I don’t know about you, but I just found this performance (particularly the second half) immensely frustrating.
You’ll never be given a better opportunity to go to Old Trafford and register a win, so Wolves must be kicking themselves this morning that they didn’t make their advantage pay.
Michael Kightly - Back in action
Of course you could argue that the sending off was the worst thing that could of happened to us. Before Michael Kightly was cynically hauled to the ground, we’d actually looked bright on the counter attack and capable of causing damage. When United went down to 10 men, suddenly the impetus was with us to take the game to them and we simply didn’t have enough in the final third to get the job done.
There were a few Wolves players that disappointed me; Milijas offered very little in his second half cameo and I was perplexed by how deep he was playing, particularly when we were chasing the game. The Hoff put the effort in, but there was very little quality.
Hahnemann was also very poor and lucky not to cost us goals when nearly robbed of possession twice. Anyone thinking he’s a challenger for Hennessy’s shirt should think again, on this performance at least.
The reason we lost though was a poor collective team performance that lacked any real spark or imagination. I was just waiting for someone in a gold shirt to take the game by the scruff of the neck and turn it our way. But it just never happened.
There was the odd positive. Kightly looked sharp, particularly in the first half and he must have played himself into contention for Sunday. Doyle did very well when he came on and looks every bit a £6.5 million player at the moment.
The return of Foley and Craddock is also good news. They both performed well and offer much needed defensive options to the squad. It will again be interesting to see if either of these players get the nod for Sunday. I personally expect the same back four that started the Fulham match.
But none of these little pluses disguise what ended up being a disappointing night for Wolves.
It’s funny really because had we gone there and been soundly beaten, we all would have dismissed the match as a training exercise. But because we were presented with this marvelous opportunity to throw the holders out in their own back yard, we’re left frustrated thinking what might of been.
Who’d be a Wolves fan hey?
Got to agree there Thomas I thought Castillo was also very poor compared to his performance against Fulham, I’ll stick my head above the trenches and say I was impressed with Keogh (again) and Doyle, about whom I am still to be convinced, was very positive as for the rest, I thought Seb looked a little lost (early days) and Hoff wasvery poor in my opinion. I think the worst thing that could have happened for Wolves was a UTD sending off….but I still wanted Big George to deck Nani!
For the record, I feel slightly aggrieved at the referee getting in the way of (I think it was) Henry pressuring Carrick before their goal. If he’d been closed down, he mightn’t have picked out Owen etc.
Then again, remember when we beat Brum in the cup last year… I suppose it goes both ways. Come on Sunderland Sunday night.
I thought Castillo did well, him and Henry protected our back four all first half, look at where the interchange of passing came from for their goal, exactly where the two of them would have been. But yeah Thomas completely agree with you mate, think the sending off changed the game. For me it was that bit of self belief that was perhaps missing. It was almost too much for us to kick on after the sending off and take the game to them. They controlled the game very well though and never really looked in any danger. Was happy to see Kightly and SEB come through the game. Think people are being harsh on SEB’s performance, the Hoff offered him nothing to link up with, and there was only really ever Kightly that was looking to work off him. Also thought Berra had another good game
I think we did ok. 7 / 10 for effort and creating chances we just lacked that quality to finish them off. If doyle had been on from the start it would have been a different match i imagine.
Hahnemann was making be bloody nervous, as a goalie i was taught unless you have plenty of time, get the ball out of your feet and away asap. hopefully that was just a lack of match practice. Berra and craddock looked good and strong together. i think most defences would have been split by the wellbeck owen passing. Foley was ok but didnt get forward as he usually can but i again assume thats just lack of matches. elokobi was done by nani a few times but i thought he did well in general. also dave jones kept drifting into midfield leaving nani a free run at big george which is when he got past, otherwise he tackled and passed well. some great crosses in with his left as well.
henry did ok, although i wanted him to release pases a bit quicker. a few times the hoff had his arms open and was in space but 3 seconds later the opportunity was gone. castillo is great and will do well for us. tracks back, tackles hard and pushes play forward. kightly was lively and caused man u problems, although i did feel he cut in to much and should have gone down the wing and pinged in a good cross especially as the hoff was leading the line.
seb showed some good touches, flicks and the odd shot but isn’t 100% yet. the hoff will be a good impact player for us but im not sure he is good enough for 90minutes but i admit its early to say.
keogh worked hard, doyle looked sharper but milijas was awful. didnt run hard enough, and looked generally slow.
sorry for the ramble, trying to write it at work with non wolves supporting managers giving me grief, shheessh
think everyone who said their sending off actually damaged us more were spot on. it was like we didnt have a plan b. i’m glad kites said what we all thought by saying we shd have gone 4it. we should have! possesion was too cheap at times, we were v careless in the final 3rd, giving it away too cheaply. but the positive 4me was the work rate. i take for granted our effort, but i really noticed it last night, always great to see. more of the same sunday and theres no reason why we cant get something
Shows how far we have come when we are dissappointed we didn;t get a result at OT. Last year we would have been happy with a point at Norwich..lol Dress it up all we like, our midfield is still lacking, there is no incisive movemnet, that “killer ball”…a la Owen… Milijas looks very poor to me, almost pedestrian. Doyle and Keogh have to start on Sunday, Hoff is nuisance value, he is NOT a PL player.
Have to say , I don;t fancy it Sunday, and will be happy with a point