Wolves Arsenal loanee Frimpong fit to face Liverpool

At first there were information that the kick in the face midfielder Frimpong received against the Villians Saturday had broken his jaw and he was going to be out for three months. Fortunately that was a foregone conclusion.

Hospital checks showed that nothing was broken and when he was in for a recheck yesterday of his left eye, everything was as it should be when it comes to his sight also. Apart from the bruising and that he is very swollen in the face, that is.

So its very happy news for Wolves and Arsenal, but maybe not for Liverpool as he will be back in training on Friday and a very probable pick for the starting eleven against Liverpool next Tuesday.

Frimpong was – together with Michael Kightly – the best player in Wolves when they played Villa Saturday and is beginning to build a reputation among the Wolves faithful as a tough, solid midfielder with great skills going forward.

As Wolves are fighting for survival in the league the team are in great need of the skills Frimpong has shown in the engine room.

(Still) manager Mick McCarthy said to the press yesterday:

“Frimpong will be OK for Liverpool. He went to hospital with the doctor yesterday and he will be fine. He will go to see a specialist on Thursday and I expect him to train on Friday, so fingers crossed, he’ll be fine. There’s no damage to his eye, he’s just got a bruised face.”

Not equally good news about the recovery of Jamie O’Hara, though. He is back in light training, but it will take another two weeks before he will be available after his hernia operation. Hopefully he can play a role against Rangers, but more probable in the derby against the team down the road.

Paddytheflea

Analysis & Ratings: Wolves v Aston Villa

Everybody knows by now that its like riding on a roller-coaster to be a fan of Wolves, but this game gave me a ride I’ll never forget. I was totally exhausted afterwards and it felt like I’d been out there with the lads for 90 minutes.

Already against Spurs there were two players that took command over the rest in the team and were the ones that moved the ball forward. Kightly and Frimpong did that again against Villa and what we witnessed last night was a balanced Wolves team for the first time in years, with strength in the forward moves, in the inner midfield and two wingers ready to explode like race horses from their boxes on the flanks.

Jarvo and Kights – Havoc & Mayhem – were back again and the play looked like when they ruled the Championships. I have no doubt that it was an in form Kightly that provided the spark to the rest of the team and Frimpong followed example and provided him with the balls and shelter fom the storm.

The Berra mistake in the box, the penalty and the goal in the back only made the team more determined to show what they could do and the only surprise was that it took so long for them to score the equaliser. It was like watching a team playing in trance and everything suddenly clicked. Wolves went forward wave after wave and they also had the strength to press the Villa defence for minutes with corners and clever passing. Excellent!

The first goal was a fantastic curl by Kightly, who else, and ten minutes later the inspired Johnson contributed with an assist with a header that Edwards flicked into the net. Wolves were in the lead, but they didn’t stop playing because of that. With another goal in that inspired run we would surely have taken all three points out of this game. Nobody believed anything else at this stage of the game. We had total control and everything smelled like roses.

Expectations were high at boveril-time although some probably were worried that the team would back down and try to defend the lead for 45 minutes. Tendencies in that direction could also be sighted. Kights didn’t get forward and our attacking power was not at all at the same level as in the first half. Why? Villa made a change at halftime. Agbonlahor was sick and had to go out and McLeish had an opportunity to strengthen the left flank of his team by bringing on Warnock on left back, pushing up their security risk Clark to midfield. The heydays for Kightly were thereby over.

The same Clark though redeemed himself a little by taking care of a fatal try to clearance  by Jarvis and found Robbie Keane in an excellent position with his pass. He fired a volley and Villa had levelled the score.

Shortly after that Wolves looked good in attack again, trying to get the lead back, when Frimpong gave everything to get his head on a ball to the left close to goal when Petrov hit his head with his boot. The unfortunate Frimpong had to be stretchered out and the second big threat going forward for Wolves was gone.

Uptil then i saw our chances of winning this game as very good, but Frimpong had been our engine in the game and it was impossible to replace his spark.

Milijas came on and although he played a good game his style of play is nowhere near that of the energetic young Arsenal player. Jarvis came to life as Milijas strengthened his side of midfield with his presence and passing and he had a cross in to Kights in the area, but he didn’t manage to head it at goal.

Instead we had to witness the former Wolves academy player Robbie Keane collecting a brace with a superb shot from 20 yards out. I would say that he was lucky and I don’t believe he can do that again if he tries a hundred times, but he is a very skilled player on his day. So misery struck us and it would get worse.

An incident occurred when Albrighton and Henry were locked together, or clearly put Albrighton locked the leg of Henry with his hands. Henry couldn’t control his anger and kicked Albrighton in the chest to get free, but the referee was only steps away and correctly by the book gave him the red card. Idiotic by Henry as he destroyed the chances for Wolves to get level with Villa and maybe still win the game.

With ten men we still pushed on though. We attacked mostly from the left with Jarvo, Ward and Milijas playing the ball up between them, but the team was weakened an the attempts were stopped by the Villa defence. From balloon to brick in 90 minutes, that was how it felt in my body anyway.

