Bournemouth did the absolute minimum to win this game.
By that I mean, they sat in a shape, did all the defending they had to do and scored the only chance they created.
On that basis, they fully deserved the victory.
Wolves just suffered in all the familiar ways.
Most obvious is the continued inability to break down a team that sit deep and put the emphasis on them to attack.
We had 70% possession, forced 12 corners and had 15 shots but somehow never looked like scoring once.
There wasn’t enough intensity, enough bravery to play the forward pass or enough players breaking into the penalty area. These are problems that have plagued us for five years now that really need addressing.
The primary tactic is still sending Adama down the line to deliver crosses that nobody comes close to converting.
Cunha doesn’t look like the centre forward to change our fortunes in that respect, failing to even take up positions that might see the ball break his way for a chance.
Sarabia was full of running and good intentions but again isn’t troubling the opponent’s goal in the way we’d all hoped given his impressive numbers in recent times elsewhere.
It was a game where we needed some drive and purpose from deep and you’d hope Nunes might finally deliver the goods. Instead it was another afternoon where the contest simply passed him by. Very disappointing indeed.
In stark contrast to last week, none of the substitutions really made an impact and seemed to unbalance the side and disrupt whatever rhythm we had in the first place.
Hooking Traore was the worst decision. He had their full back on toast and was the only way through a resilient backline. After he went off, it was a chore to even work the ball up the pitch.
Lopetegui has to shoulder a lot of the blame for these choices and when you factor in the continued preference to deploy Moutinho as an attacking midfielder in another game we fail to score, it wasn’t a great day at the office for our head coach.
He has credit in the bank of course but performances like this will mean it’s a bumpy ride all the way to the finish. And I’d rather it wasn’t.
Our DNA rules….. beat liverpool 3.0
loose to Bournemouth ..
Traore the only stand out player
as usual without a finisher .
More money and players needed
or do we just ride it out and scrape in …the last 3 games enough for a box of Valium no doubt…
Is this season cursed?
Very much a wasted opportunity to move up the table, I think we all arrived at the stadium feeling optimistic, if results were to go in a certain way and we win………
Back in the real world our lack of creativity and goal scoring ability has hurt us once again. Bournemouth are the worst team to visit Molineux this season, limited ambition, cynical out of possession and offering zero entertainment value but in their circumstances, they have delivered a sucker punch and parked the bus. They will surely be relegated,
The statistics of possession, shots and corners lean heavily in our favour yet I can’t recall a single moment when I thought we were going to score. I am encouraged by Adama’s improvement but Cunha isn’t a number 9 and Nunes is falling short of his valuation. What worked well v Liverpool was the Lemina effect so that needs to happen v Fulham. It’s not the end of the world but the manager will get it right, keep the faith everyone. Long way to go yet.
I agree. Bournemouth will go down. They are a championship team on a day out to do what they did. First half Wolves were dominant without really creating anything. Second half Wolves were useless. But Bournemouth had something to cling on to. We were actually quite useless. But walking away from the temple in a pissed off mood I tbought last 3 games Liverpool. Saints away. Bournemouth. I would have took min 4 points. We got 6. Draw a line
Move on to Fulham. I bet my house we will get something out of that. It’s football.
Totally agree Thomas. Unfortunately Mouthinio is no longer a starter. This result has dragged us back into the mire and I am not sure we have the goals to get us out of it. Cunha, if the fee is accurate, is going to be a huge waste and I am starting to worry the same about Nunes!
I think Cunha played more as an attacking midfielder/10 with a proper target man ahead could be more effective…. Mout’ I’m afraid, lady time is catching up with him, even though he never stops trying… Nunes is flattering to deceive, looks graceful at times, but actually really slow with his decisions in the final third, to often resulting in a give away…. the fact we’re soon to come up against teams that will be more attacking, thus open the game up is the crumb I hold onto after this very disappointing result….
Abysmal result today.
Failed to score again and with 68% possession.
Still only scoring at just over 1 goal per PL game since the Lopetegui “revival”.
This is not down to Lopetegui, we are reaping the harvest (famine) brought about by long term neglect which is very difficult to rectify in a few weeks.
