Wolves 1-0 down to lowly Bolton, Ward just cracked one against the bar from 25 yards. Wolves can't afford to lose this one.
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Wolves 1-0 down to lowly Bolton, Ward just cracked one against the bar from 25 yards. Wolves can't afford to lose this one.
Good to see Foley back on the bench after his injury. Couldn't see Wolves losing this beforehand. Hope they get back into it.
Perfect start to the second half there, set piece from the left channel, cross whipped in right across the face of goal and Fletcher produces the headed finish from a couple of yards out...1-1. Ward actually played the first half in midfield but has shifted back to fullback after the introduction of Edwards for Elokobi.
Honestly I think Fletcher is as valuable to Wolves as van Persie is to Arsenal.
Still 1-1, Wolves brought on Doyle after about an hour just had a decent chance from a Hunt cross which Jaaskelainen saved. Foley on now after about 80 minutes, game has been pretty even in the second half.
That was one awful match. The cameramen gave up trying to spot the flight of the ball in the 2nd half.
One bright spot was Doyle's contribution, looked sharp after he came on for the last few minutes.
Just got back home, Doyle starts up front with Forde and Ward also starting (haven't pinpointed where they're playing yet), Foley and Hunt on the bench. Wolves apparently started very slow but just started coming back in to the match.
EDIT: I think its 4-5-1 with Forde on the left side of midfield, Ward may be behind him at left fullback. Been relatively even since I turned it on though Chelsea the better side. Ward should've scored with a header on about 32 minutes.
EDIT2: Forde off at the half for Jarvis, didn't see much of him in my 15 or so minutes watching.
EDIT3: 1-0 Chelsea, Ramires goal after a corner bounced in the box. Ward was marking him, should've done better defensively. Probably will go 4-4-2 now and bring Fletcher on.
Surely we will be seeing Hunt coming on soon?
The substitution didn't seem to work too well given they scored soon after.
They need to bring Hunt on to rough Chelsea up a bit.
Apparently not, Foley will be on soon for Edwards (their last sub), perhaps to slot in on the right side of midfield...Foley's first appearance since August I guess. Jarvis hasn't been ineffective but he hasn't been effective either. I've never really rated him too much but he has pace and on occasion can produce a decent ball in to the box.
I have to say I think it is folly bringing on Foley, I can't see him changing the game.
Foley looks a bit of a liability judging by his recent efforts at getting the ball away,
that's not the area of the pitch to muck around in.
Wardy!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1-1
I was not expecting that, doubly good for Ward who was getting some stick for the first goal (unfairly) and a miss (I didn't see it).
Hope they can hang on now.
Wardy!! Ball in to the box, the talisman Fletcher knocks it back to roughly the penalty spot and Ward drives the ball past Cech. 1-1.
An emphatic strike.
Though, perhaps about 8 minutes too early?
SSN saying Cech just made a great save from Doyle, last moment of the game.
Wolves almost got a last gasp equaliser too, still a very creditable performance from Wolves.
Would have been a magnificent one had not Lampard battled one back.
Well, it was a decent expected save but not a great save.
Perhaps it was the exciting drama of a last gasp chance that Wolves created out of nothing, 20 seconds over the 3 minutes allotted, that led to describing it as great.
I think it was Doyle who got his head onto a flick on but couldn't direct it away from Cech.
Cech looks better with his mask on
At the time I thought it was either a brilliant piece of skill or a fluked piece of brilliance by Ramires, before he turned on a 6 pence and slammed the ball into the net. Either way, Ward was beaten fair and square by a piece of brilliance.
However the defending by the whole Wolves defense for the second goal left a lot to be desired. Still it took a lovely bit of skill from Torres to set up that winning goal.
Plenty of Irish involvement in today's FA Cup match between Birmingham and Wolves, which is now at half-time.
Birmingham have Colin Doyle in goal and Adam Rooney up front. After the first half, Doyle has made a good save on Ebanks-Blake, while Rooney has been physical up front but isolated (playing as a lone striker). As it happened, he collided with Roger Johnson, who injured himself on the landing, so Kevin Foley replaced him.
On the Wolves side, Kevin Doyle is up front and seemingly continuing his poor run of form, while Hunt is playing on the left and while looking busy hasn't done anything of note. Ward is playing behind him at left fullback and made a good penetrating run into the box and has generally looked good going forward.
Pretty defensive game so far, probably only one goal needed to find a winner.
EDIT: Match ended 0-0...Colin Doyle made a great double save in the final minute to ensure the replay.
Some highlights from the match here:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xni...ghlights_sport
Looked like Wolves had the better of the chances. Good goalkeeping from Doyle to keep Wolves out at 1:35.
Good point away to Spurs today, wasn't paying too close attention (watching Soton match), though had Wolves match on in the background...seemed like Wolves were under pressure for most of the match.
I watched a fair bit of this game. It was more distinguished by a poor Spurs who hit about 6 points and 5 overs from shooting range.
Only one double save made by Hennessy, so not that much pressure really.
Heard on the radio that the Wolves owner was question MIck's performance and
comparing it to that of Norwich and Swansea.
