Can the real Wolves please stand up?
Friday 23rd September 2011, 9:10AM BST.
Wolves blogger Tim Spiers is wondering which team will arrive at Anfield after two of the most polar opposite performances you will ever see from Mick McCarthy’s men.
Well, what a contrasting week it’s been at Molineux.
A humiliating and unexpected pummelling at the hands of newly-promoted Queens Park Rangers was followed three days later by a heart-warming thrashing of Millwall in the Carling Cup.
I’m struggling to think of two such wildly contradictory performances and outcomes from a Wolves team in successive matches.
The transformation in scoreline from 0-3 to 5-0 was worthy of a Jon Snow swingometer although, of course, the competitions and line-ups were markedly different.
Let’s start with the positives of the Carling Cup tie shall we?
Granted Millwall were absolutely dreadful, but this was a competent, professional, clinical display, just as in the last round against Northampton.
In clear contrast to the QPR game – more of that later – the levels of passion shown were exactly what you’d expect from a Mick McCarthy Wolves side.
From the off, the midfield wanted the ball, they created space and made quick passes in front of their team mates to keep the tempo high while, at the back, the defenders actually closed their opponents down – again something badly lacking three days earlier.
Adlene Guedioura was the star of the show, helping to set up three goals before scoring an absolute belter which nearly ripped the net.
I’ve always been a big fan of Guedioura, who has been unfortunate not to cement a place in the first team, often owing to injuries, good form of players in front of him and McCarthy’s dislike of playing the Algerian in the centre of a 4-4-2.
All of which means he’s made just 11 Premier League starts since joining in January 2010 but, if Tuesday’s performance is anything to go by, that number should increase rapidly this season.
Guedioura’s ability to burst with the ball from midfield at close control, as well as his spectacularly powerful long-range shots, set him aside from anyone else in the squad.
Unlike others, he also seems uninhibited when in possession and is always willing to try something different, as is Tuesday’s other standout performer Adam Hammill.
Since around April last season, it’s been a mystery as to why Hammill has struggled to get minutes on the pitch, even when flaccid team performances have been crying out for a jinky, pacey winger willing to take his man on and put a decent cross into the box.
Rumours of an argument with McCarthy may or may not be true, with the manager’s distrust of Hammill to carry out important defensive duties a more likely explanation.
However, he has certainly been woefully underused by our manager, who was hopefully impressed by an all-action display against Millwall where Hammill ran his socks off and constantly looked to create openings and get shots in on goal.
Whether Hammill and Guedioura are given a chance to impress against Liverpool is up to McCarthy, but what message would it send to them and the rest of the fringe squad if, at least, one didn’t start?
After all, the QPR performance was eyes-through-fingers material – a dreadful, embarrassing, rudderless display which was as awful as it was unforeseen and no-one, bar Wayne Hennessey and Kevin Doyle, could have any complaints if they were dropped as a result.
The margin of victory was unkind on the visitors, who would have been 5-0 up at half-time were it not for further missed chances and a couple of top-drawer Hennessey saves.
It was reminiscent of the Blackburn debacle in May but, at least, Wolves appeared to be trying that day, with the pressure of the occasion a plausible – if not entirely satisfactory – explanation for the headless chicken defending.
But the shocking aspect of the QPR game was the complete lack of urgency in closing the opposition down or in trying to force the issue from midfield.
Statistics in football can often be misleading but the fact the team made just six interceptions in the entire game – compared to 24 in each of the previous two home matches this season against Fulham and Tottenham – certainly tells a story.
It was most un-Wolves-like and the explanation I can think of is complacency which, if true, is a damning indictment on the week’s preparations leading up to the game.
McCarthy took the rap himself for mistakes he made – of which moving Stephen Ward from left-back was a real stinker – but there is only so much he can legislate for and some players failed to perform the most basic of tasks.
So there are the negatives of the week which, for me, outweigh the Millwall positives and leave McCarthy with an intriguing selection dilemma for a difficult trip to Anfield this weekend.
