View Full Version : Has it already begun??
Bill McCai
15-08-2006, 10:47
After an unspectacular yet solid draw with Plymouth we beat Ipswich impressively only to lose to Preston. Won 1, Drew 1, Lost 1. After the Ipswich game you could have been forgiven for thinking this place had been renamed 'Happy Clappers Convention Hall' whilst the opposite was true in the hours following the capitulation against Preston. Karl Henry has been both labelled as 'the missing link in the midfield' and 'worse than Keith Andrews' within the space of a week. Kevin O'Connor has been subject to a thread that implies he is not, or will ever be good enough to play for Wolverhampton Wanderers.
My point is this: Regardless of how you feel the club is being administered at boardroom level, it was quite clear that this season would be something of a new experience as soon as we failed to gain promotion last season. There was a financial hole to fill, whether you like it or not, and many of our players WANTED to leave. Our ex manager delayed his departure which made signing players hard, as the available quality players had already been tied up by other clubs competing in the same market. We had to 'fill out' the squad with some acquisitions. McCarthy seems to have gone for proven experience ( Breen, Clapham ) combined with raw potential and youth ( Henry, Davies ). Currently our best signing looks to be Jay Bothroyd who has looked the part ( although he has run out of steam due to a lack of match fitness ). We obviously require some strengthening but there are players such as McNamara, Davies and Rosa to come in. It hasn’t been a bad start, all things considered. Yes, we looked bad against Preston, but good against Ipswich. The reality will probably fall somewhere between the two over the course of the season. This is ( largely ) a new team, filled with players getting to know each others styles. Surely we should not be writing them off after just three games?
We have new board members ( with a couple more on the way ), a new manager and new players. Soon we will have a new Chairman and who is to say this isn’t the start of a successful new era? It is clear things ARE changing and the owner has not 'lost interest'. I think some people only believe Sir Jack Hayward is interested when he puts his hand in his pocket. It smacks of the 'scweam and scweam until I'm sick' spoiled brat mentality. Is this a fair assessment? Some are talking like a Forest style relegation is inevitable. How do you know we wont do a Watford? As I ave said, we will more likely than not ( IMO ) finish somewhere between 8-15. This kind of finish will allow us to assess the squad and take things from there. We may be able to say at the end of the season we could have done this better, or O'Connor was not really up to it etc etc etc ( remember Jermaine Wright, Mahon et al who 'weren't up to it' ) but there is absolutely no point drawing conclusions and conducting a post mortem already! So what's it to be? Are you going to give the club a chance or have you already made your mind up?
Slip On Shoes
15-08-2006, 10:55
I certainly agree with the "reality will probably fall somewhere between the two (home performances) over the course of the season"
I would also like to think however that during the course of the season when one or two more new faces are added, the youngsters get a bit more experience and the team begins to gel that we can look at the season as an upward curve. I would be somewhat dissapointed if we are putting in lacklustre performances like Preston regularly come next Spring.
I feel that anyone expecting us to finish in the top six is deluding themselves. The squad isn't big enough with enough quality in depth to compete over a 46 game league season.
By the same virtue the squad is good enough and big enough to avoid finishing in the bottom three.
So I agree that Wolves will finish somewhere in midtable, anywhere between sixteen and eighth.
I've made my mind up in that I will not barrack and run down the new young players that have come in to the squad. It is a difficult time to be playing for Wolves at present and some have only been here for a matter of weeks. They have missed their pre-season and need time to adjust to the new team, improve their match fitness,etc etc.
Things went wrong for me when the South Bank started singing "Easy...easy...easy" after Bothroyd's goal on Friday night.
What's this? A sensible thread? Bring out the Meths!
I watched the Football league review on Sky a couple of weeks ago, and Mickey Adams said something that made a lot of sense to me. He said that at the beginning of last season, they had to play a lot of kids in the team and they weren't good enough. But as the season progressed, so did they. After Christmas, when they had found their legs in this league, Coventry went on a good run.
I think the same will apply to us. The players need time and confidence. We can help with both.
Bill McCai
15-08-2006, 11:43
I watched the Football league review on Sky a couple of weeks ago, and Mickey Adams said something that made a lot of sense to me. He said that at the beginning of last season, they had to play a lot of kids in the team and they weren't good enough. But as the season progressed, so did they. After Christmas, when they had found their legs in this league, Coventry went on a good run.
