There’s clear deficiencies in this Wolves side – namely a complete lack of cutting edge in the final third, and avoidable defensive errors.
A relegation battle is very much on the cards.
Climbing up the table will only happen by ensuring the sumptuous and clinical nature of the move leading up to Adama’s goal becomes the norm rather than the exception.
That said, there’s enough in the Forest and Palace games to suggest there’s some character and fight left in the dressing room. A more fluid build-up play in the defensive and middle thirds has retuned too; although we still have a tendency of carelessly giving the ball away, and being overpowered amidst a physical battle.
Heck, we’ve even started to press, thanks to a 34-year-old Diego Costa leading the way in the intensity stakes. If only he was the Costa of old in terms of finishing.
And that’s the crux of the issue. Hesitation and/or poor decision-making means clearcut chances are at a premium, but even when they are laid on a plate, lines are fluffed. Put simply, where are the goals coming from?
At least we can marvel at Hugo Bueno’s duck-to-water debut. He’s already nailed down the left back spot by showing Jonny and Ait-Nouri how to both defend properly and drive forward purposefully with the ball.
Adama is another who is turning heads (pardon the pun). He’s the one person making a difference in the final third – I don’t think I’ve seen him score with his bonce before! You only have to look at Guedes’ impact (or lack of) to see how much we missed Adama in those last 30 minutes.
Who would have thought a few weeks ago that we’d be pinning our hopes on some of the old Adama magic during a relegation battle?
And that’s before I get onto the Supermarket Sweep nature of the new managerial process. To be fair, Rylan might have a shout of being on the shortlist when you look at the current options.
I tend to agree about the relegation battle, but possibly for different reasons. Yes, I agree that our attack performance has been abysmal, but tonight, given just a fraction more luck/run of the ball we could have gone in at half time 3-0 up. Very slightly higher and Diego’s follow up after the initial block would have been out of the gk’s reach and in the back of the net. Likewise very slightly to the left and Ruben’s free kick would have been in. I don’t think that CP would have come back from 0-3 down and we would probably have been relaxed enough to score a few more.
I suppose some would say that we had our share of luck against Forest. Most pundits seemed to think the penalty was harsh and should not have been given. While that might well be true, we’ve suffered badly from injuries and their long-term effects -tonight there were two lengthy interventions by the medical folk which at least didn’t lead to the players having to be replaced.
One very positive point, as you say, was Hugo Bueno’s excellent debut – I’m just concerned that, the way things are going, he do his ACL in next match and be out for the rest of the season.
Taking the lack of bite and accuracy up front together with less than our fair share of good fortune and more than our fair share of injuries and mix those up with the shambles that is our recruitment drive and I have long since begun to be very concerned for the rest of the season. I’m just hoping that the fact that the under 21s were playing Port Vale tonight isn’t some kind of portent.
Still – COYW OODCL CET
Take your point on the 3-0 but,equally, they could have gone 1-0 up with that shot that hit the post. That’s why there’s little point of “if only”.
I agree with you HS and I am usually the last one to invoke luck which – like VAR decisions – under the majority of circumstances good will cancel out bad. However I believe that the Normal (or Gaussian) distribution covers luck just as well as it covers any number of things in the non-football world. The maths of this show that in just over 95% of cases good and bad luck will cancel each other out – at least to the extent where a net outcome can be measured – or at least observed. At each end of the scale the maths shows that there will be 2.2% of cases where the result is either very good luck or very bad luck. I believe that we are at the moment dangerously close to the ‘bad’ end of the scale.
This doesn’t, of course mean that others do not have bad luck – or good luck for that matter. Please forgive me for getting technical, but the attached chart of the distribution shows where I am coming from.
This distribution can apply to a single game. In most, the luck evens out, but I still remember being at Burnden Park in the 1950s when were were knocked out of the FA Cup by Bolton in a game where we firmly down at the bad luck end. We could have played for a week and we wouldn’t haves scored. The ball was kept out of the Bolton by an unbelievable amount of good fortune. One shot ended up going over the bar after it had hit Hopkinson on the back of the head as he was on the floor facing his goal.
So bad luck – normally know, sometimes (rarely) yes, like now.
Apologies again for getting mathematical.
COYW
And apologies for my lousy typing!!!!
COYW
Although we conceded early doors after the break, I couldn’t understand why he took off Adama Traore ????.from there on we were toothless going forward and lost our way. Saying that I do believe we deserved a point but you dot always get what you deserve.
Costa is getting there but we ain’t going to see the Costa of yesteryear I’m afraid.Nunes looked lost and Guedes is no where near good enough at the moment.
Hopefully we will get some sort of Genius in soon to steady the ship because I truly think we have the players to get us out of this shithole we have fallen into.
Massive game on Sunday massive, we MUST win.
Up the wolves.
Positive points:
1. Beuno was a very impressive full debut
2. Wolves coaching staff appear to have been reading this blog – from my preview of the Forest game: Adama has such a great leap when attacking the ball for headers in midfield. Yet I can’t recall him ever attempting a header in the area. I would show him videos of guys like Tim Cahill arriving from midfield to score headed goals and tell him that when Ait Nouri or Jonny have the ball on the opposite wing, his job is to meet the cross at the far post (Costa mid goal).”
The positives. Boubaca looks to be the combative ball winner so much needed in the middle of the park. Bueno was outstanding at the back — he showed both Ait and Otto how the job should be done, both in a defending and attacking capacity.
The negatives. The amazing down turn in the second half performance in which we just plain poor –though not helped by the baffling substitutions. To give away a goal so early on was criminal. There was a naivety in our play, which simply cannot be afforded given our position. With Adama gone, we lost all attacking threat. Quite what Guedes offers to our side is beyond my understanding.
In summary, I believe that those who still claim we are not in for a relegation battle are deluded. A new quality coach needs to be appointed PDQ to give us a fighting chance
Looking like a coach won’t be appointed until the New Year.
I find that scary.
Just hope we won’t have another Connor situation with Davis.
Well I thought it was a greatly improved Wolves performance, didn’t deserve to lose . A point would have been fair . If we can keep that level of performance up then we won’t be in a relegation battle for long
I was disappointed with the Adama substitution though, it cost us the game .
much better though …keep it up
I thought it was a really encouraging performance, much better than the games we have seen thus far.
I noticed a few comments about the Adama sub, and i was bemused at the time, but the manager explained it clearly:
“We had to. Adama was a doubt before, a little injury that might get worse, but he was important to how we were going to play, and I thought he was excellent first-half. Obviously, you don’t want to take a player off that’s causing problems, so it’s frustrating, but we had to do it. He’s done his course of time and couldn’t have done any more.”
If we can play like the first half in the future, and get a bit more luck, i think our troubles will be behind us. Bueno was outstanding. Yes we committed a few silly errors that cost us (Eze was basically unmarked for the first goal!!) Collins seems to always have a moment of madness in each game too but otherwise sound. I believe we can turn this around. Glass half full folks!
Despite the loss that was an entertaining game, Bueno being the standout player and the cross to Adama was a thing of beauty. It’s refreshing to see Steve Davis starting and bringing on young players after Lage’s rigid selection process, not sure why he took Adama off though, one eye on Leicester maybe, it’s great to see him starting regularly again.
This makes interesting reading, annual salary and weekly salary respectively. If you see Conor Ronan, buy him a pint cos he’s skint and Coady needs to sack his agent. Bonatini though is having one big party.
