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Liverpool v Leeds and Wolves v Watford postponed because of Covid cases

Thu, 23 Dec 2021 15:10:15 GMT

The Premier League postpones Liverpool's game against Leeds United and the match between Wolves and Watford because of coronavirus.

Taking son to first Wolves match a 'dream come true' for dad

Tue, 21 Dec 2021 21:01:53 GMT

Steve Hermon and Eddie are able to enjoy the Wolves match, thanks to the club's sensory room.

Premier League and EFL clubs to fulfil fixture list amid record positive Covid-19 results

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 19:24:42 GMT

Premier League and EFL clubs decide to keep all fixtures in place over the festive period despite record positive Covid-19 tests.

Why are Wolves struggling to score?

Craig — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 15:59:07 GMT

Just one point outside the European places with the second-worst goalscoring record in the league

Another blank against Chelsea

Bruno Lage’s men currently sit eighth in the Premier League table, just one point behind Spurs in the final European place and only two points adrift of Europa League qualification. They have the best defensive record outside of the top four, with only Chelsea and leaders Man City having conceded fewer goals. Title contenders Man City and Liverpool have only managed to get away with hard-fought 1-0 wins against Wolves.

Lage has put together a team that is very hard to beat and which teams simply don’t want to play against. It would be difficult to describe the first half of this season as anything but a stellar job by the new man in the dugout. However, with the Portuguese supposedly brought in to bring more excitement and goals to Molineux, why is he struggling to make good on that promise?

Right now they are not a team that makes neutral fans clamour for the live streams in order to see them play, but why is that?

Well, only bottom side Norwich City have scored fewer than Wolves’ 13 goals from 18 Premier League games. While that doesn’t seem to matter in terms of results, because the defence is so solid, it doesn’t make for the most entertaining product.

Nuno famously had trouble getting goals out of this squad, and switched to four at the back last season for a short period to try and solve the problem. They conceded too many and he had to revert back to the usual three.

Bruno Lage has been consistent with three at the back but he did try playing a higher line at the beginning of the season in an attempt to introduce a more goal-friendly approach. In the first three games of the season, they outshot Leicester, Spurs and Man United, while enjoying a healthy amount of possession in each game, but chances weren’t taken, and they ultimately lost all three matches 1-0. The Portuguese realised he’d be lucky to get one goal a game from his attacking players and thus pragmatically decided to play a more deep-lying, compact style. It yielded results, with Wolves losing only four of the following thirteen matches.

Sitting a little deeper has clearly paid dividends for the Wanderers but how long can the side rely on its defence to be consistently solid without the attacking players chipping in with a few more goals at the other end? With a congested festive period upcoming, and injuries likely on the horizon, probably not that long. So why aren’t they scoring?

One key problem is that most of their attacks start from deep, and it’s much more difficult to create good chances against a team that is set with everyone behind the ball. This is something which teams like Man City have become experts at, but without the players they have, and the depth of their squad, it’s difficult for a team like Wolves to emulate that.

They start from deep because, according to Fbref, they are second in the Premier League for pressures in their own defensive third, but the bottom of the league for pressures in the opponents defensive third. More often than not they win the ball back on the edge of their own box and then build their attacks from there, as opposed to a team like Liverpool who wins the ball high up the pitch and then only need two or three quality passes to be in a strong goal scoring position.

Lage has said he wants to play a higher line and win the ball higher up the pitch but it’s not easy and he’s right. Doing so would leave his defence exposed. To press high, he’d probably want to switch to four at the back in order to have that extra body in a forward position in the press. The obvious problem is that Wolves would be more likely to get caught out. There are some clamouring for a new centre back in January, one with immense pace and positional understanding. While it’s difficult to fault Coady, Kilman or Saiss, as they’ve all been sublime this year in this system, it’s probably true that to play a higher line they’d benefit from new blood in that area.