6 players bought in during Jan. but not the ONE that was really needed – someone who can score. No regrets for repeating this comment, we’ve had 3 years to remedy the loss of Jiminez and Jota so don’t care how many Shi/Lage/Sellars apologists downvote me, it’s been a massive missed opportunity to rebuild our club with a mixture of incompetence and inertia by Shi and co.
Very much still in the mire. These are the matches we really need to win and certainly not to lose; 3 tough games in a row now and if this was anything to go by we could easily be back in the bottom 3 in 2 weeks time because nearly every result today went against us.
On the evidence of this performance it would be very hard to justify the old adage “we’re too good to go down”.
Ignore the downvotes PJB- you are dead right.
The starting front 5 attacking players today haven’t scored a goal between them. The two owngoals in the last two games could be argued to have contributed to four points out of the six earned.
One recent poster projected 100 goals a season- cuckoo land -and we are right in the relegation mix which will go to the wire.
There aren’t any Down votes mate .. it a good point made and acknowledged.. BUT .. like everything in life you have to have perspective.. as Cheesey highlights.. 13 points from 7 games .. there isn’t a PL team that wins 38 matches a season ..
Just ignore the 13 points from previous 7 games then. It’s all shit.
It was today.
I know
A welcome return to form PJB, stirring the Cauldron of discontent over the dying embers of the last star in the Universe before Shi comes along and pisses on it.
Have a soggy chip? They’ve just gone cold.
Mind you I think we’re entitled to something better after putting 3 past ‘Pool on the same turf just 2 weeks ago. 1 lv.
But today we returned to our Winter of Discontent.
3 points against Bournemouth would have been far more beneficial than 3 points from the Liverpool game.
Yep, that would have kept the Cherries firmly below the tideline, as well as boosting our own prospects. 1 lv.
Agree with all above that we can’t take one result in isolation but set against that it was the manner of defeat and performance that rankle; it was far more Lage than Lopetegui.
Ugh a turgid afternoon which I’ve witnessed many a time against teams below us. Definitely missed Lemina, no incisiveness up front, players lacking the courage to beat their man and go on to hit the ball towards goal. Very tame at home after our two excellent wins.
A bumpy road and relegation dog fight just when we were beginning to think we were getting clear at last. Oh well it’s Wolves and we know it’s not going to be plain sailing.
This time substitutions went against us. Agree Traore should have stayed on and Nunes, we did lose our rhythm and pattern. But forever hopeful that Lopetegui can get us back winning v Fulham.
Everytime I now see Moutinho picked from the start I despair, especially with the wealth of talent sitting on the bench. Don’t get me wrong he’s been a wonderful player for Wolves in the past but I get tired by his predictable persistent short corners and just think we should be using a more dynamic midfielder at our disposal and taking off Traore when he was flying again and gaining his confidence was a major mistake from the Manager !
Very bad day at the office for both the original team selection and subsequent substitutions sadly ..
Hope he learns from this..
A really frustrating afternoon. We dominate the first half but can’t score. Then we have a dreadful second half. This was a game we should have won – Bournemouth are not a good side but they sat deep and their delaying tactics got to us. We have to put these teams away. JLo is going to have to put another rocket under these players if we are to get anything from the next three games.
Typical wolves, thought turned the corner, nunes should be dropped, cuno is not a cf, too good to go down, time to get drunk, God bless u all, wolves aie we
It’s a little early to throw the dummies out of the pram The manager and players haven’t all of a sudden become poor representatives of WWFC.
Finger pointing at a few could be correct but as a whole the team looked pretty close to a Nuno or Lage frightened to make mistakes team thus a defensive outlook becomes a priority therefore getting the ball forward takes far too long
We face an uphill struggle to remain in the bottom half of the premiership but after all that I have said I do believe we have the crux of a top class premiership team but as it has already been stated a centre forward is desperately required and has been required for about 3 years. COYW
Bournemouth turned up today playing with the sole intent of avoiding a thrashing. They had zero attacking intent and were there for the taking. They must have been in hysterics going home on the bus, barely able to believe our gross ineptitude. They were never subject to real pressure, and never looked like giving up their lead, their keeper having almost nothing to do.
The reality is that our age old issue of not being able to score remains intact. While Cunha is a quality footballer, quite clearly he is not a natural number nine. His goal contributions for us will likely be very small. So why continue to play him in isolation up front ? To try to get the most out him, why not play him alongside another striker — Costa or Raoul ?
