If it hadn’t been so entertaining for the neutrals, this game could have made for a useful summary of our season.
Blighted before kick-off by news of another injury to a key player, the opening 45 soon became a brutal exposition of the shortcomings of our squad.
Watching a ragtag defence and listless midfield pairing chase Jesse Lingard’s shadow was another nadir in this most forgettable of seasons.
Follow that up with a fight back that was almost enough to paper over the cracks, and you’ve got a pretty clear picture of where we’re at right now.
There is enough talent in this Wolves team to steer clear of danger, but it’s obvious that serious investment is needed to return it to the heights of the last two seasons.
I’d like to think that tonight’s aberration of a first half will be enough for Nuno to abort his four at the back experiment, but if it isn’t then we simply cannot afford to attempt it again with our current defensive options.
Coady and Saiss are both fine players but they were made to look like veterans of the Dog and Duck tonight. Perhaps one of them could adapt alongside a specialist centre half, but Michail Antonio made it abundantly clear that they can’t be trusted as a pairing.
Similarly, Neves and Dendoncker showed that they do not possess the dynamism required to collectively man a post-Moutinho midfield. Both have their qualities – and will surely continue to be key players – but were too easily overran by a Hammers side that was made to look more than the sum of its parts.
Throw in a loanee centre forward that never looks like scoring into the mix and you can see why we’re experiencing the problems that we are.
The question for us and, more importantly, the owners is – how much of this can be construed as a result of this most freakish of seasons?
For example, Willian Jose’s aforementioned struggles are a minor irritant when considered as part of the bigger picture of Fosun’s oft-discussed ‘project’. Raul will hopefully return as good as ever while Fabio Silva continues to hone his potential.
But the inability or refusal to recruit a centre half over the last three transfer windows has to be viewed as a failing on the recruitment team’s behalf. Why was the awful Jesus Vallejo deemed the only one worth signing? And why are prospects like Sanderson and, to a lesser extent, Kilman not given a chance to stake a claim?
My hope is that Jeff and co. will learn from the difficulties of this campaign and make a concerted effort to strengthen the spine of the XI in the summer.
Do that and, on the evidence of some of our attacking play tonight, we can realistically hope for much, much better next term. Our first goal alone shows we are capable of blowing teams away when we really turn it on.
Alas, for the time being we need to focus on getting to 40 points and bidding adieu to this dreary campaign. The news of Jonny’s injury was another bitter pill to swallow, and it seems only right to sign off by wishing him the best of luck in his latest recovery. With any luck, the next time he graces the Molineux turf we’ll all be there to serenade him.
Thanks for the report balanced and far more moderate than the few Twitter streams I briefly looked at.
Yet another defeat we’re becoming used to it. My only real observation is that yes we can berate Coady & Saiss for their too passive defending, but we don’t defend as a team. Where were any of the forward players when Lingard was running through us? Why don’t they press and chase back in numbers like all other teams? That’s our Achilles heel. We’re not at it for ninety minutes. To win games you need every player to be at it for the full ninety.
Valid point re -not defending as a team. Little evidence of Neto, Traore or Jose chasing back during the first half debacle.
Yes absolutely nor does Podence, there’s just no give in this league. Traore’s got pace to burn he could’ve chased Lingard down surely? But I bet they were all watching from a distance! Not good enough. Also as said if we can’t get 4 points from our games coming up then the Manager and players need to look very critically at themseves.
So they should all be chasing the same guy? Isn’t that what 7-year-olds do?
I’m sure that is not how Nuno told them to defend.
But watch other teams in the Premier league they defend to a man. They get players in front so runs don’t end up like Lingard’s did unchallenged and the ball in the back of our net. That was disgraceful from Wolves to let him go like that.
Agree with the comment re team defending – which at one tie was such a feature of our play. However there was one moment – leading to one of their goals – when Lingard had five of our players round him on the half way line and still made it through to our penalty area. In effect it was a similar situation to Traore’s great run for our first goal. I have to say though that I have no wish whatsoever for us to descend to the crude methods they tried to stop AT. A pull back that would not have looked out of place in the six nations [and thanks to the ref for not blowing up quickly and denying usa goal] followed by by an uncontrolled long distance sliding tackle that, had AT not been such a good hurdler, could have seen him joining the rest of our long term injured while his broken leg healed. No, I don’t want to see that from any team – least of all ours.
