Watford really did a number on us.
I thought they were going to play two up top and allow our midfield the run of the pitch so hats off to Javi Gracia for a tactical victory.
They had the extra man in the middle and boy did it show at times, particularly in the first half.
The opening goal was a good hit and came out of nothing, but once they got in front Wolves were really chasing shadows.
Capoue, Hughes and Doucoure were just too quick, too powerful and too cute in possession for our outnumbered pairing to contain.
The way they casually stroked the ball around, zip-zapping out from the back, through the midfield and into our defensive third was terrifying.
If anything we were fortunate to limp in at half time (paddy power promo code powered betting coupon well and truly ruined) still with an outside chance of getting back into the contest.
But that rapid one-two slap on 20 minutes proved enough to get them home and hosed with the opposition shellshocked and rarely threatening a revival.
As was the case last season, there’s no real Plan B for Wolves when there’s a two goal deficit to chase down.
OK, Vinagre, Cav and Traore are useful weapons to have in reserve, but the shape of the side didn’t change when any of those players entered the fray.
And that meant Watford didn’t have to adjust or respond to a different approach. It was all too predictable.
Watford sat deep second half, more than content in their shape. They doubled up on our wide players, waited for the opportunities to break and saw things out in comfort.
We didn’t create a single chance of note all game, despite a marked improvement in effort and intensity.
I suppose the lesson to learn is don’t go two goals down in the first place and of course we’ve been spoilt in recent times at rarely finding ourselves in such unfavourable positions.
I just hope in similar situations in future we can discover a way to offer a sterner and more varied resistance.
Call it an off day though. Beaten by the better side on the day. Onwards and upwards.
We anticipate a drop in odd for Wolves after this result, but with a sea side trip to Brighton coming up now would e perfect time to bet and you can get a great Genting Bet pro code here.
Media
Had a feeling this could happen ! Brings back memories of Notts Forest 2-0 shocker last season.
Costa , Doughtey , Johnny and Jiminez looked knackered. Jota completely off the pace . Need to change things for the Brighton game or we could suffer the same result
Couldn’t get to the game as work kept me away unfortunately, however I listened in on the new Wolves app.
Sounded to me like we just didn’t turn up today and Watford were much stronger all over the pitch.
I didn’t think we’d walk over watford but I was expecting us to pick up at least a point so to be beaten convincingly at home is really disappointing. However it’s only one game, and we go again against Brighton next week.
On a side note, listening to the game the ref sounded terrible. Anyone who watched it live, was he as bad as he sounded?
Staffs Wolves
Totally shocking referee and linesman! They were awful. Bagies reject Foster took the piss waisting time (even took to Twitter to boast about the last time he was at Molineux) Wanker !
Only saving grace is the shite lost to Wigan . Happy days
Thanks Dodgster,
The commentary team were giving the ref (Mason I believe) a lot of stick but from what I’ve heard and read of the game it was fully justified.
I AM NOT MAD AT YOU, JUST A TAD DISAPPOINTED…COYW.
I have absolutely no problem that Wolves lost. One minor concern though is if we are going to break our transfer fee for Adama Traore, why is he the 3rd and final sub with 18 mins left? Down 2-0, why isn’t he a priority over our first substitution? If there was a match where he should have come on earlier, (at the half) it was this one.
Totally agree 18 minutes is not enough for him to get in the game should have left Jimenez on and Cav and traore on for Costa and jota Jimenez worked hard but didn’t get the service up front vinagra made a difference when he came on Jonny looked tired and not on his game
So we lost!
We had a few on an off day, but hey, we’ve had a darn good start to the season.
They did seem to walk thru us for both goals like a hot knife thru butter.
Hope Lee Mason & the lino in front of the Billy quiet gets relegated to under 12’s Sunday league cus they were proper shite!!!!
Oh and I hope Ben Phoster gets a ball to the knackers in training & then gets bitten by a rabid dog – bell-end
Off to the seaside next wik so let’s take it out on the Albion
COYW FOwb
Now home. Brilliant journey down with limited slow traffic, until I got to Wolverhampton and after an hour and a half I found a parking spot ……. along the A449 FFS.
Got to my seat to see kick off (JUST).
Game was poor, as has been said, but all praise to Watford who stifled our play and got what they deserved, as did we.
Due to where I was parked, and it still being 0-2 I left 5 mins before the end …. still feel guilty now, but ……….
Anyway, I am home and my journey back reminded me how I felt most of the time when we were last in the Prem, travelling back after a loss!
