Colchester United 0-3 Wolves
By Tom Bason
October 5 2013
Wolves won another away game today to keep the pressure on Leyton Orient and Peterborough. A Leigh Griffiths penalty gave Wolves a half time advantage, before Griffiths again and Kevin Doyle increased the lead just after the break. Carl Ikeme was called upon to make a fine penalty save to keep the lead intact with five minutes to go.
- With Bakery Sako missing from the side (the second time he has missed an away game this season due to reported interest from Nottingham Forest), Kenny Jackett was forced to make a tactical change. Like the game at Port Vale, Scott Golbourne was asked to play on the left side of midfield, forcing a return to the back four that had started the season. I'd previously felt that Richard Stearman was unfortunate to have been left out of the last few starting line-ups, and today he had a chance to prove me right. Elsewhere in the team, Kevin Doyle unsurprisingly replaced Björn Sigurðarson upfront after making the difference in the second half against Sheffield United last week. Dave Edwards was perhaps the unlucky player to be left out of the matchday squad altogether, with new loan signing James Henry coming in on the right of midfield. Jackett continued to keep faith with youngster Jack Price who impressed last week, with David Davis only selected for the substitute bench on his return from suspension.
- The first half was pretty nondescript, with Colchester missing a couple of half chances, one effort going wide and Carl Ikeme managing to claw another away. Until Wolves took the lead, Colchester had arguably just about had the better of the game, but Wolves grew after the goal. The goal itself was another Leigh Griffiths penalty, probably the best he has hit so far. But, it was great work down the right from Matt Doherty that led to it. Doherty's attacking play has increased exponentially over the past nine months, and he is now regularly offering an offensive outlet. He enjoys feinting to go outside his opponent, but actually cutting inside. He did this twice in the first half; the first he did well to ride the first challenge before going down a little softly to earn the spot kick, and then a couple of minutes later cut inside again, only to drag his left footed effort wide of the near post. At half time I was preparing to write that Doherty is only a threat when running into the box, that on the occasions where he has had the opportunity to cross the ball into the box, he's generally declined the chance. But in the second half, when Kevin McDonald slipped him in down the line, he had the presence of mind to look up and find Leigh Griffiths who was able to fire right footed past the goalkeeper.
- Did Kenny Jackett read my report from last week? I named fifteen players who have started games on the right side of midfield, none of whom have really impressed for any decent length of time. Lo and behold, within a few days Jackett has brought in a player he knows well, signing James Henry from Millwall and giving him his debut today. I have to say, my first impressions of him were not good. Twice in the opening ten minutes, he had the ball inside Colchester's half. On both occasions, his head was down and he charged off towards the corner flag. Neither time did he look up to see if a pass was available - on the second occasion, Griffiths had dropped off into space, and had he been found would perhaps have had a shooting opportunity from distance. Instead, Henry ran down a blind alley, and unsurprisingly was unable to create anything. But, after that he seemed to grow into the game. One noticeable tactic that Kenny Jackett likes to use is to have one of his wide men move off the wing. Presumably this is to give us an extra man in the middle, and today it was Henry who was able to do it. Golbourne on the left generally held his wide position, but Henry regularly appeared in the inside left channel, adding an extra threat. This had the added bonus of giving Doherty extra space to run into, and he finished the game with two assists. For a debut, Henry fitted in quite well, with a few nice flicks to link nicely with McDonald and Price. With Doyle finishing a Henry cross, all three goals were created down our right flank. This is indicative of the level of threat down each wing. Golbourne doesn't really offer much threat down the left had side, whereas both Henry and Doherty were effective going forward. One point to make about our wide men - what does it say that with no Sako, Henry and Anthony Forde both featured today, but with Zeli Ismail nowhere to be seen?
- I was pleased that Jackett keep faith with Price in midfield. He had an excellent second half against Sheffield United, and seems to be forging a good understanding with McDonald. They are both technically good players who like having the ball at their feet and want to pass the ball through the opposition. There may well be games when we need a bit of extra steel in midfield, and perhaps Davis or Kevin Foley will need to be included, but for now I think these two have possession of their sheets. It is important to remember that Lee Evans had a similarly impressive start to his Wolves career before losing form, and that he and Price especially need to be nurtured through the season. What I particularly like about Price is that he is always looking of the pass. There were numerous times today when he seemed set to control a long ball, and instead played a first time pass to a teammate in space. This demonstrated his awareness of what is around him - even when the ball is flying through the air, he knows what is around him.
- Overall, Wolves were the better team. We probably edged the first half, and the five minute spell when we scored twice in seven second half minutes, the game was effectively killed off. After the game had gone to 3-0, Colchester only really had one opportunity, which Ikeme did well to stop. He then ploughed through the back of a Colchester player to concede a penalty, but made a superb save to keep the clean sheet. We've now only conceded six goals in ten games as the defence provides the stability for the rest of the team to go and play.
- One final thing on Sako - which game am I talking about? Sako is affected by a bid for him, so is left out of an away game. Replacing him is a wide midfielder making his debut for the club, but Sako's loss isn't felt as Wolves score three. Still, the club have two weeks until the next league game due to an international break (although there is a home Johnstone's Paint Trophy hurdle to get over first) to get his head sorted. Am I talking about today, or the Port Vale game? The parallels between the two seemed too stark not to mention them.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:10:11:14:37:08 by toomb.
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