Better to be lucky than good.
In Julen Lopetegui’s debut in the Premier League, it appears we might have a manager who is both.
The Spaniard’s pedigree was beyond question before we finally landed him in November, the evidence of which could be seen in a late change in formation that stymied Everton in the latter stages and assisted our smash-and-grab winner at the death.
But even more encouraging was him benefiting from a generous dollop of good fortune, because we’ve been light on it in recent times and moreover, we were crap.
Call it the gravy on the turkey or the brandy butter on the Christmas pud, it tasted delicious and we need lashings more of the ingredient until our Spaniard can weed out a few of these failures and replace with much better in January.
Matheus Cunha is an excellent start and will surely offer infinitely more than the leaden footed carthorse Costa, who we should never have touched with a bargepole in the first place.
Some other additions with much needed leadership qualities wouldn’t go amiss either, as we sold the few we had to begin with, didn’t replace and now have a flaky side who I wouldn’t trust to put the bins out, never mind mark a player from a corner. Mina’s free header after seven minutes being a stark reminder of why.
In fact, the 88 minutes thereafter were a sobering post World Cup reminder of why we plunged to the foot of the league before the tournament began. Amid the garbage was surely Podence’s best performance of the season in a heartening showing. He was one of few who really caught the eye and deserves praise, irrespective of his well-taken goal.
We are incapable of keeping the ball and are too-often overrun in midfield, our defence is laced with errors and we don’t have nearly enough cutting thrust in the final third. Our game management is awful and we don’t work hard enough when we don’t have the ball.
Collins’ profligacy in the first half and Hwang’s revolting lack of effort to track back thereafter gave three examples of the above in the space of 5 seconds. Everton’s Gordon should have scored and on another day, he would have.
Collins also resembled a baby giraffe when the ball hit his heels which allowed Maupay a clear sighter at goal which he’s buried against us in one or two previous fixtures.
Thankfully he didn’t and in fairness, Everton operated at arm’s length in the second half for the most part, although we still needed a goal line clearance from Neves to preserve what looked like a handy away point.
It would become all three when we showed an unlikely ruthless edge with the last attack of the game, Ait Nouri firing home from a deflected Traore cross, aided by a lovely Nunes through ball in the build-up.
For Lopetegui, he couldn’t have dreamt of 5pm scenes like these. A performance littered with the same old errors, featuring the same flaky failures who prompted his mercy-dash to Molineux to begin with, and three priceless points as a reward for watching it all…
…The lucky old devil.
There have been enough games this season where we got nothing and a bit of luck here and there would hsve given us another 3 or 4 points. Leeds away. Bournemouth away. West Ham away. Newcastle home.. Palace away. All of these games just hinged on run of the ball. Hit the bar. Bloke hacking off the line. Lucky bounce to their bloke. Hitting a post. Blokes should have been sent off. Handball penalty not looked at. So. It’s all well and good saying we were ‘lucky’. But at this level it’s just sometimes a fraction here and there and today it went in our favour. From small acorns mighty oaks grow. This is the direction with Julen. Just accept the 3 massive points and move on. We have been hard done to loads of times.
Festive greetings Cheeseburger! So you think the table has been lying?! I’ve been appalled watching this lot for much of the season.
So have I but I think you can’t just say a win is lucky when other times a bit of luck here and there could have got us 3 or 4 more points. Ben. I was there v Gillingham and it was like having your teeth pulled out at times. I get where you are coming from. Second half today we did nothing. But we got the goal. Any way. Thanks for the Blog. You and the team do great job. Hopefully we can crack on from here.
I think I’m just so underwhelmed by what I’ve seen by this group so far (some awful examples of lack of effort which I find unacceptable) that I’ll need a lot more convincing. I.E. Leopards don’t change their spots, so let’s hope Julen can bring in half a dozen. Don’t get me wrong, the win felt amazing, not least the injury time manner of it, but I just see so many frailties. Thanks so much for your kind words on the blog ?. Thomas (and the lads) does all the hard work, I just chip in here and there. Hoping to be more prolific in 2023, like the good old days! Have a great New Year.