In any event if we`re to score the necessary goals, we somehow have to get more men into the box. There`s no point in Traore doing the business out wide if there`s no one available to convert his crosses.
Elsewhere, I can only echo what has been said by others. Nunes appears nothing like the outstanding midfielder we were led to believe and Moutino, playing in his present advanced role, adds nothing.
But our coach is no fool, and he will surely adjust. I for one intend to look on today`s reversal as being a reality check, hopefully a blip on the way to securing survival
Mike
Our only hope seems to be that JL is as good as his reputation and can rescue us from the pit that has been dug since Nuno fell out of favour. It looks like a a hell of a challenge on this evidence, but also does he have the tools?
PJB from what we`ve seen so far the omens seem good to me. In recent games, apart form today ,we`ve played with growing confidence and greater method. Performances against both Liverpool and S`ton were very praiseworthy
The squad was surely strengthened in key areas during January, so I think we have reasonable hopes of survival. Thirteen points from seven games so far is a very respectable return under the new coach, and is certainly something to build on.
However, I agree with you that it would have been far easier if we had a genuine striker available !! A few toe pokes would go down very well right now.
From a supporter of the useless ,
Championship team . You lost to us , as bad as we were .
You sound as if you expected us to
turn up with ManC type flowing
football .
We are in a dogfight , rarely pretty
Our hope is to prove all the pundits wrong , by keeping our
Premier League status .
You are going to have real problems . How can you beat Liverpool 3-0 and lose to useless
AFCB. ? That sort of inconsistency is a warning of difficult times ahead
Chill out chap. Have a beer. Celebrate your win. Well done.
Spew your nonsense on your own site.
How you can watch the rubbish that you showed today week in and week out is beyond my imagination. You`d be more entrained watching the tide come in.
We certainly didn’t expect you to turn up with Man City flowing football… and you certainly didn’t.
You brought the bus, and parked it.
But apart from that you are right that our inconsistency is an ongoing problem that we have to solve.
You scored from your one chance. We couldn’t score from all of ours.
And in the final analysis, that’s all that matters.
It’s the hope that kills you.
Warm beer and soggy chips all round.
After a couple of great wins we’re treated to this, unable to break down a solid defence and suckered on the counter. Now we’re in a scrap until the end of the season, with any old Charlie and his charabang turning up for a point or three.
I’ve got a hole in my bathroom ceiling that needs fixing, which I predict will be equally frustrating.
The oxygen of confidence has left the balloon of optimism for a few more weeks at least. This unpredictable season is going to throw up a few more surprises yet. Time for a prayer we’re on the bright side when the drop comes round. Keep the faith,
1 lv & COYW.
It’s days like this when I wished I didn’t support a bloody football team, but it’s in the DNA and oh, the pain… the pain!
Fulham, Liverpool, Tottenham and Newcastle should be a doddle after that Bournemouth game.
Twelve points to be had from three away games and one at home.
No problem.
COYW
Well I don’t really care what oppo fans think of us…we scrapped and got the points!..tbh Wolves are no great shakes either!
Good bye….
Ground with 10,000 capacity in the PL .. youm avin a loff …
That’s because in reality they are a 4th division team, Twix. To get to the premier league is therefore to be applauded in my opinion. At least their fans are mostly genuine supporters as opposed to plastic Mancs, scousers or Kings Road wide boys.
I think Eddie Howe was the man who put Bournemouth on the map.
He is be applauded for getting them into the Premier on a shoestring budget.
I may well be alone with this view but yes lost but we totally dominated throughout. A Championship quality team perhaps but I can’t recall when we last dominated a game to that extent.
We lost and it feels shite and we know the reason why. But I would rather lose like that than after some lukewarm shift with minimal commitment which we have been privy to all too often in recent times.
So keep your chins up !
Exactly Hertford. The big difference to the previous two ganes is that we couldn’t break down a 1o man defence whereas both Liverpool and Southampton tried to attack and left us space to exploit. Results went badly for us yesterday but changed for the good again today with Leicester and West Ham losing. There will be more ups and downs in the remaining games but I’d rather have Lopetegui steer us through the mire than the managers most of the other bottom teams are blessed with (or have yet to acquire).