Still, no complaints, only a second loss this season so far.
Final point. And, one for Stevie Showcase ……….. We could do with getting a Top Rated Striker in January.
Sorry to the bloggers who I did not manage to see. I WILL plan my journey better next time.
Yeah, shame on you for not stopping off in Houston!
Still impressed with Wolves second half but by then the damage was done. Would be good to see Vin, Cav and Traore get more game time but in Nuno we trust.
Bring on Brighton. Were going to bounce back big time.
Well, a lesson learned in how to succeed in the Premier League.
We didn’t really look up for it today.
We didn’t press, we didn’t control midfield, we didn’t cope with the direct play of the opposition, we didn’t create any real clear cut chances, we didn’t move the ball around quickly enough, we didn’t blatantly waste time when we were two nil up, we didn’t keep calm when things went against us…
…and we didn’t play well.
And Watford did all of these things pretty impressively.
And even more disappointingly, when we went two goals down, their fans outshouted ours rather embarrassingly.
Credit to Watford who looked a good outfit. I know that most us bloggers underestimated their ability and I think that our team did too.
No defence in the World could have stopped their first goal, but any defence in the Premier League SHOULD have stopped their second.
All in all, a bad day at the office. A bad day for us and a really bad day for the officials who were complete RUBBISH.
Some of the decisions were absolutely laughable. The worst one, near the final whistle should have seen Vinagre booked for a blatant push but was missed by the referee and the linesman who was standing all of five yards away from the incident.
Still, it was good to meet up with the usual suspects before and after the match. At least it made the journey from Melksham worth while.
I’m sure that this is just a hiccup on our journey to Premier League domination.
But no less disappointing for all that.
We looked like a Sunday League team out there today. We were lucky that Watford did not go in for the kill. Our boys were totally outclassed and having an idiot referee didn’t help. Let’s be honest though, Nuno got his team selection and tactics totally wrong today. Cav breathed a bit of life in the team when he came on but apart from that the rest were shocking. I’ll be surprised if any player got a rating of 5 or more, even Patricio struggled with his kicking today. The rest of the league will learn a lot from this game and will adopt Watfords tactics, just hope to God that Nuno also learns from today and comes up with a Plan ‘B’. Next weeks game should tell us if we have been found out.
I love Nuno .. like I’ve never loved another man but listen , he got it wrong today
Maybe arrogance, maybe a bit too cocky but let’s be honest
7 first team players that had been on international duty and a unchanged side for what was it ( 9 th ? ) game . We should have changed the team about
Well beaten by Watford , it’s now about how we respond v brighton and how we can bring players into the first team without disrupting the build .
Saying that … a wolves goal at any time would have completely changed that game . It’s not ever again , going to be Bonatini , so Fosun , you know what’s on espirito santa clauses list
Get it done . Goals change games !
Well said London
No complaints,we lost to a better side today,i thought their coach got it right and Nuno failed to see we were getting overrun in midfield.
Maybe Nuno should’ve changed it earlier, if it would’ve made a difference we’ll never know.
Players looked tired to me,and as Nuno said we made to many mistakes. With two quick goals and so we got punished, you can’t take it away from Watford they did a number on us.
Onwards and upwards.UTW FOWB.
I started noticing the ref blowing whistles for niggling little things to stop Wolves but not for similar things when Watford players did them.
Then I realized who the ref was.
Nuno ‘s teams are known for tight defenses but low offense. When Watford scored, it was too much to overcome.
Still think a couple of World class wingers will be bought in January. Hope that doesn’t sound too negative.
It was never gonna last forever, just disappointed it was at home.
This result could get us some wins in the future by learning.. they had 3 chances in 25mins and took 2 of them …ie we didn’t take them seriously enough …
Whoops..
Every second counts inc give away’s or standing off the ball..
We need to bounce back
COYW
A bit of a wake-up call I’m afraid. Nuno will clearly have a go at them for switching off for that second goal. Only positive for me was the cameo from Vinagre who looks to attack at every opportunity.
I’m not certain if he was one of our bench warmers, but I’d be interested to know why Saiss wasn’t brought on to shore up the midfield.
Everything else has been said.
Tine to lick wounds and come out fighting at Brighton.
Spot on Larry, exacty what I said on another blog (although the great tactician that I am doesn’t know who to sub to make way for Saiss !?). Any ideas?
UTW!
Well it pains me to say it Wokingham, but I’d have hooked Jota. I’m afraid his lean spell is dragging on a bit for me.