2022 Active Roster
Jose Moutinho M 36 £5,200,000 / £100,000
Matheus Nunes M 24 £4,420,000 / £85,000
Nelson Semedo D 28 £4,000,000 / £76,923
Daniel Podence F 26 £3,120,000 / £60,000
Diego Costa F 34 £2,600,000 / £50,000
Pedro Neto F 22 £2,600,000 / £50,000
Ruben Neves M 25 £2,600,000 / £50,000
Adama Traore F 26 £2,236,000 / £43,000
Raul Jimenez F 31 £2,144,000 / £41,231
Jonny Castro D 28 £1,907,000 / £36,673
Jonny Otto D 28 £1,907,000 / £36,673
Leo Bonatini F 28 £1,820,000 / £35,000
José Sá GK 29 £1,490,000 / £28,654
Leonardo Campana F 22 £1,040,000 / £20,000
Francisco Oliveira F 22 £950,000 / £18,269
Conor Coady D 29 £858,000 / £16,500
Max Kilman D 25 £780,000 / £15,000
Matija Sarkic GK 25 £650,000 / £12,500
Yerson Mosquera D 21 £380,000 / £7,308
Rayan Aït-Nouri D 21 £234,000 / £4,500
Toti Gomes D 23 £140,000 / £2,692
Connor Ronan M 24 £40,000 / £769
2022 Loaned Out
Fabio Silva F £4,160,000 £4,160,000
Ki-Jana Hoever D £2,100,000 £2,100,000
Bruno Jordao M £780,000 £780,000
https://www.spotrac.com/epl/wolverhampton-wanderers-fc/payroll/
Just to qualify !!!
Connor Ronan earns £4,400 per week, £228,800 per year playing for Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. as a AM RC. Connor Ronan’s net worth is £856,440. Connor Ronan is 24 years old and was born in Republic of Ireland. His current contract expires June 30, 2024.
Career Earnings:
Year Weekly Wage Yearly Salary Club Position League Age Contract Expiry
2022 £4,400 £228,800 Wolves AM RC cinch Premiership 23 30-06-2024
2021 £4,400 £228,800 Wolverhampton Wanderers M, AM Premier League 22 30-06-2024
2020 £4,400 £228,800 Wolves M, AM Sky Bet League One 21 31-05-2020
2019 £1,030 £53,560 Wolverhampton Wanderers M, AM Slovak First Division 20 30-06-2019
2018 £1,030 £53,560 Wolverhampton Wanderers M, AM Sky Bet League One 19 31-05-2018
2017 £1,030 £53,560 Wolverhampton Wanderers M, AM Sky Bet Championship 18 29-06-2019
2016 £100 £5,200 Wolverhampton Wanderers M, AM Sky Bet Championship 17 29-06-2016
2015 £80 £4,160 Wolverhampton Wanderers M, AM Sky Bet Championship 16 29-06-2017
well out of date then GG
Defo not for the short attention spanned….
I feel sick, watching wolves is like being in a bad dream, how we lost i don’t know, at least we got a proper fullback in the kid, I hope he’s not dropped miles better than the other2, guedes would not get in the rose and crown team , fine margins neves free kick, lose to Leicester omg, sleeping in spare room tonight, wife fed up with all my shouting, wolves aie we.
Even in the best of times, palace away is always tough. I didn’t expect anything from the game but hoped for a point. Under difficult circumstances, Steve Davis is doing a good job and there are some steps forward even if only baby ones. We are definitely in a relegation battle irrespective of who is appointed because we simply don’t have sustained attacking threat and that can only change with acquisition In January. And would you trust Fosun to solve that problem? Guedes £28m?? Hooked at half time at Chelsea, didn’t get a kick against forest and no impact as a forced sub tonight. If we can offload him in January to try and recycle some budget for a striker I would have no complaints but it’s probably only a Spanish club that would touch him……come on Jorge earn your money and move him on rather than wasting our budget on yet more ineffective clients on your roster. We have had the best of what you’ve got and you are of limited benefit to wolves now.
A good starting line up.
A much better performance, so no complaints about attitude and work rate.
Bueno was excellent
Boubacar good but needs to be more savvy when challenging as he gave away too many fouls. And Palace players went down far too easily.
We had the better of the first half.
Players playing in their positions and with a bit more freedom.
Bold substitutions putting fresh legs in midfield. The 3 nearly combined to score within minutes of coming on. But they were enforced- Traore minor injury, Nunes after being clattered by Sa and Boubacar fatigue.
A really well worked goal from Podence’s flick, Neves pass, Buenos superb chase and cross and a great header from Adama.
Last kick of the first half could easily have gone in – Ruben’s free kick was sublime.
2-0 and it wouldn’t have flattered us. Fine margins.
But wasted some decent chances. Costa should’ve scored. Too many times we pass back, often to the keeper, and often from the attacking half, putting unnecessary pressure on ourselves instead of the opposition.
And it feels as though we are still a bit too nice. Too naïve. Love seeing Costa mixing it up. Even after he was subbed. And he was so angry with himself.
Good effort, improved performance against a tough team, an inspired Zaha, a team that won most 50/50’s and made the most of their home advantage. They managed the game well after they went in front. Ran the clock down very well.
There’s no doubt we’ve been better since Bruno was sacked. 3 points against struggling Leicester on Sunday and that will be a massive leap forwards.
UTW
Until we learn how to score we will have problems I don’t think we played that bad but there two goals was of are own making. Ssemedo was at fault for both the first he was in the wrong position and the second instead of keeping up with Zaha he just jogged back if he had been with Zaha he could have cut the ball out. I agree in the final third we are shocking we either lose the ball or give it away ? no wonder we don’t score and Podence is as guilty as anybody unless it changes we are screwed.
I feel for Steve and James who have taken on the team in really difficult circumstances. They will have told the team at half time that Palace will come at Wolves in the second half. They have to watch as we do while the team self destructs. Too many of our players are not performing. We are not a team.
Before people start slagging Steve Davis:- ‘F***ing Sunday League manager”, for taking Nunes and the two Traores off last night, it would be as well for them to listen to his reasoning in the post match press conference.
Adama was nursing an injury and was taken off as a precaution. Just imagine what the same trolls would be saying if he had been left on, like Neto and Sasa were, and been ruled out for the season.
Boubacar was arguably just another clumsy tackle off a red card.
Nunes was ineffective.
The fact that their replacements were almost as ineffective says more about the strength, or lack of it, of the squad.
On the whole, yesterday was a vast improvement on previous performances and, with the luck we got against Forest, we could have been out of sight at half time.
But Lady Luck is a fickle mistress (Oooh! I’ve gone all poetical), and whatever was going, went Palace’s way last night.
I’ll tell you one thing. I am starting to lose my patience with the perma tanned perpetual presence that is Mendes.
He started off really well. Ruben Neves, Boly and Jota… say no more.
But since then, we seem to have been fed some very expensive, pretty ordinary fare.
On the other hand, Collins has a mistake in him but is generally good at what he is meant to do – defend.
We knew all about him before we bought him. We could see that he could cut it in English conditions, playing in the best League in the World.
In short, he was a proven Premier League player.
It strikes me that there are a lot more like him who could be picked up for the same, or less, money that we paid for our glamorous foreign intakes.
Jeff Shi, take note.
What Semedo was doing for both goals I don’t know.
I can forgive him for the first one. Even the best players in the world get caught out of position from time to time. The fact that he was jogging back and didn’t bother to track Zaha for the second was pathetic. I was impressed with our first half performance to be fair. Very solid at the back and some nice passages of play going forward. As others have said it could quite easily have been 3-0 at half time. Second half was so frustrating. We seen commuted to giving the ball away so cheaply, we just cannot keep hold of the ball for any extended period of time. Podence is seriously starting to wind me up, those tricks and flicks never really come off and his passing is awful.
