Wolves 1 - Stoke 2

I was at the game and the stats speak volumes. We dominated the first half. They got a right royal lucky break with the free kick that wasn't and the immediate wicked deflection. Second goal was on the break and taken well. After the second, our heads dropped a bit. Shame really because on the whole I thought we played very well......sadly no points to show for it. I'm sure people will have different opinions but I thought we looked ok. Jarvo had a great first half and defensively we looked tighter than at any point this season. Onwards and upwards....Norwich next. Up the Wolves

A game of two halves. One deflection and the second on the break does not alter the fact that Stoke turned the match in the second half, not just on the score sheet but on the field of play. MM's counter-measures were ineffective. Tony Pulis seems to be the magician.

When all said and done I think we need fresh ideas,if not a change in coach then someone to come in and assist with some new input,clearly what we have now is not working. I feel that we have not improved since we came up,we are simply 'treading water',we have got away with it so far but I fear if we let things stay as they are we will not get away with it again this year. I, along with all the others who blog on here no doubt?, am getting fed up of writing the same comments,but that is because we can all see that its the same problems cropping up week after week. I think we need a genuine goal scorer,Doyle is a good player who has lost his form but he's never going to score a lot,that is what seperates the mid table clubs from the bottom ones,they have a goalscorer. Also the wide men have the talent but the final ball/cross is so poor,I fear for Merlin,I think Tuesday could be it,he's got the result when needed before but I dont know if beating Norwich on tuesday will be enough,if he does'nt win I think it will be the end for sure.UTW.

Watch the site poll this week!, I have a feeling the stats will change a little!. Remember though if Merlin goes who will replace him?,I would still prefer someone new to come in and assist with the coaching,Merlin has taken all the flak,I think its time Coco went and takes his clipboard with him!. Back to the game,commentators blamed Hennessy for the first goal,that was I thought harsh,it took a huge deflection and wrong footed him,Ward was caught out by Crouch but thats what you get for ten million pounds!.January tip for the transfer market,you pay peanuts you get monkeys. Rather than buy rubbish,would be better to loan but just found out we are only allowed one loanee from the premiership in January window!,oh well we are used to trolling the championship for monkeys!.UTW.

Kiawolves: we played well in the first half but fell apart in the second period. So much for MM's mid-match pep talks! What happened to Jarvis? Without decent crosses (and they are still few and far between) Fletcher cannot operate effectively. After the second goal we lost heart ... unlike Wigan who managed to secure a late equalizer against CHELSEA. Where were our vaunted fighting qualities? Even so, we were lucky as results elsewhere favoured us. Thank you WBA. On Tuesday only a win is acceptable.

Yam, yam, yam, yam, yam, yam, yam, yam :) Ten hours and I will be on the plane. I've managed to complete a months work in two weeks which meant working all day yesterday and missing the game so all I have to go on is (limited) highlights I caught when I got home, reports and your feedback. Sounds more like disappointment more than anything else this time, especially considering Woodgate should have been sent off and the scored from a free kick when there was not a foul. Also I don't think Henny had a chance saving that free kick- this talk of getting a hand to it he should have saved it, I say he did well to adjust and get anything on it considering the pace of the shot and deflection. As for Crouch he is not going to let that chance pass him by although the arguing can work around why the cross came in in the first place. Then again sounds like we dealt in the main with their aerial threat for 'most' of the game. 'Then again' we have conceded 30 goals in 16 games, have lost ten times and are rationing less than a point per game. It all points to relegation. Norwich will hardly be shaking in their boots looking ahead to Tuesday will they. I have subsequently raised my pre-match pint allowance.

Yorkie cant make it,stuck in Greece for xmas/new year so you can also have my allowance.

I really would like to see Frimpong too, strong talented no nonsense player, just the type we need. I'd like to see us bring in a striker too, a proven netfinder, Fletch is the only one with any form at the minute, and aside from Doyle, we simply dont have any other prem class strikers...

All these so called re-enforcements being talked about will not touch the problem. How to account for the difference in the performances seen in the two halves, how to explain it ?.. it is difficult even to try to explain it away. I have been banging on 'selections, tactics and approach' as the reasons for the poor results. MM has addressed the first, selecting the players I have been wishing him to select, on and off of course, so that is out of the equation now. As to approach, I have seen a remarkable improvement. I cannot say the same for tactics. It is difficult to accept TP's turning the match in the second half without MM's counteracting that effectively. One will point to the dubious refereeing decisions, but the centre of gravity of play had already shifted into Wolves' half by then. Defeat was by then inevitable, and TP is right when he says Stoke deserved the win...and his Maltese connections have nothing to do with my saying this.

Does anyone else think swapping Jarvis over to the right wing was another tactical masterstroke?,wonder if it was Merlin or Clipboard that thought of that gem.