Maybe if we’d wrestled the midfield back we could’ve begun launching our own attacks from there.
What is obvious to me is that Javi Gracia spent the last fortnight analysing Wolves to death! And boy, did his plan work.
They didn’t come to try and get to the by-line and get around our impregnable 5-man defence. No! They bought the playing equivalent of a bloody medieval trebuchet and smashed their way to victory.
I think the teams around our level will have to be watched closer than the likes of Citeh, man utd and the other top teams, because they play their own games. The likes of Watford, Leicester, Everton (aka wannabe’s) will study us and formulate plans.
We have to be ready for ’em, and kill ’em off ruthlessly.
The biggest cheer of the afternoon was in the North Bank Bar, when Chelsea scored to peg back Man U. Wolves failed to capitalise on that and put some distance between us and Maureen’s lot.
We all underestimated Watford, including Nuno and the boys. That two-goal blitz in the first half killed the game – as did the referee.
Hey ho, we will regroup and go again next week.
Good to catch up with a few bloggers; no names no pack drill.
So, shit happens – but we already knew that. See Forest (h) and Villa (a) last season.
Don’t agree that Nuno got it wrong, but Javi most certainly got it right. The Watford line-up – no Deeney or Gray – gave it away that they would be flooding the midfield but I was surprised at just how effective they were. Disappointed that the writing was on the wall at the 15 minute mark but it took until HT for the team to react by playing the back 3 higher up the pitch to close down the space in midfield. Despite it being a relatively young team there is plenty of experience out there and I would have expected someone on the pitch to take charge and ring the changes. As nothing was done the match was lost in one minute of madness.
Still, all part of the learning process. Hopefully if other teams try this tactic we will know how to deal with it.
As for Lee Mason, has no-one told him that football is a physical contact sport ? There were so many (Watford) players falling like autumn leaves that for a while I thought we were playing Bournemouth…
Easy to say from the comfort of my seat that we desperately needed to put Saiss on & sacrifice a defender as we were overrun embarrassingly in centre midfield.
But Nuno’s tactics & way of playing have worked wonders until yesterday at around 15:20.
We did look a bit off colour all round which certainly made their tactical victory easier.
But Neves & Moutinho couldn’t realistically cope with the Watford overmanning in centre midfield. I was fearing a 3 or 4 nil deficit at H-T.
2nd half with Vinagre threatening on the left flank we very nearly got close to coming away with a point.
Watford good value for their win overall. Seen some bad refs at the Molineux but Lee Mason was worthy of the boos he got.
Will Nuno now change it? He has options. We definitely need to be firing at goal more, lack of goals for Jota & Costa a worry for their confidence & ours.
But looking forward to a better performance at Brighton, & then a good go at Spurs. Disappointing to lose at home but we’ve been here before & this side have bounced back, no reason to doubt our ability to do the same again.
Agree with almost all of the comments.
I would just add that in my view Jota and Costa must be dropped as they are simply not worthy of a start on recent performances.We have plenty of options now with Cav and Traore.
The striker position is also very worrying as I can’t see where any goals are going to come from.I still dont understand why Nuno can’t see this.At no time has he ever shown any willingness to try and sign a quality striker and this baffles me.Andre Silva is banging them in right now, I think we missed a trick there.I do like Jimenez he offers a lot, but he simply isn’t the Striker we need.
Onwards and upwards
UTW
Without changing shape and tactics, which Nuno is unlikely to do, we can’t just go out and get a ‘normal ‘ striker. He’d have to fit in with Nuno’ s way of playing, ie be able to hold the ball up with good control and bring others into play. In other words a goalscoring version of Jiminez, Giroud or Kevin Doyle. Any ideas? Dzeko would fit the bill but not the usual age profile. Could we attract someone of his ilk?
Anyone who is able to get a ticket for Arsenal and who will not be able to go, please let me know.
Thanks in anticipation.
Think some of the comments are a bit harsh – Nuno obviously could see we were overrun in midfield but the suggestion to take a defender off ? Who Bennett,Cody or Boly ? – no that would not work. It was a day I think the lads had been on international duty and came back thinking well it is only Watford, big mistake and a lesson to be learned quickly for later in the season. Jota and Costa have their places at risk but “In Nuno We Trust” and he trains them so will leave it up to him – We move on.
Definitely not Boly! But Nuno knows best. Second half stronger but pretty disappointing to get turned over at home by a team who lost 4-0 to Bournemouth, & hadn’t won in weeks.