Very disappointing performance! At times it looked like two championship teams slugging it out. I did miss most of the first half but had the misfortune to see their goal right after half time! Their one shot on goal!
I really wonder about Semendo. He might be ex-Barcelona but virtually every time he gets the ball, he hustled down the wing, and then just passes back, mostly to the half-way line! Why no one-twos a la Doherty? He is a weak link in the attack although he is an ok defender.
Not trying to look for a scapegoat but every threat from the right side comes from the forward winger and not from Semendo! Even then we are lucky!
Supporting Wolves reminds me of marriage– sometimes your wife is the most beautiful in actions and mannerisms, and then the next day there is a dragon next to you! No consistency in performances just uncertainty and inconsistancy! ??
Yet another weekend to lick our wounds!
Notwitjstanding, we may have lost the battle today, but the war is far from over! We fight on!I
Life goes on!!
What’s all the hype with nunes, pep said he was best midfielder in Europe, yesterday no one ran into there box,to commit there defence, always safe sidewoods procession, its gives them time to regroup, play it faster,joa is not a starter, we kneed a playmaker, we are in a dog fight, we play better, away on counter attack, bournmouth will go down, time for a bacon sandwich, God bless my bloggers family, wolves aie we.
There’s been a resilience about Bournemouth over the last few weeks that we ignored. And I was also being kind to wolves to predict 1-1 after all everything was against us
1 playing a team under us
2 playing a poor scoring team
3 playing a team with the worst away record
4 playing a team that conceded more goals in the last 15 minutes than anyone else
5 and we can’t score against a packed defence
6 And the clincher I got up at stupid o’clock to watch it,and that’s the blogs fault as you Al said we’d smash them I stupidly thought this would out weigh the curse of me watching live,but the sun will rise tomorrow
I didn’t PN … and I was in your ball park …
Wolves could beat the Champions league winners one day and lose to Chorley the next …
We’ve learned to suck it up mate ..
We never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity
I’ve left Pelorus Sound a few hours ago in a Water Taxi .. something not available around Molineux I’m afraid .. I was up at 4am to listen to the game…
We’ve seen all this before PN .. lose when we think we should win and then win against a top six team .. baffling yes .. mind boggling..no.
It’s Wolves FC …
It’s the expectation that kill you..
As disappointing as yesterday’s result was in a massive game for us, it is illustrative of the challenge we still have to stay in this league. Despite 13 points from 8 games under JL ( and any sane wolves fan would have ripped your hand off if offered that back on jan 1st), we are still deep in the mire. This will go all the way to the wire involving multiple teams in the mix to the end. Unfortunately the poor work of Shi, Sellars and Lage cannot all be undone in 8 games. If we stay up, there needs to be continued rebuilding in the summer and the only reason I can think why we have not bought a striker in January is that we will be investing the majority of available funds in one in the summer. If we don’t having stayed up this season, we will battling relegation again next year.
Over 30 games now since a striker scored in the PL- it’s not all down to the service. We cannot continue to rely on own goals and worldies from midfield.
No team is giving up, the other relegation candidates have also invested heavily in the January window, barring Everton who have recruited Dyche.
You could say it will be the most exciting battle at the bottom for many years and this is why we love the games, the euphoria and the inevitable times of despair. JLo will demand a reaction at Fulham of that you can be sure.
Keep the faith.
Suppose you can understand their (Shi’s) reluctance to spend money on strikers when looking at recent efforts –
Kaladjzic
Costa
Silva
Willian Jose
Cuitrone
Dadashov
Campana
Bonatini
Perhaps some advice from Steve Bull might not go amiss. Around £80 million in transfer fees plus wages for a collective contribution of goals scored barely in double figures by the above motley crew in over 3 years. Pathetic Jeff.
Maybe it isn’t the strikers’ fault. Jose seemed to do well after he left Wolves.
Name some PJB. The fact that Chelsea can’t find one with all their zillions might indicate that there’s a major shortage of quality strikers aswell as Hens teeth.
Think Chelsea have had quite a few decent strikers since Jiminez was assaulted back in 2020. Very subjective comment, 30 odd months is a long time in the transfer market surely.