Trouble was we were (unusually) all pushed forward in and around the box. It’s not an excuse but it helps to explain why the forwards and to an extent the midfield were caught with their pants down.
Viewed in the context of the entire 90, we probably should have got a point. 66% possession and 20 shots on goal would be enough in most games. Of course, some of that owes to West Ham camping out on a luxurious 3 goal lead.
I agree that a back four with Coady and Saiss as the centre-halves is asking for trouble, but my assessment of two of the goals is that the midfield didn’t do their job. Both Neves and Donk were caught ahead of the ball and worse still, when they had the chance to make a tactical foul to halt the West Ham surge, they didn’t do it. This is why I’m surprised at the abuse Moutinho gets, as every game I watch him play, he’s at least snapping at ankles trying to get the ball back or interrupt opposition attacks. He’s not the long term answer of course and we desperately need some mobility in there next season.
It’s a shame we didn’t defend better because I thought we looked dynamic and inventive in attack. There were some great line-breaking passes and lots of rotation between our attacking players to open West Ham up, albeit with the customary wastefulness in and around the penalty area. That double miss from Willian Jose and then Neto was like something I used to watch on those football blooper VHS tapes in the 90s. How did they fail to score?
The goals we did score were the goals we should have scored many times before this season. The surging run from Adama and the late run into the box from Donk, then the peeling run from Fabio and the cold-blooded finish you expect from a £35 million striker.
It’s a hammer blow to lose Jonny, but if we can get Boly and Moutinho back we should have enough to get the points to make us mathematically safe before the end of April. Let’s be honest, if we can’t scuff 4 points from Fulham, Sheff Utd and Burnley, we deserve to go down. As interesting as we looked going forward, particularly with Podence in the pockets, I would immediately revert to a back three and grind these games out to guarantee safety. Stay up and preferably beat the Albion and I’ll forget this season ever happened.
Spot on Thomas and Ben. Refreshing to read well reasoned summaries of last night’s game, as opposed to the hysteria on a lot of social media sites.
As already said, we need to secure safety and strengthen sensibly in the close season.
UTW!
Another disappointing night! Notwithstanding the horrendous injury record this season, serious investment will be required for the upcoming campaign, or we will lose our best players in bulk.
And both Boly and Saiss will be away for 6 weeks next season for the African Nations cup, a center back addition is cruical. Several more additions will also be cruical. We will find out about Forsan’s ambition, financial clout, Chinese Govt.’s instructions, and dedication to the project over the next few months.
This team will not improve much without investment, and certainly not playing with a back four with the current players!
All very valid St. Kitt’s but I think your most pertinent point is the question mark about how much freedom Fosun well be ALLOWED By the CCP, Sadly I fear WWFC is unluckily caught up in the international political scenario of our times.
A very fair assessment of our predicament Ben, thank you. The situation we find ourselves in is I think a mix of many things – injuries to key players, no pre- season, poor recruitment, sale of talent, Nuno’s personal struggles during lockdown, an over dependency on mendes, fosun scaling back their ambition, trying to move to a new formation etc. The summer is absolutely critical for us and for Nuno. He deserves the summer to try and put this currently dysfunctional team back on course, however, he needs to hit the ground running next season. Irrespective of our individual view of what he has achieved, the clock has definitely started ticking on his tenure with the consistent paucity of performances this season. Of course that clock can easily be stopped with results but it has nevertheless started. The overwhelming priority right now is to get the 3 to 5 points needed to secure safety as quickly as possible. Defeat at Fulham and we are in danger of sleep walking into a relegation battle hoping that we will come good at some point before the end of the season. We’ve had 30 games to get into some semblance of form and it hasn’t happened so it’s unlikely to suddenly click in the next eight. We have a multitude of issues to fix and we have clearly regressed this season. Nuno can put it right and he deserves support but the last eight games of this season and the first eight of next are his biggest test in his time at wolves. I sincerely hope he sees our ten year plan to its potentially glorious conclusion but equally, nothing in football stands still and we need to get back on track and soon.
