The first half was everything I feared. The second was everything I hoped.
Call me an optimist, but I’m choosing hope.
In the 15 minutes or so we were on top, we were well on top and enough chances were created to win the game, let alone fight back into contention.
Podence was suddenly a threat, Neto was skinning his full-back and Traore remembered he’s unplayable – at least as far as Mendy’s concerned.
And Raul, of course, did what Raul always does – albeit at the second time of asking.
Yes, there was enough there to make me believe the next cycle can be every bit as glorious as everything we’ve experienced up to now.
They’ve just got to ride the storm better.
After all, we can’t forget that for 45 excruciating minutes, we were punished by a relentless City press and for an inability to hold the ball.
The passes weren’t on and with white shirts closing the panic was palpable, culminating in a crazy lunge on De Bruyne by the otherwise dependable Saiss.
Good teams force those errors but that one felt avoidable.
The same could be said of the second goal from a lazy turnover of possession by Traore, which was gleefully ping-ponged around for Foden to stroke into an empty net.
‘Damage limitation’ was my half time assessment, so certain was I that more pain was to come.
That opinion didn’t change in the early knockings of the second period either with Wolves still chasing shadows and winning none of the second balls.
But then, out of almost nothing, the worm began to turn and it was shots in against Ederson.
Podence (twice), Neves and Jimenez were all guilty of failure to even test the keeper from very presentable openings before Raul eventually did the business.
But it’s the creation of those chances that should give heart.
With Diogo and Doherty gone, we need more angles of attack and all three of those wide players look capable of producing the goods.
If Semedo is imminent as reports suggest, it means Traore can play where he’s at his most effective and our defensive prospects should also get a shot in the arm.
It was a slightly shoddy performance when viewed overall, a kind of work-in-progress outing that will never get the job done against City.
But at least it showed again that there is something to work with and enough to have a considerable amount of hope.
Yeah, first half we were chasing shadows why I don’t know totally the opersite to the Blades game.
There are good signs there, agree re Adama he will never cut it as a wing back defending is just not in his DNA the sooner he is back in his natural role the better.
Worryingly Cantral when off hope it’s not serious. City are a quality side that needs to be said but we did give them to much respect in the first half we were playing to deep which cumulated in the defence making mistakes.
We have the chance on Sunday to put things right against the Ham……mers lets burst there bubbles .
In the first half, City showed what a great team they are but they ran out of steam in the second half. They have no match fitness. I think they would have won by more had the two teams had the same level of fitness.
If fitness was their problem, it makes you wonder how they managed to score in injury time.
In the first half we only pressed with our frontmen, so the MC defence could easy play through. In the second half the whole team pushed up 10 meters, and the pressure was suddenly effective. We saw this mutiple times last season. As Nuno said “We have to have more confidence in our abilities”.
Thomas, you just about summed it up perfectly. City were awesome in the first half and very nearly unplayable. I was glad we made an effort second half and when we scored, it seemed like it annoyed them and they went into cruise control. I am an atheist so it really was rubbing salt in the wound when Jesus scored with the last kick of the game to make it 1-3 as my score in this weeks prediction league was 1-2 !!!
There isn’t a team anywhere that would have got the better of City in that first half. Without DeBruyne they would have been great. With him they were out of sight. Still we gifted them a goal and I’d have been happy/relieved to end the half just one down.
Second half we found our mojo and gave them a game. To deserve a champions league berth our forwards have to be much more clinical than that.
If the rumours are to be believed, tomorrow should bring a solution to our right back problem. One made all the worse because it ties up one of our most potent attacking threats.
The result was made to look worse by the sucker punch right at the end but the good news is we only have to play them once more this season – and we will be a better more balanced team by then.
I know it’s only one game in for them but I think we might have just played this season’s champions
A game of two halfs! I actually agreed with trying to hold them in the first half and then attempting to hit the in the second. Did not quite work as City were superb and were were not in the first.
I am always worried with Saiss in the back three. Wish he would move to midfield where we can use him as a strongman!
A lot of positives to take away!
If Stirling had been booked for diving, as he should have been, well before they scored their first, maybe, just maybe, with a bit of argie bargie, we could have upset the little shit enough to get him a second booking.
