Bolton Win Battle Of The Wanderers
46 Bloody Seconds...
By Tom Bason
November 13 2010
Another first minute set the tone today, as Richard Stearman put through his own net. Johan Elmander and Stuart Holden added fine goals to put Bolton 3-0 up, before a spirited fightback saw Kevin Foley and Steven Flectcher pull goals back. Despite intense pressure, we were unable to find the crucial breakthrough.
- "I
suspect we may move back to a 4-4-2 formation if Edwards doesn’t recover, and
this I fear may be our downfall." From my Arsenal report on Wednesday. I'm
no football genius yet I could predict it. Why couldn't Mick?
- The system played today was a mistake. Matching Bolton's 4-4-2 formation
meant it came down to 10 individual battles on the pitch. Given that Bolton's
players are probably superior in the first place and that all our players were
poor, meant we never had a chance. It also meant that there was no spare
midfielder to help Elokobi deal with Lee Chung-Yong, a battle he was always to
struggle with, while the central midfield turned into a warzone- perfect for
the likes of Stuart Holden and Fabrice Muamba.
- One of the major benefits of a 4-5-1/4-3-3 is the freedom it gives the wide
players. Playing a 4-4-2 though meant that Matt Jarvis was forced to play far
more narrowly than he does normally and as such never had the space to run at
Sam Ricketts. When the space was worked, it was clear that Jarvis had the
beating of him every time. It was a pity that this was the final time that
Fabio Capello will see him before the squad for the France friendly is
announced.
- Our most
important attacking players are Matt Jarvis, Nenad Milijas and Kevin Doyle.
4-4-2 doesn’t suit any of them. It doesn’t
take a mastermind to work this out
- Five extremely tough games will have undoubtedly sapped the energy of the players;
maybe this performance was to be expected. Dare I say it, but would we have
been better off resting players in the week? I realise hindsight is a wonderful
thing in these instances, but it must have crossed McCarthy's mind.
- I'm not sure when exactly Christophe Berra pulled out the match, but it
wasn't exactly favourable conditions for Steven Mouyokolo to make his full
Premier League debut. On the whole, I didn't think he did too badly, but I'll
need to see the second and third goals again before I make a judgement. I just
hope Berra's fit for next week's Blackpool excursion- he's rapidly become our
most important defender.
- Did no-one bother to check the size of Bolton's defenders? And if they did,
why the insistence with the long ball. Gary Cahill and Zat Knight dealt
comfortably with most of it, as did Sam Ricketts when faced with well-renowned
header of the ball Matt Jarvis. If we were going to pump the ball long in the
dying minutes, why not chuck Mouyokolo or Richard Stearman up there to give us
a more viable aerial threat.
- 46 seconds. I suppose at least it's longer than 38, we are improving in that
respect. But still, why are the players still asleep at kick-off? And how did
Lee out jump George Elokobi for the header directly before the goal. Poor, poor
defending, we haven't a chance in hell of staying up if continue in this vein.
- Is it now clear that Kevin Doyle and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake aren't going to be a
long term strike partnership? I have doubts about Ebanks-Blake forging a
successful partnership with anyone, while it’s clear that the lone striker role
suits Doyle more than a front pairing.
- How many times did the ball roll across the Bolton 6-yard box BEHIND all of
our forwards? I suspect Dave Edwards would have had a few tap ins had he been
fit.
- Next week’s trip to Bloomfield Road is now the most important game since our
last most important game. If we go there and play 4-4-2, they will tear through
our midfield, and another defeat will beckon.
- Steven Fletcher had arguably his most productive game in a Wolves shirt,
although it’s fairly easy to do this when you come on when the emphasis is
purely on attacking. I would be tempted to play Fletcher out wide against
Blackpool and bring Steven Hunt inside and play him as the driving central
midfielder, in front of Karl Henry and Nenad Milijas. He seems to have lot that
yard of pace at the moment, but he's always had a knack for nicking goals and
he certainly has the work ethic for it.
