Wolves 2-0 Middlesbrough
By Tom Bason
October 22 2014
Wolves last night won for the first time in four games against a surprisingly lacklustre Middlesbrough side. Bakary Sako gave Wolves a first half lead from the penalty spot before Nouha Dicko wrapped up the win in the second half.
- This was the first Wolves game I'd been able to attend since the loss to Huddersfield (I annoyingly missed the Wigan game because of work, but did manage to take in Wolves U21s win at Stratford Town) - how things have changed since then. Kenny Jackett kept faith with the majority of the team that took a 3-0 lead at Millwall on Saturday, with just Rajiv van La Parra being left out for James Henry. David Edwards supported the lone striker Nouha Dicko. Middlesbrough played a fairly standard 4-4-2, although I was more than a little concerned pre-game by the inclusion of Patrick Bamford who was absolutely superb in MK Dons win at Molineux last season.
- Wolves started quite well, with Bakary Sako blasting wide when well placed in the opening five minutes. Later on in the half, Sako saw a free kick from a narrow angle tipped over by Boro goalkeeper Dimitrios Konstantopoulos. But then the game settled into a rhythm; Boro would be happy for Wolves defenders to have the ball, with strikers Bamford and Jelle Vossen not closing down the defenders, but instead cutting off the passing angles into midfield. This generally forced either Kevin McDonald or Lee Evans to drop between the defenders and make it 4v4 in the middle of the park. The Boro midfield was exceptionally well drilled, just what you'd expect from a manager who learned his trade under Jose Mourinho. On occasion one of them would step out to make a challenge, but would almost straight away duck back in to create those two banks of 4, which can be difficult to bypass.
- Middlesbrough's discipline generally forced us backwards. We'd try passing the ball out, not make any progress and retreat. Often, the ball would go back to Carl Ikeme, who would be forced to clear under pressure. Ikeme's kicking wasn't at its best tonight, but some dodgy back passes to him didn’t help this. One thing I did notice is that we didn't really have a focal point for Ikeme's clearances. Last season, Michael Jacobs, who has a superb leap on him, was the obvious target. But with a front three of Dicko, Sako and James Henry we don't really have that presence upfront who can compete in the air.
- Given our lack of clean sheets recently, I was worried about what Middlesbrough's forwards would do to what is quite an inexperienced back line at this level. But, they generally did well, with Boro's chances tending to come from individual errors as oppose to structural problems. Ethan Ebanks-Landell did particularly well, apart from a rough challenge late on after Lee Tomlin's trickery beat him. There was a moment in the first half when Bamford nicked a ball away from Ebanks-Landell, and looked like he'd break away. But Ebanks-Landell recovered superbly to win the ball. Something that did strike me is that the defence was almost split into two; on the right was the reasonably established Danny Batth and Matt Doherty, while on the left was Ebanks-Landell and Tommy Rowe, making just his sixth start for the club. While I'm sure Batth prefers to play on the right, it does seem a little strange to have such a untried left side of the defence.
- Wolves took the lead from a penalty. Sako and Henry switched flanks, and Sako linked up with Dicko on the right. Sako bundled through a challenge before slipping Dicko through on goal in the inside right channel. Dicko never looked overly confident, and was probably a little relieved when he was clumsily bundled over from behind. Sako took the penalty, and did a Pirlo-esque dink down the middle, as the Boro goalkeeper dived to his left. My dad turned to me and said he didn't like those penalties, but it was great to watch. Statistically, you have a better chance of scoring if you go down the middle (takers tend not to because the risk of looking like an idiot is greater if you go down the middle than in the corner), and as we saw at the weekend with Sergio Agüero’s missed penalty, if you blast it down the middle then you don't give the goalkeeper time to get his legs out the way. If a keeper dives, Sako's penalty was perfection.
- Pirlo claimed he dunked his penalty against England in 2012 because Joe Hart was getting cocky and he wanted to put the England goalkeeper in his place. If Sako had any thought of having a similar effect, it didn't work. Going behind seemed to galvanise Boro, and they dominated the rest of the first half and could have equalised on a few occasions. The first opportunity was almost comical; Tommy Rowe tried to let the ball go out for a goal kick, but it didn't quite reach. Albert Adomah blocked his attempted clearance, the ball flew into the air, and was touched by Bamford to strike partner Vossen. Vossen's volley was completely miss hit and looped up high into the sky. But Ikeme seemed to lose the flight of it, and before he realised, the ball hit the bar and almost bounced off Ikeme and in. Moments later, Ikeme made a double save from Vossen and Bamford, before Vossen put a free header straight at Ikeme after Batth had needlessly given the ball away. At this point, we were making stupid individual mistakes and if we'd have conceded I think we'd have gone on to lose. At half time, I think I would have taken the draw had it been offered.