However, they may want to think about investing in the real problem area, up front. While Wolves still aren’t creating an abundance of chances when compared with their rivals, they’ve actually improved in this area compared to last season, but aren’t reaping the rewards. Their overall xG of 17.7 isn’t great and puts them 14th in the Premier League by that metric but it’s an improvement on last season. The biggest issue for them is that their attacking players just aren’t taking enough chances. They don’t have deadly forward players on whom they can rely on to get on the scoresheet, and that is the major concern for Lage.

Hwang Hee Chan has chipped in with four goals, Raul Jimenez with three, and the others have been scored by defenders or holding midfielders. Wing backs Nelson Semedo and Rayan Ait-Nouri, as well as other attacking players like Adama Traore and Joao Moutinho have failed to put the ball in the net.

So whether it’s bringing in a world class centre back to give the team the confidence needed to push up onto the half way line, or signing one or two potent attacking players, January is sure to be a pivotal time for the club. Without those new investments, it’s difficult to see how long Bruno Lage can keep up this balancing act. For now, they’re compact and solid and getting results, but to be consistent across the season they really need to score more goals.

Wolves 0 Chelsea 0

Thomas — Sun, 19 Dec 2021 18:56:00 GMT

Another game, another stoic defensive outing.

Great move, smart finish but not to be for Podence

The point is welcome but I’m left thinking if we could have sustained our attacking efforts for the duration of the game, we might have gone one better against a beleaguered Chelsea.

Once they stepped onto us after the break though, we swiftly crawled back into our shell and defended the width of our 18 yard box for the remainder.

Much like the Liverpool game it was disappointing how little Wolves were able to muster on the counter , with the ball bommeranging back time and time again.

Perhaps it’s harsh to criticise Raul but I did think there were a number of occasions he could have done better holding it up or finding the right pass to relieve some of the pressure.

There was just no out ball for our warriors at the back, even after Traore came on and that’s something Bruno has to find a solution for if we’re to become more progressive in possession.

In the first half we moved the ball well and got up the pitch to cause plenty of problems – not least the goal that was ruled out and a fantastic headed chance for Dendoncker.

Daniel Podence was at the centre of all those good moments and he remains a frustrating enigma, able to produce moments of magic but frustrate and disappoint in equal measure.

It would be helpful if one of Podence or Traore or Trincao could step up their game to demand a place in the team with any sort of consistency. As it is, it’s nigh on impossible to say who should and shouldn’t be playing from one game to the next.

What has been pleasing in the last two games is seeing the back up wingbacks enter the action and perform admirably. We certainly didn’t lose anything defensively with Hoever and Marcal in the team and both got forward to good effect at times to support out rare attacking forays.

In fact, the only real chance Chelsea mustered all game was through Pulisic on the counter, but the imperious Sa was there to save our bacon as he has so often this season.

With the top three out of the way, we must now show greater ambition, find an antidote to our obvious weakness and transform this highly satisfactory season into a great one.

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-0 Chelsea: Bruno Lage says Wolves deserved more than a point

Sun, 19 Dec 2021 17:36:13 GMT

Wolves boss Bruno Lage says they "deserved more" than a point from their 0-0 draw with Chelsea after VAR ruled out an early strike from Daniel Podence for offside.

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-0 Chelsea: 'It's not safe' - Thomas Tuchel annoyed Covid-hit Chelsea forced to play

Sun, 19 Dec 2021 16:50:51 GMT

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel says he is worried about the safety of his players after a request to postpone their match against Wolves due to a Covid-19 outbreak was denied.

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-0 Chelsea: Visitors' title hopes hit with draw

Sun, 19 Dec 2021 16:11:54 GMT

Chelsea slip further behind leaders Manchester City in the title race as they are held to a goalless draw by Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The Football News Show: Will the Premier League's Christmas fixtures get cancelled?

Fri, 17 Dec 2021 16:45:51 GMT

With nine Premier League games postponed over the past week because of Covid-19, The Football News Show looks at how the Christmas fixture list could be affected.

Adama Traore: No goals and no assists, why is Wolves winger struggling to make an impact?