No worries chap. We have to start somewhere. And today was the day. Warts and all.
As you say Cheeseburger, today was the start. The arrival of Cunha should be a big help in solving our problems up front, but in my view the real issue we have to resolve if we are to move ahead, is that of the central defense.
Collins continues to look like a major disaster in waiting. [ How could we have paid 20 million for his services ??] while Kilman is now nothing like the quality defender he seemed to be last season. The two of them in tandem spells an impending calamity. We won`t face many sides with such an inadequate strike force as Everton !!
Hopefully we can get in a experienced center back in early January to give us essential solidity at the back, but short term Toti Gomez appears to be a better solution than Collins
The incredible thing about a Collins is that he was third choice at Burnley and we paid £20 million for him .
We could have had the first two choices and much better defenders in Mee and Tarkovski for nothing
With you both on Collins, totally baffled by this. Said early on that Collins looked like a potential disaster zone matching his error prone lamp post namesake Neil from all those years ago. Can only assume that Tarkowski / Mee didn’t fit Jeff’s wages structure.
Big credit to Ait-Nouri for getting in there for the second game running. That’s a massive goal too.
As you rightly point out Ben, Podence was the standout player and deserved his goal. He looks sharp and will continue to be an important player if he stays fit, which is normally his biggest problem.
Hard to disagree about Cunha upgrading Costa too. Diego couldn’t do anything right in this one and I thought Raul should have been on well before getting pied off by Podence’s injury. He might get a start against Utd as a consolation.
Thanks to Sa too for that first half save from Gordon and generally keeping the ball out of the goal on several other occasions, however unconventional it might have been.
Come on Ben it wasn’t that bad.
Maybe not a brilliant performance from Wolves but much better attitude produced a fantastic result. New manager, new era, new players coming.
Thought we deserved the win. The main difference was the contrast in attitude since the departure of Lage. Players looked as if they wanted to play for Wolves and actually wanted to WIN. Everton managed to outdo the Lage model Wolves with sideways and backwards passing huffing and puffing their way through 95 minutes while we rejuvenated the Nuno model Wolves with stout defence and very sharp counter attacking. And hey ho tactical substations won the match.
We’re not exactly on a roll yet but I can see a lot of light at the end of the tunnel an JL clearly knows precisely where he wants to take us and how he intends to get us there. I just hope that Jeff Shi has been told to bloody well accommodate him in no uncertain terms because there is a lot riding on the next 5 months for Fosun and their / our Wolves.
This afternoon was a great late Christmas present for us all. Let’s hope the New can bring what we all want – a rapid climb up the table and maybe a spectacular cup run as as bonus.
I have every belief that JL is the man if he is given the the tools.
New Year!
Agree PJB. At least the desire was there. It wasn’t pretty. It was sloppy at times. But you only have to look at the England cricket team who were utterly hopeless v the Aussies early this year. Now the mindset/mentality is completely changed. How many teams go to Pakistan on slow low wickets and bash 6 or 7 runs an over. A lot of it is in the mind and the attitude of the coach/captain. Hopefully Julen is changing the mindset. This win will do out lot no end of good!
Good comparison COD.
We have to hope and believe that Julen Lopetegui can do for WWFC in 2023 what Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes did for English test cricket in 2022.
It was a win in the EPL on the road (against the 7th – or, maybe 8th now bc of Newcastle – wealthiest club in England). That’s nothing to scoff at. Especially when we’re at the bottom of the league.
Forgot to add. Here we are in the depths of UK winter and Julen is stood there with just a jumper on. What a geat bloke. Fat Frank has a shirt jumper and padded coot on. Julen means business man !!
I thought it was in the 40s. Is that mid-winter temperatures there?
I take the garbage out in shorts and a T-shirt when it is below freezing.
A win is a win…….if we stay up no one will care about the performances that’s for next season
Felt Beuno was out of his depth today gave the ball away to many times so did Collins he let Gordon I think in on goal and it’s clear Matinio’s legs have gone the game passed him by its clear he has to be replaced and he cannot be starting games.
But as I say a win is a win……and to get the winning goal so late just made it that much sweeter.
