Character.
A quality Wolves have lacked but demonstrated in abundance today.
City’s equaliser hinted at Liverpool all over again. But no, this time it was different.
The response to Alvarez’s free kick to reset and go for the jugular took some guts.
The jury is still out on O’Neil but at least this performance suggests that the lads are playing for him. And kudos to the boss. Starting with a back five soaked up City’s pressure. The visitors were limited to very little.
Sa was brilliant in commanding his box, Ait-Nouri and Semedo defended for their lives out wide, while Dawson and Kilman looked a lot more assured alongside an energetic Toti, who loves the physical stuff.
I’ve always been reluctant to return to five at the back due to how negative we became in that system under Nuno. But if O’Neil can add fluency to a solid foundation against teams where we’ll see more of the ball, then maybe it’s worth considering.
Gomes and Lemina were at their ferocious best in midfield. Their appetite for hustling their opposite numbers off the ball is something the Molineux faithful can easily get behind. The aren’t too shabby on the ball either.
As for Hwang and Neto, they’re dynamite. The former is coolness personified when it comes to finding the back of the net, while the latter causes havoc with his direct running. Quite the pair.
Cunha is undroppable too. His pressing from the front and all-round game is so important to this Wolves side. Besides, Hwang and Neto’s numbers are making up for Cunha’s shortfall.
A final word for Boubacar Traore. I can see why O’Neil likes him so much. His relentless energy in the middle of the park is perfect for when Lemina or Gomes are flagging.
And how good was it to hear Molineux back in full voice? I struggle to remember the last time we generated such an atmosphere.
Long may it continue.
Well first up .. I apologise to all those that stuck with the team and predicted a win . I salute you .
This was an epic performance against the Conquerors of Europe and the PL..
To a man we were magnificent .. defending in numbers .. never being second best to the various duals .. and snuffing out the lethal Haarland to scraps ..
Craig Pawson became a bit annoying trying to give City a chance .. but the lads stuck to the challenge..
As for Nunes .. he deserves every boo heard from the Molineux masses ..
I just hope that MOTD affords us the credit of today rather than telling us how poor City were..
well done.. COYMW
I got it slightly wrong…I said 4-2
Can’t win them all eh?
Matheus who?
That was breathtaking, incredible, sooooo exciting and incredibly fulfilling to watch that game today.
Well done boys and especially to the Gaffer.
Diogo who?
I’ll eat humble pie, great tactics by Gary, this system is the way to go, let’s get drunk, let’s all have a disco, wolves are we!
With five at the back
And pace in attack
We’re Wolverhampton
We’re on our way back!
What a game to miss. But quite frankly, who cares?
Brilliant performance.
Hang on a minute, I’d better go. There’s a chap at the door with a black cloak, a scythe and a contract he reckons I signed.
Well, he can go to hell. I’m having a Brandy!
Congratulations my Team wolves, im your number one fan from Nairobi Kenya Im really proud , I enjoyed watching, the elephant is down
Yes Dennis …..Welcome friend !
Brilliant Dennis ..
Welcome NAIROBI WOLF …
Fly that WOLVES flag friend ..
Hell yeah Dennis! What a day
-DSW
Post match analysis
1 I’m gladly crap at predicting
2 The lads never left 1% of effort off the pitch
3 pep wants all wolves players and supporters to be drug tested
4 The referee to return his envelope for not sending a wolves player off
5 VAR to apologise to city for being asleep on the job
VAR not completely absent in protecting City.
69th minute Phillips deliberately trod on Cunha after conceding a foul – had as much force as our red card last week (albeit Cunha didn’t do a triple roll).
Dave Edwards far too nice and forgiving in commentary box.
Well of course, I never doubted GON for a minute.
Fantastic rearguard performance. Stone wall defence with snipers in attack.
3/5 at the back – as many of us called for, and counter attack looks the answer.
YAHOO
that was Nuno esque !
