Wolves Blog

It's a blog. About the Wolves.

Ben Rasmin

Wolves 0 Huddersfield 2

Blog, Huddersfield Town

It’s nearly that time of year again.

And if there was any doubt about what needs to be at the top of Nuno’s letter to Santa before this game, there isn’t now.

Aaron Mooy – made the difference

The need for a goalscorer is clear, and is starting to become a major problem.

No disrespect to Huddersfield, they did their job well today.

But it’s a pretty damning indictment of your attack when you manage to muster only one meaningful chance against a team that had shipped 22 goals heading into this fixture.

Opposition manager David Wagner must be thinking Christmas had come early, given the meek nature of our performance.

So many good players were off colour, and our play was so predictable.

Quite frankly, it was painful to watch at times.

What’s concerning is that Nuno made no effort to tweak the system, despite it being all too clear that Town had us sussed from the off.

Changing players will do nothing unless they’re giving the opposition something different to think about.

Adama Traore and Morgan Gibbs-White were both improvements on what they replaced, but were ultimately shoehorned into the same formation.

That meant the former had to spend most his time chasing lost causes, and the latter trying to win headers against a guy twice his size.

I’m not for one minute suggesting I know better than the gaffer, but our problems were glaringly obvious today.

And with it now being five games since we tasted victory, you’d suspect we’re going to have to try something different to break the slump.

Whether Nuno is inclined to do that remains to be seen, but belligerent devotion to one style of play is beginning to look naive in a division that doesn’t leave a lot of margin for error.

That being said, it’s important we don’t lose perspective. We’ve come a long way in a short space of time, and a bump in the road should be expected.

Let’s hope the Sky cameras are kinder to us on Friday.

Crystal Palace 0 Wolves 1

Blog, Crystal Palace

Another week, another Wolves victory.

If we carry on at this rate, you’d be forgiven for thinking this Premier League lark is quite easy.

Seventh in the table and just two points off a Champions League place, dare we dream of a European adventure?

Given we’ve still another 30 games to play, it’s probably best not to get too carried away for now.

Typically tough at Selhurst but Wolves found a way

That will certainly be the view of our head coach, who is always preaching the virtue of humility despite the fact he has now presided over an incredible 38 victories since taking the reins last summer.

Like last week, this win was hard fought against a Crystal Palace side with more talent than their league position suggests.

We saw little of the ball in the opening stages, with Andros Townsend largely dictating play and Wilfried Zaha coming close to crafting an opening goal.

But as soon as we managed our first counter attack of the afternoon – one which saw Raul fire wide – the dynamics of the game began to change.

What’s most pleasing about this Wolves side is that you can only stop them playing for so long.

As soon as they get on the ball, we begin to dominate proceedings.

So it proved at Selhurst Park, particularly in a second half which saw the impressive Raul tee up Matt Doherty for an expertly struck opener.

It was another great moment on the terraces, with the away fans raucous and the players clearly delighted.

What transpired after was considerably more stressful, with Palace coming close to getting an equaliser on two occasions.

Rui Patricio was there to foil their efforts however, and the points were in the bag at full time.

It’s hard to point out one of our summer signings as being better than any other, but Patricio can genuinely be considered a world class acquisition.

He organises the defence superbly and is one of the best shot stoppers I’ve seen play, as testified by his incredible double save in the second half.

Put simply, watching him and this team is the stuff dreams are made of.

Long may it continue.

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Wolves 0 Leicester 0 (Leicester Win 3-1 On Penalties)

Blog, Leicester City

To quote John Lennon – the dream is over, what can I say?

Although it saddens me to be writing about another cup exit, games like this always require perspective.

Sure, a proper cup run would be magical but tonight’s team was a far cry from the one which matched Man United on Saturday, with Connor Coady and Jonny the only survivors from that starting eleven.

Indeed, one glance at an experienced Leicester line-up left me fearing a long evening was ahead.

The early stages suggested that would be the case, with Wolves seeing little of the ball and the chief threat of Adama Traore and a returning Ivan Cavaleiro marshalled out of the game by an experienced opposition defence.

Cav – a welcome return for one of last season’s stars

However, as is so often the case with Nuno’s charges, confidence grew as soon as they began to impose their style of play on proceedings.

Though our wingers never managed to hit peak form, they gave the Foxes defence plenty to think about both on and off the ball.

Traore had some particularly stand-out moments, turning in a performance that once again teased his clear potential.

His counterpart was not quite so effective, but it was nonetheless great to see him in a Wolves shirt again after an injury-imposed hiatus.

Our real true stand-out performers were some of the more fledgling members of the team, with Ruben Vinagre hugely impressive in both his defensive and offensive play. He seemed completely unperturbed by the fact he was up against Ricardo Pereira, a Portuguese international.

Kortney Hause also offered a timely reminder of the quality he offers in reserve, and was seldom troubled by a Leicester attack which included the experienced, title-winning duo of Shinji Okazaki and Jamie Vardy.

But it was Morgan Gibbs-White who really caught this blogger’s eye, turning in a performance that once again belied his teenage years.

Despite having to contest a midfield battle against two hugely experienced players in Adrien Silva and Vicente Iborra, our homegrown playmaker saw plenty of the ball and played a huge part in the positive aspects of our play.

It’s clear to see that he is a player growing in confidence with each passing game, and that will no doubt thrill a manager who has already placed a great deal of trust in him.

Our academy has given us plenty to be excited about in recent years, but for my money Gibbs-White is the most exciting prospect it has produced in many a year. It’s been a while since I’ve been this excited about one of our own.

Individuals aside, this was an evenly contested contest that neither side deserved to win.