Summary. As I said in my pre-match article we do have the players to stay up in this league and they showed that with aplomb during the first half. With Kightly and Jarvo on the flanks and Ward and Foley supporting them we can pose a threat going forward to any team. Hopefully the injury of Frimpong is less grave than first understood and he can continue as our engine. The loss of Henry for three games does not bother me. Milijas can fill his role and I hope Henry will find himself on the bench, out of the starting eleven, when he comes back. Actually the balance of the team will be even better with Milijas and Frimpong in the middle as Milijas likes to play to the left and Frimpong to the right.

In my pre-match article I was very negative about the managing of the team by Mick McCarthy. That still stands, but he did nothing wrong yesterday. It was bad luck and individual mistakes that made our downfall, but the way the team played the first half gives hope for the rest of the season. This team play way too good to go down!

Hennessey – 6 – Found Fletcher with kick-outs many times and I like that he practised the art of throwing out the ball to Foley and others in this game. It looked though that he could have done better on the first goal by Keane. I take a point off for that.

Foley – 8 – An excellent feed of Kightly in this game and an 89% of completed passes tells us what we have lacked in the team when he was out injured. With him in the team we can play instead of kick the ball up the field and that changes our entire game. Foley is by that one of our most important players in the run in, but for now he will have to do with the little smiley. Oh, and he filled in for H in the middle very well too.

Johnson – 8 – A cliff in defence in this game as against Tottenham. Clearly in form now and also an assist, just what we need in the run in. He and the next man has to practise better passes though.

Berra – 5 – What was he thinking? Or he shouldn’t have at all, just kicked the ball up the field. Sunday football defending! The worst passer in the game too. Luckily Johnson stepped forward in this game to make our defence stronger. Hopefully he will get back to his normal self pronto.

Ward – 6 – Maybe the only one with a better second than first half, but I believe that was due to the strengthening of the left side when Milijas came on. He can do better!

Henry – 4

Frimpong – 8 – I’ve said most of it above, but what a catch this young man is. Just what the team needed. From a Minis engine to a Ferrari engine-wise. We got a taste of what he could do against Tottenham and now he played out. I really hope that he will be back in full throttle already against Liverpool. His cooperation with Kightly was excellent and they went forward together as soon as they had the opportunity. What a difference a player make! Frimpong will get the little star. If he had played the whole game he might have been given the big one.

Milijas – 6 – Came on for Frimpong with half an hour left and played much better than in the cup against Birmingham. Had a lot going with Ward and Jarvo on the left and I hope to see more of that in the coming games. He must be better at passing the ball, though, and his famous left foot seem not to be in shape.

Kightly – 8 – He is not lightning fast, but he sure has the spark and the creativity to cause havoc among opposition defence. As I said above we now have our flying wingers back from the glory days of the Championship and – with the right backing –  they have gathered the strength now to do the same thing to Premiership teams as they did then and there.

Perhaps he had an easy task with Clark in the first half and found it much harder with Warnock, but with a couple of games more he will be a lethal threat to any defender and he showed us his special skills by scoring a beautiful goal yesterday aswell. MM has tried many solutions to copy the success of Jarvo and Kights on the flanks, but nothing is as good as the original. Michael Kightly is Paddytheflea’s Star Man!

Edwards – 7 – Sometimes he disappears from pay, but then he pops up again from or in the box. He did that at the right moment in this game just after I had cursed him for not scoring on a sitter. Works hard all over as usual, but can he beat the competition of O’Hara when he is up and running again, hopefully against Liverpool?

Jarvis – 6 – A point withdrawn for giving the ball away prior to the second Villa goal. Outshined by Kights, but clearly also inspired by him, at going forward, of course, but he had some good spells when Kights was blocked in the second half and in the first half aswell. A little taste of what we could have if everything works out in the future.

Fletcher – 7 – Didn’t get many chances at goal in this game as he was heavily guarded by the Villa defence, but he did what he could and he was excellent in working back and fighting for the ball, sometimes getting it, at midfield. When he gets it I’ve noticed that he is very good at those deep passes trying to find a running Wolf between the opponents defenders. Will score against Liverpool, of course, he always do against the big teams.

Paddytheflea

Probable Team Lineups: Wolves v Aston Villa

A blogger friend of mine reports unrest among the Wolves fans and some of my friends are past the boiling point aswell. I suppose that it’s not totally fair though if they measure the strength of Wolves from a couple of cup-games with our second tier, but those games didn’t leave much to rejoice about for sure.

The only players who came out of the home game against Birmingham with their pride still intact were young right back Doherty and, not counting precision, Adam Hammill. Hunty and Doyler were among the worst and apart from Berra I don’t want any of the ones starting that game to start against Villa, and they probably wont.

Taking the above reverse to make it a positive you could say that manager McCarthy will get the first eleven right, I suppose, but I’m still very disappointed about his tactics in the games this season. Wolves desperately need to play some good football now or this season will be the one when we go down.

