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Aug 2004 Sept 2004 Oct 2004 Nov 2004 Dec 2004 Jan 2005 Feb 2005 Mar 2005 Apr 2005 May 2005 |
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Next matches: FRIDAY Feb 4th WW v Sunderland (on SKY SPORTS 3) Saturday Feb 12th Derby County v WW 3.00pm Sat Jan 29th FA Cup 4th round - Arsenal 2 (Vieira, Ljungberg) Wolves 0. (Video of the match) Arsenal page pix
At least we were able to give the Gunners a good run for their money. Arsene Wenger expressed surprise at how well Joleon and Craddock held up. Bjorklund’s first start for ages in Glenn’s reshaped side was an oustanding performance, matching Reyes for speed and severly dimishing his threat. Mark Kennedy, playing further up in midfield but tackling back had a good match too. K Paul Ince was substituted, possibly to avoid a second yellow in the 86th to an even longer chorus of “there’s only one Paul Ince” than he got at the two West Ham matches.
The 5000+ Wolves fans even managed a chorus of Bully in extra time. The BBC microphones seemed to pick up Arsenal fans singing, but in the Clock End, only once could we hear them. And yes, some might indeed become Chelsea supporters next season.
The new Arsenal stadium pix are on the Arsenal page here. The E&S BB has these links for video highlights....warning - we have not checked them for viruses but they got through my copy of Norton and seem to run ok! But they took 2-3 hours to download on 700k broadband for each half. Quality is good commentary in Korean (I think)!! You have to click the big blue button on the first screen then ignore the login request (all in Korean). If any London Wolves member has difficulty with this please contact me on webmaster http://down.clubbox.co.kr/ksahhj/8r8e Further pictures from the day.More pictures including the new stadium are on the Arsenal page
Sat Jan 22nd Millwall 1 v WW 2 Olofinjana, Seol
Joleon pulled Hayles to give a pen in the 76th - reaction from the commentary bank was that ref was conned, and it looked very innocuous on the tv replays. Either that or very silly since the ball was going clear through to Oakes. Millwall’s player manager Dennis Wise stepped up to take it. He had surprisingly substituted himself for playmaker Morris in the 59th.
Oakes’ saves: Man of the Match? - disputed between Seol and Oakes. To see Seol’s goal and his lob cleared off the line look here http://shinilta.co.kr/way-board/db/...%20-%20Seol.wmv
Some ratings - from BorisWolf on the E&S BB, an Andrews admirer obviously Oakes- some top saves , took crosses OK too. Never going to be his biggest fan but 8/10 MoM and from the Sunday Times - “Wise Cracks appearing” or “ Hoddle too Wise for Lions”. Oakes 8, Naylor 7, Lescott 6, Craddock 6, Clyde 6, Kennedy 7, Olofinjana 7 (Andrew 80m 6), Ince 6, Seol 9, Miller 5, (Clarke 65m 6), Cort 6. Sat Jan 15th Wolves 4 (Miller 29,54 Ince 72, Cort 75) West Ham United 2 (Zamora 36, 57)
Goals are on this website http://my-cgi.dreamwiz.com/cookiesong24/seol2as.wmv A poor refereeing performance all round from C Penton and his linesmen, matched by an appalling performance by Seyi George Olofinjana. West Ham’s first equaliser came from an offside Zamora, and even the second was close, but ok. Just for once we got the benefit of a poor refereeing decision when ref Penton pulled play back to give West Ham a free kick when they were clear through. The poor decisions started in the first few minutes when Harewood tripped himself up with Craddock a yard away and the linesman gave a free kick! Olofinjana was finally substituted by Colin Cameron, who would have been a better bet from the start, on 68 minutes. Unable to jump or challenge to win the ball, consistently giving it away when he had it, it was probably his worst performance in a season of pretty poor performances, in spite of the few highlights.
It only took another 3 minutes for West Ham to pull our defence to pieces on the right with Harewood holding Craddock off. Matt thought he would shoot and covered that, but Harewood pulled it back across the 6 yard line for an unmarked Zamora to tap it home. For the first time the Wolves’ players heads didn’t go down, but we were very lucky to get through a 10 minute period of strong West Ham pressure, with two outstanding saves by Matt, and a great faux pas from the ref pulling them back for a free kick in their favour when Craddock missed a header and Zamora and Harewood were clear through. That would have changed the match.
