielder to compliment Milijas and a decent striker to accompany Doyle, please?
If there’s any change left, someone fast and intelligent for the back four would be nice.
And please can they not come on the cheap from Portsmouth? They’ve been bottom of the table all season for a reason.
Ta MMM. Up the Wolves!
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36 john wolf;
I have not been going to the wolves for 38yrs.
As I am not even 38!!But I have been living in IRELAND for the last 7yrs…During this period I have watched my beloved team HOME and AWAY ATLEAST 20TIMES A SEASON!!!Prior to me working away I was a season ticket holder for 14YEARS!!
You have your opinion thats fine, because if you read 99% of the posts and YOU will find You are the only FOOL left with mad MICKO type of comments!!I even question you have WOLVES AT HEART!? Because if you did surely you must feel “HURT” So all I can say to you is simply “GO BACK ONTO YOUR OWN CLUBSITE”!
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49. Wouldnt suprise me if Mick went in for Tommy Smith as Portsmouth have to sell and we went for him initially. I wouldnt mind Prince-Boateng or O’Hara on loan from Spurs who cannot extend with Pompey.
15th place and a bit of cup run would be lovely!
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JOHNWOLF you have shown what you are by the simple words “MEGSON”…Away you g…………0!
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51. Had a look at the Tommy Smith stats – no goals and no assists all season. Hasn’t played a full match since 3rd October.
Boateng – three in 15 with two assists plus one missed pen.
O’Hara – 14 starts, one goal, two assists.
Which needs to be compared to:
Karl Henry – 19 starts, 0 goals, 0 assists.
Jody Craddock – 15 starts, 4 goals, 2 assists.
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Had the History of Wolves bought me as a Christmas present. When I watched the DVD of players past – remembering them from the 1950′s, I could have wept. I remember when we played Barcelona for Heaven’s sake, treated Liverpool as a joke and easy points. Our captain was England’s captain. All that glorious history. Bailey, Bull, Mutch, Wagstaffe, Dougan et al.
Then I had to watch the Tranmere match. Ye gods, depressing or depressing?
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54. Mullery
I had the Billy & Bully book for christmas, and while I agree with you about the 50′s being glorious (not the whole decade mind) you must surely have also seen the really depressing stuff of the 80′s and 90s on your DVD. Even though Bully was doing his stuff all we could do was bounce around the old 2nd division with barnsley etc going up but not us.
Oh yes and the only so small matter of Chorley in the cup.
Ok not the best performance you’ll ever see against Tranmere but we scored a quality goal – could have got two more – and didnt concede, so we won.
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Yes Walden, I saw Chorley, and the one thing I’ve never understood fully is how we got into such a state. In the 1950′s and early 60′s we were on a par with Man Utd. Matt Busby on that ill-fated flight from Germany is reputed to have said “Get some sleep lads, we are playing Wolves on Saturday” Such was the respect we had.
How is it Manchester have stayed in the top flight while we and say Leeds have gone through the dross years? It can only be poor management. I think the rot started around the Hibbett/Wagstaffe period when the team was ageing but the management decided the fans needed a better stand – despite not being requested. Excessive money went on the premises and not on the playing staff.
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Yes, ill spent money was one of the problems Mullery. Spending on the “new” stand and players. Graham Taylor said all the players were interested in was the money, there was no team spirit.
Do you remember these “golden” Wolves players:Mark Williams, Serge Romano, Robbie Van Der Laan, Jens Dowe, Mixu Paatelainen, Dariusz Kubicki. If you want some more (in)famous, loyal to the end players from the 90′s just let me know.
I’m nowhere near knowing whats going on in the board room at molineux, but I reckon they want a well run business to keep Wolves financially ok (out of debt unlike Man U/Liverpool etc) whilst aiming to keep us as high in the league as possible. Sorry if thats too pragmatic?!
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No, not too pragmatic. I think you arn’t far from the mark there. I am a bit mifffed that Birmingham are where they are and we are supposed to be ecstatic if we avoid relegation.
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