- 16 games since the last clean sheet
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Young bunch of lads being guided by an old fashioned manager....time for him to look for another area to live!
It bugs me that MM is playing his 'good old trooper' routine - noble in defeat, sticking by 'his boys' who came up with him from the Championship etc. But of course it's easier to stick with what you know than it is to build something new - and MM seems to be unable to construct a team that will win matches in the Prem,
My view is that MM is a journeyman manager. His tough but loveable Yorkshireman persona hides a huge degree of incompetence, both as a tactician and as a team leader. Sadly I see Mick's woeful management of Sunderland as being much more a reflection of his true abilities than anything he's achieved with Wolves up to now.
The writing's on the wall regarding being Wolves being relegation fodder - I hope the club are wise enough to not let MM repeat his pied-piper-to-relegation-routine with our club, But as many of you have pointed out, who the f+ck is out there to take over?
I have to agree with Tom about the fluid 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 formation suiting us far better. Another good point was the brainless lumping it up, with poor old Doyler having to fight an arial battle with Zat Knight.
The idea of playing Hunt in front of Milijas and Henry has always looked on - he's too valuable as a billy wiz to keep him out on the edges - but he needs to be fit, which he still isn't.
Fletcher showed what he is capable of - he's an out and out boxman. To get the most from him we need both Doyle and Hunt to play with him in mind and we need SEB to play in his style - then we can play either without disrupting the formation too much. My old Ma used to say that kids needed routine, always routine. Well, pro footballers arn't much more than kids and Wolves havn't got enough, if any, routines.
As regards MM, Risca's right - who else is there? We can only afford who will come, not only in terms of players but any staff - and it's not all about money is it! We have to build our capital slowly, and for that we need stability.
If we want to be sacking our manager everytime we have a bad patch, then much of the capital building (signing of players) needs to be taken out of his hands, otherwise with every managerial change half the bloody squad go as well - a very expensive pass-time that!
Oh, get a copy of Jonny Giles book and read that - astute man.
Today was a bit dissappointing, but tomorrows a new day and we've still got quite a few spares yet, and hope springs eternal!
Who would have predicted that Henry would have had such a crappy game yesterday? Especially when at last we are seeing such promising play from Milijas. I thought he was our best player against Bolton and showed genuine class. Who would have thought we would have gone all these matches without a goal from Doyle, despite all his best efforts against Arsenal. Jarvis is playing out of his skin, and I have to say Foley is top drawer at the moment, but there is still something going wrong it seems in every game we play despite genuine effort and determination from our squad.
I'm fascinated when I see calls for MM to be sacked, as though there is a line of potential replacements waiting for his job. Who before the beginning of the season would have forecast Chris Hughton having the success he is, or Roberto Matteo!! All I heard before the start of the season was how Blackpool were going to get spanked this season!!
Everton have just lost to Arsenal at home - no doubt there will be calls for Moyes's head on Merseyside, but we all know that the genuine supporters will still be on his side. Sunderland have just won at Chelsea - how crazy is that after their match at home to N'Castle!!
As I say I really find it difficult to understand what's going on, and I certainly don't have the answers, but it was pleasing to see the support shown to MM by Owen Coyle, Ian Holloway and Mark Lawrenson last pm, and I think we have to stand by him and his squad in the firm belief that we are capable of better days, and they will come soon!!
It's very easy for managers to be magnaminous in victory. Owen Coyle & Arsene Wenger have given us glowing reports - big deal - to some extent they are blowing their own trumpet by saying Wolves are decent and what a great job I did to beat them. How often does Wenger give a glowing report on the opposition when Arsenal lose? Answer .... almost never.
I sort of semi agree with you to some extent that McCarthys hands have been tied by bad luck on the injuries front. But he is also the master of our own downfall at times - case in point the daft subs at Old Trafford in the League Cup.
We have a team capable of staying in this lge with the right leader it could well finnish mid table. So whats the point in letting the donkey take us down lose our best players and start again. What a waste of time and money
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2010:11:15:07:52:59 by dj wolf.