Fri, 17 Dec 2021 09:40:06 GMT

Adama Traore was once rated £70m but, with no goals or assists so far this season, is the winger now struggling to make his mark at Wolves?

Wolves Vs Chelsea Preview

Thomas — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 08:29:13 GMT

The make or break fixtures for December always looked like being Brighton and Watford. So far, that’s proved correct.

Predictable defeats to the top two and a narrow victory over an alright but not brilliant Seagulls side have us on track.

Romain keeps us on course for a strong points tally at halfway

We’re back in bonus ball territory on Sunday – assuming it goes ahead – and if Wolves can show the same application they did against Liverpool and City, we’ll have a great chance of getting something.

As we approach halfway, getting to 40 points is still the main objective, but I think 50 is realistic if the team maintain consistency and then anything north would represent an excellent season.

Chelsea

The Blues have just started to wobble. In isolation, drawing with Man Utd and losing at West Ham isn’t disastrous, but dropping points at home to Everton will have hurt.

City and Liverpool have won all their games in the same period meaning 7 valuable points have been surrendered and that’s way too much to keep pace with the juggernauts.

Frustration against Everton last night

What they really need now is four straight wins over Christmas to keep them in contention before they play the top two back-to-back in January. This is definitely a defining moment in their season.

Covid has reduced Thomas Tuchel’s options with Lukaku, Werner, Huson-Odoi and Chilwell all testing positive. None will feature in this fixture.

It’s not been made clear what the criteria are for a postponement but you’d have thought we’re teetering on the edge with four other games for the weekend already cancelled.

Wolves

Bruno Lage has his own problems to solve with Ait-Nouri and Hwang both limping out of the Brighton game. We don’t have the luxury of Chelsea’s mega-squad to fall back on so even a couple of injuries have us stretched to the limit.

Raul’s return will help and despite some flourishes from the front three in the second half at Brighton I don’t think many would argue against him being restored to the side.

It could be any combination of Traore, Podence and Trincao supporting or maybe just one of them with Dendoncker packing out the midfield.

Moutinho and Neves have been used interchangeably at times by Bruno with Dendoncker brought in so that could be another option with a reasonably quick turnaround from Wednesday.

Last time out

Pedro Neto’s late winner in this fixture last season was arguably the high point of our entire campaign and felt seismic given the struggles we endured in the winter months. It was a deserved victory too after a strong comeback in a second-half where Daniel Podence also made his mark.

Pedro was in imperious form in the win at Molineux last season

When we arrived at Stamford Bridge a month later, Frank Lampard was gone and Thomas Tuchel was in the dugout for his first game in charge. We well and truly parked the bus and restricted Chelsea to very little. Pedro Neto even had a good chance to win it on the counter but lifted narrowly over the bar.

Predictions

Well done to Mutt1eigh, St.Kitts Wolves, Silverwolf, Steppenwolfe, Steve, King of the cowshed, Woodend wolf, Rich, AveburyWolf, Brunos jab will knock ’em out(in the shed), Lord Twix, Brompton Wolf, Wolfstroker, Border Wolf and DeptfordWolf who all collected a maximum by correctly forecasting a 1-0 win on Wednesday.

Brompton Wolf leads the way at the top of the overall table at the end of Gameweek 17.

As always, if you’d like to join in, it’s simple – just leave your prediction in the comment section below using the boxes provided. Then repeat for every preview article throughout the season, making sure you always use the same email address to make your prediction. Your email is what ties you to your overall score.

You can read my prediction for the game in the comment section below.

Up The Wolves!

Polite request – when commenting in the preview article after the game has finished, can you not place score predictions in the boxes, please? It confuses the system. Many thanks.

Covid-19 outbreaks in sport: Several football and rugby games have been postponed

Thu, 16 Dec 2021 14:02:54 GMT

Four Premier League matches in a week are called off because of new Covid-19 outbreaks, with rugby games at the weekend also postponed.

