Posted by Football Manager Guru in You know I once read an article as a young boy talking about true champions in soccer. A line in that article has stuck with me ever since.
The mark of a championship team, is the ability to win games, even when the team does not deserve to.
Many of you readers suggested that Wolves might turn out to be title contenders this season, and I guess the irony is that in the month of December, Wolves has been snatching points from the jaws of draws and defeats. Sounds like the mark of a championship team to me. Not only has Wolves been dramatic on the pitch, drama hit one of my favourite and most crucial players in the squad as well. Let’s get started.
The league cup semi-final ties are out and we are paired off with Spurs. The only other strong team left in the cup is Chelsea. And we are determined to gun for the League Cup, because it guarantees a Euro spot (:
Our first game was against Sunderland, at home. And a sellout crowd was expected which was interesting because, 40,000 fans is a huge number. I guess the stadium expansion that was completed this year will really help out in the finances in the long run.
My players were still relatively weary, after that extremely tiring League Cup Q-Final against Liverpool, which went all the way to penalties. Sunderland was in good form, knocking out Arsenal in the League Cup Q-Final prior to my game with them. However, I fielded a weakened team because I felt some of my players have yet to recover fully from fatigue yet. Certain key players, like Kacar and Stearman were rested for the match. In their place were Hasebe and Kryvtsov respectively. I also gave Yssouf Kone his first start in a long while, time for him to prove that he is not a flop.
Sunderland had a talented keeper in the form of Joe Hart keeping for them. We started with an early blitz on Sunderland, Kone tested the Sunderland keeper with a shot in the penalty box in the 4th minute which was saved. We won a corner in the 5th minute, and Berra had his header cleared off the line. (Strange how Berra find it so much harder to score from corners this season)
Milveskyi almost broke the deadlock in the 6th minute with a diving header that forced Joe Hart to make yet another saved. 3 minutes, 3 great goal attempts, great spell of pressure for us. Krivets finally scored for us in the 20th minute, when Inler set him through on goal with a defence-splitting pass. Krivets calmly slotted it in. (I realised that after a season and a half Krivets have a great ability of making sneaky runs into the penalty box.)
We lead 1-0. Milveskyi almost doubled the lead for us in the 40th minute, but the crossbar was there to deny him. Milevskyi picked up a slight knock before half-time, and I decided to take him off in the 2nd half for Fonseca. Milevskyi was too important a player for us to risk being injured.
David Jones almost scored with a rocket of a long shot in the 49th minute. Joe Hart was proving to be in good form. I received disappointing news in the 65th minute when Shevchuk took a knock and had to be subbed off. Vegard Forren who just returned from injury was brought on.
In the 66th minute, Enyeama made a bizzare decision to rush off his line to clear a ball he can’t reach in time and was beaten. Sunderland had equalized. I was starting to panick. 25 minutes to go, and we had to win this game. Afterall, we were clearly the better team, and we were playing at home!
Fonseca almost restored our lead in the 68th minute, but Sunderland’s 12 man on the pitch, the goalpost, denied us. Finally when I thought we were going for a disappointing draw the most unexpected person on the pitch scored in the most unexpected manner.
Berra, who I’ve always known to only score from corners with his head, picked a loose clearance and was 35 yards out from goal. He attempted a long shot and it went in. I was STUNNED. Never in my whole life, have I seen a center back score a long range effort like that. What a goal. We’ve kept the 3 points we wanted!
After the match, the team of the week was announced and the screenshot was taken just for laughs. It happened so the only game that week was Wolves versus Sunderland, and hence 6 of my players were named in the team of the week. The other 5 were from Sunderland LOL.
The next game we played Stoke away. Krivets opened the scoring for us in the 6th minute after making his trademark invisible run into the box. Krivets have been quite sharp with his finishing lately. He’s has come along way to be a great player after a season and a half. Shortly after in the 9th minute, we doubled our lead, when Otamendi headed a ball towards goal from a corner, but a wicked deflection off a defender bundled the ball into goal. 0-2 the scoreline. This game was proving to be easy.
In the 11th minute, Kryvtsov, who was playing at RB (Stearman was rested again), hit the bar with a long shot. I wonder what’s with defenders and their long shots this week. First Berra, now Kryvtsov. Sanli Tuncay pulled one back for them after he hit a shot on the rebound, after Enyeama made the first save. Stoke had scored against the flow of play. 1-2 the scoreline.