They had a man sent off against Bournemouth and should have won at Arsenal given all the chances they had so the performance wasn’t really that surprising.
Couldn’t be at the game but from what I saw the sluggish start cost us and we switched off for the two goals. Always going to be a long way back from there and Watford were generally happy to sit back and let us try and force something.
We looked much better second half, with Vinagre particularly impressive. Cavaleiro and Costa looked our best route to goal.
Cav surely has to be pushing for a start now. There are many benefits to having a settled XI but sooner or later things need freshening up. Don’t think it would do Jota any harm to have some time on the bench.
All in all nothing to worry about. Watford are a strong side with some good players and three years ahead of us in terms of Premier League nous and experience. A reminder perhaps we won’t have things all our own way.
Non of us will ever stop learning from life and life experiences, those Wolves players are the same, there’s was nothing wrong yesterday apart from the fact Watford did their homework and played the game perfectly. Had Coady kept his legs shut or the ball had the sting taken out of it by touching either of his legs we would be singing a different song today, it was a lovely strike and if you watch the play back, it flew through Coady’s legs without touching the sides, Patricio didn’t have a chance in hell of stopping it. Then our big failing was, we were looking for a answer to what just happened and bugger me it happened again while we were sleeping. Then the heads went down and jet lag then kicked into a couple of players.
FFS, we did nothing wrong apart from a 90 seconds the likes of which may never happen again. No matter how prepared we were, you can’t legislate for that shot, it was as sweet as a nut, it was opportunistic but hit perfectly.
If there ever was a day to have a bad day, then yesterday was it, Bournmouth slipped up, Chelsea and Man U slipped up and the only reason we dropped a place is because it was Watford behind us on points.
Bad day at the office maybe, the damage limitation was pretty good, so we go on to the next one. I for one would like to give Watford the praise they deserve, tactically they shafted us right up the nether regions.
I bet Nuno’s next motivational speech will be a short one. I will take 8th in the league in October all day long,
“In Nuno I trust, for all else there’s Visa”
Let’s at least give
View from WV2 – Billy Quiet Upper.
Accurate summary by Thomas. Watford played us off the park from 3.15 to 3.45 and we were fortunate it was just 2-0 at the break.
As Thomas alluded to Watford played some delightful one touch football and their off the ball running into space had Wolves chasing shadows. After a tepid opening Watford realised Wolves were there for the taking as we were riddled with complete lethargy and they took full advantage. Our defence had been the mainstay all season but with two goals to pull back it was painfully obvious we simply did not have the firepower to recover the deficit.
Vinagre did well after the break and brought some much needed impetus down the left but even the introduction of Cav at number 9 and then Traore failed to deliver the goods.
Midfield completely overrun at times – although Neves sprayed the ball around better in the second 45.
Desperately disappointing but we were taught a valuable lesson which we must heed. Everyone expected Watford to be put to the sword especially as their defence was decimated by injuries and suspensions plus Gray was on the bench and Deeney out altogether with injury.
The 5.45 to London Euston from Wolverhampton was packed to the rafters – Watford fans in jubilant mood – as one supporter gleefully yelled “bringing Wolves down to earth” and it’s hard to argue with that observation. We appeared to underestimate the opposition – both on the pitch and in the stands.
We alighted at Milton Keynes with our tail well and truly between our legs.
Still we have not become a poor team overnight by any means. We will bounce back under Nuno’s astute leadership but we simply have to acquire a goalscorer in January.
BOG
Premier league refs. Remember them the last time round. Obviously not much improved by the showing of that clown yesterday. But you can’t argue with the fact we were beaten by the better side on the day. We need to learn quickly. Thought we looked sluggish. Complacent. Too many long balls. Lack of invention. It just wasn’t us. No doubt Lord Nuno will be working on a few issues this week. And Ben Foster can piss off. Our revenge will come. And he will know about it. WOLVES AY WE.
Doom and gloom have I none….
Well done Watford and Javi Gracia for executing their game plan to perfection and it’s a lesson to be learned that when teams do their homework and nullify our big hitters then it becomes tough.
There were quite a few things missing from yesterday’s performance….
We looked leggy and tired, predictable and didn’t quite live up to the pass and move style that Watford played out so impressively.
Their two goals were killers and as Stu says above, what a bullet of a shot that on other occasions could have ricocheted or gone anywhere…. the second so soon after, I believe was a result of shell shock by Moutinho, losing possession straight from the kick off…. that said there was still work to do to get into the box, but Two blows in such a short timespan undid us.