Brighton 0 Wolves 1

Ben Rasmin — Wed, 15 Dec 2021 22:42:09 GMT

Wolves must be the most difficult team in the league to evaluate.

Brighton were toothless and squandered their only clear chance

Excellent but ultimately pointless in the first three games, we have since been a puzzling halfway house between brilliance and Pulis-esque s**thousery.

Tonight’s game summed that position up perfectly.

The first half was poor from both sides, with Wolves understandably disjointed after being unexpectedly deprived of the services of both Ait-Nouri and Hwang.

Adama’s introduction for the latter certainly gave us a greater attacking impetus, with the Spaniard leading the line well throughout.

In a game of slim margins, you always suspected that it would take a moment of inspiration to break the deadlock.

Step forward Ruben Neves, whose sumptuous through ball teed Romain Saiss up for a finish befitting of a premium centre forward.

Ironically, a player befitting of that description would have seen us home much more comfortably in the second half, with Podence, in particular, squandering a number of gilt-edged chances.

The Portuguese’s profligacy made for a difficult end to the game, with a combination of Brighton’s own wastefulness and more excellent defending from our rearguard ultimately ensuring we exited with all three points.

Bruno’s charges ought to be commended for seeing the game out at a ground where we have so often been short-changed in recent history. It certainly wasn’t pretty, but the boys in old gold got the job done.

And while, given the players at our disposal, I might think we are capable of playing better football, it’s obvious that we are a work in progress and, with us sitting 8th in the league, hard to argue against the work of Lage and his backroom team.

Brighton & Hove Albion 0-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers: Bruno Lage 'happy' with performance

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 22:34:57 GMT

Bruno Lage is "happy" with Wolves' performance after they secure a 1-0 win against Brighton & Hove Albion.

Brighton & Hove Albion 0-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers: Graham Potter praises Brighton's "attitude"

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 22:32:41 GMT

Graham Potter praises Brighton's "attitude and effort" despite losing 1-0 to Wolves at home.

Brighton 0-1 Wolves: Romain Saiss goal takes visitors up to eighth in Premier League

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 21:51:14 GMT

Wolves win for the first time in five matches as they beat Brighton to move up to eighth in the Premier League table.

Premier League agrees new Covid measures to stem outbreaks at clubs

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 15:45:09 GMT

Premier League players and club staff will need to take a lateral flow test every day in order to get into training grounds to try to stem the rise of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus.

Brighton Vs Wolves Preview

Thomas — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 07:20:31 GMT

Is this even going ahead?

Man Utd had their game against Brentford postponed late yesterday evening and there must be a reasonable chance this one will follow suit by tomorrow after Brighton’s Covid outbreak.

Can we show more craft and ambition to go with the effort and organisation?

I’m not sure about the criteria for such a decision, but I hope for the sake of those planning to make the long trip south there’s clarity well ahead of time.

On a purely football-related basis, it might be handy for Wolves to get a game in against a depleted Brighton side before another tough challenge against Chelsea on Sunday.

Not that this fixture has been particularly kind to us in the past.

Brighton

The Seagulls had the opposite start to the season that we experienced, winning four of their first five league matches. Unfortunately for them, they haven’t tasted victory since.

There have been plenty of draws and nearly moments, but it’s been a slow descent down the table in recent months for Graham Potter’s men.

Much like Wolves, they don’t score or concede many and the teams come into this game with an identical goal difference. Funny, when you consider the two games produced nine goals last season.

Last-minute equalisers have been a speciality for Brighton and Neal Maupay this season

Neal Maupay is top-scorer with a highly respectable six league goals to date, but it’s getting others on the scoresheet that has been the problem.

Leandro Trossard has a couple and it will have been a blow to see him carried off against Southampton in their last Premier League outing. However, it seems like the Belgian has made a swift recovery and will feature tomorrow.

Lewis Dunk, Adam Webster and Danny Welbeck have all been ruled out and of course there is the mystery over which other members of the playing staff could be absent due to Covid.

