Saunders desperate for victory

Wolves boss Dean Saunders admits his struggling team need a "scruffy" victory as soon as possible after watching them go down 2-1 to leaders Cardiff.

Last Updated: 25/02/13 at 11:20 Post Comment    Bet with SkyBet  Championship. Click here to bet.

Dean Saunders: Rued Wolves' luck

Dean Saunders: Rued Wolves' luck

Two goals from Fraizer Campbell saw Cardiff open up an eight-point gap at the top of the table but Wolves have now gone 11 Championship matches without a win to leave them third from bottom.

Saunders has picked up just four points in his first eight games in charge of the club and he blamed defensive errors and bad miss by Sylvan Ebanks-Blake late on for the latest defeat.

Saunders said: "There were a lot of positives to take out of the game but we made two catastrophic mistakes.

"We conceded a goal from a long throw and to make matters worse I had walked the players through that before the game and shown them on the DVD.

"It was one of those goals that keeps you awake as a manager. Then we conceded from another mistake and I think (keeper) Carl Ikeme will be the first to hold his hands up because nine times out of 10 he usually comes and catches that.

"But we managed to reply straight away and then Sylvan misses an open goal for two-all.

"At the minute it is just not going for us. They are fighting, though, and determination is the biggest thing that you need - not tactics or team selection.

"You know all the players and you think surely we must have enough, but they are not getting results. We need a scruffy win as soon as we can.

"Some of the players have kept having punches on the chin for the last two-and-a-half years and some of them look a bit jaded from it all.

"We have got to win five or six games and I think there is enough in the dressing room, but we might have to do something else (sign a player on loan) and if I can I will."

I was at Molineux for this game. 1st half, new system and players tried in new positions, eg Sako as CF, clearly confused the team causing poor passes and lack of controlled forward movement from the back. Despite this the defence played much more positively and with pace. No backing away defending, many good tackles, quicker movement and better concentration meant that, despite Cardiff having much more posession, they only scored once before half time and that followed a lengthy period of Wolves players clearly losing the "new" system shape and defending too deep. 2nd half saw a return to 4-4-2, Sako back in the midfield, SEB and Doyle up front. Result was a much better performance all round. Plenty of good passing and off the ball movement. Wolves created enough very good chances to win and should have walked away with all the points despite an uncharacteristic flap at the ball by Ikeme gifting Cardiff a goal. Some curious decisions by the officials and SEB's inability to finish in to open goals proving the downfall. The team as a whole need a big pat on the back for a greatly improved effort, however, SEB needs to go away and improve his fitness and speed. He is clearly off the pace for the Championship. In the mean time Wolves need a big bruiser of a CF with a current proven goal scoring record to work with Doyle if Wolves are to turn good effort in to winning results. Next up "Watfordunese". They like Leicester and Cardiff are very beatable by the Wolves players provided they defend as well as they have shown they can, attack with the confidence and pace of yeterday's 2nd half and put the chances away when they happen.
- andy

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