Wolverhampton Wanderers 4 Blackpool 0:IN CHARLIE Adam's absence Ian Holloway said on Friday that Wolves were suffering from "second-season syndrome", overlooking the fact his Blackpool team seem to have developed it six months early.
Everybody likes to see the critics confounded but the Don Quixotes from the seaside are in danger of going the way predicted when they were promoted by play-off last summer.
They will not finish bottom of the table, as expected, but after eight defeats in 11 games they appear to have run out of steam at the worst possible time and are increasingly threatened with a return whence they came.
Too much has been made of the idea that they were weakened by DJ Campbell’s red card just before half-time on Saturday. Blackpool were being outfought and outplayed when it was 11 against 11 and Holloway was not inclined to hide behind the numerical disadvantage, instead admitting his team had been second best throughout.
An absorbing if unexpectedly one-sided match questioned a couple of shibboleths. One man doesn’t make a team? Oh yes he does when he is Charlie Adam, without whose play-making Blackpool are uniformly ordinary.
The table doesn’t lie? So were Wolves really the worst team in the league when they beat Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City? It is easier to believe Mick McCarthy’s assertion that their luck changed at last when Adam’s 10th booking of the season, against Tottenham Hotspur last week, led to his suspension here.
Holloway at first tried to pretend Blackpool were not dependent on their coveted midfielder – “We beat Stoke without him” – but eventually conceded: “We lacked his inspirational leadership and quality passing.”
Holloway has done a terrific job, mastering the alchemist’s art in turning cheap and cheerful cast-offs into a unit capable of competing with the elite, but the effort appears to have drained them and the back-up is not there.
At Molineux Blackpool were running on empty after expending a tankful of energy in beating Spurs 3-1 last Tuesday, and fatigue made them easy prey for tooth-and-claw Wolves.
Told by McCarthy that it was their most important match of the season, Karl Henry and company applied themselves accordingly. The outcome was never in doubt from the second minute, when Matt Jarvis opened the scoring.
Campbell has apologised following his deserved dismissal, for thrusting both hands into Richard Stearman’s face.
His red card left Blackpool with 10 men when 11 were not up to the task and by that stage Wolves could have been 3-0 up.
Instead, the all-important second goal that effectively settled the outcome was delayed until the 54th minute, when Jamie O’Hara scored with a low, bouncing 25-yarder.
In the absence of Adam, O’Hara was the classiest player on view and McCarthy hopes to keep him when his spell on loan from Spurs expires at the end of the season.
McCarthy said: “He is a positive influence both on the pitch and off it. I think of him as an old-fashioned footballer. He’s chirpy about the place and just loves to play. His attitude and his quality have been terrific for us.”
Unfortunately for Wolves, their next match is at home to Tottenham, and O’Hara will not be available against his parent club.
At 2-0 there was no way back for Blackpool and McCarthy sent on an extra striker, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, in pursuit of the three-goal margin needed to escape the bottom three.
The substitute had scored just four goals in 22 league appearances but he improved that ratio with two in the last 12 minutes.
Asked if he was shattered by the defeat, Holloway added: “Not really. I don’t get shattered – I’m not made of glass or crystal. I’m bruised, it hurts, but I’m not shattered. I’m a football manager and unfortunately we were beaten by the better team.”
Guardian Service