Those that do take to the field should be fresh after their game against Spurs was cancelled at the weekend due to you know what.

The home end

Some comments from Brighton head coach Graham Potter about Wolves from his press conference:

They [Wolves] have improved from what was already good under Nuno [Espirito Santo]. Bruno [Lage] has come in and added his own bits, without changing too much.

They are an experienced team, with two holding midfield payers who can control the game really well there is a good shape and structure about them.

They got off to a bad start in terms of results but performances were really good so they’ve turned that around.

Recently they played Liverpool and Manchester City and suffered narrow defeats, but it just goes to show how organised they are defensively. They defend as a team really well so they don’t concede many chances.

Wolves

Wolves have a 100% vaccination status among players and coaching staff, so there can be no doubt that they’re holding up their end of the bargain. Fatigue could be an issue for some though after that draining performance at The Etihad.

I still can’t believe how stupid Raul was getting himself sent off. The referee could have shown more leniency but even so, it was such a naive act of petulance. I’ve noticed a fair bit of gamesmanship from him this season, which is fair enough, but be smarter about it in future.

Without the Mexican leading the line, Bruno has a decision to make. I’d personally deploy Hwang through the middle and bring Podence into the side. That’s two sets of fresh legs that didn’t start at Man City.

Fabio might be sniffing an opportunity, but it would be a bit of a surprise if the head coach suddenly threw him into the action having hardly used our record signing at all this season, despite the team’s terrible goalscoring record.

Adama caused them all kinds of problems last season in both fixtures, so hopefully, this is his moment to shine again.

Last time out

We really had them on the ropes in this fixture last season. It was 3-1 at half-time, we were running the midfield and Neto and Traore were getting in at will. Then the teams came out for the second half and it was one-way traffic in the opposite direction. Despite Owen Otasowie missing a golden chance to win it with the last kick of the game, it could easily have been a defeat.

Two goals and a sending off for Lewis Dunk in the games last season but he won’t feature tomorrow

The Brighton hoodoo was finally broken at Molineux with Wolves coming from behind to win 2-1 after Lewis Dunk gave them the lead and then got himself sent off for hauling down Fabio as he raced towards goal. Adama Traore got us level with a great goal and Morgan Gibbs-White finished smartly to win it in injury time.

Predictions

Well done to Sea Pigeon, Marin Wolf and Robc306 who all correctly predicted we’d lose 1-0 to City on Saturday.

Brompton Wolf leads the way at the top of the overall table at the end of Gameweek 16.

You can read my prediction for the game in the comment section below.

Up The Wolves!

Polite request – when commenting in the preview article after the game has finished, can you not place score predictions in the boxes, please? It confuses the system. Many thanks.

Premier League reports 42 positive Covid-19 results in past week

Tue, 14 Dec 2021 00:14:50 GMT

Forty-two Premier League players and staff tested positive for Covid-19 in the past week - the most results ever recorded in the league over a seven-day period.

Raul Jimenez: Bruno Lage says Wolves striker will learn from his mistake after red card

Sat, 11 Dec 2021 16:29:55 GMT

Wolves boss Bruno Lage says Raul Jimenez will learn from his mistake after he is shown two yellow cards in the space of 31 first-half seconds.

Manchester City 1-0 Wolves: Pep Guardiola 'relieved' with City win over 10-man Wolves

Sat, 11 Dec 2021 15:45:04 GMT

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola praises his side's "patient" performance after Raheem Sterling's match-winning penalty against 10-man Wolves at the Etihad Stadium.

Manchester City 1-0 Wolves: Jimenez sending off and Sterling penalty 'hard decisions to accept'

Sat, 11 Dec 2021 15:37:55 GMT

Wolves manager Bruno Lage is "proud" of his players for their performance in defeat by Manchester City, but says some of the referee's decisions are "hard to accept".

Man City 1 Wolves 0

Thomas — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 15:30:38 GMT

Defensive football isn’t in fashion but if it was, Wolves would be a designer label.

