Long Season Update

I have decided to begin reporting "live" as the match goes, which leads to a more in-depth report and analysis of the match.

The match against Reading was a tough ask for a squad who only had 3 days since the last outing against Derby. With a few tactical adjustments, mainly aimed at Kevin Doyle, and one squad change, being Wayne Hennessey in goals instead of Federici, as he has a better one-on-one rating, which has been occurring many times this season. As the match progressed, the Wolves managed to stop Reading from having any close range shots, which they resorted to wild long shots, which went off target. The Wolves strikers were only let down by horrible finishes, and aerial acrobatics from Marcus Hahnneman. 38 minutes in, Ricardo Rocha suffered an minor injury, to be replaced by Kevin Foley. Once again Edwards is having a shocker. On 42 minutes, Foley was brought down in the box, and a penalty followed, coolly taken by Ebanks-Blake, to take the lead away from home. Hennessey's being drafted into the squad was a life-saver, making some important saves early in the second half, just before Ebanks-Blake's goal was disallowed. Set-piece training seems to have paid off, after Stearman headed in a perfectly placed header on 80 minutes, to increase a lead they deserve. Post match, it seemed that the tactic and squad change worked its magic, and the Wolves inflicted Reading's first loss this season.



With the team now sitting at second place, they travelled to Blackpool, who were sitting 8th at the time of writing. They, were surprisingly favourites for the match. Going into the match, it seemed from previous performances Gary Taylor-Fletcher would be a major threat to the Wolves. For the Wolves, an unchanged line-up from the Reading game, Hannessey retaining his spot.

Things started off well for the Wolves, scoring in the 12th minute, through Ebanks-Blake after a low Keogh cross. A Knightly cross on the 24th minute was run on to by Collins, who scored an easy goal, after losing his marker. 10 minutes later, Knightly took another great corner, which Keogh took advantage of to give the Wolves an unstoppable 3-0 lead, despite having less possession. At half-time, Elokobi replaced Hill in defence, and the team ran out, looking for more. Edwards looked disappointing in the first half, despite having played better than in previous outings, and his spot is now under review.

25 seconds into the first half, only two passes were needed to gift Taylor-Fletcher the ball to get past 2 players and coolly place the ball past Hennessey. Blackpool finally scored the goal their territorial dominance deserved. A goal of the month contender.

58 minutes in, Taylor-Fletcher scored another great goal, which then prompted a tactical change for the Wolves. 5-4-1 defensive should do the trick. 6 minutes later, the unthinkable happened. Southern took a shot 40 yards out, only for it to land in the top corner. Coming from 3-nil down, the Blackpool team was on-fire, and a thrilling finish to the match was to be had for the 9045 supporters at Bloomfield Road.

Both teams played defensively, until the last 5 minutes, when both almost simultaneously switched into attack mode, and shots were fired at a constant pace. It seems Taylor-Fletcher's finishing expertise won the game for Blackpool, turning a 3-0 deficit to a 4-3 lead with 3 and a half minutes to play. Obviously Gary Taylor-Fletcher was Man of the Match. Wolves threw away a game they had in the bag due to horrid passing. Gifting away possession. A shocker second half after such a promising first.



After a 4-3 loss, the team slipped down to third on the table, two points clear of QPR who are 4th. This match was to be Edwards' ultimatum. His performances have been under-par recently and may lose his spot to a reserve lurking in the second team. After being on the back foot the majority of the time leading up to the goal, 25 minutes in, Edwards gifted the ball for Barnsley to score an easy tap in. Ebanks-Blake pulled it back easily, scoring from point-blank range after Knightly smartly crossed it to the near post. At half time, Jones was replaced by Davies, and 22 year old Vokes got a rare first team appearance, replacing Keogh. He almost made an immediate difference, almost finishing a header on the 47th. On 49 minutes, Knightly had the chance to score from a free-kick just outside the box, following a Denis-Souza foul, however it hit the cross-bar before being cleared away. On the 75th however, Ebanks-Blake utilised his speed, which makes him a great striker, to score a break-away goal, to give the 21,000 fans at the Molineux something to cheer about. On the 82nd, the Wolves sealed the match, after Collins scored another trademark header, to make it 3-1. The game wasn't over, with Hennessey carelessly gifting away a clearance, which was smothered and scored. It seems that the Wolves let in too many goals in the second half, and final third in particular. Once again, complacency. Still, another nail biting injury time was near, this time falling in the Wolves favour, after Knightly ran onto a Ebanks-Blake pass to score on 90. 4-2 the final scoreline. Edwards played his last match for the first-team, another mistake ridden match means he is to be dropped into the reserve side, his successor is still unknown.