Our entire defence was assembled with three at the back in mind. They’ve worked on it endlessly and enjoyed great success with it.
So why oh why, with our two most accomplished career defenders sidelined, do we revert to a back four. Two central defenders who started life as midfielders and two full backs who were bought in as, and are much better as, wing-backs. With Boly and Jonny both out, and playing a team with the pace of Antonio and Lingard up front, Coady and Saiss were possibly going to be a bit of a weak link. Especially with Semedo and Ait Nouri constantly pressing upfield, which is what they’re good at.
Bring in Kilman and play the three, says I.
Otherwise, two excellent goals brightened up a disappointing evening and despite many decrying young Fabio as useless even while he’s still in nappies, he shows more and more why we had a punt on his burgeoning talent. Much like Neto a couple of years ago.
Interesting transfer window ahead, as much for who we keep as who we bring in.
Keep smiling all.
A Brilliant assessment .
The reality is that neither Saiss nor Coady are natural central defenders. Frankly, both of them are simply not good enough to play in a back four system. The ease with which pacy forwards go around them is to say the least both predictable and embarrassing.
So if its so obvious to all of us, why not so to Nuno. ? Endlessly we are told by our Coach that we need to improve our defending. But we don`t. Nor will we if we continue to continually change our formation.
But it is surely wrong to single out the two central defenders The reality is that they are put under huge pressure by the deplorable defending in the two full back positions. Both might look flashy going forward, but the end product is very limited, and worse neither has a clue as to how to do the job they are there for. Namely to defend. Lousy positioning sense, almost non existent tackling abilities. The result? A defense that`s so porous as to be a laughing stock.
Unfortunately too many of us appear to believe that the next few games will be a doddle. I disagree. Given their own dire positions these teams will be tough to beat. Our problems for the current season are far from over.
The defense was horrible, Patricio made a big blunder and Neto missed an open goal. Just wasn’t our day. I think we all see the consequences of the last two transfer windows ( signing only long term signings, with the exception of Willian Jose). We’ve signed too many players in progress. Fabio Silva got a deserved goal, and has seemed sharper than Jose in the last matches I’ve watched. Podence was yet again used in an attacking midfielder position without impressing. The second half was good though, a half Wolves totally dominated. Again Wolves played a match of two halves.
SignTaliscaSignTaliscaSignTaliscaSignTaliscaSignTalisca
An excellent assessment until the name Talisca appeared.
No, No, No, he’s a class act. He would open the opposition’s defense with one touch play, score on free kicks, long range shots and bring some extra physical presence in the box. I know the Chinese league is crap, but he’s still a class act and I don’t think he would need much time to adapt to English football again, because he has an excellent understanding of the game and excellent technical skills. Dominated in Turkey for Besiktas. Dominated in Champions league, dominates in China, and I’m sure he would be an exceptional alternative for Wolves as a central attacking midfielder.
This result proves without our first choice 11 the rest of the squad is not good enough or big enough to step up when needed.
For the first goal five Wolves players just ran along side Lingard not one of them put in a challenge even if it meant taking a yellow card for the team. Dendonker ran from behind Lingard and just ran along side him and then gave up on the edge of the box…..why no challenge. Some might say I am singling him out and I am because he continues to run around like a headless chicken without any real meaningful purpose apart from his goal he was ineffective.
West Ham got Lingard in on loan and it shows what we are missing out on by constantly ignoring the British market.
If we lose against Fulham they will be six points behind us for those who are saying don’t panic think on that.
Nuno formation was a big factor in this defeat also playing midfielders in defence when we have decent defensive options on the bench. All season we have been told the first half no shows will be sort out yet with 8 games to go we are still not turning up for the first half.
Nuno has had more than enough time to sort this out not least a 3 week break.
If we are not careful we could end up sleep walking into a relegation battle and on the form we are in that could easily become a reality.
Great write up Ben.
