By Tom Bason
August 31 2013

Wolves today moved to second in League 1 with a win over local(ish) rivals Port Vale at Vale Park. After a scrappy first half, Wolves took control of the game with three second half goals via Leigh Griffiths, Björn Sigurðarson and Kevin McDonald. Tom Pope’s first goal of the season grabbed a late consolation, but Wolves took home the three points.

- The starting line-up had a couple of changes, with Leigh Griffiths returning to the starting XI, and Kevin McDonald making his full debut after a brief cameo against Crawley Town last week. Bjorn Sigurðarson and Lee Evans were perhaps unfortunate to be relegated to the substitute bench. The most notable change though, was Bakary Sako left out of the matchday squad completely amid rumours of bids from Nottingham Forest and Hull City. Wolves were quick to put out a statement, saying that Sako was not in the right frame of mind to play, but is happy to stay should a move not be worked out. Considering the likes of Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini played for Everton today, it's a little disappointing that Sako ruled himself out contention (#headsgone?). In his place was debutant Scott Golbourne, just a couple of days after finalising his move.

- The first half was a proper scrap, with neither team really having the opportunity to get hold of the ball. We missed Sako badly, with a distinct lack of width hindering our attacking play. On first glance, Golbourne is not a replacement. At no point did he show any real attacking intent, generally passing the ball back or inside every time he got the ball. His defensive tendency was demonstrated twice; on both times, Sam Ricketts had the ball in the left back situation, and played a pass ahead of Golbourne, expecting a winger to be moving forward into space to attack the defence. On both occasions though, Golbourne was actually moving backwards, away from goal. He was presumably making a better angle to receive the ball, but would have received the ball twice with his momentum taking him back towards our goal when there was opportunity to move forward.

- Part of Golbourne's problem was that he had Ricketts behind him at left back, who isn't the most attacking of fullbacks. He got forward well in the second half as a change in formation opened up the space in front of him (more on that later), but doesn't really have the ability to trouble the opposition. I'm yet to be completely sold on Ricketts. He seems to do 90% of what he's asked to very dependably, before making a stupid mistake. This is probably completely unfair of me, but I get the impression that he is slightly surprised at the level of League 1, and expects to be able to coast through games. I'm not trying to criticise his attitude, but I think he switches off at times, which isn't something you expect from a player of his experience. Anyway, between Ricketts and Golbourne, our left flank was pretty impotent in the first half. 

- On the other flank, things were slightly better. Matt Doherty seems to be improving his game going forward, being far more prepared to get into attacking positions if not always being sure what to do with the ball when he gets there. In front of him, Zeli Ismail was the most likely to create something, although this generally involved cutting inside on his left foot and shooting. He did have one fantastic opportunity to cut a ball back to Kevin Doyle who was well placed in the penalty area, but instead choosing to beat his fullback and being forced to settle for a corner. Given a lack of attacking quality, there was a lot of pressure on Ismail, and Kevin McDonald pushing forward from midfield to create anything. It was of little surprise that we didn't create anything of note in the first half, and as harsh as it may sound, I was slightly relieved when Golbourne limped off injured just before half time. 

- Golbourne's enforced substitution led to a change in formation; Lee Evans came on, with a switch to a Championship Managertastic 4-3-1-2 formation. Ismail moved inside to play behind Doyle and Griffiths, while Evans and McDonald nominally shuttled to the flanks. David Davis was the only forward player with a real fixed position, always staying centrally and covering his teammates when and where necessary. I got the feeling Ismail didn't really know how to play this position, and he spent a lot of time running about, attracting the attention of defenders. There were a couple of occasions where I felt he'd have done better by standing still and receiving the ball, instead of constantly trying to force the issue. Even later in the match, when Ismail was taken off for Sigurðarson, this formation continued to be used, with Doyle dropping in behind Sigurðarson and Griffiths.