McCarthy’s loyalty to his players is sometimes admirable, sometimes vexing but, apart from a couple of positions, the manager has a good squad to pick from this season and Saturday’s game seems to be as good a time as any to utilise its strength in depth.
I’m not talking about wholesale changes – particularly as the back four picks itself with Kevin Foley and Ronald Zubar unfortunately still sidelined.
A lot may depend on Steven Fletcher’s recovery but, even if the Scot is fit, I would revert to a 4-5-1 with Hammill and Stephen Hunt on the flanks and Guedioura joining Jamie O’Hara and David Edwards in midfield.
Karl Henry has been below par in the past three games and the Joey Barton feud went to his head last Saturday.
To use a McCarthy maxim, the season is a marathon not a sprint and taking Henry out of the firing line for a week may do him some good in the long term.
But I suspect whatever team the manager picks we’ll see a reaction and a much-improved display.
Despite what happened against QPR, it’s certainly not all doom and gloom and some perspective is needed, as it was one bad performance from seven matches.
I’m just praying that it was a one-off horror show and not something indicative of an inconsistent season of struggle ahead of us.
1So can the real Wolves please stand up?
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Just to let you know Tim, QPR are in the premiership and Milwall are in the Championship.
That might account for the difference in scorelines?
Comparing the two results is ridiculous and just shows how shallow your knowledge of football really is.
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“I’m struggling to think of two such wildly contradictory performances and outcomes from a Wolves team in successive matches.”
Wildly contradictory? It’s not that difficult to reason out, mate. QPR are a currently buoyant side stuffed full of money and proven Premiership performers and we allowed ourselves to get sucker-punched, and then critically wound up, by their combative midfield general, plus we played terribly. Millwall are a really rather poor Championship team. We look bad against a good side, and good against a bad one – not really sure that this merits too much over-analysis really…
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Wolves met Blackburn and Fulham when both had problems. Villa was a good result, but 7 points from 3 flattered us. It’s to Mick’s credit that they were so well prepared for the start of the league, but it’s been inconsistency that’s been the problem in the Premiership all along.
It will be interesting to see how QPR do against the rest, but we can’t rely on beating Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City again.
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I agree with tim about the team drop Henry n jarvo cause he’s not having the impact hopefully he can rediscover his form n show us why he was one of the most wanted wingers in the prem
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Doyle keep his place, no way mate. he’s been below par for a while, yes he scored a goal, took a woeful penalty, and thats about it. he spends far to much time either running to the corner flags or flat on his back side, instead of playing in his team mates ( in clear goal scoring positions ) or actual shooting. and its not a case of can the real wolves stand up its a case of can the real Karl Henry ( Kelvin ) stand up. since that sending of against Wigan he simply hasnt been the ball winning central midfielder that was winning plaudits, he has been a shadow of his former self, fact. i’m not henry bashing on his day he can be class but wolves fans havent seen his class side for some time. Milijas or Adlene need a go in the first team, and sorry much as i like big george he is not quick enough to play against the likes of Wright – Philips he gets turned to easily, some bash Ward for his positional sense ( me esp 1st season and early last season ) but georges against QPR was non existant. he can play at this level but in a more central position ( Chelsea at home ) all that said though, if someone had said we would be top 10 at this stage before the season started i’d had been over the moon, fact is whether you want to knock the 3 M’s or give them youre support we are top 10 at the moment and i for one am loving it !! come on you Wolves !!
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No. 1:
So are you suggesting that MM should take nothing from the Milwall game, as the 2 teams (milwall / QPR) are a division apart, and instead stick with the starting 11 that caused so much turmoil and embarrassment last week?
Performances, wether they be in training or a cup run, should form the crux of MM’s decision of who to put in the starting 11. Too often that has not been the case and he has been lamented for it!
Forget the swing-o-meter, time for the fickle-o-meter!
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I agree that both Guedioura and Hammill should be given a chance at Liverpool.
In fact, I would go one further and drop the whole midfield (from the QPR game) and play Hammill, Milijas, Guedioura, Edwards, and Hunt, with Fletcher (if fit) leading the line.