My thoughts are that in this forthcoming window Fosun need to get as serious about it as they did in that first summer window when we first returned to the premier league. Moutinho, Jimenez, Jonny, Dendoncker and Traore were all added to what was an already talented squad. Nothing like that ambition has followed since, with us seemingly going down the “has potential” avenue of recruitment. That’s fine in principal, but injuries to and the indifferent form of key players this season have left us badly exposed to the ruthlessness of the premier league.
If Nuno is to persist with trying to evolve the shape of the team (personally I would have preferred us to stay with what has served us so well for 3 years. I loved our team having an identity that opponents had to try and figure out), then this current squad will not take him where he wants to go anytime soon. I agree with Ben in as much as the team needs quality, “ready now” additions throughout the spine of the team in defence, midfield and attack. We don’t know what Jimenez is going to be like when he’s back and he’s also not getting any younger so we cannot have another season of being so toothless in attack in the hope that an 18 year old, green as grass kid is suddenly going to become the solution.
Coady and Saiss are both excellent players in a 3 at the back system, but in a flat back 4 they have looked all over the place more often than not, and Boly hasn’t been much better either. The 5 players all bunched together haplessly chasing 1 West Ham player before the 3rd goal went in last night was comical but it also graphically showed how uncomfortable the players are with this system.
Finally, a midfielder who can get up and down the pitch, offer some defensive stability as well as chip in with a few goals would also be most welcome because our midfield players simply do not provide enough goals between them. This has been a real problem this season without the get of jail free card that is Jimenez being missing for most of it.
It’s been a pretty dismal and pretty weird season, but I’m sure we can scrabble enough points together to ensure safety so we can stick a fork in this one and move very swiftly on.
That midfielder you describe Gary could well be MGW. He’s struggled to find a starting position when we play 3 at the back but IF we were to play a 4 next season, after a proper preseason the solution might actually be on our bench.
Yeah good point Prawny and I hope you’re right. There’s no doubt Gibbs-White has the talent to become a very good premier league player as he showed in glimpses a couple of seasons ago. For whatever reason though, he’s not made any impact at all since. As you say, with a proper pre-season behind him he could be just what we’re looking for but he himself needs to kick start his own career now.
Tim Spiers produced an interesting stat last night. Last five games in a back 3 scored 3 conceded 6. Last five games in a back 4 scored 10 conceded 12. A conundrum indeed. Also since late November we have scored first in only one league game. You are always in an uphill battle going behind in this league. I will take a boring 0-0 at Craven Cottage right now. Let’s just get over the line and then it is over to Jeff and co.
First of all, huge sympathy to Jonny.
As has been said before, it just sums up the season so far for us.
As far as the game is concerned… how can any team in the Premier League defend as badly as we did in the first half?
The simple answer is:- By trying to force players into an alien defensive system that they are totally unsuited to.
Headless chickens would have made a better back four.
West Ham’s third goal in particular took me right back to school games afternoons, when I was about eight years old.
Recovering from my first bout of Rheumatic Fever, I couldn’t run about so I was always in goal.
Kept company by the fat lad who was always last to be picked, and spent his time leaning up against a goal post, chatting to me and craftily sucking on a gobstopper.
Somewhere up the pitch, shrouded by mist and a cold, slow drizzle of rain, seventeen or so muddy, damp youngsters ineffectually chased the boy who had the ball, until he came into the penalty area and slotted it past me into what would have been the net if we’d had one.
As Ron Manager would say:- “Ooh! You know. it’s football isn’t it. Young boys in the park. Jumpers for goal posts. Marvellous!”
Well, marvellous it wasn’t.
Plus points were the way that Silva took his goal and the fact that our heads didn’t drop when we went three down. The fact that we ended up deserving a draw, and could well have won if we’d have taken our chances says a lot for the character of the team.
But the character is ultimately flawed.
And we need to fix it fast.
Unlike some I found little solace in “the spirited comeback”.
If you start playing in the 44tth minute, which has been a constant feature of this very disappointing season, you get exactly what you deserve when you lose.
And the only point to be made about injuries (apart from good luck Jonny) is that this was just more proof that our squad is way short on quality inn numbers.