Too much negativity. Will go straight to the comments.
Today was just about the result. And we got it. A loss would have been a disaster, but now we are in striking distance of other sides, who frankly are by no means great.
The big difference from Bruno`s days was surely that today we played with far more belief and determination. For once after going one down, we didn`t allow heads to drop and virtually give up, but rather we played believing we could get something out of the game. We did not play well, but this attitude allowed us to prevail
It`s not the time to get carried away. But this game was a start. We can now have reason to hope.
A huge, huge win and one that surely gives us hope that the new manager has what it takes to get us out of danger. As he said himself, he’ll allow the players to enjoy the victory for 2 or 3 hours (ie on the coach home) and then start talking about the Man Utd game. That’s the spirit. I said on here before the match, when discussing the line-up ‘Ait Nouri in there somehow and Adama likewise’. Did anyone else spot that, as soon as we regained possession, Ait Nouri ran at full pelt, from our penalty box to the opposition penalty box to get on the end of Adam’s cross? I urge you to watch it again. Wonderful goal and luck was not involved in the slightest, sheer guts and determination from the young lad, plus a good controlled finish. That’s what we need to see. Our first goal also was well worked and a lovely goal – I’d suggest no luck involved there either. As Bill Shankly used to say, and I paraphrase, when asked if he agreed that Liverpool were lucky ‘ sure, but you know it’s odd, the harder we work, the luckier we seem to get’. I have to admit that I also said Podence shouldn’t be in the starting line up due to his failed and frustrating tricks and flicks (conspicuos by their absence today). He probably had his best game of the season. So, okay, we still have problems, but work for Lopetegui and his team has only just begun and there are definitely signs of improvement. We have a chance now, a good chance of survival in this division.
Thanks for pointing out the run. Love Adama and glad he was in there, but I’m not sure the cross’s intent was there and thankfully Ait-Nouri had come up to give numbers.
excited to see the new year, but as noted above, without Coady and Boly, we desperately need vocal leaders both on and off the pitch.
Getting rid of Coady, Boly and Saiss in one fell swoop almost looks like an act of sabotage.
PJB, Bruno was just obsessed about getting rid of anything that was Nuno. Period.
The man was irrational in the extreme. He was determined to mastermind his own success– the only problem for him was that in the end he proved to be clueless, so that masterminded his own gross failure
Agreed Mike.
Unfortunately in the process he destroyed 5 years of serious progress in 12 months and has left us in a mess which isn’t going to be easy to get out of. And Jeff Shi has to shoulder a heavy burden of responsibility for being complicit.
We’re effectively back where we were when Nuno arrived -struggling for long term PL status.
One of the few bright spots this season has been the breakthrough of Academy players into the first team and the general role of younger players. But I’m pretty sure will look at this situation with a hard realistic edge and feel that an introduction of hard earned experience and physical strength is required. Bueno looked physically out of his depth today (not helped by some suicidal passes from Sa). Hodge tried hard and worked fearlessly but on another day a couple of his errors would have cost dearly. A similar story for Collins. Moutinho may not have the legs to force the play but most of his passing today (including the contribution for the first goal was excellent. Podence was very good and the Nunes pass to set up Traore for the second goal was top quality.
The holes can clearly be seen, but the overall effort to stay in the game and then win it – despite the holes was very encouraging. The change in mindset generated by a win is almost as important as new players. Have to keep RAN and play him further forward.
We are poor in that we give the ball away far too cheaply. We are also cut open way to easily. A recipe for disaster.
On balance though we also have very talented individuals and if we can combine them effectively as we did for the goals today then there is certainly much hope.
I’m certain Julen is a very authorative and experienced figure and I’m also certain he will get his messages through to the players. It’s early days in that respect and some skulls are thicker than others but I’m sure he be will get there. It’s also pretty obvious reinforcements are on the way and any not pulling thier weight will soon be out the comfort zone.
All this is going to add up to fantastic tilt at staying up from the back of the grid. We all know how hard finding 8 more wins will be but Ive made my mind up to enjoy it how ever we do it. Our chances are improving with every result.
