By Tom Bason
September 16 2012

Wolves today doubled its number of home wins this calendar year with a 2-1 victory over Leicester City. Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Richard Stearman sent Wolves 2-0 up before the break, with Paul Konchesky halving the deficit from 30-yards midway through the second half.

- The line-up was pretty much as expected, with the only question being who was to be played at right back. Richard Stearman was selected against his former club, while Kevin Foley settled for a place on the bench. Previous incumbent Ronald Zubar, who endured a torrid time against Craig Noone in the defeat at Cardiff City, was not selected in the match day squad. I've never been a big Zubar fan, and would have happily let him go to Beşiktaş in the summer. Of course, we do have a number of matches coming up in quick succession; it's likely that Zubar will have a chance for redemption.

- Once again, we played a fairly rigid 4-4-2 that reminded me very much of Dave Jones' Wolves team; two forwards, two wingers and two sitting midfielders who have to go through a lot of defensive work. I don't think it's surprising that the games we've won this season have been the ones where Tongo Doumbia and Karl Henry have played in midfield. But, they aren't a perfect pairing as gaps were continually left in behind the midfield, similar to the way Peter Whittingham and Jamie Ward continuously found space for Cardiff and Derby. I think perhaps Henry needs to sit deeper, Doumbia isn't a defensive midfielder and I'd far prefer he had someone to cover him which could encourage him to maraud forwards more than he is at the moment. So, given that there were large gaps in front of the defence, it seems strange to think that the defence continued to play a high line, particularly in the first half. Twice in the opening 10 minutes, Leicester were able to get forwards in behind the defence; the first time Carl Ikeme was smartly off his line to clear, while David Nugent took too long to cross the second time around.

- I felt today was the best game I've seen Kevin Doyle and Ebanks-Blake play together. In fact, I'd almost say they linked up more times today than they managed in total over the past three seasons. This was epitomised in the first half as Doyle collected a long ball, knocking it down to Ebanks-Blake before spinning off behind the defender. Ebanks-Blake took a touch before sliding a lovely through ball to Doyle, whose effort was too close to Kasper Schmeichel. If - IF - they can start to form some sort of decent partnership, they should be too much for most Championship defences to handle. I'd like to add that Doyle and Sławomir Peszko link up nicely as well. In fact, at times Peszko's little passes are excellent and he shows good awareness of those around him. He may not have the express pace of other wingers, but he seems to be a clever player who will be an important asset to the team.

- We all remember Roger Johnson and Wayne Hennessey's handbags against Bolton Wanderers last season, the second time the two of them had a falling out. But, Johnson appears to have found a new sparring partner - he and Bakary Sako spent at least five minutes arguing. I presume the origins came from a free kick to Wolves wide right, on the halfway line. Sako had spent the previous few minutes trying to slow the game down, and rather than play the ball forward, held on to it for too long, eventually trying an ambitious flick with the outside of his weaker right foot. Leicester went on to win a corner, and had a spell of a few minutes of constant pressure, including a ball flashing across the goal that just needed a touch to turn it in. At one point all of Sako, Johnson, Henry, Doumbia and Christophe Berra were involved in the discussions, presumably in English.

- Both Wolves goals came directly from Sako set pieces, the first a free kick headed in from Ebanks-Blake, the second finished by Richard Stearman after a corner was flicked on. But, aside from his set piece delivery, Sako didn't greatly impress me. He seems to have a reasonable amount of pace, but wasn't hugely convincing when running at Ritchie De Laet. In addition, there were a couple of times in the second half when he had players in good positions for counter attacks; firstly Dave Edwards, then Kevin Doyle, but instead didn't look up and wasted possession.

- Tongo Doumbia impressed in midfield again, but I'm not sure if there's a fitness issue with him, given his seeming inability to finish 90 minutes. As usual, the player brought on for him is a massively inferior player - this time is was Edwards, a player Stale Solbakken appears to have taken a shine to. Again, I'm not sure Edwards was the right player to bring on, presumably Solbakken wanted a bit more energy in the midfield, but I would have personally have brought Kevin Foley on. At times towards the end we were crying out for a midfielder to put his foot on the ball, and help complete a number of consecutive passes to take the sting out of the game. There was another strange decision involving substitutions; Solbakken was readying Razak Boukari to come on for Peszko, when Ebanks-Blake pulled up with a slight pull to his hamstring. Rather than taking Ebanks-Blake off instead, Solbakken went through with the sub, Ebanks-Blake on the pitch, to wander around the centre-circle until Björn Sigurðarson could be introduced.

- When I saw Stuart Atwell was referee, I was slightly worried; he doesn't exactly come with a great reputation. Early on, he seemed to be very picky, giving fouls when could have played on. But equally, he could easily have cautioned four players in the first half, including Doumbia and Peszko, but chose not to. Overall, Atwell didn't have a bad game, and I can't think of too many particularly contentious decisions.