And if that paragraph ain’t clutching at straws, I don’t know what is!
We were as poor as they were good.
Simples.
Unluckily Marcal had to go off early doors, don’t know why, and Vinagre, like Adama, is NOT a full or wing back.
Saiss had a good game at Sheffield, but did not cover himself in any glory tonight.
And Boly needs to be at left back.
I feared the worst at half time, made even more ominous by the pub tv feed going AWOL due to Tropical Storm Beta hitting us from the Gulf.
I didn’t get to see the second half, but from reports above we performed much better.
To be fair, we couldn’t have been much worse than the first half.
This smacks of most of our games from last season, and I had hoped, after Sheffield, that was to become a thing of the past.
Anyrode, as stated above, unless we draw them in the FA Cup, we only got to play them once more this season, and the bastards did look very sharp in the first half!
Onwards and upwards.
What’s the difference between a sharp pencil and the shit?
A sharp pencil has a point!
I was going to start the same way…
If Stirling had been booked for diving, as he should have been, well before they scored their first, maybe, just maybe…
KDB wouldn’t have felt as comfortable to fall over Saiss’s (completely stupid) slide with a trailing leg looking for contact.
Also happy to continue with…
And if that paragraph ain’t clutching at straws, I don’t know what is!
We were as poor as they were good.
At the end of last season, the bloggers were saying we needed to buy a left footed Willy Boly but Saiss made a good job of that position and was excellent last week at Sheffield. This morning he will wake up under pressure again after his poor decision effectively cost us the game. Yes, City were very good but let’s pretend, if it’s still 0-0 at 30 minutes or 0-1 at half time, we are still in the game and the second half can be different as we all know.
While I admire Sterling for his stance on racism and work in his home community, he has tried that cheating trick before of bursting past defenders on his left side then falling over when the tackle (or hint of) comes in. It’s a clear case of simulation.
Thomas, that’s a good piece and I’m with you.
IF!
If my grandma had had wheels she would have been a bike!
We didn’t lose because Stirling didn’t get booked. We lost because they’re better than us. Probably better than anybody right now.
It’s to our credit we managed to at least lay a glove on them in the second half.
Let’s not be bitter. Let’s just aspire to be as good as they were in the first half.
If I was a neutral I would have been drooling over this match.
My favorite IF is; if my aunt had balls, she’d be my uncle!
I’ve been reading the blog for a year or so and see that “if” is a pretty common thread, at least when calls don’t go our way.
If the ref called this, if the ref didn’t call that and then there’s all the “ifs” associated with VAR. Here’s a thought, just go out and take care of your business and not depend everything going your way. Or… have a good supply of antacids on hand.
Great second half , watching them panic a little and pep lose his cool a lot was worth the 3 am alarm.
They did tire a bit but we aren’t at full match fitness yet either but play like we did second half, against most other teams in the league and we will win plenty.
You won’t see citeh wasting time and playing keep ball by the corner flag too many times this season because I too believe they will win the league.
I hoped for 3 -4 points from the first couple of games so am pretty happy, hopefully our left backs injury isn’t too bad and we have a new rwb signing to tomorrow or Wednesday, this will move traore up to do some real damage .
10-12 points from our first six games will set us up nicely.
Utw
Nuno stated in his interview last week, “he wanted better possession from the team this year”
We bettered our points from the previous season but we were far too wasteful last year and it cost us dearly as we know.
There before our very eyes was what Nuno wants from the lads, outstanding possession, jinking the ball from player to player whilst the opposition team chased shadows, which in this instance happened to be our team.
I am certainly not disheartened today, we came out in the second half and without any doubt we should have won it in our little spell. The mark of how well we were doing, was Kyle, mardy arse Walker’s bullying, time wasting and his downright “someone stole his dummy attitude”. (Not my favourite City player)
We were held by a wonderful display of possession football in the first half and made a bloody good fist of it in the second.Had Semedo been on the pitch and Marcal stayed on the pitch who Knows, as Lowves always tells me,”Nuno Knows”. We were outdone by a silly needless tackle when the ball was definitely running out, and a really bad piece of luck with Coady and Boly right on the whistle.
