Wolves v Newcastle: Failure is not an option

Andy The Magpie

“Failure is not an option”. I’m no fan of the psychobabble surrounding the game these days but the words attributed to NASA flight director Gene Krantz, fit perfectly into Rafa Benitez’s team talk this week.

As an aside, Krantz denied uttering the phrase; it was a Hollywood construct, spoken by Ed Harris in Apollo 13.

Rafa could have said it this week to the players. I hope he did, sprinkling a bit of stardust over the squad along the way.

The Chronicle reported that he believes,

“If you win the title it means you are there (Premier League). If you try to be first, then you might be closer to being second.

“If you try to just be second, then maybe you’ll end up being close, and being third. We just have to try to be first.”

Which is true; the lower you aim, the more you miss top spot by.

Where we finish will be defined by the next half-a-dozen games. Overconfidently, I’m claiming three points from the Villa and Bristol City games. Neither side has shown anything recently to suggest we won’t beat them. Let’s be honest, our wounds in the Championship are largely self-inflicted.

The squad can’t afford to think they are games we just turn up for; they need to leave the complacency to the professionals: us fans.

We’re embarking on a run of games where top performances will be needed. There’s no let-up; each of them is tough, so we need to keep a consistent mindset of working hard each week. None of the matches allows us a moment where we can switch off; no mistakes will go unpunished.

And they will dictate where we finish. Wolves, Norwich, Brighton, Huddersfield, and Reading; if we take nine or more points, it almost guarantees us promotion, and not through the playoffs either.

Thankfully, Dwight Gayle is on the cusp of returning. When he is out of the side, you’re never sure whether it’s going to be feast or famine in front of goal. We’ve done well in his absence to an extent. We’re back to the top of the table, and while it’s easy to say that’s down to the failings of Brighton, we still had to take points.

Within the context of a season, we’ll always have ‘iffy’ spells. The ones where you wonder how you won 1 – 0 because you should have had more, or you should have lost. We do need consistency, and we’re short on that at the moment but a (major) contributing factor I always think, is Rafa’s need to tinker with the line-up every five minutes.

Playing the same team is tough, and armed with the performance data from GPS tracking, the manager knows more than ever who needs a rest. But it impacts on understandings and partnerships. It why ****-ups like Clark’s own goal against QPR happen. If we can get a settled side, we can wrap this league up sooner than people expect.

But focus is the key thing. As Rafa said, aim high but if we’re truthful, finishing second in May genuinely is good enough. Promotion is the be-all and end-all for this season and how we achieve it is a distant second.

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159 thoughts on “Wolves v Newcastle: Failure is not an option”

  1. First of two big away games today. Usually I would be happy with 4 points but with Brighton and Reading both having relatively easy home games in the next two games we could really do with 6 points.

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  3. Breaking my self imposed ban on spending money on nufc today after the mary poppins quotes from fat freddie by heading to molineux.
    Got to predict a 2-1 win for us.

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  4. Wolves will be a hard game I reckon. That Costa lad is on fire for them & a goal scorer could be the difference between the 2 teams today. Both will create chances but it could come down to who’s more clinical in front of goal.

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  5. Hull are very unlucky to be behind and they have 5 loan players on the pitch. Shows what fine margins there are in the PL. The promoted teams are always going to struggle a bit but most of them realise the side that gets promoted is not the one that will keep them up. The blueprint is there and it is up to the Fat Man to back Rafa.

    I have said this a few times, but the players that are surplus when we get to the PL will probably have retained their value and can be sold to provide funds. The exception might be Selz.

    I am going for 1-1. I know we don’t do draws but I think we will today.

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  6. The last few games we’ve missed a shed load of chances. We’ll start putting them away sooner or later. Today will be a good time to start. Going for a Mitro brace today.

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  7. I keep seeing that Arsenal are underachieving but are they really? They finished 2nd last season and above Spurs for something like the 18th year in a row. I don’t know if is Wenger being cheap but they have no chance of winning the league with players like Coquelin, Wolcott and Chamberlain as starters. I don’t think they would get in the Spurs team never mind Chelsea or Man City.

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  8. You just have to look at the top four over the last 15 years and ask yourself who has been everpresent. Yes, there’s a dearth of trophies at the Emirates in recent times, but look at all the other clubs around them who have (net) spent a gratuitous amount and got little more to show for it. United have done nothing since Fergie left, City have spent half of the ME’s oil money but can’t sustain a title challenge this season, Liverpool have won naff all sans the Champs League in 05 and Chelsea have had to break the bank to get where they are. All those clubs mentioned above have spent time outside the top 4 in recent times. Arsenal haven’t, they’ve always been there.

    Arsenal are sustainable. They don’t rock the boat, they don’t inspire fans but they’re a well-steered ship which knows where its headed. Football will be around for hundreds more years to come and I get the feeling that fans won’t reap the real fruits of Arsenal’s labour for another decade or so at least.

    Eric Sykes:
    I keep seeing that Arsenal are underachieving but are they really? They finished 2nd last season and above Spurs for something like the 18th year in a row. I don’t know if is Wenger being cheap but they have no chance of winning the league with players like Coquelin, Wolcott and Chamberlain as starters. I don’t think they would get in the Spurs team never mind Chelsea or Man City.