I think the same will apply to us. The players need time and confidence. We can help with both.
Agreed. We need to let them 'bed in' to the first team. Some will be good enough, some wont but you cant write a player off after 3 games surely? The thread on Kevin O'Connor is an embarrassment. Sure, he was not impressive against Ipswich but it’s a big transition from reserve team football to the first team. People have talked about having 'our own' players in the team ( as opposed to wasters like Anderton ) for donkeys years and now its happening they are unhappy they are not the finished article. If we had signed O'Connor for £1.2m in the Januay you can bet there would be a lot of apologists on here now claiming his reputation would ensure he would eventually 'come good'.
As regards to Sir Jack Hayward's perceived 'lack of interest'. I would suggest that the recent incomings and departures at board room level, coupled with the fact he is not willing to personally bankroll us again ( ie we are having to cut our cloth accordingly ) might mean SJH is taking a very big interest in Wolverhampton Wanderers at the moment. I think he is either making sure we are attractive to potential investors or able to be self sufficient once his days of involvement come to an end. What do you think? Does Hayward have to spend money to be interested?
What do you think? Does Hayward have to spend money to be interested?
No.
What a very reasonable and well put thread.I would hope that "give the club a chance" is the majority view.However.........:rolleyes:
Bertiewolf
15-08-2006, 11:59
Good post Bill agree with your sentiments entirely. I'm qite prepared to go home disappointed from a few games this year, but I will not home in the total dispair that i felt last seasn while Twoddle was at the helm. Many positive things have happened already this season and let's just give the teams on and off the pitch time to bed in and show us what they can do.
Markwolf
15-08-2006, 12:02
Good posts Bill. You never cease to amaze.
Patience is the key word this season. This team has to develop and it will over time. There will be more Preston type performances. But as long as I see this team giving all they have, and with a couple more signings, it will be an intriguing season. I much rather watch this team tahn be subjected to another season of the chins own unique brand of 'football'.
I may be disappointed after a few games this season, but I'm certainly not going to slag anyone off after three games in ten minutes.
I'm sure we'll sit in the pub after some games staring disconsolately into the half-full glass.
BUT IN NO-WAY WILL THIS SEASON PLUMB THE DEPTHS WE SUNK TO UNDER HODDLE.
PREM.L.L
15-08-2006, 12:08
Good thread.
You make your own luck and the more we keep trying the more points we'll scrape, and the more the fans will get behind them.
When the injured return I still think we've enough quality to finish top half. Luck with injuries is going to be important also though.
dark skies
15-08-2006, 12:15
Completely agree. I can't believe some of the moaning that's gone on since Preston. The team needs our support, and although it was disappointing on Friday, it wasn't for lack of effort. I was more disappointed with a Hoddle 1-1 draw.
Whatever we think of the way the club's been run over the last few years, this is where we find ourselves now; we have an enthusiastic committed manager trying to build a squad from scratch. Isn't that what we wanted after watching the likes of Anderton for years? Someone said on another thread that they'd rather watch Henry and O'Connor in midfield than Anderton and Kennedy, and I agree. The few that were left by the end on Friday clapped the team off (for the most part), because this is a team that will at least play their hearts out. Again, that's what we wanted. Some people seem to want to have it both ways - a clear-out, a team of youngsters and frees, together with an instant 10-game winning run propelling us to the title.
Salop Wolf
15-08-2006, 12:30
I think that is a very good post Bill. I think the problem is too many people, particualrly those on here sadly, spend a lot of time analysing everything that goes on at the club. They live for the next game and if it ends in defeat their life is a misery, victory and its jubilation. Obviously we all get that to some extent being a football fan, but some people are making far too much out of single games and failing to see a bigger picture.
Agree wholeheartedly with your post Bill but probably like most supporters am not happy when we perform as we did against Preston. Don't mind losing but even with the new boys we should be able to string a few simple passes together which we seemed unable to do last Friday. Would also like to see Franek given another opportunity, he is surely better than Clarke. I appreciate that MM obviously does not like him but he hasn't really given him much of a chance. Maybe something to do with him being a Hoddle buy, I don't know. Would be quite pleased if, as you say, we finish somewhere between 8th and 15th this season and then push on and make a challenge for the playoffs at least next year.
Bend It Like Dennison
15-08-2006, 12:48
The thread on Kevin O'Connor is an embarrassment.
Why?