As Iv’e stated above, “I’m happy with that” could have won it, didn’t win it, but lot’s of positives in the second game of the season.
Kyle Walker,……miserable twat!
My glass is half full today.
Which is more than it was on Sunday night by all accounts!
Keep the faith, hold on tight, the next level is in our sights.
Yes, hopefully this was just a case of working some kinks out with the new guys and the guys that have a more prominent role then they did last year. I think that they’ll become a more cohesive unit with time, but as a blogger stated (somewhere here) we lost some early points last year that came back to bite us so hopefully the kinks are gone soon.
WGH
Disappointed to lose and that first half was awful from us, but like all the above, and the summing up from Thomas, you cannot be too moaney or critical because we created some great chances second half.
Lessons will be learned, adjustments made & Nuno’s favourite, solutions found. Got to praise Traore and Podence in particular. Clearly the former isn’t God’s gift to the RWB role but he’s indefatigable, and sooner or later with him on the pitch something very good will happen. And what a nutmeg from Podence and cross for Jiminez’s goal. His couple of chances were spurned but it’s heartening to see him get so close.
There were negatives but we have hope aplenty your take from the game.
Traore. The real issue is that the ONLY reason he should be on the pitch is to do what only he can do. Namely to terrorize defenders.
He is an attacking force. He is not, and never will be a defender, his lack of positional sense at wing back being a serious problem, in that it brings about so much pressure on his defensive colleagues.
Traore is a unique talent. So please Nuno, please exploit this to full advantage
Quite right Mike. And the only reason he was asked to play RWB was because we were dumb enough to sell Doherty before we had a replacement! Madness and it cost us in this game. Quite apart from the fact that Adama is unsuited to being a defender, if he’d been available to exploit his attacking prowess for the whole 90 minutes I’m sure that this game would have been very different.
Someone’s got something to answer for I reckon…….
Second half performance saved us who knows if one of those many clear chances go in ?
But that’s football
Said it before why let players go before we have replacement’s in place ?
City were in top form in the first half and we were poor but second half we were much much better and as others have said could have got properly back in it with better finishing .
Still I am in the optimistic camp .Nuno is trying to play a more fluid style and you could see that starting to happen as it did at times in the Sheffield game .The window needs to close with a couple if extra players then they can settle down to training properly with fewer games .
Let the excitement then begin .
Good summary Thomas, as always. Like the majority, I see the second half positives and with the new quality wingbacks in place, we will be much better balanced. Saiss went from hero to zero but he and Vinagre were outclassed against this level of opposition, no shame in that. Call me cautious but I would have played the Donk to break up City’s midfield dominance from the start. The front three spent the first half chasing shadows. Neto to have been introduced when they tired later on. Brilliant by Podence.
Positives and negatives on last nights game. We were overrun in midfield, showed a bit to much respect for Citeh. Their hassling and bullying made us panic. Adama clearly doesn’t not like playing WB, his body language gave that away and spurred Citeh to exploit that weakness. 2nd half shows what we can do and will become. Citeh will be up there again, our encouragement is against other teams, our 2nd half performance stands in good stead.
For forty five minutes I thought that I had mistakenly tuned in to a Royal Shakespeare Theatre production at Stratford.
What a Comedy of Errors!
How many ways of giving the ball away and shooting yourself in the foot could we come up with?
I lost count.
The injury to Marcal in the opening scene didn’t help, and Adama’s comic efforts at defending added to the general mayhem.
But nobody came out of that period with any credit. We were outplayed, out run, out pressed, out acted and overawed by the City steamroller.
What a change in the second act.
We gradually started to get it together and, ridiculously, could well have got at least a draw with the chances we made and squandered.
In the end, it ended more like a Shakespearean Tragedy than comedy when they scored their third goal that pierced our collective hearts… just when we had them rocking.
We need wing backs who are wing backs and a midfield enforcer who can bully the opposition and WIN balls back
In my dreams I see a young Mike Bailey barrelling his way in to the Molineux dressing room and taking the lead role in our next production.
Is there one around?
Your right about midfield Doing Donk is ok but he’s no Keith Downing
Thanks what we need someone to get stuck into these fancy Dan opponents someone with grit and determination. ……….the problem is finding them..?