It just wasn’t our day not helped by Lee Mason who must believe in the dual rule book… as some his decisions were so inconsistent along with his non flag waiving linesman.
We did carry some players yesterday but equal eighth and fifteen points … is an “I’ll take that…no brainer.”
What we need now is to regroup, consider some personnel changes and dig in to better game manage Brighton.
Some of the lads did look a bit leggy and the crisp accurate passing we’ve become used to was only seen from Watford. Nothing seemed to work for us and the frustration of it all was apparent in the players as the prospect of inevitable defeat loomed large.
Ruben Vinagre was a massive bright spark but Cav and Adama achieved little.
It would be too much of a coincidence to say it was nothing to do with the international break, so there are high hopes that the coming week’s work on the training pitch will draw the threads back together and we can return to being the well-oiled machine we’ve enjoyed thus far. Hope so anyway!!
Two goals in quick succession really stuffed us. Fair play to Watford who did everything right to stop us.
Wolves have already surpassed my expectations, this is just a minor set back. Nuno will have learned a lot from this game.
I do have to smile to myself when I see people on here calling for this player and that player to be dropped and let’s change the side just because we lost a game.
Clearly they know more about football than Nuno…………..
Two days on and I’m still in a disbelieving funk.
How dare they beat us!
Watford, who have never won anything, come to the Golden Palace and win.
I sat there decked out in me Wolves kit, eagerly awaiting the match, and fuck me, even with my amazing Amazon stick thing, I couldn’t find a feed.
Bastards, I thought.
A goal fest for us and I’m gonna miss it.
Was I ever wrong, and glad!
Not having seen any highlights yet, I can only read what everyone else seems to agree on, they did their homework and deserved the win.
This however will be our wake up call, our kick up the arse, and point at which our players stop reading about and believing some of the hype bullshit written about them so far this season.
I am not calling for changes or bitching about certain players, that’s Nuno’s job, which I am sure he will handle and address with his usual aplomb in due course.
No doubt this defeat will make us stronger, and no doubt the recruiting staff are scouring the world for an undiscovered top class striker to join us, as we have no one who can put the ball in the net.
Apart from the eight or nine different scorers so far this season.
Almost a quarter of the season gone, exactly mid table, and above Manure who finished second last season.
Is there anyone of you out there in ThomasandBen’s Blogland who would NOT have taken that before the season started?
Thought not.
It’s a marathon, we are just getting our second wind, no worries this side of the pond.
And thank you Wigan
FOwb
Delofeu quoted in The Times ” a lot of work was put in. That type of result (against Bournemouth) can’t happen again so the next day we came together and trained these two weeks, it was good.”
Wolves on the other hand had 10 players on international duty and it showed. Leggy and lacking focus. Watford had practiced their tactics and put it all together on the pitch and deserved to win.
Now Wolves do what they have done before. Bounce back starting with Brighton and then Spurs.
With changes to be made against Brighton,do any of you blogers agree that Vinagre would be suited to a Garath Bale role? Bale was originally a left back in his early days and in my opinion Vinagre would be suited to that roving role
Bouncing back was our forte` last season .
Did we ever lose back to back games ? i cant remember.
As Clive and others have said this is the proverbial kick up the arse they probably needed just as forest did it to us last season.
Its not a wake up call but it is a firm reminder to re focus and dont listen to all the hype.
We will be fine as will be demonstrated next Saturday.
Watch out Brighton the wolves are coming to get ya and they aint happy.
Very fair comments from you guys here – and it is also great to see that you see the bigger picture (as in learn from it, move on, no big drama, no ripping your players to pieces). I travelled on Saturday very much in hope rather than expectation, but with the glimmer of hope being that the international break can do funny things to teams. Thankfully, it appeared to have disrupted Wolves’ momentum and allowed us a chance to regroup.
The lesson here, just as it was during our 4-0 drubbing by Bournemouth, is that most teams (certainly Watford and Wolves) need all their players to be playing at a 7 out of 10 to be able to complete in the PL. When several of them do not play at their usual standard, either due to a “bad day at the office” or opposition tactics etc this is the kind of result that happens, as we know only too well after our 4-0 drubbing by Bournemouth. Though to be honest that has been the only game this season our performance levels have really dipped.
The second half could still have been very interesting had you pulled one back, as I think the whole momentum of the game/support would have changed and more than likely you would have scored another one (at least !).