In our first season in the Premiership we fought hard against the odds with a basically championship team that rose to the occasion to stay in the league. Last season we played some good football and managed to beat some of the best teams in the league, but were minutes from getting relegated. This year a team that’s supposed to be better than the previous two seasons has shown us nothing in play nor in results.

I remember watching the bleach face of Morgan in the stands when Wolves were minutes from going down last May. He probably looked with the inside of his eyelids at the £80M that were about to fly out the window of his mansion if Wolves had gone down.  I’m sure he doesn’t want to relive that moment again at any price less than that amount of money.

So for Wolves chairman and owner Steve Morgan – as for the fans – this is a very important game. Preventive action has to be taken if we don’t win at home against our neighbours from Birmingham, either by finding star quality players or a star quality manager.

As I still believe we have the players to stay up I think the latter is what mr Morgan should go for, and I hope that he has an emergency plan in place. Good businessmen tend to have just that.

As a tip to Mr Morgan i can mention that Rafa Benitez, who was the manager of Liverpool when he was a part owner of that club, seem to be unemployed. With an FA Cup and a Champions League win to prove it, he seem to know some stuff about footballing.

To the game, then. Wolves still have O’Hara, Zubar and Craddock out injured and Edwards in doubt. In Villa Heskey and Jenas are out. Villa usually play a straight 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1. Against us it will surely be the former. With former Wolves player Robbie Keane on loan they have the firepower upfront to do that. I don’t think he will play from start, though.

We will find it hard to do the same with Doyle totally out of form and Ebanks-Blake not finding the net with a flashlight and monoculars. It has to be 4-4-1-1 for Wolves. If Edwards is injury free he will play right behind Fletcher, otherwise he may even try Keogh in that role.

The result? Everybody seems to predict a draw. For Villa that is probably a good result, but not for Wolves. I would like to believe that our players will show their innate quality when best needed and win this game. 2-1 to Wolves, goals by Fletcher and Jarvis. Probable starting elevens below.

UP THE WOLVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Paddytheflea

Probable Team Lineups: Tottenham v Wolves

Before we played Tottenham last we were unbeaten after two wins and one draw in the league and there were high hopes for a very good season in and around Wolverhampton. Not only for the points, but because we played well and looked sharp. After that game the journey down began.

For the Tottenham faithful it was quite the opposite. They came from a hard start to the season, but found their feet against us. Now it’s payback time. We want our mojo back!

Actually we played very well against Tottenham at Molineux, besides losing with two goals against nothing. We stood up well, maybe with the exception of Henry in the inner midfield who had a very good start of the season, but begun to show inconsistency now and Hunty who didn’t have a good game either.

Maybe that’s one of the main reasons to our downfall and, with Wolves strengthening the midfield in the window, we can measure up to that strength from the beginning of the season again? Johnson started the season well as did Ward and Stearman at the back. Berra has gained strength since and hopefully we have a better back four now than when we were at our best, as Johnson seem to have found his mojo again.

The main difference with Wolves play at the start of the season and later on lies though, I believe, in the instructions from management and in the head of the players (sometimes that is exactly the same thing, I’m afraid). The urge and want to win the games by going forward was much more noticeable then and I remember myself being surprised when looking at how fast the team were turning the game and attacking when they played against Blackburn and Fulham. We got to get back to that!

With Kightly back in better form than he was in those first games we have the quality and strength in width that we need against Tottenham. Actually I want us to play more like them and with our 4-4-2-formation and Kites and Jarvo at the wings we could do it. The crux, though, is that we don’t have no Modric or Parker in the inner midfield to engine our way up the pitch. With them in Wolves I would have no worries for the game in London.

I peeped at the Tottenham-Everton game and it’s clear to me that they play a very handsome and beautiful game at the moment. They are the in form team in the league and the pundits don’t give us a chance in this game, and rightly so. They played Livermore instead of Parker in the middle, but Parker is reported to be back in contention now and my guess is that he will play.

How should we play against such a force? Despite us losing at Molineux I wrote that we could have won that game if we only had got the first goal. Because we begin the games with the whole team playing too low on the field we have in my humble opinion lost a lot of games by inviting other teams to attack us without us having the ability to turn the game fast and counter attack, an ability we had early on in the season.

One interesting detail in the Tottenham tactics is that they have Bale waiting for them to take control of the ball in a central position on their own half and when they do he goes on attack immediately. That’s how it should work and we got Jarvo who could play that role. What I’m saying is that there are lots of little things that our manager could do to give the team the opportunity to be better and faster in their counter attacks. Use that brain of yours, mr McCarthy!

I think we can do better than Everton did and maybe even snatch a point in this game. If everybody play at the height of their ability and McCarthy play the right team and gives them the ability to do their best, nothing is impossible and we got everything to win. This is a challenge and an opportunity and could be the start of a new beginning.