This may be a little radical but at least it would send out a clear message… if you don’t perform, you don’t play regardless of who you are!!!!!
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Peter Thomas – We beat Blackburn and deserved to, we beat Fulham and ripped them to bits, ok we ground out a result at Villa but to say 7 points flattered us is rubbish. We deserved those points and its ok saying the other teams had problems but we can only beat the teams in front of us which we did and deserved to. You could argue most teams have “problems” regarding injury to at least 1 or 2 regulars. Would you say QPR beat us as Wolves had problems with injuries?? Probably not so whats the difference there then?
Some people can be so hard on their own team. Sure we had a shocking game the other day but rather than blindly berrate the games we won at the start in the same breath as the ones we lost recently, stop and think a bit first will you.
Are you a Wolves fan at all by the way??? Dont sound like one.
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Football is all about opinions but to pick out Hennessey and Doyle is wrong to me. Maybe go along with the keeper because of that early save, but, Doyle was one of the players who was simply not at the races. Berra was the reason it was not 4 or 5 and Ward played quite well throughout but especially when he replaced George at left back.
The nearest comparison to that abominable display was probably Wigan at home last season. All players will have bad games, that’s the nature of the business, but, for 7 or 8 to have bad games all at the same time is a disaster, as we all witnessed.
One question for Mick. Why Michael Kightly ? He quite clearly is not up to Premiership standard yet. Don’t be stubborn !
Good news about McFadden, he can add a bit of class if we do a deal.
Won’t help us at Anfield mind you, this is going to be a tough one !
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lets move on, QPR out played us in every department – fact. Millwall hopefully gave MM a couple of selection headaches. 4-5-1 will be played on Saturday, and we will come away with a point. Great start to the season, lets get behind the lads. Wardy back at LB, Adlene in, Hunt in, Hammil in, done
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Last Saturday’s performance was choc full of cowardice and complacency.
Sure we beat Milwall with emphasis. So we shoud have. Hammill? No idea what he’s capable of…saw him at Northampton and in no way was there a sense of a player trying to force his way into the first team proper.
I fear we are heading for a ‘Paul Butler’ scenario with Henry…..the Manager ultiamtely having to back down {not before the damage is done to all concerned}.
Guedders needs to feature but he’s still pretty raw and we are going to need more than his admirable enthusiasm.
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Despite a promising start to the season we have had Edwards, Zubar, SEB, Johnson, Foley, Fletcher and now Stearman injured already…was hoping for more fortune this season.
Great news about Mc Fadden on a free…good cover as an attacking MF and a striker. With the awful injuries already my team for tomorrow would be:
Hennessey
Ward
Craddock
Berra
Henry
Hunt
O’Hara
Guerdioura
Milijas
Jarvis
Doyle
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Farmer Ted 9. Spot on about Kites. Pity our stubborn excuse for a manager wears blinkers. Lets hope he actually has the courage to make changes tomorrow instead of regardlessly sticking with his favourites. Ah well we can always dream.
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part of the problem is the fact the MM will come out with silly comments like “there is no-one that can challange henry for his shirt” what sort of message is that???? play badly and it doesnt matter? cmon every single player should know if they dont perform they dont play. Thats where some of our problems are, im all for mm showing loyalty and defending his players thats good management but the silly comments need to stop. henry in particular has been shocking since the villa game, and to be fair o’hara has not been much better. big george seems like a lovely fella but i have been saying it for the last 2 seasons he is not up to the pace/skill of the prem, the fact that he had his best game in a while against a very poor championship side sums his level up, i think he could do a very good job for someone in that division but the prem? no way.
enough with the bashing lol lets go and get a result against the pool!!
UTW
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Like most people I would like to see changes and a reaction to the QPR debacle. IF we get beat on Sat and were to lose vs N’castle, that’d be 4 defeats in a row which is unacceptable really. Hopefully that will not happen but I fear the worst if we can’t get other players in the team.
