I’m amazed that this isn’t live on TV? I stupidly asked that question to a few people around me in the Steve Bull stand before the Stoke game kicked off at midday last Sunday.
And thank everything that is sacred in this world that this abomination of a so-called football game didn’t make it on to SKY or ESPN.
It was without doubt the most soporiferous game of football I think many of us have probably witnessed for years and it got me thinking, which did hurt, before you ask. After hearing loads of people claim that – ‘the result is all that matters’- after the Stoke bore draw, is the result really all that matters to you?
Charles Ross, the editor of the excellent ALOB, asks in issue 144 just where the fun has gone in watching a Wolves game this season. Are we happy to just put up with endurance in this league at the cost of enjoyment?
Perhaps you could argue that this season is all about survival at whatever cost and that we should just get the first season out of the way, stay in the Premiership and build from there.
But we all pay a good chunk of money to attend games and with goals in such short supply this season, especially at Molineux; can we feel we are getting good value for money?
If the journey to survival is achieved, which is looking more and more likely, does it matter that the team achieved it with a string of results that usually resembled binary code?
We are now 20/1 with the bookmakers to be relegated and we could already have enough points to stay up.
I stated in previous blogs that I would wait until the club were absolutely guaranteed another season in the Premiership, until we were mathematically certain.
Well apologies, but I want to talk about next season’s Premiership campaign.
Anyway, I’ve spent ages studying the respective run-ins of our relegation rivals and baring an absolute miracle, or a cataclysmic collapse by Wolves, survival will be ours.
Even with Wigan’s very tricky run-in, I still expect it to be Hull and Burnley who will join Pompey in the fizzy-pop league next season.
So, let’s just stay for arguments sake that we’ve survived for the first time in the Premiership. What do the 3Ms and the team need to do differently next season?
The buying strategy was a bit of a dud in the summer. The club simply brought in too much cheap Championship-level fodder that was never going to cut it at this level and not enough players have made the grade.
As a result my thoughts would be to offload the deadwood and address some weaker areas of the squad with some Kevin Doyle type purchases of £5 million plus.
And where are those weaknesses? As much as I appreciate George Elokobi’s commitment and passion to the cause, he is of limited ability. I think someone like Nadir Belhadj from Pompey or Nicky Shorey from Villa could fit the bill at left back.
The square pegs ‘Glenn Twoddle’ syndrome has struck a few times this season, no more so than with the unfortunate Kevin Foley, who needs to switch back to his right back position for the start of the next campaign.
That would then free up Roland Zubar to partner Jody Craddock, who has been fantastic this season and it would be great if his legs could see him through another Premiership campaign. Christophe Berra has improved his performances of late but I’m still not convinced he is the long-term answer.
Waiting in the wings is Richard Stearman, who probably wishes he could turn back the clock and with Mancienne probably returning to Chelsea we probably need another Centre back to come in the summer.
On to the midfield and a fit again Michael Kightly will be like signing a new player next season, let’s hope he has a good pre-season and can get back in the team. Matt Jarvis has really improved from his early jitters and could be pushing for an England place next season if he keeps up his recent levels.
We obviously need better strength of depth on the wings, something that has cost us dear this season with Foley being employed out there. So who would you like to see come in? I would say no thank you to Stephen Hunt, Jermaine Pennant or Chris Eagles who flatters to deceive. How about Liam Lawrence or the excellent Jamie O’Hara who can play either on the left side or in the centre?
Could O’Hara perhaps partner Karl Henry in the centre?
I think the most important signing in the summer will be one that allows Mick to switch back to a 4-4-2 so that we can play on a wider pitch with a more expansive style.
I know that the switch to 4-5-1 has probably saved our season, but I think Mick switched to this formation predominately because of the lack of options up front.
With Ebanks-Blake mysteriously failing to make the grade, I’m hoping Mick will take his usual pragmatic approach and maybe ship Sylvan out on loan to regain his form.
There isn’t any room for sentimentally in football and I would off load Andy Keogh, Sam Vokes, Chris Iwelumo and Stefan Maierhofer and bring in a couple of strikers of quality.
So who is going to come in and score us the goals? I’ve read some awful suggestions like Emile Heskey or James Beattie.
Maybe the Luiz Suarez or David Villa’s of this world might be a little bit out of our price range, but I think it may be the continent that the Wolves scouts will look at for better value for money.
Stefan Kiessling of Bayer Leverkusen could fit the bill or maybe we could persuade the Italian Antonio Di Natalte for a final swansong in the Premiership?
One player I have seen who has impressed me greatly is the Senegalese striker Mamadou Niang who has scored a bucketful for Marseille. I wonder if we could convince Zubar to put a word in at his former club?
Or do we perhaps take a chance on a lower league player goal scorer like Ricky Lambert at Southampton? Just because Sylvan has yet to make the step-up doesn’t mean that another player from lower down the league couldn’t.
Next season’s new sanctions by the Premier League will of course mean a restriction in squad size to 25 for all clubs and the introduction of at least eight home grown players within that 25.
Wolves are probably in a better position than most other top-flight clubs in being able to fulfill this quota of eight quite easily already.
It will however have a bearing on who comes into the club and although we haven’t always been the most cosmopolitan of clubs, we probably have a more eclectic range of nationalities on the books at present than ever before.
Before you all castigate me for getting carried away with the whole survival thing, there is obviously the little matter of finishing this season and getting over the line. That total could be reached with our visit to the capital tomorrow to face Fulham.
London has been a happy hunting ground of late and I would expect that Roy Hodgson will be resting a few of his players for their Europa tie against Hamburg.
They do however have the best home record outside of the top six in the league, but wouldn’t it wonderful to hit our third club-double of the season by beating them?
Oh and do remember to try and pick up a copy of ALOB, it’s the last of the season and I think it has the finest copy of any issue for a while, its worth buying just for JIWAL’s fantastic allegory about watching football in an airport café in Bali.
Enjoy your weekend and remember to tune into Soccer AM to see if the Wolves lads can repeat their crossbar challenge heroics of last season.
UTW!
@Wolvesblogger 