The last two times I visited Molineux were during David Platt’s tenure. We lost 3-0, with Tony Vaughan and David Prutton being dismissed (Vaughan was red-carded for being headbutted by Ade Akinbiyi), and Michael Branch scored that cheating goal; the following year, we lost 2-0, with two more red cards. So when I shelled out an extortionate £28 for a ticket, I consoled myself that at least it couldn’t be as bad as the last couple of times I went.
At the end, I was probably less disheartened than you would imagine. The last couple of times, Forest were abject, and Wolves weren’t necessarily that good either. However, this time, we were taught a real footballing lesson by a rampant Wolves team who play football the way that Sir Brian intended. Even though it was from the wrong team, I kind of felt privileged to have watched some of the best quality football that I have seen in many a year.
Forest were poor, no doubt about it. I have talked on the podcast about how the 4-3-3 doesn’t seem to work away, borne out by the defeats to Wolves and Swansea. Wolves base their play on Michael Kightly and Matt Jarvis on the wings, and Jules and Luke Chambers both had torrid afternoons. It has to be said that the formation does not provide much protection for the full-backs, but they really did not help themselves with their positional sense (or lack of it), and both ended up in the book (Chambers was only saved from a deserved early bath by some very lenient refereeing).
Of course, by the time that Forest went 4-4-2, the match was long gone. Nathan Tyson was the only player who can hold his head up after this; Smudge tried his best but has to take responsibility for the weak punch that caused the second goal (although as usual he made a couple of good saves which prevented further embarrassment). After putting Chambers out of his misery by sticking Kelvin Wilson at right-back, it will be interesting to see what CC does during the international break to try and solve the problem in both full-back positions. Once we get more players back, I would like to see a 4-4-2; although 4-3-3 has worked well when attacking at home, the full-backs are sometimes unfairly exposed in this formation. Having said that, both Luke and Jules made basic errors in this match, especially with regard to their positional sense – they have both played enough matches in their respective positions to know what they should be doing (so I do not accept any arguments about Chambers really being a centre-half).
Anyway, all the players will have a lot to learn from this one – in midfield, Chris Cohen worked as hard as usual, but his positional sense was also appalling, as he seemed to spend a lot of his time playing as a fourth forward. The delivery from Martin and Cohen from set-pieces was poor, with all the balls going straight into the gloves of Wolves’ custodian. I also have to confess that I did not even notice that Earnshaw went off injured a few minutes early, as he never really had a chance to get involved.
Contrary to what was written on the official site, there were a good number of Reds still there after 90 minutes, and many of us applauded the players (or at least the players who took the time to applaud us). Some of us also applauded Wolves for an imperious display, just as some of us applauded Michael Kightly when he was substituted – he had been the best player on the park and I hope Garath McCleary is inspired by the tale of “non-league lad made good”.
Don’t be too disheartened, this was simply a demonstration of the gulf in class between a team who are new to this league, and a team who are likely to be challenging for promotion. A Wolves-supporting friend told me afterwards that, although we clearly had a bad day, he thought we would be fine this season; also many Wolves fans are pointing out that they haven’t played that well for many years.
Forest (4-2-1-3): Smith; Chambers (Wilson 71), Morgan, Breckin (c), Bennett; Perch (McCleary 71), Moussi; Cohen; Earnshaw, Tyson (Cole 71), Martin. Not used: Thornhill, Roberts. Goal: Stearman (og) 55
Wolves (4-4-2): Hennessey; Foley, Collins, Stearman, Ward; Kightly (Gray 77), Jones, Henry, Jarvis (Edwards 66); Iwelumo, Ebanks-Blake (Keogh 65). Not used: Ward, Ikeme. Goals: Jones 14; Morgan (og) 29; Kightly 44, 62; Iwelumo 45.