Moment of madness – what was Raul thinking?

In back-to-back games against arguably the two best attacking sides in the world, we’ve surrendered exactly one last minute scuffer and one stodgy looking penalty.

The Goals For column needs some serious attention, but at least we’ve got a rock solid platform to build.

Had Raul not gone temporarily insane, we may have been able to do that today, but once he went down the tunnel it was nothing more than a turkey shoot.

City did everything but score prior to John Moss doing most of the work for them, so you can’t begrudge them the result too much, but even so, the pill tastes bitter.

A cross into the arm pit is not a penalty and no contorted explanation of the VAR process will convince me otherwise.

Peter Walton in the BT Studio actually said VAR isn’t there to re-referee the game. Funny that, because I thought that was it’s precise purpose?

At the very least, the referee on the pitch should have been told to take a second look. If he’d seen the replays we all saw and still had the brass tacs to give it, I would have felt a bit better about things.

As it is, we feel beaten by technology, not the champions of England.

Max Kilman nearly rescued a point at the finish and had he done so it would have capped one of the finest performances I’ve seen from a Wolves defender in a good while.

Heroic is a suitable adjective for his efforts, particularly after smashing his noggin against Ruben’s headband.

He’ll be feeling sore tomorrow, as will most of his team mates and the true cost of this defeat may well not be realised until Wednesday at Brighton.

But if we compete as we did today, we certainly won’t go too far wrong.

Man City 1-0 Wolves: Raheem Sterling scores penalty as Raul Jimenez sent off

Sat, 11 Dec 2021 14:51:39 GMT

Raheem Sterling scores a controversial penalty to reach 100 Premier League goals and give Manchester City victory over 10-man Wolves.

Wolves Joined by Newcastle in Race for Botman

Thomas — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 15:03:30 GMT

As the January transfer window approaches, the sports news are filling up with an increasing number of transfer rumours and speculations. The clubs, having had half a year to evaluate their summer signings and their effects on their performance in the Premier League and patching up their squads where it’s needed.

In this spirit, the Wolves set their eyes on Sven Botman, Lille’s Dutch defender – but their race to sign the talented youngster was just joined by a rival desperate to snatch him from under their nose. And the price tag of the young Dutch defender is also pretty high – he could reportedly cost around £40 million.

Who is Sven Botman

Sven Botman’s CV is pretty short. Born and raised in the Netherlands, he joined Ajax Amsterdam in 2009, at the age of 9. He graduated from the club’s youth academy in 2018 and joined Jong Ajax, the Dutch club’s reserve team, spending a season on loan with Eredivisie club SC Heerenveen, then left the Netherlands to continue playing with French Ligue 1 team Lille last year. Since then, Botman has appeared in 46 league games with the French club, scoring one goal in the process.

Botman is a tall, strong player with the typical ball control skills of an Ajax academy graduate. He is capable of dominating aerial duels and controlling opponents. He is one of the most commanding players on the turf, seen as the perfect replacement for Gabriel Magalhães, who left Lille for Arsenal in 2020.

Contenders

The first claims about the 21-year-old Dutch defender heading to the Premier League emerged as early as this August. At the time, Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano claimed that the Wolves were indeed interested in signing Botman, with discussions with Lille already on the table. Romano later reported that the Wolves’ offer for Botman was turned down by Lille.

Then, speculation about the tall and imposing defender coming to Molineux have revived in November, this time from journalist Luke Hatfield who felt that the Wolves might make another move for the 21-year-old at the beginning of 2022.

But the market value of the player seems to be increasing with every match he plays in Ligue 1. Lille paid up to £8 million to have him back in 2020 but in September, the news spoke of a £35 million price tag. And now, the price may have gone even higher, with some sources speaking of £40 million.

Besides, there’s also a bit of a competition. According to a recent article in The Athletic, the race to sign the 21-year-old towering defender was joined by Newcastle, dangerously close to relegation this season, something that the club wants to avoid. And the club probably has the money to sign him, considering that it was taken over by a consortium with their pockets lined with cold, hard cash.

