Forget the Hand of God, this was the ‘Moment of Boly’.
‘In the end we were happy. I think the boys worked very hard. Through all the game we were competitive, believing until the end and we got this moment of Boly that gave us a good victory‘.
Nuno’s ethereal words neatly summarised a forgettable game, a spectacular result and one hell of a centre-half.
What else is there to say?
‘Competitive’ is definitely one way to describe the action. ‘Turgid’ would be another against – let’s be honest – a very ordinary Besiktas side.
Wolves were just as naff and one-paced up until the last 10 minutes, but who cares?
In the context of the full 90, it feels like the perfect away performance, grinding down weary opposition and striking when belief begins to wane.
Lovely stuff.
We won it twice in truth, as the other goal would have stood had VAR been operational.
But it was fitting that Willy and his twinkle toes stole the glory to cap another man mountain performance.
In the air or on the deck, he is head and shoulders above most of the defenders I’ve seen. And now, in his peak years, he plays for Wolves.
Drink it in and savour of every moment because Willy Boly’s don’t come along very often.
A word of praise for his deputies. With Coady’s timely interventions and Saiss bodyslamming every player in sight, a hostile home crowd were given next to nothing to feast on.
This type of solid defensive outing is rarely lauded unless you get the moment at the opposite end, but the value of a second consecutive clean sheet should not be overlooked.
We’ll all continue to complain about fixture congestion and tired legs but even the harshest sceptic would have to admit these away wins in Europe have a magical, otherworldly quality that it’s tough to replicate domestically.
Slovakia here we come.
Absolute tactical masterclass from Nuno, who knew Besiktas were in turmoil, knew their fans were in volatile mood and knew their defenders would become more and more nervy as the game wore on. And it worked a treat.
Boly, as you say, is a giant in every sense.
Great result from an ordinary game! Not too exiting but we won on our belief alone!!! Another clean sheet, and feeling much better for Sunday’s game against Man C than I did a week ago!!week
Gibbs-White has lost it! Slow, no positional sense, no evidence of a football brain. Wolves should send him out on loan.
Better yet, try to sell him while perhaps some others still rate him. The way he`s going, in a year`s time its unlikely that any one will want to sign him !!
He’s only 19 guys
And already playing in the prem cut him a bit of slack I say
He will come good, maybe a loan will work but I think he will be a future full England pro under Nuno s wing
Utw
I hate knocking players and I am sure he’s going to be a very good player, but, as you say, he is indeed too slow for the modern game at the highest level at present. I’ve said before that he ought to be out on loan, but he remains a supposed key member of the squad. He is still growing and may develop far more, but…
I’m with wolfstroker on this one . Nuno knew excactly how to play this tie and executed it to perfection.
Top result with a defensive masterclass and a sucker punch to win it . What a team
Wouldn’t swap these days for anything
We played poorly….. but we won. Far better than playing great and bemoaning a loss.
The guy we should be feeling sorry for is Jiminez. He is clearly knackered from playing too much football, yet here is playing for much of the game as one man forward line. How much longer can Nuno expect him to do this ?
For too long we have been talking about the potential of MGW. That may be so, but surely the reality is that he is simply completely out of depth playing at this level. In my book he should be nowhere near first team selection. His inclusion is a liability.
On a very positive note, if there is a better center back than Willy Boly in the Premiership at the moment I have yet to see him. Tonight he was supreme in all aspects of his game
I’ve just seen the French squad for their match against Turkey.
Those defenders named must be feckin’ good, that’s all I can say.
Thank dog the French don’t know a good center half when they see one!
The longer Wily stays under their radar the better for us.
Apart from the aforementioned Big Wily, this was a piss poor display, with the best possible outcome.
Hopefully we’ve got it out of our system, and can do battle on Sunday with no fear.
I agree about MGW, totally clueless and ineffective.
We have got to get instant ball control mastered, too many times this season we have been guilty of giving it away stupidly unnecessarily.
Rant over, excellent result.
Europe this year:
Played 8
Won 7
Lost 1
That ain’t too shabby.
FOwb
Boly is registered to play for the Ivory Coast.
Just testin’….
; – )
So why did he not go when called up? I thought maybe he decided he didn’t want to play for them and instead thought he had a chance with France. (hey, that rhymes).
He’s played junior matches for France, but, I think, is part of the Ivory Coast squad…
Special word for Neves who for 90 minutes was again frustrating. He shot when he should have passed, passed when he should have shot, lost or gave the ball away too easily…
Until the one moment of vision and skill where he not only spotted Boly in space, but curved-dinked it to the perfect spot for one touch and a free shot from 6 yards. The one real piece of attacking class in the match. Hopefully also the confidence boost and spark to fire him back to top form.
Never in my life have I experienced such an ear splitting wall of noise, deafening don’t cut it, these Besitkas fans didn’t come to watch the game, they came to sing, bounce up and down and funniest of all, in their hundreds tried to run through a thick perspex wall to get at the Wolves fans.
Never have I seen such a pre-planned orchestrated action in my life, they must do it every game to try and intimidate opposing fans.
This is what we faced to our left for 90 ear burning, headache producing minutes. My head was throbbing, my brain was addled and the pure joy to shut them up as the ball hit the back of the net, not just once but twice in the space of 15 minutes.
Like at Tottenham away last year, the Wolves fans picked up on the change produced by three excellent precision timed substitutions. They started to get heard above the noise and eventually silenced the Besitkas fans albeit for the last few minutes.