It was nothing to worry about though, right before half time, Kone made this crazy run down the left, beating a defender with his pace to send a cross into the danger zone. Inler was there, and his presence forced the Stoke center back into a mistake, scoring an own goal. We were leading 1-3 going into half time.
Inler, was set through on goal in the 46th minute, right after the restart, and his initial shot was parried by the Stoke keeper. But the ball fell to Milevskyi, and Milevskyi will never make mistakes when presented with glorious opportunities like that. 1-4 the scoreline. I took off players and gave youngers like Verratti some first team experience. The remaining of the half was uneventful as we played defensive and just kept the ball. A great away win. That’s 2 out of 2 wins now.
If you look at the timing of the goals, you would know it was a really dramatic at the Molineux. Against Q.P.R, whom I thought were pushovers, I fielded Gomis (who if you have forgotten was Dundee Utd’s star player and I bought him for 1 million as a backup midfielder) and Kone thinking it will be an easy win.
Krivets got on the scoresheet for the 3rd game in a row in the 14th SECOND of the match (contention for fastest goal ever). Right from kick off, he made another great run into the box, and was unmarked. A through pass found him and he dealt an early blow to Q.P.R. The commentator had this to say about Krivets after the goal:
Krivets knows instinctively when to get forward
Guess I am not the only one to have noticed this attribute of his. It was a really boring game for the rest of the match, and I attributed that to Milveskyi and Kone not working well as a pair upfront. That is to be understood as I hardly play them together. In addition our midfield was a weakened one with Gomis pairing Jones, and Hasebe sitting in DMC role. (Kacar and Inler were rested for this game.)
Just when I thought it was another comfortable home win, Q.P.R equalised in the 86th minute. And it was a really soft way to concede and equalizer and I was furious. Q.P.R had hardly played well just like us. They scored from a corner clearance, Enyeama probably saw the shot too late.
But once again, my boys snatched all 3 points from the jaws of a draw, right at the last minute of injury time. Yes, soccer is all about moments like this. I was elated. Jones squared a ball to Kone, who was at the tip of the penalty area with his back against goal. He spun on the ball, and shot. As I watched the ball sail into the top right corner, I could hardly believe it! We really took all 3 points?! That’s 3 wins out of 3 games now.
Kone did not have many shots on goal this game, but he scored the one that really mattered.
There was a media storm after the game. I revealed my joy of the late goal to the media, which manager wouldn’t after your squad scored a winning goal in the last minute of injury time?
Krivets was also awarded the fastest goal record ever.
Not all news were good news though. I received news that Enyeama, my star goalkeeper for a season and a half wants to leave for a bugger club. I was shattered. A huge reason for our success was due to a great goalkeeper between the posts. I still remember buying Enyeama for less than half a million during the first season. It was a glorious day.
Till date, Enyeama has developed into a great consistent goalkeeper, and I am really sad that I have to let him go sooner or later. It won’t be long before a bid comes in for him. Guess I might have to start scouting for replacement. Maybe Ochoa?
I was also informed that David Jone’s contact is going to be expired after the season ends. Jones had one of the top assists in the league last season (I think he was 3rd behind Arsharvin and Krivets), but this season he was less effective than last season. I offered him a new contract only to realise he demanded 22,000 a week. Really? Fonseca is only earning 10,000 a month, and you are demanding 20,000 when you are behind the packing order of Inler Kacar and Krivets. I decided that 20,000 was too much to pay him for what he is worth. I am certain there are players out there who can do a much better job for 20,000 a week wages. Time to shop for another midfielder after this season.
Fonseca was another player’s whose contract will expire when this season ends. While Fonseca has made some supersub appearances for us this season, he no longer seem as agile at 31. Next season, should I extend his contract, he will be 32. And his lack of pace is costing us opportunities. I see the vast difference when I pair a pacy striker like Ebanks-Blake with Milveskyi as compared to a Fonseca-Milevskyi partnership. Guess a new striker will be needed in the next season.
After some depressing news, it’s finally time to get our act together as we played Wigan next. Plenty of players were rested in this home fixture, as we were going to play Chelsea at the Molineux in just 3 days time. Gomis continued to start in the midfield after he performed pretty well in his last match. Inler and Kacar were both rested.