Name them please PJB.In theory they may have but seemingly not in practice. Lukaku at circa £80m not good enough and loaned out. Aubameyang can’t make their champions league squad. Players who may be good enough on paper doesn’t necessarily cut it on grass.As I said before, top quality strikers hardly exist and we’d be down the pecking order of potential suitors anyway. That’s why we’ve had to gamble on Cunha and previous incumbents that haven’t worked out; ie Silva and Cutrone to name a couple.
Ah yes, and Timo Werner. Another success story, not.
Apart from Haaland it’s difficult to name a big money striker who has been a success in the period since Jiminez ‘s injury.
I was irked buy the purchase of Weghorst by Burnley from Wolfsburg, of all places. Then sold on to ManU as a less uppity R7 for a profit. Chris Wood to Newcastle, now on loan? at Forest. Don’t mention Danny Ings.
Not saying they are the answer, but all have seemingly been available for the kind of money ….
None of those lot would be anywhere near the answer. Dawson gets more goals than Woods and if Ings was any good Villa wouldn’t have let him go and he’d be able to get into West Ham’s team.
Thousands of words on here.
Keep it simple people.
GARBAGE.
I agree that the use of Moutiño is creating problems and needs addressing. Two good chances fell his way but we know he’s not a goal scorer. I love the player but his time has come I’m afraid ; even knowing he is still capable of bits of good play.
One really good aspect of the game was the imperious performance of Max Kilman, the best player on the pitch by a country mile.
If we are using Adama, who also played well, we ought to think about using Raul and Diego as a two up front for a good period with instructions to stay centrally as much as possible. Cunha and Sarabia are link players and their strength is not in leading a line.
Just my views…
I also felt we missed the pace and hard tackling of Lemina.
Against the scousers and the south coast lot he allowed Neves to get forward and made things happen in front of goal.
It was no coincidence that he replaced Moutino in the side and made Wolves a more potent threat all over the pitch.
Hope he is back next week.
Has JL said it will be a hard fight until the end of the season
The word ‘imperious’ came to my mind too DW.
Not a good day for us yesterday. Not only our loss but others around us gaining points. Update on the PPG indicator. After last week we were looking at 34 points as the projected safety line. After yesterday and todays games factored in the PPG safety indicator has now increased to 36 points. So as we stand today. We require 13 more points from 15 games. Or more simply 5 wins will be enough. And with Arsenal away the final game we need to get them quick !!
Correction: forgot wham are playing. If they lose today the PPG safety line will be 35 points. If they get anything from the game then PPG will be 36 points!
So frustrating and I’m afraid Lope is culpable for at least some of yesterday’s mistakes. Moutinho is not an attacking midfielder; Cunha desperately need to be playing with a target man; and Traore shouldn’t have been removed from play. As for Nunes – keep hoping he will come to life, but just not happening – time to start with someone else. Roll on the return of Lemina and hopefully, Neto. Going to be a relegation dogfight to the end.
What about Die?
Same old Wolves reverted back to type and could have played for six hours and still wouldn’t of scored.
On paper we have a wealth of experienced strikers in Costa and Raul but in reality they are past there sell by date and the new boys don’t seem up to the job.
They most important department has not been sufficiently strengthened in the transfer window that being the forwards and until it is we will continue to struggle to score goals on a regular basis.
Lemina is certainly not The Messiah.
And he might well be a VERY naughty boy. Some referees sure think so.
Stand up Jarred Gillett!
On second thoughts, sit down and stick your coloured cards where the sun don’t shine.
I would be prepared to bet a goodly sum that, had Mario been playing for us yesterday, we would have come away with three points.
His all round ability and work rate allows other midfielders, Ruben in particular, to get upfield and create scoring opportunities… or get on the end of them.
If anyone had to make way for him in yesterday’s team, I would have kept Moutinho and dropped Nunes. He has underwhelmed from the first game and shows no signs of overwhelming, or even just ‘whelming’.
A couple more points.
When we are going forward, GET PLAYERS IN THE BOX!!
Man City, Arsenal etc can flood four or five men in there at a moment’s notice.
One, or occasionally two at a push, seems to be our limit.
We might have no natural number nines who were born to score at the moment but, the more in there, the more chance there is of the ball bouncing off somebody’s shins into the net.
