Match Report |
Wolves 2-1 Swansea City | |
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Wolves 2-1 Swansea City
On a night which was far too cold for note taking, this isn’t so much of a match report but more of a collection of thoughts. The various debates on team selection were resolved thus: Krysiak retained his place in goal, Bessone replaced the injured Painter at full back and Gower replaced Butler. The pitch was icy and had a light dusting of snow. This must have had the Spaniards wondering “if it’s like this in October then what on earth has January/February got in store for us?” Fair play, though, both teams managed a skilful game. Wolves were hard tackling and skilful and had their preferred strike partnership of Iwelumo and Ebanks-Blake up front. The enormous Iwelumo looked very lively and a constant threat. Wolves probably got the better of the earlier exchanges. Iwelumo rightly had a headed goal disallowed on about 15 minutes for climbing all over our defender (Rangel?). This was the wake up call Swansea needed and we started to get our passing game going more effectively thereafter. We looked dangerous when we could sustain an attack. Gomez did well on the right wing and was a constant thorn in Wolves’ side. The mid-field battle was very even and hard fought. Swansea defended well, with everyone playing their part. It was an open and very entertaining match and chances came at both ends. Gower (?) cut in off the left wing and let fly with a super shot which was parried away singlehandedly by Ikeme in the Wolves goal. At the other end, Iwelumo volleyed over from close range. Just as half-time was looming Ebanks-Blake tip-toed his way around the Swans defence avoiding several challenges in the process and after what seemed an age when there was no-one left to beat he struck his shot low to Krysiak’s right into the corner of the net. The second half started well for the Swans and after 5minutes we were treated to a re-run of Saturday’s first goal against Southampton. This time it was Gower (I think) who squared the ball across the edge of the penalty box and it eventually found its way to Pratley whose second touch dispatched it into the back of the Wolves goal. Having scored his goal in almost identical fashion to his goal against Southampton he also celebrated the goal in identical fashion as he came skidding over the icy surface on his knees to take the plaudits of the travelling Jacks. 10 minutes later, however, we fell behind to Ebanks-Blake’s second goal. He timed his run well to meet a near post cross with a glancing header from close range and Wolves were 2-1 up. Swansea responded with some of their best play of the match. We certainly didn’t have it all our own way but we had the better chances, better play and were worth an equalising goal. However, the closest we came was a thunderous shot from Gower from about 25 yards which capped a sublime attacking move. Gower’s shot beat Ikeme all ends up and crashed against the underside of the cross bar and back into play. Gower was desperately unlucky not to register his first Swansea goal and with it, Swansea were desperately unlucky not to get the equaliser their play deserved. It was perhaps indicative of the match in general. Pintado came on for Britton and Butler came on for Gower, but both Pintado and Butler struggled to get into the game. Both Gower and Butler rarely threatened to go round the Wolves right back; only Gomez seemed capable of this. Pratley was full of running and hard tackling. Bodde did a grand job but I’d prefer not to see him winding up the opposition quite so much – it was almost as if he was goading the referee to show him a yellow card. Monk was a tower of strength in defence although he gave away a succession of free kicks. He often jumps into an aerial challenge with his arms over his opponent but last night he was penalised almost every time. Williams continued where he left off from Saturday. This guy is a great asset to our defence and mightily impressed me. Rangel is a class act, he sat a little deeper last night and was not inclined to get forward quite as often. Perhaps Wolves kept him pinned back, perhaps he had received some instructions… Krysiak wasn’t too busy. When he was called into action he performed quite competently although it is still too early to judge him. He could not be blamed for either goal. Now we come to the thorny issue of our attack. For sure, we do not convert possession into goals. It is also an undeniable fact that most of our goals this season have come from mid-field. Much has been said of our 4-5-1 formation and of Scotland in the role of the lone striker. I felt sorry for Scotland last night; he got quite a bit of criticism from those around me (not such that he could hear), some of which was justified, much of it was not. He pushed a long way forward and was often up against two or three big strong defenders. The odds are against him and it is to his credit that he won as much of the ball as he did. However, all too often our attack broke down when Scotland was involved. This resulted in frustration being vented in his direction from the Swansea support. On the one hand, he seems to give away possession too cheaply and does not challenge in a highly committed manner but on the other hand mis-placed passes, passes sold too short and the lack of support is not his fault. It is indeed a thankless task playing up front on your own and poor old Scotland is receiving very little thanks for his efforts. His job is to occupy the opposition defence and release our mid-field to press home the attack, however, I would also like to see him pose a greater threat to the opposition goal. I think he is struggling in both respects against Championship defences. I’m not yet convinced that Pintado is the answer. He had very little impact when he came on last night. We know that Scotland and Pintado have it in them to score goals but we also need them to increase the ratio of good performances to games played. Some were calling for the introduction of Brandy. His speed would certainly have caused the Wolves defence some problems but I suspect he would have been out-muscled all too easily. In the end it was rather disappointing that we did not get the away point our play deserved. I’m sure, however, that Martinez will point to many positives from the game. |
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