What will the Wolves team look like then?  No surprises at the back, I reckon. Foley is back in contention, but he will stay on the bench and Stearman will start at  right back. In many ways I prefer Foley, especially for his good passing skills and way to move forward. He is a wing-back, but Stears is not and will never be. At his best Stears is a very good defender, though, and a fighter. Against Tottenham we could do with a third central defender kind of player so he comes in handy in these games.

The midfield is hard to predict. Henry will be on for sure, but who will play beside him? I would opt for giving Frimpong the chance and maybe Mick will do just that. I believe Kights will start on the right and I hope Jarvo will start on the left, but Mick could start with Hunty aswell, but we need a fast runner like Jarvo in the team, both for defensive and attacking purposes. If Jarvo starts it would be right balance with Frimpong and Henry as a defensive lock in the midfield, with Milijas and Henry Hunt would be the right player on the left wing, that’s how I think about the matter.

What’s wrong with Doyler? I don’t know, but Mick is shouting at him like to a dog from the side and he seem not to be comfortable (perhaps because Mick shouts like to a dog at him). In what position does Mick want to play him? It seems like Mick want him as an inner midfielder when defending and as a winger when attacking. Weird. Maybe he is good if he is allowed to play as a striker?

Apart from Sylvan Ebanks-Blake running offside all the time he looks good, explosive and in form. I can see him score if he can stay behind the offside line until the pass comes, but will he play from start? I think not. Fletcher will or Mick must have brain surgery. To the probable starting elevens then.

UP THE WOLVES!!!

Paddytheflea

Probable Team Lineup: Wolves v Chelsea

I’m awfully late, I know, and haven’t commented on the Bolton game. I will do that later, but can say that it was a game of two halves, simply because McCarthy opted for the far-fetched solution to the inner-midfield problem by putting Ward in the role. He didn’t find the right position and that made the whole team unbalanced. Five times (at least) offside for SEB is also one of the reasons for Wolves not winning the game. How hard is it to avoid it? Is he PL material? I begin to doubt it.

For today Wolves has two new players and one coming back available for team selection. I believe Mick will use two of these from start, Kightly in the wide role to the right and Frimpong – on loan from Arsenal – beside Henry at defensive mid. Only 48 hours since the last game and some of the players – especially those on the midfield, will still be a bit tired in their bodies after the Bolton game.

It will be interesting to watch Frimpong and I believe that he will be competition to Henry first hand, but the unavailability of O’Hara and Milijas means he will be playing together with Henry in this game, and that could be a good solution against a team like Chelsea.

Chelsea have big problems with their team and haven’t impressed lately. It’s not impossible to take points from them at home for Wolves and I think that our players see that probability and I hope they take the chance of grabbing all three. 2-0 to Wolves and goals by Henry (!) and Kightly. The probable starting eleven of Wolves below.

UP THE WOLVES!!!

Paddytheflea

Probable Team Lineups: Bolton v Wolves

Some people has called this game a twelve-pointer, maybe not totally without reasons. It’s a water shedder for both teams and extremely important for the clubs to win if they want to keep their supporters happy and avoid relegation. Maybe a little bit more so for Bolton who are under the relegation line already.

Wolves are troubled with injuries on O’Hara and Zubar and the horrible three match ban on Nenad Milijas. Foley is reported to travel with Wolves, but will probably act as a cover on the bench for Stearman. Craddock is still doubtful if I’ve got it right.

Bolton has a long row of injuries; S Davis, Alonso, Mears, Holden Lee , Gardner and probably Pratley. I believe most of them doesn’t have a place in the starting eleven normally, though. Cahill is about to be sold so he will probably not figure in this game.

To have both Milijas and O’Hara out is of course a big concern for Wolves, but it doesn’t have to spell disaster. We still have at least four possible replacements who can play well in inner midfield, but it is not an ideal situation.

Bolton play a straight 4-4-2, even against the best teams in the league. Perhaps that is the reason for their low position this season?! That and the fact that they don’t have a performing goalscorer. Wolves-educated midfielder Mark Davies has struggled two seasons to get into the team, but now he seem to have reached his goal and he has started the last ten games for them.

He has mostly played to the right, but also in the middle. He has scored for them a couple of games ago and will of course be eager to do that against us, as he has a point to prove to Mick McCarthy and others. I don’t wish him luck with that, but still believe that McCarthy could have treated him differently when he was a Wolves player. Enough said.

The fact that Bolton very probable will play 4-4-2 lead me to believe that we will do the same. I’ve got it wrong lately about our formation and I’m not sure this time either, but the fact that we have two inner midfielders out also speaks for a four man midfield this time. With Hunt in the starting eleven we can still have a strong inner mid when defending.

Before I line-out the probable starters, what will the probable result be for this encounter? I’m positive and believe we can feed on the desperation of the Bolton team and pick up at least one point in this game, maybe all three. We showed against Arsenal that we can defend and have a fantastic keeper and it should be possible to get at least one, probably two balls in their net. Two all or two against one for Wolves, I see as probable results.

UP THE WOLVES!!!

