by Oli Baker
With a return to 4-5-1 inevitable, the consensus among Wolves fans was that Nenad Milijas, with impressive performances as a substitute against Swansea and midweek against Man City, had done enough to earn his second start of the season at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday. Instead, Milijas was dropped from the match day squad.
Mick McCarthy will understandably point to Milijas’ performance from the start against West Brom as reason for his exclusion, and he would have a point. While he was by no means Wolves worst performer on the day, he did struggle to influence the game. However, with McCarthy’s apparent admission that Jamie O’Hara was better in a more advanced position (despite recently stating the opposite was true) a more withdrawn role was envisaged for Milijas, where his range of passing would be more effective.
Milijas is certainly a player with limitations. European scout Tor-Kristian Karlsen labelled him “a talented playmaker, with the mobility of a fridge”, which is pretty difficult to argue with. But he has made significant efforts to adapt to the rigours of the English game – his work rate is vastly improved and he’s far more tenacious than when he first arrived. This added to his obvious class on the ball, goal threat and confidence in his ability, makes him a rarity in a Wolves squad full of endeavour but short on craft.
Despite this, you do get the impression that McCarthy has never trusted Milijas, and at this stage of his Wolves career, it’s hard to believe that he ever will. If a starting XI involving Milijas is not performing well, it is inevitable that he will be taken off. And he will be nowhere to be seen come the next game, regardless of how he has performed in relation to others.
Whether the inclusion of Milijas on Saturday would have made any difference to the result is debatable – in reality it almost certainly wouldn’t. But the fact he was dropped from the entire squad was bizarre as he had shown against Swansea that he can have an impact as a substitute. Ordinarily, this would not be a major decision. But coupled with McCarthy’s slamming of the fans and our recent results, it is another small aggravating factor – something the manager could well do without.
Perhaps the most pertinent point is that this further demonstrates that McCarthy has not got a clue what his best side is. As a result, you imagine that the chopping and changing of our midfield and formation will continue – something that will only be complicated further by the return of Steven Fletcher.
All we know at this stage is that – as the manager himself admits – it is “Karl Henry and ten others”.
Robert Taylor never did recapture his Gillingham form did he?
Some wonderful goals here…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9qoUAOONZM
I recall Stuart Hall during a game, descibing our ex striker Robert Taylor, as ‘possessing all the mobility of a large sideboard’
That was when he was playing at City … considered one of their worst 1m signings ever. Also arguably our worst 1 million signing ever.
Ironically was signed by Moxey without the consent of Colin Lee.. as was Temuri Kets.. as was later Okoronkwo (ever wonder why DJ didnt play him till April in the league?!)
Back to the current situation.. For me we have diverted far too big a proportion of our Funds to the long term plan (admirable as it genuinely is). Morgan and Moxey have seriously underestimated the mediocrity of our squad.
We were net sellers in the January window and were very lucky to survive. To this squad all we added was Roger Johnson. Somehow, The Club perpetuated a myth that this constitued the investment needed to secure mid table type status.
Why?
MM is the very best manager in the Greed League, and should be given a new 5 year contract on vastly increased terms.
Hats off to the Chairman, for succeeding where we failed in buying the club, to make money from the real estate, rather than worrying about the silly football team.
I think we all know by now Oli that any logical inclusion of certain players just passes McCarthy by, why that is, only he knows!
On Fletcher and coupling it with another of your comments ‘… that this further demonstrates that McCarthy has not got a clue what his best side is’, Fletcher was bought to score goals but hardly made the first team for over 6 months but ONLY when MM’s ‘favourite striker’ Doyle got injured, did Fletcher play and he did what Doyle hardly ever does, scores goals!
Now amazingly and it took McCarthy quite a while to work it out, Fletcher is a first choice which backs up the comment you made earlier.
IF only McCarthy had a clue as what tactics to correctly employ and what to do when they don’t work, Wolves would not now be languishing in the bottom 4 AGAIN!
Before anyone asks, no I am not a McCarthy fan and never will be. His attitude towards fans has created an ‘us and them’ situation which has at times boiled over with certain fans baying for blood and I am sure that the damage will never be healed even if McCarthy was actually to win anything at Molineux.
I’m not sure McCarthy’s relationship with the fans is irretrievable quite yet.
It will be very interesting to see how he accommodates Fletcher and Doyle in the same team. I’d imagine in some ways he is happy that Fletcher is not back for Sunday, which is a strange way to think about your top scorer