Wolves 1 - 0 Birmingham City

Typical of Mick McCarthy. Just as he has his back to the wall once again, he delivers the goods, and how.


Our line-up almost consisted of our bare bones with four youth players on the bench and Kevin Doyle, Michael Mancienne, Steven Mouyokolo and Matt Jarvis absent. We started off the better team from start to finish with a flurry of chances started with Dave Edwards and Stephen Hunt forcing saves out of Ben Foster. Within our first half dominance Birmingham had a decent share of possession without offering any attacking threat or potency. Nicola Zigic waswinning headers to nowhere. On the half-hour mark, lone striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake started to stomp his authority on the game with two shots on target - one on the turn just outside the box and another from a tight angle - which were dealt with by Foster. And on the stroe of half-time, he got the beating of Scott Dann and crossed from the right wing for Hunt to tap in at the near post to score at a perfect time.


Straight after the interval, Ward again put in another cross and Edwards' feint header was just wide. Hunt was everywhere today, whether he was terrorising defenders or tracking back to retain possession, and he almost contributed towards another goal when his corner found the head of Nenad Milijas, who was again denied by Foster. Birmingham stepped from first gear and brought on Craig Gardner and Jean Beausejour. Cometh the hour, cometh resident bogeyman Kevin Phillips for the last 15 minutes but he summed up the visitors' afternoon when he headed so wide Wayne Hennessey didn't have to move.


This was a much needed win to boost morale ahead of next weeks trip to Sandwell and a chance to get us out of the bottom three.

'Grobs'

Wolves v Birmingham City

Today sees us take on the least successful of our Premiership local rivals in the shape of Birmingham City and we could do with a change of fortune against them with no league win since 2001.

We will be likely to welcome back David Edwards to the fold after recovering from a thigh injury to bolster the sparse numbers in the midfield, hopefully he will step in for Stephen Ward, who gave it a go in the role last week against Blackburn.

The Bluenoses will have a no major injury problems as they will play with the same backline that served them well as of late as well as last season. We hope that Kevin Phillips doesn't make it anywhere near the bench with his uncanny habit of scoring in local derbies and against us ast St Andrews last season. Or that torch is passed on to giant Serbian striker Nicola Zigic, who scored the winner in the Carling Cup against Aston Villa. Wayne Hennessey needs to be on his toes today getting these high balls.

Form and pretty football is irrelevent today, let's get a win, boys!

'Grobs'

Blackburn Rovers 3 - 0 Wolves

Same old, same old. Attacking line, great. Defence, shocking but here, it was tenfold.

Things started ever so well that we could and should have took the lead early on when Matt Jarvis pulled off a save from Paul Robinson and stand-in midielder Stephen Ward and Ronald Zubar both hit the woodwork within a minute. And we paid the price for not taking the lead shortly after when a Morten Gamst Pedersen corner was aimed towards the far post for Ryan Nelsen to flick back towards goal for David Dunn to head over the line with Wayne Hennessey nowhere to be seen. Rovers doubled their lead later when Steven Mouyokolo lost out in a tussle to Jason Roberts from a long ball and Roberts squared to Brett Emerton who tucked it away with ease. Our defence was once again a laughing stock.

Ten minutes into the second half, Pedersen whipped in another utterly threatening set-piece and it was converted into a third for the hosts and then not long after that, Robinson saved from George Elokobi and substitutes Stephen Hunt and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake made their presences felt with the former being denied by the former England keeper twice. Other than that, chances were few and far between.

You could say that we were unfortunate with the chances we had but that does not excuse the schoolboy defending and another performance in the next two games would be unforgiveable.

'Grobs'

Blackburn Rovers v Wolves

Today we head to Ewood Park, a ground where we haven't had much luck at in the Premiership.

Blackburn could well fancy a few changes to tighten the backline after that drumming at Old Trafford last week with Pascal Chimbonda most likely to be dropped and Morten Gamst Pedersen looks set to recover from a hamstring problem he suffered in the week. As a Sam Allardyce team, Blackburn are very reliant on set pieces and they have a 2:1 (goals-to-goals from dead balls) ratio of goals from that source.

We have more absentees to add to the list with David Jones suffering a foot injury he suffered last week and Jelle van Damme Belgium-bound so this could give forgotten winger Geoffrey Mujangi Bia a seat on the bench, but Christophe Berra will return from suspension. Wayne Hennessey made his first league start of the season and it will be interesting as to how he'll cope on set-pieces. Mick McCarthy's priority is to keep a clean sheet, and this could be achieved if Richard Stearman is dropped.
　
Let our revival continue after a few false starts, please.