We created few chances in the opening half, as Gomis miplaced quite a few passes. However that did not deter Milevskyi from scoring in the 43rd minute. Kryvtsov was the make shift RB again, and he won a tackle on the right, and proceeded to square a ball to Milevskyi just inside the penalty box. Milevskyi tooked a place shot to the bottom corner, and the Wigan keeper had no chance.
We entered the break leading 1-0. After the break, Milevskyi had another chance to double our lead after Krivets drew two defenders onto him, before release a passing to the open Milevskyi. Milveskyi was about to pull the trigger when he was pulled down to the ground by a defender. Penalty! Yssouf Kone took the penalty and scored.
I decided to rest Milveskyi after our 2-0 lead, thinking of the Chelsea game in 3 days. On came Fonseca. Wigan scored a great solo goal when their right back dribbled past 2 of my defenders to slot it just between Enyeama and the near post. 2-1 the scoreline.
Krivets drove away any signs of tension or nervousness when Fonseca set him up for an open goal with a nice through pass. Krivets shot first-time without taking a single touch on the ball, and his low shot bended away from the Wigan keeper. 3-1 the scoreline. We were cruising again. We were ready to play possession football and play out the remaining time. 4 wins out of 4 games now. (Although we kept 0 cleansheets due to injury issues, like Shevchuk and Forren taking turns to get injured).
And the big day finally arrived when Chelsea paid us a visit at the Molineux. Chelsea had 0 injury issues and fielded a full-strength team. I too, fielded a full-strength squad. We do not want to let our unbeaten run end at home.
Chelsea was almost in for a shocker, when Milveskyi almost scored in the 5th minute. If not for a world-class save from Peter Cech, Milveskyi would have given us the lead. As we continued to threaten, Cech denied us time and time again. In the 38th minute, Milevskyi broke through the Chelsea defence line and had a shot parried by Cech. The loose ball fell to Ebanks-Blake feet and just when I thought he would have buried, it Cech saved the rebound as well! I wonder if it’s one of those nights like the one I had against Liverpool in the League Cup Q-Final again. Sigh.
The first goal came from Chelsea against the run of the play when Frank Lampard scored in the 40th minute with a free kick that was conceded just outside our penalty box. More frustration for my boys.
Justice was done, in the 43 minute. Enyeama picked up the lose ball and punted a ball downfield almost all the way into the Chelsea penalty box. Milevskyi met the ball with his looping header, that was meant to catch Cech off his line. Cech was caught out of position as he desperately backpedaled but was unable to keep up the ball out of the net. 1-1 the equalizer. Get in!
After the restart, I felt that as the game drew on my midfield was getting weary, and Kacar’s lack of stamina was coming back to bite us. I subbed Jones off for Hasebe as Hasebe is a more defensive minded player. Surely Kacar in the DMC position and Hasebe playing defensive in the CM position would help keep out the Chelsea onslaught. It sure did, and we effectively disrupted their flow of play. Drogba was nowhere to be found in the 2nd half.
Fonseca was brought on for Ebanks-Blake in the 62nd minute, and he had a point blank header saved by Cech after he connected with a cross from Milevskyi. Cech is surely broken. Nerf Peter Cech please Sports Interactive! (Just kidding, Cech is really that good in real life as well).
Verratti was brought on for Krivets to see if he could pull something out of nothing, afterall he did it a few times this season as a substitute already. But our plan was foiled when Vegard Forren suffered a serious injury in the 80th. I was stuck as I had made 3 substitutions already and I had no choice but to play with 10 men. Kacar played a makeshift LB for the remaining minutes. We played defensive and hung on for a home draw against a strong Chelsea squad.
At least our unbeaten run continues!
After the Chelsea game, Wolves was found to be right on top of the table at the no. 1 position! Of course, Man Utd was 1 point behind us and had a game in hand. But Arsenal who is 3rd, is 2 pts away from us, and played 1 more game that us! Previous year champions Man City were 5 points behind us and had play the same amount of games. Wolves entered the new year with a good standing in the table.