There are a lot of ‘big name’ players at wolves at the minute. Apart from Neves, I think a few more of them need to start stepping up and start getting us out of this predicament we find ourselves in.
The classic game of two halves. The Bueno-Traore goal must be a contender for Wolves goal of the season. We could and should have been 2-0 or 3-0 up at the break. Neves’ free kick against the post was sublime but I can’t understand why the resulting corner was cut short by the half time whistle.
From the off in the second half we showed naivety and a lack of game management. I was very surprised at the early triple substitution. Steve Davis has given his reasons but I’m not totally convinced. He’s not going to say he made a mistake, is he? Last night’s result was a bitter pill to swallow, but at least we played some wonderful football and scored a great goal.
I keep saying we need a coach with a safe pair of hands and a track record of PL success. It’s truly shocking that Bruno was sacked without a replacement waiting in the wings. No Plan B! Plan C seems to be combing the Continent for a half-way decent coach to take the job. Unless we unearth an outstanding candidate from the Continent, we need PL experience here and now.
Sure it will be a contender for goal of the season – from the five we’ve had so far!
He’s available- Sean Dyche-
Well, we’ve gone past the 10 game mark and any team that is averaging less than a point a game is in a relegation battle, make no mistake about it.
A fair portion of blame can be lumped at Shi & Sellars, and also at Nuno, Lage and bloody David Luiz but most of these undoubtedly talented players are under-performing week after week and need to seriously up their game.
For solace I keep telling myself that last year Newcastle had only won once in their first 20 games and it took them until mid-February to get above 17th place, so all is not lost yet.
They appointed Eddie Howe first week of November, and we need to make our appointment soon in order to turn things around.
Fingers crossed Shi & Sellars make as good a decision as Newcastle made!
I think that is me and football finished. I cannot do this anymore – 20 years of this fucking shit club. Its outstanding.
We have needed a manager for a few weeks and we are linked with idiots that have been removed from a role – or have been a free agent for months – yet villa havent even sacked Gerrard yet and they are linked with Tuchel and Potch.
How the fuck a premier league gets away with playing players like podence is beyond me. How do we have professional footballers on over 50k a week unable to score a fucking goal – all they do is play football but none of them have an idea of how to play.
Kilman looks half the player he used to be. So many bad decisions. Collins was a liability also – Semedo is so frustrating.
I cannot cope with the stress levels from this shitty, un-organised and planless team.
Remember the 80s ?
We’re Premier league, Liverpool.
It was a poor second half, agreed butstay positive .
Nothing is forever…if we do get relegated (a huge IF)
I am so very grateful to Fosun for the few years seeing us play in the best league in the world.
It’s the Wolves way. A few years of relative success, then another dozen or more of utter mediocrity. I can’t even watch a full 90 minutes anymore. Last night, you just knew once the equaliser came, it was game over. Hats off to the thousands who sit through that, season after season. For me though, my nerves just can’t take it, especially after nearly 45 years of being a fan.
Bye then!
A lot of us have supported Wolves through a lot worse than we’re seeing now.
And most of us are still here.
Unfortunately it’s what being a fan is all about.
Basically “its been worse so now is acceptable”
Sure – I guess that is a valid argument…
I – Honestly, I Do not think it has ever been worse – Ok so results and stuff have, but we have just invested over £100million in 1 window – Got the managers targets, Some big and bright names there – Players linked with England Call-ups, Portuguese Professional players – Players linked with big 6 teams and Barca etc.. Players from Barca…. The list goes on… and on… and on…
Yet we have scored 5 goals this season, Joint Lowest in the complete English divisions.
I really do not think there has been a worse time to be a fan – when we have the owners we do, that have invested as ours have to now not being able to play 90minutes of football…..
After what I have seen it’s 100 million wasted, best transfer window ever nothing but a joke. Also bringing Costa in , desperation. Really all the problems that we have now stem from Shi & co not reacting to the woeful end to the 2021/22 season.
Morgan, Moxey, Saunders, getting knocked out of the FA Cup by non-league Luton, Third Division football… that was better was it?
Theres no steve bull coming though. And at least the players cared.
Losing is losing doesn’t matter at what level.
Welcome back. It’s been a long time.
I have to take issue with you about “I Do not think it has ever been worse”.
There aren’t all that many of us left now who were supporters in the 1950s, but just think of the decline we witnessed …..
Season ending 1954 (when I started following Wolves) -to 1961 was the highlight, I couldn’t have made a better start. those 8 years saw us win 3 Football League Division 1 titles and an FA Cup. Our average position in the pyramid was 2nd
1962 -1970 9 seasons, average position in the pyramid 18th
1971 -1973 3 seasons, average position 6th
1974-1987, 14 seasons, average position 27th – i.e. 5th in division 2
We were in Division 2 1965-66, 1966-67, 1976-77, 1982-3 and 1984-5
We were in Division 3 1985-6
We were in Division 4 1986-7
In four seasons form 1983-4 we went from Division 1 straight down to Division 4.
My Dad told me that at one point between the wars the supporters were so annoyed at the poor results that they invaded the pitch and pulled up the goalposts – as a result the ground was closed.
I suppose the moral of all this is “Enjoy it while you can because it may get a lot worse”
But still we keep on saying COYW
.
I started supporting the Wolves around that time too.
I’ve seen some fc&k&ng awful times, just like you.
Chorley, Luton, Bhattis, Saunders and a ground that was all but condemned.
Our expectations have been raised thanks to Fosun BUT when I look at what we’ve spent £100M plus on this window I expect better.
I’m also struggling to understand why we backed a manager in the transfer window and then sack him a few games later. Hindsight is great but shouldn’t this have been done at the end of last season? The writing was on the wall then. That £100M he spent is £100M the new manager won’t have.
Davis seems a good man but he’s totally inexperienced at this level and even allowing for the world cup, its a long time until the New Year and what guarantees do we have that we’ll get our man then?
The fixture list for these first games has been kind to us but still we are down amongst the dead men. I’m concerned, very concerned. I’d bite anyone’s hand off for survival right now.
I agree entirely about expecting better from the 100M spend. It’s true that since Fosun took over we’ve made some really good buys – Neves Moutinho Jota et al – but you do have to wonder about the way that the success rate has fallen dramatically along with changes in those at the top. Did they make a real contribution to the quality of recruitment, or is it just down to the luck evening out.
I suppose there is always a risk in any transfer. You will only get to know a player after you’ve bought him – and equally, come to appreciate him once you’ve sold him – and what works for one team isn’t necessarily going to be duplicated elsewhere. A good example of this for me is Gabriel Jesus. I liked him very much from what I’d seen of him pre Man City, but felt that he never quite seemed to give his best there. Great in some matches and then not seen for a while, then back in but not so effective. This season the transfer seems really to have worked out for him and he looks to be back to the player I expected to see when he moved to MC.
My suspicion is that something less than 50% of transfers work out really well and I suppose this mirrors what happens with other jobs. Going to a new company carries no guarantee that the mover will be happier, more fulfilled, more acclaimed, more successful – or (Liz Truss???) even long lived in the new job.
In conclusion I’d want to say that the poor success rate is nothing new – we’ve bought in a good number of spectacular failures down the years – along with some notable finds of course. There always have been – and probably still are – a lot of good honest journeymen out there. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised when we find that we’ve bought one of them and not the star we’d been hoping for.