Fucking magic
UTW
Are all the knockers having the night off ?
Whoop whoop. Y’all lovin gazball now! We’ll need to be as good if not better for the Villa next week.
Semedo, Gomez, RAN and Dawson were brilliant and we’ve got our 15 goals a season striker in Hwang if he stays fit.
As we floated back along the Waterloo Rd, my dad, ever the optimist commented, ‘I can dine out on that win for at least the next four defeats’.
Said in jest but there’s an element of truth. There hasn’t been much to sustain us lately so a win when nobody thought we could win is just the tonic.
I said in the preview I thought Gary O’Neil should focus on the positives and I’m pleased he’s got the opportunity to alter the narrative. He got it spot on today because we gave them nothing. It was a masterclass in defensive shape and organisation. An almost total shutout – in open play at least.
Every player was superb but I’d give special mention to Dawson for taking Haaland out of the game and Toti for slotting in and quietly bolstering the backline. There was a moment in the first half when Foden robbed Ait Nouri but Toti was right in his face to see the ball behind. It symbolised the effort the entire team put in to see us home.
I hang my head in shame…
I’m equally delighted to give my prediction league points to the boys though.
That will teach me not to show positivity for our beloved WWFC.
Magnificent win.
Three quick observations…
Not a penny of the £54m we got for Nunes was on that pitch today, if I’m not mistaken.
Credit to MOTD.
Most of our victories are followed by a week of:
“(insert defeated club’s name here) in crisis !!” headlines.
They didn’t even show the City goal ! It was all about Wolves.
Thank you, MOTD.
The Molineux crowd today was the difference. Well done all those who attended.
Football`s a funny old game. Whupped by Ipswich reserves mid week and three days later beating the best club team in the world. And let`s be clear, this win was no fluke.
I believe that this result was possible only because for the first tome this season the team was set up in a balanced way, and we played to a method that all players understood and believed in.
With three at back our defense again became a rock instead of the porous sieve of recent games. The wing backs came alive defending well but using their pace to get forward on the counter. In the middle Lemino and Gomes were warriors and up front we carried a lot of pace that City`s defenders could never come to terms with.
Neto today was world class. Hwang has developed the knack of getting himself in the right positions and then taking full advantage of limited chances that come his way. Cunha is blessed with much skill as well as pace and the way he laid the ball off for Hwang`s goal was exquisite.
The underlying major issues at the club remain, but now is not the time to dwell on that. Rather it`s the time to savor a thoroughly well earned victory over the top dog
PS Luton`s deserved victory at Everton today suggests that possibly our draw last week when playing against them with ten men was a better result than we realized at the time.
Football. The beautiful game. Days like today are why.
This game, written off by most, including esteemed contributors to this blog.
The manager, again written off by many.
Players ability and desire, questioned week after week.
Then today.
It doesn’t just “happen”. It’s made. Created.
It’s the result of a game plan forged by the manager, understood by the team, executed by the players.
Every player deserves a mention. Every single one.
Haaland kept out of the game by Dawson superbly, who also cleared off the line.
Recovered Neto is the real deal and you can bet all sorts of clubs will be after him come January, domestic, European and beyond.
Sa commanded his box well and made some good saves. The free kick that did beat him was sublime.
Hwang and Cunha, along with Pedro are capable of rapid and productive counter attacks.
I could go on but this was both much needed and totally deserved, by a manager who frankly should expect our full support and a squad who’s individual ability (up until today) is far better than results would suggest.
Savour it. It’s not the first time and won’t be the last time we beat City, but this one feels special.
Let’s not be so quick to write ourselves off in future.
It’s a beautiful game.
UTW
As I mentioned earlier. 90’mins of focus is hard but it makes results like this .
Onto the vile . ??
Wow! Didn’t see that coming.
A performance as good as anything witnessed in a good while. Great individual as well as the team performance.
For me the best player on the pitch, Balon Dawson. A masterclass on how to put a Viking monster in your pocket.