Paddytheflea

Analysis & Ratings: Arsenal v Wolves

First of all. I’m happy to have been wrong about todays result and will never again sell Wolves short. We are fighters and I consider all ten out there the last 21 minutes of the game as nothing less than heroes.

Most of the praise must of course go to our Welsh wonder-warrior Wayne Hennessey. What a match he did!  But everybody out there chipped in and worked very hard in defending our point. Of course there were some luck involved too, but luck only comes to the ones that work hard, and our players knows that.

For the #%/#:th time in a match this season Wolves let in an early goal and again it was the back line that faulted when they didn’t succeed in setting an offside trap. I believe it was Johnson who didn’t move forward fast enough, but he played some good football later on so I’m not going to lean too hard on him.

EDIT: IT WAS ZUBAR WHO FAULTED!

The goal seemed to have a cooling effect on the Arsenal game and we actually came into the game more and more after their lead. We had several half chances when the last pass was faulty, but otherwise we did hold up play pretty well and Arsenal didn’t come to that many chances, and the ones they had Hennessey took care of together with the back four. I thought it was game over, though, when Henry gave the ball away times two after half an hour or so.

It was Milijas who took the corner that resulted in the Wolves goal. Djourou could head it away, but no further than to Hunt, who was placed on the edge of the box. He took the ball down and shot it towards goal and it deflected on a player before it reached Fletcher on the right, three or four yards from the goal.

He reacted remarkably swift and aimed the header to the left of the Arsenal keeper. It was not a hard header, but very well placed, especially when considering the short amount of time Steven Fletcher had to decide what to do with it. The deflection was lucky, but nothing would have happened if not for the skills of Fletch. By that goal he is the one who has scored most goals with his head in the league so far this season.

I think one all was a fair result at half-time, but knew that Arsenal would come on to the second more resilient than ever with a look to crush us. They had a great chance to gain some points from the teams above them, and surely they wouldn’t miss that opportunity against a team that, statistically, was the worst away team in the league?

Even if Arsenal had more ball in the beginning of the second half Wolves defended well, but we were not allowed to go forward as much as in the first half. After just five minutes Zubar got injured and was replaced by Stearman. Zubar was down in agony twice before that and it was no surprise that he had to be replaced. He seem to be injury prone and sometimes reckless in the way he moves his body. At the same time that behaviour gave us an equalising goal against Norwich. I hope he is alright.

Just after the hour Hennessey made two fantastic saves to deny Arsenal a much wanted goal. The first one was a perfect free-kick by van Persie that he  tipped over the cross-bar with his fingers. Not many goalkeepers would have made that save.

The other one was not as spectacular, but equally skilful. He parried a header by Mertesacker when everybody was sure that Arsenal would take the lead. Again a couple of minutes later he parried a shot by van Persie with his feet.

The gut reaction after that onslaught was that Wolves never would last the full 90 with one point intact. Fortunately we didn’t know then what was to come. Milijas was a bit careless with the ball some 20 yards from the Wolves goal line and got the ball too far from him and when he tried to save the situation with a long leg to sort of fishing in the ball again Arteta fell to the ground. Maybe it was a free and even a yellow card, but never a read one, which the referee very fast handed out. Even the Arsenal fans thought it was a harsh decision, and that says it all to me.

So it was out of the frying pan and into the fire for Wolves. How would we manage to hold out for a point for fifteen minutes and extra time? Don’t get your hopes up, this will never work out, I said in an inner dialogue with myself. The rest of the game was of course play against one goal. Fortunately we had one of the best keepers in all Britain available in that goal. On the other hand they had the best scorers in the same  geographical area in their team.

And they pushed on for what seemed to be hours. Van Persie tried another free-kick that Wayne had to stretch out in all his length on and he had a couple of other going close aswell and so did Arshavin, Vermaelen and probably a couple of others. It was not only Hennessey against Arsenal, though, the team defended very well and everybody knew what to do and made no mistakes by sticking out a leg or tugging a shirt that the referee could complain on.

Six minutes of extra time made the period in which Wolves played with ten men 21 minutes long. They were heroic, all of them. A match to be remembered for sure and a point very well needed. If I know my psychology right it will be a great boost for morale too, and a benchmark for defending and goalkeeping in the future. Ratings!

Hennessey – 9 – Objectively one of the best performances I’ve seen from a keeper ever. I counted to at least ten, probably more, excellent saves. Not a foot wrong when Arsenal bombarded him. Surely his best game in a Wolves shirt ever and I doubt he has done better for Wales.

The only backdrop is that the big teams now must have their eyes set on our star. The secret is out and the three M:s got to fight to keep him at the club. He may very well have twenty good years left as a professional and a keeper is at his best when about 35.  Wayne Hennessey is of course Paddytheflea’s Star Man.

Zubar – 5 – Blew hot and cold as always, but he does the unexpected when going forward and sometimes it works. Can be a bit neglective in defence, though, and does not work back fast enough after attacking. Injured in the 50th minute, something about his knee. Hopefully he will be back soon.

