He played for both clubs

By Tom Bason
October 15 2010

Tomorrow, Wolves play their most important game of the season. Lose this and we are in big trouble.

After tomorrow, we face Chelsea away, Manchester City at home, Manchester United away then Arsenal at home. If you aren’t aware, this is currently the top-4 in the Premier League. We took precisely zero points from these games last year, and although the likes of Blackpool and West Brom have showed that they aren’t invincible, we need to assume we’ll lose all of these four games. Therefore, should we fail to win tomorrow, there’s a fair chance we’ll be rock bottom by the time we face Bolton on November 13^th. Even a victory tomorrow wouldn’t guarantee avoiding this.

So, West Ham at Molineux. One of my lecturers is a Hammers fan, and believes we’ll win tomorrow. I have to believe we’ll win. The same as I did last season. Walking to Molineux on that fine August day, ready for our first Premier League game since 2004, I was full of optimism. And I was a hell of a lot more optimistic than I am now. Of course, we lost that game 2-0 and apart from a decent debut showing from Nenad Milijas, there wasn’t much to be happy about. Of course, in March we won 3-1 at the Boleyn Ground, a game that did much to ensure our survival. As far as I’m concerned, tomorrow’s game is even more important than that one.

So, tactics. 4-5-1 is seen as defensive, yet 4-4-2 leaves us vulnerable through the middle. And of course, Karl Henry is suspended. For me, the best performance I’ve seen from Michael Mancienne was at The Emirates last season, after Henry was sent off. Now is the time for Mancienne to stand up and show us what he’s made of. With Ronald Zubar still to return from injury, I expect the back-4 to stay the same as at the DW Stadium, possibly with George Elokobi coming in for the woefully out of form Stephen Ward. In midfield, Mancienne will play in front of the defence, and I’d like to see Milijas and David Jones playing together. Between them they have the ability to create the odd golden chance. I’m loathe to play players out of position, but I’d go with a front-3 of Matt Jarvis, Kevin Doyle and Steven Fletcher. As long as Fletcher and Jarvis remember to track their fullbacks, this should be relatively tight defensively.

In short, tomorrow won’t be easy, but we have the players to cause West Ham problems while also remaining solid at the back. Would I take a draw if you offered it now? No, I don’t think I would. Tomorrow has to go down as a must win, so no pressure lads.