This is gonna be good. Bunker mentality incoming. Fans. Players. Manager together as one. Manure gonna be on the end of it. I still think refs have an agenda against us. That clown today. Let go challenges against us. Same thing against them. Foul. 6 yellow cards ? Really. Apparently we have had more reds yellows against us than anyone else and yet we are not a dirty side. Far from it. Half the time we look powder puff. Yet we get punished. Just seen on MOTD thd Brentford bloke gets booked for diving in Spurs box. And they all laughed about it. I have seen those given as pens against us. Deli Alli for one Spurs last season. No different. Brentford bloke holding on Harry Kane. Seen them given against us. Not today. I guess i just hate referees!!
I agree, cheesy, it’s not sour grapes, almost every win in the PL is going to have done the hard way, against 12 men and by the looks of today we will soon be without players through suspensions too. I don’t even think it’s big six bias anymore, there is something about our setup the powers that be dont like. I’m not sure whether it’s political or the way we do business that some would argue is above our station but we are up against it in many more ways than pure sport. With such a poor start they sense blood but we shall overcome and have ‘the grin’ again come the end of it all. UTW.
Stats. over 5 years back you up slider.
The China Syndrome?
Yep pretty sure if a wolves player kicked, then pushed an Everton player in the back he would have got a straight red,Patterson got away with it
Agree about the refs Cheesey… and Craig Pawson today was abysmal… for the reasons you cite… inconsistency.
And the foul against Costa near the end .. speechless. … even the Neves booking was harsh…
Forgive me for saying so bug some of this seems a bit harsh.
We haven’t got crap players but they have been playing crap, I grant you.
Just two games in I don’t believe that we can write anyone off yet until JL has been given a chance to mould them into a cohesive unit.
For example, Guedes certainly does look like a suspect purchase at the moment but he proved that he can do it elsewhere so that doesn’t make him a crap player….in my opinion.
Personally, I would rather give all of them a few more games under his stewardship before we start binning any of them off.
Calling anyone crap is not on. Anymore than garbage etc, harsh criticism after a win, when any real fan came away exhilarated , looking forward to further evidence of improvement under the new manager. There’s a tendency for journalists to be over critical, big on personal abuse, when ‘supporters’ of their team would be kinder.
Lopetegui is a massive improvement on Lage, and it’s clear that reinforcements are coming. Existing players will show an improved confidence, and the future is Old Gold.
Keep the faith. Enjoy the games.
Not the prettiest but I will take it all day long. Winning has to become habit. The main thing for me was a refreshing change to see substitutes brought on and used with a decent amount of time left that actually meant they had a chance of affecting the result. Am still hoping at some point Connor Ronan gets a fair crack like some of the other academy players that have come through. Massive 3 points though so well done to all.
Like Cof D I think at some level, conscious or not, referees have it in for Wolves. Decisions go against us that pass unnoticed that given against any of the media darlings would cause uproar.
That the winning goal came in the 95th minute is surely significant. Fitness levels are surely improved? Ait Nouri was a good substitute. Ambitious and put in the hard yards right to the end. JL out thought fat Frank tactically, a perfect “rope a dope.” Lucky, well maybe, but like Napoleon who preferred lucky generals. I’ll take a lucky coach.
Shambolic for the most part and most teams in top 10 would have put us to the sword given how sloppy we were … but hey it was Toffees
My stomach knots still haven’t unwound
It takes all types and sizes of physique to make a team but we do look a bit flimsy/ lightweight and our free kick walls are an invitation to shoot
That said a bit more ingenious thinking from set pieces looked evident
Just need killer passes
Lethal shooting
Tireless midfield
Error proof defending
Successful dribbling
All ….Whilst wearing black and old gold ( or whatever nonsense away kit we’re wearing)
Bring on manure then Villa
OODCL
With a big name manager comes more pressure on players. Bueno and Collins could not respond to that pressure.
Kilmans’progress has stalled since Coady departed.
Wolves 2
Man U 0
See you NYE. Raise the roof.
Sharmwolf
Re Coady
Not just Kilman.