For me Pahlinha is a Rodri-type player – breaks up attacks, supports his defence…
AMN from Arsenal
Predicted the way Citeh would start, pent up frustration from last season’s failings – reasonable portion of which was down to us.
De Bruyne is currently the most effective player in the world. His pace, power, quality, vision and temperament make a good team great. No one else anywhere lifts their whole team as he does. In the first half last night he provided a masterclass that rattled every rivet, joint and seal in our system and nearly caused a complete plumbing breakdown. But it didn’t!
In a re-grouping reminiscent of Dunkirk we moved out of damage limitation and produced offensive momentum that even had them hanging on. But the make-up gap was ultimately just a little too wide.
Several thoughts which will probably spark debate:
At times Boly’s attempt at composure can represent laxness and more urgency is required (probably more apparent because of playing alongside Traore).
With opposition such as last night, playing Joào and Neves together is perhaps a luxury. Would not be opposed to going back in for Palhinha.
Heart dropped initially when Vinagre had to come on. But ultimately I was pleased with his contribution. He is struggling to establish himself and he did not complete any attacking crosses. But against two of the top ten sides in Europe he has moved out of the liability category. He battled, held his own and constantly tried to get forward against an overwhelming tide. His confidence is down, but he is pulling himself back up. If required I would not be unhappy to see him play in any of our next six or eight games and I guarantee his continued improvement.
All positive comments re Raul, Podence, Neto, Traore (going forward) agreed with.
Overall, basis for significant optimism.
Well balanced and very lyrical piece, Jackomac. A like from me.
If you think podence’s nutmeg on de bruyne was special wait til we play man united. I understand he is planning to put the ball through Harry maguire’s legs and then run through the gap as well.
Either it is Nuno’sstrategy to start slow the first half or he is not a very good motivational speaker and coach.
So what do you think? Why is that our strategy?
Sorry Tim that’s utter tosh and you know it.
Explain why he can’t get a team to try from the first minute then.
He’s a man-manager and the players love him but he can’t get them to try from the opening minute?
Something doesn’t add up.
I think the simple answer on this occasion is they were just too good for us.
He seemed to have got it right against Sheffield?
I’m talking about two or three years of weak first halves, not just this season.
We could have won that game. Early days though and once we have bought in all those we want I can see us becoming a menace to most teams. I do not expect that to happen overnight though and even believe that it will be around about our fifth or six game that will really see us play to a very high level that will cause problems to all teams.
In my opinion we have one player that causes me major concerns. I really want to applaud him but he is so inconsistent that he frustrates me. A MOTM performance v Sheff Utd and a feking liability last night. In my opinion I see the team being a better unit without him in there. Play a quality RB (Hoever) and move Boly back to the left where I think he plays better and feck off Saiss altogether. Yes, sorry, but to me Saiss is a liability. Consistency is key and he just reminds me of Stearman, Batth, Naylor and Ward – all so inconsistent that you were waiting for them to feck up (or at least I was). Hopefully Traore will also be removed from his defensive duties.
Anyway. We lost, but it is not the end of the world and I see us getting better and better. I predict a top 6 finish this season.
‘Saiss…a feking liability last night’.
Sorry but that just isn’t right. Yes, it was a liability to give away a penalty needlessly, but after that he barely put a foot wrong and covered to get us out of big trouble on a couple of occasions.
Arguably though Wolfman, that stupid diving attempt at a tackle was the pivotal point in the game. For goodness sake, you learn not to do that at infant school.
Saiss was head and shoulders man of the match against Sheff Utd but remember his reckless challenges were a feature of last season. Dr Nuno only has so much patience – ask Bennett, Costa, Cutrone- and can’t be far away from last chance saloon.
I’m not sure it was a pivotal point as City were so much on top at that stage that we looked liable to concede at any moment. Yes, it was rash and yes, he is rapidly running out of ‘brownie points’. I was simply pointing out that one bad mistake doesn’t merit the condemnation of his performance over 90 mins.
I respect your opinion Jack, but I fear he will let us down time and again. His inconsistency to me I consider as a liability. Okay, so he may have played okay after that stupidly rash challenge but I DO believe it was pivotal. We were chasing the game after that.
