Newcastle Right On Toon

Wolves today slumped to their fourth consecutive defeat with a 2-1 reversal at home to Newcastle United. Despite a strong start from Wolves, goals from Demba Ba and Jonas Gutierrez gave Newcastle a first half lead. Although Wolves peppered the Newcastle goal, they were forced to settle with a solitary Steven Fletcher that came too late to have a real effect.

• Those of you who read these regularly will know that I’m not the biggest fan of 4-4-2, but today I did not have a problem with it. Newcastle was always going to line up with this formation, and given their defensive record, I was happy to have two strikers to unsettle the defence. This did mean that I felt that the match would be won in the battle between Yohan Cabaye and Cheick Tiote versus Karl Henry and Jamie O’Hara in the centre of the midfield.

• There’s not a lot to say about Newcastle’s goals. The first was difficult to see who was at fault as I sit behind the opposite goal, although I suspect Wayne Hennessey should have done better. What was interesting about the second was immediately before it, Wolves players flew into three or four challenges, which got the crowd going. Unfortunately, given the way the ball broke to Gutierrez, it meant that there were a number of Wolves players out of position. It was a fine goal by the Argentinian international, but it might have been prevented had the players followed Ray Wilkins’ advice and stayed on their feet.

• Once again, Mark Halsey provoked controversy at Molineux, and once again it was a penalty decision in front of the Jack Harris stand and a disallowed goal at the opposite end that caused the ruckus. For what it’s worth, and remember I’ve only seen these once so don’t have a go once you’ve seen numerous replays, I wasn’t 100% sure on the penalty decision. There was no doubt in my mind that the tackle was in the area, but I wasn’t convinced that it was a foul in the first place. Saying that, once the foul has been given, it had to be a penalty. With the disallowed goal, I sit at the other end so have absolutely no idea whether it was a goal or not.

• Aside from those decisions, we had more than enough chances to grab a draw. In my opinion, man of the match was clearly Tim Krul in the Newcastle goal. From his excellent save in the first three minutes from an O’Hara free kick to the blocks late on, he was excellent. He was also prepared to come for crosses, including one late on where he found himself on the edge of the Newcastle area to claim the ball and relieve the pressure on his defence.

• From a Wolves point of view, I think Kevin Doyle is on an upward curve. He looked sharper today than he has in recent weeks, and there were one or two nice link-ups with his strike partner Fletcher. While at times they have looked like they cannot play together, they appear to be building a partnership that may give many a Premier League defence a sleepless night.

• Of course, in order to play two-upfront, the midfield needs to be solid enough to support them. Today, Henry was introduced for fans’ favourite Adlène Guedioura, to the delight of Wolves’ supporters. Personally, I am yet to be convinced by Guedioura. He does a lot of fancy tricks in the centre of the park that produce very little. There was one nice second half run where he beat two or three Newcastle players, but the first man he beat was on the halfway line when Guedioura was virtually the last man. Had he lost the ball there, Newcastle would easily have been able to force a shot on goal. The centre of the midfield is definitely a weak spot, but I am yet to recognise Guedioura as the answer.

• One sub who did impress was Adam Hammill. I’ve been calling for his inclusion for a few weeks now, and he looked lively when he was introduced. He whipped in a few excellent crosses, and generally caused problems that Stephen Hunt no longer has the legs to.

• With next week’s international break, we now have a 15-day build up to the Black Country Derby. With both teams struggling for form, this is arguably the most important match since 2007.