Afaia, Wolves' owner has never commented about Mick, through good times or bad.
You'd wonder if Mick could ever build a decent team to move out of the dogfight zone? Some parts are his responsibility other parts have presented difficulties that Mick has done well to patch up mid-season. He has a few top class players out there in Fletcher and Johnson.
Hunt came on late against Spurs, enough time to give away the ball from a stray pass.
Ward was just okay. Foley looked a good footballer out there, very tidy indeed.
I think he is perhaps optimistic if he thinks another manager will do any better.
I'd say there is more downside than upside in changing the manager at the moment.
Got this old data for the cost of the squads and wolves seem to be about value for money.
Albeit it is a bit out of date.
Manchester City - £323m
Manchester United - £228m
Chelsea - £215m
Tottenham - £191m
Aston Villa - £109m
Liverpool - £109m
Arsenal - £96m
Sunderland £87m
Everton - £80m
Newcastle - £68m
West Ham United - £61m
Fulham - £58m
Birmingham - £45m
Stoke - £47m
Bolton - £43m
Wolves - £39m
Wigan - £37m
West Brom - £34m
Blackburn - £32m
Also are they not doing better than last season?
Blackpool - £6m
Nightmare start for Wolves, stream just turned on, some sort of balls up in defence, ball breaks to Bent in the 18 yard box though he was going away from goal...but Berra hauls him down and the ref points to the spot. Was hoping Robbie would take it, but Bent steps up and sends Hennessey the wrong way...1-0.
EDIT: Kightly equalizes, nice work down the right, cuts inside, and curls his left footed effort beyond Given.
EDIT2: Wolves coming on strong now, had two great chances, one cleared off the line and one straight at Given...pretty open and entertaining game right now, night and day from the Birmingham match on Wednesday.
EDIT3: As I type that, Wolves take the lead. Corner in from the right from Kightly, Johnson(?) puts the first header (from roughly the penalty spot) goalward, and Edwards gets a flick on it to get it past Given. 2-1.
EDIT4: Since Robbie equalized the game has gone a bit more quiet...stupid petulant red card from Karl Kenry might have doomed their chance for three points (and even one point).
Watched the Wolves match up to Liverpool's 2nd...they really are atrocious. Have to feel for Mick he is working with basically a Championship team.
Micks been sacked, will be interesting to see what the implications of that are for the Irish lads. Have to feel Ward in particular is very much a favourite of him who may not figure with a different coach.
Surprised they got rid of him after all he's done with Wolves.
A Wolves fan I know had this to say:
Quote:
Thanks for everything Mick! achieved more for this club than most.
I'd imagine a Yorkshire man such as himself would immediately go in to the running for the Leeds job. Not at all surprised by this move but certainly disappointed...as I've noted before he really had a Championship calibre team aside from Fletcher, Johnson, and maybe a couple of others on their day...and yes I do realize that includes quite a few of our players but Doyle and Hunt have been trending downwards and its hard to judge Foley and Ward as they're just a part of a defence that hemorrhages goals.
Mick's a good manager with a proven record at championship level. Given the manager merry-go-round in that division, he's bound to be sought after. Leeds would be a fairly good option and Wiki seems to think he was a Leeds fan.
The names being linked with this job would be quite alarming for any Wolves fan: Curbishley, Warnock, Bruce. I can't imagine any doing a better job thank Mick. They really would need someone who can organise a defence and get the best out of players. Plus, I'm not quite sure how receptive the dressing room would be given that, as hard-nosed as Mick can be to the media, I can't remember him criticizing a player. Normally he's singing the praises of Doyle, Fletcher, Jarvis etc. And they're mostly Mick's signings. Players like Ward, Jarvis and Kightly owe quite a lot to Mick McCarthy given the level they were at prior to him signing them (Bohs, Gillingham, Grays). I'm not sure who, but some Wolves player recently gave him their full backing.
I have felt for ages that Mick has been too loyal to Hennessy in nets (just as Paul O'Shea felt he was too loyal to one of his CBs). Hennessy is a talented kid for sure, as evidenced by some great saves but he is far too prone to soft goals. I'd prefer a keeper who makes no errors to one who mixes wonder saves with dumb errors. I think Hahnemann got a good run in the team last year and stabilised things a bit. MIW?
I've never played in goal, so I'd take my criticism of Hennessey with that in mind, but I've been keeping an eye on him since the Carling Nations Cup last year.
Fahey lined up the free kick, and Hennessey took up one the worst positions I've ever seen for a free kick. Since then, there have been countless goals conceded by Wolves where, if his footwork/positioning/decision making had been a little better, the chance mightn't of even arisen. It's come to a stage where it looks like people are taking more shots than usual because they recognise he's not in the best position. Usually results in a diving save that should never of come about. I don't think he's beyond improving but he'd learn a lot from going back to being an understudy to someone senior.
Somewhat unbelievably, Lee Clark of Huddersfield has lost his job...so another Yorkshire job opening.
What the?
He was being touted for jobs and refused to go. Some clubs are mental.
Surely has to be more to that Clark story. Wasn't too long ago that they were setting an unbeaten record. A ludicrous decision on the face of it.