I can understand where WFIL is coming from but some of us have longer memories.
To misquote a line from the Marigold Hotel film
‘ everything will be alright in the end and if it’s not alright, we can’t be at the end’
Suck it up lads and get behind the team, let’s try and make Molineux totally intimidating, the team need us now more than ever.
Thanks for that DOOGooder! Never said I was off, just can’t take watching a full 90 minutes when we are playing so poorly. I am also fully aware of our history too, and compared to those dark days, we are living the dream, but watching us capitulate so easily is tough to watch, at least for me anyway. I’m sorry if that offends anyone.
Certainly not offended mate.
My reply was aimed at Wolves fan in Liverpool, not you.
I quite understand, and appreciate, how you feel.
Trouble is, when you’ve been supporting them as long as we have, you just can’t let go.
“Trouble is, when you’ve been supporting them as long as we have, you just can’t let go”.
No you can’t and that’s the fc&k&ng trouble. You sign up and its for life. I just wish it didn’t hurt so much.
For 45 minutes we were pretty good. As usual, we weren’t really creating many chances but we were solid enough. If that Neves free kick had gone in… But then, a brain fart from Semedo straight after half time and the dye was cast.
You really have to question our recruitment team at times like this. Guedes – I’ve seen nothing so far to suggest he’s worth anything close to his price tag. Another poor cameo. Hwang – what’s the point? He had to come on to replace Costa but offered nothing again. Nunes – cost something like £40m but was bullied off the ball and gave it away too often. He was supposed to be the difference maker, the box-to-box midfielder we’d been crying out for. Podence wasn’t as bad as others but his flicks don’t half infuriate. There’s a time and a place and it’s not when being played down the middle against a side so effective on the break with someone as dangerous as Zaha. Such a lack of footballing intelligence.
Despite all that money spent on those mentioned above the star was… Hugo Bueno. What a showing from the lad. He’ll have gone into the dressing room wondering how he was on the losing side. A future star and he must start against Leicester.
Questions to be asked about introducing someone as inexperienced as Hodge so early in the second half, despite how poor Nunes was. The substitutions ended any chance we had of getting something from the game as we lacked any sort of tempo and coherence thereon. It was just a collection of random forwards making aimless runs and playing balls to nowhere. For the second week running, it’ll be a crunch game at Molineux.
Pretty much agree Rich but I question your caveat about the inexperienced Hodge, as surely Bueno is just as inexperienced. The only difference is that Bueno had a great night. Talking about the inexperienced, Davis and Collins are just that, and had no answer to Viera’s strategy in the second half. That’s inexperience for you.
Agree re Guedes, he’s been poor lately but he was our biggest threat in earlier games generally when he started so he’s far from a write off. I think Hwang did alright when he came on and he’s the only option from the bench to replace a tiring Costa atm. Everyone slags Hwang off cos he had a couple of stinkers but he did well in the games he started earlier in the season, not scoring but nobody else was either and his stats bare this out.
As for Hodge, I want to see the youth come in, lets face it they can’t be much worse than the seniors. It’s the only thing to get excited about atm with the promise of asomething special in the future. I wonder what Conor Ronan has done wrong, going on last seasons appearence i’d have said he was a good fit last night at least as sub for Nunes but he seems to be out of favour.
All hail Bueno!!!! what a wonderful start to what will be an equally wonderful career in professional football for certain the lad has got it ! ( whatever “it” is but he has it )
Johnny and ait nouri take note your days are numbered if you dont pull your socks up sharpish.
Well i thought that was an improvement apart from our two very expensive signings who have yet to realise they are playing in the english premier league not the portugese primeira league.
A week at lympstone wouldnt go amiss with those two toughen em up a bit or a lot in their case.
Will they ever get it or will they run back off to the safety of slow non contact footy.
I think viera is doing a fine job down there at palace with some excellent signings over the last couple of seasons and i get the impression it may be them pushing for top six while we have an identity crisis on our hands with it would seem far too many timid foreign recruits who at the moment are simply shell shocked with how tough the best league in the world really is.
Our temps in charge are doing well and i fully expect further improvement against leicester as they carry on with the confidence rebuilding job post Bruno.
The vibes are better than they were a couple of weeks ago so all is far from lost and as with others on here my glass is filling up although only half way at the moment so lets make the most of the few winnable games we have in front of us before the summer holls start.
marks….6/10
It’s like watching a constant repeat of the same movie.
We played well if rather ineffectively for half an hour or so and actually scored a goal in open play. Then it all fell apart after half time and we were second best by a mile. I didn’t think we deserved a point.
The substations were baffling.
On a positive note I agree with all who highlight the promising debut by Bueno, but he won’t single handedly help us score a competitive number of goals (5 in 11 now).
The club is in turmoil whichever way you look at it and it’s incredible how wrong it’s all gone since the Europa League QF only 30 months ago. And for this rapid decline those in overall charge, notably Messrs Shi and Sellars have to be held mainly responsible.
Relegation beckons if there is no serious rethink very soon.
Last night I was mulling over how critical I would be of the performance last night .. but I’ve slept on it and I’m happy to back off a bit …
I’ll accept that the substitutions of Nunes and the Two Traore’s were forced upon Steve Davis, and his explanation cleared a few of my issues up ..
Bueno had a sound debut and at times we played some decent stuff … BUT … we’ve undoubtedly got it in our locker to gift a goal or two and Semedo certainly stepped up the the unwanted plate.
Additionally I thought that VAR and Lee Mason .. whose USELESS tag appears more often than not in denying us a penalty… likewise with the studded lunge on Sa by the Palace captain who’d already been booked… a top 6 team would have seen a different decision I’m sure…
My biggest concern today is the utter waste of money the club have shelled out to get us to this point. … Guedes, Hwang, Podence, Nunes and Semedo could never ever be classed a footballing nuggets on current form … (£125 million or thereabouts)
So a big look at yourself in the mirror Shi and Sellars and ask yourselves if your friend Uncle George (Mendes) is doing the business with Fosun’s money ..
NO.
Couldn’t agree more on the £125 million Lord T. Mainly Mendez second or third string acquisitions. Hardly in the Jota, Neves class are they?
Certainly not in either of those two cases PJ…
We’ve had a few shipped in but none of them have made the grade ..
Hey Twix-y
I have a question for you
Can you forward your email to mine please?
Brianchad29@gmail.com
Thx
UTW
Is it to do a bank transfer..?
Steve Davis has to take most of the blame for this result. What was he thinking this wasn’t a pre: season friendly or we were 5.0 up and crusing, we were still in the game then he goes and makes 3 substitutes right across the middle of the pitch.
He takes off the 2 Trioras and Nunes who were doing ok and replaces the with Gedes who is looking like the William only twice as expensive and Hodge and matinio…..why that totally disrupted the balance of the team.
I know he is standing in but to make such a big change all at one was Sunday league stuff.
I’m getting fed up now Jeff just put everyone out of there misery and appoint someone……anyone before we sink even deeper into the mire.
All three had to go off , for well publicised reasons, but it was probably a mistake to remove them all at the same time.
That’s my point…..your right the fact he put them on all at once instead of staggering them just totally disrupted the whole team.
He should of brought them on one by one.
We’ve had Lage dithering over substitutions for the last 12months or so and still losing. It makes a refreshing change Davis just making a wholesale change in a game we were losing and having the common sense to take players off when they need to come off rather than leaving them on in the hope they ‘run it off’ as Lage did. In hindsight it’s easy to pick holes with tactics in any game that was lost, if we had drawn or won we would have said he was a tactical genius. They are professionals and spend all week training together, lots of better managers make 3 subs at the same time.