I was simply asking if anyone thought, after seeing him play in 3 games, if he was good enough for this level. The optimisticaly blind said yes, some said no. What's so embarrassing about that?
Why?
I was simply asking if anyone thought, after seeing him play in 3 games, if he was good enough for this level. The optimisticaly blind said yes, some said no. What's so embarrassing about that?
It was an embarrassment to pose the question in the first place!!!
I watched the Football league review on Sky a couple of weeks ago, and Mickey Adams said something that made a lot of sense to me. He said that at the beginning of last season, they had to play a lot of kids in the team and they weren't good enough. But as the season progressed, so did they. After Christmas, when they had found their legs in this league, Coventry went on a good run.
I think the same will apply to us. The players need time and confidence. We can help with both.
I think this illustrates the point perfectly. They need time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
there are people getting stupidly carried away on here, but then again there always are.
the sensible among us know the score and that we will be inconsistant all season, but good enough not to go down.
yes it will take time for the youngsters to find their feet and no-one is suggesting that o connor is going to be the new lampard, but he hasnt impressed so far and there has to be a line drawn when you say he has had enough chances, lets try someone else
meow mix
15-08-2006, 12:59
We should be making a challenge for the play offs this year otherwise what is the point?
There is nothing wrong in expecting to be competitive and the squad is no where near as bad as some like to believe.
It doesnt make you a better fan if you express faux broad mindedness about how you are giving the team time.
In terms of the team performance against preston if players were not fit enough to play three games in a short space of time (which i accept) then they shouldn't have picked, and if, like o'conner did they really look like they are struggling then they should be subbed.
Bill McCai
15-08-2006, 13:01
Why?
I was simply asking if anyone thought, after seeing him play in 3 games, if he was good enough for this level. The optimisticaly blind said yes, some said no. What's so embarrassing about that?
I just think it is unrealistic to be able to accurately judge a player as 'worse than keith andrews', 'not good enough for the conference' given the fact he is a young player, coming into a completely new team, under a new manager, in just 3 games.
johnybig32
15-08-2006, 13:02
Im one of those fans who was totally encouraged by what he saw against Ipswich and then started thinking, how is this teram any worse than the team we saw last year. Lescott apart, how is this team weaker? This is the question that still leads me to be optimistic...If someone can answer it, my feelings may change to the situation...
Salop Wolf
15-08-2006, 13:02
We should be making a challenge for the play offs this year otherwise what is the point?
Point in what? The fans going to watch? The club carrying on? Life itself?!
Im one of those fans who was totally encouraged by what he saw against Ipswich and then started thinking, how is this teram any worse than the team we saw last year. Lescott apart, how is this team weaker? This is the question that still leads me to be optimistic...If someone can answer it, my feelings may change to the situation...
Miller
johnybig32
15-08-2006, 13:10
Bothroyd...?
IMO...Miller was never as good as what he should have been, and missed too many chances...
Bill McCai
15-08-2006, 13:18
Our strongest first eleven isn’t bad at all, but we haven’t got any strength in depth. Last season we could replace like with like and allowed Hoddle to strengthen throughout the season ( Huddlestone, Aliadiere, Frankwoski, Gyepes, Rosa, Postma etc ). He was allowed to operate at the top end of the Championship market IMO.
I think expectations are lower because of the lack of pre-season enjoyed by McCarthy ( due to Hoddle not leaving earlier ), the new financial climate McCarthy is working under ( as a result of us not gaining promotion ), and the fact that any successful team requires some sort of time period in order to gel. The strength in depth is of biggest concern to me at the moment.
meow mix
15-08-2006, 13:22
Point in what? The fans going to watch? The club carrying on? Life itself?!
Being involved in a professional league.
paddingtonwolf
15-08-2006, 13:24
Oh don't talk soft! Just because we aren't going to be pushing for the top there is no point in playing or something?
You obviously weren't at Chorley.....
Deutsch Wolf
15-08-2006, 13:30
What's the point in a club like say, Man City, or Charlton, then? Never going to win the Premiership, so why bother entering it?
Ettingshall Wolf
15-08-2006, 13:32
Great post. I agree with alot of sentiments other people have mentioned. We dont have strength in depth and arguably dont have the quality we have had in recent seasons.
But I would sooner see our current squad give 100% week in week out, and develop from the ground up, than see last seasons squad give only 50%
paddingtonwolf
15-08-2006, 13:38
Can I just say that post #27 in this thread is the outstanding candidate for most ridiculous thing ever typed on this forum.
