Football Manager Blog | Football Manager Guru | Wolves Kicks Off Euro Dreams

Welcome back a brand new season. There will be no excuses in the 2010/2011 season. Me and the boys will deliver to you, a chance of watching us play in European competition next season. The squad has been significant strengthened and we can indeed mount a serious challenge to break into the top 6 of the EPL. It’s been a long way to go so let’s just get right into the action.

The first game of the season is an extremely tough one as we travel to Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea away. Chelsea is a force to reckon with, and nearly won the title if not for Man City’s late run of wins last season. I am fairly confident that my new squad will be able match them evenly though if I apply the correct tactics. Hasebe was made to play in the DM position where he did a good job for me last season, and Kacar was utilised in an MC role. I felt these 2 defensive players should provide sufficient cover for my back 4.

We started well, Milevskyi testing Cech in the first 5 mins with a powerful shot that Cech had to tip over the bar. Milevskyi looked really lively in the opening minutes. As the first half went on, we slowly faded out but so did Chelsea. Both teams were unable to create any real chances and nothing really significant happened. We went into the dressing room at half-time holding a full-strength Chelsea to a 0-0 draw and I was glad. Our defence really improved alot. Credits to Hasebe and Kacar for protecting our back 4 well.

After the 2nd half started, both sides continued to cancel one another out with none making real progress. Milevskyi was starting to fade into the background, and I don’t blame him after all it’s his debut and he doesn’t speak English. I introduced Inler for Jones at the 60mins mark and he proceeded to test Cech with a stinging long range effort. After watching Inler play for a while, I realised he’s an extremely combative midfielder although he’s very attack orientated. I counted at least 3 successful tackles from him.

The boring game turned up to end in a 0-0 draw. Our defence issues of the past season seems to be behind us for now. A great performance from the squad, considering how Chelsea gave us a thrasing at Stamford Bridge last season. Things do look so much more promising for the squad this season.

I gave Vegard Forren his debut today starting at LB, although I had a hard time deciding between him and Shevchuk for the LB position. Forren did not disappoint me, making 7 successful tackles out of 8 tackles down the left flank.

Kacar made a good debut in the CM role, protecting our back 4 well with 5 successful tackles out of 6. And they were spread all over the pitch, in addition he show some flashes of brilliance with some good passes. Looks like  real promising player. Will eventually decide if he belongs in the DM role or the CM role. Hasebe can play CM just as well according to his profile.

And of course Mr. Reliable and player of the year for Wolves last season, Berra, shows us why he deserves that title, making a total of 10 interceptions all over the pitch.

All in all a great performance against Chelsea. A point well-deserved, although I would have preferred to start the season with a bang by winning in style. Our fans were of course just as happy as me.

For the next game we hosted Bolton at the Molineux, eager to notch our first win of the sesaon. Canales started in the place of Krivets after his lively performance at Stamford Bridge, and we struggled to breakdown a very resilient Bolton midfield and defence.

I largely attribute our inability to breakdown a resilient Bolton defence due to the fact many of the players have not gelled well together, although I do think it’s a matter of time. You have players like Inler, Gacar, Forren and Milevskyi trying to fit into the squad and you do have to give them some time before they put on their best performances for the club. I’ve learn from many years of playing Football Manager that you should never judge a player too early after you just bought him because different players take different amount of times to play at their peak for the club. Patience is a virtue in FM.

Just when I thought we were heading for a goalless draw at half-time. Magic happened.

Milevskyi, picked up the ball in our own half after we cleared a Bolton corner, dribbled past a midfielder, and dashed into the Bolton half facing 2 defenders of theirs. It was a 2v1 situation and normally a striker would hold up the ball to wait for more backup to arrive. Not Milevskyi, he ran at one of them, dribbled past him, and was left with one defender to beat. The last defender committed to a sliding tackle and Milevskyi skipped away from the challenge to face an onrushing keeper. He calmly passed the ball into the bottom left corner of the net to score the opening goal for us. That goal alone was worth 10 million itself. What a player! That goal was eventually named goal of the month (I will include a screenshot of that in later posts.)

The rest of the 2nd half paled in comparison to Milevskyi’s strike, a combination of good goalkeeping and resilient defence made sure our lead stayed at one goal, although we did hit the bar once. The game eventually finished 1-0. I can’t imagine how much more quality Milevskyi will provide upfront when he eventually gels with the squad.

Our 3rd game took us to Ewood Park where we won 3-2 in the end to give us our first away win of the season. Paul Robinson stopped us from scoring the opening goal with some crazy saves in the first half, and it was really frustrating. As it came to the 30mins mark, Berra intercepted a ball and played a cross-field through ball for Fonseca who started in his first game of the season. Fonseca showed us why old is gold, powering a shot into the back of the net. The keeper had no chance.  Fonseca almost doubled our lead at the 40mins mark when he was once again set through on goal this time by Kacar. However, Robinson pulls over another fantastic save to keep Blackburn in the game.

Blackburn equalized after a well taken free kick just outside our penalty box, just before the stroke of half-time. I decided to sub on Inler for the 2nd half as we needed more possession in the midfield to create chances, and I took Jones off in return. The substitution paid off when Inler had a long rang effort that was palmed away.

From the resulting corner, Berra (who else) headed the ball onto the crossbar and Fonseca was there to apply the finish in the midst of so many players. He justified my decision in not selling him during the summer when offers came knocking.

Berra might have headed the ball onto the crossbar, but he did not make the same mistake twice as he headed the ball from point blank range into the net from the next resulting corner. It’s really amazing how Berra has a special talent for scoring from corners. A real weapon in games where we find it hard to break down the opposition’s defence. The score now was 1-3 in favour of us.