Stearman – 7 – Replaced Zubar and did it well. Soon found himself in hell with attack on attack from Arsenal, but he helped out very well and his head was the highest in the area a couple of times. He was also up attacking at one time, but it led to nothing, unfortunately.

Johnson – 7 – In my opinion at fault for the first goal (wrong, it was Zubar), but he bettered himself considerably, especially in the second half when he commanded the defence admirably. I still have my doubts about Johnson, though, and he got to prove to me that he is a better alternative than Craddock.

Berra – 8 – As I said before he is one of the players who has bettered himself this season and he has just the fighting spirits well needed for a match of this caliber.

He was not without faults in this match, though, and was careless with the ball on an occasion that could have resulted in a goal in the back after ten minutes of the second half. When I look at his total performance in the game he deserves the Little Star anyway.

Ward – 7 – Together with Berra he has been the strong man in Wolves defence this season. He has managed to win over even the worst of the fans to his side by now, but the last three games he has not been as excellent as in the earlier ones. He had troubles with the pace of Gervinho, but saved us once or twice at the same time. Like the others he fought well the last 21 minutes, which renders him an extra point.

Henry – 6 – Two horrible mistakes in as many minutes could have ment game over for Wolves already in the first half. He has shown the same frailties on the ball the whole season, apart for the last two games, and before that. He has played well the last two games and I was willing to give him another chance, but he keeps disappointing me and everybody with these ‘short-circuits’. Like the others he fought well with ten men, though.

Forde – 7 – A surprise inclusion on the day to give Anthony Forde a place in the starting eleven and he did well. He had a hard time on the right with Vermaelen watching his steps, though, and didn’t get through more than once, resulting at a blocked attempt on goal. 79% correct passes is totally alright (Jarvo had 80%).

I wouldn’t say that he has proved that he can cut it at this level, but he certainly has not proved otherwise either. A good debut from start and very observant by McCarthy to start to take notice to our Academy players. There are some good young ones on Wolves own pay-roll and perhaps McCarthy should give more of them a chance. After all Hennessey came out of our own academy!

Hunt – 8 – Perhaps the best player in the first half and he assisted to the goal. Had the ball a couple of other times in the same position, but decided to play it backwards or to the side instead. Why? He was everywhere as usual and was one of the main arrangers of our attacks in the first half.

In the second half he didn’t get forward as much, of course, but he is very good at defending aswell. He is the player in Wolves who can play the O’Hara role the best so it was a good move by McCarthy to play him in the middle. Hunty gets one of the bouncy, smiley things.

Milijas – 7 – Did well in the first half with passes and on set pieces, but disappeared some already before he was red-carded. Him getting the ball to far from his body is probably a symptom that shows that he was tired and had lost some concentration. The red card was a wrong referee decision, though, as I explained above. Hopefully Wolves will win an appeal, because we need him in the team with O’Hara out injured for more than a month.

Jarvis – 7 – Not one of his best games and he had a hard time getting past Djourou.  He also took some wrong decisions when attacking and his crosses were not the best. Defending, though, he was up there with the others and his speed in the box is well needed in our own on such extraordinary occasions as this was.

Fletcher – 8 – They defended very well against Fletch all game except on that one occasion. One chance is however all Fletch needs and he took the chance very well. Good strikers has something in them that’s very hard to explain. The proof is in the pudding, so to speak, and it was a very nice pudding, Mr Fletcher thank you very much. Steven Fletcher gets one of those bouncy smiley things,  as this, after all was the big day for our defence first hand.

Paddytheflea

Probable Team Lineups: Arsenal v Wolves

So what can we expekt from the 24 hours delayed trip to London? Well, not any points for Wolves I’m afraid. Maybe I can pick up something in the sales if I got the time to bother about such things, but I’ll probably sit at a pub in Soho with som flea relatives from London before the game.

When looking at the extended injury of Arsenal you might be lead to believe this could be the right time to meet them, but they’ve got two very well functioned players at every position, so the absence of big names as Wilshere, Fabianski, Gibbs, Santos, Sagna and Diaby doesn’t bother them much. In Wolves the return of Foley seem to be stalling, but Edwards is scheduled to return. O’Hara is out until February, though and Craddock is doubtful.

Even if ARSenal have not been playing to their usual high standard they are still a team that we have great troubles defending against. Their attacking play is excellent and they are very competitive in midfield. With injuries and normally the weakest part of their team is at the back. The problem is that if we try to push up and play high up the pitch we will get punished on the counter. I still would like us to take that chance instead of passively take a beating.

With the introduction of Ebanks-Blake from start against Norwich McCarthy now has a choice to make upfront. Firstly, will he play with two forwards against Arsenal away? I think he will and I believe he will welcome Doyle back from start and place him in the role as second striker a little behind Fletcher, close to the O’Hara role between midfield and attack when we play five in midfield. I hope that Ebanks- Blake will get his chance against Bolton from start instead. He has earned himself that.

