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.
