Wolverhampton Wanderers v Manchester United!:
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11 min: Good run round the back of Ward down the right from Rafael and he is played in by Valencia's pass. The right-back bombs into the box and screws a cross beyond Hernandez in the centre of the goal from a very promising move.
9 min: Rooney's dropping back to pick the ball up off Carrick and Scholes, fancying his chances of turning and running at the Wolves defence. He has just made such a run and works the ball out to Welbeck through Stearman's challenge and Welbeck shoots tamely at Hennessey.
7 min: Rooney is fouled by Bassong after a neat touch and turn but when Wolves win the ball back from the free-kick the long ball up to Fletcher is too heavy.
5 min: Neat possession football from the home side, stroking it around under pressure through Foley and Davis in the centre and trying to get Zubar free up the right again. At the moment Welbeck is tucking in on the left to make a four across midfield. Paul Foster writes re my comment at 1.16pm: "An indictment of the Eriksson regime or an indictment of Paul Scholes's sense of entitlement? England had no left-winger at the time and Eriksson made the perfectly fair decision that a gifted and highly technical footballer like Scholes could do a job there. Just as Zidane was regularly played on the left wing for both France and Real Madrid. Is playing for England not enough now? Should players be able to choose their position too?"
3 min: Jarvis cuts inside and rolls a horizontal pass to Zubar who stretches hgis legs past Evra and puts in a booming away-swinging cross that doesn't threaten the goal and fails to exploit the good work Doyle had done to drag his marker away and make space for the full-back's thrust.
1 min: Wolves kick off and play it bacdk to the keeper who whacks it to the edge of the United area for Fletcher and Evans heads it back upfield.
1.28pm: And it's hi ho Wolverhampton …
1.26pm: And here's Gary Naylor with his thoughts on the prevailing state: "While everyone in football is patting themselves on the back for the reaction to Fabrice Muamba's heart attack yesterday, with the glass half-empty, it's an indictment that it takes a man to go to death's door to bring out the decency of football fans. Perhaps it's time to reclaim the discourse of football from the language of hate through proactive stewarding/moderation and peer pressure. It's that sort of action that proved largely successful in ridding football grounds of racist abuse – it's time to get rid of the rest of the abuse from stadiums and the web." You're right, Gary, though I think too many people would think of it as a dilution. You say these things and people accuse you of being a middle-class Johnny-come-lately or attempting to stifle the flow of "banter", that dread phrase. Civility does not have to kill humour, though. And what the response reveals is that for some, nastiness is only an act.
1.19pm: Some pertinent thoughts on Wolves have winged in from David Bell: "Blimey - that is a desperately weak Wolves team. Likeable, hardworking players all of them - but severely limited; and interviews from Kightly and Hennessey recently show that there's a culture at the club where our players believe they aren't particularly good footballers and can only get by on hard work. For years Wolves fans have said that's all they ask for, but it's become increasingly evident that's not enough this season and it's particularly difficult to swallow when you see the football Swansea and Norwich are playing.
"Bad luck's played its part though - our midfield is currently missing Henry (arguably our most important player), Milijas, O'Hara, Frimpong and Guedioura (stupidly loaned to Forest with no recall option) - so we have David Davis (aged 21) making his second ever start for the club in a potentially poisonous atmosphere against Manchester United. With Hernandez, Rooney and Wellbeck playing Sir Alex has clearly identified this as a game where United can make hay and start to overhaul City's goal difference lead. Given that goal difference could be crucial down the bottom too, I would actually settle for losing 1-0 or 2-0 from the off."
It does look weak, David, and I fear for them today. If the crowd gets on their backs early it may be an ordeal for players so manifestly lacking in self-belief.
1.16pm: Dwight Yorke has just said that people don't realise what a huge miss Paul Scholes has been for England over the past eight years. Thing is, I think we do. It was an indictment of the Eriksson regime that he would not take a decision to pick the best two from Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard to play in the centre during Euro 2004 and instead played all three with Scholes the fall guy, stuck out on the left. I'm sure it convinced him to call it a day.
Here are the teams:
Wolverhampton: Hennessey; Zubar, Stearman, Bassong, Ward; Foley, Edwards, Davis, Jarvis; Doyle, Fletcher.
Subs: De Vries, Kightly, Ebanks-Blake, Hunt, Johnson, Berra, Jonsson.
