Laivasse

Further problems: CB - Collins too error prone, Dunne becomes worse when Collins is playing. Clark would be better tested over Collins rather than at LB AM - Keane is completely anonymous. Right flank - Alby not good enough on this form. Mid - Petrov not mobile enough to be the defensive midfield presence in a 4 man mid, without Ireland coming back and snatching balls. People say this isn't down to Eck but I see a lot in that list which comes down to calls he's made.

I'd bite your hand off.

Maybe the first 10 minutes were a cruel yam practical joke? A psych out, like Ali toying with Foreman?

Any **** day, I'd have N'Zog on where Keane's playing, no matter how uninspiring Zog's been this season.

Unbelievable. I don't understand what has happened since our goal. Well, I do. Our midfield and left flank have no defensive presence at all and it took 10 minutes to be found out. Also Collins and Dunne doing their chucklebrothers impressions again.

Another gilt-edged chance. They are carving through our left hand side like roast beef.

I think Warnock would have done better than Clark there but let's not paint this like an enormous howler. It was just mediocre defending. More importantly Wolves seem to ahve taken over the game, wtf is going on.

Clark more at fault than Given. It was very well placed. Tbf, it was just a well worked goal. ****.

Bollocks.

What does Cuellar have to do to start over Collins? Is he still injured?

My first reaction to the Collins peno shout was 'book the diving ****'. But watching the replay, I don't think Collins managed to touch the ball. It would have been soft but we need to be careful.

Excellent. We suck at controlling games and now we don't have to. I don't think Wolves have what it takes to get into this as long as we keep our heads.

Penalty all day, errday! Bury this sucker, please.

Bloody hell, we've looked by far the better team for 5 minutes, Wolves haven't been in it, and suddenly they have a golden chance. That's Villa all over. Very lucky that Fletcher shot right down Given's throat.

Had a long time to think about that header, was a decent chance.

Still, 'gift' is an emotionally loaded term which maybe reflects people wishing to see Randy as a caring, paternalistic figure rather than the owner of a business. People pump money into their own businesses all the time without thinking of it as a 'gift' - rather, it is done because they want to put the business into a position where it can increase shareholder value. Even when it's just done to keep the business afloat, rather than maximise profits, it's still done with the aim of preserving the value of the business, for self-interest. The flipside of these 'gifts' is that they would not seem so much like hopeless charitable acts if they were better directed, ie. if they transformed into meaningful outcomes like better coaching, better management, better players. If Randy was showing solid business acumen, his investment wouldn't have the appearance of a 'gift' that produces nothing in return.

I'm more or less at the end of the game but for a mission or two (I'm guessing). I did the Killbane showdown mission a while back and thought it was hilarious. Possibly the most inappropriate use of inspirational 80's movie music imaginable. It's huge fun but personally I think I'm more a GTA kind of guy. I simply can't get used to the arcadey, stop-on-a-dime vehicle physics of SR and I much prefer the character depth in GTA. Having said that, GTA's environments feel sparse and sterile compared to the vibrancy of Steelport. Rockstar could learn a thing or two from THQ in this regard for GTA 5.

He's put in consistently good/great performances over the last few games, since he came back into the first team. Although this is too narrow a time frame to be basing any projections on, I think it's too pessimistic to be saying he'll start to perform terribly any time soon. IMO the only thing that's changed is that he's been given a solid run of games in which he was lucky enough to pull out a confident performance in his first one. It looks as if we could have the beginnings of a great attacking understanding between Zog and Ireland, or Ireland and Bent, if the other two can find some consistency and we find a set up that accommodates them all. However, nobody seems to remember some of the excellent link up play he pulled off with Downing last season when brought on for 10 minute spells as a sub. If those movements had produced goals, which frankly they should have done, we might have seen this 'revival' a lot sooner. Granted, his first team performances were nothing to write home about, but at that time there were worse offenders who kept their place when Ireland didn't. Whenever this was brought up on here, the response would be 'yes but £60k/week...!' Well, unfortunately that's what Citeh castoffs cost... That's what football has become. Not his fault. Anyway, some people think he looks like a different player, but I just think he looks like a more confident, better-treated version of the same player. He may well disappear back into his shell at some point, but I reckon it would take something to trigger that - like an inexplicable drop, or a tiff with the manager.

Petrov can't run and Clark can't pass very well so moves break down in midfield with them often. Still, if we're intent on playing both Bent and Gabby, then I think Petrov and Clark are the safest choices to avoid getting overrun in the centre.

To be fair to Clattenburg I think it was hard to see the absence of contact from his angle. To his credit he did notice that Hutton was definitely pulling out of the challenge and that it was far too fishy to produce a card for him, but he probably still thought there was slight contact. To be further fair to Clattenburg, he is a tosser and he had a bad game otherwise. Especially if you're an Everton supporter... let's not forget the peno and red we dodged in the first half. I'll trade that for Heitinga getting off scot free.

Bad game, bad performance. Aside from 20-25 minutes of The Stephen Ireland Show in the second half we had very little chance of scoring. Like us, they scored the one chance they had. I thought we would dominate the entire second half, but once they equalised we were completely useless again. Albrighton should have been subbed at least 20 minutes from the end. Hard to know how to feel. When you play that shoddily and don't lose, you have to be kind of grateful. But then how can you be, when you played that shoddily.

Alby has had a poor game and should have been off for Zog long ago. Having said that, he fed Ireland with one good cross in the lead up to our goal. Who knows, if he hadn't been on we might not even have got a goal at all so far.

Le sigh. Onside. I think we can still score again but this is just so typical...

There's been only one team in this since HT. Get another goal and put this to bed so we can forget about it.

**** finally! Good work Ireland. Bent got his clear cut chance in the 6 yard box, lawd be praised.