We were treated to an appearance from Kunle Odetoyinbo - “fitness” coach! Player scores from SSW on the Express & Star BB at. http://bb.blackcountry.com/communitycentral/showthread.php?t=14217 Murray: Good match, mainly because of some important saves throughout the match. We know he has real problems with his kicking, and I’m sure he can improve, but other than that, Murray is quality, and he is vital to this dodgy defence of ours. 7/10. (Ed should be 9 just for the effect he had on the team and the crowd) Sat Jan 8th WW 2 (Seol, Cort) Millwall 0 (FA Cup 3rd round) 13:00 k.o
A welcome win, shame it wasn't a league match. All in all a pretty drab affair that was over after after the first ten minutes or so. Totally forgettable secondhalf but a win's a win, let's hope it kickstarts us into ensuring our safety first and foremost. Only 11,000 Wolves supporters witnessed it. There were also reports of trouble from Millwall supporters after the game http://bb.blackcountry.com/communitycentral/showthread.php?t=13861 Tue Jan 4th Wigan Athletic 2 (Ellington, 1 pen) v WW 0 This time we’d hoped for a draw against the second club in the league to equal the club record of 6 draws against the second club in the league. No chance - 2 goals conceded in a very poor first half. Two corners only won by Wigan - two goals, the first from a header from the corner in the 17th and the second when Keith Andrews conceded a penalty in the 26th. Ellington did a Coops - straight down the middle while Oakes dived. Ince came on for Andrews at half time, but we didn’t have a shot for nearly 40 minutes! Kenny and Kennedy were replaced by Leon and Cams on 62 minutes. Only 8 shots all match - 6 in the first half. For the first 35 minutes we had 37% of the possession - 48% by half and full time. “Worst performance under Hoddle” 107.7 The Wolf. Quote of the game “Wolves are going backwards” Sat Jan 1st WW 1 (Seol 24) v Plymouth Argyle 1 (Friio 58) (3pm) So, will it be 5 draws in a row or can we get our first double of the season? Answers = “yes”, “no”
T The first half, then, suffered several worrying moments given our ability to concede from set pieces. S W
Performances:
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A tough match for the Wolves against the Premiership Champions at almost full strength, apart from 6 changes! But, for the first half we matched them, and even could have gone ahead just before half time. Yes they had more shots but many were wayward and Michael Oakes continued his exciting form from the Millwall match.... the Sunday Times even suggesting he could have come into Sven Goran’s England thinking! Over generous refereeing by Riley gave Arsenal a penalty (seen here being taken by Patrick Vieira second from left) and not us, and two yellow cards for the Wolves (Ince and Seol) but none for diving (Eboue), ungentlemanly conduct, or dissent (the last two being Thierry Henry). Nothing either for off-the-ball tackling (Campbell) or a vicious lunge at Mark Kennedy (Henry). Referee Riley again changed the game.
enny’s late introduction for Bjorklund with 30 minutes to go made very little difference. He had one fantastic run in to the centre but, infortunately Seol’s cross was wayward. Seol again showed flashes of brilliance, but, like most of the team seemed reluctant to shoot. Seyi George’s passing was much better but he missed one golden chance again.
Man-of-the-match has to be Michael Oakes for his outstanding saves (“in superlative form”) from Robin van Persie, Patrick Vieira, Van Persie, Ljungberg, Henry, Ljungberg.....
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reat goal scored in the 37th minute by Seyi George Olofinjana from Kenny’s immaculate pass into his path. And a great injury time winner from Seol (
Millwall certainly exerted pressure for periods of the second half, but were clearly very disappointed when Keith Andrews (subbed for George) intercepted a Muscat pass out of defence, ran a few yards and passed it to Seol in space. He trapped it with his left, made a little more space and hammered it past Graham Stack from a good 25 yards.
Millwall won 14 corners, putting plenty of pressure on our goal. The first save came in the 11th from Livermore’s inswinging corner. In the 19th Oakes pulled off a tremendous save from ex-Wolf Kevin Muscat from his 35 yard free kick, having been caught off his line, just tipping the ball over. Another free kick from Jody Morris on the by-line again had Oakes acrobatically palming the ball away. More pressure early in the second half saw Dobie’s header from Dunne’s cross tipped over. A free kick against Joleon wide on the right, brought a head-down by Dichio into Dunne’s path and Oakes palmed away the vicious shot. He stood no chance with the penalty having decided to dive and Wise powered it high into the centre of the goal. Finally in the last few seconds of injury time, he stopped a certain equaliser from Dunne’s angled shot. Hopefully he’ll keep this form. 
Hod’s second win. The biggest boost to the team and fans - Matt Murray retaining his place and keeping us in the match with two outstanding saves at two each. Ince, booed constantly at Boleyn Park and now at Molineux, of course, had to score. And it was the decisive 3rd goal which knocked the stuffing out of West Ham, not long after they had been denied a clear goal-scoring opportunity by the referee.
