Tiger Bite

Hull City 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers

(Aluko 29, Simpson 51, Chester (og) 67)

Yet another away defeat, they're becoming a bit of a bad habit now. But unlike our rather pathetic showing against Burnley, there was much more positives to take away from tonight. We played some rather neat, tidy football at times. We actually looked rather comfortable defensively on occasions too. And our build-up play was better, with much more of an end product. Having said that, a lot of these positives only really truly showed themselves in the last half hour, when it was 2-1. We have got to start performing from the very beginning.

Aluko celebrates his free-kick that puts Hull 1-0 up

The curse of bad luck struck Wolves again tonight too. The first Hull goal was as a result of a free-kick decision when there was no foul whatsoever. The player simply fell over his own feet with no touch from a Wolves man and the referee gave it. Having said that, Ikeme really should have positioned himself better. He was beaten far too easily at his near-post. As a fellow goalkeeper, I would be hugely disappointed if I was beaten like that. Luck also shone on Hull for their second goal which, while a very good finish, could be regarded as a bit of a fluke. Jay Simpson was practicaly behind the byline when he clipped the ball over Ikeme. But it had enough spin on it to hit the far post and go in. The former Arsenal youngster could try that same shot a hundred times, and not score. Just happened to be tonight that it all clicked for him. Then Wolves had chances but the ball always seemed to fall kindly for Ben Amos in the Hull goal.

However, I cannot just sit here and bemoan bad luck. That's pathetic. We are the masters of our own downfall. And it all starts with the attacking moves - or lack thereof. For some reason, we are incredibly static when we're in possession of the football. There's no movement off the ball and therefore we struggle to create openings, resort to playing it long and lose possession very quickly and very cheaply. This is an unpopular opnion, I am now aware, but the main culprit of this is Sako. He really doesn't look interested in getting out wide and being an outlet for us. Nor does he look like he wants to take on his opposing full-back. Indeed, as far as I (and a few other Wolves fans I've spoken to on Twitter and at the game tonight) are concerned, bar his set-pieces and finishing, he actually contributes very little to the team's overall play. The same can be said for Pennant on the opposite wing. He doesn't seem to get involved much and, when he came on today, actually hindered us as it forced the promising-looking substitute Anthony Forde to a Right Wing-Back position and we lost a lot of momentum from that (Forde had made a huge difference when he came on - as I predicted in my last blog). We have suffered from the same problems at throw-ins for years now, where players almost seem to actively shy away from receiving the ball. It's now beginning to look like that's creeping into our overall play.

Doyle and Sigurdarson: Not a successful partnership

I just wish Stale would realise that we need to be a little more direct in our approach play. Not long-balling it, but getting it to the wings, stretching teams and pushing them back. I've watched a lot of Swansea over the last 4 years as I have developed a huge soft spot for them and whilst they keep possession and build things, they also - particularly in the Championship - were quite direct, exploiting the pace of Sinclair and Dyer as well as getting their full-backs overlapping. It stretched teams and meant Swansea could push up two or three gears when required and try and get a goal. At the moment we just don't look to have that in us and I'm not entirely sure why. Starting Doyle and Sigurdarson together is just a bad decision too, as they're too similar and offer no threat as a partnership. I would personally love to see Siggy and Ebanks-Blake start together. I think they could be a brilliant partnership given time. But for some reason, Solbakken doesn't favour pairing them together.

There's still a long way to go however, and next up we face an organised, professional and difficult Brighton side. It will be a tough test, but maybe just the sort we need to give us that spark to kick on.

My Wolves MOTD: Roger Johnson. A rock at the back tonight, he was back to his very best. Heading everything away and making some important tackles. Much improved from the weekend.

Wolves In A Word: Static

In Stale We Trust