The whole club has suffered as a result of Coady’s exit. I know players come and go but Conor Coady has been one of the most influential Wolves players both on and off the pitch since Billy Wright and the manner of his departure was criminal.
Hang your heads in shame mssrs. Lage, Sellars and Shi. This act of lunacy could still cost us dear.
Unfortunately we can’t live in the past but oh that we might have a hidden card up our sleeves to get him back. A true Wolves legend.
Coady wanted to leave. End of.
Had to wait till I saw the highlights, mini match and the full reply before dropping a line here. I was wondering what effect can a new manager have on an underperforming squad of players. What can he say or do to lift the team up ?
Well the first thing I noticed is the flexibility in defence. We all argued whether we should be playing back 4 or 3. Well this guy did both. We would start as a back 4, but as any of the full backs got involved in an attack, Neves dropped to the “Coady” position allowing both Semedo and Bueno to become wing backs. And both suggested formations, keeps us all happy 🙂
That pass from Mautinho for the first goal was a wonder to behold !
The subs worked well and were done at the right time, allowing the likes of Traore and Nunes to settle into the game rather the relieving a dead tired player in the 85th minute.
Let us hope that this result is the incentive the players and supporters needed for the rest of the season. Let’s face it, whereas last year we wondered if we’d finish in the top 6, I think most of us will be pleased to get out of the bottom 3. Hopefully the addition of Cunha will be the miracle we need to fill in the CF position
Good to read a positive take, Vic.
We’ll be fine.
I am no longer a Jonah .
I always book my trips back to blighty around Wolves fixtures but I have a pretty crap record when it comes to results .
Even when we were flying to win the championship, I still managed to see two consecutive games without us scoring a goal!
Well , that all changed yesterday, I Managed to get two tickets courtesy of mr twix himself who very kindly went out of his way to order , pay and meet up en- route to get the tickets for us, and what a nice fellow he is , and a proper wolves man .
Thanks again Mike.
No, it wasn’t pretty, yes it was stressful and we know we can play better but the look on my sons face when we got the winner and when the final whistle blew took me back to the Southbank in the seventies,
Our decision to stay in Liverpool was good too as we grabbed the first taxi that we saw and we’re sitting in a little Irish pub, Guinness in hand watching villa go two down in no time ,
If Heineken did ‘ away days’
With the pressure being slightly released now, we may just get our first big win of the season against manure.
And why not, cos I’ll be there and ,,,,,
I’m no longer a Jonah
Come on you wolves
Very kind words Paul…
I wouldn’t hesitate to say that you’re a proper Wolves fan too …
Travelling 9000 miles from PERTH WA for games … we salute you… as you’re down for the next couple of home games it would be great if you could meet some more bloggers.. let’s arrange a meet on the day … if you can …
You’re a Top Top bloke .
Yea, Jonahs should have no place here. The only way is up…..
Well that was a hard watch same old Wolves just keep giving the ball away we need new players desperately . Collins is a walking disaster waiting to happen and Kilman is a shadow of his former self. But a win is a win no matter how you get it great pass by Nunes don’t understand why he does not start.
You have to remember that at the moment Julian only has the same dysfunctional, unbalanced and basically clueless bunch`(as a group), inherited from Sellers and Large. It seems to me that he has at least brought some semblance of organisation into the general chaos. Added to which there also appeared to be desire.
When he can bring in HIS type of player, ones he can trust and rely on and combine them with the undoubted talent we have within the squad, playing the way he wants to play, I believe there will be light at the end of the tunnel.
A number of the clearly inadequate players (at this level) will need to go and he must be ruthless.
Finally no matter the performance, no matter how we moaned and groaned during the game when the pass went astray or we didn’t track back, there is no better feeling in the world than a last minute winner. GET IN THERE. It’s been a long time coming.
The thing that this performance gave us, which has been sadly lacking in the recent past, is goals. You know, those things that win matches.
And two excellent goals they were.
The delightful chipped pass from Joao was superb and reminded me of a similar one by Ruben to Romain Saiss a while ago.
