Always Wolves
Always Wolves
Bobby Smith Wolves Wolves Chat by Always Wolves 54 seconds ago
The Ghost of Steve Corica
Bobby Smith explores the parallels between Steve Corica and Jhon Arias.
Being somewhat long in the tooth, I am old enough to remember a player who arrived at Molineux to a similar fanfare to that that greeted Jhon Arias in the summer, who joined Wolves after his stellar performances during the Club World Cup. Cast your nostalgic eye back to 1996 when Steve Corica, Australian wonderkid, was purchased from Leicester for 1.1m. Mark McGhee, then Wolves manager, previously managed him at Leicester so clearly knew what he was getting when he signed the short of stature midfielder. Or so he thought…
Corica was brought into our squad to add guile, craft and no little flair, to a team that was going through something of a revolution to a 5 at the back formation. Amazingly, that season, we had six central midfielders who were all fairly reasonable; Geoff Thomas, Darren Ferguson, Simon Osborn, Neil Emblen, Carl Robinson and Corica himself, although he sometimes played out on the wing. In addition, we were well blessed with wingers that term, with the likes of Robbie Dennison, Tony Daley, Steve Froggatt, Michael Gilkes and Jermaine Wright crossing the ball from the bye-line; as inverted wingers were then thankfully unknown to football.
On paper, Corica had it all; he was a very technical player who could pass the ball with ease, therefore often acting as the link man between the midfield and the strikers; normally Steve Bull, Don Goodman or Iwan Roberts. However, the paper ability never really showed itself on the pitch, as Corica was often bundled off the ball in the war of attrition that was the Championship. As a result, the silky skills were nowhere to be found, with fans frustrated at one anonymous performance after another. Throw in a few knee injuries and he soon became a target of the Wolves boo boys. In all, he manged to make only 110 appearances over 5 years, with his goal ratio also being a paltry 5, not enough for a number 10 for sure. Weirdly, he seemed to save his best performances for games against Crystal Palace, and I remember a couple of crackers against them.
So why do I bring up the ghost of Corica in season 2025/26? Well, whilst I accept it is early days, I see a similar player in Jhon Arias, a player who has clear technical ability on the ball, with a vision to match, yet one who also seems somewhat of a luxury when scrapping for survival. He puts the effort in, no one can argue that, but his small physique goes against him, and he lacks the strength and speed to run past players. Therefore, most times he gets the ball it ends with a pass backwards to the full back, thus killing any forward momentum stone dead. In addition, apart from his free kick against the bar in the BurnIey game and a miss of the season effort against Leeds, I cannot remember another shot of note he has had this season, which is a concern after nearly a quarter of the campaign. This is amplified when you consider he is the most creative player, in profile at least, in the forward lines. I know it is a new league and a different continent to what he is used to, but I expected more from the diminutive Colombian magician. To be honest, I sometimes feel that both he and Hwang are almost invisible on the pitch, with their forward passing seemingly being of secondary importance to their work rate, that modern phrase so beloved by modern football managers. Granted he has also largely been played out of position, out on the right wing, but good players should be able to adapt and give off a minimum standard of performance, even when not at their best.
And he has not been at his best.
Perhaps I am being unfair on Arias, as his form was truly mesmerising in the summer competition. I guess it could simply be a case of him being tired, as he has played continuously for a year now. I remember, at the start of the season, reading a stat to say that he had played more games in the last calendar year than any other player in the Premier League – a contributing factor for sure for his lethargic start to the season.
One thing that will probably remain a point of difference between the pair of them is that Corica went on to play eighty-two games for Walsall (9 goals) after leaving Wolves (interspersed with a two-season spell in Japan). I somewhat doubt that Jhon Arias will end up at the Saddlers…
Arias also has the pleasure of wearing a far better shirt than Corica, as our Australian had to wear that awful baggy V-necked monstrosity that we had for most of his Wolves career.
After his playing career ended, Corica carved out a good career as a coach. Indeed, he was voted A-League Coach of the Year in 2025 (for Auckland FC), so perhaps he may eventually end up back at Wolves as a manger. I guess he will be cheaper than most so Jeff Shi probably already has him on the same watch list as Gary O’Neil.