For me, Henry and Jarvis have been out of sorts and even O’Hara who looks a bit off the pace. I really think Guedioura and Milijas deserve a chance along with Hammil but I’d start Hunt at first.
I’d go 4-3-3 v L’pool:
Back 4 picks itself with injuries and Hennessey in goal.
Guedioura Milijas O’Hara
Doyle Fletcher Hunt
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The QPR and Millwall games have discussed at the length during the week. There isn’t much in the above article that hasn’t already been said.
Much more interesting is the choice of players for tomorrows game. I have always been an admirer of Henry and think he has done a great job for Wolves. However, he should not be immune from from critisism when not playing well, which has been the case for last few games he’s played in. Previously one the obstacles in resting (or dropping) Henry was the fact that he was team captain. That is no longer the case, and he will have to fight it out on merit.
Tomorrow would be an ideal situation in which to make a few changes. I doubt whether many supporters are expecting too much in the way of points. So a change to 4-5-1 with Guedioura playing in his favoured central position with O’Hara and Edwards alongside him is an interesting prospect.
I also agree that Hammill deserves a chance to shine against his former club. Hunt for Jarvis is more debatable, but why not.
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The QPR result was a blip in an otherwise excellent start to the season. We are in much better shape than previously at this time and I back Jamie O’Haras prediction for a top 10 finish.
Up the Wolves!
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How was qpr at home a one off performance.
Let’s look back
Qpr= worst ever
Tottenham= good performance
Villa = poor
Fulham and blackburn = brill.
Then don’t forget
Blackburn home= almost as bad as last week
Sunderland away = 1st half awful
Albion = brilliant
SToke away = VERY bad
everyon home = dreadful
Newcastle away = shocking.
Them are games the end of last season the does not include Blackpool, Bolton, Wigan, west ham games that were just as bad as last week.
After reading what I’ve put can anyone convoke me last week was a one off performance
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Agree with most of your artcle Tim, but like Mick you have inexplicably overlooked Milijas. As for Doyle being undroppable, would prefer a fit Fletcher before him every time.
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12) That team is about right but I think Johnson is fit? Based on his indifferent form, I would go with Hammill instead of Jarvis.
People on here who are praising QPR up, will find that they will be found out against many other team and cannot be assessed from a dismal Wolves team on the day. Wright-Phillips is not consistent, Barton is always likely to lose his head and Gabbidon and Ferdinand are not good enough!
No Wolves player apart from Hennessey can be surprised if they were dropped. Elokobi and Kites should not ever be starters in the Premiership. I am surprised that the blogger has not mentioned Milijas? In my opinion, he is assured on the ball, picks a pass and will shoot!
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Went to the Millwall game,they were very poor. More importantly we have lost 3 of our last 4 home games,MM needs to sort that out!
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“no-one, bar Wayne Hennessey and Kevin Doyle, could have any complaints if they were dropped as a result.”
Errrr….. Okay. You clearly haven’t been watching Doyle then. Like posters before me have said, he gets the ball and runs wide with it then he falls over. This is not a good performance! Drop Doyle for a bit, I think some of the team think they are non shifters for the first team and so now getting complacent. Drop Doyle if Fletcher is fit and drop Henry for Guerdioura and keep Elokobi away.
#15 above: Blackburn at the end of last season was no where near as bad as the QPR game. QPR we was Sunday league at best.
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Hammill is potentially the best winger we have in my opinion. Time to give him his opportunity!
Adlene should be a certainty to start now and quite liked the call for dropping the 3 central midfielders from saturdays game for Adlene, Milias and Edwards but I’d probably not drop O’Hara just yet. He has played his best for us so far in a 5 man midfield.
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I would be interested to hear why Tim believes Doyle performed any better than any other outfield player last Saturday – for me this was one of his worst performances in a Wolves shirt (but, in fairness, the accusation could be levelled at many of the outfield players).
I too would drop Henry (this won’t happen though, at least, until we have a like for like defensive midfielder replacement) and go one up front, but for me this would be Fletcher, if fit, rather than Doyle.