One, and probably only one, positive was the fabulous goal created by Neto and exquisitely finished, by “The Choirboy”. Fabio Silva has with some justification been subjected to quite a bit of criticism but I believe he does have big potential and a look at his stats, backs this up. His goals per minute ratio is far better than eg. Neto’s despite much of his game time consisting of 10 minute cameos.
And finally one thing for sure is that we really MUST not lose at Fulham on Friday.
The first half was a shambles Lingards goal was like Sons last year got the ball and ran not one tackle just ran beside him and had a chat. Why are we playing midfielders at CH when we have a CH warming the bench the back four has to stop till we get defenders who can do the job. We have got to get a couple of wins to make sure we’re safe start to rebuild for next season at least 4 or 5 new signings.
Dek
Definitely need 4/5 major signings as you say – WITHOUT selling Neto. And I don’t see any of the 3 loaners being worth anything like £ 20 million so send them back.
Anything less will seriously call into question Fosun’s ongoing commitment to “the project” –
I’m not as much of a “Statto” as I used to be, but I would be very interested to split the 30 games played between a back 3 and a back 4 and look at the respective results, as it seems to me we just cannot get a win playing with the latter formation.
If Nuno does want to move this way, then we almost need to buy a whole new back line in the summer as none of our first choice defenders are yet to convince playing this way. Also with Coady, Boly & Saiss all being 30+ next season, and two of them missing a chunk of Jan / Feb due to the ANC, then recruitments in this department are sorely needed.
And desperately bad news about Jonny, a second ACL on the same knee – will he come back from that? I sincerely hope so, but now we need to add a left back to the shopping list.
The only bright spot from last night was the improved attacking play, particularly young Fabio. Get a few more points on the board and I’d be tempted to drop Willian and give him a run of full games to benefit him for next season.
OODCL
There are certainly plenty of negatives from that performance which others have rightly highlighted .
Nevertheless there is no doubt that in that system the attack looks hugely better as the xG and attempts demonstrates .
In my view we need to revert to the back 3 to get 5 points and then experiment with the back 4 and give players like MGW and Vitinha chances to make a case for staying next season .
What is not to me in any doubt is that if we are to do much better next season and want to try to keep the back 4 to make-us better going forward all the investment needs to be in central defenders and more mobile more aggressive midfielders .Otherwise it is all pointless .
Whether Fosun have the willingness really to invest only time will tell .I too worry that the politics are now in their way .
PJB if they sign the three as you say it shows Fusons intent to me nothing will have changed we still won’t be able to defend and not score goals so save sixty mill and look else were. I think we need a striker 2 midfielders and a CF that would add some depth to the squad but you know Nuno he does not like a big squad and I think that’s what’s hampering us.
Agree – save thev£60 million and look elsewhere, Ait-Noori no better than Vinaigre, Vitinha very lightweight and Jose simply isn’t good enough.
Jonny’s unfortunate relapse complicates matters because it leaves us short of full backs. Marcal is injury prone Semedo can’t play in a back 4 but in my opinion could be utilised in midfield. That just leaves the excellent Hoever; maybe take a punt n getting a cut price Doc back and buying a top class LB.
Moutinho definitely can’t do 90 mins week in week out anymore so needs to be a cameo man and needs replacing and we MUST assume that Jiminez needs proper alternative plus back up as well as Fabio (Mir + 1?).
But if you look at the whole mix we need 2 full backs, at least one CB, at least one midfielder and at least one striker. I also think Traore will leave s0 needs to to be replaced on a £ for £ basis.
So investment needed will be in the order of £150 million+ less what we can retrieve / recycle from within and what we can sell (absolutely not Neto).
Let’s see what Fosun think.
Great report Ben, but not only are we not capable of blowing teams away, we’re barely capable of scoring except, ludicrously, when we let in more at the other end.
Embarrassing defending in the first half. Nuno must take the blame, having seen the frailties of this system before. Fabio was the only shining light.
We should scrape over the line this time but we must surely be one of the favourites for relegation next season on the evidence of this season. Norwich and Watford will come up strong, and we don’t know when Raul will return or which Raul will return. Huge summer ahead.
What a blow with Jonny’s ACL ,a great player not seen down Mol since Dennis Irwin !
