Wolves 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday

Today, Wolves chalked up its fourth league win on the bounce with a 1-0 defeat of Sheffield Wednesday. Bakary Sako got the only goal of the game with a low driven free kick just before half time.

- Unsurprisingly, Ståle Solbakken made eleven changes from the team mauled by European Champions Chelsea during the week, but crucially, only one change from the team who won at Peterborough last week. Razak Boukari was included at the expense of Słavomir Peszko, who played the majority of the game at Stamford Bridge. Elsewhere in the line-up, I'm pleased to see that Kevin Foley is enjoying a run in the first team ahead of Ronald Zubar, who was not in the 18 man match day squad. Rejecting a bid of £1.8 million for him in the summer looks a worse decision with every match that passes by.

- Sheffield Wednesday played came to Molineux for a point, playing a 4-1-4-1 formation with former wolf Jay Bothroyd upfront by himself, in theory supported by Michail Antonio and Chris O'Grady. This worked early on in the match, with Antonio in particular causing problems, and the front three interchanged positions nicely. This didn't last though, and through the match Bothroyd became more and more isolated as Wednesday's midfield sat deeper and deeper. Unfortunately, this meant that Ross Barkley was not utilised particularly well - as someone with more than a slight interest in Everton, I was looking forward to seeing him play. But, he spent too much time too close to his own goal, and wasn't able to influence the game in a forward position. At times early on, Wednesday's three man central midfield managed to find space against Karl Henry and Tongo Doumbia, but the Wolves duo eventually wrestled control of the midfield.

- It is clear that Solbakken has made changes in the style of football he expects the team to play. Whereas Mick McCarthy expected the team to play with a high tempo, the tempo today was very slow. This made the second half pretty much a non-event, with us being happy to keep possession around the halfway line, and Sheffield Wednesday not able to get it back. In fact, the first entry on the Sky Sports app live commentary in the second half doesn't come until the 70th minute, indicating just how little action there was. That's fine when we're winning, but it's not brilliant at 0-0. The problem was that the slow tempo never changed at all, making it relatively easy for Wednesday defenders to keep position, and we struggled to work the ball into their area. Dominating possession is well and good, but we had only one shot on target the entire match (not including the effort from Sako that Chris Kirkland tipped over, but a goal kick being given). In the opening 30 minutes, we went close three times - Doyle twice, plus the Sako effort - but all were from outside the area.

- But, the slow tempo and keeping possession does help the defence. Obviously, if we've got the ball, they can't score, but also when we're in possession, the defence can relax. So often under McCarthy (even in the Championship), the defence had to be on red alert for 90 minutes due to the midfield’s inability to retain possession. The defence dealt well with what little Sheffield Wednesday through at it, with the collected holding of breath when Roger Johnson twice picked up knocks showing how important he's become to the team. He and Carl Ikeme have been the standout players this season, and we've actually kept three league clean sheets in a row and have conceded on average less than a goal a game. If we continue to play this style, I suspect we'll see a few more low scoring games this season.

- Another slight change this season has seen us develop one of the best disciplinary records in the division. But, Karl Henry was very fortunate not to pick up a caution for a deliberate, off the ball block on Wednesday central midfielder Nejc Pecnik. It was cynical, and seen by referee, Simon Hooper, who waved advantage. Hooper then spoke to Henry while Ikeme had the ball, and I fully expected Henry to see the yellow card the next time the ball went out of play. However, when it did, nothing happened, with Hooper apparently happy with the chat they'd had earlier.

- With Wolves not creating either a high quantity or quality of chances, set pieces are going to be vital. It's fortunate then that Sako appears to be a bit of a specialist, scoring his second set piece of the season. This one was closer in than his effort against Cardiff City, and he drilled it low into the far post. Given the number of bodies the ball went through, I don't think Kirkland had much chance. But, were we lucky to have been able to hit that free kick? When the foul was originally given, Simon Hooper clearly signalled to wait for the whistle. But, as he was sorting out the defensive wall, and Kirkland was out of position positioning it, Sako clipped the ball wide. He was cautioned, but allowed a second effort from the free kick which he duly dispatched. Dave Jones wasn't happy with this, and I can definitely see his point of view. Sako messed up hitting the free kick early, the referee could easily have just given Wednesday a goal kick as Sako put his effort wide.

- Solbakken made an interesting change late on, with Danny Batth being introduced for Kevin Doyle, and being played as a defensive midfield player. Doumbia then pushed forward to play just behind Bjorn Sigurðarson, earlier introduced for the ineffectual Sylvan Ebanks-Blake. This is a role I'd like to see Doumbia play, with two sitting midfielders behind him. I think he's a far better player going forward than he is defensively, and I wouldn't mind seeing him play in that role away at Blackburn next week, where perhaps a 4-4-1-1 formation may be better suited than 4-4-2. In addition, it was nice to see Batth get a good reception from the travelling Wednesday fans, a clear indication of how well he did when on loan at Hillsborough last season.