'Grobs'
　
POSSIBLE LINE-UPS

BLACKBURN: Robinson; Salgado, Samba, Nelsen, Givet; Emerton, Jones, Dunn, Pedersen; El Hadji Diouf, Roberts. Subs: Bunn, Chimbonda, Morris, Emerton, Linganzi, Mama Biram Diouf, Hoilett

WOLVES: Hennessey; Zubar, Stearman, Berra, Elokobi; Hunt, Milijas, Mancienne, Foley, Jarvis; Doyle. Subs: Hahnemann, Mouyokolo, Ward, Davis, Mujangi Bia, Ebanks-Blake, Fletcher

ODDS (with William Hill) (view more odds)

WIN: Blackburn 4/5; Draw 13/5; Wolves 10/3

FIRST GOALSCORER: Blackburn - Roberts 11/2, Benjani 6/1, MB Diouf 7/1, Pedersen 15/2, Dunn 15/2, EH Diouf 9/1, Samba 16/1 Wolves - Doyle 15/2, Fletcher 8/1, Ebanks-Blake 8/1, Jarvis 12/1, Hunt 14/1, Milijas 16/1, Foley 20/1

KEY PLAYER: Morten Gamst Pedersen. His deliveries have been key to Blackburn's main source of goals.

WEAKEST LINK: Michel Salgado. One of the best full-backs in the world yesterdecade, now could well find Matt Jarvis too hot to handle with his aging legs.

NOTABLE MUTUAL ALUMNI: Mark Atkins, Paul Bradshaw, Nathan Blake, Dave Wagstaffe, Tim Flowers

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Jody Craddock Out Until New Year

This is a kick in the gut as we don't know how longer we could perservere with Richard Stearman at the back, we miss him badly. Initially, the injury was to the hip, but has gone down to the thigh and Jody states on Twitter it will take three weeks to recover and I can't Mick McCarthy rushing in a 35-year-old into the festive schedule of the season so he won't be seeing action until the new year.

Jody Craddock: Sorely missed.

The sooner he returns, the better.

'Grobs'

And Now For Something Completely Different... - Part 1

If only the club he supported fell down the table quicker than himself...

Do/did you know that guy? Is he dead or alive today? Maybe brain-damaged. Help us name and shame.


'Grobs'

Jelle van Damme moves back to Belgium with Standard Liege

Well, after the stories of homesickness and missing his family, you couldn't say that this wasn't on the cards but it's quite a shame because behind all these problems there was a trier who wanted to succeed. After solid performances in pre-season and van Damme's desire to be one of the leaders on the field, it looked as though that his shortcomings at Ajax and Southampton were becoming a thing of the past and we had a player of Premiership quality on our hands, even his early performances this season were promising, despite carrying a few knocks. However, that was set to change as in the last few games, the loneliness got the better of him and games passed him by, most notably at Tottenham when he failed to help out Stephen Ward thwart the right-wing barrage which almost single-handedly cost us the game, much to the annoyance of Mick McCarthy.

Jelle van Damme: Going home.

But still, in a way, everyone's a winner in this deal, we've got our money back from what we invested, van Damme will now commute nearer to his family and Standard Liege will have a good player on their hands, but I hope he has a role to play in this season in January because as mentioned earlier, he tries and the squad numbers are looking increasingly depleted. Come January, our shopping list could well contain one left-back and with that £2.5m to spend.

'Grobs'

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FA Cup 3rd Round Draw

One of the highlights of the footballing calendar arrived today as we've been handed a tricky tie away to Doncaster Rovers. 'Donny' have been consolidating in the Championship in their third season through playing football attractive to the eye and with one defeat so far at Keepmoat Stadium and key striker Billy Sharp coming back from injury, we will need to be at our best to progress. Maybe a game for a bit of tinkering too, perhaps? Mick McCarthy can be forgiven for the thought crossing his mind.

'Grobs'

Wolves 3 - 2 Sunderland

Winter had most definitely arrived and three points were due for an ever unlucky hard working Wolves side, and for once we did it! Wayne Hennessey finally got a chance in goal after some disappointing performances from Marcus Hahnemann and there was a first league start for Ronald Zubar at right back, with Kevin Foley being pushed up to the right wing in place of Stephen Hunt. Other changes were Nenad Milijas in for Karl Henry & Stephen Ward for Christophe Berra with George Elokobi playing centre back.

Few clear cut chances were created in the opening 45 minutes, the best being Kevin Doyle blasting over from 12 yards and a Kieron Richardson free-kick hitting the inside of the post. The big talking point was when Richard Stearman was given offside when scoring from a corner and I can say that from seeing replays at half time he certainly wasn't and couldn't be, but in the end it didn't matter.

