View From The Other Side

Right, as most of you now know, i am the loving girlfriend of a Wolverhampton Wanderers fan...

Mad?

Yes maybe he is :P, but as promised here is the view from the other side as it were. If you would like to keep up to date with his blog you can also follow him on Tumblr here, and his Twitter is @RichTWISI.

Enjoy, i can feel the rivalry building up already.

My match preview shall be up tomorrow.

In the build up to the Anfield game a month ago, there was a strange optimism around most Wolves fans, a sort of 'bring on Liverpool' attitude. That's because we were on a run of three wins from four while Liverpool just been beaten at Portsmouth and all in all, were having a pretty disastrous season. And while we gave a good account of ourselves for an hour, Stephen Ward was (eventually) sent off, and a touch of class from Steven Gerrard tipped the balance in their favour.

Fast forward a month and things could not be more different. Since then we have not won in the league or even scored a goal, an unconvincing cup win at Tranmere our only success. While, cup defeat against Reading aside, Liverpool have been improving, with two wins and a draw from their three league games.

The mood is much different around these parts, we are currently out of the bottom three only on goal difference and face some crucial make or break games in the coming month.

While I am one of the most optimistic of Wolves supporters, I have to say I am not feeling very confident ahead of Tuesday night's game. After witnessing our disappointing display against Wigan last week, it is clear we are going to have to up our game – big time.

A slight comfort to me is that Liverpool are likely to be without Gerrard or Torres. I've heard Gerrard could be in with a chance, but from what I know of Rafa Benitez, he doesn't just throw players straight back into the side. However, I caught the game against Tottenham last week, and while Liverpool weren't always convincing, they dealt with Spurs without too much fuss.

In games at home to the bigger sides this season, we've made pretty good starts but in the end been hammered. I remember the second halves against Arsenal and Manchester City been pretty difficult to sit through as they passed it around us with three goal leads while their fans 'ole'd'.

I fear the same on Tuesday. There is a definite gulf in class between the sides at the top and the sides at the bottom, the extent is terrifying at times. But the first goal may be key. In our best result of the season, our 1-0 win at Tottenham, we got an early goal and held on. We did similar in December victories over Bolton and Burnley. Too many times, mostly to sides we should be looking to beat, we've lost the first goal early (Birmingham, Hull, Portsmouth, even at the bloody weekend against Crystal Palace!!). We didn't win any of those games. If we do go down, it will because we didn't beat these sides around us on our own turf.

Without wishing to patronise, if you don't know much about Wolves, the names you might know are Michael Kightly and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake. The former is injured and has been for what seems like forever, whilst the latter is a shadow of his Championship self with just one goal this season, from the penalty spot.

So who should you look out for? Kevin Doyle and Matt Jarvis are our two most potent threats and on his day Nenad Milijas can be deadly. We need these three to perform at their best to stand any chance. Of Liverpool, obviously without Torres and Gerrard, I would say Albert Riera is a big threat if he plays, along with Dirk Kuyt.

I can't wait for the game, this is what we're in the Premier League for. The atmosphere will be pumping at the South Bank will be standing. If I was going to make an honest prediction, on current form I'd say that we'd lose, but I'm going to be more optimistic and pump for a draw.