The witchhunt began with a focus on Match of the Day on the succession of challenges that Wolves made on Joey Barton in the Newcastle game. Some real crunching tackles there, not all of them fouls but as it was conducted against one of the league’s sweetest and innocent of players it captured attention. That was a game where Wolves got a shed load of yellow cards and a game where I expressed the view on The Offside that it provided the worst refereeing display I have ever seen at this level. Attwell never had control of the game and compensated by issuing a card for every foul he awarded in the second half. The young ref is not short of critics and on that performance I can understand why. But it established the view in the eyes of the media and some fans that Wolves were a team playing beyond the law.
And this weekend at Fulham the yellow card spree continued. How much of that was a result of a reputation going before the team was reflected in the fact that there was not one serious foul committed by Wolves all day, although there were a succession of petty pushes and pulls, and Ebanks Blake, Jones, Jarvis and Mancienne were all booked for their first offences and Henry was booked for back chatting. The tackle that drew all the attention when Zamora sadly suffered a broken ankle was an excellent tackle by Henry for which quite rightly no foul was given. The two worst tackles of the game came in injury time at the end of the game and resulted in yellow cards for Murphy and Hangeland.
So despite the fact that the two players that havc conceded the most fouls in the Premier League this season both play for Bolton, Wolves have a reputation that I am sure they do not want or seek and that their supporters would not wish especially as at this rate Wolves will have suspensions a plenty in the autumn. The petty fouls need to be cut down, not least because it brings pressure on the defence, but there is a danger that Wolves will now get more bookings through reputation than is justified, as with the number given on Saturday to players making their first foul challenge.
Wolves have 3 players in the top twenty in terms of fouls committed with Henry and Berra in there and Ebanks Blake having fouled more than any Wolves player. They all trail behind the likes of Davis and Muamba of Bolton and alongside Cahill, Carew and Carroll.
Wolves need to be competitive in style to counteract the better teams in the league and I hope that doesn’t change and most of all I hope it doesn’t change Karl Henry who is developing into one of the best defensive midfield players in the division. But there is a danger that the pressure that media attention brings will force a change in style when in reality we have seen two referees in succession dish out cards far too liberally. The away game at Spurs on Saturday will probably get undue attention from the media in this respect and then hopefully it will all pass by as stories do and Wolves will be accepted for what they are as a compettive but not dirty side.
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