Not really sure about what’s not pivotal in giving away the penalty from which they took the lead.
True, but he has the occasional brain fart and when he does it’s a douzy.
Let’s try this again. Don’t know why my comment posted to your other post. Used error I suspect. So anyway…
True, but he has the occasional brain fart and when he does it’s a douzy.
This time it wasn’t user error. Don’t know why it keeps posting here. Sorry! I’ll stop now.
That’s okay mate, we get it lol.
My look at the penalty was Saiss expected to be able to get to THE BALl first to put it out, but DeBruyne managed to get there in time to fall over him. It wan’t awild tackle on the man. Saiss is a good player.
It was a ridiculous challenge full stop. You should always stay on your feet in the penalty area.
Basic defending . Delay, jockey ,concentrate on the ball, defend the goal, concede a corner or throw in, at best with a lucky rebound you might get a goal kick, above all stay on your feet.
The first goal scored in any game changes the dynamic.
Normally when we lose, I am thrust into the very depths of despair and despondency for the next two or three days. I felt that mood descending on me at half time as Citeh gave us the ole runaround. I could only spend the break cursing a diving little turd who doesn’t justify a name.
However, my spirits were lifted by a spirited fightback from our lads in the second period, showing more than a few glimpses of the kind of flowing footie Dr Nuno wants to see.
Danny boy is sensational to watch and must be a nightmare to play against. His nutmeg was sumptuous and the cross onto the head of Raul, pinpoint. The header was just very sweet icing on a delicious cake.
So, no depression in the Wolfstroker household today. Just confidence that, with Semedo joining the ranks, we are in for another terrific season.
Sorry to hear about your half time bowel problem WS.
I hope it flushed away eventually.
Perhaps it was caused by too much iced cake with nutmeg.
Bowel problem …………..brilliant ( or should I say sterling )
Seeing him trip over a protruding blade of grass always gives me the sh…. err runs.
You talking about that little shit, Stirling??
Lots of positives from last night. We have a superb goalkeeper. Vinagre looked a lot better than he did against Stoke, (tho’ somebody should have told him that Walker is even quicker than Traore, and the step-overs are fooling no-one). Podence growing into his free-role. Jimenez still a workaholic. Once the defence moved up and closed the space between themselves and midfield we looked quite solid given the quality of the opposition. In 45 minutes, we carved out 5 clear scoring opportunities against one of the favourites for the title. I’m definitely in the ‘glass half-full’ camp and expecting 3 points from our trip to East London.
There are rumours about bringing a 30-year-old Douglas Costa to Wolves for something like £37million.
Is it really worth the money for someone that old?
So let’s get this right.
Jonny injured. Replacement Fernando Marcal Lyon B.
Doherty sold. Replacement allegedly – Nelson Semedo Barcelona 1st team.
Jota sold. Replacement allegedly looking at Douglas Costa Juventus.
Team depleted. Vintahe in, Ferreria in, the first kid we bought who’s name escapes me that went straight to Grasshoppers.
Now that’s definitely upgrades in my eyes, Fosun putting out a statement of intent there, mind boggling transfer window yet again
Bonatini out Silva in?
I think Silva is Ferreria???
No sorry Stu, the world of multiple footballer names.
New record signing striker signed is
Fabio Daniel Soares Silva (using Portuguese naming function of maternal name – Soares – first and paternal name – Silva – second.
New midfielder signed on loan is Victor Machedo – maternal name – Ferreira – paternal name. But also known as Vitinha.
I guess this is the new way of things. Bit easier when it was named like Bully.
Thanks Mac.
That cleared up nothing. 🙂
Ok Silva and Ferreira (Vitinha) are two different players.
Semedo signed,
Another piece of the jigsaw get in!!
Had a dream last night that I was drinking Batham’s in a hot tub with Penelope Cruz and Scarlett Johansen, in a luxury villa overlooking the Amalfi Coast.
Then Scarlett ruins it. Her phone beeps and after checking the message says “flipping heck, Wolves have signed Nelson Semedo from Barcelona”. So straight away I knew I was dreaming and woke up.
Why do dreams just have to take it one step too far till you know it’s ridiculous.