As already mentioned, the length of the pitch dash by Rayan to knock in Adama’s pass was symptomatic of the huge leap in desire and determination across the team. He scored but there were at least two others busting their metaphoricals to get in there.
As a fan, it’s what we want to see, but has been sadly lacking of late.
Hope springs eternal, and I can now see valid grounds for my soaring optimism .
What a great day out that turned out to be. Can’t wait for The Mancs on Saturday, bring em on!
Bump into Stew Wolf and Jen de Wolfe going into the ground yesterday ,just great to say hello
Let’s hope he still reads the blog, he’s sorely missed on this Blog
Have a great New year to all bloggers old and new. COYW.
I said right from the start that Collins was a mistake waiting to happen.
Boy! Was I wrong!
He’s a whole Santa’s sleigh full of bollocks about to be dropped down our chimney.
And I have defended Podence on a number of occasions, because he, alongside Neves, often seems to be the only one running about and showing some intent.
Great to see him doing the business yesterday.
And Moutinho… that delightful chip over the top for our first goal was, for me, one of the highlights of our season so far. I went all moist. But don’t worry, it was only me spilling my tea down my Derek Dougan autographed boxers.
I went even moister when we got the last minute goal.
Funnily enough, there was no tea involved that time.
Never mind the general performance. We won.
That’ll do me.
PS. It was beer the second time.
Oooh .. did Matron help out with the happy ending …
Did the performance matter? Not really. This was a moment, and it was all about the result. Granted, if we play like that for the rest of the season we’ll go down and it was hard to watch, but we dug in and at least showed some fight. That’s what will be required in a dogfight.
Right now it’s about points on the board and the result was huge in terms of keeping Everton close to us, and not leaving ourselves cut adrift. It of course remains a huge task, you only need to glance at the fixture list to see that but we’ve at least given ourselves a chance, and we’ve earned a slice of luck. So often these games have gone against us.
What a boost that will give the boys, and hopefully we can take that into upcoming games. We’re expected to get nothing against United so, in some ways, the pressure is off and let’s see what we can do. Then it’s another big fixture against Villa.
It feels like a fresh start, and while the table hasn’t reset to zero, at least we’re only a point away from safety. The teams above will be looking nervously over their shoulders.
Much has been said about Podence and Neves already but let’s also admire that ball from Moutinho for the first goal. A thing of beauty. Yes, he’s past his best and the game worryingly passes him by too often but that was a reminder of the quality this man possesses. Absolutely sumptuous.
I think Rayan Ait-Nouri deserves more than an honourable mention.
Charging the length of the pitch to finish off the move, à la Hwang against Portugal.
No way should we sell him. He offers something very positive in making up the extra attacker which defenders are not expecting.
I was interested to see the shock horror effect attached to the yellow card that Maximilian Kilman got for a high foot. A lot of it seems to have been started by Carlton Cole (Who? you might ask) commenting that MK should have been sent off.
I was glad to see this….
https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/12775118/ref-watch-should-max-kilman-have-seen-red-against-everton
…. in which experienced referee Dermot Gallagher disagreed. He thought the foot was high and deserved the yellow, but pointed out that MK’s eyes were on the ball and that he probably didn’t see the Everton man coming. Certainly from the wider shot, it’s quite clear that the Everton man was running headlong into a closing area. MK and another WWFC player – Moutino? – were closing on each other and there was not sufficient room between them for the Everton man to get through. His approach was reminiscent o David Luiz charging in on Raul, the high foot might even have saved a dangerous clash of three heads.
I raise this because I remember John Richards scoring a goal by making a low dive and heading the ball almost off the boot of a player who was about to kick it. The ref disallowed the goal on the grounds of dangerous play by JR. This does suggest that every player has some responsibility for safety – their own and everyone else’s. As far as I know football is still a game of skill which allows a certain amount of reasonable physical contact, it is not a gladiatorial contest where players have only succeeded when they have left all the other contestants dead on the sand. Players should surely understand that if you stick your head up over top of the trench, someone is going to take a shot at it. Yes, there are deliberately dangerous tackles, but there are also examples of reckless play – often caused by the ubiquitous ‘drawing the tackle.
