The Soccer Blog: survival

Showing posts with label survival. Show all posts

Tuesday, 10 May 2011

The Black Country and maybe survival is Wolves

By: DJ | May 8th, 2011
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10671402 Wolves made it 11 points from 6 West Midlands derbies this season and took a giant step towards Premier League survival at Molineux on Sunday. There have not been many sweeter days for Wolves fans in recent years than to beat their biggest rivals in such an important game. And they now probably need to win one of their last two games to secure another season of top flight football.

It was a susrprise team selection from McCarthy with Foley restored to right back, Guedioura on the right of midfield and Hunt on the left with the likes of Ebanks Blake and Jarvis on the bench. But the selection was completely vindicated in the first 40 minutes as Wolves totally dominated play and surged into a two goal lead. They were ahead after 15 minutes. Carson pushed a O’Hara free kick round the post and from the resulting Hunt corner the ball fell to Guedioura and then rebounded to Fletcher who swept the ball home. And the same players were involved after 28 minutes when another Hunt corner was headed back across the area by Fletcher and Gurdioura turned it in.

Ward headed inches wide from a O’Hara cross but Albion were edging back into it late in the half and Odemwingie went close with a cross shot. And Albion looked to have an extra fizz about them at the start of the 2nd half but from Wolves first move into their opponents half they were gifted a third. Foley’s through ball was missed by Meite which left Fletcher with just Carson to beat and he made no mistake. And there was almost a 4th as Guedioura’s shot was deflected just wide. But Albion had a step back into the game when Guedioura felled Thomas and Odemwingie converted the penalty. And Wolves fans were getting nervous as Thomas hit the bar and then an unmarked Tchoyi headed wide from a good chance. But Wolves weathered the storm and Ward and sub Ebanks Blake both went close late on.

Hennessey – a safe pair of hands nowadays and one superb save in the second half.

Foley – excellent return to right back before moving to midfield late on

Elokobi – generally played well although Tchoyi beat him a couple of times and he produced one comedy moment attempting to head back to Hennessey from a knee high ball.

Mancienne – also generally good but twice was at fault in letting Odemwingie through on goal

Craddock – the steady rock at the heart of the defence with some solid and unfussy defending

Guedioura – his best showing since returning from injury to justify his surprise selection

Henry – solid in the heart of the midfield

O’Hara – his best game since his early games at the club

Hunt – fabulous man of the match performance. Never gave the Albion players a minutes peace on the ball and was a constant threat from the left side. At last looked like the excellent signing Wolves were hoping for last summer.

Ward – tireless work and his running was a real threat to Albion. His best performance of the season and won over even his fiercest critics on the day.

Fletcher – two more goals and another outstanding centre forward performance. Looks worth every penny of the transfer fee in recent games.

Subs – Jarvis barely got into the game on the right, Ebanks Blake went close to getting the 4th while Stearman almost gifted Albion a 2nd with an under hit back pass.

So with two games to go Wolves are now out of the bottom three and now face Sunderland away and then Blackburn at home. The last game could be a winner take all survival match but three points from either game looks sure to be enough to secure survival.

Category: Team News

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Friday, 1 April 2011

Geordies next in Wolves survival battle

By: DJ | April 1st, 2011
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9734031 Wolves will make the long trip to Newcastle on Saturday for yet another vital game in the closest survival battle in Premier League history. Wolves go into the final two months still in a relegation position but only one point off 13th and there are going to be plenty of changes to league positions over the coming weeks. And a win on Saturday would take them to within one point of their hosts and leave the geordies looking nervously over their shoulders.

And Newcastle have not been in flying form in recent weeks. Their away win at Birmingham in February was their only success since the departure of Andy Carroll in the January transfer window and the last 9 games they have got that one win, 5 draws and three defeats. Leon Best has done a half decent job as a striker since Carroll left but he is injured now and so its the likes of Ameobi and Lovenkrands that are likely to be up front. And the talented Tiote is out through suspension to weaken the midfield. Jose Enrique has a hamstring problem and will have a late fitness test. So there can hardly be a huge confidence from the big Toon following that they can get three points this weekend.

Wolves look certain to field the team that won at Villa two weeks ago with the exception of Ebanks Blake coming in for the injured Doyle. All eyes will be on SEB to try to fill the void and there is no doubting that he is as good and probably a better finisher than Doyle but can he produce the all round link up and hold up play that Doyle does so well. In truth he needs to focus on playing the game his way and not try to be a Doyle clone. It will be interesting to see if O’Hara plays a withdrawn role as he has in away games so far, or is given licence to support SEB by getting forward as he does in home games.

The biggest positive for Wolves this weekend is that they will probably have the strongest bench they have had all season. As well as defender Craddock and keeper Hahnemann, Wolves will have Kightly, Hunt, Guedioura, Mancienne and Jones to choose from as midfield back up while Fletcher will be ready to take on the front role from SEB and Stephen Ward as usual is a potential sub for anyone in a Wolves shirt.

Whatever Wolves do tomorrow they are unlikely to lose much ground on their survival competitors and might of course make a big gain. West Ham face Man Utd, Birmingham have a tricky home game against Bolton, Albion are at home to Liverpool, Wigan at home to Spurs, and relegation bankers Blackburn go to Arsenal. Then on Sunday Blackpool visit Fulham. Difficult to see many wins from that lot for Wolves’ rivals.

All the way back to the end of November Wolves form has been good enough to stay up. They don’t need to improve to stay up they just need to maintain current form. A defeat on Saturday will not be the end of the world with two home games to follow, but a win would be a massive step towards another season in the top flight.