It wasn’t a great performance on Saturday against a Newcastle team that look a different cup of tea to the team that went down in 2008/9 and hats off to Chris Hughton for getting much more out of largely the same set of players. And in Andy Carroll they have a player who got more aerial success against Craddock and Berra than any other player has so far in our 12 months in the Premier League. So the geordies also look all set to remain in this division.
It was certainly a highly physical game on Saturday with some good old fashioned hard tackling exemplified by Karl Henry. But I didn’t think there were so many bad fouls to warrant 12 bookings and this was more a case of the referee not controlling the game effectively. He was appalling and clearly not up to this level.
Wolves defended well overall, with a few momentary lapses, and look likely to keep a settled back 4 now barring injuries although there is a decision to be made on Foley or Zubar for right back. Both are perfectly good enough and I am not sure we gained anything from the first substitutiion on Saturday when Zubar came on to right back and Foley moved to midfield. I think Zubar gives us more in terms of height and powering forward, but Foley has shown now he is well up to this level so either can do the job fine.
In midfield Wolves didn’t gain the upper hand on Saturday. Henry fought hard to win us the edge but Jones was largely anonymous and Van Damme struggled to make an impact. As a result Jarvis hardly got into the game.With the next two matches away at Fulham and Spurs I expect Mancienne to partner Henry in the centre and I would like to see Guedioura get a chance on the right with Jarvis moving back to his familiar left wing position.
Up front we have the luxury of three good strikers and Ebanks Blake has defied his critics of last season by being the pick of the three. He has taken his goals well and could have had more, and his work rate and hold up play have been excellent. So big money signing Fletcher will just have to wait his turn. Doyle in the meantime is not quite at his best yet and a couple of games for Ireland next week will help him get back to peak form.
The transfer window closes on Tuesday evening and the squad of 25 then gets named on September 1st. I still expect a new striker to come in before the window closes but am not expecting any major outlay as it is a 4th choice guy we are looking for. Two players linked with Wolves at the weekend were Heskey and Vennegor of Hesselink, but I gather it will not be either of those. If a new man arrives it means two of the senior squad will miss out on being named in the 25. It is generally assumed Matt Hill will be one of those as he is 4th choice at best for a left back spot, so we just have to hope he finds himself a club. There are growing rumours that the other one to miss out will be Nenad Milijas. The Serbian has undoubted ability but doesn’t do enough over 90 minutes to help a team that needs to battle for every point. There are teams on the continent evidently showing an interest, and so either for a loan or a transfer he might move out of the Wolves picture this week.
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