Wolves Masters Of Their Own Downfall

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-2 Nottingham Forest

(Sigurdarson 5, Sharp 16, Guedioura 57)

Sigurdarson celebrates giving Wolves an early lead

On a rain-drenched afternoon at Molineux, it wasn't just water that was drained away as Wolves succumbed to yet another defeat - their fourth in five matches - and suffered another body blow to their already-fragile confidence. It all started so brightly too. Some lovely football from Sako, Sigurdarson and Doyle - and even Pennant - meant we pushed forward early on and as such, it was no surprise when we took the lead. The goal came from a break forward and when Pennant cut inside, his attempted pass to Doyle broke kindly off a Forest defender into the path of the onside Sigurdarson and the Icelandic striker keep his cool to finish superbly from 15 yards. The goal spurred the fans on and encouraged the team to push on, desperate to seize on the momentum and add to their lead. But it was one of those attacks that cost us our lead. We overcommitted, lost the ball and then Forest smacked us on the break. Berra got caught under the ball, completely lost Sharp who finished so neatly into the bottom corner. I'm still amazed as to why Southampton let Sharp go. He's absolutely lethal!

Guedioura strikes to put Forest 2-1 ahead

But even after conceding, we still looked dangerous going forward. We had a host of openings but as is often the case these days, that final pass, cross or finish was just lacking. But on balance, I think Forest would've been the happier of the two sides going in 1-1 at half-time. However - and I don't know why I'm bothering to point it out anymore as it's become the norm for Wolves at home - we were a totally different team in the second half. We had nothing going forward and struggled to keep possession in Forest's half of the pitch. Indeed the fact that we statistically had more possession than Forest is irrelevant. The majority of it was between our own back four going absolutely nowhere! And whenever we did venture forward into the Forest half, we had no real options for the full-backs to use and so we resorted to hopeful long-balls that the Forest back four lapped up all day long. Then for Forest's winner, again a lack of options in the final third means our attempted attacking play breaks down and Forest break. Yet there is no pressure put on Guedioura as he steams forward. Dave Edwards is struggling to keep up with him, but nobody moves to close him down until the very last second as Berra goes to close him down as he shoots. It was actually Berra's job to close Guedioura down earlier and let Ward cover Sharp's run behind him (who incidentally, may have been offside should the ball have come to him). But Berra was too worried about Sharp so continued to back off from Guedioura. In that situation, you have got to force the attacker to make a decision by pressing him. We didn't and allowed a player with a reputation for lethal long-range strikes to get a shot at goal. Ultimately, we paid the price! And as is always the way with Wolves, an ex-player comes back to haunt us. All credit to the Algerian midfielder for not celebrating his goal though!

Doumbia: Not strong enough on the ball

After that, we always looked like losing. In fact, it could've been more had The Reds' final ball been that little more precise. Again though, it was through our poor passing. In all honesty, Sean O'Driscoll got his game-plan spot on today! All they did was sit back, kept their shape and wait for us to give the ball away and then hit us on the break. It worked a treat because we had no movement in the final third (becoming a familiar story that) and eventually lost possession cheaply. Today was, for me, the final straw and I think it's time we started being a little more direct in our play. I'm not talking about hoofing it 60 yards each time. I mean get the ball down, run at people and stretch the opposition through movement, rather than the statues we seem to have at the moment. We don't have the players defensively, but going forward we have some real quality. Players like Sako, Doumbia, Edwards, Pennant, Doyle and Sigurdarson are all players who can pass a ball and move, yet they don't seem to want to. As a result we are often very static in attacking positions and quickly find moves breaking down. Pennant has been a huge disappointment and I would personally be delighted if he never wore a Wolves shirt again. Doumbia was very poor today too. He wasn't at all strong on the ball and lost possession far too cheaply at times.

Something really does need to change and fast. We're in serious danger of undoing all our good work in the early part of the season and, whilst it does still seem unrealistic, the last thing any of us want is to get sucked in to a battle for survival. Because right now, that's exactly what this is beginning to feel like it's becoming.

My Wolves MOTM: Bjorn Sigurdarson. Took his goal very well and always looked lively. Tracked back well too whenever he lost the ball. Looks like he's developing into a rather good player.

Wolves In A Word: Predictable

In Stale We Trust.