However, many challenges come our way. What should I do regarding the Enyeama wanting to leave Wolves situation? Should I move in for a new keeper, with the limited funds I have this winter? Or should I hang on till the new season? With the winter transfer window approaching, many of my players are involved in transfer rumours. Can I keep them all? Find out in the next post.
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Hi Jason, great run in December. Half a season gone and you are on top of the table, well done.
I think its better to leave the decision to the end of season as i think its too risky to let your best players leave during the half way mark. Unless you can find the players to replace them but need to take note that the new players take time to gel in the squad.
It depend on your game flow as the players might be unhappy and put in bad performance. Ultimately the decision lies with you to judge which is a better option. I wish you best of luck for next year.
@Lye: Thanks, that was what I was leaning too as well. Better to risking having some bad performances from low morale, then to have a bad keeper between the sticks. (: Cheers Lye! Thank you for the well wishes!
Enyeama go.. buy Ochoa.. or loan first… this kind of “Move to bigger team” always annoying me.. I have 1 or 2 players 1 to move but I blocked their application….
zam´s last blog ..Start of my journey with Wolves
@Zam: hey, long time no see Zam! I get what you mean, such players wanting to transfer always disrupt your team plans. Glad to see you have followed in my foot steps and managed Wolves too. All the best with them (: Will be glad to help in anyway (:
Great month there. The way players get unsettled is very frustrating. You have to also weigh up whether a player who has decided they want to leave the club will disrupt things in the dressing room.
Even with my team starting to dominate I’ve had a player express a desire to move on to win more trophies, which amazed me. This is an area of the game I think SI need to work on a bit more.
TheZiggy´s last blog ..December 2012 – Gilardino Gets New Boots, No Panties, But Plenty Of Sushi
@Ziggy: Hey Ziggy I agree that sometimes it’s ridiculous that your side can be the most dominating side in the country, yet the player wants to move to another club for more trophies.
On the bride side though, it is changes like this that keeps us in the game I think. Afterall, nothing beats the feeling of unearthing a great signing. Can’t wait to see if Gilardino finally scores in your next post (:
The particular issue I had was with Barcelona showing interest in my star central defender Simon Kjær. I could understand him being interested in a move there, but the response in saying he wanted the move to win major trophies didn’t seem right. It just needs more expansion in the way players respond, so it feels more realistic.
I’ve always wondered in real life about some players who do move to these big clubs, and then hardly get any games. If you’re a star who will get games I see the motivation, but for players who won’t, the motivation seems rather questionable.
TheZiggy´s last blog ..December 2012 – Gilardino Gets New Boots, No Panties, But Plenty Of Sushi
@Ziggy:
I agree on the fact that SI needs to work on the reasons why players wanted to switch clubs. In real life, it could be for many reasons, like moving to a club you supported since you were young, or moving to a club because you like working under that particular manager.
The case where players move to big clubs and hardly get any games, remind me of the time when owen move to real madrid, and became their permanent bench warmer.
Hello Football Manager Guru. I just start reading your really interesting journey with wolves. And i’m really glad if you share with us here the set up that you used for the corners. I think it can make big difference if we can score more goals from the corners. In my game, i have so many corners but failed to create goals from it. By the way, really nice blog dude!
@asada: Hey mate. Always nice to see a fresh face on the site. Wished you could used a real name I could identify you by though, always a pleasure to meet new friends into FM 2010 as well (:
What a brilliant suggestion that is! I’ll come up with a post specially dedicated to the corner tactics I’ve used. You can expect it probably next week! Meanwhile, you can check out True Football Manager’s lastest post on corner setups. Cheers mate (: Hope to see you around.
Hey Fm Guru.Sittin top of the table mid-way is fantastic!Your having a excellent season,keep up the good work and you should be crowned champions come May!Also,Id advice you to sell Vincent Enyeama right away.If he wants to leave,leave him.He’s disrespecting yor club as not big enough and is not gratefull for what you’v done for the club.Player’s like that have no room in the game and I strongly advise you to sell him before more player’s follow his mis-guided belief’s.No player is bigger than their club.
@Sears: Hey! Nice to hear from you again! (: What you’ve just said reminded me of Alex Ferguson’s management philosophy. Well, thankfully the Enyeama situation took a turned for the better (: I will talk about it in the next post. Thanks for the well wishes (: Hope to see you again!