*
* See Wolves v Man City Preview
Semedo brilliant.
The back three strong and obliterated Harlan.
Neto is playing the best of his time with Wolves.
Chan just keeps scoring
There is a growing number of Wolves supporters in Adelaide South Australia…the team made us proud last night
What a fantastic result against the best team in the PL as I said I’m ever the optimist and predicted the right score come on you Wolves.
A fantastic result and equally impressive performance. Well done to GON, his staff and the team. Let’s hope this is the start of him stamping his authority and identity on the team and acts as a big confidence boost for everyone involved. Apparently only City have gathered more points than Villa in 2023, so next week will require an equally impressive display from us.
Against all the odds, our heroes came up with the goods.
Back in 2019 we did the double over them but they weren’t, as I recall, quite the force they are today and went down to 10 at the Mol.
Yesterday we out-tacticed them, outfought them and had the balls to stick with the plan even when they equalised. Heroes all,those men in gold. They gave everything for the shirt, the manager and we fans. They earned their corn for sure and will be, like we all are, glowing with pride at this terrific achievement.
The lift this gives us all will stand us in good stead for the tests that lie ahead.
Miracles can happen. You just need to believe.
COYW
“Oh ye of little faith…”
[from the gospel of St Gary! )
Oil be damned…
I can only guess how foolish Bournemouth feel today.
After bossing Man U for 90 minutes and Liverpool for 45, there was no doubt in my mind that we had something in Gary. Add the win yesterday to consolidate.
There is so much psychology at play in football. I forecast we would psyche Citeh out with Gary’s mind games. He practically said we had no chance but he spent days perfecting his strategy to win yesterday. My girlfriend has a talented nephew who has just started a psychology degree. I’ve given him a couple of match tickets at Stamford Bridge and he reckons he’s learnt more there so far than at college!
For this match I think Gary borrowed from Fergie’s playbook when he psyched Newcastle out of the title race decades ago. Gary is a humble student of the beautiful game. I’d rather have him all day long than someone like Lopetegui throwing his toys out of the pram.
PS
I’m smug as a bug in a rug. I forecast a 2-1 win and laid money on it too.
The drinks are on you then DWW.
2-1
As I predicted.
Ho hum!
Seriously, I did NOT expect that performance. My criticism of stamina after the Liverpool game was possibly misplaced. It was focus, discipline and understanding that were missing and all that was on show yesterday – big time. Well done EVERYONE including those fans at Molineux. Now let’s build from here.
https://www.tiktok.com/@wolves/video/7284729466637634849
“The Korean Guy”
Love it.
That name could stick.
Love it.
And we should call Pep ‘The Spanish Guy’ .
My favorite part was when Pep had to pull the traitor Nunes at half time because y’all wore him OUT. Well done everyone!
-DSW
Very well done to all involved particularly our rookie coach who engineered a tactical masterclass reminiscent of Nuno. At last we got it right and did so for 90 minutes.
There is a but – the match stats still make worrying reading and to beat possibly the best team in the world 2-1 with ONE shot on target is pretty extraordinary; we will however have much easier matches and there is a lot of dross below at the bottom so things definitely looking up.
PJB finally you turn up but you still find a way to have a moan. If only Southgate knew as much about football as you!
Trust GON he’ll do alright. Bet Bournemouth supporters wish they had stuck with him!
C’mon,
We know it’s difficult to accept the Miracle in WV1.
That humble pie can get stuck in the throat, along with the words of praise.
But it wouldn’t be a famous victory weekend without a bit of light hearted PJB bashing. Especially as he gives this blog such a hard ride when things don’t go according to plan or expectation.
Which has been known. 1 lv.
