Sun Mar 09, 2014 6:12 pm
Not sure why some people think Wolves played in 1st gear - that is most definitely not the case. They played in top gear once the usual first 15 minutes shadow boxing had passed. Their energy in closing our midfield down was relentless - 1st gear? Don't think so. First goal was quality - shows what a sharp striker can do. Second goal a pure fluke and the third just a great dead ball moment. Anyone thinking that was a hammering doesn't know a thing about football. Against a far better side we did pretty well and should have scored at least one. Wolves took it 100% seriously, Ikeme at the end - not bothered was he?! We matched them everywhere except in the box where we were largely toothless and they weren't. Donnell made one good save before the first goal, he was a spectator for most the day, as was Ikeme though. It was a fairly dull match really, dominated by lots of mis placed passes and overhit / underhit crosses. Our set pieces - awful, beat the first man without fail, we didn't. Purkiss looks so nervous and Sako spotted that early and pressed him back. Sawyers was superb, with the right partner he could score plenty.
Clinical efficiency when they needed it, the only difference. Efficiency brought about my x number of pounds to spend vs our 0 pounds to spend. Wolves had to get out of L1 this year, they knew it and made sure they didn't slip up. Good luck to them, they will need it in the Championship. Huge jump up in standard and strikers will punish them where we didn't today. The Merson / Samways team we had would have pounded that Wolves side easily. They will need a few signings to make a dent next year, sort of like we do now really - that wont quite have that missing something.
I don't get too hung up over Wolves, don't see the point. Sadly, some of their fans have caught Leeds United syndrome - severe bitterness. It seems to stem from them getting drummed every week for two seasons - they suddenly gain a sense of unjustified status. Big, big test for Jackett next year, he has never pulled up any trees in the Championship - the fans will expect big things, I'm not sure he is the man for it. Tactically they are very basic, we all know that doesn't work in the Championship, ask Ray Graydon.