At the end of yesterday’s game the Wolves team had lived upto to their tag as heroic failures with the exception of ex captain Henry who will now miss the next three games due to an act of incredible stupidity, back heeling a Villa player after he had won a free kick, a temper tantrum so crass that it defies belief for such an experienced professional. This coupled with a Wolverhampton Sunday morning football game gaffe (division 10 no higher) by Berra to give Villa an opening goal via a penalty ensured that the goals by the returning Messiah Keane won the game for Villa. Why so many Wolves fans felt obliged to not only applaud Henry off the pitch but also Keane beggars belief. Both players may well have played a massive part in sending our club down – applause??? Keane made his Wolves debut on 9 August 1997 and left 24 goals later. If he had scored an hat trick on Saturday (and he went near to doing so) it would have been the second time against his old club. When are fans going to realise that professional footballers are now cash cow mercenaries who ply their trade where they can without any regard for loyalty. The days of Bull, Richards and  Westcott have long gone.  As for half of Saturday’s team there would only be Championship sides with salary offers of well below half of what they are earning now; queuing up for their signature.

This is the background context the Molineux trinity of the 3M’s (Morgan, Moxey and McCarthy) are working within. Two of the 3M’s know that the third 3M is getting as much out of the squad as any new manager could. McCarthy is all about blood, sweat and tears and his first pre-requisite for any signing is their willingness to put a shift in. The two M’s also know that,  with the exception of Fletcher, McCarthy’s signings over the past three years have failed to inspire; despite spending at levels more attune to a top 8 club. Whatever the reason for Wolves not signing Keane it is unlikely to be known anytime soon. Certainly Keane is clear on this  - Wolves never contacted Spurs with an offer of interest for him. Wolves are where they are. By showing faith with McCarthy the two M’s can play the loyalty card and curry popular media opinion. As well as being politically attractive it also is the best option given that the window of opportunity has passed. Replacing a manager can work but normally with 20 or so games left not the 16 games that will determine Wolves future Premiership status. Just look to Albion, QPR, and Sunderland for successful examples. The obvious choices have been snapped up already. Alladyce, O’Neil, Hodson and Hughes are no longer available. Only Curbishley is ready and waiting yet he has already taken a club down in similar circumstances. To appoint a new young manager (e.g. O’Driscoll) or an experienced high profile one (e.g. Erickson) would be a brave or foolhardy decision given Wolve track record with managers such as McGee and Hoddle.   

So stick or twist? The mantra has to be to stick with Mick. Whatever the deision the Wolves squad that McCarthy has built is not good enough to be the masters of their own destiny. Wolves will need a re-balancing of Lady Luck’s favours going forward whether through referees’ decisions, the bounce of the ball or other teams’ errors. The 16 remaining agmes will be played out in an atmosphere of tension, frustration and not a little excitement until the last days of the season. Just like last year!!!!  

With the year’s end fast approaching most of us will be looking back before we start to make resolutions for the New Year. For Wolves the season so far has certainly been better than at the same stage last year. A comparison of the two seasons at the 15 game stage provides the following;

2010/11 – 12 points, 17 for – 27 against and in 19th place. 5 points behind my projected survival plan of 40 points

2011/12 – 14 points, 16 for – 28 against and in 17th place. 4 points behind my projected survival plan of 40 points

The first thing to jump off the page is the similarities in goals for and against . If we had only 12 points this season so far we would be in 17th position rather than 19th last year which would indicate a poorer standard of team below us. I also don’t think we will need 40 points this year maybe even only 37 points. 

I mentioned in previous blogs the need to beat relegation contender teams and this year there still appears to be at least 9 in this category…Wolves, Bolton, Blackburn, Wigan, West Brom, Fulham, QPR, Swansea and Norwich the latter team being 10th in table.   I have excluded Everton, and Sunderland even though they are currently in the mix – my reason being they both have managers who I can’t see taking them down. So given a league of 9 how are we doing?  Well we’ve played 7, won 4, drawn 1 and lost 2 giving us 13 points, a good return. 

Looking ahead we have two home games coming up before Christmas – Stoke and Norwich. Four points are required from these games which will leave us with 18 points from 17 games and around 15th in table. These are critical games particularly as the six games after Christmas (Arsenal, Bolton, Chelsea, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Liverpool ) are likely to yield few points. I would suggest three points will do and even better if we get them against Bolton. That being so we will have played 23 games and have 21 points by the end of January, perched on the edge of the drop zone. However we will have a much kinder run in against many of our relegation contender rivals.   

Having forecast the correct scores against Wigan (3-1) and Sunderland ( 2-1) I’m going for a 1-1 against Stoke and a 2-1 against Norwich which will be sufficient to get the 4 points we need. Anything less could see us drop into the relegation zone sometime in January. 

As for a New Year’s resoution how about we aim to keep on doing what we’re doing and picking up points against those around us. Maybe not as exciting as beating Chelsea, Manchester teams, etc but much more rewarding  to both gain points and deny our rivals those points at the same time.