- The 4-3-1-2 formation gave us a degree of control in the central midfield, with our midfielders always having an option. There were two issues with it - firstly Ismail's unease at being the focal point. I felt that McDonald would have been a better choice to play there, and it was no real surprise when Ismail was taken off. The second was a lack of width. When you have the likes of Sigurðarson, Doyle and Griffiths, this isn't necessarily a problem going forward, but at times it left Doherty and Ricketts exposed defensively. Had Port Vale's fullbacks been more adventurous, they could have caused problems had they been able to really overlap and isolate Doherty and Ricketts. Saying that, Micky Adams was probably reluctant to throw them forward in the knowledge that our attacking triumvirate will cause any defence problems at this level.

- Rather than the midfield providing the width, it was the forwards who were able to drift into channels and cause the defence problems, most notably as Leigh Griffiths played in the right hand channel. It was no surprise that all three goals came down our right hand flank, with Lee Evans and Leigh Griffiths heavily involved in all of them. The first saw Evans find Griffiths, who was perhaps fortunate to beat his defender, but finish well at the near post. The second saw Evans again find Griffiths in the inside right channel, with this time the Scot pulling the ball back for Sigurðarson to score his second in as many matches. Finally, Evans started a move on the edge of our box, Sigurðarson and Griffiths exchanged passes that left the Icelander one-on-one with the keeper, albeit at a difficult angle for a right-footer. At first, I thought Sigurðarson was going to shoot, but instead drew the keeper before squaring for McDonald to open his Wolves account. 

- The last 10 minutes saw a change to a more orthodox 4-5-1 as Anthony Forde came on for Doyle. Forde didn't really do anything, and there has to feeling that his Wolves career is petering out. It was almost like we were playing with 10 men, and for the second successive game we didn't really look like closing the game out. Admittedly we were 3-0 up today, but it almost cost us two points last week. With the quality of player we have, we should have been able to keep possession far better than we have managed in the last 5 minutes or so of the last two games. Although, it is possible that Kenny Jackett doesn't want this, preferring to hit teams on the counter rather than soak up the pressure. 

- I think we can probably assume that Bakary Sako will be gone by Tuesday morning (surely Doyle will be staying now - as @AndrewDHipkins pointed out, if this was his last game surely he would have made more of his substitution). It'll be interesting to see what the club do over the next couple of days to replace him. My guess is no-one will be signed permanently. Instead, we'll try to keep Sako, and take advantage of the international break to try and bring in a loan player or two once the emergency loan window opens. Personally, even if Sako stays, I'd like another winger; Golbourne and Forde today demonstrated the paucity of options there - Stephen Hunt until January anyone?

- Christophe Berra scored for Ipswich today, meaning he now has more goals for the Tractor Boys in three games than he managed in 154 appearances for Wolves.

Port Vale 1-3 Wolves

Discussion started by Wolves , 31/08/2013 19:51

Wolves
31/08/2013 19:51

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:09:14:19:18:18 by toomb.

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hammerstein
01/09/2013 08:29

Regarding Golbourne , he only signed late this week. I would assume it was a late decision to replace Sako. So I think 40 minutes probaly wouldn't give us a good assessment of a new player who has yet to know the way we play and his new team mates.
Maybe on the report , could there be some positives as well? Like Lee Evans passing range for the opening goal.Which could also be interpreted differently.As the defender slipped and Griffiths punished it with a very fine strike in my opinion from the edge of the box.But more importantly why no mention of the Griffiths celebration which had all laughing !!!!!

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toomb
01/09/2013 09:32

Main reason why I didn't mention Griffiths' celebration? I couldn't see it! I was the other side of the goal, and with everyone celebrating, I couldn't actually see across to where he was!

Evans' pass to Griffiths was superb, and it was very noticeable that those two were at the heart of all three goals that were scored. I've been very impressed with Evans so far, he doesn't always pull the pass off, but I think he has excellent awareness and vision.



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jamwolf
01/09/2013 13:04

Great report, and analysis Toomb.

Thanks.

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