Silva took his goal well and was more surprised than anyone when it went in. Don’t
buy comments about his talent , lots of mistakes prior to the goal ! Will be quietly
loaned out next season.He also needs to stop chatting to the opposition and knuckle
touches ! There to win not make friends !!
I quite enjoy being a disrupter in these discussions but to a greater or lesser extent I find myself agreeing with many of the points raised.
Our two centre halves last night can’t cover the ground quickly enough to play those positions. Saiss in fairness has to keep looking to his left when Ait Nouri plays as he’s often caught upfield. Coady just looks lost and Donk is suffering from not having a decent run in any one position
I can see the rational behind the four. How else might we have squeezed Podence into the team?
Four is a better watch but I like winning too so if we’re going down that route we need probably a minimum of three new players as well as a good preseason to fit it all together.
Bright spots were our goals. I could have scored Lingard’s if no one tackled me but Traore was like a shining Ebony ghost gliding past anyone brave enough to take him on and the boy, I think we’ve had a glimpse of the future.
Btw. Great blog Ben, I trust it was written this morning and not last night 😉
I’m not an expert on 3 at the back vs 4 at the back and what all of that means but if you are playing 4 at the back, should the left-back be going that far up the pitch?
Great comments Prawny , I thought the same regarding as to the timing of when Ben posted- but this is a different Ben! As a previous poster commented I would not like to see us go down the route of being cynical foulers to stop the oppositions better players- West Ham last night, Villa and Spurs come to mind. Another team would have stopped two of West Ham’s goals with tactical fouls. Not us though. Sin bin for 10minutes would stop it. I have to disagree with some posters on our ‘fightback’- I thought we went toe to toe all game and could have scored at any time with more clinical finishing. Could have won this even at 0.3. Every game now will be tough, many teams are looking for safety points too. I can only see us only just creeping to safety, Villas amazing escape last season should ensure we are not complacent facing struggling teams.
Oops! Sorry Ben’s.
Pretty well sums it up Ben. I optimistically predicted 3-1 to us, but I didn’t know that three key players would be missing. After WBA showing Chelsea what’s what, I thought it was the least we could do against the Hammers. I had my usual Wolves to win bets, but when I heard the lineup I put money on a draw as well. With Jonny, Boly and Mouninho, the result could have been very different.
We the fans constantly moan about our poor starts, and yet, nothing much changes! We defended like zombies last night in the first half. Jose missed a great opportunity, and again in the second half he didn’t shoot when given a snap chance in the penalty area, passing instead. Predictably he was subbed, head down in gloom or maybe relief. For me the positives included Traore’s great run to cross to Donk for the first goal, and Neto’s delightful ball to Silva who provided a great finish. Both goals brought memories of absent players. The Donk goal was pure Jimenez. Silva’s conversion was pure Jota. At least we have Jimenez to come back, and Silva to groom for hopefully great things.
Jose has to go at the end of the season. I really can’t see him turning things around now. For next season I think we should consider Costa Pereira if WBA go down (and we stay up!). He scored a couple against us at the Mol and his goals against Chelsea on Saturday were superb.
If it ain’t broke why fix it ?
We finished 7th playing 3/5 at the back everyone was happy.
Agreed we struggled to break teams down when they defended deep but still came very close to a top 4 spot.
Change of formation and loss of players has seen us nowhere near that level
Loss of Jimenez and Jonny and Boly for periods has no doubt cost us points but the biggest reason has been poor recruitment in the transfer window
This team is not a patch on what it was.
Think and hope we will survive but a lot of work is required by Fosun, Mendes, Nuno.
Agree with every word re recruitment over the last 2 years which has been appealing. Only Neto and possibly Hoever have been an unqualified success.
Set against that we’ve lost Jota (too cheap) and Doc without adequate replacements and brought in (including failed and failing loans) Vallejo, Campana, Jordao, Cuitrone, Marcal. Vitinha, Ait-Noori, Jose, Podence. Semedo and Silva (jury still out on last three).
Total transfer outlay £120 million plus millions on wages for loans.
Should re ad appalling- predictive text, pah!
Not sure how Hoever can be termed a success as we’ve not seen anything like enough of him as yet.
