Brighton 2-0 Wolves
Slump
By Tom Bason
May 4 2013
Wolves' double dip relegation was confirmed today with a limp 2-0 defeat away at Brighton and Hove Albion. Two first half goals from Kazenga LuaLua earned the three points from the Seagulls who go into a derby playoff semi-final with Crystal Palace full of confidence.
- Dean Saunders made four changes going into the final must win game of the season, necessitating a change in formation to 4-3-3. In theory, the three man midfield of Tongo Doumbia, Jamie O'Hara and Karl Henry should be as good as any midfield in the division. But, as we’ve seen this season, our players are far better in theory than they are in practise. Unsurprisingly Bakary Sako's hamstring was risked, and Nouha Dicko came into the team with Stephen Hunt and Björn Sigurðarson dropping to the bench.
- I'd already seen the starting line up through Twitter, so was able to watch the expressions on the faces of the fans around me when it was announced that Sigurðarson and Hunt were being left out; a mixture of anger and disbelief before memory of who the manager is. Hunt has probably been Wolves' best player of the past two months - at the very least he’s had his best spell in a Wolves shirt. Perhaps Saunders thought that Hunt wouldn’t fit into a 4-3-3 formation, but I see no reason why he couldn't have slipped into the midfield three; certainly I doubt there's a Wolves fan out there that wouldn't have preferred to see Hunt ahead of O'Hara in the midfield. As for Sigurðarson, words fail me. His form hasn't been brilliant over the past few weeks, primarily I suspect because he's been played out of position as a right sided midfielder. Yet, today when we play a system that Sigurðarson could nicely fit in to, as a wide forward he's left on the bench in favour of a loan signing from Wigan. Now, I've not seen enough of Dicko to form an opinion. In fact, at times today he looked lively and had the ability to beat a man. But, why not play the player who is here permanently? The player who has worked hard for little reward in the past few weeks when being played in a role he isn't suited to? In fact, it occurred to me that both Hunt and Sigurðarson have been played in numerous positions over the past few weeks - were they effectively being punished today *because* they are versatile and willing to play different roles?
- Sako played today, but I have no doubt that if we were safe, or this was a mid-table game, he'd be nowhere the first team at the moment. I think this was validated when he didn't come out at the start of the second half with the ghost long gone and relegation all but confirmed. Sako warmed up on his own before the match with the head of medical department Phil Hayward and while no one could fault his effort, he did appear to be flagging as halftime approached. This is obviously no fault of Sako's - in fact, to be honest I'm quite impressed that he was obviously so willing to play. At the Fans' Parliament last week, Phil Hayward basically said that even if he thought a player shouldn't play, if the player wants to be selected and the manager agrees, Hayward would be outvoted and the player plays despite the doubts of the medical team. Now, Hayward didn't specifically mention Sako, but I got the feeling it was the French winger he was alluding to. So, I think Sako should be applauded for the fact that wanted to play. It would have been so easy for him to want to skip the last couple of games and disappear quietly out of the back door this summer. He has been the only real shining light in this clusterfruitcake of a season, and I have no issues with him going to a bigger, better club this summer. If I had the chance, I'd shake his hand, thanks him for his efforts this season and wish him the best of luck in the future.
- Considering the nature of the game, the fact that nothing less than a win would see Wolves relegated, it was of no surprise to anyone that we were 1-0 down after seven minutes. My feeling before the match was that I could easily see Barnsley and Peterborough losing against Huddersfield and Crystal Palace sides that also needed results, but I just could not imagine Wolves getting a result against a Brighton side with nothing to play for. Obviously, there were parallels to *that* Blackburn match two years ago, but it is telling of how much these current players have fallen in the opinion of the fans that very few Wolves fans believed. I can't help but compare this to the night we were playing at West Brom in the 2007 playoff semi-finals. We were going away to arguably the best team in the division, needing a win that was just as unlikely as today's, but that team I believed in. That team was fearless and believed it could beat whoever it was facing. One of the big failings of Saunders this year is his inability to do the one job he identified when he first arrived - inject that level of confidence back into the players. When I think about our squad, I don't believe that they are technically in the worst two teams in the world, or even physically. But mentally? That has been the problem this season, and is the most difficult problem to fix.
