The Soccer Blog: Wolves at the bottom of the pack

Sunday, 5 December 2010

Wolves at the bottom of the pack

By: DJ | December 4th, 2010

9871753 Wolves found their way to the bottom of the Premier League when they were brushed aside by Blackburn on Saturday. Against a Blackburn team that play an unattractive but effective game Wolves just simply didn’t have the cutting edge, the strength or the organisation to stop the Allardyce way being successful.

It was a surprising team selection with former defenders Foley, Ward and Mancienne all playing in midfield;

Hennessey

Zubar, Mouyokolo, Berra, Elokobi

Foley, Milijas, Mancienne, Ward, Jarvis

Doyle

After Stearman’s recent errors it was no surprise to see him omitted but it was a surprise that Mouyokolo was recalled and that Ward was employed in central midfield.

And yet Wolves started really brightly. Jarvis attacked down the left before cutting infield and bringing a good save from Robinson. Then Jarvis set up Ward whose shot was tipped onto the post by the Blackburn keeper. The ball rebounded to the right wing to Foley who passed infield to Zubar whose cross shot hit the underside of the bar and rebounded onto the inside of the post and bounced clear. Wolves were looking bright in attack and were clearly the better team in the early stages but Blackburn gradually started forcing them back and they were to take the lead just before the half hour.

Pedersen’s corner went beyond the far post where an unmarked Nelson headed back across goal and Dunn was also unmarked to head the ball in. Doyle and Foley both tried to clear on the line but the ball was in before Doyle hooked clear. Milijas tested Robinson again from long range while Elokobi and then Berra were each not far away from own goals with clearances over their own bar. But Blackburn were to go 2 up just before the break. Mouyokolo was struggling with the strength of Jason Roberts and a big hoof upfield saw Roberts hold off the defender before setting up Emerton for a confident strike.

Mouyokolo was replaced at half time with Mancienne moving to centre back and Ebanks Blake coming on as it changed to 4-4-2. SEB immediately added a little fight to the Wolves attacking and he won a corner that came to nothing. And early in the second half there was another change for Wolves as Mancienne went off with Zubar going centre back, Foley going right back and Hunt coming on to the left wing with Jarvis moving right. But soon after the change Rovers were 3 up. Pedersen sent in an inswinging free kick that Nelson turned past Hennessey.

Wolves continued to look for a consolation goal and brought 4 good saves out of Robinson. They came from a long distance effort from Elokobi, a Hunt volley that brought a brilliant one handed save, a SEB shot on the turn and another Hunt effort. But they were only stopping a consolation as Wolves were second best from the tenth to the 70th minutes.

Hennessey – couldn’t be faulted for the goals and made a couple of good saves and came out to gather crosses as required.

Zubar – made an excellent start to the game but his passing became very poor as Wolves lost control of the game.

Elokobi – had a fairly quiet game

Mouyokolo – was ruffled by Roberts throughout the first half and outmuscled for the second goal. Looked nervous on the ball

Berra – probably the best of Wolves defence but the experienced Roberts ensured it was usually his inexperienced partner that he was facing up to.

Foley – didn’t make much of an impact on the game

Milijas – didn’t get to grips with the game in the first half but became the best player as Wolves staged a rally in the last 20 minutes when it was all over

Mancienne – did ok in midfield but Blackburn tend to miss out the midfield when going forward so the ball often passed over his head

Ward – worked hard as usual but not able to have a big impact on the game

Jarvis – started brightly but it was to become his worst performance of the season with his corners invariably hitting the first defender and on a number of occasions he got into good positions but played a poor final ball

Doyle – some good work down the channels but faced a thankless task against the strong Samba and Nelson partnership

SEB – worked hard and ruffled the defence but only had the one chance which Robinson saved well

Hunt – a livelier performance than we have seen although his touch is still lacking

Defensively Wolves just do not look close to keeping a clean sheet and in the continued absence of Craddock you sense McCarthy is running short on ideas to find the right defensive set up. In midfield Wolves were missing Henry, Jones, Guedioura and Edwards while Hunt was left on the bench. But still we opted to play five in midfield at the expense of playing the on form Ebanks Blake.

If a team can’t keep clean sheets and does not score consistently then the bottom of the table is where you will find them. McCarthy needs to either find the solution to letting in goals or to scoring more regularly. The season is still young and there is plenty of time, but if Wolves do not find the answers, and find some points in the next three games, then there will be more and more fans fearing the worst.

Category: Team News

Tags: Team News
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