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  9. Markovic was a very savvy loan deal on their part.

    Assuming we go up, there’s no reason why Rafa couldn’t attract someone of Victor Moses’ calibre on loan next season. Doesn’t sound like he’s going to feature in Conte’s plans.

    Eric Sykes:
    Hull are very unlucky to be behind and they have 5 loan players on the pitch. Shows what fine margins there are in the PL. The promoted teams are always going to struggle a bit but most of them realise the side that gets promoted is not the one that will keep them up. The blueprint is there and it is up to the Fat Man to back Rafa.

    I have said this a few times, but the players that are surplus when we get to the PL will probably have retained their value and can be sold to provide funds. The exception might be Selz.

    I am going for 1-1. I know we don’t do draws but I think we will today.

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  10. Very good article Andy – you definitely should write more theads. Not sure about your Moses comment mind. The lad’s been a consistent starter for most of the season since the switch to 3 at the back. Always liked him since his Wigan days and he was great for Stoke a couple of seasons ago against us.

    Hard fought 2-1 win today.HTL

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  11. Not feeling optimistic today if I’m honest, we found them really hard work last time out and I don’t see us fairing any better today without Gayle. The lads really have to step up a gear and concentrate for the full 90 plus. No more late killer goals and sloppiness defending corners please.
    Hoping our good away form continues.

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  16. Bristol City 0.3 up at Derby that’s 2 wins and a draw if they win today in their last 3, looks like their slump is over.

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  19. And I always saw Brighton beating Burton so that’s not a surprise as it stands.
    Thought Reading would be a couple up by now though.

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  20. Looks like last week was an aberration. By the way, I looked at the Palace team for today and they had Cabaye, Schlupp and Remy on their bench. I have no idea how they are in a relegation fight. Sorry, maybe I do, PARDEW.

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  25. Kimtoon: Southampton had been on a **** run and I think lost 6 of their last 7. It doesn’t matter how the Mackems are playing they are still down by 2 and unlikely to get anything out of this game.

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  26. Eric, I think the Palace result gave them false hope, Palace are woeful and even Fat Sam has his work cut out there. But the Scum have this canny knack of getting out the ***** by the skin of their teeth every season. 🙄

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  28. Kimtoon: it is sort of joyless for their supporters though. They walk out of about half of their games and only come alive for the final 5 matches. If it wasn’t for the 6 points a season they got from us they would have been down.

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  33. Mitro gets a start and so does Colback. Must be thinking about game on Tuesday as well.

    I doubt we will see Gayle for Norwich, most likely Villa.

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  34. brighton have scored 4 today 4.1 now, pressure really on us now, we hardly take any of our chances let alone 4 in one game without Gayle.

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  38. Reading also dropped points. They’re 5 points and we have two games in hand. So far it’s not been too bad a day – if we get something.

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  40. Cheers mate.

    Re Moses – I just think with a war chest to spend Moses won’t be in Conte’s plans next season. Mind you, I was just using him as a generic example and think someone of his mould would happily come to us with the added Rafa-carrot.

    georgio:
    Very good article Andy – you definitely should write more theads. Not sure about your Moses comment mind. The lad’s been a consistent starter for most of the season since the switch to 3 at the back. Always liked him since his Wigan days and he was great for Stoke a couple of seasons ago against us.

    Hard fought 2-1 win today.HTL

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  42. Icedog:
    Well that’s 10 men against 11 with bloody Colback back in

    yeah, all to do today with Brighton winning and hudders only 4 points behind if we lose.

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  47. How on earth is that not a foul? I’ll tell you why – because the ref would have needed to send him off that’s why. Terrible decision.

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  49. Stuart79:
    How on earth is that not a foul? I’ll tell you why – because the ref would have needed to send him off that’s why. Terrible decision.

    spot on, awful officiating

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  50. Don’t really understand that–doesn’t he have a right to go for that ball?

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  51. Jesus Christ almighty!!! How on earth is that a booking? DOes that mean he can’t try and win another header or can’t even stand still and let someone jump over him like he did then?

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  54. Stuart79:
    Jesus Christ almighty!!! How on earth is that a booking? DOes that mean he can’t try and win another header or can’t even stand still and let someone jump over him like he did then?

    baffling mate totally baffling

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  59. I think I’d prefer to see Hayden than Colback and how hasn’t he even got that on target let alone score…

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  62. I can’t believe that is worth a yellow card if he gets one. He actually pulls out of the challenge and then catches him on the way down.

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  64. Stuart79:
    I think I’d prefer to see Hayden than Colback and how hasn’t he even got that on target let alone score…

    hes not 100% with his ankle mate hence bloody Colback 😈 😈

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  66. The ref has made a complete and utter pigs ear of this. The yellow Mitro got was a joke and now he’s in a position were he will send him off if he makes another foul. Terrible referring imo.

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  67. certainly don’t think it was deliberate by Mitro, more momentum than malice, but I do think Murph may need to replace him .

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  69. I agree with you about that yellow, Stuart, but his challenge on the keeper there was yellow-ish. He got off lightly there and it would surely have been carded for persistent fouling if he hadn’t already been booked. He’s really on the tightrope and I’m not sure he can contain himself.

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  71. Not to mention the ref should have called that foul on Stearman early on.

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