So, it’s that man again, Kenny struck in the 29th to bag his 11th goal of the season - going for 30+ we must hope. He pounced on to a loose ball from Carl Cort’s headed challenge in the box from a long Clyde pass, and stabbed it home. Within 3 minutes though, Bobby Zamora, looking suspiciously offside to a Rebrov shot going well wide, and slotted it cooly past Matt. 
9 minutes into the second half and Kenny restored the lead - Kennedy to Seol, great cross to the far post to Kenny whose shot was just too ferocious and went straight through James Walker in the Hammers’ goal. Walker was really to blame and although it wasn’t as bad as the famous “bobble” when he played for Walsall against us, but it did bring the South Bank to life with a chorus of “there’s only one Jimmy Walker”!
Then a poor attempt to clear the ball by Malky Mackay and Cort’s unusually energetic challenge saw the ball to Kenny who’s weak attempt came back off the defence straight to Paul Ince running in and expecting it. A great shot hit the goalie but again he could do nothing about. West Ham began to fall apart and were opened up a few minutes later by yet another great cross from Seol, and a tap home from Carl Cort beating three defenders and the goalie to the ball. Not a great match from Carl, but he was more involved and made a more positive contribution.
Bad first half. Far better in the second. Did far better than Clyde on the defensive side of things. 5.5/10 (Ed: I thought he did well to contain Harewood as well as he did)
Ince: Close to MOTM. Provided considerable presence just by being there at times. You just can’t compare Ince to Andrews. The highlight of his game was a goal, which he loved, and some super tackles. 7.5/10. 
Glenn Hoddle’s first win then as Wolves manager. And it was all over within 11 minutes with a cracking goal by Seol in the 8th all his own work after recovering the all 30 yards out and weaving through to shoot. 3 minutes later a great cross from the left from Kennedy found Carl Cort where he should be in the box and facing the right way to stretch and head home. Some would agree though that it was all over for a weakened Millwall when Matt Murray was named as goalkeeper, and Ince was restored to the starting 11 in front of 12,556. Wolves had 56% of possession. Reports say second half was poor. Match feedback from user SSW on MoliMix follows:
Seol - a lively performance that caused Millwall problems all afternoon. Some good tricky footwork had the opposition in knots at times, if he'd just look up a bit more you get the impression he would be a real asset for us. Unstoppable 20yd left footed shot which went straight into the top left corner of the net for his goal. (ed: sounds like another MoM)
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reat first half where we should have finished 4-0 lit up by Seol’s stunning 25 yard shot from the West side of the penalty area across the goal gave way to a weather affected atrocious second half (not talking about the weather!), the lowest point of which was the appalling error by Oakes, dropping the ball, and then not being covered by the defence.. Craddock poked at the ball, Andrews missed Friio and Naylor was the last to fail to get a tackle in on Friio who slotted home the equaliser.
he Red Cross, together with loads of drenched volunteers, ran the collection for the South East Asian relief fund. Well done to them - we hope they raised considerably more than the pitiful £6,800 record. Kick off, of course, was preceded by a minute’s silence, impeccably observed inside the ground, in memory of the tragedy.
Fortunately, Plymouth Argyle is one team we won’t be looking to get strikers in from, since they were worse than ours. However, they were winning headers from corners - just not getting them on target. Here’s Oakes diving late to an early Plymouth header from Micky Evans which fortunately drifted wide. At this stage, there were significant periods of Wolves possession with little to show for it until Kenny passed the ball square across the box about 30 yards out to Seol who looked up, saw he had a shot on and rifled the call to the goalkeeper’s right, giving him no chance. 1-0 up in 24 minutes - the first time a Hoddle Wolves team had been in the lead. Inspired by this 
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still 1-0 at half time, and Glenn arranged an exhibition of the new plan to train the strikers - blindfold them. A Pilgrim nun volunteered to take part too. At least the Wolf scored, albeit from a miskick, but the nun was hindered by Wolfie throughout his pilgrim’s progress from the half way line.
hile the match at Turf Moor was being called off because of the adverse weather conditions our brave souls struggled on. Heavy rain, coupled with high winds drenched those in the temporary Graham Hughes stand, and then uprooted the South Bank hoardings. At least Michael Oakes caught something.
A brief stoppage - at least the three minutes the not very good ref added on, ignoring all the Plymouth time-wasting - for the debris to be removed.
Ref Webster certainly couldn’t be accused of being a homer, giving Plymouth the benefit of some dodgy decisions several times. We thought he might go off but our physio’s magic sponge unfortunately got him going.
