Matt Jarvis had equalised

By Tom Bason
September 26 2010

Wolves yet again conceded a late goal to deny them a share of the spoils. After Stuart Downing had given Aston Villa a 25th minute lead, Wolves equalised through Matt Jarvis and looked the better bet to go on and take all three points. But Emile Heskey struck late on to cost Wolves points for thr third time in 22 days.

Marcus Hahnemann: I don't think he could do anything with either goal, and he made one excellent fingertip save from Ashley Young in the second half. One thing that bugs me- why so many pass backs to him. His kicking is clearly far and away his weakest attribute, yet we still persist on knocking it back to him. Even Doyle does this from kick-off, and Stearman attempted to in injury time when we were chasing a goal.

Kevin Foley: I thought be might struggle against Stuart Downing, but generally he did a decent job. He wasn't as calm and assured on the ball as usual- a couple of times he gave the ball away and one pass back to Hahnemann looked dangerously short. He also wasted one excellent crossing opportunity in the first half when he reached the byline. Withdrawn to allow Stearman to combat Gabby Agbonlahor's pace.

Christophe Berra: slotted straight back into the team like he hadn't been away. He dealt with Emile Heskey well throughout, although he was slightly fortunate not to be booked for a block on Ashley Young in the first half, not dissimilar to his second caution against Fulham. He went forward to add an aerial threat late on, and had a semi-acrobatic attempt well stopped by Brad Friedel.

Jody Craddock: I'm not sure if it was planned, but it appeared that Berra marked Heskey, leaving Craddock to deal with the pacy Ashley Young. As Young dropped off the front to collect the ball, Craddock looked slow and lumbering, and a big issue in the first half was the amount of space between the defence and the midfield, giving Young space to drop off. While Craddock was prepared to follow Young in there, he didn't look comfortable. Other than this, he was reasonably solid.

Stephen Ward: he started the game well, looking to get forward to support Jarvis down the wing, but did struggle against Marc Albrighton at times. He seems extremely reluctant to get close to his winger, presumably being mindful of his lack of pace if they get beyond him. One puzzle- Ward started life as a striker- he evidently has some attributes that would be useful in the opposition penalty box. So, why does he stay back for set pieces while the likes of Karl Henry and Dave Edwards go forward? Surely we should have a different set piece plan for each game depending on personnel?

Dave Edwards: I don't rate Dave Edwards. He runs and runs and runs, but his actual footballing ability is distinctly lacking. His first pass went straight out of play, and he wasted the first opening of the match by slicing his shot horribly wide when through in the inside right channel. He looked better following the change in formation, where his headless chicken style runs weren't as potentially damaging as he had two other midfielders to back him up.

David Jones: bit of a mixed bag from DJ. In the first half, every time he got the ball he was quickly closed down by Nigel Reo-Coker, giving him very little time to play. Reo-Coker actually won the ball from him in the build-up to the opener, the second time he'd been caught in possession in similar circumstances. He improved after the break as the tactical switch allowed him more time to play. He still drifted in and out the game, and his set piece delivery was not up to usual standard.

Karl Henry: was as competitive as ever, but was over-run with Jones in the first half. He seemed content to sit in the second half, and played a massive role in denying Ashley Young the space in which he'd had early on.

Matt Jarvis: very subdued in the first half, and seemed reluctant to run at Luke Young. He was pushed further forward in the second half and this helped restrict the forays forward of Luke Young. His delivery for the goal was excellent and he started to cause Young more problems later on. I had hoped he would swap wings after Stephen Warnock had narrowly avoided being sent off- one mistimed tackle on Jarvis and Villa would have been down to ten men.

Kevin Doyle: I love Kevin Doyle. I'm not afraid to say I have much man-love for him, so my reports on him will probably always be extremely biased. Strangely, he appears to be more effective when playing as a lone forward than when in a partnership. He showed his quality early on when slipping Dave Edwards through on goal and the confidence gained from his midweek brace was apparent with an ambitious left foot volley. So many times today the ball didn't quite fall for him in the box, but the goals will come. He has far too much class for them not too.

Steven Fletcher: I was impressed with him today. He looked busy and worked hard when played through the centre and didn't seem fazed when moved out wide at half time. He was prepared to run at Warnock, and his aerial supremacy over the Villa fullback was vital in our early second half onslaught on the Villa goal. He's not afraid to have a shot at goal, and appears to have a very good football brain, offering something different to our other forwards.

George Elokobi was first half substitute for the (presumably) injured Ward. I don't rate Elokobi as a footballer. I didn't think he was good enough for us in the Championship, and he certainly isn't a Premier League player in any way shape or form. But, he dealt with Albrighton's threat better than Ward did. His distribution was still pretty shocking though, he seems to have no idea of how hard to hit a pass. Richard Stearman was introduced to deal with Agbonlahor and presumably to add some height to the team. He didn't really do much of note. Adlene Guedioura replaced Dave Edwards and looked busy in midfield, always looking to try to something. I'm still not 100% certain that his brain is linked to his feet though.

I have criticised Mick McCarthy's tactical choices on here before (Everton and Fulham spring to mind), but today his halftime changes brought us back into the game. Setting up initially in a straightforward 4-4-2, we were overrun in the middle of the park and Ashley Young had acres in which to operate in front of our defence. At halftime, we switched to a 4-3-3 formation (it was definitely 4-3-3 rather than 4-5-1) with Fletcher moving to a wide position, Dave Edwards movng into the centre of midfield and Matt Jarvis pushing further forward. This change yielded a number of results:

-Villa's game plan is usually to get the ball to James Collins, and he plays a long ball to the forwards. We now had three forwards to combat their four defenders, and so stopped them playing the ball out.

- with Villa's defence pushed back, Downing and Albrighton were also forced to play deeper than they had started allowing our defence to push further up the pitch denying Villa room in which to play.

- the presence of Karl Henry in front of the defence, coupled with our higher defensive line stopped Ashley Young playing. As a result, he moved further forward, almost as far forward as Heskey was, making him easier for Craddock and Berra to mark and quite often he received the ball facing his own goal rather than ours.

- simple maths tells us that three central midfielders should have an edge over two, and with less defensive shackles, Jones and Edwards were able to push further forward and involve themselves more in the attack, thus restricting the forward runs of Stiliyan Petrov and Reo-Coker.

- with Villa's midfield not being able to attack, Heskey and Young tended to be isolated and as a result were easier for us to defend against.

More Late Heartbreak For Wolves

Discussion started by Wolves , 26/09/2010 18:10

Wolves
26/09/2010 18:10

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Risca TM
26/09/2010 19:47

Super read - saw the game today and will respond when I can. No time tonight though.

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Tired and grumpy
27/09/2010 13:56

i just hope we turn some results soon wolves way before the bigger teams are met

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toomb
27/09/2010 16:18

We desperately need some points from the next couple of games, we can't go into the games against the big clubs needing results



toomb's twitter

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kightly37
27/09/2010 17:02

Quote:

Wolf Like Me
We desperately need some points from the next couple of games, we can't go into the games against the big clubs needing results

The Wigan & West Ham games are now MASSIVE

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ernesto hunt
27/09/2010 17:09

Every game, for us, in this League is massive. We've had the experiment to see if we are good enough as a stylish attractive attacking team/squad and the answer is that in patches we are as good as anyone! The trouble is not those patches but the time in between! The objective is 40 points, the next one is to get them before the end of the seasn so that THEN we can experiment with 'style'.

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