By Tom Bason
September 28 2013

Wolves today won a difficult game against Sheffield United, whose performance belies their position in the League 1 relegation zone. Leigh Griffiths scored his fifth of the season midway through the second half, before a Bakary Sako thunderbolt wrapped up the points in stoppage time.

- With David Davis suspended, Kenny Jackett was forced to shuffle his pack from the 1-0 win at Shrewsbury last week. My personal choice would have been to play Kevin Foley in midfield, while also leaving out Zeli Ismail for David Edwards. Jackett indeed dropped Ismail, who has struggled to get into games in the last couple of weeks, but selected Jack Price as Davis's replacement; Foley not even making the substitutes bench. Upon seeing the starting XI, I wondered if we'd play a 4-3-3, with me not being sure that Price was ready to be playing in a 2 man central midfield. It's also quite well known that Sheffield United generally play 4-4-1-1; one of the reasons behind their poor start to the season is that manager David Weir intended on building the team around Kevin McDonald, playing in a free role behind the lone striker. McDonald has been replaced by former Everton youngster Jose Baxter, a player from who much was expected who floated around behind Marlon King. 

- But, Jackett selected a loose 4-4-2. The defence seems to be picking itself the season (although I'd still argue it's stronger with Richard Stearman in it), but the midfield has generally been chopped and changed on an almost weekly basis. Today, Bakary Sako played on the left, Price and the previously mentioned McDonald played in the middle and Edwards was nominally on the right. I say nominally because he didn't spend much time there. Jackett seems to like one of his wide men having the freedom to come off the flank and drift with Sako having had this role in recent weeks. I also envisaged Edwards playing like this, but preferring Foley to give Edwards a little more cover when going wandering.

- Considering we played two central midfielders who are 'ball playing' types, you have to wonder why we constantly hit long balls towards the forwards. Price and McDonald's strengths are moving the ball quickly, but they spent much of the first half watching the ball sail over their head in the vague direction of the forwards. Maybe this wasn't tactical, and it was just a case of Price and McDonald being outnumbered in midfield and the defence not being to get the ball into midfield due to the pressure of Sheffield United's midfielders. In that case, you have to question the selection of these two. Perhaps Foley's defensive tendencies and Edward's physical attributes would have been more beneficial if we were going to spend much of the game without the ball. 

- At half time, Jackett made a change, withdrawing Björn Sigurðarson for Kevin Doyle. Whether it was the introduction of Doyle that made a difference or just a general change in attitude from the players I’m not sure but we were far better after the break. Gone were the hopeful long balls towards the forwards, and instead McDonald and Price were able to demonstrate their ability on the ball. I think it helped that Doyle was playing deeper than Sigurðarson did, meaning that Price and McDonald now had an easier ball forward. In the first half, the gap between the midfield two and the forwards was too big, meaning that on the odd occasions they got on the ball, it was inevitably passed backwards before being lumped forward. Having Doyle on the pitch gave us an extra presence in midfield when we didn’t have the ball, but now we had someone who could link the play when we did have it. Price in particular grew in confidence in the second half and played exceptionally well. Sako may have been given the official man of the match award, but considering it was Price’s first ever league start, and considering how out of the game he was in the first half (not his fault by any means), I thought he deserved the award. In my report for the Walsall Johnstone’s Paint Trophy game, I said I like the look of him, and it was reinforced today. He likes having the ball at his feet, and seems to be at his best when he is playing quick passes – the problem in the first half was that there wasn’t really anyone on the same wavelength as him, and this changed when Doyle came on.

- Upfront for Sheffield United was (the second most hated striker in the division?) Marlon King, a player who was strongly linked to Dave Jones’ side in 2001 before he was jailed for receiving stolen goods. King is always going to be a handful for defenders at this level – if it wasn’t for his off field demeanours (Wikipedia tells me he has convictions for 14 different offences), he would surely be playing at a higher level. And he gave Sam Ricketts and Danny Batth a tough time. But, it was actually a tussle that King lost that led to the opening goal. On this occasion, near the goal line towards the left back area, Batth actually did really well to win the ball from King, and make space to clear it. I don’t think the pass was intentional – if it was, we have the new Franco Baresi on our books – but it released Sako down the left. Sako made progress down the left wing, before delivering a deep, low cross to Griffiths who had peeled off at the far post. It was the third time in the match such a cross had been played in. Firstly, Griffiths had been offside and the second was just in front of Edwards sliding in. But this time, the cross was perfect as Griffiths was able to control it, with perhaps a heavy touch. George Long in the Sheffield United goal came out to meet Griffiths, and somehow the ball seemed to bounce between the two of them and into the net

- And so, onto Sako. In the first half I made the note that he must really want to stay at Wolves, because he was playing so poorly that he would put off any watching scouts. He had one of those games where his head seemed to be playing a different game to his feet. Whether it was crossing corners straight out for a goal kick, or losing the ball 30 yards from our goal, it was Sako at his worst. But, like the rest of the team, he was far better in the second half. The cross to Griffiths was good, while words can’t really describe the rocket of a shot that flew into the top corner in the last minute. Even in the second half there were dodgy moments, but he somehow turned around from being the worst player on the pitch, to walking away with an assist, a goal and a man of the match award. I guess this is the conundrum you get with players with Sako. For every moment of magic, you get a moment of magic; for every 30 yard screamer you get a 3 yard misplaced pass. If he was consistent, he wouldn’t be playing for Wolves.

- Having perhaps solved the left back problem with the arrival of Scott Golbourne, surely it’s time Jackett focussed his attention on the right hand of midfield. I spent the time before the match trying to name all of the players who have started as a right midfielder or winger since Michael Kightly’s injury towards the end of the promotion season. Apart from the few games Kightly played, I counted Edwards, Matt Jarvis, Foley, Stephen Hunt, Adlène Guedioura, Steven Fletcher, Adam Hammill, Jermaine Pennant, Słavomir Peszko, Razak Boukari, Sigurðarson, Evans, Ismail, Anthony Forde and Sako. Considering in this time, Jarvis and Sako have pretty much had the left wing slot sealed (with the odd appearance from Stephen Ward, normally covering injuries), and there is a stark contrast. Obviously, had Kightly have stayed fit, that list could easily have been a lot shorter, but not one of those players has even come close to securing that position on a regular basis.

- Somehow, we have the joint best defensive record in League 1 (thanks to @AndrewDHipkins for the stat) - Leyton Orient have also only conceded six goals, and only QPR and Chesterfield have conceded fewer in the entire Football League. Perhaps we have been slightly fortunate defensively in previous weeks (Swindon Town had three or four glorious chances, while that Shrewsbury player’s miss last week…), but it is a nice change from previous seasons. Even in the Championship under Mick McCarthy, goals regularly flowed in (Birmingham City, Sheffield United and Reading all conceded 40 goals or fewer in the league winning season, whereas 52 went past Wayne Hennessey), and so it is nice that we seem to be able to create a base where even if we are not playing well going forward, we should be able to grind out a draw.