Bristol City 1-4 Wolves

By Tom Bason
December 1 2012

Wolves today won its first match in what seems like an age. A first half blitz with goals from Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Björn Sigurðarson and a Kevin Doyle brace saw Wolves take a 4-0 half time lead. There were no further second half Wolves goals, although Neil Danns scored a late consolation for Bristol City.

- Wolves lined up with all four offensive players starting, surely the most attacking line-up of Stale's reign so far. The question was how exactly would we line- up - my personal favourite was 4-2-1-3 with Sako given a free role behind Ebanks-Blake, and Doyle and Sigurðarson running the flanks. As it was, it was Ståle's usual 4-4-2 formation, although Doyle played quite deep, almost as a fifth midfielder at times. I did wonder if just throwing all the attacking players into the team was a sign of desperation from Solbakken, just hoping that something would work. Perhaps it was a complete gamble, but occasionally as a manager this needs to be done. History is full of managers fortunately stumbling upon teams and systems that then form the basis of a successful team.

- Given the four forwards playing, there was no way we were going to play this match defensively. This was epitomised by Karl Henry; first of all he got involved in the pre-match shooting practise, then in the opening five minutes he ran beyond the forwards, a run which led to an easy chance that Ebanks-Blake put wide of the near post.

- Perhaps Ståle was just throwing as many forwards as he could at the problem, but it worked with all four linking well. Indeed, Ebanks-Blake and Doyle seemed more like a partnership than I've seen before. What was nice was the way that all combined for the four first half goals. Firstly, Ebanks-Blake turned in Stephen Ward's effort from a Sako corner, before Sigurðarson ran onto Ebanks-Blake pass and Doyle was able to turn in the Icelander's cross. Doyle then scored a fine individual goal, going past two Bristol defenders and finishing with his left foot. But, he wouldn't have had the time or space to beat the defenders and finish had it not been for Ebanks-Blake making a superb run from left to right, dragging a couple of defenders with him giving Doyle the space to drive into. The icing on the first half cake came from Sigurðarson, finishing well after slipped through by Ebanks-Blake.

- For once, I think the fans will accept the drop off in performance in the second half, with the job completely done in the opening 45. I always got the feeling that if we needed another goal, we could have got one, at least until the substitutions disrupted the team. Both Doyle and Ebanks-Blake shot from difficult positions when passes would surely have guaranteed further goals - I like to think they'd have passed in those situations had the scores been closer. Still, we wouldn't be Wolves without conceding late on, a fine Neil Danns strike giving Carl Ikeme no chance. Even so, by that point the game was over and we able to see the game out.

- I mentioned the subs changing the game, and the one major negative is the injury to David Edwards. I've never been his biggest fan and would have shipped him out a long time ago, but he was my man of the match at Watford and he played well again today. He seemed to have switched roles with Henry, sitting deeper allowing his captain to push further forward than normal. Edwards was replaced by David Davis, who again looked lost in midfield. He looks a completely different player to the breath of fresh air who looked so composed in a poor midfield last season. Anthony Forde replaced Doyle, who was hugged by Solbakken as he came off. Again, Forde struggled to impose himself, at one point he glided past a couple of Bristol defenders, before passing straight to the opposition. The final substitute was Franck Nouble, who did nothing to alleviate my initial concerns at his signing. The interesting part here was that he came on for Sigurðarson, rather than Sako who clearly wanted to come off at that point.

- I'm not normally Ebanks-Blake's biggest fan, but he was excellent today. He had a major hand in all four goals; scoring the first, playing in Sigurðarson to square for Doyle, running two defenders out the way to create space for Doyle, and playing Sigurðarson through on goal. Generally, the forward four played well, and Sako aside, there was a nice fluidity about their play. Sako stuck to his left wing, cutting inside to link up, but the other three didn't really seem to have fixed positions. Doyle played slightly deeper, but equally at times drifted wide as Sigurðarson took up a more central position. It was nice to have a genuine threat on both flanks, with Sigurðarson's raw pace and Sako's trickery and crossing causing both fullbacks problems throughout.

- However, there does need to be a note of caution - Bristol City were completely overwhelmed by our front-4; I find it difficult to believe other clubs will be in the same way. It's fine having Sako and Sigurðarson going forward on the wing, but there were a couple of times when Bristol broke on the counter, and all of the front-4 were still jogging back not in position. Both Sako and Sigurðarson may appear to work hard defensively, but neither are particularly good positionally when defending. They can look impressive when rushing back to tackle their opponent, but I'd rather they didn't get caught out in the first place. I suspect that teams better than Bristol will be better placed to take advantage of these defensive deficiencies.

- Finally, it was nice to see my first away win of the season, and I also won the raffle on the coach. A £5 club shop voucher was a nice early Christmas present.

Posted by: Wolves (IP Logged)

Date: 01/12/2012 21:03

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:12:08:20:16:30 by toomb.