Thomas

Another week, another inexplicable refereeing decision.

On the general balance of play I don’t begrudge Newcastle the win. Wolves improved after the break and had their say in the game but were always living on the edge defensively.

What I do have a problem with is Nick Pope clearing Raul Jimenez out and both referees somehow coming to the conclusion it wasn’t the most blatant penalty in the history of football.

Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration but it’s got to be given. If multiple angles showing a clear foul weren’t enough the resigned look on Pope’s face should have been.

I believe I’m correct in saying that would have been both a penalty and a sending off with Pope not making an attempt for the ball, so it was a pivotal moment that would have turned the game aggressively in our favour.

It wasn’t the only decision that went against us either, with a couple of questionable calls in the build up to their opener.

Having navigated a pummeling in the run up to half time, punctuated only by a superb Podence effort that nearly brought an unlikely equaliser, the start to the second half was much brighter.

Pedro Neto looked a lot sharper than last week and the team played more cohesively with him linking the play down the right.

When Hwang bundled in the leveller it felt like the game was there for us to go on and win.

But Lopetegui’s attempt to repeat last week’s magic trick of moving to a back three went south with the team weaker at both ends after the change.

Ait-Nouri was missing in action for their winning goal and offered zero going forward to compensate. Nunes too jogged around and added nothing other than collecting the ball from defenders and passing it right back to them.

With the five subs already deployed it did feel like the game was up at that point and so it proved.

We pushed right to the end and can take solace from another closely fought game against top of the table opposition, but it definitely goes down as a missed opportunity for a much needed point.

Layer in the injustice of that first half incident and it’s another hard pill to swallow.

Apart from the result, the thing I enjoyed most about the Spurs game was some of the high pressing we saw from Wolves in the second half.

In particular, the passage of play that saw Raul, Neves and Moutinho swarm to eventually regain the ball and put Matheus Cunha in for what should have been his first goal for the club.

It’s that type of front-foot aggression that’s been sorely lacking for years now and goes a long way to explain our woeful goalscoring record.

We signed players in January to improve our pressing so it should be happening more often.

We’ll certainly need to display similar enthusiasm on Sunday to avoid getting swept away.

Newcastle

It doesn’t take a lot to turn a brilliant season sour and if the Magpies were to finish outside of the European places it would feel like a serious disappointment given their steep upward trajectory in the last 12 months.

I thought they did reasonably well in the League Cup final but shipped a couple of cheap goals and that made it easier for Man Utd to just absorb their pressure and see out the game.

Earlier in the campaign they weren’t conceding any goals and were finding it a lot easier to put the ball in the net themselves. They’ve been struggling at both ends in recent weeks, which is why they’ve been getting edged out.

They had enough of the game in recent defeats to Liverpool and Man City to have collected results so will feel if they can apply a similar performance in their next two (with a visit to Forest next week) they’ll get a positive return.

They’ve only lost once in 12 home games so far but have only managed one victory in their last seven league matches. That record must improve if they’re to bring European football back to St. James’ Park.

Wolves

Will Julen Lopetegui reward the substitutes that helped turn the game in our favour last weekend?

And would he even consider persisting with a back three? Jonny and Semedo certainly looked more comfortable with the extra body covering their tracks.

Raul, Traore and Moutinho all had a positive impact and showed the requisite enthusiasm, fight and will to win. In that respect I think Nunes in particular is lucky if he keeps his place. He has to show more.

We haven’t seen much of João Gomes or Daniel Podence lately, but as we saw from Pedro Neto’s sudden appearance against Spurs, the manager isn’t afraid to shake things up. Anyone could start or drop out.

Predictions

Well done to Matt Cook, vicsmith, St.Kitts Wolves and Ash K for all scoring maximum with a spot on prediction last time out.

Rich now has a four-point lead at the top of the overall table at the end of Gameweek 26. He would do well at PlayUp Betting.

As always, if you’d like to join in with the Prediction League this season, it’s simple – just leave your prediction in the comment section below using the boxes provided. Then repeat for every preview article throughout the season, making sure you always use the same email address to make your prediction. Your email is what ties you to your overall score.

You can read my prediction for the game in the comment section below.

Up The Wolves!