We had games like this in our first and second seasons since promotion, where we got ‘done’ by more experienced teams who came and did a job on us. Wolves will be fine, you have a good free flowing team who will comfortably finish mid table this season which will allow you to build in the summer by adding extra quality to the squad and start that progression – and let’s face it, you already have a lot of these foundations in place.
Finally, the whole Lee Mason thing on Saturday – I didn’t think it was an awful performance from him although definitely fair to say we were awarded more free kicks than away teams usually get, but I take it you are aware of his ‘previous’ ?
Last game he reffed us was Spurs away in Carabao Cup last month, where we were leading until he awarded Spurs a penalty and sent off Kabasele. The game turned on that decision even though the red card was rescinded on appeal. So I did wonder beforehand that he might somehow sub-consciously err in our favour to make up for his poor decision making last time out . Who knows, though I don’t think many are believing it changed the outcome of the game.
Simmo,
Very fair and balanced comments, this site does welcome fans from other clubs airing their views, we do get some dipsticks but you are more than welcome and as you have agreed, we are more or less 100% in agreeance with your points.
Watford certainly punished us for a lack lustre performance, something our Coach will let them know in his own way.
Thank you again, well done Saturday, great support and your team played a good style of football.
Good luck for this season.
Simmo,
Welcome to our blog. I respect other teams fans views if they are balanced, and yours certainly is. I thought Watford certainly did their homework and stopped us playing our usual game and see them having a decent season if they continue in that vein.
Welcome Simmo. Your points were well made and a pretty fair summing up. Mason was poor but not enough to change the result
Hi AS.
Good to hear a reasoned and balanced view of the game from the opposition.
We don’t get many of those from most of our regulars on here (Only joking Clive).
We certainly underestimated you, and your point about preparing for two weeks for the game while a good proportion of our lads were swanning about on International duty is well made.
My view of the officials is that the referee was just as bad for both teams and the two linesmen certainly didn’t help.
I was impressed with Watford and you look like a top half of the table team.
I think we will be as well.
I just hope that when we play you back at your place we do ourselves justice.
But I reckon we will.
Well we have had a few Man City fans on here and fair play to the Watford chap. Be nice if a few other fans could show up. It’s great to have a few non Wolves fans on here giving a different perspective.
Except them from the dark side.
But they cant’t read and write anyway.
I agree, it is nice to have a fair and balanced view from our opponent’s fans.
All the piss taking is just a bit of fun, and no malice intended.
Nice to hear from you Simmo, see you for the return match.
Thanks for the welcome guys, it is always good to have good football conversation.
It generally seems that the mainstream coverage of the non top 6 clubs is very poor ( I offer you Saturday’s Match of the Day analysis of our game as proof of this) and the misunderstanding of those clubs that try to do things differently – which we still get and Wolves certainly got last season in the Championship.
What are your hopes/aims for the season ?
My view as a neutral was that you were pretty much a PL team last season but playing the Championship, so the first season up was always going to be slightly different for you than for say Huddersfield, Cardiff or us a few years ago.
For Watford, I’m hoping that we continue to push on and fighting to be the ‘best of the rest’ – with the ever-present ‘just get to 40 points’ never too far from my thoughts. At the moment though I am just pinching myself. I grew up through the first GT era and witnessed some amazing games that I thought would never be equalled. But watching us play the kind of football as we did in the first half on Saturday, with our team featuring players signed from Barcelona and Juventus etc just shows how well we are doing and punching way above where a ‘small’ club should be (and compared to most in the PL, and a fair few in the Championship we will always be a small club). And outsiders/pundits wonder why we think the Pozzos are the best owners a club could wish for. 🙂
I’d be interested to get your take on Watford’s all too regular turnover of managers.
Wolves have been through that but it was mainly because the men who ran the club were clueless and couldn’t recognise a decent manager if Pep had tapped them on the shoulder and offered his services for free.
It seems to work for you but, we’re now, hopefully, looking at the long term building of a Dynasty under Fosun and Nuno.
Would you prefer that or are you happy with the way things are?
Well, the most common misperception is that we sack all our managers. The first misunderstanding is that it is actually Head Coach in the Pozzo world, and that distinction is quite important. His job is to coach the first team, he will have input to player signings but that is not really his function, it belongs to the recruitment/scouting network that exists at the club anyway. I think only two of the admittedly many head coaches we have had since 2012 have actually been sacked. Some resigned, some did not have contracts renewed but there are only two appointments I think Gino Pozzo and Scott Duxbury got wrong (Billy McKinlay, who Gino realised was a mistake and sacked after a week, and Walter Mazzarri, who was just the wrong personality entirely).