Man City Vs Wolves Preview

Thomas — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 10:46:14 GMT

You can easily convince yourself there’s no chance of getting anything against these mega teams.

But we pushed Liverpool all the way last weekend and despite losing to City twice last season, we were competitive in both matches.

Broken down with the last kick of the game

We’re well organised and defensively resilient, so that’s one important box ticked. Without that, it is mission impossible.

City are going to move you around and test those concentration levels more than any other team in world football, but we’ve passed that test before and it can be passed again.

Man City

Despite fielding a second-string (if you can call it that), I was surprised City were beaten by Leipzig on Tuesday. I just don’t ever expect them to lose.

It didn’t matter of course, as they were already through as group winners and maybe that comfort is what shaved a few per cent off performance levels in Germany.

Bernardo has been City’s most potent attacking weapon

They’re also top of the Premier League again after Chelsea were felled by West Ham last time out. Watford were swept aside in mostly routine fashion to make it five league wins in a row since losing to Palace.

In a team of superstars, Bernardo Silva has been in scintillating form this season and scored twice in that win at Vicarage Road. He was rested in midweek so will likely be in their team again tomorrow.

Phil Foden came off at half-time and is a major injury doubt and Ferran Torres is still out with a long-standing injury. They have sufficient quality to cope of course (understatement).

The home end

Some thoughts lifted from the pre-match thread on a popular Man City forum.

Pointless game out of the way , now back to business , Wolves look well organised so expect another war of attrition against a ten man defence , if we get an early goal we will see if Wolves have a Plan B and it might become midly entertaining. But i expect 80% possession , 20 corners , 25 shots , 15 on target and a 1-0 win. The Dippers can score 5 have a plus 100 goal difference but they will still be second best.

This won’t be easy, Wolves sit very deep, if we don’t play with the intensity we only really show in the big games or don’t come up with a goal from nowhere we will find it hard to break them down and they’ve got the pace to hurt us on the counter as we well know. Potential upset here that we need to give everything to avoid. Getting that first goal and getting it early is everything.

Wolves will counter counter counter, they rode their luck at home to the red scousers could have nicked one themselves they held on until then got caught out late on, we need to start this game from the off straight at it and high intensity or we could get turned over like palace did.

Back to business for us now. Three matches before Christmas, three wins needed. Wolves are pretty toothless in attack besides Jimenez. Kind of game if we can score early, we could win this really comfortably. We are 3 from 3 in 12.30 games this season (conceding none) – early kick-offs don’t seem to hinder us at all, as long as we stay fully focused I can’t see us dropping points here.

Wolves

You can’t fault what the team did out of possession against Liverpool, but it was a touch disappointing we couldn’t find more creative solutions when we had the ball.

But then again, we know the drill against the top teams – you’re going to have to defend most of the game and muster what you can on the rare occasions they surrender the ball.

And if you try to be more progressive, it’s likely to bite you on the backside with the spaces you vacate. A very tough balance to strike so I don’t condemn managers for parking up.

Podence and Moutinho are the two you’d think might be first in line for recalls if Bruno does make changes to combat City’s excellence with the ball.

Last time out

It turned into a rout at The Etihad last season with City netting two goals in injury time to inflate the score to 4-1. We had them on the ropes for a short spell after Conor Coady equalised in the second half, but they were of course good value for their emphatic victory.

Dendoncker’s own goal opened the scoring in this fixture last season

The game at Molineux earlier in the season was strange. They raced into a two-goal lead and a total hammering seemed inevitable. But Wolves created an avalanche of chances in the second half, pulling one goal back via Raul and were unlucky not to get level before Jesus sealed the win with the last kick of the game.

Predictions

Plenty of us predicted defeat to Liverpool last weekend but nobody went for 1-0.

Brompton Wolf leads the way at the top of the overall table at the end of Gameweek 15.