On the back of another horrid Edwards performance, his dumping has left a place in the first team. With no suitable successors sitting in the current squad, I looked towards a player I had seen while scouting Oceania. Chris James. The former Fulham attacking midfielder has international experience, and would be a great player/addition for the squad. He currently plays in Finland for Tampere United, on a free after being dumped by Fulham. Pat Mountain, Oceania Scout, said in a report, that James has the potential to be as good as Karl Henry, currently the strongest midfielder in the team.



Following the victory, we regained second spot, and were 6 points from Reading, who were leading. We faced Burnley, who are 15th on the ladder. Wolves started well, Jarvis free in the box, to put in a cross from serial-assister, Knightly. A quite first half came to an end, and I must say, this was the first match where the team played great football, in defence and attack. Jones played his first match in his new position, being the replacement for Edwards was always going to be a tough ask, and he performed, putting in some key balls for the strikers.

4 minutes into the second, Ebanks-Blake squandered a great ball from Keogh, clean through, to blast it wide. Unfortunately, as the team always does, we conceded early, letting Quinn score an easy point blank header. However directly after, a great long ball from Jones found Keogh unmarked, who chipped the keeper before it hitting the post, only to be cleared on the line by Caldwell. A horrid defensive lapse, only too common by the Wolves defensive line let McDonald score an easy goal. Once again, the second half lets us down. Something has to be done, but it seems the team just settles down too much, and loses focus. With the ability to defeat the title contenders, why is it that we are unable to defeat petty teams (no offence) like Burnley and Blackpool?



Following a stellar performance by Gary Taylor-Fletcher, I was astounded by his finishing. Immediately, after a few scouting matches, his transfer was at a really cheap rate, so I purchased him. He has scored 10 goals form 13 matches this season.



The Wolves now travelled to Loftus Road, to face QPR. They were now sitting at 12th place, with the Wolves a disappointing 4th, considering the previous circumstances. QPR were on the back of two losses, 3-0 to Sheff United, and 4-2 to Cardiff. Could the Wolves add a third?

Ebanks-Blake scored Wolves first, with the first shot on goal. A through ball by Jones found the run of the speedy striker, who smashed it into the back of the net. Unfortuantely, later in the match, he carried a small injury, and was taken off. Iwelumo replaced him on the 36th, directly after he had another goal disallowed. A great save by Hennessey on the 46th helped the Wolves keep clean going into half time. He was on fire in the first.

Despite being on the back-foot most of the second, Iwelumo showed some moments of brilliance, making up for his lack of speed with skillful touches, however Wolves couldn't prevent the run of play becoming anything, conceding on the 77th minute. On the 94th minute, Henry conceded a free-kick just outside the area. Buzsaky squandered the kick, and Jarvis cleared it out of the area. In the final seconds, Vine had a goal disallowed, to the relief of the Wolves fans and players, who once again, played a crappy second half to throw away a game they had earlier dominated. Tactically, QPR had played better than Wolves, and it seems that the two new players signed for January will be able to help the team achieve some decent results. Hennessey was on fire today, and prevented the scoreline from being anything else than it should have been.



On the back of some average matches, a new training schedule was in order. A new, tougher one, designed to sort out the slackers from the first teamers. One major change for the Sheff United match, being L. Gobern playing his first match this season, replacing Jones in attacking midfield.

10 minutes in, Ebanks-Blake scored a great goal from just outside the area, to give us a trademark early lead. Vokes' cross found the foot of a Sheff United defender, to give us a two nil lead. Vokes set up Ebanks-Blake, who scored a great goal, typical of his calibre, before he added his hat-trick withing 25 minutes of kick-off, taking the ball off the opposition keeper to give the Wolves a 4-0 lead. Unfortunately, we squandered a long ball to concede a great goal by Sheff goal by Beattie on the 30th. Howard's shot on the 42nd unluckily hit the crossbar, and Sheff once again unable to capitalise. Launching a comeback, Cotteril scored a great goal to make it 4-2 at half time. Once again, a terribly complacent effort in defence gifting away easy goals.

Ebanks-Blake put the ball narrowly over on the 53rd minute, before another chance by him hit the post only to be missed by Vokes from the 6 yard box. Adam scored on the 74th, to give Sheff a chance to come-back. Another horrid second half performance almost gifted Sheff a goal, however Sun Jihai smashed it wide. The Wolves just seem to lose matches in the second half, and this was again shown today. Ebanks-Blake played the best game of the season today.



Ricardo Rocha suffered a thigh strain in the Sheff United match, rendering him unable to play for the next month. A big loss.

