Lions Sent Home With Tails Between Their Legs

 Last night, Wolves defeated Millwall to progress to the League Cup last-16. Goals from the returning David Edwards, Adam Hammill, George Elokobi, Sam Vokes and Adlène Guedioura ensured a smooth passage to the next round. 

• The first thing that struck me when I saw the starting line-up was that last night’s midfield was stronger than the one that played against QPR. I firmly believe that had we played on Saturday with a three-man central midfield of Edwards, Guedioura and Nenad Milijaš, we would have both kept and retained the ball more effectively.

• Maybe the key reason why Mick McCarthy felt he had the opportunity to go with a five-man midfield was the return of Dave Edwards. He’s not my favourite player in the world, he has little ingenuity, and for a so called attacking midfielder, his goal return of seven Wolves goals from 68 starts (and a further 30 substitute appearances) is actually very poor. But, he offers an option that none of our other midfielders give – the ability to run beyond the forward and put opposition defences under pressure. Maybe, his return will give McCarthy the belief to return to a five-man midfield.

• Or is Edwards the only player to do this? I have long called for Stephen Hunt to be given this role, and for a little while, got excited when it looked like he may be given the role in the second half. Alas, it was Michael Kightly who was given the free-role. I actually thought that McCarthy has long been planning to play Kightly in this role. When we first got promoted, I firmly believed the plan was to play Sylvan Ebanks-Blake upfront, with Kightly in behind and Kevin Doyle and Matt Jarvis on the flanks. Maybe, three years later, Kightly is finally fit enough for those plans to come to fruition.

• My wanting Hunt to play through the middle is based on the belief that he was lost that yard of pace that makes wingers dangerous, but he still has the energy and work rate to cause problems through the middle. He also has more of an eye for goal than Edwards does, and I think that if we can get him into dangerous positions, he could be a threat. It is also in his favour that he never stops running; with some ‘number-10s’, their biggest weakness is their defensive work, and as such, it can often feel like you only have 10 men on the pitch when defending. With Hunt in this role, this would most definitely not be an issue.

• The major problem last night came up front. Sam Vokes is somehow our fourth (fifth?) choice striker, and while he played better last night than he did against Northampton Town, again, if he’s the answer, I don’t want to know the question. The biggest factor last night was his lack of pace. This meant that Millwall could play a higher line, and squeeze the space. I would have liked to have seen Hammill play a little further forward than he did in order to expose their high line on a more regular basis. This would have forced their defensive line back slightly, giving the midfield slightly more space in which to play.

• Overall, it was a good performance, and a solid win. It should be noted though, that we put four past Northampton in the previous round, but have failed to score in the three Premier League games since then. Goals against lower opposition teams mean very little in the real world of the Premier League.

• Moving forward, I was impressed with Guedioura and Milijaš last night, I would definitely not say no to a Jarvis-Guedioura-Milijaš-O’Hara-Hammill midfield on Saturday. I am still waiting for Milijaš to be given a proper run in the team, playing in his favoured deeper role. The best performance I’ve ever seen him give was in this role against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last season. However, I suspect there’s more chance of Karl Henry playing instead of the Serb, although I do think there’s a fair chance both Guedioura and O’Hara will be included from the start.

• The draw for the last-16 is live on Sky’s Soccer Saturday on, ahem, Saturday.