You can read my prediction for the game in the comment section below.

Up The Wolves!

Polite request – when commenting in the preview article after the game has finished, can you not place score predictions in the boxes, please? It confuses the system. Many thanks.

Premier League clubs told to return to emergency Covid-19 measures

Thu, 09 Dec 2021 19:55:16 GMT

The Premier League tells its 20 clubs to return to emergency measures in light of new Covid rules in England.

Africa Cup of Nations: Which Premier League players might be going?

Tue, 07 Dec 2021 08:57:08 GMT

The Africa Cup of Nations begins next month, with about 40 Premier League players set to miss several weeks of the season as they head to Cameroon.

The Twixfix Bloggers Whodunnit Xmas Quiz

Thomas — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 17:49:51 GMT

Mike (Twixfix) is planning a festive Xmas quiz for regulars in the blog comment section and looking for help from his fellow contributors.

The questions will all be about matching bloggers to unusual, quirky or downright hilarious things they’ve done in their past and he’s hoping people can email him some interesting factoids.

In his own words…

I’m sure most bloggers have done something quirky in their past or received an award/achievement etc which, on the surface, may seem ‘out of character’ etc.
If possible could you put it out there that I’m compiling a Xmas quiz and would like to receive some blogger questions in the form of …. “Which Blogger (narrative/question)….?
If you could ask bloggers to email me their input (and answers) then I’ll collect and collate all the questions and set up a “Which Blogger” quiz.
I’m happy to put up a bottle of Scotch (via a voucher if necessary) for the winner etc…
My email address is … oldfield23@btinternet.com
Many thanks mate and UTW.
Mike ( Lord Twix )

So if you want to take part in Mike’s festive fun, get in touch and look out for the full quiz.

Wolves 0 Liverpool 1

Thomas — Sat, 04 Dec 2021 18:43:37 GMT

If you’re going to lose to a great side, there are worse ways to do it but few this painful.

The only outlet

Wolves kicked and headed and scratched and rode their luck and ran the clock down and slowed the game and blocked on the line and did everything else you can possibly do to take something from a contest in which they were clearly second best.

In our defensive organisation and commitment to the cause, you can’t fault anyone in a gold shirt.

The wingbacks in particular, who I’ve long considered weak links out of possession were both star performers. Semedo kept Mane quiet and Ait-Nouri was Man of the Match down the other side prior to going off with cramp.

I did wonder when Hoever came on for those final seconds whether that change would prove costly and unfortunately for Wolves that’s exactly how it played out.

First he marched forward with the ball and inexplicably surrendered possession and then moments later was hesitant against Salah who played the decisive ball in for Origi.

Harsh, but those are the margins you’re talking about with this level of opposition.

If there’s a disappointment, other than losing with the last kick of the game, it’s how little we offered as an attacking force.

Of course it was nigh on impossible to break that Liverpool press but I did think there were many instances where better decisions could have got us into dangerous positions.

But I suppose that’s what this Liverpool team do; smother the ball to the extent you feel a tackle is coming even when it’s not.

You have to tip your hat to how they move around the pitch as a unit. As good as they are with the ball, they’re just as devestatingly efficient without it.

It takes a player like Traore to unsettle them and he was our only real pathway up the pitch, but when he did get moving there simply wasn’t anything happening around him.

Hwang and Raul didn’t do enough, even allowing for the difficulty of the challenge.

Going back to the opposite end of the pitch, I thought Sa was excellent.

Yes, there was that horrible moment when he charged into Saiss allowing Jota to run in for what should have been a goal, but his judgement around that mistake was pretty much flawless. He’s going to make those types of errors because of his high starting position and sweeper keeper directives, but considering how much he was involved I thought this performance enhanced an increasingly strong reputation.

Bruno Lage will be happy with him and content with what he got from his team. I don’t think he could extract more from the group.

And when the dust has settled and the pain subsided a bit, he can reflect on pushing Liverpool’s best team to their absolute limit and that is at least something worth salvaging.