Howdy twixy,
your right about uncle George he’s been robbing us for a while now .
At the start we all know he came good with exceptional players who wouldnt normally have come our way and of course a legend of a manager and it all went hunky dory .
But since then its been scraps at savoy prices to enrich who ? well him obviously , the players involved probably but fosun as well with their share of his company so its all a bit incestuous in my opinion .
One thing is for certain ..if they dont pull something out of the hat soon this whole project could well blow up in their greedy little faces so lets hope they can conjure something up pretty sharpish to save their bacon starting with a top proven manager not some travelling wilbury who has been sacked a dozen times in the last three years.
Old Georgie boy needs to watch his step or he might end up with his sunbed stuck on full blast and he cant get out .
I know we lost but I actually enjoyed the game for the first time in ages. No peeking from behind the sofa or being bored rigid.
I really think it could have gone either way and we showed some bollocks and some talent.
Where have they been hiding Bueno all this time?
I can understand Steve Davis’ thinking: Boubacar was on a yellow and could have easily have picked up a second (and a red), can we afford to be without him for a few games?; Adama wasn’t getting very far in the second half; and, although Matheus was still doing an OK job, Moutinho did bring something different with his distribution.
What pleased me the most was Costa’s obvious displeasure at being subbed – he clearly wants to play and isn’t just taking the pay cheque.
And, even Guedes looked like he’d found some motivation.
What does concern me is our central defence: Collins and Kilman are (mostly!!!) OK at winning the ball but have no idea what to do with it if they receive a pass in midfield. They really don’t have any forward gears. Mind you, Coady was much the same apart from the long, diagonal pass in his armoury. Their only answer seems to be to get the ball to Neves as soon as possible.
And Podence . . . . he’s a grafter and I love the little bugger but he does give the ball away far too often.
All in all, a good solid performance which just didn’t go our way on the night.
There’s a lot here for the right manager/head coach.
I think Bueno’s excellent debut just shows us how blinkered and narrow Lage was as a manager.
Collins looks nervous when he recieves the ball and looks for pass which generally ends up going back to Sa.
Breaking news seems to suggest that Michael Beale is a strong possibility for Wolves head coach. I was underwhelmed when I first heard of our interest in Beale. He looks to be a coach in the mould of Eddie Howe or Graham Potter. A sort of left-field option by Fosun? Obviously no direct PL experience but I have a feeling that Gerrard has been cast adrift without him! He’s an excellent coach and I will back him if he gets the job, although there are better qualified and experienced coaches out there.
We will have to wait and see . A lot of it is regurgitated speculation. Can’t even see if Wolves have even spoke to him or even approached QPR yet . He does sound like a good prospect though
Utw
Good point, but one way to suss this out is to watch QPR v Cardiff tonight. If he’s not in the dugout then Wolves have tapped him up! Release clause is just £1mil. The West London press is running the story.
Yes mate … just watched Liam Keane update , looks like he has been interviewed by Wolves so like you say . I know a few Rs fans … I’m not going to be popular with them , Rangers were flying under him .
You can be one of the best and most admired coaches in the business but perhaps the most important aspects of the job is to be a part of a clubs successful sales and recruitment policy. I hope that the new appointment can have some positive impact on our current sorry state of affairs.
Both Howe and Potter know a good player when they see one.
Michael Beale would seem like a sound appointment to me.
Get him in and on the job quickly.
We have all the time in the world.
Errr not quite.
The youth team coaches Steve and James are doing a cracking job under less than ideal circumstances, but, in this instance, Louis Armstrong is wrong.
We need to appoint a permanent first team coach/manager quickly. Why ? Because the new man needs time and games before the upcoming World Cup break, to assess the squad, acclimatize to the club and get his team in place. Because he needs to hit the ground running when everyone returns to try to salvage our season.
I’m not critical of Jeff Shi and the decision or timing regarding the dismissal of Bruno. He gave Lage every chance and plenty of time to sort out Wolves’ issues.
When it became apparent the wheels had fallen off, he acted. Swiftly and decisively.
Unfortunately Shi’s first choice, Julen Lopetegui, declined for well documented personal reasons. Clearly he had long been coveted by our Chairman, as far back as 2016.
Time will tell, but it’s no bad thing that Jeff is being thorough and considering a wide variety of options, from a former manager to European heavyweights. He has to get this right. It has to work.
Enter stage left Michael Beale. The latest bookies favourite for the job. And make no mistake. The Head Coach position at Wolves is a very attractive proposition for any ambitious manager. By all accounts Shi wants him and he wants to come. It’s hard to believe a compensation payment to a Championship club will put Wolves off.
Admittedly a new relatively unproven candidate is a risk. But there is a risk in every appointment and no guarantees of success.
If it comes to pass that Beale is appointed, let’s firstly acknowledge he isn’t a Gestifute client.
He has experience at managing, albeit as Assistant Manager at Rangers, a big club, in the Premier League under Gerrard again at Villa, and for a short while as Manager at QPR, who are currently doing very well.
So our job is to get behind the new man and the team and support them for all we’re worth. Starting with a win against Leicester. Now that would put a smile on everyone’s face.
UTW
I always like reading your posts Mutt1eigh, thoughtful, measured and eloquent.
Keep them coming.
A risk definitely worth taking.
Look at all the managers we’ve gone through over the years.
Hungry, young, clever and British.
I’m up for it
Getting on for 3 weeks now since the overdue demise of Lage and surely no one thinks that it wasn’t on the cards for a lot longer, yet here we are still managerless and rudderless and sinking like a stone.
Lots of names bandied about, preferred options have turned us down and it seems desperation is now the order of the day.
The professionalism which was so apparent when Fosun moved in has now degenerated into an absolute fiasco
Not quite the early 80’s but heading that way. And for those who say there is no comparison remember in 1980 we won the League Cup with a team including Andy Gray, John Richards, Emlyn Hughes et al. It can fall apart very quickly as we soon subsequently suffered triple relegations.
I can think of one preferred option to have turned us down. At this moment who are the others?
Nobody, Hindsight. Figment of peoples’ imagination unless they are crystal ball gazers.
Lopeteui, Nuno, Beale.
So at least three.
As of the time of my post it was just Lopetegui. Where did you get Nuno turning us down from?
Sevensson and Amorin didn’t want to come either.
Not sure about Nuno, he doesn’t seem in any rush to be in our dugout any time soon.
From a fan point of view, albeit looking from outside the process, it’s looking like a massive thumbs down for our club, or just a shambles.
The reality is also that big Managers like Tuchel are not in the frame.
Where’s your knowledge coming from Allen? To turn us down, people need to have been offered the job and nowhere have I seen that the people you mention were offered the job, possibly never even been spoken to.As for Amorin, he’s managing a Champions League team. You might as well have said Conte, Schmidt,Spalletti, etc turned us down as they weren’t spoken to or offered the job either.
It’s on Twitter! But no reason to think it’s not genuine. Wolves’s first choice was apparently Sporting Lisbon coach Amorim. But for whatever reason we couldn’t get him.
Beale hasn’t even spoken to us, if his quotes are to be believed. Since when did that equate to turning us down?
Don’t get your reasoning at all. Beale according to sources was top of our list of Management choices. He turned us down. Whether he did that after an interview or not, either way we wanted him he did not want to come!