That being said, I don’t think anyone will begrudge Danny Ward for ending up on the winning side after he saved three penalties in the shootout. Admittedly, his help was caused by the fact that we seem to be pretty hopeless at taking penalties.

Ah well, there’s always next year.

And so we move back on to the league, where things are all rosey at present. Southampton at home looks a winnable fixture, so hopefully we’ll be skipping out of Molineux next time around.

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Man Utd 1 Wolves 1

Blog, Man Utd

Josè Mourinho had been waxing lyrical about Wolves in the buildup to this game, and rightfully so.

It must be incredibly gratifying for a manager to see one of his old players doing such fine work in the top flight.

But United’s infamously cantankerous manager was a little misguided in his post-match comments, in which he said Wolves played the match as if it were a World Cup final.

Anyone who has been watching Nuno and his team’s early season exploits will know that they approach every game in exactly the same way, regardless of the opposition.

Magic moment – Utd look on as Wolves celebrate

This trip to Old Trafford was no different, with Wolves in the ascendancy from the get-go.

David de Gea foiled our attempts at an opener on multiple occasions, as the raucous away support roared the team on with little opposition from a muted home end.

Typically, United took the lead not long after as Fred plundered his first goal for the Red Devils thanks to a cute tee-up from Paul Pogba.

My initial view was that Rui Patricio could have kept the Brazilian’s effort out, but replays show it was expertly steered beyond the reach of our Portuguese keeper.

The goal did little to change the tone of the game, with United’s dominance of the ball failing to prevent our threat on the counter.

Joao Moutinho ensured we got the equaliser our efforts deserved, curling a sumptuous strike beyond de Gea after enterprising work from an impressive Helder Costa.

How we managed to get a player of Moutinho’s obvious quality for as little as £5m is beyond me, but he’s already looking like one of the buys of the season. He simply oozes class in everything he does, and complements Reuben Neves brilliantly.

The same could be said of Jonny Otto, who once again operated solidly down the left hand side. He and Matt Doherty are absolutely key to how this team operates, and were unrelenting in their efforts to get up and down the flanks.

Costa and Diogo Jota are also deserving of praise for their performances, with both looking closer to their vintage than they previously had this season. The former was a particular menace right up until his withdrawal, giving a performance reminiscent of his stand-out display at Anfield two seasons ago.

Pandemonium is the best way to describe the away end after the goal, with the travelling support drowning out Old Trafford completely. One can only imagine the scenes if Adama Traore had managed to net one of the two chances he spurned during another enterprising cameo.

The noise continued despite a winner evading us though, with the familiar refrain of ‘Nuno had a dream’ ringing true from the stadium to central Manchester.

Continue playing this way and we’ll have to begin changing the lyrics to our favourite ditty, however. Because at this rate, Wolves aren’t on their way back to the glory days.

They are back.

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Wolves 2 Everton 2

Blog

I used to see the opening game as an anomaly.

After all, what can you really learn about a team from one match?

However, last season’s curtain raiser against Middlesbrough showed that you can in fact learn plenty about a team over 90 minutes – the impressive win setting the tone for a title winning campaign.

Whether this entertaining draw will prove to be quite as informative come season’s end is anyone’s guess, but it did at least show we can hang with one of the Premier League’s ‘best of the rest’.

Everton are a talented team and showed no intention of indulging us on our return to the top flight, taking an early lead via that most familiar of achilles’ heels.

Set pieces were one of few issues experienced by Nuno’s team last season and it was disappointing to see us come unstuck from one so quickly into the game.

Thankfully, it did nothing to puncture the atmosphere inside a raucous Molineux and we soon imposed our trademark style of play on the game. Though clear cut chances were few and far between, the ball was almost exclusively at the feet of someone in old gold for much of the half.

It was enough to make you feel that a slice of luck was all it would take to change our fortunes, and that came courtesy of a reckless tackle on Diogo Jota that earned Phil Jagielka an early bath and Ruben Neves an opportunity to do something outrageous on telly once again.

Ruben – always delivers

Naturally, our star man obliged and levelled the score with a free kick every bit as good as his winner at Cardiff last season. At the risk of sounding pessimistic, you do wonder how much longer we’ll be able to enjoy seeing him in a Wolves shirt. He’s good enough to play at the very tramadolmain.com highest level.

Regardless, enjoy it we shall and Neves, aided by the wily Joao Moutinho, continued to dictate the tone of the game as we pushed on for a winner.

It seemed as if those efforts would all be in vein when Everton fired themselves back in front, their goal being courtesy of some impressive skill from marquee signing Richarlison.

Credit where credit’s due, the Toffees played for three points regardless of their numerical disadvantage but when their attempts for a third were foiled by Rui Patricio it began to feel as if the stars were aligning in our favour.

With the opposition retreating further and further into their half, Nuno rolled the dice and sent on Leo Bonatini to partner Jota and the impressive Raul Jiminez in attack.

The Brazilian’s clever movement gave Everton something different to think about after they had largely nullifying the threat of Jota and Costa, and balance was restored before long.

Jiminez capped off another good performance by heading home intelligently from a sumptuous cross delivered with aplomb by Neves.

It was the least we deserved and ensured a fair result for both teams, neither of which did quite enough to deservedly claim three points.

This was a good test of our mettle and offered a stark reminder that we’re coming up against far superior opposition this season.

Given the occasion, I thought we performed admirably but believe there’s plenty more to come from us in the weeks and months to come.

We’ve plenty to build on after this result and some exciting new signings to bed in, so perhaps next week will give us an opportunity to celebrate a little louder.

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