Edwards is back and my guess is that he and Milijas will share one of the inner midfield positions. I hope Henry can make another excellent game on the other. I do believe that Craddock is a better central defender to the right than Johnson, but maybe he is not ready for 90 minutes yet. Another possibility to the left to replace Johnson is Stearman, but I do believe McCarthy will give Johnson another chance in this game.

What will the score be, then? I’m glad if we keep it to under three down, but I’m not sure that we can. 1-3 with a Wolves goal from Hunt and a Wolves team that gives Arsenal a good fight, that’s really the best I can hope for. Let’s have a look at the probable starting elevens.

Paddytheflea

Analysis & Ratings: Wolves v Norwich City

Wolves came very close to win this game with three goals to two, as I predicted in my pre-match article, but the assistant referee just had to spoil our fortune by waving Fletcher off for offside. A correct decision, but still…

It didn’t start too well though, with former Wolves player Surman allowed to roam totally free just outside the area and nobody stopped him going inside and heading in the cross from Hoolahan. Very bad defending in my book, but I saw it coming as I noticed Surman without cover in that same position a couple of times before the goal and after it too. I believe that area falls on the defensive midfielder(s) to attend to and it’s the captains task to organise the defence and up to the manager to spell out the tactics and the dangers before and during the game. One or all of these failed in their task.

It was an open game from start to end and after their first I didn’t fret too much, as I knew Wolves would come back and score sooner or later. The surprise in the startup eleven, Sylvan Ebanks Blake, had a chance already after four minutes and he went close to score three times in the first half hour or so. I’m glad that Mick McCarthy tried to change things around a bit by giving him a rare chance to play from start and I believe he took it very well.

The Wolves equaliser came after thirty-seven minutes when Ward and Jarvis had one of their nicer runs on the left. Jarvo – who surprisingly played all game on the left wing – crossed the ball in and SEB had the skill and presence of mind to tuck the ball into the net in a goal scramble involving several legs. Good for him and Wolves!

In the firsts half both teams showed about equal strengths, maybe Norwich had a little edge in terms of chances. In the second it was Wolves who had that edge and it looked like we could get a rare thee-pointer out of this game. It was still very open, and I wouldn’t call it a surprise that it was Norwich that took the lead. They got the opportunity because of  very weak defending once again on our behalf.

Johnson showed his inaptitude and lack of ability to move sideways fast enough when he didn’t manage to stop Morison from launching a ball into the center which substitute Jackson could score on without having to bother about anybody trying to stop him. In fact I counted to three unmarked Canaries in the Wolves penalty area, probably due to our defence trying to set up an offside trap, but it failed, of course, as Johnson was down the line battling with Morison. A Sunday football error, if any.

So the goals we let in were very disappointing and there are good reasons to give our defence and defensive midfield a reminder of that and some training in how to defend proper. Our former star defender manager seem to be the right man for that, but in over five years he has not managed to wipe out school book errors from the teams performances. Why not, mr McCarthy?

Fortunately we showed good spirit going forward in this game, even if it could have been done with better pace and precision in passing the ball. So we had our share of chances in open play, but needed a corner to equalise. Our French connection Ron Zubar made a brave run into the crowd in the area and got the head on the ball that flew into the net with great pace. Thank you, Zubar! That’s exactly the kind of wholehearted action we need to stay in this league.

The last part of the game Wolves pressured on a great deal and we had several chances to win this game. The most memorable apart from the turned down offside goal by Fletcher was when substitute Hammill headed right at the keeper, unattended from short distance.

He should have done better. Milijas had a shot that went a yard out from the left post but it was not to be. Actually it was not so much our attacking play that failed us this evening, but the defending. Craddock is playing a test match this evening and I hope he will be found fit again. He is better than both our starting central defenders.

I mentioned in my last article that I wanted to test another kind of rating system, so here it comes. Tell me what you think and feel free to criticise.

Goalkeeping – 7 – Hennessey did no spectacular saves in this game and he was at no fault for the goals. Good kick-outs as usual and I believe he managed to find Fletch seven times and SEB and Doyle three each. I like the way he manages to hold on to the ball after his saves and he gets an extra point for that and the smiley.

Defending – 5 – The weak point in Wolves game this night as on so many other. Ward met som trouble at his wing and so did Zubar at times. At central defence Berra played very well as usual this season, but I’m afraid he has to take blame for the misfired offside trap on their second and the play of Johnson on that goal was also under par.

The Norwich attackers came through far to easy on the Johnson and Zubar wing. Part of the reason for their attack from their left was the fact that Hunty had two roles to play. He strengthened the inner mid and also was employed as a winger. An impossible task and sometimes he was caught in-between jobs, so to speak, when the Canaries attacked and they could run through too easily gaining pace.

And then there is the continuous problem of defending just outside the box. In my opinion it’s an area that the defensive mids should take care of, but they fail on that all the time and did tonight aswell. I’ve addressed that before and will have to do it again, Im afraid. The Wolves players managed to get back in defensive positions very well after attacking, though, and that’s well done after running so much in a game.