Looks at the fiasco at Bournemouth……
Hi all.Regular reader for quite a few years but first time posting .
Just thought I raise a point that no one as mentioned in our current state ,that is
that we will probably lose 2 of our best players in the January transfer window
Neves and Adama Traore and at the moment when we will probably be in a tough relegation battle in the second half of the season just when we need them to see us through to safety ( I know we’re currently in the bottom 3)but hopefully the new boss can shake things up and moves us away from danger
The point is ,if we replaced them with anybody like we been buying lately then this
will make our chances of staying up even more perilous than it would if we could keep them to end of season
Good points Sid.
Neves and Traore are our stand out performers and if they continue to play at current standards we may go on to avoid relegation- but conversely, it makes it more likely for them to leave In January.
Michael Beale has displayed excellent diplomacy in his comments regarding the Wolves vacancy and he can make a very good case to stay at QPR. If Jeff is able to make a successful pitch and persuade him to come to Wolves, I hope that Beale is able to negotiate a realistic January window budget. Not only to replace Ruben and Adama with effective replacements but reinforce the spine of the team with proven performers who can add value immediately. If I were Beale I would strike a hard bargain, we need him more than he needs us.
QBR fans whining about Beale being disloyal. Funny how that works. Come on this page after Lage loses a couple of games and see how such expected loyalty is a one way street.
Not saying we should have kept Lage. But, anyone crying lack of loyalty from a manager, I assure you, doesn’t give two shits about the loyalty being shown to said manager.
Funny. How perfectly logical people don’t see their own hypocrisy.
We must hang on to Ruben and Adama for at least the rest of the season or we will go down . Adama makes things happen and Ruben Neves is everything! His constant mopping up of surrounding mistakes and recycling everything. He is our only remaining pulse . I don’t begrudge him a better career and the loyalty he has shown to our club is first class but his position is vital and to replce class like that is going to take a long time to find . We need to get lifted up the table and start looking
Reading Michael Beale’s interview with the press post their victory last night I am not sure it is a done deal just yet…..”it has to be the right opportunity at the right moment at the right club and they have to give me a really clear understanding of where that club is going”. I think he already has us weighed up and will take some convincing.
With Wolves and QPR currently heading in the opposite direction , and the feel good factor there must be at Loftus Road, I would be very surprised if he did jump ship. Coupled with the fact he has only been there for five minutes, would we want someone who is only too keen to leave when a bigger job comes along? Then again that’s football I suppose.
It seems that we’ve passed the first part of the process: we’ve identified Beale as the man we want, ahead of all others. He’s passed that big test. The second part of the process is the reverse: can Wolves match up to his ambition? Interesting! I hope we can. If we can’t pass Beale’s criteria, that would be a vote of no-confidence in Wolves. For a first job in the PL, we are big enough, but will he have confidence in us? I suppose it is also possible that he would want to come but at the same time be reluctant out of loyalty to bale out so soon at QPR, especially when they look destined for promotion.
Beale is a very experienced coach and started out nearly 20 years ago, He first coached futsal, where Max Kilman found his feet. Steven Gerrard is on record as admitting that he’s missing his ex-assistant Beale. This could account for the decline this season at Villa Park. Last season Gerrard had Beale to assist him.
If Beale does come, Wolves will have to back him and also be patient come what may.
When the dust settles, the fact that Nuno was in the running to return indicates that Fosun realise they made a mistake in sacking him. Fosun cannot afford more mistakes.
First mistake in sacking Nuno. Second mistake in hiring Bruno. By implication in short-listing Nuno they recognise that they made a mistake in sacking him. By sacking Bruno they realise they made another mistake. Third mistake looming if they get the next appointment wrong.
I’d love to know the reason why Beale turned us down…
Fergie’s first rule of management
‘ pick your Chairman, not your club’ . Jeff and Mendes have become the problem, not the solution.
Beale hasn’t turned us down. He wasn’t offered the job. Things didn’t get anywhere near that far.
Five Midlands teams in the bottom five…
It’s enough to keep one awake at night!
Oh bugger, it’s 3:24 am…
I had an pre-season bet that Wolves would finish as the top Midlands team. £50 at 8/1.
And now Beale turns us down !!!
Its a bit early for the pantomime season to start but Shi and Sellars are taking no notice of that !
Oh no it isnt !
It seems that all of the potential managerial candidates are rejecting Wolves! Something must be wrong with the offers! No one wants to manage with handicuffs. Or no transfer budget!
To go this long without a replacement indicates we are being run by amateurs.
The wait continues!
Gotta be Dyche! He’s the only one left.
I wouldn’t want a manager who left a job after 4/5 months. It shows a lack of substance. Clubs shouldn’t be able to poach managers from clubs mid season imo, it merely cements the gap of the haves and have nots making it hard for smaller clubs with less money to achieve promotion through guile and skill and clever recruitment.
If it’s going to happen though, ten games into a season is way too early to be doing it. Being top of the championship at this stage of the season is fairly meaningless and we should all know that through our vast experience of that division.
I am guessing, and it is just that; a guess, that Fosun are probably expecting a manager to come in and agreeing that he will have very little say in what players come and go. I would refuse to manage a club if I had those restraints. If not just that, then why would someone not come in, unless if course they are also being told that Mendes pulls the strings too.
This is now a big concern.
Exactly!
I wouldn’t read too much into the Beale rejection. I’m guessing he realizes how it looks to jump ship after a couple of months – and, has a good thing going. Wolves will be fine. I personally want NES back.
The biggest concern, to me, is fans treating the new manager as a consolation prize.
You could well be right there Brompton.
The football fraternity is like most places of work and the word soon gets round so for that type of candidate to turn us down smacks of underlying problems they wouldn’t want to get involved with …unless they were desperate of course and its looking likely that’s what we will get.. someone who’s desperate.
We don’t know if Beale even spoke to Wolves about the job. Did he make his mind up last night he was staying at QPR (which he seemed to be hinting at). May be we should and wait to see what he says before joining the crazed geniuses on Twitter who know everything about everything but really know nothing.
See my earlier post at 3am anticipating this. The key to this is the “ clear understanding of where that club is going” . The fundamental issue here is the lack of coherent strategy that permeates player recruitment and now manager search. Beale has called it absolutely correctly. Look at the candidates that have been interviewed and tell me what the selection criteria are that are being applied? Whether a fan of Nuno or not, how can it make sense to have not given him money to then appoint someone who you then give 100m to , to then sack and go back to the person you didn’t back in the first place. Everything Shi and Sellars do is characterised by muddled thinking. If you think they are the right people to be leading this club quite frankly you are as clueless as they are.
hear hear
Say what you like. Fosun are the best owners we have had in 50 years and no others have seen Wolves establish 5 successive season in the Premier League. FA Cup semi final. Europe. So for all their faults they have obviously got something right . Otherwise we would be spending our 27th consecutive season in Division 2. Or 3. No ?
They have got some things right but that was pretty much exclusively when dalrymple was in situ. Since Shi has taken everything under his sole control, it has been poor decision after poor decision, which means the last 3 years have been pretty much constant regression. Your assessment CoD is as valid as mine because it is based on a personal opinion but I think you will find few that share your view that we are now in safe hands and that the trajectory of the club is upwards.
Fair enough. I just think people need to let the dust settle a bit.it’s the constant negativity and knee jerk reaction that does my head in. Blimey ! Not you in particular. Just generally.
Well said cheese
It’s the first season for a long time we’ve struggled although we still play some lovely football at times.
