Title belongs to Mick McCarthy, after winning against Liverpool he said that his team was very brave today and therefore got the prize for it. He`s very right in what he`s saying but I really am not going to say that McCarthy was brave enough to play 4-5-1 for most of the time.
Wolves first caught my attention by adding Doyle to their squad whom I praise a lot. Then I started to follow some matches of them and it seemed to me like there was a potential in McCarthy`s team. First year they struggled a lot but Doyle leading the line and with the helps of Jarvis and Craddock they managed to survive. Last year, they brought Steven Fletcher, who also I believe is a very talented striker, and the expectations grew a bit more about survival. Still, the indecisiveness on the formation as well as the defence, caused them a really shitty streak till December. When Doyle got injured, things seemed to get worse but it was time for Fletcher to shine and even though they lost the last game, they again qualified to survive in the top campaign at least for one year more.
The team already showed its potential against the better teams Chelsea, ManU, Liverpool and Man City. When they`re concentrated they really can beat any Premier League side. However, the thing was they were really losing many points against the weaker teams and this caused them a lot of trouble. This problem could have been addressed to the inexperience of the players but the team has now been constructed from lots of players who have at least two years of Premiership experience leaving the players without any excuse. The problematic side would be left back where I reckon the best option is Elokobi but his positional awareness is something to be improved urgently. He also doesn`t go forward as much as his colleagues on the other flank, Zubar and Foley. Elokobi`s partners are also very prone to mistakes who are Berra and Stearman. The pair`s main problem is concentration obviously because especially Stearman makes too many simple mistakes against the lesser teams which caused Wolves a lot. The tendency of Wolves to play on the opposition`s half also makes this pair vulnerable to counter attacks too much because their positioning is also something worrying. Again, Stearman`s impatience lead to the opposition going forward much faster when on counter attack. Defense is an obvious problem to be sorted out for Wolves and they hope to improve it by the helps of Roger Johnson. Still, I don`t rate Johnson so highly but we`ll see what happens as he even is appointed as the club captain. The team is already in a fighting spirit and maybe with the organizational skills of Johnson they`d arrange themselves better.
There are also lots of plus sides of Wolves like passing. Sometimes they have the ball so much even against teams like ManU, it`s surprising me. The likes of Milijas, Foley and Doyle really like to pass the ball around and when it ends at Jarvis, Hammill or Hunt the attack is generally concluded with a cross. One of the strongest area of Wolves is free kicks and corners. I don`t know the number but the stats are there to be looked for and I really think the goals they scored from these dead ball opportunities must be really high. Milijas, O`Hara and Jarvis have all good direct foots as they know where to put the ball in. Wolves also has a really promising keeper called Hennessey. I think he`s going to develop into a very good keeper and won`t stay at Wolves for so long. If they also can sort out the defensive problems and convert to 4-4-2 which McCarthy is striving for I believe, we can see Wolves between 12-17 this year and it wouldn`t be surprising if we consider Wigan, Blackburn and three newly promoted teams are not stronger than Wolves. My ideal 11 of Wolves would be:
Hennessey
Foley-Johnson-Berra-Elokobi
Hammill-Milijas-O`Hara-Jarvis
Doyle-Fletcher
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