The way I see it is that they appoint a head coach to achieve a specific task. So going back to the start, Zola was a great appointment because it was a statement of intent and also attracted players to sign who otherwise might not have done. Later, Slav was brought in to make sure we got promoted, which he did brilliantly, being very smart tactically and able to switch to different formations (often several times in the same game).
Most Watford fans, including me were disappointed when his contract was not extended for the first season in the PL, but I believe Gino viewed keeping us up as a completely different task to getting us up…and in his view Slav was not the best man for that job, QSF was. And based on how Fulham are doing in the first nine games, you would be hard pushed to say that Gino was wrong….
Scott Duxbury has gone on record as saying the life span of a head coach is probably two years – because if they are successful they will be moving on to a bigger club and if they aren’t successful then you will need to be moving them on anyway. This is the whole point of having a head coach,everything else at the club carries on almost regardless of who is in that role, so when changes are made the impact is not as great as it may be at other clubs.
In my view Javi Gracia is a perfect fit for us. Tactically he is very good, the spirit amongst the players seems to be excellent and importantly he is a very humble man. He seems to be genuinely happy to be here, and content to get on and coach whatever he has at his disposal. This being the complete opposite of his immediate predecessor who spent most of his brief time here moaning about injuries, wanting more players and generally giving the impression that he was doing us all a favour by gracing us with his presence. Having said all that….I do think he is a good coach and Everton fans will enjoy the football he plays even if they will concede a lot of goals from set pieces.
So a very long answer and probably still haven’t answered your question… 🙂
A VERY long answer but fascinating. And, no, you haven’t answered my question. Well, maybe sort of.
One final question.
If you were offered Fosun and Nuno as a long term project instead of the present regime, would you take them?
(You can’t have them, by the way!).
No offence (because I think they are doing a great job at Wolves), but definitely not. Very happy with Pozzo/Duxbury/Gracia.
No offence taken.
Enjoy the rest of your season.
Except when we come visiting of course.
The following post from 7 years ago came up as a (timely) reminder on my Facebook page this morning:
*LLLLLD – it could be worse. Don’t know why I bother :-)”
This year it’s WWDWWL for the last 6 games, in a division that is stronger than ever!
I think we’re doing a whole lot better than last time lads! Don’t lose perspective of how far we’ve come from the last time we were in the Prem!
Now we expect to win every game; then we prayed, hoped, begged not to get stuffed week in week out! 🙂
We won’t win them all. So no surprise there we lost one. We’ll win the next one for sure!
Go Wolves!
I was idly trolling through the E&S website news feed when I chanced upon an article that said:-
‘Children in Sandwell are third fattest in the UK’.
Only just in the play off position then. Or should it be ‘Eat off’.
But they are getting bigger.
Whose children are the first and second I wonder?
Do you think I should stop farting around and do something useful?
But why change the habit of a lifetime?
Fans Parliament minutes from last Thursday at Molineux, lot’s of reasons to feel cheerful.
Next date is set for 24th January, any questions would be submitted for consideration before hand. If valid questions they would then be added to the minutes.
I am on the FP representing the Wolves Disabled Supporters, but I will gladly take up any sensible burning issues, (No. We will never get the Liquidator back, Sorry)
https://www.wolves.co.uk/news/club/20181023-fans-parliament-minutes-october-2018/
Stu,
Do you thunk Chelski will turn off The Liqudator for our visit?
Reckon we’ll hear it once this year.
FOwbWW 🙂
Don’t one of the Sheffield clubs play it too.?
Be nice if we pulled Albion in the cup and they played it. 🙂
Are you going to Flum on Boxing day?
Great thing about Sheffield is that we do av to play em’
In truth whilst I have loved some and really really hated some of the games against th’ shite, I really would be arsed if we do play em for 10 years and then we beat them 15-1 in the 1st round of the cup.
Flum on boxing day – it’s the missus’s B’dai so not sure, normally away days are off limit on her B’dai 🙁 – unless I convince her to have a day out in (or near to) Landen!!) it might work 🙂
But we’m off to not so Bright-on on Saturday, then in Cape Verde so miss Arsenole, but planning for Carduff, Noocaselle and Spurs to see the year out.
Sorry for the last comment not making any sense – should have your the 5 minutes of Edit availability wisely – note to self – must try harder!
