By Tom Bason
December 26 2012

Wolves today went down 3-0 in a Boxing Day massacre at Molineux. First half goals from Lee Tomlin and Tommy Rowe gave Peterborough a halftime lead, before on-loan Dwight Gayle wrapped up the three points.

- Wolves were unchanged from the team who won 2-1 at Blackpool on Friday. The biggest surprise was the inclusion of Jamie O'Hara on the bench for the first time this season. Considering we have been struggling in the middle of the park this season, a fit O'Hara could make a lot of difference. At the fans' forum with Ståle Solbakken a few weeks ago, the boss identified O'Hara as one of the few midfielders we have who can pick a pass to unlock a defence, something we have been crying out for all season. 

- Peterborough came here with a 5-3-2 formation, with the wingbacks pushing forward when they had the ball. 5-3-2 is possibly the best formation to face a 4-4-2, which Wolves were playing as it gives the extra central defender to cover the strikers and an extra man in midfield, as seen below. It can be weak down the flanks if opposition full backs can double up on the wingbacks, but neither Stephen Ward or Kevin Foley really utilised this opportunity. As usual, there was a real lack of penetration, although this can be partly attributed to Peterborough’s defensive organisation. When we attacked, they generally had eight outfield players behind the ball and we didn’t have the nous to break them down. Neither Bakary Sako nor Jermaine Pennant stretched their defence particularly, and with Ward and Foley being hesitant going forward, everything went through the middle which Peterborough defended incredibly easily.

- Despite being 2-0 down at half time, I didn’t really feel we’d played disastrously. I was talking to my friend, and neither of us could really put our finger on what the problem was – it was all just a bit ‘meh’. If the players were given ratings out of 10, everyone would probably have a 6; slightly below average. Maybe everyone had indulged slightly too much yesterday? It was strange; absolutely no one could be described as playing well, but equally I don’t think anyone stood out as playing particularly poorly. This was perhaps most displayed by Bakary Sako. He’s so often our only creative outlet, but today his running with the ball was poor, and generally his delivery was overhit, but he also managed to put in one or two excellent crosses.

- At half time, Ståle switched formation, matching Peterborough’s three man central defence, as shown below.  I’m not sure whether it was this change, or Peterborough’s lack of need to push forward, but most of the second half was played in Posh’s half of the pitch. Yet, still there was a lack of goal action with Wolves never really looking like scoring. Sigurðarson added a degree of directness to the team that had been lacking in the first half, but still there was a lack of width.

- I didn’t really understand why Pennant was moved to the left – we were crying out for width but Pennant was never going to go down the outside of his fullback. Instead, every time he got the ball he was cutting inside onto his favoured right foot, but straight into a sea of Peterborough defenders. Either Sako or Ward would have been a better bet here. It was a relief to see us move away from 4-4-2 (and moving to three at the back does seem to be Ståle’s favoured formation when chasing a game), but it didn’t quite work, thanks in large to the personnel deployed. I couldn’t help but think that Pennant would be far better suited to the right, while if Ward has a natural position, surely it’s as a wingback with less defensive restrictions?

- While on the surface it’s a shocking result, losing by three at home to bottom of the table, today’s performance was by no means the worst we’ve played under Solbakken – it just happened that Carl Ikeme wasn’t able to perform his usual heroics. And anyone going into the match under the impression that Peterborough would roll over were mistaken – their away record is actually reasonably good; only six teams have won more matches on their travels in the Championship this season.