The Soccer Blog: showdown

Showing posts with label showdown. Show all posts

Saturday, 1 January 2011

Wolves edged out in new year showdown

By: DJ | January 1st, 2011
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9973163 Wolves fell to defeat against fellow relegation contenders West Ham on Saturday in a game that could have gone either way. Wolves were foiled at the attacking end by the crossbar and some great saves by England keeper Robert Green while at the other end they were undone by an unlucky own goal from Ronald Zubar. The first half was a fairly dull affair where Wolves were contended with the goalless situation but after the break it became a full blooded relegation battle with neither team giving an inch and West Ham getting the breaks.

Unsurprisingly it was an unchanged Wolves team that set out and they took the game to West Ham and clocked up a succession of early corners which West Ham found difficult to defend. Wolves were the better team in the first half of the first half but the Hammers had the upper hand in the nxt 20 minutes. There were a couple of brilliant challenges by Stearman that came to Wolves rescue before a mistake by Elokobi let in Sears but Hennessey saved. When Sears then beat Hennessey, Stearman was in the right place to clear off the line.

Wolves also opened the 2nd half brightly and Green thwarted them on three occasions. He pushed away a Milijas shot then produced a brilliant save from a Berra header before also denying Ward. From their first meaningful attack of the half West Ham were to take the lead. A Stanislas centre picked out Cole who completely missed the ball but it hit Zubar who was coming in behind Cole and rebounded into the net for an own goal. Hennessey then tipped an Upson header on to the bar and caught the rebound.

Fletcher and Edwards replaced Hunt and Elokobi with 15 minutes left with Ward moving to left back. And we knew it wasn’t to be Wolves day when Ebanks Blake sent a header crashing against the bar from a cross by the excellent Foley. And three minutes later it was game over when Sears turned in Ben Haim’s cross.

Hennessey – had a good game making some good saves and looking confident with crosses. Looks like making the position his own now.

Zubar – had a decent game. Probably unlucky with the own goal.

Stearman – excellent game with some really tough tackles and was unjustly booked for one that didn’t even look like a foul.

Berra – also played well and starting to form a good partnership with Stearman.

Elokobi – the Hammers got in behind him for the crucial first goal and he presented Sears with a good chance first half

Jarvis – Wolves struggled to get him into the game and he is not as big an influence as he was earlier in the season

Foley – really warming to the central midfield role and the captaincy. I made him Wolves best player.

Milijas – again won his share of tackles and looked the most likely to create something

Hunt – much better now, finding his true form

SEB – unlucky not to score when he hit the bar and always a threat to the Hammers

Ward – worked hard but one shot apart, didn’t unduly trouble the home defence

So Wolves are back at the bottom of the table but thanks to the Liverpool win remain well in touch with the pack. Some difficult games coming up, starting with Chelsea at Molineux on Wednesday, and its going to be a battle right through until May. But today was not a repeat of the Wigan game, today Wolves were a match for the Hammers and can count themselves unlucky to get nothing from the game.

Category: Team News

Tags: Team News
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Saturday, 18 December 2010

Patched up Wolves ready for derby showdown

By: DJ | December 18th, 2010

WALSALL V WOLVES 5 GD 20 Wolves go into Sunday’s derby with Albion with the long injury list showing only little signs of improving. So most of the players that stood up to the plate against Birmingham last week are likely to be asked to repeat the dose.

Albion go into the game in mid table having done better than many expected in their return to the top flight. Their good league position is largely due to an excellent run through September and October their 7 league games produced 4 wins and three draws. It’s not been such smooth running for them in November and December where they have played 8 Premier League games and recorded 2 wins, 1 draw and 5 defeats. They have only once kept a clean sheet in a league game all season and that was their first home game against Sunderland way back in August. So they are in a healthier league position than Wolves but their current form is no better.

Wolves had an immense injury list going into last weekend’s game against Blues and there will be little change this week. Henry, Craddock, Guedioura, Doyle, Mancienne and Mouyokolo are definitely out. Christophe Berra is still troubled by the injury that he suffered when colliding with the post last week, The only bright notes are that David Jones and Matt Jarvis might be ready.

For the starting line up I will predict;

Hennessey

Zubar, Stearman, Berra, Elokobi

Edwards, Foley ,Milijas, Hunt

Ward

Ebanks Blake

That would leave Hahnemann, Jones, Fletcher and Jarvis on the bench along with some of the youth players.

Derbies are always difficult to predict as it tends to be who responds best to the atmoshphere on the day rather than who is the better team. The application Wolves showed last week will serve them well and having some good players ready to come on and make a difference in the last quarter of the game could be crucial. It will be loud and lively and worth fighting through the snow to see. One half of the Black Country will be set up for a merry Christmas come 2 o’clock on Sunday, although a sharing of the spoils would be far from a surprise.