All the doom mongers need to sell everything and invest in the club as its extremely easy to criticise every single decision made by the owners that have pumped millions into the club. This will all come right eventually..just need to stay calm and get behind the team.
Liz Truss is free now.
How about approaching her for the manager’s post?
We’ve tried everybody else who have just lost their jobs.
In Liz we Truss….
Not.
She lasted as long as Brian Clough did at Leeds. 44 days.
Come on Doog. If Liz Truss becomes Wolves manager I truly will bugger off down the Albion!
Seems as though Fosun can do no wrong in some people’s eyes. Let’s all be thankful for where we are, because nearly 40 years ago we were on the downward spiral to almost oblivion. Let’s just bounce around the top 2 divisions for eternity, cos hey, it could be worse!!!
I think some fans have gotten so used to utter mediocrity, that any idea of being a big club, which we are most definitely not, has clouded their vision.
There are roughly 19,000 football clubs in England and well over 1,000 leagues. At the very worst this season we’ll be 20th in that particular pyramid. Not big?
Well compared to Rochdale et al, yes we are a big club. Personally I’d rather try and compare us to the likes of Spurs, Arsenal, Newcastle etc, which is surely where we want to be aiming for. At the moment though, we are miles from that position, and to be fair, we probably never will, at least in my lifetime!
Some perspective is needed, though. Reading some people’s comments you’d think we were in Sandwell’s position. Interesting that you mention Newcastle. You wouldn’t have done a year or so ago. Just shows how quickly things can change and they can again.
So what is your solution? Hope and prey a Saudi oil barron takes over and appoints Pep as manager with 68 billion quid to spend on players ? Or pay tribute to the most successful Wolves era in 40 odd years ? And if a bloke says he doesn’t want to come and be our manager that’s up to him. We can’t force him. You can’t force him.
Yes this is the most successful era, but, as is the Wolves way, things have gone downhill pretty quickly since Raul got injured. Whilst hindsight is a wonderful thing, and without listing all the mistakes made since then, but starting with 35m on Silva, Dalrymple, the appointment of a one hit wonder in Lage, the sale of Coady, it has been nothing short of comical the decisions made at board level. All clubs have made poor decisions over the years, but has there been another top half premier league team that has made so many in such a short period of time? If I was the Fosun owner, I’d be tapping up the likes of Tuchel or Potchetino, offering them a financial package too good to turn down. We are short of two quality forwards, one, maybe two defenders, and a midfielder, identify, and get them in. Sell the dream to Neves and Traore, then go from there. If we really are a “big club” that would be the way forward in my eyes.
Let’s face it due to massive errors in sales and recruitment over the last few seasons, a poor appointment and a lack of short term options for an incoming coach, our great club is currently not a particularly attractive proposition.
I’m not sure that our lack of firepower can be addressed sufficiently in January to give us any hope of climbing the table and without goals we are where we are!
I agree with Scruffs when he said Neves and Traore would leave in January. I also think there’s something not quite right with the Raul situation and that he’ll be in the MLS or retired sooner rather than later.
Whatever the outcome in May we now need to get the club on an even keel and I’m not sure that an imported coach will be able to achieve this. Perhaps Sean Dyche could or would Rob Edwards, who knows the club well assisted by Moutinho be a better option.
We have some talented young players including several who will be returning from long term injuries and loan deals so I think we would be more than capable of bouncing back if the worst happened.
Of more concern now is how we address the goals for column without the personnel!
So Ian Beale has turned us down to busy trying to keep hold of Cindy. Joking apart our search for a new manager is turning into a circus.
I believe part of the problem a big part is mangers want control of recruitment and not solely shop at Mendez outlet. 80 per cent of our players over the last six years have come from George not to mention a 100 per cent of the management and yes while we have had a lot of success to begin with it now appears to be dragging us down and finally when Jeff does have the balls to blank uncle George and shop some where different they don’t want to know and can you blame them.
Limited market and limited say on who comes in and probably limited money to shop with.
This now has a distinct echo of the post-McCarthy fiasco which eventually led to the stunning appointment of dear Clipboard.
I’d take Steve Davis any day if the alternative is Dyche or some other out of work failure
Its getting darker by the day……
Completely agree.
The Newt’s number 1 rule of football is that the most important person at the club is the manager, and you don’t sack one unless you have a replacement pretty much in the bag.
Nail on the head.
Welcome to my world Marin.
It’s just been announced guys .. Steve Davis until 2023 ..,
Steve Davis it is then.
Given the situation we find ourselves in, I’d rather that than start scraping the bottom of the barrel for a recently sacked, or even not so recently sacked manager.
Who knows, given the chance he may well end up in the job full time.
He knows the younger guys and is not afraid to play them.
I think he is trying to introduce a more attacking and pressing style of play.
And he IS ‘One of our own’.
Let’s see how we do against Leicester.
If we win we’ll all be hailing him as the new Nuno.
Many fans want an English manger, they got one.
Oh well it could have been a lot worse it could have been Shaun bloody dyche
thank dog for small mercies !
Agreed 100% Spikeyboy…
Dyche would have been a PR disaster… dinosaur football went out with Terry Dactil…
And what’s wrong with dinosaurs? Ruled the earth for circa 140 million years before a big effing meteorite came along. That’ll be about 139 million years longer than the human race will be in charge.
I think long term , Fosun have their eye on Lopetegui. Rather than interviewing multiple candidates, let things settle down, back Davis and go from there. At least the players will know where they stand. Fingers crossed we can stay up this season. It’s going to be incredibly difficult though.
Steve Davis ’til 2023? Makes a lot of sense!
Five games (4 league and one EFL Cup) left before the World Cup and four of them at home.
If Steve Davis can get them performing as he did on Tuesday we should be able to keep our head above water.
A lot of good managerial prospects were unapproachable because of Word Cup commitments – Anthony Barry, for instance – and, trying not to be too insensitive here, Lopetgui’s situation may change sooner rather than later.
Sixty years of supporting Wolves, and growing up in the Black Country, should have made me a pessimist but I refuse to give in and I will remain positive.
That’s exactly what Fosun must be thinking …
Just hope Steve Davis can get a couple of results. He nearly did at Palace and we got 3 pts against Forest so it’s not impossible
I’ve already cancelled 3 unsent posts whilst I calmed down.
I wish Steve Davis no ill – he’s clearly a very decent bloke and a real Wolves man. That, however doesn’t make him fit for the post.
This piece of inertia management by Shi is a potential disaster and is fraught with danger. At the end of the year the season will be half over and any subsequent appointment will need an induction period after which time we could be easily effectively relegated.
The last few weeks have shown the club to be in total disarray and clearly being run by people at senior level who don’t know what they are doing. Their performance over the last 3 years not 3 weeks demonstrates it.
The only logical explanation for this whole recruitment fiasco other than / as well as incompetence can be that WWFC is lacking sufficient ambition to pay the going rate for a competent seasoned manager.
And much as I dislike Sean Dyche and his football, yes he would have been better.
I don’t particularly want Dyche as manager but you have come out with the same clap trap (sorry Happy) about his style of football as many others. His teams played good quality, fast attacking football and he worked wonders with the budget at his disposal.
Personally, I think the changes that Davis has wrought in his brief spell in charge show distinct signs of promise. Now is the time to get behind him and support the team and stop the habitual negativity and moaning.
yeah his team played that good a quality of football they got relegated and he got sacked
Check out the budget at his disposal Spikey and don’t conveniently ignore the years of over achievement. Another error is your comment that “they got relegated and he got sacked “. More like, he got sacked and they got relegated. He’d been there almost 10 years and, as we all know , the vast majority of managers reach their sell by date well before that when staying at the one club. Obviously U can’t remove those blinkers of yours so that’s it from me on this particular subject.