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Qpr a one off ????? – I dont think we were poor against Villa. Villa have better players than us and that showed, but we were solid at the back, and for all Villa’s dominance which you would expect a better team at home to have, we were still quite comfortable at the back. Thats the kind of game where we would have conceded 2 or 3 last season due to lack of experience.
Marston Green Wolves – QPR will also beat a few other teams this season. Wright Phillips for all his inconsistency has been able to play in title winning teams, and on his day, is one of the best, which he was against us. Barton is obviously a quality midfielder, and even though hes a scum bag he is still as good if not better than any of our midfielders. They have a premier league team now and if they can continue performances like against us and Newcastle, they will survive comfortably. I didnt think all there new signings would gel as quickly as they have, Im still hoping that with the players they have, there will be a bust up which could potentially ruin their season.
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21 Robert Perry, why so negative?
As we are away tomorrow the more relevant statistic is 2 wins and 2 draws from our last 4 away league games. Plus a win in our one away cup game this season.
A point will be very good tomorrow!!
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The reason we are poor is simple
we have not signed prem quality
We should have replaced players like Ward Stearman George on an on
You can not make race horses out of Cart horses if if they do put a shift in
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27 pjw Joint 9th in the Premier League, last 16 of Carling Cup. Poor?
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Good piece as always. And i agree, if i had to pick a player who didnt deserve to be dropped, it would be Doyle. At least he tried in the first half. Think MM will play 4-5-1 at Liverpool tho. Hope Adlene starts, always rated him. We have a good choice of midfielders and i really hope the competition makes some of the players raise their game. We have made a really good start to the season and im staying positive. Another season in the premiership, bring it on, all the ups and downs!
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26 Tees wolf I am sorry I aint got alot to be excited about at the moment.Almost got relegated last season,just got whipped by a promoted team whose owner is showing a bit of ambition. I could go on but I wouldnt have enough room on the screen.
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30 Robert Perry, but we didn’t go down.
Yes we were whipped by a promoted team, however many promoted teams have set the premier league on fire for a couple of months, only to slump to relegation either that season or the 2nd.
As it stands QPR have an identical record to us in joint 9th position. So I don’t look on them with any envy. We are in our 3rd consecutive season in this league.
There is plenty for Wolves fans to feel happy about right now!
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I agree with many on this site that Wolves should drop Doyle for Saturday’s match, and pray that Fletcher has recovered.
You can bet your life that if Doyle is dropped, and with the news of McFadden possibly joining Wolves, that Doyles management will be busy looking for new opportunities for him, especially as he has declined to sign an extention contract so far. They will see the writing on the wall in regard to Doyle’s doubtful future with Wolves with players like Fletcher, Ebanks, Volkes and now McFadden, all striving to take the main striker role…
If Doyle is dropped as I believe he should be, it will be the beginning of the end for the Irishman who I believe will move in the near future
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25) QPR should survive but nothing better than that. Their defence is not good but it is a pity that Wolves were not able to exploit it. Wrong personnel, wrong formation and we made them look like one of the Manchester teams and that they are certainly not!
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Sorry guys, but I would pick the same team that did so well against Blackburn, Fulham, Villa and Tottenham in the main.
The reason we were awful against QPR was because of the disruption caused by the managers changes.
If we start to further disrupt the team we could be going round in circles.
If we start with Guid, Miljas, Zubar, drop Henry, Berra, Jarvis etc and we get whalloped at Liverpool what then?? you see, its not time to panic for me.
Stay with team that beat Fulham and Blacburn and use the subs according to the way the game goes.
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After an abject performance which was an embarrassment to us all, I would expect to see at least one player, Hammill/Guedioura (I agree with Tim), given the nod – might get rid of any complacency that might have been developing in the team. One or even two changes would not constitute panic, Sir Lupi.
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Hennesay
Foley
Johnson
Berra
Ward
Hammill
Henry
Guedioura
Hunt
Fletch
Doyle
Thats my starting 11 jarvis and ohara are to lazy for my liking. Bring hunt back mick! He works his hardest everygame! Cmon mick! Wolves Ayy We!
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