Adama Traore and Nelson Semedo.
The fastest right sided pairing in the Premier League.
I interviewed Nelson just after he signed and he said:-
“Wolverhampton expects that every man will do his duty”.
Then he asked me to kiss him, but I made an excuse and left.
Wow. Having been brought up on full backs of Palmer and Parkin ( both great servants to wolves) I’m struggling to process what a speedy ex Barcelona full back is even going to look like on the pitch! If him and Traore gel it is going to be very exciting to watch.
Wolves sign Nelson Semedo from Barcelona. Just think about that statement for a minute and let the significance sink in. I know that we paid £35m for an 18 year old kid from Porto but we are now signing an international full back from Barca – a signing that says to the rest of the PL – Wolves are here to stay!!!
I guess that I should be getting used to the rapid progress that our club is making but I just can’t. I still feel like I’m the kid who has been locked in the sweet shop – is it just me?
My only concern is that Mendes is saying to Semedo (and others) ” look what I did for Jota – I can do the same for you. A couple of seasons to establish yourself and then I’ll get you a move to a big club”. Hope I’m wrong but what the hell – lets just enjoy the ride!!
If you’re at Barcelona and your agent says ‘I can get you a move to a big club’, then I would smell a rat.
Semedo signing seems a great plus; hope he is fully fit and doesn’t do a `Marcal`. The right side looks somewhat encouraging now with cover available also. I could not believe Saiss went to floor like he did; a cardinal error, as any amateur defender will tell you; try to keep on your feet as much as possible. there was no need to slide in. However he was exemplary for the rest of the game and has played very well of late. It was a dreadful display for the first half, where I thought we were giving the game away in central midfield due to lack of numbers making the situation far worse. I, like many, do not like Traore at right wing back, which always leaves me on edge waiting for him to lose possession deep in our half and having to use his abilities to deep to be effective. The new signings should alleviate this problem in my view. Now, I think, we need to, likewise, sort out the left, and to think our owners are able to succeed in doing this is unbelievable for us ancient Wolves’ fans. We seem to have plenty of class covver elsewhere apart from Jimenez and maybe Coady. Every other team seems to be acquiring good talent also so it remains to see whether we are truly stepping up in relation to the top six or just keeping up. With the coaching set up we have, I think we may very well be closing the gap but settling in time will be needed for some of these guys. Nuno seems to take his time introducing new blood when necessary, such as with Dendonker and Podence for instance. Injuries and selling mainstays does mean new players have to come right in without gradual introduction. I hope the Marcal injury is just a tweak and that we can afford to let him fully recover, and am sure that is the club’s way from what we’ve seen over the past few years. From looking at the games he played he looked a class act and fitted into the system without a blink. I’m devastated that we cannot get to matches. Hurry up with that vaccination, guys, some of us are getting on a bit and deserve to see these players at first hand after what the club has been through…
Lets hope Nelson leads us to many VICTORIES………..a…….a….one night only there are still a few tickets left in the gods, social distancing in place have to be out by ten the latest as Covid wakes up at ten
Signing players like Nelson will only help us to invest in others of a similar standard. More shrewd work by Jeff and Nuno. The whole idea behind Wolves under Fosun is ‘progress’ . They bought the club for £45m quid. I wonder what it is worth now and what it might be worth in 5 years time when the 10 year plan is concluded? There may come a time when Fosun take stock and cash in on the investment. That’s what they do. But they may just keep us as the special commodity to which Jeff alluded to not so long back. I wonder if we get a mention on football focus this Saturday?
Don’t hold your breath mate.
No chance cheese we to far North of Watford…….it’s only the fact that Liverpool won the Premier that they get on..same with Match of the Day lucky to get on last ……no chance you may as well go up the apples and pears to bed .
BBC are having a geraffe there just a load of James Blunts.
They will probably have a second week of fawning over Gareth Bale and how many times he has been to the bog this wik……
Based on a feature on Sky Sports a couple of weeks ago Wolves are now valued at app £450 million – not a bad investment for Fosun.
But in our adoring eyes the club is priceless……..!
And just a side note/ question/comment to all the doom and gloom merchants of a few weeks ago,
Matt who?