– The main criticism after last season was directed towards Wolves style of play, was the lack of possession, something Nuno has tried to change with the switch to 4-2-1-3. Unfortunately Wolves defenders aren’t used to play in a back four.
Couldn’t believe the line-up when I first saw it last night. Going 4 at the back against an ‘on-fire’ WHU was suicidal. What was wrong with Coady-Saiss- Kilman at the back in a 3/5 ? (+ Donck and Neves in midfield – in fairness I didn’t think they did too badly as we were caught out by counters, not by WHU midfield domination). At least we would have had some defensive cover then.
Re the paucity of the squad; it is arguable that 4 of our 5 most influential outfield players were missing last night so going head to head with an in-form team was never going to be easy.
2nd half was much better but we still lack movement up front and creativity in the last third. (I don’t think Vitinha is the answer there, tho’ I understand he normally plays a bit deeper.)
I don’t think we’re going to get dragged into a relegation battle but I’d happily settle for 8 consecutive 0-0s just to see this season out.
Positives ? Two nicely worked goals and our throw-ins were much better…
– Wolves position in nowhere land on the league table is ideal for for the indoctrination of a back four – as long as we’re not relegated
Like others have said I cannot understand the back 4 & leave Kilman on the bench, play him with the back 3.
Wishing Jonny a speedy recovery but with yet more injuries it just proves the point (IMO) that we need a bigger squad. I know Nuno likes a small squad but it’s not practical as this season has shown.
I agree Fosun need to get the chequebook out & we need quality coming in, 4 or 5 signings at least. I do have a worry that with both Jonny & Marcal out we’ll sign Ait Nouri to cover that position, he’s got talent but I’m not convinced at the supposed price.
Let’s keep our PL status, get the season over with & see what happens in the summer. But we do need action from our owners .
Positives.
1. Adama run and assist.
2. Neto run and assist.
3.Silva took his goal well
4.Great spirited fight back.
5. Pitch holding up well given all the rain we have had
6. Murals of the fans holding up well given all the windy weather we have had
7. Ben & Thomas, yet again excellently written pieces.
Negatives
1. Giving 3 easy goals in a poor 1st half and giving us a mountain to climb
2. Losing Jonny, again
3. Giving away 3 easy goals in a poor 1st half and giving us a mountain to climb
4. Nuno, best manager for years. But, stubborn as a mule at times
5. Giving away 3 easy goals in a poor 1st half and giving us a mountain to climb
We are pretty much the same squad for the last few seasons, so struggle to understand our loss off traction this season. It was said in a post, we’ve tried the 4 at the back many times, it doesn’t work, why persist? What is the logic? when grinding out a draw may be boring, but gets us to 40 points.
Agree with everyone, the loanees have had enough time and are not cutting it, so don’t throw good money after bad. Frustrating and exhilarating in equal measures last night.
Oh, in case I didn’t mention it, we must stop giving away easy goals in the 1st half and giving ourselves a mountain to climb. :-).
For the rest of the season, 3 at the back… don’t concede, at least it’s a point at worst.
Keep the faith.
Don’t normally disagree with much you say MW, but as in post above spirited fightbacks in the 44th minute when 3-0 down are unlikely to win you many points.
True PJB I was trying my hardest to find positives. Lol.
Points makes prizes , as Brucie used to say, crap 1st half’s demoralised the fan base… Not sure he said that bit, but you know what I mean.
Agree with most of what you say Marnhull.
But you should have added “Giving away 3 easy goals in a poor 1st half and giving us a mountain to climb”.
DOOG, spot on, not sure why I didn’t think of that… Lol.
Love this blog, can’t wait until I get meet fellow bloggers, have a beer and put this season to bed.
Pretty much the same squad, perhaps, but we were without Boly, Marcal, Moutino, Johnny, Jimenez, Jota, and Doherty. We’d have done better with some of those in the team, since we were playing a much better team than us, one that beat us 4-0 earlier in the season. We’d have done even worse if Antonio had stayed on. Lingard is class, on a hot streak, we were expected to lose, and we did. We couldn’t beat any of the top six currently.
Well, that was shite.
