Wolves 3-1 Blackburn

Wolves finally ended its binary run of league results with a 3-1 win over Blackburn Rovers. Nouha Dicko gave Wolves an early lead, with Bakary Sako doubling the lead on the half hour mark. Danny Batth fouled Jordan Rhodes in the 18-yard box, and the Scottish striker picked himself up to halve the deficit. Although Blackburn pushed for an equaliser, Sako's second of the game wrapped the game up.

- Probably unsurprisingly, Kenny Jackett picked the same side for the fifth successive league game. I missed last week's victory over Cardiff as I was at T20 Finals Day at Edgbaston, but by all accounts we were very good. I don't there think there were many tactical changes from that win, but we didn't use the deep defensive line utilised in the win at Fulham. Dave Edwards hasn't been playing quite so far forward in recent games, playing more as an orthodox central midfielder, albeit one with the freedom to bomb forward in support of Nouha Dicko. The other two midfielders had their roles changed slightly; whereas previously both Lee Evans and Kevin McDonald were sitting midfielders, today they took it in terms to be the deepest man. Having your best passing midfielders deep obviously lends it to passing the ball out from the back and this was continued today. There were a couple of hairy moments as the ball was overplayed, but on the whole I'm a big fan of this approach. 

- Blackburn played a 4-4-1-1 formation, with Tom Cairney floating around in behind the dangerous Jordan Rhodes. We were maybe fortunate that Rudy Gestede was unfit; his and Rhodes goal scoring form has been exceptional with Gestede scoring 12 in his last 15 games and Rhodes scoring 25 last season. However, Cairney and Rhodes did link up well around the edge of our area, and a combination between those two always looked like Blackburn's best way of scoring. Elsewhere, I thought Ben Marshall had a fine game on Blackburn's left side, with two wicked balls crossed into the box and a finely hit free kick tipped wide by Ikeme. One interesting point was that he was the player Paul Robinson looked to when hitting the ball long, perhaps looking to target Matt Doherty in the air. But, Doherty was the player who Ikeme aimed for. It was weird to see the two players in direct competition being the focal point of long aerial balls. I don't have the data, but I'd suspect that pairing made the most aerial challenges today. 

- The first half hour was reasonably equal, with Wolves being happy to pass the ball around. We've not scored a goal yet this season where we've kept possession for a couple of minutes before it, but I'm sure we will. But the opening goal was one straight out of Charles Reep's handbook. Bakary Sako and Nouha Dicko won the ball around 30 yards from the Blackburn goal, with Dicko being fouled. Sako picked up the loose ball and drove into the Blackburn penalty area, despite everyone shouting at him to shoot. In the end, he couldn't work the shooting opportunity and did well to hold onto the ball and lay it back to McDonald. By this time, Dicko had picked himself up and made his way into the penalty area. McDonald, from a similar position to his assist against Cardiff next week, swing in a ball that Dicko was able to flick on past goalkeeper Robinson. 

- Blackburn had a spell of domination towards the middle of the first half where we couldn't get on the ball and gave away three successive free kicks around the penalty area, the final one bringing the aforementioned save from Ikeme. An issue with out passing approach is the reluctance to clear the ball outright, and there were a few times when we half won the ball back, but then lost it immediately trying to play the ball out of danger. When this works, it looks brilliant; when it doesn't everyone looks an idiot. But Kenny obviously wants the team to play this way and I think it should be applauded. Anyway, the second goal came after this spell of Blackburn pressure as Rajiv van La Parra slipped Dave Edwards through the inside right channel. The pass was intercepted but Edwards did brilliant well to win the ball back, before being fouled on the right hand side corner of the penalty area. It was perfect for Sako's left foot, and he hit a low ball towards the far post that evaded everyone and nestled into the bottom corner of the goal.

- The entire game was a feisty affair, with referee Keith Stroud taking quite a lot of stick from Wolves fans. I thought that each controversial decision could have gone either way, but most of them seemed to go to Blackburn. I don't think anyone could argue with the penalty decision though, and we were perhaps a little fortunate it wasn't worse. Danny Batth got caught the wrong of Jordan Rhodes on the left hand side of the penalty area, and in trying to rectify the mistake bundled over the Scottish striker just as he was about to shoot. Given Rhodes' proximity to the goal, I thought Batth could easily have been shown the yellow card, and for a moment I thought he might be shown the red. One player who was booked in the first half was van La Parra, replaced at time by James Henry. Henry has had a tough last few months, starting just one of the last 10 games, but I thought his second half performance was his best for ages. Hopefully he will respond to the added competition on the flanks with a rise in performances. He still overhits two in every three crosses though...

- Following Blackburn's goal, they looked to push on and get the equaliser without really creating any real chance a, certainly nothing to compare to the two Dicko had in the first half (first he was sent through on goal, but mis-controlled the ball stills Robinson raced out to the edge of the area and the Blackburn goalkeeper was able to get a block in. Secondly, he twisted his way into the penalty area, only to horribly scuff his left footed effort when staring into the keeper's eyes). Aside from a long-range drive that was acrobatically punched over by Ikeme, he had little to do. And once Wolves added the third, it was game over. Dicko did well to get to the by-line on the right hand side of the penalty area and pull the ball back. Sako had a swing with his right boot, somehow getting enough contact on the ball to direct the ball in past Paul Robinson. 

- The game fizzled out at this point, with Kenny Jackett taking the opportunity to give George Saville and Tommy Rowe debuts, with Lee Evans and Dave Edwards making way. Saville first touch was a nice through ball to James Henry on the right, and he played nice and tidily for the rest of the game. He sat deep with McDonald, with the two of them happy to dictate the passing as the clock ran out. He did give away three fouls though, and could easily have been cautioned for the second, before seeing yellow for the third. Given our excellent disciplinary record under Jackett, hopefully this was just youthful exuberance. Rowe had very little time to make any impact, although he did almost latch on to a James Henry through ball that was just over hit. With Sam Ricketts, Michael Jacobs and Leon Clarke unused substitutes, the bench looked as strong as I've seen it in a long time. And hopefully this will allow the likes of Liam McAlinden and Ethan Ebanks-Landell to go out on loan and get some proper first team experience. Between them, they were unused substitutes 43 times last season and I don't think this will particularly have helped their development at all.

- I don’t want to be the harbinger of doom but the last time we had a good win against Blackburn before going into the international break, we were sat third in the league, with 19 points from 10 games. Back and refreshed after the international break, we won just 32 points from the next 36 games as Ståle Solbakken and Dean Saunders oversaw an embarrassing relegation.