Wolves at Man. U [R]

[kwik1980]

Biggest test of the young season for Wolves comes in a Wednesday night trip to Old Trafford to take on defending champions Manchester United. Previous results aside, this trip couldn't come at a worse time for Wolves from a personnel standpoint. There is a hitch with new signing Emerson, and while the holdup is between Emerson, and his previous club, Athletico Madrid, it now appears that he will not be available for Wolves until the Saturday match with Portsmouth at Molineux. To further matters, Matt Murray is still suffering from a back injury, and will only be available on the bench for an emergency situation, and Kevin Cooper has been ruled out due to the ankle injury suffered in the 2nd half against Charlton. Miller, Kennedy, Lescott and Ndah are still out due to their injuries, and Newton, Sturridge and Luzhny are "doubtful" because of injuries.

Preview information from the BBC (Match on FSW in the US live at 3pm)

Manchester United (From): Howard, Carroll, G Neville, P Neville, Silvestre, Ferdinand, O'Shea, Solskjaer, Ronaldo, Keane, Scholes, Djemba-Djemba, Kleberson, Giggs, van Nistelrooy, Forlan, Fletcher, Richardson.
Nicky Butt and Quinton Fortune are definately out.

Wolves (From): Oakes, Irwin, Naylor, Butler, Craddock, Ince, Luzhny, Newton, Silas, Rae, Iversen, Blake, Sturridge, Camara, Cameron, Okoronkwo, Ingimarsson, Proudlock, Clingan, Murray

Last league meeting: 1983, Man. U wins 3-0

Referee: Graham Poll (1 Premeirship match this season, with 2 yellow cards issued)

Prediction: It would be a tough trip for Wolves, even without the injuries that have mounted up. The more important thing in this one is to improve the defence, and while Man. U might want to send a 6 or 7 goal statement to the early title contenders, Dave Jones would probably be thrilled with a 1-0 loss. Frankly, so would I at this point. 1-0 to United.

[Galgowski]

I am going to be just pissed off if they do not start Camara, why even buy a player like that if your not going to use him?

[kwik1980]

Latest from the Express and Star:

Aside from the "long-term" injuries (Miller, Kennedy, Lescott, and Ndah), Murray should be out, but as we have no 3rd keeper at the moment, he'll be on the bench. That says to me, that unless Oakes is seriously injured, he's the man for the game, weather he gives up 2 goals or 20. Luzhny, Cooper, and Sturridge are definately out. Newton will have up to kickoff to see if he can go, but odds are that he won't be able to (hamstring).

I think Camara plays, just because there is a lack of available bodies. Going by the available list that I put up from the BBC, and taking off Sturridge and Newton, that's 18 players for 16 spots (11+5 on bench). I'd guess the dropees would be Ingimarsson and Clingan. Camara would at least make the bench in that scenario.

For those who can legally bet on this one, according to the bookmakers, the mismatch here is so great that you can get the same odds (22-1) on a 7-0 United win that you can on a 1-0 Wolves win. No bookmaker is offering odds on Wolves to win by any more than 1 goal. If you're REALLY feeling optimistic, you can get 40-1 on Wolves being up at halftime, and holding on to win, or 100-1 on United being up at the break with a Wolves comback win. A lot of people think this one is going to be very ugly. I'm not one of them, but if it is, real panic might set in, with a hot Portsmouth team coming to Molineux on Saturday.

[kwik1980]

At halftime:

Man. U-1 (O'Shea 9)
Wolves-0
Yellow Cards- G. Neville (33), Butler (14), Blake (29)

Decent 1st half, defence has looked better than before. Camara missed 2 good chances including a golden oppourtunity, clean through, had Howard beat, but put it wide of the far post. Oakes had a chance on O'Shea's headed goal, got a hand on it, but couldn't keep it out.
Wolves keeping it close.

Man. U- Howard- G. Neville, P. Neville, O'Shea- Djemba-Djemba, Kleberson, Keane, Ronaldo- Forlan, Solskjaer, van Nistelrooy
Subs- Caroll, Fletcher, Giggs, Scholes, Bellion

Wolves- Oakes- Butler, Craddock, Irwin, Naylor- Camara, Cameron, Ince, Newton, Rae- Blake
Subs: Murray, Okoronkwo, Clingan, Iversen, Silas

[kwik1980]

This one ends with another loss, but a better performance. No goals in the 2nd half, so it's a 1-0 win for United. Wolves created chances, but they weren't all that good (lot of shots from outside the penalty area going over, or wide). Defence held up well, especially in a stretch in the 2nd half where United dominated play. Still not the results that we want, but it's getting closer.

[CrewToon]

Much better from Wolves. Well, now the moral victories have passed - time for 3 points.

[AZ Quake]

I'll take it as a positive that we lost only 1-0, and that we did have several good, legitimate chances to score ourselves. At this point, even the smallest positive has to be grasped.

We need the result against Pompey Saturday. Something to change the climate at the club before the international break. Hopefully, Portsmouth will be looking past us.

[Fireball_Dan]

Originally posted by CrewToon
Much better from Wolves. Well, now the moral victories have passed - time for 3 points.

Agreed. I really want three points against Portsmouth on Saturday!

[Galgowski]

Very happy with the lose!? Wierd to say, but we diditn get killed like our last two games. Glad too see Camara play, sorry to see that he missed the opportunities though, i guess thats what happens when you dont get first time football! Haha, next is to beat Portsmouth and Teddy.

[KoreAmBear]

He got every 50-50 ball v. O'Shea (totally had him boxed out).

He gave Camara those two spot on passes -- Camara will probably make those 9 out of 10 times esp. as the season progresses.

I was very impressived by Blake's overall play.

Overall I had not seen Man. U's express derailed during pre-season and so far in the two EPL matches before the Wolves game. The Wolves had Man. U off their game.

Maybe it was because Forlan was playing up -- usually Ruud does better by himself up there. Forlan was taking a lot of the touches that Ruud normally gets.