This element of ‘dangerous play’ seems to have disappeared from the game together with the offence of obstruction. Players have always blocked an opponent off from the ball to get a favourable result when the ball goes out of play. It used to be up to the referee to decide how obstructive they had been and to give an indirect free kick if he felt they had gone too far. You certainly didn’t see blocking off taking place over the distances that go without comment today, sometimes five or six yards.
My prediction of a 2-1 win came up trumps both for the Prediction League and for my bets with BetVictor: 21/10 the win and 11/2 with BTTS. OK, more nail-biting than I thought but a win is a win.
My thoughts on the match are that I witnessed two rusty and out-of-form teams struggling to string a few consecutive passes together. Not surprising at the re-start of the season? It wasn’t any worse than that for Wolves. At least we showed the fight that has been lacking for months. Both our goals are contenders for goal of the season and as good as anything seen under Nuno. A couple of the lads were undone by nerves and inexperience. Collins, at £20mil (?) was a bad signing, but he’s not a bad player. Lopetegui didn’t sign him, but he must see something in him. Remember, this is still the same unbalanced team inherited by Lopetegui that he has so far inspired to two consecutive wins and a decent mid-season/pre-season in Spain. There is absolutely no doubt in my mine that Lopetegui will guide us to safety this season and to greater heights thereafter.
Reading some responses above, there’s not a lot of praise in general for a fighting, winning performance, but at least the trolls are absent, probably licking their wounds until the next opportunity to strike. I’ve railed against the recent rubbishing of Matheus Cunha, who hasn’t even kicked a ball in anger for us yet. He’s already written off by some. By proxy, Lopetegui is also rubbished, just for signing Cunha.
What I can’t stand are the trolls who hide behind ever-changing and stupid, even moronic, user names, but giving themselves away by identical, repetitious prose. They don’t fool anyone. I hope Thomas will take this point on board. If anyone has anything to say about Wolves, however damning, just man up and show who you are. Otherwise you are doing this excellent site a disservice and will only hasten the departure of even more fair-minded fans.
Good comments Dances especially reference the Trolls/Boggie fans
I’m going to ask Thomas if I can join the Blogerati Police…
I’ll get rid of them …
Good luck.
I thought you were the Police,
Err, No, WE are the police. As Kenny Hibbett would say, having truncheoned his way up the park to the Refs Monitoring Station, only to tee up Richards for the winner.
No Justice, Just us. RIP- ACAB. Missed sorely. 1 lv.
Lots of excellent posts praising our attitude and quality – Everton clearly weren’t able to take advantages of our defensive lapses and paid the price. As a previous blogger posted they were rusty and our younger players- namely Bueno and Hodges – had stage fright but they will improve with experience.
Collins is not consistently reliable at this level and unsettles Kilman and Sa IMO.
Another game where fine margins were in evidence and, for once, we came out on top.
I suggested a back 5 from the off yesterday as better teams than Everton will take advantage of our current defensive frailties. Until we get reinforcements of a high calibre, I would stay with a back 5.
On another note- seeing Coady’s blank expression yesterday made me think of the brilliant scenes after our unlikely away win against Villa last season. Did Conor have mixed feelings at the chaotic celebrations at the end of the game yesterday?
If Everton are relegated and we stay up will either manager want him? Will he want to come back to us or go back into the Championship?
Another massive performance required on Saturday and this game will give us a better idea whether we can accumulate the necessary points to stay in contention
until reinforcements arrive.
Yeah, totally agree when Toti came on the defence really improved.
He seemed to be on the end of every Everton through ball.
I also think that Hugo was targeted by Everton players and ‘roughed up’ to prevent the runs he made this season.
Manure will play open football and allow Hugo to play so he must start against them.
With 5 at the back and the breakaways in the last ten minutes I can see the Manure match being very close, hopefully 1-0 to the Wolves, very similar to our first season in the premier league.
Not much to add that hasn’t already been pointed out, however, as a player, coach and manager back in the day, I loved a clean sheet and admire teams that don’t look like conceeding. Basic rule, at all restarts ,our big men mark their big men, if not sure , stand shoulder to shoulder and check with keeper or skipper, change if appropriate.