- Both Brighton's goals were remarkably similar. They worked the ball out to Kazenga LuaLua who was able to work the space for a shot on goal - the first he cut inside onto his right foot, bending the ball into the far corner, while for the second he went outside Matt Doherty, finishing left-footed past Dorus de Vries. Yet, in the first half, Doherty didn't do too badly against LuaLua. It seemed that any Doherty won any 50/50s, twice putting in well-timed crunching tackles (although two other times it looked like Doherty fouled him without a free kick being awarded), but any time LuaLua had the time and space to bring the ball down and turn and run at Doherty, Doherty struggled. Doherty is obviously an extremely inexperienced defender, while the quality of LuaLua's goals showed his ability, having the ability to either cut inside onto his right or go down the line onto his left foot. But, Doherty was left completely isolated at times. None of the midfield trio managed to get wide to double up on LuaLua, while Dicko may not have been there defensively it was a tough afternoon for Doherty, but also a match he will have learned from; only twice did LuaLua really get away from him, but twice LuaLua found the net. That's all it takes at this level.
- I mentioned the Blackburn game earlier, and there was one moment when I thought we might see a similar escape. 41 minutes in, and we get a free kick to the left of Brighton's penalty area. Sako runs up as if to whip the ball in, but instead rolls the ball along the edge of the 18 yard box, where O'Hara has made a run to from the far post. It's a clever free kick that we had used regularly under Mick McCarthy but seems to have been faded out. But just for a second, as the ball was rolled to O'Hara and he wrapped his boot around the ball, I flashed back to the Blackburn game - O'Hara rolling in a carbon copy of the free kick, Hunt coming off the bench to save us... But, O'Hara put his effort wide, it wasn't to be. But, I also thought about the differences between that match and this one. At halftime against Blackburn I was virtually in tears. I was so angry with the eleven cowards who were out on the pitch losing 3-0 at home to a relegation threatened team. But today, no scrap that - this season I have felt none of those emotions. There has been no real anger, just acceptance, and if I'm honest, almost apathy to our current plight.
- The second half performance was far better. In fact, it was possibly the best 45 minutes we've played under Saunders. Yes, Brighton looked like they'd score with every attack, but that's to be expected. And you got the feeling that Brighton had dropped a couple of gears in anticipation of their imminent playoff semi-final matches. But, we played well, even if we never really looked like scoring. Much of the game was played in Brighton's half, with Hunt as busy as ever, taking on defenders and putting a couple of crosses across. Sigurðarson, once introduced, again showed flashes of what he's capable of. On the face of it, perhaps Sigurðarson has been a disappointment this season. He was a £2.5m signing, yet there was universal agreement that Sylvan Ebanks-Blake's injury stripped us of our only real goalscorer. But, as I pointed out pre-season, Sigurðarson has pretty much been playing non-stop for a year. Whereas everyone else's season started in August, by that time Sigurðarson had played half a season in Iceland. All things considered, he hasn't done too badly, and with a proper rest and a proper pre-season behind him, I'd expect him to be an important player wherever he happens to be next season.
- Today was my first visit to Brighton's Amex stadium, and I was quite impressed. All of the seats were padded, and the food inside the stadium had plenty of choice and wasn't too expensive. My ham and chicken pie was nice, while the hot chocolate was of a far higher quality than that served in Molineux. But, I had one issue - the ground was bloody cold. Even at halftime when I went behind the stand in search of a hot drink, it was still cold. Whereas at most ground, if you go inside it is warmer than it is in the seats, this didn't happen at the Amex. The cold wind wasn't blocked off at all, still swirling through the concourse. Saying that, it was a nice ground, and Brighton's official attendance of 30,003 was impressive.