We lose one match and you want us to disband as a professional outfit. Jesus, you obviously don't remember begging bowls at other grounds just to keep this club from biting the dust. Why not count your lucky stars that there still is a Wolverhampton Wanderers to support rather than throwing your toys out of the pram and making ridiculous statements just because we aren't quite Chelsea just at this moment in time.
Utterly daft in the extreme.
Visage Wolf
15-08-2006, 13:39
Isnt it amazing how, at the start of the season, so many fans seemed to be an agreement that yes, we may well struggle, but as long as the club was improving they would be patient.
It lasted 3 games. Pathetic.
In essence it lasted until one defeat.
If we had won or drawn that game the reactionary rhetoric would have been reined in a little until the first defeat happened.
Visage Wolf
15-08-2006, 13:44
Indeed. It seems some fans would only be happy if we failed to lose all season.
Actually, scratch that. Some fans are *only* happy when we lose, as it validates their pathetic, abusive, doom-filled thick existence.
All Championship teams should be challenging for the play-offs. Year after year, there's very little to choose between those near the top and those near the bottom. Play-offs should be the ambition and goal set by every player at the club. The fact is that we were poor on Friday and a few players should be embarrassed. Not so much the youngsters, but players like Naylor, Ricketts, Clapham and Craddock can, and should, play much, much better - tired or not. We've got to be careful not to set a target of mid-table and then have players coasting along with a win one, draw one, lose one mentality.
I don't for one minute think that Mick McCarthy is saying any of that to his players. He will naturally be saying to them to go out and achieve their best each and every game. Where that leaves us after 46 games we will have to wait and see.
But I think as fans and supporters if the players are giving of their best and we factor in such variables as the season is three games old, some players have missed pre-season training, some players have only been at the club a little over two weeks, we have players to return form injury, we have young academy lads making the step up to first team football, then perhaps some of the bulls*it spouted on this forum in the past few days should have been reined in a little.
perhaps some of the bulls*it spouted on this forum in the past few days should have been reined in a little.
Spouting bull and strong opinions is what a football forum is all about. I'm getting a bit peed of with certain Molinuex Mix big cheeses calling people pathetic (and worse) just because they have a strong and different opinion to them. People are spending more time analysing other forum members posts than they are analysing the Wolves - which has just got to be wrong. We're not f'cking French philosophers, we're football fans.
johnybig32
15-08-2006, 14:13
cat amongst the pidgeons;)
paddingtonwolf
15-08-2006, 14:32
<Pedantic post just because it is ironic after fenella's please don't kill me>
it is PIGEONS
<Pedantic post just because it is ironic after fenella's please don't kill me>
In all seriousness, fennella is right in most instances. However, the post about disbanding after one defeat is either a fishing expedition, in which case I have been well and truly hooked, or just a plainly silly statement and worthy of derision
shafted wolf
15-08-2006, 14:38
At the start of the thread someone said we had new board members!
ive been away for a few weeks. Could some one tell me who they are please!!?
paddingtonwolf
15-08-2006, 14:44
Essex and Vissy
In all seriousness, fennella is right in most instances.
Its FENELLA.
paddingtonwolf
15-08-2006, 14:48
in all seriousness, PW is wrong in plenty of instances!!
sorry about that spelling booboo!
The Bear
15-08-2006, 15:42
Great thread.
There are some pillocks about on here and in the real world who will never be happy unless we are spending bucketfulls of money on up and coming proven Premiership quality lower league youngsters........AND winnning every game.
Bill McCai
15-08-2006, 15:45
At the start of the thread someone said we had new board members!
ive been away for a few weeks. Could some one tell me who they are please!!?
John Gough and Kevin Threlfall.
lon chaney jr
15-08-2006, 15:52
I think some people want the reverse, just so they can be smug when we go down. Part of the English need for misery, I suppose.
thekentwolf
15-08-2006, 16:00
Dont worry when we beat SECOND PLACED Burnley away from home on Saturday I am sure there will be a thread started, suggesting how many points we are going to win the league by. Very fickle are some of us.
paddingtonwolf
15-08-2006, 16:01
Burnley
shafted wolf
15-08-2006, 16:10
John Gough and Kevin Threlfall.
CHEERS mate ive heard of kevin threlfall but aint a clue who john gough is!!!