For the match against Watford, Jarvis was put into attacking midfield, as a short-term replacement for Edwards had yet not been found. It seems Hennessey has done enough to win back the main goalkeeping role from Federici, following some stellar performances recently. I an attempt to stamp out complacency, I implemented a new tactic that requires a lot more running than usual, with the defence also sitting deeper, to cope with Watford's speedy attacks.

On the 3rd minute, Jarvis came so close to scoring a free kick, virtually inches from the bar. 23 minutes in, it seemed that sitting deeper did the trick for us, snuffing out a lot more attacks that Watford would have wanted. The bane of the Wolves performance today seemed to be giving away too many passes. All falling to opposition players. At half time, the score was 0-0, and the dreaded second half was looming. Could Wolves buck the trend and play a great one?

Knightly gave the Wolves the lead from a superb Keogh assist. Despite being on the back foot, they managed to go one up. A fairly quiet half remained, and then full-time. Finally, the Wolves played a great second half, and created a win from that half alone. Pat on the back boys. Good one.



November began, and the next transfer window loomed. The prospect of two new attacking players, one an established international, and the other one who had ran rampage against the Wolves earlier in the season, was playing on my mind. Would they fit into my plans as I had hoped? Or would they not be able to fit into the squad, as they both come from teams with a defensive tactic, as opposed to mine. Only time will tell.

On the eve of the Cardiff match, another player has fallen to injury. This time, it is striker Iwelumo. Another unfortunate loss. On the subject of injury, Matt Murray's return might be on the cards, after being absent for a majority of the season. Providing he impresses in training, the 27 year old may be called into action, due to his expertise.

For the Cardiff match, Jones retained his AMC spot, with Jarvis moving back into left midfield. Cardiff named an unchanged line-up for the match.

A massive defensive lapse by Collins, had him concede the ball in the 6 yard box, giving Cardiff the easiest goal they've probably scored this season. Keogh scored a reply on 18 minutes, after Ebanks-Blake set up with a great speedy run. Keogh could have made it two, but stuffed an easy effort, skewering it wide. Parry's clever cross found Boyd in the box, to tap it past Hennessey, to make it 2-1 at half time.

Wolves have never had to make a come-from behind victory, could this be the time for young Vokes to shine? It seemed not, and with the defence unable to cope with Boyd, they lost the game. Another one that could easily have been won.



For the Ipswich match, Shackell replaced Rocha, who is currently out with a thigh strain. Otherwise, a rare occurence, both Jones' on Wolves were on the field, Daniel and David. Daniel was replacing Knightly, who is out with a cold.

Keogh scored the first goal, on 4 minutes, a simple tap in. David Jones was unfortunantely injured on the 24th minute. He was replaced by Potter. Ebanks-Balke scored a great goal, on the 43rd minute, beating the keeper before dribbling it into the net. Keogh had a goal disallowed on the stroke of half time.

It was now up to Wolves to play a second half without throwing it away, as they have done against teams like Ipswich. As usual, they did. And conceded a goal to Walters, due to complacency. A professional foul by Naylor gave the referee one option. Red. Wolves were unable to capitalise on the extra man, and the game finished 2-1. A lacklustre performance as the Wolves once again scraped through another round.



After 8 matches, the team sits at 2nd spot, exceeding all expectations. Despite the good placing, they are sitting 6 points behind Reading, who, if they hadn't thrown away so many matches, could be on top of. Are the Wolves promotion material? I'll let you decide at this stage.



The current first team at the time of writing looks as below. Both wingers were injured, and a proper replacement for Edwards has still not been found. Matt Murray is still waiting for his return, however he is still not up to scratch (see condition) to play.





At the moment, my status at the club is that I am still feeling around at it, as showed by the confidence. Some bad performances have hurt the rating, however overall, my job as the Manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers is stable.



For anyone interested, here is the staff roster. I still wish you could do something with the money. Charity? Assist players in travelling (for smaller clubs and poorer players). Imagine boosting your popularity/status with a Charitable donation. Ah just imagine.



Upcoming fixtures start with Swansea away, then Nottingham Forest. In my opinion, Matt Murray will return against Forest, being a lower grade side, and being at home. Preston and Bristol will be teams to watch out for, but as out previous record goes, anyone will be a major rival.



At the moment, the best player is Ebanks-Blake. He has scored a large amount of goals, and is by far the best marksman in the league. The tactic I currently use seems to bring out the best of him, especially him being the target man. His speed is something to be amazed at, and his dazy dribbles set up remarkable goals. Next post, I'm going to try to upload some videos of his best goals.

Well, that was a long update. Hope you didn't fall asleep reading this. Well, thank you, and remember, keep FM-ing

(is that a word?)