- In spite of the horrible day, there was one moment that amused me. I was listening to the match commentary on BBC radio 5Live Sports Extra (I have no idea why they chose our game. Presumably because of the location, but it was always a long shot that there would be a story there. The game at Huddersfield would have been a far better match to cover, where either team could have been relegated) and just before the second goal, LuaLua was given offside by the bald assistant referee. The following conversation took place between the commentator and Mark McGhee, the summariser:
Commentator: The assistants look like brothers. They both look like Lee Carsley
(pause)
Mark McGhee (hesitantly): I think one of them's a woman
- Finally, a word on the fans today. There have been plenty of times when I've been embarrassed to be a Wolves fan. Hell, at the time of writing, it's not even a week since Wolves fans have pissed me off. But today, I was proud to be a Wolves fan. Yes we lost, yes we were relegated, but the fans in the stand to a man were excellent. The only sour note was a spell of booing Jamie O'Hara, which was pretty much entirely his own doing. A note to any professional footballers reading: if you are part of a team who has been relegated twice in a row and you massively contributing to that second relegation by stupidly getting sent off and missing three of the final four matches and in the final match of the second relegation while 2-0 down when nothing but a win will do, and you spurn a chance to shoot, get tackled and take an age to get back to your feet while the opposition are counterattacking, the fans probably have the right to chant in disappointment for a bit. Maybe O'Hara's performance today didn't deserve the "40k, you're having a laugh" chant, but he made his own bed by reacting to it. The fans were excellent today, far better than those players deserved and had more than earned to right to vent at a player who has in no way lived up to his massive ego reputation. I'd be amazed if O'Hara wasn't the first out of the door this summer, and I don't think there will be many sorry to see him go. The difference at the final whistle between him and Stephen Hunt was stark. Both players arrived for similar sums of money, and on the whole both players have had disappointing Wolves careers. But Hunt, public enemy number one just a couple of months back, was first to come to the fans, giving his shirt to someone in the crowd. In comparison, O'Hara was straight down the tunnel, in all likelihood never to be seen in a Wolves shirt again. But, before this turns into a proper lynching of O'Hara, I want to say something in his defence. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that when Doumbia has a poor game, he hides, but O'Hara doesn't. And that was the same today. Given that he had 3,000 Wolves fans booing his every touch, he could quite easily have stopped playing, avoiding the ball. But, even as Wolves fans were chanting that they'd rather have ten men, he was seeking the ball and trying to do something with it.
- Finally finally, the Championship season finished today, and I don't think I've seen a team that stands out. Good luck to Cardiff, Hull and whoever manages to get through the playoffs, but the quality at the top of the league is poor. Conversely, the bottom of the Championship is strangely strong. Bristol City was the obvious poor team in the division, but who knows that would have happened had they had Sean O'Driscoll as manager for the full season. I'm not going to say that we haven't been poor this season, but only four times since the Football League moved to three points for a win would 51 points have got a team relegated. During today's match it occurred to me that Bristol City and Wolves cannot argue with relegation, but I didn't believe that whoever joined us deserved it. Peterborough has set an unwanted record today by getting relegated with 54 points. Barnsley's run since appointing David Flitcroft as manager has been stunning, as has Peterborough's results since December. Twelve months ago, if you'd have said we'd only spend a season in the Championship, I'd have been happy. But I guess I'm going to miss it next season. Still, League One will be interesting. Loads of grounds I've never been to before, derbies against Walsall, Coventry and Port Vale and a league I've barely managed in on Football Manager.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:05:18:10:35:15 by toomb.
I agree. It's much of a muchness which is why it makes it doubly difficult to stomach relegation.
It's interesting to see Leicester made it into the play offs with 68, the lowest total to qualify for the '2nd division' play offs since the league went to 46 macthes in 88/89
It was a bloody cold & wet day - winter was back! So much for Madeira!
On the point of Doherty v LuaLua. I agree he stood up well. But that first goal was to do with Doombia loosing the ball when he fell over! Doherty is a big lad . . . and I like my fullbacks lithe and sinewy. But if he's our RB then play him every match - and keep him off the weights!
I wonder if one of the reasons for our 'poor' fitness is too much time in the 'weights room' and not enough with the ball? Hunt looked well over muscled when he gave away his shirt. Elkobi has always looked too musclely. One or two others showing as well.
'Training' is a complicated affair and I just wonder?