Always Wolves
Always Wolves
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Aston Villa Wolves by Always Wolves 4 minutes ago
Things We Learnt From Wolves 2-0 Villa: A Break in the Gloom at Molineux
DAVE PORTER SHARES 6 LESSONS FROM WOLVES 2-0 WIN AGAINST ASTON VILLA
If this season were a month, it’d be January, endless, grey, and absolutely refusing to move on. Last night, though, felt like a sliver of blue sky on a random Tuesday. A bit of warmth from a barely-there sun, just enough to remind you that summer still exists and we’ll eventually stumble back into it.
But tomorrow will still be January, and its equally miserable twin February, otherwise known as the Championship, waits with icy, Stokeawayshaped fingers.
For now though, that patch of blue sky is enough. A reminder that even in the cold and dark, the sun does return. And when it does, it’s glorious.
Not one for the record books.
Relief, yes, but realistically we have never been the worst team ever to play in this division. Not good enough to stay in it, certainly, but Wolves have always felt more like a team flipping a coin that is ever so slightly weighted to land on tails. So often on the wrong side of fine margins.
The table does not lie, and Wolves have reaped what they have sown over several seasons. They left themselves exposed to that risk. But this was never a team that should have been as cut adrift as they ended up, and eventually the averages have to come into play. Eventually the coin has to land on heads. And it has, and it will continue to do so.
A look at the remaining fixtures is agonising. There are clear chances for points, and if Wolves had managed even a modest return earlier in the season, then there might still have been hope. As it stands, Wolves will pick up more points, and the fact that this particular tally was ever a conversation will look a bit ridiculous in hindsight
Joao is a proper baller.
We all know he is good, but I don’t think we really understand how good this lad is going to be. We have only seen him propping up a declining team, one that is constantly trying to drag itself out of its own crisis. When he does leave in the summer, hopefully for a fee closer to his real value and not one damaged by this season alone, he deserves a club that is aiming to win trophies, not one that is stuck in mid table and peering over its shoulder towards relegation.
Wolves have had some very good players in the last decade, but few, if any, have a ceiling as high as Joao Gomes.
Jackson – Bad (…to less bad)
Jackson Tchatchoua is a real head scratcher. It was a genuine surprise that he came back out for the second half after delivering one of the worst halves of football anyone has ever seen. Then somehow he produces an excellent display after the break, completely against all odds.
He looked completely bereft of confidence in the first half. It was almost brutal keeping him on the pitch, watching someone so out of his depth die in front of millions of people. Something must have happened at half time. Whether the depths of that first half reached a point where he thought to himself that it simply could not get any worse, or whether someone gave him some kind of magic potion or ten, we will never know. But long may the second half version continue.
Jackson is a puzzle more generally. He is a decent one on one defender. He is the quickest player in the Premier League. He does have some key attributes. If Wolves move to a back four next season, then in a team that relies less on him as an attacking outlet, there is every chance he can do a very good job in the Championship. But only as a full back, never as a wing back.
Edwards will get the summer.
In a world where views are found mainly at the extremes, it almost feels strange that Rob Edwards has caused a centre consensus. There are still those with extreme views of course, people who would sack him now without a second thought, and there are people who defend him to the point of giving him no blame at all for a season that would have finished most managers already.
Most of us are stuck in the grey. Not convinced he is the answer, but not convinced he isn’t either. Last night’s result probably settles it though. Edwards will now get the summer and the start of next season at the very least.
Wolves will have to come out flying. Edwards knows he has to set the pace from day one if he wants to stay in the job. This win is enough to buy him that chance, and on balance he has probably earned it. But like anything that lives in the centre, the balance can shift very quickly. One bad Championship run and the conversation changes again.
Its nice to win a game
… and in particular, that game!
Wolverhampton born, East Sussex based supporter. Old enough to have seen the descent to the bottom, young enough to not have experienced the days my friend. Not many Wolves fans to celebrate or commiserate with round these parts, so had to find an outlet to discuss the enormous highs, crushing lows and share the frustrations that only come with following Wolves.