14-01-2021, 19:36
![[Image: WBAWolves.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/34p6Ljr/WBAWolves.jpg)
There's a school of thought which says that if you spend enough time preparing yourself for the worst, then the real thing, when it finally arrives, is a walk in the park. To be honest, I'm not sure the theory entirely holds up: I'm reasonably certain, for instance, that global thermonuclear war or spontaneous combustion of the gonads - to name but two spectres of an unknowable future - would probably induce me to make a mess of my trousers no matter how many sleepless nights I spent stocking up on tinned vegetables and asbestos underpants.
And yet both of those horrors pale into insignificance beside visiting Molineux on Saturday.
Yes, it's been nearly a decade since the Black Country derby was last contested - at nine years, the longest hiatus in the rivalry since the Second World War, and the longest in peacetime since professional football began - and finally the moment has come for us to return to the scene of 2012's massacre for a reckoning. You'd probably get decent odds on another 5-1 scoreline right now, and if I refrain from lumping on, then it's only because I'm not sure we'd score as many as 1. Whatever effect Sam Allardyce was supposed to have on the team hasn't materialised beyond one decent showing at Anfield, and though it's fair to argue that he's not working with his own players yet, I'd still have hoped by now for signs of organisation, confidence and resilience that were utterly lacking during last weekend's pathetic cup exit. If Sam can find a way of averting what currently feels like the inevitable - and I doubt there's a better time, with Wolves managing only two wins in eleven league games since the beginning of November, despite being otherwise set for a comfortable mid-table finish - then he'll generate an enormous amount of goodwill that's much needed now the honeymoon has ended. But if (as is more likely) they regain their mojo against us, and multiple goals are involved... it's going to be hard to come back from in the popularity stakes. Very, very hard.
Tuesday night will pack us off down to London to face West Ham, but right now, that's nothing more than a sideshow. I don't have much in the way of either hope or expectation for Saturday, and if we do take a hammering, then so be it. Que sera sera. But in the middle of an abysmal season probably destined to end in relegation, and an equally miserable winter of isolation for us fans, I'd at least like to see us go down fighting. Just this once.