So that’s not too difficult is it?
So why was Bueno marking Mina?
It wasn’t good for Bueno to be marking Mina but,unfortunately, we didn’t have enough big men to mark all their big men with Bueno,Podence, Moutinho and Hodge in the starting eleven . Set pieces were always going to be difficult therefore.
Seasons Greetings Bloggers.
Cheers Ben. It’s also my own ‘Earthday’. 26.12.64. Usually a case of ‘That was shite AND Wolves lost.’
Well it’s panto season. The Wolvo Grand are missing a Villain, They’re two dwarfs down at the Alhambra. Our defence were filling in for ‘Bambi on Ice’, and to see Father Frank on 96 mins doing his best Widow Twanky as Alladin legs it with the Golden Goose was a sight to behold.
Sa saved the day with a number of point blankers, Ruben off the line. but the Toffees were wasteful, to be polite. If ever a game showed the vagaries of football it was this one.
Surely this must give confidence in the ranks to know that the Snooker Gods are smiling on us once more.
That crafty dink from an otherwise retired Moutinho.
And yea, the miraculous run of Ryan ‘The Messiah’ Ait-Nouri to somehow squeeze that in, under heavy fire from the desperate Toffees defence, away from the flailing England Number 1. The stuff of legend, even J-Lo looked pleased.
If you can stop laughing, it did point out some minor adjustments that need attention from a J-Lo heavy duty nutcracker prior to taking on the Aphids. I bet they’ve ditched that horrendous day-glo suit that saw them trounced at the Nylons though.
Rashford will be knackered from handing out free Turkey dinners.
1 lv & COYW.
Marvellous scores this evening down in the basement. Boremouth 0-2 . Forest 0-2. In fact our win and all other results in our favour this weekend. Even Blue nose are losing 2-0. And surely Citeh will do Leeds tomoz. I can sense the tide is turning. J-Lo looks like a bloke who is entirely driven. I wouldn’t be surprised if we do Manure on Saturday.
First the positives.
A win. (And a scoreline that matches my prediction).
RAN scored. Again. Reminded me of his early matches.
A manager who uses his substitutions to make a difference.
On the negative side, I don’t think I have ever seen a match at any level, never mind top-flight, with so many poor/misplaced passes by BOTH sides. And as for the ref…..!
Anywho, NEXT!
I don’t mind missed passes, if they are going forward. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
I think the players and Diego have to sit down and come to an understanding as to what is trying to do and where he wants the passes to go.
Also, Adama’s assist was a soft pass close to the ground. Was that a coincidence or did the coaching staff tell him accuracy over power and to keep it inside the stadium?
There are several clubs much worse than the Wolves of yesterday, bottom of the league, and we have so much potential to improve our position under the new manager, with a couple of crucial additions. Abandon despair(and personal abuse) and look up the table; we’ll be leapfrogging our way into the top half as the new year unfolds.
A very valuable start from JL. 8 wins from 22 games is the goal now. A tough ask of this team based on what they have displayed prior to this point but it is a start. Don’t care about performance, winning is all that counts for now.. Let’s hope we can get something from the next game to start to build some momentum and some more fresh blood in for January 1st in addition to Cunha.
Agreed. It’s just all about 3 points now. I am sure J Lo will be working on everything. But 7 or 8 wins is now the objective. How they come is not gonna bother me. Looking at J Lo after/during Everton you can see a bloke who is massively driven. I think we will be ok. But there will be a few defeats along the way. We must be careful not to get too down hearted. Fear not. There are 3 shit teams. Worse than us.
FUCKIN HELL. Pele has gone. A true icon in the history of world football. This was a bloke that truly captured the World Cup. RIP Pele. A true magnificent geezer. Those old David Coleman documentaries. Unbelievable.
RIP Vivienne Westwood. Punk icon . God rest her soul.
Not a Wolves comment but RIP Pele, for those of us who remember him the indisputable greatest footballer of all time, a true sportsman and a gentleman of the highest order.
A genuine legend.
Agreed PJB. Icon. Absolute.