Bully Bites Back with Steve Bull

Wolves legend Steve Bull gives it to you straight in his weekly column and revels in the glory of the team's vital victory against Tottenham.

Wednesday night's win over Tottenham was absolutely superb, especially after the disappointment of the Birmingham game.

We played well for 80 minutes at St. Andrews but when they put a natural goalscorer on the pitch in Kevin Phillips who scores twice, that's just what he's paid to do.

It's what Wolves have been lacking but I must say against Spurs the lad up front on his own, Kevin Doyle, was outstanding.

We did exactly what we managed to do at their place in December, scored early doors and then had everyone biting their nails for 70-odd minutes! The lads gave it their all and that is what we are used to seeing and want to see more of going forward.

It makes the boys feel like they've really belong in the Premier League when you do the double over a team like Spurs, who are top four material.

It shows we only need to worry about Wolves, not about other teams. Even with Chelsea next week, I'm not feeling worried right now because you never know what might happen!

Manager Mick McCarthy used the 4-5-1 formation against Spurs and it worked a treat, because it can easily adapt to become a 4-3-3 when you're on the attack. It's a system that is increasingly popular in the Premier League and I think that's simply because every point counts at this level.

It does mean Doyle is being asked to play up front by himself and that's really hard work, especially in this league.

I must admit I always preferred to play in a 4-4-2 and part of me would love to see Wolves returning to that line-up. Playing alongside the likes of Robbie Keane, I really enjoyed having a strike partner so that we could really terrorise the opposing defences.

But if playing in a 4-5-1 shape is what it would take to stay in the Premier League, then I'd do it all day long!

At the end of the day Mick knows what he's got to do to stay in the league and if it means he has to play a 1-9-1 formation, he'll do it.

Liverpool and Hull City both come to mind as other good performances in that system and with the injuries that the manager has had to deal with, it might be the best formation for the players he has available.

With the lack of goals, the emphasis probably needs to be with the defensive side even though Doyle is working really hard up front. It means a few players have been shuffled around and while some might argue that they're being played out of position, I'm always of the opinion that these guys are just happy to be playing full stop.

Whether they're good enough to be playing in those positions is up to the manager to decide who must have something specific in mind if it's not their natural role.

When you consider the likes of Michael Kightly are not far away from fitness, we could be one player away from making this system really work for us.

Kightly will be welcomed back with open arms because he's one man that can make a big difference. He can both score and create the goals we need to stay up.

Obviously Doyle has scored a few but we need the other players to start helping him out in front of goal, with more needed from the midfield especially. That's why it was good to see David Jones score on Wednesday night.

Sunday's defeat to Birmingham was a sickening example though, because I truly believed Wolves were going to get the job done as we approached the final ten minutes.

But as they say, goals win games and Kevin Phillips came off the bench to score two and show Wolves exactly what they're missing.

A player like Phillips is precisely what our manager needs. He's deadly around the box and he has scored against us enough times playing for West Bromwich Albion.

Having said that, there were some great individual performances in there that the fans could take heart from, especially against a team like Birmingham because I think they're getting better and better.

They had the best of the match early on, dominating the first twenty minutes or so but Wolves came back strong and were the better team in the second part of the first-half.

People talk about a game of two halves but it was really divided into quarters this time around because - until the goals at least - the second-half followed a similar pattern.

The fans are finding it tough but they knew it was always going to be hard in this division, so they're just trying to enjoy every game in the top flight.

Like me I think they're disappointed that nobody came in during the January transfer window, but they know it wasn't for the want of trying because Mick came pretty close with the likes of Stephen Hunt and Robbie Keane.

Some people may have talked about the summer signings failing to live up to expectations, but generally the fans have been supportive of the new players. This is such a tough league to stay in, but it's not over until the fat lady sings and I think they understand that.

Wolves can definitely stay up, even with the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United fast approaching.

Who knows? Those could be the games they nick something from. They've already managed it against Spurs and Liverpool and I think they can do it again.

In many ways it plays into our hands to be such massive underdogs because big players from the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United can sometimes switch off when they come to play teams like ours.

If any of those teams don't turn up ready for a scrap, we could be ready to grab some unexpected points – just like last night!

BULLY'S BETTING TIP: -

Next week, Sportingbet are launching the Wolves Accumulator. You can place free bets to win match tickets, signed shirts, even training sessions with Mick and the lads or the chance to play at Molineux.

Look out for it at www.sportingbet.com/wolves