Great thing about Sheffield is that we DON’T av to play em’
In truth whilst I have loved some and really really hated other games against th’ shite, I really would NOT be arsed if we DON’T play em for 10 years and then we beat them 15-1 in the 1st round of the cup.
Flum on boxing day – it’s the missus’s B’dai so not sure, normally away days are off limit on her B’dai ? – unless I convince her to have a day out in (or near to) Landen!!) it might work ?
But we’m off to not so Bright-on on Saturday, then in Cape Verde so miss Arsenole, but planning for Carduff, Noocaselle and Spurs to see the year out.
C U at Brighton then. Mr & Mrs Lowves, Jen de Wolf & Moi will be there.
Mr & Mrs Lowves, Lord & Lady Twix, me and Jen de Wolf are booked into the Premier Inn in Uxbridge for the Flum and Tottenham games, staying 4 days average £25 a night and taking both games in as well, then up the smoke for a couple of sherbets and a packet of Cockles n Whelks, may be some jellied eels. FFS, dirty Bathplugs them Southeners, eating all that shite, get some good old pork scratchings, faggots and peas down yer neck.
Still farting about.
At the West Park Cafe on Saturday we were chatting about Doreen Tipton and I mentioned the You tube clip of her with Robert Plant trying to sell her some Tarmac.
“Morning madam, would you care for a little bitumen slapped up your alley?”
It’s just so wonderful, I feel I have to share it with my fellow bloggers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGyeLApBguU&pbjreload=10
Can anyone explain to me why Traore was put in as a wingback?
His forte seems to be his rapid acceleration and ability to get behind the other team’s back line and shoot or pass into the box. Otherwise he can run to the centre of the field to lose the defender and then try a shot on goal.
If he is further back, he won’t be able to do that as effectively.
Tim,
Could be:
1) Doc was knackered
2) we don’t have many Right Wing Back options
3) or just could be Nuno wanted a right sided player on to replace Doc
However, I’m sure Nuno wouldn’t try to tell me how to do my job so I’ll let him get on with his.
Best three minutes of football in my life. The Twix’s and us going mental in the stands, hugging and kissing total strangers, what a night!
https://wolves.vitalfootball.co.uk/thats-how-you-create-history-these-wolves-fans-delighted-to-remember-this-mans-special-3-minute-spell/
I watched the ‘mini match’ which is 25 mins of the 90 and it wasn’t that bad tbh , of course it’s only highlights and I’m sure Watford deservesd the win but small margins an all , I mean how many times will a shot like that go straight in through the legs of a defender, and the first goal is of course massive games like this,.
Iv just got one thing to add ……. Jota is one goal away from making a massive impact in the prem , I think he’s done pretty good adjusting to the league tbh and when he gets his first I’m sure the goals and assists will flow , he was our top scorer last year and may well be this year too
Utw
My experience of managing a football team in the Premier League is scant but . . . . . . . . .
If we pick the same side every week , and if we continue to say we’re going to play the same, surely the opposition know exactly what to expect? Watford certainly saw us coming.
We’re only averaging a goal a game and our leading goal scorer (Jimenez) has scored just 2 . I’d say we need a striker.
I thought at the time that loaning Afobe to Stoke was a little hasty and more than a little short-sighted. We could certainly use him right now.
Before the Watford game, we weren’t having problems getting the ball into the box, just getting it into the net, but I’d still like to see Traore get a full 90 minutes.
Let’s hope we mix things up a little for Brighton.
No need to panic but it is time to wind this team back up to warp factor 20 plug them into the mains and make them eat a big bag of m&m s before they walk onto to that Brighton pitch.
Been going slowly off the boil for a few games just lately
Not too happy anymore. Guess I am not going to Arsenal. Tkts sold out before my window of opportunity opens. Not too happy anymore.
The most annoying part is I can’t increase my loyalty points as I can’t buy a tkt to enable me to!
Where have all these fans come from?
They are the fans who have dwindled away through disillusionment and the lethargy of the morgan/greasel era.
Always there, butpissed off with the last 40 years of crap.
You can’t get a ticket???
How do you think I’m gonna get one my annual pilgrimage next year?
Maybe the stadium expansion will be finished by then!
I am trying to get Brompto a ticket for Arsenal.
For you Clivey boy, Wolves are running a scheme putting aside a batch of 20 tickets for each home game for Overseas fans. The next time I’m in the ticket office I shall try to book one for you.