Midfield – 7 – As I said above it shows when defending that we are one short in midfield. Hunty has to help out and at average he was actually further down the pitch than Henry. As usual, though, he was all over and also had a couple of chances at goal. Henry ran longer than any other on the pitch and I’m very pleased over his performance at the ball.

He had nice crosses to the wings and was more positive in his play in midfield than ever this season. The second longest runner in Wolves was Milijas and I believe he is coming to form now. A must, because O’Hara is reported to be out at least to February after an operation. A couple of dangerous free-kicks and corners and a couple of shots by Milijas. Nice play by Ward and Jarvo taking the ball forward as usual and Jarvo had the best percent of successful passes. Zubar was also succesful going forward but he and Hunty ran into troubles with Tierny who obviously must have been a personal friend or relative to the referee, being allowed to take to any means to stop them going forward. The over all midfield play will get Paddytheflea’s Big Star this match, although it was not perfect!

Attacking – 7 – I think the bringing of Ebanks-Blake into the starting eleven paid off. As I sai he had four chances and one goal in the first half and a couple of chances in the second. With the fine tuning that comes with playing he could very well carry the weapon that fires us to a fourth season in the Premier League. Fletcher was a little more off in this game and seem not to be friend with the ball, but only a feet or so away from deciding the game with a minute left, mind you.

Jarvo played well over all, but I think he could have slipped through more on his wing and his crosses were not top notch either. I’m surprised that Sky game him nine points, but he made our first, of course. As I said Hunty also had a couple of good chances and crosses and Hammill looked strong when he came on, but missed what looked to be a sitter.

I also think that Fletch and SEB worked better together than Doyler and Fletch. Milijas didn’t find that lethal pass to the forwards in the deep in this game, but he came very close. I believe he has to work so hard at defending that his precision gets affected when moving forward. I strongly believe, though, that we did see an attacking Wolves team, fresher than in a long time, much because of Ebanks-Blake providing another option in attack for the team. Worth to mention when it comes to the attack is of course the fantastic equalising goal of Zubar. I want to see more of those. The attack gets the little star!

Managing – 6 – McCarthy made the right decision to play Ebanks-Blake from start. I didn’t believe that he would have the guts to drop Doyle and take a chance on our former Golden Boot winner. He also made the right subs at the right time in this game. I blame him. though, for not giving effective instructions to the defence in how to handle threats outside the box and defend properly. The best thing he did, though was to let Jarvis play all game on left wing. That’s the territory he play best in and Hunt can play well at the right aswell.

Paddytheflea

Probable Team Lineups: Wolves v Norwich City

Well. No time for crying over spilt milk, is there? The Canaries are visiting and we’re going to be good hosts and beat them up, eh! At least that must be the plan. Three points is a must now, with a row of difficult away games waiting in the holidays.

For those, must be only a few of us by now, who believes this is an easy game I would advise you to think twice. Norwich is on a run and over all they’ve had a good first part of their first season among the nobles.

They play a good passing game and are much quicker at coming to chances than Wolves and that Lambert guy looks to be a fantastic coach, having taken them up two steps in two years with no stars in the team. It’s a team effort and I congratulate them to their success so far, but sometime it got to end and I believe they will be among the strugglers, like we will, at the end of season.

With O’Hara and Edwards still out of bounce and Craddock and Foley playing in the reserves on Wednesday, Mick will without doubt start the game with the same outfit that started against the Potters.

I believe that’s a good choice as long as Jarvo play on the left and Hunty on the right. I know a lot of supporters that want Hammill to start, but he is far from the all round play Hunt show up on a good day, and I believe Hunty is coming to form and is very needed when we play four in the middle.

What about the lineup for Norwich, then? Well, they’ve got injuries on De Laet, Vaughan, Ayala and Ward, so I guess we are about equal when it comes to that part of the game. They usually play a 4-4-1-1-formation, especially away, lately with Morison just behind the incredible Captain Holt. Look out for him in the box boys, he’s a lot quicker than he looks and they all give everything and a bit in a goal scramble.

The midfield are supporting the forwards very well and they are all good passers, with our former player Surman usually on the left wing. I hope that he doesn’t create too much problems for his old mates Zubar and Hunt, but players traveling back to their old club pitch are known to do just that.

But it’s the back four that are the fragile point in the Canaries armour. Naughton and Tierney are not in the same class as the full backs Jarvo and Hunt has encountered lately and their central defenders aren’t the same class either, in my opinion. If our forward going players play the way they did in the first half against Stoke, they should be able to make an impact. I want Wolves to show that they can create goals in play in this game, cause I believe it’s necessary. Norwich will get one or two in, I’m sure. They always do.

The result? Many goals on counter attacks by both teams, a complete different game to the one against Stoke. In the end 3-2 to Wolves, two by Fletcher and one by Doyle. Am I dreaming or having a fever? Perhaps. Below are the probable starting elevens.

Paddytheflu