Verratti was brought on for his debut appearance in the place of Kacar. They pulled one back in the 72 mins via a corner making it 2-3, and I decided it was time to close up shop, and go home with the 3 points. Off came Milevskyi and in his place was young Krytsov and we played with 5 defenders for the remaining minutes. Worked like a gem as Blackburn had no chance of breaking down our defence at all.

Another 3 points in the bag! Fonseca was named man of the match. Can’t believe he still has it at the age 31.

The next game was a tough one as we hosted Liverpool at home. Another big 4 to play in the opening games of the season. Sigh. Why do we always have such bad luck.B

Both squad was cautious and proceeded to cancel out one another in the first half. I utilised the exact same strategy as I did against Chelsea, fielding two defensive-minded midfielders, Hasebe and Kacar. My squad huffed and puffed at the Liverpool goal but nothing seemed to happened. Frustration crept into me as I saw my players place miss passes throughout the whole match. The lack of teamwork was evident from the fact my squad has not gelled together well yet.

In the 58 min, in a desperate attempt to score a goal I went all out on the attack and was punished on the counter by Yossi Benayoun who broke through the flanks to fire a shot past Enyeama. I was gutted. We were defending so well.

Then it happened. While i was resigning to the fate that we will be dropping points against Liverpool, and we thoroughly deserved too after misplacing easy passes, I thought just for the heck of it I’ll let Marco Verratti have some 1st team experience if we are going to lose anyway. Off came Inler for Marco Verratti. And right before injury time ended, it happened. In the words of the media:

With Liverpool already beginning to celebrate, midfielder Marco Veratti then scored a curling shot from the edge of the area which hit the inside of the post before crossing the line in injury-time to snatch the equaliser for Wolves

What a goal, what a player. No wonder he is labelled as one of the most promising wonderkids in Football Manager 2010. Marco Verratti took a mere 10 mins to accomplish what 11 men on the pitch can’t do for 80 mins. And he is not even 20 yet!

One really special moment, for one special kid.

The next game saw us travel to Goodison Park, and games play at Goodison Park are always not easy games. Milevskyi almost opened the scoring for us in the 1st min, after dribbling through two defenders and shooting. Tim Howard manages a fingertip save and after that Everton showed they were no pushovers as they layed an onslaught on Enyeama’s goal. When we eventually scored, it was against the flow of the play.

On a counter attack, Jone set Fonseca through with a chip over the defence, and Fonseca made no mistake slotting it past Tim Howard to let us lead when half-time approach. Everton came up all guns blazing and their effort was rewarded in the form of a corner which Enyeama failed to hold on to the ball, and Arteta drove home the rebound shot into the goal. Fonseca then scores for us again after Ebanks-Blake, who came on at half time for the misfiring Milevskyi, set him up for a clear shot on goal. Ebanks-Blake was a constant torment to the Everton defenders with his lightning pace and it was a good decision to bring him on.

Fellani equalised for them in a controversial goal that had suspicions of being offside in the 89th minute. We were so so close to stealing a win at Goodison Park. Nevertheless, it was still a good result as I never ever seemed to win convincingly at Goodison Park.  Krivets and Canales also looked uninventive in that AMC role upfront and that contributed to our lack of chances. So rare to see both off them having an off day at the same time.

The next game was equally tough as we hosted Arsenal back at home. I remember beating Arsenal last season, and there were questions if we can beat them again this year. I started off using the same strategy I used against them last year, and that was to sit deep and defend and hit them on the break. Arsenal are a great force going forward but their fatal error is always to leave too many men upfront and little to defend counter attacks.

Kacar is now playing in the DM role. I felt he cannot really make a huge impact in the standard CM role of his.

We received a stroke of good fortune that assured us of a chance to win, when Fonseca was pulled to the ground when he was through on goal and about to shoot. The Arsenal defender was red-carded, and David Jones scored the resulting free-kick from the foul. Arsenal was one player down, and had only 10 men. Knowing Arsenal would come out of their shell to try and steal a point, I played Ebanks-Blake on for the 2nd half to ensure an even speedier counter attack from us if we have the chance.

It paid off when Arsenal had an attack being broken down, and they were found committing too many players up front. Jones picked out Ebanks-Blake with a nice cross-field pass and Ebanks-Blake finished off Arsenal with a 2nd goal for us. Milevskyi was playing badly for this game and I was getting a little worried for him. He has two or three  bad games in a row now. It finished 2-0 eventually with Arsenal not really being able to threaten us with only 10men on the pitch. And we notch another win against one of the big 4s.

Kacar was playing far much better from the DM position compared to the CM position as he made 3 key passes that eventually led to goals. One of the main reasons why we won so convincingly.

Shevchuk was just as impactful as he made the most interceptions that night with 7 in total all down the left flank. Arsenal wingers had no chance at all.

Stearman my RB was also magnificent that night ensuring the Arsenal winger had no chance of getting past him Won the most number of tackles that night.

A great RB and LB performance ensured Arsenal’s threat from the wing was nullified and Kacar and Inler did their job to shut down Fabregas well. He was exceedingly quiet that night.

Great performance defensive wise. A well deserved win for my boys.

After playing 6 games of the new season, Wolves’ look on course to secure a Euro spot, lying 5th in place, and being unbeaten. We have played Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea and yet still remained unbeaten. That’s a feat and evidence of how much the squad has improved. Can Milevskyi start turning on his game after he gels with the squad? How long can our unbeaten run last? Big games like United and Man City are coming up, can we really match that tooth for tooth? Find out as we start heading into the winter (:

Till next time, thanks for reading!