Man Utd: De Gea; Rafael Da Silva, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra; Valencia, Carrick, Scholes; Welbeck, Hernandez, Rooney.
Subs: Amos, Giggs, Smalling, Park, Young, Fabio Da Silva, Pogba.
Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire)
Good afternoon: After yesterday's events at White Hart Lane and the statement this morning confirming that Fabrice Muamba remains in a critical condition following his heart attack during the FA Cup tie, forgive me if this preamble is a little subdued. What has struck me, though, is that for all the vindictiveness that at times threatens to overwhelm our game, the response to the gravity of what happened yesterday has been a credit to the essential decency of football fans.
Talking about the prospects for Wolves v Manchester United is a jarring step change after that but nonetheless has to be done. Wolves have actually won two of the three Premier League encounters between the two sides at Molineux, winning 2-1 through goals from George Elokobi and Kevin Doyle last season and 1-0 when Kenny Miller scored in 2004. I've seen Wolves win twice this season and the key to both victories was Matt Jarvis and Stephen Fletcher. After United's performances against Bilbao, when the speed of thought and movement of Athletic Bilbao bamboozled them, they will be determined to show that their ability to cope with the lesser tactical demands posed by a Premier League team has not been diminished.
I saw Terry Connor make his debut as a player, coming on as a substitute for Leeds in a home game against West Brom and he scored in a 1-0 victory in 1979. He was a phenomenally hard-working centre-forward who ran the channels with real industry and diligence and never let the disgusting abuse he took destroy his appetite for the game. His form deserted him and he was moved to midfield in a struggling side that went down in 1982 but rebuilt his career with Brighton and became one of the most venerated players of the 1980s at the Goldstone Ground. I wish him well but fear today will be a tricky afternoon for him.
Early team news tells us that for the second league game running Sir Alex Ferguson has opted for an attacking trident of Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez with Antonio Valencia and Paul Scholes also returning to the starting XI. For Wolves Kevin Foley replaces Jamie O'Hara and there's no place for Roger Johnson on the bench.
I'll post the full teams when they drop.
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• Hit F5 for the latest or set your page to update automatically
• Send your emails over to rob.bagchi@guardian.co.uk
• Keep up with all today's goals on our live scoreboard
• Check out the latest league table with our stats centre
11 min: Good run round the back of Ward down the right from Rafael and he is played in by Valencia's pass. The right-back bombs into the box and screws a cross beyond Hernandez in the centre of the goal from a very promising move.
9 min: Rooney's dropping back to pick the ball up off Carrick and Scholes, fancying his chances of turning and running at the Wolves defence. He has just made such a run and works the ball out to Welbeck through Stearman's challenge and Welbeck shoots tamely at Hennessey.
7 min: Rooney is fouled by Bassong after a neat touch and turn but when Wolves win the ball back from the free-kick the long ball up to Fletcher is too heavy.
5 min: Neat possession football from the home side, stroking it around under pressure through Foley and Davis in the centre and trying to get Zubar free up the right again. At the moment Welbeck is tucking in on the left to make a four across midfield. Paul Foster writes re my comment at 1.16pm: "An indictment of the Eriksson regime or an indictment of Paul Scholes's sense of entitlement? England had no left-winger at the time and Eriksson made the perfectly fair decision that a gifted and highly technical footballer like Scholes could do a job there. Just as Zidane was regularly played on the left wing for both France and Real Madrid. Is playing for England not enough now? Should players be able to choose their position too?"
3 min: Jarvis cuts inside and rolls a horizontal pass to Zubar who stretches hgis legs past Evra and puts in a booming away-swinging cross that doesn't threaten the goal and fails to exploit the good work Doyle had done to drag his marker away and make space for the full-back's thrust.
1 min: Wolves kick off and play it bacdk to the keeper who whacks it to the edge of the United area for Fletcher and Evans heads it back upfield.
1.28pm: And it's hi ho Wolverhampton …
1.26pm: And here's Gary Naylor with his thoughts on the prevailing state: "While everyone in football is patting themselves on the back for the reaction to Fabrice Muamba's heart attack yesterday, with the glass half-empty, it's an indictment that it takes a man to go to death's door to bring out the decency of football fans. Perhaps it's time to reclaim the discourse of football from the language of hate through proactive stewarding/moderation and peer pressure. It's that sort of action that proved largely successful in ridding football grounds of racist abuse – it's time to get rid of the rest of the abuse from stadiums and the web." You're right, Gary, though I think too many people would think of it as a dilution. You say these things and people accuse you of being a middle-class Johnny-come-lately or attempting to stifle the flow of "banter", that dread phrase. Civility does not have to kill humour, though. And what the response reveals is that for some, nastiness is only an act.