And… WE all seem to understand that Cunha is not a natural number nine. Come on JLo… keep up. Play him alongside Raul or Costa. See what happens.
And… Adama may have been tired yesterday, but don’t bring Raul and Costa on the pitch and then withdraw their main supply line.
I don’t like to crticise Julen too much because he’s done a pretty damn good job so far, but I reckon he got a few things wrong yesterday.
If he’d like to contact me through the blog I will be very happy to put him right on a few things.
Everybody knows that us fans know much more about football than the coaches.
Well put DOOG … there are 30,000 plus better managers every game … unfortunately most of the comments come with the benefit of Hindsight…
Lemina was an undoubted miss over the weekend .. but it’s one game .. and not to be judged in isolation..
Thanks Twix.
The undeniable fact Doog is we are treated differently to other teams. Look at Manure today. A sure straight red is mysteriously going under the radar (admittedly to our advantage) . No VAR. Nothing. Yet another Wham handball goes in their favour. We have seen all week players surrounding referees. Effing and blinding to referees. And what ? Nothing. Wolves have received most reds yellows in the prem and yet we are really quite powder puff. Meks ya wonder doe it.
Clarify that. Most red cards.
RIP Dickie Davies. Icon of 1970’s sport. Anchor man on a Saturday afternoon as the results came through on ITV.
So Deja vu all over again
The world and his wife are looking fur a high scoring striker
Raul was one and now isn’t
Ditto Costa
For me it’s a better route to find tricky and creative forwards who know how and when to dribble back heel flick and feint
That presents chances ANY decent forward can finish
Eg Coutinho goal yesterday
So we need Podence Neto Ait Nouri Traore and their like … maybe Nunes can do that and the new boys ?? Hope so
We controlled enough of the last three games … but a bit of magic missing
Yes’ a Rashford would be nice but ain’t gonna happen
There are plenty of other ways to get to 50/60 goals for the season
Next Friday we should watch Willian
He’s the role model for me nowadays ( not at Gunners)
And no reason why we can’t come back with 3 points and then we’re up to 26 and the ‘ light’ will be evident again
Lads its Fulham
I’ve not read every word from every poster (sorry),but did anyone notice how good Kilman was in this?
Agree- Max seems to have grown in confidence since Craig Dawson arrived and the same can be said for Sa who kept us in the games against Liverpool and Southampton.
What particularly impresses about Kilman is his ability to bring the ball out of defence when his obvious pass to Neves is not possible. Was it he who overhit the cross field ball to Adama in the first -half which he athletically pulled down, took on his chest and set off again down the wing? Sheer brilliance by Traore and surely JLo can get the best out of our most exciting forward.
With the benefit of two days reflection, we didn’t play badly against Bournemouth and perhaps should acknowledge the oppositions’ stubbornness and teamwork- we have performed similar smash and grab runs against much better teams in the past. We had our moments of luck in the wins against Liverpool and Southampton, on Saturday it was Bournemouths turn to be lucky.
As a previous poster said, let’s just suck it up and move on. Liverpool have and won twice since their hammering at the Molineux.
Further to my blathering above … it’s not just a matter of a high scoring striker…. Here’s a rather more insightful analysis of our woes in todays Times
Presumably no news here for JLo
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Times Football
Date: Mon, Feb 20, 2023 at 9:01 AM
Subject: Why Wolves have lost their bite
To:
View in browser
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James Gheerbrant
Sports Writer
Four wins in Julen Lopetegui’s first eight Premier League matches have changed the mood music at Molineux and lifted Wolves out of the relegation zone. But, though Lopetegui has already made them much harder to beat, it’s clear that there is still plenty of work to do – and it’s obvious at which end of the pitch Wolves’s problems lie.
They have scored only 13 non-penalty goals in 23 matches this season, the lowest figure in the league, and they have endured a run without a goal from any of their strikers – Raúl Jiménez, Diego Costa, Hwang Hee-chan, the now-injured Sasa Kalajdzic and the now-loaned-out Fábio Silva – which now stands, incredibly, at 33 Premier League games.
A big part of Wolves’s problems is that they just don’t create good chances. They have taken a very respectable 11.6 shots per game this season, which ranks 11th, but those shots are of the lowest quality of any Premier League team. The average Wolves chance has an expected-goals value of 0.08 (ie you would only expect an average finisher to put it away 8 per cent of the time).