- But the threat from Boro seemed to fizzle out at half time, and they never really threatened in the second 45; the nearest they came to scoring was when Ikeme almost dropped a Adomah cross over the line, whereas we had a superb chance to double the lead. McDonald sent a long ball out to Henry on the right. Henry ran at his former Wolf George Friend, before whipping a cross in at head height. Edwards, on the edge of the six-yard box, sent his header down into the ground and up onto the crossbar. Edwards had a weird game. Sometimes I feel a little bit sorry for him as he gets little support from Evans or McDonald in driving forward from midfield. But then he frustrates me when he receives the ball with his back to goal, when if he played on the half turn there'd be space to move into. He did have three very nice chest layoffs, bringing other players into play, but this is what you want your striker to be doing, not the attacking midfielder.
- Talking of the rest of the midfield, Evans had a usual game with some wonderful pinged passes out wide. But alongside him, McDonald was frustrating. He's one of the most talented players I've seen in a Wolves shirt, but he doesn't use it. There was one moment of absolute brilliance, where his first touch beat a defender and the second unleashed a dipping half volley from 30 yards that clipped the top of the bar. This was a glimpse of the ability he has, and how he can affect a match going forward. But his first option is often to go backwards when he should be creating things going forward. Last season, he complained things were too easy, but he still seems to be in that mind-set. His best performance this season was in the second half away at Charlton when we switched to 4-4-2. In a midfield two, he had to step up and take responsibility, and he was superb. I'd like to see him take more responsibility for driving the team forward, rather than being happy to provide the platform for someone else to do this. It also struck me tonight how few bodies we get into the box. When Sako and Henry had the ball in a crossing position, there was often a maximum of three men in the box - Dicko, Edwards and the other winger. I'd like to see one of Evans or McDonald gamble with a run into the box more often.
- Saying all that, McDonald was instrumental in doubling Wolves lead. Grant Leadbitter, the heartbeat of the Middlesbrough team played a poor ball that was intercepted by McDonald. With Boro having committed players forward, the space was open for Dicko to run into. I thought McDonald maybe slightly over hit the pass to send Dicko down the left channel, through on goal. At first I thought Dicko was going to hit the ball left footed from an angle, but instead he tried to cut back on to his right foot. With two Boro defenders back, they probably should have cleared the danger, but Dicko bundled his way through the challenges, and just as it looked he was going to go down, lashed a good finish into the roof of the net. Interestingly, after Dicko scored, quite a few Wolves players went through to McDonald to congratulate him on his role in the goal, with Tommy Rowe affectionately ruffling McDonald's mop of hair. I think this said a lot about how McDonald has been reluctant to go forward - had it been a youngster like George Saville who played that pass, the reaction would have been understandable. But for a player like McDonald, who should be the creative heartbeat of the team, it was a fairly standard pass, the sort he should be playing two or three times a match.
- It was nice to see Michael Jacobs get some game time in the second half, and I'd have no objection for him to start a game soon, probably at the expense of Dave Edwards. With McDonald and Evans playing as deep as they do, I think we can afford to carry Jacobs a little more. And Leon Clarke looked more interested than he's done in a while, perhaps spurred on by the South Bank singing "if Leon scores we're on the pitch" and "give it to Leon". On a serious note, this was a good win against a surprisingly impotent Middlesbrough side that I expected a lot more from. But the clean sheet was much needed as well - I think I'd have preferred today's result was 0-0 than a 4-3 win.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:11:01:16:30:28 by toomb.
Someone said to me it will knock his confidence, well I don't care he's stealing a living at the moment.
Bit harsh to say you want Jacobs back at the cost of Edwards who's done very little wrong for me this season. Do you think Jacobs showed enough in his 15 minutes.
Quote:Bradmore Wolf
The Leon stuff is hilarious.
Someone said to me it will knock his confidence, well I don't care he's stealing a living at the moment.
Bit harsh to say you want Jacobs back at the cost of Edwards who's done very little wrong for me this season. Do you think Jacobs showed enough in his 15 minutes.
I thought Jacobs did a lot off the ball. There was a moment late on where McDonald pulled wide left, we lost possession, and Jacobs had the discipline to drop into the space McDonald had vacated and plugged the gap. I think it's Jacobs' defensive problems that have led to him not playing, something Edwards is evidently better at. But if Jacobs can add this to his game, then I think as an attacking threat, he's better than Edwards
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