Wolves rue missed chances
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 v Swansea City 0
You will be familiar with the phrase “not in a good place”. As a lad who grow up in the Seventies I cannot recall it being used when the miners were striking, the country was on a three day week and I was cleaning my teeth with Gibbs SR in the flickering light created by a less than substantial candle. As far as I can tell its use has crept up on us, almost unnoticed, such that it is now part of the mainstream. I only say this apropos of Swansea City, today’s opponents, who at present are “not in a good place”. Of course it is a fleeting state of affairs. At one time, under Roberto Martinez and more recently Brendan Rogers, Swansea were in a good place. They cruised into the Premier league playing classy football and for a couple of seasons made their mark. I seem to recall reading a statistic that said that Leon Britton and Nathan Dyer completed more passes in one season than Andres Inniesta and Xavi Alonso at mighty Barcelona. But, like a lot of middle ranking clubs, their fortunes wax and wane and at the moment they are on the wane. Wolverhampton Wanderers is a middle ranking club. They too are familiar with the concept of waxing and waning albeit with a balance in recent history tipped heavily in favour of waning. Yet now it is towards wax which they move, all of which presented today’s FA Cup 3rd Round tie as classic upset fodder.
The last time Wolverhampton Wanderers played a home tie in the FA Cup was last March when Chelsea were our opponents. Back then the Cup was all that remained to play for whereas today promotion to the Premier League is the priority. Premier League survival is the main concern for Swansea which probably explains why both teams fielded second string line-ups. And by close of play there was nothing to separate them bar Wolves having the better of the chances. Time and again during the opening twenty minutes the home side got beyond the Swansea back line only to fail in converting. Bright Enobakhari on five and Morgan Gibbs White in minute 13 both should have scored and in minute 24 Helda Costa, back to something close to his best, stretched Kristoffer Nordfeldt in the Swansea goal. Then on 31 Enobakhari spurned another good chance following a corner.
Up to that point Swansea forays into the Wolves half had been sparse until in the 37th minute they were awarded a free kick on the D. From the dead ball Martin Olsson clattered the bar but that was as close as Swansea came to causing the home side a scare. Two minutes later Ruben Vinagre caught Nathan Dyer with a rash challenge. Yes it was heavy but there was no malice intended which meant yellow. Referee Anthony Taylor, perhaps influenced by Dyer’s cry of anguish, saw it differently and without stopping a moment to reflect pulled out a red. It was the wrong decision.
Though down numerically Wolves continued to match their opponents in chances created, Alfred N’Diaye working tirelessly in midfield. Then in the 66th minutes the game took a further twist when Leroy Fer was shown a straight red card following a cynical trip on Costa. That was the correct decision. Now back to numerical parity Courtney Hause should have done better with his header following a Barry Douglas free kick and in the 81st minuts a good run from Costa finished with a fine strike on goal which tested Nordfeldt. The Swansea keeper made another good save three minutes later to deny Ryan Elliott and in minute 86 new signing Rafa Mir Vicente went close with a glancing header. And that was it.
Wolves would probably concede that a replay back at Swansea is not the preferred outcome. But the game proved that they are more than capable of competing with Premier League opposition and Monday’s draw may influence the nature of the team that Nuno picks for the rematch.
Wolves: Norris 6, Bennett 7, Coady 6, Hause 7, Doherty 7, Vinagre 5 Sent Off, N’Diaye 8, Gibbs-White 6 Sub Douglas 6, Helder Costa 7, Enobakhari 5 Sub Cavaleiro, Bonatini 7 Sub Mir Vicente
Swansea: Nordfeldt 8, Roberts 6, Fernandez 6 Sub Ayew, van der Hoorn 7, Bartley 6, Dyer 6, Fer 6 Sent off, Renato Sanches 6, Olsson 6, Routledge 6, Bony 6 Sub Mesa
Attendance: 22, 976
Referee: Anthony Taylor 7
©Mark Brennand