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Looking at the shot maps for two of their centre forwards tells part of the story. Costa and Jiménez were once two of the most dominant penalty-box strikers in the Premier League, but they are at the tail-end of interrupted careers: Costa is 34 and playing his first season in European football since 2019-20, while Jiménez is 31 and his head guard is a visible reminder of the resilience he has shown in overcoming a skull fracture to return to top-flight football.
The harsh reality, though, is that both players, through age and injury-related decline, no longer have the physicality with which they were able to command the six-yard box and the centre of the penalty area at their peak. Comparing Jiménez’s shots since the start of last season with his best season in 2019-20, and Costa’s shots this season with his final Chelsea season, 2016-17, we see that those big chances in and around the six-yard box have utterly dried up: they are being more easily kept at bay by central defenders and are being forced to subsist on relative scraps.
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Lopetegui has recognised this and in recent games has started the wingers Matheus Cunha and Pablo Sarabia up front, but this brings its own challenges. Cunha, in particular, is not a natural finisher, and over the course of his major-league career at RB Leipzig, Hertha Berlin, Atletico Madrid and now Wolves he has scored 20 goals from chances worth about 28 expected goals, a significant level of underperformance. And of course, the frequent turnover that the team has undergone at the centre-forward position this season has made it hard to build connections and instinctive understanding between players.
The problem also runs deeper than the personnel that Wolves deploy up top. Their share of possession and territory in games is perfectly respectable, they get the ball into the box at a reasonable rate (both crosses and passes into the box are around league-average) but they lack quality and good decision-making in the final third. A long-standing issue is the team’s penchant for long shots: this season, Wolves have taken 38.7 per cent of their shots from outside the area, the second-highest proportion in the league.
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What would you like us to analyse?
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Long shots are one symptom of what is arguably the defining malaise of Wolves’s attack: they don’t know when to stick the knife in, and very often the wrong guy ends up holding it. To explain this, we can introduce a concept known in analytical parlance as ‘usage rate’: basically, how often each player ends, or ‘uses up’ his team’s sequences of possession by making the final action, be it a shot, a misplaced pass, a failed take-on or being dispossessed.
As you can probably guess, the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Kevin De Bruyne and Trent Alexander-Arnold have tended to be some of the most ‘high-usage’ players in the Premier League – after all, if anyone’s going to take the risk of ending the possession, you want it to be your go-to creator. This table lays bare Wolves’s problem: they don’t really have one.
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Behind Daniel Podence, who has used up the most Wolves sequences, the next three players are two central midfielders with one assist between them this season, and a centre back. By far Wolves’s best two creators by expected assists per 90 minutes, Adama Traoré and Pedro Neto, are fifth and 13th on the list.
Wolves also have a big problem in transitions: the quick attacks that follow a turnover of possession. Opta keeps tracks of a metric called high turnovers, defined as an open-play sequence which begins by regaining the ball less than 40 metres from the opponents’ goal. Wolves have had 35 high turnovers ending in a shot this season – one of the best figures in the league, behind only Manchester United, Brighton and Arsenal – but have failed to score from any of them. Contrast that glaring inefficiency with Newcastle, who have scored four times from 24 high turnovers, or Brentford, who have scored five times from 22.
These situations should be absolutely prime scoring opportunities, because you’re running at a disorganised defence, but through imprecision and bad decisions, Wolves find ways not to maximise them. Here’s a good example from the 3-0 win against Liverpool: Traoré does brilliantly to get Andy Robertson to cough up the ball and Jiménez comes away with it. But his pass is behind Traoré, forces the winger to check and denies him the chance to get an early shot off. By the time he does eventually shoot, Joe Gomez is able to narrow the angle and make the block.
And though it may seem harsh to pick holes in a passage of play which ends in a goal, Wolves’s winner against Southampton is a glaring example of poor decision-making in a transition situation. Matheus Nunes pinches the ball after two Southampton players take each other out, and with all the defenders clustered on one side of the pitch, he simply has to play the pass to Sarabia, cantering up on his outside in acres of space. Instead, he takes on a shot from outside the box, and gets lucky that the ball rebounds back to him and gives him a better shooting opportunity, which he takes.
