Defensive game won't win for Wolves

Wolves blogger Tim Spiers can't see how the Everton approach will gain anything at Chelsea as he urges manager Mick McCarthy to 'go for it' at Stamford Bridge.

For a man renowned for telling it like it is and calling a spade a spade, Mick McCarthy seemed to be watching an entirely different match to most Wolves supporters last weekend.

The manager declared himself "delighted" with our 2-1 defeat to Everton, a team which had previously lost five of its previous six Premier League games.

The majority of Wolves fans saw the game very differently, with words such as 'rubbish,' 'second best' and 'negative' frequently bandied about on forums and message boards.

Now we all know what McCarthy thinks of people who dare to air their opinion on websites but, if he's not careful, the manager will even risk alienating some non-numpties as well with statements like these.

Mick also said: "The gameplan worked at Everton, everything was fine." And how about: "You sometimes have to sacrifice things to make sure you're solid and we were, because we restricted Everton to very few chances."

Well aside from the two Everton goals, Louis Saha should arguably have scored in the first-half, Tim Cahill somehow found Stephen Ward's legs rather than the back of the net in the second, while the Aussie could have won a penalty when Karl Henry appeared to prevent him from shooting in the box.

At the other end, though, there were no ifs, buts and maybes for us. We had one shot on target and scored one goal, so basically we got what we deserved.

I appreciate where the manager is coming from in that on the whole, a couple of mistakes from Roger Johnson and George Elokobi aside, it was a pretty solid defensive performance, albeit against very modest opposition.

And, as usual, the work rate of the players couldn't be questioned in the slightest. But if he's delighted with having one shot on target and 39 per cent possession of the ball, then we might as well all go home.

There's defending your team in public and then there's antagonising your own supporters, who have spent an awful lot of money they can't afford watching you have one shot on target.

Because, like Mick usually does, Wolves fans tend to call a spade a spade as well and one thing we won't stomach is suger-coating something or trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

That's why – newsflash – chief executive Jez Moxey always has and always will be unpopular with the majority of Wolves supporters.

Tactics-wise, if we were playing Manchester United, Tottenham or Arsenal, then a more cautious approach would have been completely justified.

But Everton were there for the taking, on a bad run of form and with just one home victory to their name this season.

Instead of testing their undoubted fragility, we sat back, soaked up pressure and tried in vain to hit the Toffees on the break.

Not only did Tim Howard have absolutely nothing to even attempt to save, bar the penalty, but the Everton goalkeeper barely had to deal with any crosses, normally a strength of ours.

Indeed, until recently at least, we topped the charts for putting more crosses into the box than any other Premier League side.

But with Matt Jarvis left to stew on the bench and Adam Hammill not even selected in the match-day squad, there was a real lack of pace down the flanks and this rendered counter attacking very difficult.

And as for Steven Fletcher's snub, don't even get me started. Our most prolific goalscorer by some distance, as well as arguably our most skilful player, Fletcher was given just four token minutes to make an impact.

The Scot must be the first name on McCarthy's team sheet no matter what the formation or tactics utilised but, instead, Kevin Doyle was given the thankless task of trying to lead the line on his own with very little support.

So, after all, that you might expect Mick to change tack for this Saturday's trip to Chelsea.

After all, if we can't earn a point by playing a containing game at Everton, who before the match were below us in the league table, then what chance would we have at Chelsea?

But no, pre-empting our tactics from comments made by McCarthy this week, it seems we should expect another afternoon of trying to stifle the opposition.

Apparently 4-5-1 is here to stay too – potentially bad news for Fletcher – with McCarthy saying we are "harder to beat" with an extra man in midfield.

I'm not talking about taking a cavalier approach here, but how many games have we parked the bus and held out for a point or a win away from home?

Our best performances often come when we are bold, dynamic and take the game to the opposition, with Manchester City and – pertinently – Chelsea away last season two great examples of this.

Yes we lost them both, but it's far better to lose heroically and by giving it a real go, rather than defending for 90 minutes and then conceding an inevitable late goal.

The latter option will just not be stomached unless, like with Birmingham in 2009-10 for example, it's effective. A containing, negative approach will only work if the foundations are solid.

I didn't see Swansea or Queens Park Rangers coming to Molineux to play for a point, just like I didn't see us go to Blackburn and let them take the initiative.

Believe it or not, we possess great quality going forward with Doyle, Fletcher, Jarvis, Hammill, Stephen Hunt, Jamie O'Hara, Adlene Guedioura and Michael Kightly all players who can terrorise defenders.

You make your own luck and your own opportunities in this game and taking the reins off could see the team start to fulfil its undoubted potential.

If we don't start playing to our strengths soon, then we're just going to get sucked into yet another relegation scrap, if we aren't in one already.