A great performance and result. The manager got the tactics spot on and the players stuck to the script and worked hard. Could it be that things are slowly coming together. It’s a new regime with new ideas so I suppose it might be a bumpy ride for a while. Let’s just hope this is just the start of things to come. Oh, and this is for Pep:
He scores a goal in every game
But just who is that man
The fans are singing out his name
But tell me who’s that man
I think you should remember, if you try I know you can
He’s sometimes called that Korean guy, but his name is Hwang Hee-Chan
This performance changes everything
Beat Villa and its different gravy
For fuck sake wolves don’t sell Neto .
If Arsenal paid over 100 million for Rice then what the hell is Pedro Neto worth ?
He’s Korean. He’s only on loan for the season. We think he’s fuckin brilliant.. He’s Hwang Hee Chan.
Oh by the way cheese -starting to look like you know what you’re talking about . ( excluding the cats and the shrub in your garden that looks like Gary o Neil of course )
Just wandering where all of your ankle biters are today ? Bet they’re well pissed off . Its a funny old game aye it ?!
No skin off my nose LWL. It was interesting to see a cloud that looked like Max Kilman this morning. A sure sign we are gonna tank Vile by 3-0 on Sunday.
Bloody typical I leave the country for a weekend and wolves pull that performance out of the bag. I for one am happy to humble pie it tastes pretty great to be honest.
In the interest of keeping this run going volunteer to stay in Italy for the foreseeable to ensure the good juju is not broken. If the wolves blog members can club together I’ll stay out here for the season wolves will win every game and we’ll have the title sewn up by April!
A complete performance for 90 plus minutes that has been hinted at in bits and pieces in all the previous games under O’Neil. The way he wants to play the players have to be super fit, focussed and switched on for the whole game, rather than parts of it. I think if Cunha had scored that sitter he missed against Liverpool, we quite possibly would have won that match, plus we were cheated out of better results at Man U and Luton. But yesterday, some very good or excellent individual performances and more importantly a brilliant team performance with every one of the starting eleven playing with ambition and determination and understanding the plan and their role in it. The choice of Sa to kick out to the wings rather than trying to play out from the back (obviously O’Neil’s idea) was refreshing and effective and I think took City by surprise. Five at the back is obviously an option either regularly or occasionally. I think up until now, the manager has been sensibly and pragmatically trying things out to see if they’re going to work with his new ‘group’. Yesterday everything worked, the players believed and so did the fans in the stadium. Atmosphere was great. Good times. Same again against Villa please!
Absolutely. And it’s so refreshing to have a good young English coach like GON in charge of a PL team. It took Eddie Howe a long time to get where he is (I will overlook for now the dubious nature of the ownership of his club), but Gary O’Neil’s rise may prove to be more impressive in time. And Rob Edward’s time may come too.
Arguably, saving a club like Bournemouth from relegation was a far greater achievement than Lopetegui saving Wolves last season, when you examine the quality of the squads each club had. Just look at the major Wolves players moved on since then to remember the talent we had last season.
I’m glad that Nunes got a cameo 45 minutes yesterday before he was put out of his misery. At least he had a chance to collect his toys. He left them behind when he took his pram. Maybe his manager, the Spanish guy, is having an attack of buyer’s remorse?
Greetings Fans of the Best Team in the World,
What a performance from the club, fans & management. Large doubles all round. I thought we’d need a result against the Tractors for this to be on the cards, but that was just a blip. Gazzbo had it in the bag regardless, team selection & tactics.
What it has done is given Gazzbo a bit of shelter from the storm that was brewing. He can feel temporarily blessed and get the Hawaiian and shades back on.
True the whole team is blessed.
Balon Dawson got a mention on MOTD. Harland outta the game and a goal line clearance. Epic.
Cunha, Hwang and Neto, let’s promote that. Brilliant.
Prospects are looking up and the whole month has been lifted.
Keep shining.
1 lv & COYW
Just been reading how Arsenal are ready to bid 60 million for Neto as an understudy to Saka. that’s a joke … he’s worth more than 60 million and he’s better than Saka
I noticed one of their commenters said he was ready to take the next step.