And in his first interview at The Mol, Semedo said he chose Wolves coz he wanted to move back to Portugal.
It took him a while to get to Wolverhampton. Perhaps he thought it was in Portugal and took the wrong flight. I am sure it wont be long until he is intoxicated by the allure of the Black Country. I bet he has already sent home pictures of ‘The mon on the oss’ in Wolvo city centre .
The reality is, we haven’t really strengthened our starting 11 that much, if at all.
Marcal is a replacement for Jonny and Semedo is a replacement for Doherty.
Our right defense was not a real weakness and so I don’t see a lot of extra points coming from the fact that Semedo is playing there instead of Matt.
Maybe Vitinha can improve the offensive part of the midfield a bit but he is still young so that is not a guarantee.
I’m not expecting 10 points more just based on the new players that we’ve signed.
Note: This is just my opinion.
Tim, you have a good point a couple more woluld give us a bit of depth to the squad if we get injuries.
A combative midfielder and a ready made striker silva is not going to play much by the look of things and if Raul goes which still could happen we need someone who can step in and can play week in week out.
My other concern with Silva is if he isn’t given game time like Catrone wasn’t only 10 minutes here and there his confidence will suffer and his form then ends up getting shipped out on loan.
As I’ve at ready blogged we need ready made replacement Nelson is a start as was the lad from Lyon but think we still need that bite your anles midfielder and a experienced striker even if the come in on loan to begin with.
Saw these figures somewhere on another site:
Wolves Transfer Window:
Out:
Jota (45m)
Costa (20m)
Doherty (15m)
Gibbs-White (Loan)
Jordao (Loan)
In:
Silva (35m)
Semedo (29m)
Hoever (13.5m)
Marcal (2m)
Vitinha (Loan)
Guess that is good business. Better players in and cost us nowt!!! Have not seen figures for Cav or Podence though but we can’t complain . Well I aint anyway.
With that other Portuguese bloke on his way, Christiano something or other, the set will be complete!
Why are all Albion forwards known as jigsaws?
Coz they go to pieces in the box!
Very good business Brompton- not only improved the overall quality of the squad, balanced the books too. The potential of Hoever, Vitinho and Silva is huge but the biggest gain in the previous window was Podence. What an impact he could have this season if the City game was an indication. A real match winner and may have a greater impact than Diogo who was quite inconsistent last season. MGW and Jordao need game time, no point staying with the squad to bloat numbers if they can’t add value at this stage. Surely can’t be any truth in the rumours that Douglas Costa is coming too?
Rumours being rumours. Mendes trying to help Juventus. Dougie doesn’t fancy leaving Turin for Wolverhampton.
Unless he brings his mate CR7
Sample teamtalk from opposition managers.
Traore…Semedo. Semedo……Traore. OK, any volunteers to play left back. C’mon lads, one of you gotta do it….. Please……Pretty please.
Would love to see Stephen Ward playing for an opponent!!!
Twisted blood or what?
If the rumours regarding Thomas Lemar are accurate this will be probably Nuno’s biggest test of his coaching capabilities to date.
In the past he has always focused on bringing players with the ‘right’ attitude into a small intense squad. Clearly reinforcing the playing strategy and each player’s responsibility to themselves and the team. Every individual is well aware that they under the microscope and whilst constant support is available if they are struggling, they will no that if they fall below Nuno’s expected level he will let them know in the most direct manner. No-one is guaranteed a place.
Lemar is a challenge that a couple of the World’s best coaches have already given up on and has the potential to affect the team spirit that Nuno values so highly.
But get it right and the potential rewards are massive.
https://twitter.com/JasDeo1/status/1309063061299507202?s=19
Interesting to consider what our new wing-backs were doing just over six months ago.
News just breaking that several Sandwell Town players have tested positive for covid 19
Our thoughts go out to the virus at this difficult time!!
Its a frickin’ joke, folks, before I get the negative replies!
That is in VERY bad taste Clive!
You used a capital ‘S’ in sandwell.
What the best dressed Texans are wearing
And me!
Mmm, I thought I liked the blue shirt, but not so sure now. It doesn’t quite look the same somehow, on you I mean. In the nicest possible way. 🙁