Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 v Crystal Palace 2

Wolves entertained Crystal Palace at the Molineux on the back of two somewhat dispiriting away defeats at first Arsenal and then West Ham. Only three days separated the two games and possibly explained Wolves’ lacklustre performance at the London Stadium last Sunday, possession football played at a snail’s pace with barely a strike on goal. It had all the hallmarks of Nuno in his losing the plot year and was in stark contrast to the upbeat manner that has characterised much of their play this season.

For their part Crystal Palace, under Patrick Viera, are making steady progress following the retirement of Roy Hodgson. Palace tend to be a bit of a bogey team for Wolves, Dougie Freedman causing Old Gold heartache in a Championship Play-Off some while back. Which is as it worked out again today as the visitors proved both stronger and quicker...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 v Leicester City 1

There has been talk of late that Leicester City Manager Brendan Rogers, has taken his foot off the proverbial pedal. Basking in the glory of last year’s FA Cup triumph and a more than creditable 5th slot in the Premier League, Rogers believed that the task of transforming the club into a top-flight outfit was all but done. Yet this season a haul of 27 points from 22 games, is a less than satisfactory return. Furthermore two weeks ago his charges were rather unceremoniously dumped from the FA Cup in a 4-1 defeat to local rivals Nottingham Forest. Rogers needed a reset. Would Molineux provide the necessary venue?

If a scoreline is your soul means of arbitration, then Molineux did not. Yet Leicester were far from outplayed and but for some good goalkeeping by Jose Sa and more clinical finishing the outcome may have been rather different...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 v Arsenal 1

Naughty boy Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang may have departed North London for sunnier climes but in his absence his team-mates have acquired a deal of steel not really evident since Patrick Viera hung up his boots. Down to ten men following the all too pleasing dismissal of Gabrielle Martinelli - this in the 69th minute during a spell when their time wasting and play acting was corroding the encounter - Arsenal gamely held on to secure a hard fought three points. As for Wolves, this was almost a carbon copy of their performance against Norwich on Saturday. For try as they might to breach the defensive line, their lack of invention and luck meant that they failed to create an opening of note. Bar a scrambled shot off the line in the second half Arsenal keeper, Aaron Ramsdale, was barely troubled.

The game’s soul goal arrived in the 24th minute when...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 v Norwich City 1

Since the last time these two sides locked horns, Norwich City Manager Dean Smith has greatly improved on the previously sieve-like qualities of his side’s defence. Added to which the Canaries have managed to win crucial games against those around them. Result; they have finally emerged from under the rock of relegation into the light of potential survival. As for Wolves they too have been on a good run which has seen them consolidate their position in the top half of the league. So, with league responsibilities temporarily shelved, the prospects for a free-flowing Fourth Round FA Cup tie was much anticipated.

A full half into the game and free flowing was not a description that one could ascribe to all that had preceded it. In fact the body language of the chap in front of me, slumped in his chair arms firmly folded, seemed to say it all...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 3 v Southampton FC 1

Entitlement; the belief that one is inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment. Any three individuals currently spring to mind? And when they do have you ever wondered how they acquired it? One was certainly born with it, another modelled it based on childhood experience and the third assumed it through sporting endeavour. Odd that they all had very different starting points yet ended up in the same place.

Will they get their comeuppance? Whilst we can certainly enjoy their discomfort as they wallow in the mire how they choose to repair the reputational damage will tell us much about their character. Or not as the case may be.

At least Wolves have kept their feet on the ground following an historic away victory against Manchester United. The subsequent third round FA Cup tie against Sheffield United could have been...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 v Chelsea FC 0

With six of the weekend’s Premier League fixtures having already been cancelled due to Covid 19 outbreaks Chelsea made a last-ditch attempt to have this game postponed citing their own squad depletion due to a coronavirus outbreak. Chelsea Manager Thomas Tuchel is noted for having a short fuse so his public response that he was “a bit angry” at having the request turned down probably hid a more colourful denunciation.

If rejection only served to raise his ire then at least he could find solace in a barnstorming performance. But it was not to be, as the Wolves defensive web all but nullified Chelsea’s attacking threat. And had fate been kinder Wolves would have gone into the half time break ahead, a disallowed Daniel Podence goal following a sweeping move and a weak Leander Dendoncker header being the two standout chances of the half.

As the...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 v Liverpool FC 1

If the prospect of the visit of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool doesn’t get the pulse racing then you must have spent the last four years living in a remote cave on South Uist. Masters in the art of gegenpressing – the high tempo style of football orientated around rapidly recovering possession – to which they marry the clinical finishing of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, Liverpool are as good as any side currently taking the field in Europe. So it was never going to be an easy afternoon for Wolves but after 93 minutes of stubborn resistance, during which they had rebuffed wave after wave of Liverpool attacks, it looked for all the world as if an improbable draw was going to come to pass.

Then as the clock moved into the fourth minute of added time Ki-Jana Hoever, who had literally just replaced the spent Rayan Ait-Nouri, picked the ball up in his...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 v Burnley FC 0

Last Saturday’s trip to Carrow Road offered the prospect of a potential banana skin. Resurgent after their first win under new manager Dean Smith and with the fag end of Storm Arwen drifting off into the continent, a point against Norwich was probably a satisfactory return. Like the Canaries, Burnley also reside in the trap door zone but for the past few years have been something of a bogey side for the Old Gold. If one could compare them to a retail outlet, B&M would probably most closely align to their no-frills modus operandi. And with the temperature once again plummeting would Wolves’ foreign contingent be a match for Lancastrian physicality?

First things first, only one side made a concerted attempt to win this game and it wasn’t Burnley. And two, replace physicality (above) with play acting and time wasting. I believe that Sean Dyche is...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 v West Ham United 0

Just under two weeks ago West Ham United recorded a 3-2 victory against championship title contenders Liverpool. The win sent the assembled hacks into overdrive, lauding the club’s development under David Moyes and comparing them to Leicester City’s title winner side of 2015-16. No one can deny them their win but for long stretches of the game Liverpool controlled affairs and were it not for some abject goalkeeping by Alisson the Red’s would have run out comfortable victors. So did the win confer on West Ham title contender status or are they still amongst the crop of second tier teams scrambling for a Champions League slot?

The answer, following ninety minutes of an enthralling encounter at the Molineux, errs towards the latter. Bar the opening ten minutes and small pockets of play during the second half Wolves were dominant and based on...

Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 v Everton FC 1

According to the rules of football a game lasts 90 minutes and occasionally slightly more. Just ask Dean Smith. Wolves would have done well to remember this against Everton last night, for had the done so the margin and manner of victory might have been more emphatic than ultimately played out.

In the first half the home side were superb, playing with a degree of cohesion and dominance last seen in the spring of 2019 when they were advancing to Wembley. But for some acrobatic goalkeeping and VAR Wolves would have gone into the half time break five to the good, Ruben Neves and Francisco Trincao both denied by the dexterity of Jordan Pickford and a marginal offside ruling out Hwang Hee-chan’s potential opener. As it was they had to make do with a fine header by Max Kilman – his debut goal – and a sublime finish from Raul Jimenez.

The break...