Can they do it on a cold, wet and windy Saturday afternoon in October? Well apparently, they can.
Wolves weren’t anywhere near their best but still came out deserved victors against relegation threatened Watford, with Cesar Peixoto’s men coming out 1-0 to the good.
The Good
Wolves looked much more comfortable in possession
Bar a shaky five mins at the start of the second half, with one of the highest possession stats this season. At one point towards the end of the first half, Wolves had just over 80% of the ball, ending the match on 63%. This is the kind of quality we should be showing at home every week. We have some very capable and talented footballers, and this should be the standard now. I want to see much higher possession stats this season than we have been putting in especially at home.
Armstrong’s Freddie Mercury moustache
I know what you’re thinking, but please Don’t Stop Me Now. The Geordie strikers fantastic facial hair seemed to have helped him find the Championship goal we’ve all been waiting for. I do think Armstrong has come under some unfair criticism as of late, but he still has A KIND OF MAGIC at this level. With the injury to Raul, and only a 19 year old Sean Neave competing with him, Armstrong has certainly been UNDER PRESSURE. Yes, the goals haven’t been coming and he’s been unfortunate with a couple of misses, but his endless desire to chase lost causes and his work rate absolutely cannot be questioned. He’s not R9, he’s not even RJ9, but I appreciate his efforts and at this level he is certainly a striker for SOMEBODY TO LOVE. Keep it up and at the end of the season, we could be singing WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS. (I am so, so sorry). Adam, You’re My Best Friend.
The Bad
Lack of clinical finishing in the final third
Wolves somehow managed an incredible 17 shots in the first half, yes, SEVENTEEN, with only two on target and one goal to show for it. This number was up to 24 shots, but only three on target at the final whistle. For all of Wolves’ possession, a quite scary lack of firepower in the final third, that simply must be addressed if we are going to finish in the automatic places this season.
Injury worries and strange substitutions
Another game with more injuries to key players. Djiga, our best defender by a mile so far this season, was missing with a groin injury, Fer Lopez was an unused substitute, apparently suffering from a calf issue. Konan has a knee injury. This, for me, does not seem normal. There have been rumours of “overtraining” and I really hope if this is the case that we can calm this down. It’s a long hard slog in the Championship, and we are going to need our star players as much as possible. Cesar’s substitutions were questioned in the second half with cries of “you don’t know what you’re doing” ringing around Molineux. Jordan James, (who was our best player today) was taken off followed by an immediate yellow card for Tommy Doyle after less than a minute of being on the pitch. A strange one to work out.
Conclusion
When all is said and done, and I’m as guilty of this as anyone – to be 4th in the table and only 4 points off top of the league after 12 games, that’s a solid and respectable start to our campaign and far from the disaster many of us have seen it as.
Hopefully today’s result will turn our fortunes and we can put a run together from here on in. See yous against Cardiff – hopefully the weathers a bit warmer than today.
