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On Saturday English Premier League stragglers Wolverhampton Wanderers whimpered their way to a 0-5 loss against Manchester United. This was their third defeat in the four games since Terry Connor took over as manager of the club. Wolves have now won one game in fourteen and they sit rock bottom of the EPL table.
In this time their players have been harassed outside their ground by disgruntled fans, chairman Steve Morgan and CEO Jez Moxey have been protested against and club captain Roger Johnson has been dropped.
This last omission is significant because while a leader and established central defender is riding the pine Wolves are gifting goals to the opposition. In fact it is worse than that. Wolves have conceded twelve goals in their last three outings and they have posted no goals themselves.
Those last three games? They lost 5-0 to Fulham; they lost 2-0 to Blackburn Rovers; they were utterly dominated by Manchester United.
Playing like that they are looking to roll over. Against Manchester United they conceded goals galore and the fans booed on. Diminutive striker Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez helped himself to two scores and almost snatched a hattrick, breaking into the box and throwing himself at passes before anyone else got near.
This got me thinking: was the way Chicharito scored goals a fitting metaphor for Wolves’ predicament at the moment?
The goals the deft Mexican put away were from close range. He won headers and he rushed the goalkeeper. This could be put down to the quality of the forward’s play, but there were other preventable goals scored. Jonny Evans swiveled and clumsily cracked in a goal amidst heavy coverage. Wellbeck scored for the Champions after pulling in and redirecting a by-line pass.
In the game before this, as well, Wolves succumbed to two goals from Junior Hoillet of Blackburn. Baubling balls fell to the Canadian player and he was able to strike for goal relatively unchallenged.
The game before that Fulham stomped Wolves by five –with Russian striker Pavel Pogrebnyak scoring twice from crosses and once from following a shot into the box –looking suitably embarrassed as they went.
With this in mind it is fitting that Wolves are boarded into their own ground while angry fans holler and scream outside. Wolves are playing at the moment with a siege mentality. They invite pressure. Twelve goals in three tell you that. They are not pushing out, they are not blocking shots and they are not challenging more than one foe at a time. Opportunists like Pogrebnyak and Chicharito love that. They filled their boots.
What is more, by feeling sorry for themselves and hoping to throw counter attacks at teams they are likely to score one but concede two, at best.
Against United they had two attacking threats: winger Jarvis attempting fast counter breaks and striker Steven Fletcher putting his head on the ball. All others shied away or panicked. That is why Wolves defender Ronald Zubar received a red card before half-time, following a second yellow card offence.
More worryingly than this Wolves have been bested by Blackburn, one team they are scrapping with to avoid relegation. In the next three games Wolves face Norwich, Bolton and Stoke. Those are three bottom half teams and they need points off them to stand a chance of staying up.
Will they continue to feel sorry for themselves, sit back and invite pressure? If they do then in the next game expect Norwich striker Grant Holt to bully his way to the six-yard box and wait for crosses, just like United’s Chicharito did…
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