No offence taken Pedant 🙂
Dyche used what he had cleverly and kept Burnley punching well above their weight for many years, he was the longest serving PL manager after Wenger retired. That is what every club outside the top six should be trying to achieve through guile and skill not just a shedload of money. You have to respect that in the current football climate where everything is weighted in favour of the big six. It’s a blinkered cliche to slag off Dyche for his direct approach without taking into account the massive handicap of being a small unsexy northern team with no money trying to hold their own amongst the elite.
Hold the front page
steven Gerrard may be available tomorrow
Maybe they are just turning the heat down. If they find someone earlier, they will act.
Let’s hope so. Interesting theory though.
We are fucked……..all due respect to Steve Davis and the rest they are not capable of getting this team playing the way they should be…..why.
Because they have never managed at ANY level apart from the acadamy and now Jef f Shi has put them in charge till the new year by which time it could be all over.
The Palce game showed how inexperienced and how much Steve Davis is out of his depth with the timing and manner of the subs he made.
Jeff Shi has just basically given up………gone for the cheap and easy option that could cost us our Premier League status so we have been knocked back by a couple of managers………there loss will be someone else’s gain.
Jeff Shi if need be should be banging on clubs doors asking to speak to there manager……Ange at Celtic……for instance but just to sit back and do nothing till the new year is football suicide.
Blah blah blah
Perhaps all the experts who know what is what at Wolves should go on the Villa forums and offer them some advice as to where they are going wrong too. There are still some of our fan base who actually believe Sir Jack Hayward saved Wolves from extinction. So what do they actually know.
He didn’t save them from extinction, but he was instrumental in their recovery from near oblivion to some sort of respectability. To write off Jack’s contribution to at least being competitive in the second tier and a brief stint in the PL is very harsh.
No he wasn’t. We were already in the Championship (division 2) when SJH took over the reigns. And that is where we stayed (2003/2004) so all the SJH hero worship is based on nothing. True he spent lots of money on the ground redevelopment and players but ultimately he was a failure compared to what Fosun have done. Also he was a tax exile so the money he saved from paying for schools, NHS etc went on the Wolves instead.
Come off it,cheese,his philanthropic donations were legendary and many are probably still unknown. Just one for you, he donated £1m to the fund for families of British servicemen killed or injured in the Falklands war. Don’t target him,he can’t answer you back.
Give the fella a chance ….
Who knows, he may be the next big find.
Whoever comes in will be working with the same players.
UTW
Waiting for Julen father to snuff it .
I’ve read some pretty crass comments on this blog over the years.
But I think that takes the biscuit.
Honestly ? Doog is being too kind. What a stupid, thoughtless and insensitive thing to think, let alone write on a blog.
OMG. Seriously stepped over the line!!!
It’s a surreal situation. Taken in isolation, each decision regarding the role of coach at Wolves has logic and merit.
Nuno’s appointment turned out to be a very positive appointment. His dismissal understandable given the disappointment of his fourth season in charge.
Lage – Portuguese, a reputation for developing youngsters and playing an attacking style with lots of goals; goals that had been lacking.
Lage’s sacking, after being backed and given ample time to show progress, if not the finished article. Timely and fair.
The youth team coaches were asked to take temporary charge and prepare the team for Nottingham Forest.
Presumably the decision to say cheerio to Bruno had been made quickly when it was clear that all was not well amongst the first team. Shi appears to have behaved honorably, and had not gone behind Bruno’s back. So no replacement was lined up.
The hunt for a new coach was now underway. The preferred choice and a manager who’d been first serenaded before he accepted the Spain job, and NES was installed, was approached when he became available. We all assumed it was a forgone conclusion. It wasn’t. Lepetegui’s father was ill and Julen decided to put family first.
So, the search continued. The net was cast far and wide. Jeff Shi determined to consider all options carefully. This decision had to be the right one.
Mendes’ influence perhaps not as significant as people assume, a young and exciting prospect, Beale of QPR, was identified and approached.
At this point, it appeared to be a matter of when, not if, Michael Beale would join us. Then something unexpected happened. Beale showed loyalty to his employers and turned Wolves down.
Determined to get the next appointment right, or not risk the embarrassment of being rejected for a third time ? Encouraged by the solid work of Davis and Collins and the time the World Cup break affords him, the Chairman has decided that for now, enough is enough. Wolves need certainty and stability.
So the interim coaches stay in charge. For now. Rob Edwards may be taken on to support them. Who knows, Lopetegui may have indicated that should things change, he could be available in the future ?
Individually, each choice is understandable. However, you could be forgiven for looking from the outside and being less than impressed with the whole situation.
The problem for me is that after Nuno’s dismissal, Bruno’s appointment failed. Not initially. But by April the promise of a good season began to vanish.
No one could argue that Lage was treated poorly. He was gifted enough time and support. Had Lopetegui agreed to join us, everyone would be happy. The issue is, unlike previous appointments during Fosun’s tenure, for some reason this managerial search has been played openly in the public arena. And importantly, we have approached the desired candidates to tempt them to accept the position. They did not apply. Therefore you risk being rejected. Each rejection making all those associated with Wolves, especially the fans, feel like jilted brides. No one wants us.
Couple this with what now, in hindsight, appears to be a questionable transfer window, where particular decisions appear to have backfired, and quite rightly, questions are being asked of the Chairman’s responsibility for where we find ourselves. The situation regarding our strikers or lack thereof. The loss of our influential leader and Captain, especially when the potential fee was reportedly under £5m. The general lack of balance to the squad.
It’s not impossible that our season can be turned around. But right now, we are well and truly in trouble. We have 5 games until the World Cup break. No club wants to spend nearly 2 months of inactivity stuck at the bottom of the table.
So every Wolves fan needs to get fully behind the likeable and down to earth Steve Davis and James Collins, who did not create this situation, but are the ones who find themselves charged with getting us out of it. And the players, who on the evidence of Tuesday’s game, are all pulling in the same direction to get us out of a hole.
We can still have a decent season but we must start scoring goals and winning games before the World Cup break.
UTW
I totally agree, A superb read as ever, the reason why this is such a great blog and thanks to all the other contributors.
Well Done Stave Davis for recognising Bueno’s abilities. To be fair, I have been singing his praises (and those of Campbell) for the last 2 years. And I reckon we will soon see them performing together from the start.
My biggest disappointments in this team so far have, no doubt, been Nunes and Guedes. There was so much hype and promise about these guys. We have seen a couple of sensational runs from Nunes, matching Adama at his best. Yet his overall performances have been poor, IMHO. The area in particular where they have been spectacular failures so far, has been their finishing. Is Portuguese soccer that much easier than PL ?? THey looked so good over there. How I wish they can prove me wrong !!
We need a couple of good wins (multiple goals) to restore some Hope and Faith in the Wolves fans. Let’s start with Leicester this weekend
Villa have sacked Gerrard.
As a contrast it will be very interesting to see how their managerial search goes.
If they land someone like Pochettino within a fortnight I won’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Both probably! Media are predictably now touting Michael Beale as a replacement for Gerrard. It will be interesting to see if Beales’s loyalty and integrity are strong enough to resist a return to Villa Park.
You make some good points vi but I must have been sleeping when Nunes made those sensational runs you refer to. Matching Adama at his best? How could I sleep through that?