Ex-Manchester United trainees David Jones and Phil Bardsley do battle

Five minutes in and Wolves took the lead after Craig Gordon parried a Matt Jarvis shot straight into the path of Foley, who smashed home with his left foot to make it 1-0. For some reason we decided to sit back and let Sunderland pile on the pressure & not long after a knock on from the substitute Asamoah Gyan fell onto Darren Bent to equalize. The game was back and forth from here until the end and next goal went to the visitors again with Danny Welbeck heading home with 13 minutes to go and quite a lot of the home fans leaving thinking 'here we go again'. Now I'm not that stupid and my patience was rewarded in the final 10 minutes, first off Hunt scored from another Gordon save off a Elokobi header then super-sub Sylvan Ebanks-Blake got the winner with a great strike from a Doyle knock on, sending the crowd home happy for once.

Our defence still looked shaky (missing the experience of Jody Craddock), Hennessey couldn't do anything about the two well taken goals and had a decent game, Zubar didn't look like he'd been out two months at all, man of the match for me. Milijas & Jarvis yet again were superb in midfield and Doyle played well on his own but the subs were the difference today.

With West Ham winning as well this was vital to keep us close to the pack above, surely its a sign of our luck changing?

'Geesus'

LINE-UPS

WOLVES (4-5-1): Hennessey; Zubar, Stearman, Elokobi, Ward; Foley (c), Mancienne (Ebanks-Blake 80), Jones (Hunt 63), Milijas, Jarvis; Doyle. Unused subs: Hahnemann, van Damme, Fletcher, Bent, Davis. Booked: Ward, Elokobi

SUNDERLAND (4-4-2): Gordon; Onuoha, Ferdinand, Mensah (Elmohamady 83), Bardsley; Richardson, Henderson (Malbranque 55), Cattermole (c), Zenden (Gyan 55); Bent, Welbeck. Unused subs: Mignolet, Angeleri, Da Silva, Riveros. Booked: Mensah, Richardson, Cattermole

STATS (courtesy of Daily Telegraph)

SHOTS ON TARGET (OFF TARGET): Wolves 7 (7) - (5) 6 Sunderland

CORNERS: Wolves 11 - 5 Sunderland

FOULS: Wolves 11- 10 Sunderland

POSSESSION: Wolves 54% - 46% Sunderland

REFEREE: Michael Jones



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Wolves v Sunderland

Today sees us welcome another potentially tricky side in the form of Sunderland.

We come into the game almost down to our bare bones in the central defence after Christophe Berra picked up five bookings, Jody Craddock and Ronald Zubar are still well off match fitness so we'll have to depend on Steven Mouyokolo and Richard Stearman for the second home game running. With Karl Henry out with knee ligament damage, that element applies for the central midfield too with Dave Edwards and Adlene Guedioura unavailable so if a five-man midfield is selected today, there's not much choice but to field Michael Mancienne behind left-footed schemers David Jones and Nenad Milijas. But with us needing three points badly, will we even play five in the middle?

Resident draw specialists Sunderland come to Molineux with Darren Bent fully fit to give Steve Bruce the chance to pair him and Asamoah Gyan, which will enable the chance for Danny Welbeck to supply more chances for the front-line. Titus Bramble is out so they will fancy their chances a lot more. Sunderland have only once won away from home and that was at Chelsea for those of you who have just been rescued from a remote island. This time last season saw the start of their slump after a bright start, the best form of hope we can cling on to.

In the form our visitors are in, we should be content with a point but we must pick up three points by hook or crook, but against a Steve Bruce team, how rare is that when we only got the better of him twice in 15 games?

'Grobs'

POSSIBLE LINE-UPS

WOLVES (4-5-1): Hahnemann; Foley, Stearman, Mouyokolo, Elokobi; Jarvis, Milijas, Mancienne, Jones, Hunt; Doyle. Subs: Hennessey, van Damme, Ebanks-Blake, Fletcher, Ward, Davis, Bent

SUNDERLAND (4-4-2): Gordon; Onouha, Turner, Ferdinand, Richardson; Welbeck, Henderson, Cattermole, Malbranque; Gyan, Bent. Subs: Mignolet, da Silva, Bardsley, Elmohamady, Riveros, Zenden, Angeleri

ODDS (with William Hill) (view more odds)

WIN: Wolves 13/8; Draw 11/5; Sunderland 17/10


FIRST GOALSCORER: Wolves - Steven Fletcher 6/1, Doyle 13/2, Ebanks-Blake 7/1, Milijas 10/1, Jarvis 12/1, Hunt 14/1, Foley 40/1 Sunderland - Bent 9/2, Gyan 9/2, Welbeck 13/2, Henderson 14/1, Zenden 14/1, Richardson 16/1, Turner 33/1

KEY PLAYER: Asamoah Gyan. Fitted into the team really quickly and started firing the goals, more to come with Bent returning I'd imagine, but hopefully not today.

WEAKEST LINK: Lee C(l)attermole. Three red cards this season. Been a while since his last one.

NOTABLE MUTUAL ALUMNI: Neill Collins, Alex Rae, Jody Craddock, Michael Gray, Don Goodman



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