The Chelsea game has come and gone and the dust up of recent weeks has still not settled thanks this time to Jez Moxey crudely copying ex England rugby manager’s ‘Newsflash’ comment. However this time the comment did not concern rugby players getting drunk but Wolves fans being fickle. No matter what the club does, whether it be Messrs Moxey, O’Hara, Johnson or McCarthy it is getting increasingly difficult for them to keep pinning the blame on Wolves fans. It is classic PR stategy under pressure to create an argument on another matter and then put the pressure on the other side ignoring the facts of the central argument. The facts  are 11 points from 13 games 2 points off the drop zone in 17th position. The fortress mentality has been used many times before by managers but when used successfully fans have always been included well within those walls not attacked by jibes of Wolves fans being ‘fickle’, ‘mindless idiots’ and other labels these paragons of professionalism deign to call us. For Stoke City to be used as a comparator of fan loyalty against us was beyond the pale. Does Mr Moxey not know that this is the sort of comment we get thrown at us all the time thanks largely to the furore created by Mr McCarthy’s post Swansea game comments.  For him then to say the fans are too ‘thin skinned’  is rather the pot calling the kettle black. Thank goodnes Mr McCarthy is not manager of Sunderland (the manager of which has endured widespread verbal abuse attacking his appearance and parentage) and Blackburn (whose fans hired a plane with a flyer to fly ove the ground just before a home game extollng the club’s Board to sack the manager). Now Mr Moxey that’s fickle!! 

The more astute of the journalist brigade recognise the ploy and see it for what it is. A smokescreen to avoid multiple errors on the playing field particularly at the back. Well the kitchen is getting hotter and if Wolves are to avoid a season in and around the drop zone then the next four games, leading upto Christmas, against Sunderland (h), Manchester United (a), Stoke (h) and Norwich (h) are critical particularly with the post Christmas period to the end of January providing opposition of Arsenal, Bolton, Chelsea, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Liverpool.  A three point haul against those six teams would be deemed a fair return (I fancy us to get a point against Arsenal this year). That being so we need a minimum of seven points   from our next three home games. If we achieve this we will have 21 points from 23 games at the end of January which should be enough to keep us uncomfortably perched on the edge, but not in the drop zone. Anything less than a seven points return will surely put us in the dreaded bottom three. 

So we move onto the Sunderland game at 4 pm on Sunday afternoon.  Another tense afternoon at Molineux as we wait to see the real quality in our squad emerge. Both teams are desperate for a win. Both teams have the same points total. Sunderland’s attack and defence though have performed better than Wolves so far this season with 2 goals scored more and 8 goals conceded less. The huge importance of this game could result in a stalemate. If so even more pressure will be piled on the manager and players in advance of the next home game against Stoke. 

My view is that this is the biggest game of the season so far. An opportunity for us to draw a line under recent sad events and comments and turn the corner. I suggest the management and players focus their comments, good or bad, on their performance and not ours. They are the ones being handsomely paid, the fans are the ones paying them. That way we can discuss the pros and cons of our footballing performance rather than the ‘shooting the messenger’ comments which are currently emanating out of Molinex (with the exception of Ward, Craddock and Doyle who know better).  

I’m going for 2-1 to Wolves more in hope and faith than in reasoned thought. I also find it difficult to imagine the mood at Molineux at 5.50pm next Sunday if that scoreline is reversed.

With one point from 6 games  it’s a brave manager to take on the fans (albeit just a section of them) of a club  which is sitting uncomfortably on the edge of the drop zone. When that manager is Mick McCarthy no-one is suprised though. Fortunately the ensuing dust up which did not involve a full blown scrap (although Mr McCarthy was reported as sayin ’I am up for a scrap. If anybody fancies it, I am more than happy to accommodate them’) is not helping anyone. All this has done is to make the future of Mr McCarthy the major point of debate whether on tv or in the pub.   Continue reading →

After defeats to Spurs and QPR during which they were unarguably outplayed, the last three games against Liverpool,Newcastle and West Brom offered the hope of a point for most of the respective 90 minutes even if the end result was the same. Whilst Mr McCarthy has blamed our failure to take chances the more obvious problems (to the supporters at least) continue to be in defence. Continue reading →

Mick McCarthy said bad decisions cost the Wolves on Saturday. This is nothing new. The referee Mark Halsey struggled all game to keep up with play and this cost us when because of his poor positioning he did not see the foul which should have resulted in a penalty. According to McCarthy Halsey said he did not want to guess. Continue reading →

After losing our last three Premiership games this week’s fixture represents the first real test of Wolves resilience. We gained 28 points from our home games last year an average of 1.5 points per home game. With Newcastle, Swansea and Wigan our next three visitors there is a case to argue we need maximum points from all three. However Wolves resilience will be tested on Saturday as we try to avoid last year’s experience of losing four games on the trot that is every league game in September and the first game in October.   Last year’s fourth consecutive defeat sent us into the bottom three. At least this won’t be repeated on Saturday but a point at least is needed to stop the rot.  Continue reading →

I signposted the game against QPR as a key match in the battle for top of the second half of the premiership. That said it’s clear that  QPR have a squad that should see them in a comfortable mid table place. For Wolves the last two games have shown us how big the gap is between those teams who have spent and ourselves. Continue reading →