What must it have been like to be on the pitch, every drive forwards by Wolves was greeted by a wall of whistles, booing and bouncy bouncy by the home fans.half of them must have gone home totally oblivious to what took place on the pitch, they came to sing and Bounce.
A late goal, a planned set of substitutions, a well executed plan and an all round bloody good night.
“These are the days of my life”
Like gorillas in a zoo, they try to break through the Plexiglas. Over and over again.
Should have some young kids stand on the visitor side and taunt them, like at a zoo.
Sung to the Baggies fans on the terraces in Besitkas.
To the tune of Oh what a night…
Oh what a night,
We’re in Europe on a Thursday night
You play Wigan, cause you’re F*#@%ing Shite.
What a feeling, What a night.
Better lyrics than the original if you ask me, Stu.
I did my small bit by staying up till 3 am to watch it , these away games in Europe can be a bit of a hard watch but Nuno has the experience to negotiate such games like this
Towards the end you could feel we could nick it , I was hoping for a goal for those who were lucky enough to be there to celebrate, but this win will live long in the memory of all those in attendance ( I still have strong memories of psv)
What an away day those fans have had
These are the days my friend
On to citeh
Utw
Neves’s chip to Boly was a peach. Boly’s goal wasn’t half bad either! Can’t get tired of watching it.
Great result.
Go Wolves!
What do they say about good teams playing poorly and still winning ?
Great result and Stu gave us a flavour of the atmosphere the players and supporters encountered.
Take Ash k point about Neves think that where he laid on that pass to Big Willy should be his position as far to often he was further back amongst the defenders.
Problem I suppose is that we have Moutinho who plays there, so Neves May have to wait his turn.
Hope Jota back for Man City
Brave lineup from Nuno to start the match with two inexperienced forwards leaving midfield stretched and Raul isolated. Brilliant defence and inspired subs created the control to punish a tiring Besiktas. Boly and Jonny outstanding again. Hope Jota is back for City game l feel we need our 532 formation with Adama to come on. Cutrone looking the business too and as Stu says, what a baptism of fire for some of the players and our army. Total respect to all who went and hopefully get back.
What a classic smash and grab performance…. up until the 80 min.. dreadful to endure from both sides and then having worn Besiktas down … wham (Neves) … bamm (Boly) …. in the 93rd min and thank you ma’am.
Great defensive organisation and for sure game and dynamic changing substitutions.
And although Saiss’ goal should have stood 3 points is all that mattered.
Well done to the travelling bloggers and we’ll be joining you for Braga to clinch our progress to the knockout stages.
Long live Dr Nuno…..
How professional an away job was that. Awesome. Proud of the whole team for playing to the whistle, and Boly for one of the best MOTM performances for a long time. Neves may be playing too deep and not playing at his best, but WOW, what a ball to Boly for his goal.
I really enjoyed that, a lot.
The Hand of God? That was Boly’s goal against Man City at Molineux last season!
Last night was the Boot of Boly!
We’re the first English team to win in the Europa League in this hellish stadium! Incredible considering that we were in League One just four seasons ago. Boly was MOTM by a country mile for me. Simply imperious and world class. I know we were after Maguire a few seasons ago under Kenny J but we have a better player in Boly now. Traore has come in for criticism from many but the game changed when he came on. He has the physicality and speed to thrive at this level. The way he drew defenders out of position on his runs disrupted the home side. Neves looked quiet until he launched that last minute long pinpoint pass to the Boot of Boly. Smash and grab win but sublime.
Not a classic by any stretch of the imagination but we got the job done in a what sounded like a very hostile environment. Good to see we have found our defensive solidity once more, it’s the backbone of Nuno’s success to date. I’d said it before but Boly is definitely the best centre half I’ve seen in a Wolves shirt. I’m absolutely flabbergasted (and delighted) nobody tried to pry him from us in the summer. Surely one of the best defenders in the league? All of a sudden things look a lot rosier and Sunday’s trip to the Etihad doesn’t seem like a foregone conclusion.
Come on you Wolves!
Although it was not a very exciting match I still thought it was interesting from a tactical point. Going to that ground we were never going to go all out attack. We managed the game pretty well and all of the team put in 100%, as always.
Well done!
Never, ever give up
I don’t agree that we played a bad game.
It is our style to let them have possession in our end. Long as they don’t get a good shot on goal, we don’t care and look for the opportunity to counter. That seemed to be what happened last night. The Croatian guy had a couple of chances but other than that, we seemed pretty tight.
I read a statistic earlier this season that Wolves play 3rd furthest back of all teams in the Premier League but the shots the opposition take are 1st furthest away.
So that means they can have the ball near our net but they ain’t getting a shot from there.
A little off-topic but you know what really pisses me off.
Last year we got off to a quick start. Fifth after a few games. We were always near or well into the top half of the league but “pundits” were still saying we were going to go down. It took well into the second half of the season for them to admit we were a fairly good team.
Now this year, 4 or 5 games into the season, these same “pundits” are saying that Leicester might break into the top 4.
Why were they ignoring the facts about us until 3/4 of the season was over but it only took 5 games to cement Leicester’s potential?
Are they just deeply in need of something to raise some interest in the season?
It’s very true Thomas that Big Willys don’t come along that often.
Which could be why The PMDG’er always has a great big smile on her face………..
…..She loves Willy Boly.
What did you think I meant?
It was a great result carved out by sheer guts and determination. Not the best performance but a well deserved win. Should have been two nil.
Offside? Yer avin a larf!
Every man jack of them deserves a big pat on the back.
And you could say that last night Big Willy performed faultlessly…….
….What!?
Now that’s just you lot being smutty.
take a very cold shower please sir !!!!!