The Wolves Are Running…Scared? Joys and Sorrows Match Preview

Well, we’re already into home match number two!

How quickly did the summer fly by, and how quickly will this season go by?  Assuming we don’t lose on Saturday, there’s plenty to be positive about the start to our season.  Sure, we haven’t had it all our own way, but we’re unbeaten as I type, and our players have accredited themselves well, with the ‘new blood’ still pretty much ‘waiting in the wings’.  We’re all (including our manager) still hoping we bring in another left back to provide some competition and cover, but after the summer spent hoping we bring in Adams or Stewart, or at very least put some faith in Storer, knowing we have all three options available HAS to be amazing news!!

Draws against Cardiff and Wigan, a creditable win against Leeds and a dismal loss against Oxford have seen our Jekyll and Hyde squad at its best and worse, sometimes in the same match, sadly.  Rowett has been doubly cursed by fans’ expectations.  Put on the attacking players we demand.  He duly does, and we conceded.  Why not play out the match when we’re leading?  When he tried just that, sticking on Robbo, he’s dubbed ‘boring’ and ‘predictable’.  I truly feel for the fella.  We’re all aware of his financial constraints.  We’re all astounded by his astuteness, and how well he must have performed to persuade Adams and Stewart to come – especially when the media were telling us deals were dead in the water – yet we can’t give him credit when he doesn’t just dump them into the thick of it.  Why isn’t Storer starting every match?  Some are querying, yet I saw the same lad play a competent but hardly compelling match against Oxford that made me crave the arrival of Donaldson and maybe even Brock-Madsen instead! 🙂

Donaldson’s penalty miss has fans wondering why Caddis isn’t starting, yet some were bemoaning his performances last season.  Sometimes you have to wonder what on earth Football Manager gaming has done to us footy fans.  I have my own opinions, as you may well be aware, so I won’t knock anybody for having their own, but collectively fans do seem to feel they know better than the manager, and that’s dangerous territory.  We’re never privy to the goings-on of the training ground, or the sports-science ‘side’ where the physio’s input, etc is crucial, and the players’ performance is scrutinised to the “nth” degree.

I’m as eager as the next fan to see Adams and Stewart do well, as indeed I am to see Storer score hat-tricks, but if I knew Donaldson could score thirty this season and keep all of them on the bench, I’d be happy with that, too.  Sadly there’s no magic wand, and retrospect is a magnificent perspective, isn’t it?  We all have it after the match. Rowett is often magnanimous in his praise of players and indeed of the performance of our opposition in defeat, or even in how he could have done things slightly better in his preparation.  Minor improvements may well be necessary, week-in-week-out, we’ll see, but I’m happy to sit back and give Rowett and his team the benefit of the doubt, as they’re infinitely better qualified than I am!

Koby Arthur, Caddis (!), Vaughan and Brock-Madsen may well need some time out on loan.  Shinnie has just ended up on loan at Hibs, and maybe Caddis will be needed as cover in case Spector who seems the preferred option at the moment ends up injured.  I don’t think this is the guaranteed outcome some fans will have you believe, but he isn’t the spring chicken I used to be 🙂

Koby Arthur doesn’t seem to be getting the ‘rave reviews’ Reece Brown has been getting, so why not let him make a name for himself in League One, assuming we won’t let him play for a Championship competitor?  The same must be said about Vaughan and Brock-Madsen, if Storer is seen to have leapt above them in the ‘pecking order’?  All this being said, an injury, suspension or two and all these players could find themselves in the reckoning quite quickly.

As for ‘the Brock’ I can’t see whether he featured, but he was in the Danish Olympic Squad that succumbed 4-0 to Brazil in the group stage and went out, 2-0 to Nigeria, in the Quarter Final.  (they also drew 0-0 with Iraq and won 1-0 against South Africa).

Back to Saturday’s match, Wolves have beaten Reading, 2-0 and drawn 0-0 with Ipswich so far this season, along with a scraped 2-1 victory over Crawley in the Cup.

Last season, we were beaten at St Andrew’s, 2-0 and we steadied the ship a little with a goalless draw.  See the pattern? 🙂
I’m predicting no break from the pattern so a scraped 2-1 Blues win, with goals from Adams and Stewart as the manager seeks answers from a squad as to who his preferred eleven will be decided over the next four months before the January window, especially without the EFL Cup to experiment with squad rotation…
Keep Right On!

Russell Dempsey