Am grateful to everyone for their contributions to the matchday thread - had to catch up on first half on the way home from a conference, although at one point I thought we'd gone 3-0 down before half time, the way some of the comments had fired across each other.
So, there's a combination of getting back to what has been my opinion on various players for a long time, and what we seemed to have found in yesterday's game, and others from this season so far. This may make some people break some crockery, but it's just me trying to take the rose-tinted spectacles off, comparing recent form (the last couple of seasons) with what was long held by myself. Here goes, tin hat now firmly on...
STEARMAN - As most will recall, for every handful of good decisions/actions from him, there was always a shocker of an error, most times punished, which tended to eradicate his overall value to the team. Wasn't he stalling on a new contract? In any other season but this (due to the last couple of years of form), a package worth something like £2.5 Million would have had a lot of us driving him to his new club's training ground! I have no doubt he was sold due to the expectation of a replacement coming in. It's still not too late for that, with the emergency loan window which we've played so well in the past. Overall, selling his was the RIGHT decision, but as Brian Clough once said, never sell a key player until you are sure you have someone better coming in...
EDWARDS - Again, another player where you have to look at the overall value to the team - positives versus negatives. For every goal, there's a handful of scuffed chances, or losing the ball when he never should, or not passing when he should, in other words general bad decision making. Having a player imitate the Tasmanian Devil is one thing, provided he's sweeping away everything in front of him - Edwards does not. All the time he has been at Wolves, I have been depressed every time he is on the team sheet - either as a starter or a sub. And now he has become a KJ Untouchable - no matter how badly he does, if he's fit he starts. Mick McCarthy used to get stick for having a handful of such untouchables, yet KJ will drop others who don't cut it in a particular game.
MCDONALD - Another one who has somehow escaped the wrath of KJ, who weeded out the (other) mercenaries at the start of his Wolves tenure. He should have been sold when he started his sulk, and we have more cover in central midfield than we do in defence to have been able to do so. I don't think the majority of fans would have had a problem with getting rid of another "Head's Gone".
IKEME - I recall the time when having him in goal set alarm bells ringing. I think we're just about seeing Martinez getting settled, and remaining as first choice. What are the odds that Ikeme might be gone in January? Certainly, I think we can do better, and WILL do so in the long term.
DOHERTY - Iorfa is rightly first choice. KJ has said so. Explanations as to why Doherty gets anywhere near the team need to be revealed, especially as Iorfa's fitness for yesterday has not been questioned. Doherty is not part of a Wolves Premier Division future, but who on Earth would take him off our hands?
GOLBOURNE - Good games, bad games. Can we afford the luxury of players who are so inconsistent, and how much does he rely on having a mobile and fast left winger in front of him? Of all the players, he seems to be the one who misses Sako the most.
HENRY - Looks like he is now consigned to be an impact sub, at best. Ah well, have always thought he brings a lot to the team, but another who crumbles on consistency.
PRICE - No question. When he's fit he starts. He doesn't make goals, he stops us conceding. Every team needs a midfielder with this as their brief.
EEL - Didn't he have a good but short run in the side as Right Back? Scored a cracker of a goal from there? Swap Iorfa and him over, perchance?
HAUSE - We keep talking about giving players a run in the side. It appears from all reports that Hause is gradually clawing up the form ladder?
Anyhow, that's the view from my bunker. A couple of emergency loans put in place in the next couple of weeks might give us the backbone needed to make all of this a distant memory... ?