Pure, 100%, undiluted shite.
Cracks can be papered over, but not the Grand Canyon.
No one player can hold up his head in anything but embarrassment.
A defense that cannot defend.
An attack that cannot attack, and a non existent midfield.
I think the team talks have been based on the Second World War Italian tank design, seven backward gears and one forward in case of attack from behind.
Pathetic tactics, yet again the crab attack, sideways and backwards, even in the last few minutes when a point was inexplicably up for grabs.
The first time West Ham have done the double over us in the top flight for nearly 100 years, the good news is on this showing we will be down and they won’t be able to beat us for the foreseeable future.
Spineless, clueless and downright useless.
The only saving grace is we cannot play that badly again……………………….can we?
And I don’t want to hear all the bollocks about we played better second half, we deserved a point, Traore put in a wonder cross, or any other excuse, blah blah blah.
We were garbage, and lucky that Antonio went off when he did, or they would have doubled their score.
I am not ashamed to be a Wolves fan, too long in the tooth for that, but I ain’t afeared to say it how it is, neither.
We need a vast improvement on Friday, or the summer transfer window will be totally not how we want, as we will not be enticing good players to a second division side.
Pull your socks up, Wolves, us fans deserve better than this, much better.
Great summary Clive. But one positive point you`ve missed
If next season we`re recruiting for the second tier, at least Mr Shi and whoever else controls our crap transfer policy wont be tempted to pay mega millions for the totally useless Nait and Vitinha. By that time even they will have got the message that they`re third division performers at best — and even then only on a good day.
Fair play Cive….!
long lasting criticism here…
who takes the can? Nuno,Jeff shi?the players.?Mendes?
Netto could of saved our blushes he’s a great left footer but push him on his right and it’s not a pretty sight.
Traore brilliant ,Silva put his goal away as if he was jiminez, Jose has now the dunces cap..
We are doomed then..
Come on Fosun £50-£100M will do it in the close …5 players needed..
……And a new manager..
Clive I love your dissatisfaction at last.
Bit harsh Steve and Clive.
Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of a perfect shit-storm and this season has not been far off.
Mistakes have been made but that’s easy for us to say with our 20/20 hindsight.
Nuno (and Fosun) have enough credit in the bank not to be questioned for a good while yet.
Mendez is an agent not a producer of top notch players so someone with the necessary abilities needs to run the rule over his suggestions so that the wheat can be identified from the chaff.
It seems that of the many staff departures over the last 18 months or so we’ve lost that person because an excellent recruitment record has become rather moderate to say the least.
Gestifute is now far bigger than Mendez and not that I know much about them I’d be amazed if they don’t have their own scouting system. Most of their clients seem to have a pedigree. The skill seems to be putting the right peg into the right hole. Cases in point, Mir and Goncalves. Couldn’t hack it here but they’re being raved over elsewhere.
For those who said we played rubbish, the stats are interesting!
We doubled their possession- shots-corners- passes and had a much higher pass accuracy.
We lost this game because on the night they were much more efficient with their shots on target ( they did score a couple of beauties).
If Jimenez played this game I think we would have won.
I don’t think this was a game of two halves either, we started as good as them and if we had stuck one of our chances away before they did then it’s a different game that’s all ifs and buts.
Beat Fulham, send Sandwell down and let’s get the cricket started.
Utw
IF.
Here we go again.
IF.
The biggest word in the English language.
Followed closely by ONLY.
How many times over the last three seasons have we been completely outplayed, out possessed and outshot, only to still win?
Playing Carl Henry crab football keeps the ball, but does nothing else but give defenders time to regroup and set up shop again.
You can spout all the stats in the world until you are blue in the face, but the ONLY one that matters is the final score, and we friggin’ lost, again.
Well said- we started without our two best defenders and as I posted before, most teams in the PL would have ‘tactically fouled’ Lingard in the build up to two of their goals. Porous defence yes, poor performance no.
Giving away 3 easy goals in a poor 1st half and giving us a mountain to climb certainly does not help as I am sure someone agrees.
Getting a new manager will certainly not help. Ours is fine. The best we have had imo.
Bring on Fulham on Friday.