But it’s not just that Wolves are inefficient: it’s also about the way they approach matches. One of the most interesting ways to analyse teams is to look at what’s called game state: in other words, how the way the team performs is impacted by the scoreline. As this table shows, when leading by one goal, Wolves have the most feeble attack in the Premier League, generating only 0.6 expected goals worth of chances per 90 minutes.
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This has to be partly a question of intent. Through the years of Nuno Espírito Santo and Bruno Lage, Wolves have developed an ingrained conservatism – some might say a rather Portuguese streak – in their game management. When the scoreline is +1 in your favour is often one of the most profitable game states in which to attack, because your opponent is pushing for an equaliser, opening up spaces in their defence. But when Wolves take the lead, they look to close the game down rather than going for the jugular and trying to increase their lead.
Again, the comparison with Brentford and Newcastle seems apt: Wolves have spent 282 minutes this season leading by a goal – a not insignificant amount of time, comparable to Newcastle’s 298 minutes and Brentford’s 317. But those teams take a completely different approach when up a goal, pouring on the attack and trying to kill the game.
Newcastle generate 1.41 xG per 90 minutes when leading by one, and Brentford 1.66 xG. Lopetegui is a good coach whose Sevilla team at times played some fine football, but getting Wolves firing again may involve fixing the mentality, as well as the mechanics, of their attack.
Graphics and additional research by Hamzah Khalique-Loonat
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Whoever wrote this clearly can’t tell the difference between Gomes and Nunes but some extremely valid points are made nevertheless.
So to sum it up it’s about not creating enough good chances and when we do not being able to put them away for want of a Steve Bull!
QED in one short paragraph.
Interesting read Marin. Not anything we dont know as Wolves fans but good to have the gubbins and finer points explained with numbers. As absurd as it sounds the final analysis would point to Neves being the problem as he is our kingpin and playmaker and has been for years, I would caveat that it’s our over reliance on Neves rather than him being the actual problem. He is easily our best and most consistent player by a country mile but maybe that creates a predictability or one dimensionableness about our approach when the rest of the team are not are not influencing enough or any of the play. Food for thought.
Fascinating stuff Marin. One of those rare occasions when the stats seem to back up what we see with our own eyes.
Thanks for posting.
All good with you over there?
Thanks Wolfstroker
Yes all good here
Everything booked for May visit to
Holy city
Hoping hoping it will allow us all to cheer Toffees disappearance before we scupper Gunners in last game of the season
Looking forward to beers with all
Oh dear. Michael oliver is ref at Fulham. This is the bloke who 1. Failed to spit a 2 pronged assault on Jonny in the penalty box at Saints a couple years ago and gave a corner. 2. Gave the S**t a penaly at Molineux which was a foot outside the box. 3. Gave Watford the injury time pen at wembley after Troy Deeney went spectacularly sprawling over donks foot. We are basically f**ked friday night.
COD
Your basic point is oft repeated and well made. However to blame referees for all our woes is papering over the cracks.
We are where we are because of the shocking incompetence of our management over the last 3 years. You have to take the hits as you go .
And we aren’t on our own in this respect and until the underlying “irregularities” in VAR and refereeing are addressed we’re all stuffed unless you come from Liverpool, Manchester or London.
I don’t blame all our woes on referees. Blimey. Look at my comments after Saturday. We were woeful. Nothing to do with the referee. Who was a bit shite about Bournemouth time wasting. But I sat there tearing my hair out because we couldn’t create anything. But PJB you must surely see some sort of improvement. Pre J Lo we were absolutely going down. Now we have a massive chance of staying up. And J Lo was involved in the acquisition of new players in Jan window. Can you give him some credit ? Wolves some credit? We are in a damn sight better position now than we were at 9am Boxing Day.
Lets hope this is the catalyst to expose the corruption in plain sight across the European game and The Premier in particular.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/feb/20/barcelona-la-liga-xavi-hernandez-former-referee-payments-scandal
Happy, its called “Hiding in broad daylight”
This article dosn’t scratch the surface, to much money going to to few people.
First thing they should look at is spot betting on red cards, second thing is ref’s life styles.
Then maybe Wolves will get a fair crack of the whip.