Wolves 0-1 Walsall

Last night saw the first league defeat of the Kenny Jackett era, going down 1-0 to an impressive Walsall side. In a game in which Walsall dominated possession, it took a set-piece for the Wolves defence to be opened, with Andy Butler securing the three points.

 - Wolves head coach Kenny Jackett made one change from Saturday's fortunate win over Swindon Town; leading goal scorer Leigh Griffiths was relegated to the bench, with Icelandic forward Björn Sigurðarson returning to the starting XI. This meant that Richard Stearman was again a substitute with Sam Ricketts and Danny Batth continuing to be Jackett's apparent first choice central defensive partnership. 

- After the experimentation with a diamond midfield against Swindon, we reverted to a 4-3-3 formation. This was the second time we've played Walsall in recent weeks, and on both occasions this has been the formation of choice. I wonder whether we would have continued with the diamond had Saturday's performance been more impressive, or if 4-3-3 is the formation that Jackett has identified for facing Walsall. I was pleased we were playing 4-3-3 rather than a lopsided 4-4-2, but it didn't really work. It was a very fragmented system - it perhaps seems strange to say, but the defenders defended, the attackers attacked, the midfield did something, but there was no fluidity at all. I'm not expecting us to have the sort of vertical interchange that the Netherlands 'total football' side had, but there wasn't really any sort of 'spark' tonight. The only way we looked like scoring was from an individual moment of magic from Sigurðarson, Bakary Sako or Kevin Doyle. But so many times tonight one of these three had the ball and had absolutely no support from anyone around them.

- I assume Kevin McDonald was the player expected to push forward, but he didn't really have any effect going forward. None of the midfield did - I think Evans is a nice passer of the ball, but he looked tentative. In previous games, albeit against perhaps inferior players who aren't as well organised, Evans has been able to play quick one-twos, moving the ball quickly through the midfield. Last night though, all of the midfield were ponderous on the ball, often taking or two or three touches when only one was needed and losing any potential momentum that may have been building. 

- In contrast, Walsall's passing was sharp and crisp, and for long periods put ours to shame. I was impressed with Walsall, they moved the ball well, and with slightly better pass selection could easily have nicked a second goal late on. Saying that, before the goal I thought we were dealing with them reasonably well defensively. Walsall may have had a lot of possession, but were generally restricted to long range efforts. They are quite a small side, so there should be quite an annoyance that a goal was conceded from a set-piece. Incidentally, I thought it probably was a foul by Danny Batth, unnecessarily barging over the Walsall player. Batth struggled late on as Walsall's nippy forwards were able to isolate him, and twice he was turned inside out inside the penalty area. Batth seems to relish the physical battle, but will probably struggle against small and quick strikers who require him to turn quickly. 

- I'm not 100% sure why Richard Stearman is being left out. After Saturday's game, I wrote that he is our best defender on the ball, and our passing from defence was poor. I thought Walsall had done their homework and at times left Danny Batth as the free man knowing that if he got the ball, chances are Walsall would have it back soon enough. Against Shrewsbury on Saturday, I'd bring back Stearman into the side and move Ricketts to left back. Perhaps Ricketts prefers to play in the centre, but at times he was looking our best chance of creating something, in stark contrast to Scott Golbourne. For someone who was playing as a wingback prior to signing, I'm very disappointed in Golbourne going forward. He played in midfield on his debut, and looked completely out of place. He has done better since dropping back into the defence, but doesn't offer any threat going forward. Tonight, on a couple of occasions the ball was worked nicely to the left and Golbourne had the chance to put in an early cross, with three of four players waiting in the middle. But he always seemed to want that extra touch, and was closed down before he could deliver. So often we managed to gain territory down the left flank, but were then forced to pass the ball back into the centre of midfield losing any opportunity. 

- Jackett made one tactical change, moving to a 4-2-1-3 formation. Whereas before, Davis hadn't really had a defined role in midfield, now both he and substitute Kevin Foley sat deep. Doyle dropped back, trying to find space behind Walsall's midfield, but Walsall did well to shut him down and he wasn't really able to create anything. In the first half, I'd have been tempted to swap Sigurðarson and Doyle. I'm really not convinced by Sigurðarson on the flank, but given that Walsall were playing quite a high line, we could perhaps have used his pace to get him behind the defence. Then again, given the poor quality of service, it's unlikely that the passes would have found him. Last night did highlight the paucity of options. We are still at least one wide man short, with Zele Ismail poor on Saturday and not introduced at all tonight. Considering we were 1-0 down, it says a lot about the options available to Jackett that no further substitutions were made. Midfield in particular is looking weak, with McDonald, Davis and Evans having poor games but without a real option to replace any of them. The loan market is open; I wouldn't be averse to a couple of players coming in.