From star man at Wolves to bit part player and Sako understudy seems like a step backwards to me. Besides, they can’t possibly afford him as they can’t compete financially with the ‘big’ clubs. If Wolves were prepared to sell, it would take a lot more than the Arse could afford to match his worth.
Maybe he has a release clause.
Maybe there’s a Santa Claus.
Big story on BBC TV News today regarding Klipperty being upset by VAR.
Also From this morning’s BBC pages:
“Q&A – BBC chief football writer Phil McNulty
#bbcfootball, WhatsApp 03301231826, text 81111 (UK only, standard rates apply)
Mark Jennings: Why is VAR, or lack of it, only a major problem when it goes against one of the big six teams? It’s never looked at so much when it’s Wolves’ first game at Manchester United, for example and no Brentford pen yesterday?
Phil: I take your point, Mark, but disagree. It is inevitable the bigger clubs create bigger headlines because of their profile – and Saturday’s was a major story – but there was a lot of criticism and profile around that Wolves decision when they did not get a penalty at Old Trafford and also what happened to Brentford yesterday. There was also a furore about a blatant offside goal for Manchester City being given against Fulham this season.”
So it’s a ‘major story’ when it goes against ‘bigger clubs’, a lot of criticism and a minor story otherwise, particularly when it’s a smaller club against a bigger club. And that’s considered OK.
Can anyone remember Klopp wanting to escalate an enquiry into the VAR decision in the FA Cup last season. You know, just after we scored a winning goal in the dying seconds? VAR spent ages trying to rule it out.
Thought not.
Hypocrite.
So its a clear cut conspiracy … end of..and as for that two faced twat klopp words fail me !
or that German guy (or twat) as we like to call him
We’ll blow me down with a feather
Me self? I blame Jeff Shi
That was a terrible winning performance
So Chinese
(Still don’t trust them)
A glimpse of the much awaited LIGHT perhaps?
We will see
Yeah. Blame Jeff. The Chinese Communist Party. Gary O’Neill’s mom. Next Door Neighbours cat. Keith who works in the Spar shop down Gornal.
I have just re-read the post match comments after the Ipswich game, which i thought turned on several poor goalkeeping errors resulting in an inexperienced defence then losing all confidence.
I can’t wait to read the GON bashers next posts, give the bloke a break.
I blame Brexit. I’ve eliminated everything else so it must be Brexit. Innit?
After that brilliant display on Saturday, GON has gained himself a reprieve until the next limp defeat- such a fickle lot, we fans.
He is inexperienced and will make tactical mistakes but he got the best out of the team against City and is deserving of our support for the season, come what may.
No managerial changes please Jeff, keep your nerve and provide support in January if Gary decides he needs it.
The 5 at the back formation is a return to the Nuno era and is now surely the way forward. The bench offers lots of options with Boubacar offering strength, Bellegarde ball carrying skills and Kalajdzic a focal point in attack.
I can’t see Sarabia and Fabio offering anything positive and will surely not feature going forward, time to let them go- both are skilful players but lacking the grit and determination required in the PL.
Underdogs again against the Villa next up, should be another entertaining game.
There will be limp defeats coming up. But for a rookie coach, GON did wonders saving Bournemouth last season. And, outplaying the two Manchester teams for a full 90 minutes and Liverpool for 45 minutes shows how far he and Wolves have progressed this season. Bournemouth made a major mistake in sacking him. Quite honestly, I’m glad Lopetegui has gone, even though it was a hammer blow at the time. GON has come in without a preseason and put the pride back into Wolverhampton.
Just for a bit of fun at this stage. Very early PPG indicators. In current PPG this is how the current bottom six will look at the end of the season (current ppg is points divided by games x number of games left to play add to number of points actually gained)
WOLVES 38
LUTON 26
EVERTON 22
BOURNMTH 17
BURNLEY 7
SHEFF U 6
So at this stage 18 points will keep you up. Wolves are already safe!