1.19pm: Some pertinent thoughts on Wolves have winged in from David Bell: "Blimey - that is a desperately weak Wolves team. Likeable, hardworking players all of them - but severely limited; and interviews from Kightly and Hennessey recently show that there's a culture at the club where our players believe they aren't particularly good footballers and can only get by on hard work. For years Wolves fans have said that's all they ask for, but it's become increasingly evident that's not enough this season and it's particularly difficult to swallow when you see the football Swansea and Norwich are playing.
"Bad luck's played its part though - our midfield is currently missing Henry (arguably our most important player), Milijas, O'Hara, Frimpong and Guedioura (stupidly loaned to Forest with no recall option) - so we have David Davis (aged 21) making his second ever start for the club in a potentially poisonous atmosphere against Manchester United. With Hernandez, Rooney and Wellbeck playing Sir Alex has clearly identified this as a game where United can make hay and start to overhaul City's goal difference lead. Given that goal difference could be crucial down the bottom too, I would actually settle for losing 1-0 or 2-0 from the off."
It does look weak, David, and I fear for them today. If the crowd gets on their backs early it may be an ordeal for players so manifestly lacking in self-belief.
1.16pm: Dwight Yorke has just said that people don't realise what a huge miss Paul Scholes has been for England over the past eight years. Thing is, I think we do. It was an indictment of the Eriksson regime that he would not take a decision to pick the best two from Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard to play in the centre during Euro 2004 and instead played all three with Scholes the fall guy, stuck out on the left. I'm sure it convinced him to call it a day.
Here are the teams:
Wolverhampton: Hennessey; Zubar, Stearman, Bassong, Ward; Foley, Edwards, Davis, Jarvis; Doyle, Fletcher.
Subs: De Vries, Kightly, Ebanks-Blake, Hunt, Johnson, Berra, Jonsson.
Man Utd: De Gea; Rafael Da Silva, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra; Valencia, Carrick, Scholes; Welbeck, Hernandez, Rooney.
Subs: Amos, Giggs, Smalling, Park, Young, Fabio Da Silva, Pogba.
Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire)
Good afternoon: After yesterday's events at White Hart Lane and the statement this morning confirming that Fabrice Muamba remains in a critical condition following his heart attack during the FA Cup tie, forgive me if this preamble is a little subdued. What has struck me, though, is that for all the vindictiveness that at times threatens to overwhelm our game, the response to the gravity of what happened yesterday has been a credit to the essential decency of football fans.
Talking about the prospects for Wolves v Manchester United is a jarring step change after that but nonetheless has to be done. Wolves have actually won two of the three Premier League encounters between the two sides at Molineux, winning 2-1 through goals from George Elokobi and Kevin Doyle last season and 1-0 when Kenny Miller scored in 2004. I've seen Wolves win twice this season and the key to both victories was Matt Jarvis and Stephen Fletcher. After United's performances against Bilbao, when the speed of thought and movement of Athletic Bilbao bamboozled them, they will be determined to show that their ability to cope with the lesser tactical demands posed by a Premier League team has not been diminished.
I saw Terry Connor make his debut as a player, coming on as a substitute for Leeds in a home game against West Brom and he scored in a 1-0 victory in 1979. He was a phenomenally hard-working centre-forward who ran the channels with real industry and diligence and never let the disgusting abuse he took destroy his appetite for the game. His form deserted him and he was moved to midfield in a struggling side that went down in 1982 but rebuilt his career with Brighton and became one of the most venerated players of the 1980s at the Goldstone Ground. I wish him well but fear today will be a tricky afternoon for him.
Early team news tells us that for the second league game running Sir Alex Ferguson has opted for an attacking trident of Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez with Antonio Valencia and Paul Scholes also returning to the starting XI. For Wolves Kevin Foley replaces Jamie O'Hara and there's no place for Roger Johnson on the bench.
I'll post the full teams when they drop.
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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