Can we play you every week! From the Kevin Phillips misery of Sunday to the ecstasy of completing an unexpected league double against ‘arry’s Spurs on Wednesday night.
The highs and lows of being a Wolves fan encapsulated in a rollercoaster week.
After our fine win against Spurs, the clouds have been temporarily lifted over Molineux, with the club, players and fans receiving a much needed morale boost.
I took Mick to task in last week’s blog on his continued propensity to play so many players out of position, the club’s lack of success in both transfer windows and the odd 4-1-4-1 formation he insists on now playing.
Without wanting to sound like a nagging wife, I still think we should have got a quality target man through the door in January, but I accept that was obviously difficult for a number of reasons, not least Jez Moxey’s tight reins on the finances.
So to give Mick some credit, something I rarely do, hats off to him for accepting he really only has one Premiership quality striker on the books in Kevin Doyle, and is therefore playing to his strengths and packing out the midfield.
And even though Mick has admitted himself that goals are going to be hard to come by for the rest of the campaign, perhaps we can do it the George Graham Arsenal way and sneak a few 1-0’s to survive our first season back amongst the big boys?
I don’t even think we will need the magic 40 points this season. Hull survived last season with 35 and with this year’s league tighter than Joan River’s face, a point a game from the 13 games to go would bring us 37 points and surely enough for 17th spot at the very least.
Three points against a disjointed Spurs team on Wednesday night gets us back on track for an unlikely escape.
And we were heading for victory against a very ordinary Birmingham side on Sunday until our nemesis popped up with a couple of goals.
After the Blues game, the only positive a lot of Wolves fans could find on various radio phone-ins and forums was the twenty minute cameo played by Adlene Guedioura.
And boy was he a revelation against Spurs! You couldn’t get two more diametrically opposed full debuts from the two lads on loan from Belgium. Whereas Mujangi Bia had a mare in the cup against Palace, Guedioura’s had everyone purring with a majestic display on Wednesday night.
Is he the new Alex Rae? A little bit premature maybe, despite the lack of follicle activity on his bonce. But against Spurs his Rae-esque qualities shone through; he was composed, he always looked to get forward, he tackled back and he gave Dave Jones the opportunity to get up and support Doyle on several occasions.
I don’t want to put too much pressure on his young shoulders, but if this season is to be saved then it will be because of players like Adlene stepping up to the plate.
We shouldn’t get too carried away after our first win in the league since Burnley before Christmas. Although there were so many positives to take out of the Spurs performance from the likes of Craddock, Doyle, Henry, Hahnemann, Jones, Jarvis and Guedioura, I would be a tad hypocritical if I didn’t address where I still think Mick can make improvements.
Down the left flank, Jarvis is starting to become a real handful for Premiership defences; he is improving game by game and gave Kaboul a torrid time on Wednesday night. And behind him, Stephen Ward is still our best left back option at the club and although he wasn’t at full fitness, he improved vastly after a shaky start against Bentley.
It’s beginning to sound like a broken record, but my worry is still down the opposite flank where at right back, Zubar still looks prone to Neil Collins size gaffs and could have quite easily conceded a penalty against Birmingham with a mindless shove in the box.
We look so much more assured when Foley was dropping deep to defend at right back on Wednesday night and I would love to see him restored in that position.
Whether Kevin sees himself as a more attacking right sided player is neither here nor there, his best position is as a full back.
The difficulty is that until either Edwards or Kightly return; I don’t think Mick has enough faith in another player to solve the right hand side problem, mores the pity.
Anyway, what sort of a malevolent doom merchant would I be if I completely rained on Mick’s parade?
Wednesday night’s fantastic win may not erase all the season’s errors, but it does give us a positive platform to build from.
From here on in, it’s important that the players keep up the tempo and desire of the play from Wednesday night and replicate this for the remaining fixtures and not just when we play the so called bigger clubs like Spurs and Liverpool.
They say that one swallow doesn’t make a summer and all that, but with a few more results like Wednesday night, we might all be able to enjoy a summer World Cup, knowing that a lot of the stars on show will be heading down Molineux Way.
Enjoy your weekend and don’t forget to buy those flowers from the garage forecourt on Sunday.
UTW!
@Wolvesblogger 