It turns out there’s a lot to be said for stability.
While we’re all coveting those shiny new toys to play with our old favourites served up a face slap to remind us why we really mustn’t fret.
Yes, it’s pre-season, the scoreline doesn’t matter, naff opposition, blah, blah, blah but if ever there was a result to emphasise the contrasting fortunes of two proud old clubs this was it.
Wolves were organised, prepared and ready to enforce their game on a rudderless Newcastle on the verge of implosion.
Their plight is of little concern to us, but it does serve to underline that the going is still good around these parts.
Individually, we learned next to nothing.
GOAL
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) July 17, 2019
Jota fires Wolves ahead inside 15 minutes against Newcastle
? Watch live on Sky Sports PL now or follow here: https://t.co/yypMJY5ljP pic.twitter.com/G0QFzIEAFN
Jota carried on where he left off last season with the match-winning first-half contribution.
His clinical brace sandwiched a powerful strike from Morgan Gibbs-White which should serve as a morale booster for a player who struggled to fire over the second half of last season.
GOAL WOLVES ?
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) July 17, 2019
Gibbs-White fires Wolves 2-0 up with a powerful finish
? Watch live on Sky Sports PL now or follow here: https://t.co/yypMJY5ljP pic.twitter.com/KOuxuxT7RA
He wasn’t the only youngster getting minutes once the result was safely in the bag and it was pleasing that the performance levels didn’t really drop even when the lineup resembled an u23s fixture.
Niall Ennis caught the eye, bustling his way past one defender before teeing up fellow academy prodigy Taylor Perry who saw his shock blocked on the line.
As Martin Tyler noted in the commentary, a small squad with particularly limited options in attack leaves the door wide open for Ennis and at 20 years old he’ll be wanting minutes somewhere this season.
The comedy own goal that completed the scoring said more about the misery and woe of the Magpies, but an assist for Ruben Vinagre was fully merited for a typically sharp cameo from the young Portuguese.
West Ham or Man City will provide a sterner examination in the final but with Nuno locked in on his strongest eleven and that team wasting little time in getting up to speed, you wouldn’t back against them lifting the trophy come Saturday.
Goals
Diogo Jota 15’, 40’
Morgan Gibbs-White 32’
Thomas David Allan 85’ (OG)
The venue
Nanjing Olympic Stadium is the home of the Chinese Super League’s (CSL) Jiangsu Suning Football Club and is currently the 2nd largest stadium in China’s top football division.
As you would expect in a country known for its rapid development and a football league backed by seriously wealthy investors, the CSL has a pretty impressive array of stadiums, although you will have to go elsewhere in Asia to discover the world’s largest football stadium. The Nanjing Olympic Stadium is one of 11 football grounds in China with a capacity of 60,000 or more and holds the record for the biggest ever CSL crowd (65,769).
Built-in 2005, the venue’s most striking features are its bright red double arches that bend over the stadium. Like many other Olympic stadiums, including the home of West Ham, the circular shape of the venue, unfortunately, means that the spectating crowd are for the most part, quite far away from the field of play.
Total control, we can only beat what’s in front of us.
Awesome football on the other side of the planet in tough hot conditions, are we the new Brasil???? New signings ?????
Well yes WW, we do need new signings because, while the first x1 played well today against a thoroughly dispirited and directionless Newcastle, we have a very labour-intensive season ahead of us and they can’t play every game.
Whisper that comment about new signings. A post balanced post I wrote 2 days ago on a different Wolves group suggesting we need some quality first team signings quickly was shot down by quite a few – although supported by more.
Yeh, I know there’s been that reaction mate, but whatever the nay-sayers claim, we simply have to have a bigger squad of experienced players with the season ahead of us. It’s a no-brainer really and that’s why Nuno has been calling for signings himself.
True, PeteRobbo, but we need to remember that yesterday’s performance was achieved without Doherty, Saiss and Raul Jimenez. Moreover, Adama Traore now looks like an acceptable backup for Doherty.
The real need is for a good alternative to Jimenez, in case of injury and to prevent fatigue. Having lost Kortney Hause, we could do with a more experienced central defender than Max Kilman to provide cover (or replace Bennett).
Any more signings would be a bonus (and might risk dissatisfaction in the camp).
Yes, some good points there Nippy. Nevertheless, I do still feel that we’re going to need more resources to cope with what will be a very demanding schedule, assuming we do well in the Europa, which I feel we can do.
I’m still not sure about Traore. He can often make really good, penetrating breaks it’s true, but still without producing much on the end of them.
True, PeteRobbo, but at least Adama Traore’s defensive work has improved considerably.
A decent performance and the youngsters who came on in the second half did well. Onto Saturday and Man City, who looked decent 🙂
Fine performance despite the opposition and some highly encouraging signs from the youngsters but we are still short on senior players .We can only hope the next3 week’s will give is at least another striker and back up centre back .
Great display by the Wolves but Saturday will be the true test. Still think we are wasting Neves in that defensive position.
6ft6Inch Senegalese defender latest rumour, whoever comes We Trust in Fosun,Mendes and Nuno
Thought we were totally in control. The young lads coming on seemed to switch in to the organic formation. My thoughts are that 2 or 3 quality signings we can really push on to the top 5 or 6. Watching Newcastle and West Ham doesn’t give me any room for doubt. I believe Fosun will certainly come up with the goods. Why bother with all this Shanghai stuff otherwise. Fair play to the fans over there. And welcome to our Chinese fans. The welcome banner ‘out of darkness cometh light’ said it all.
We took them apart fabulous display, Morgan’s goal and Jota’s were first class.
Brilliant.
Never a worry…unlike my stressful friend !
( Picture stolen from a Facebook post, don’t you just love it’s expression?)
Great result and performance today MW but a pre season win against a dysfunctional NUFC in China doesn’t change a single word of the aforementioned post I wrote.
Looking forward to seeing how we go against the Champions and looking forward even more to our first European match in decades next Thursday. Should be an awesome atmosphere !
Caught up with the game late after being out all day.
Happy to see Wolves so comprehensively overcome Newcastle. Yet again Sky’s pundits as lazy as ever attributing Wolves superiority to Newcastle lacking fitness and a whole host of other excuses. Funny how often Wolves are lucky enough to catch teams on an off day.
I used to like Martin Tyler as a common tater, but he lost all credibility when he referred to Diogo as Diego.
Rank bad research.
But, liquid football flowing right from the off.
To me, it speaks volumes about any newbies wanting to join us. They will have to adapt, not ponce around ala Pogba et al, to Dr. Nuno’s cunning plan.
A joy to watch after three months, almost, of nothing, except Raul winning stuff over here.
Top four, minimum, this season.
And I bet Brucie has already called Hillsborough to see if he can go back!!
I’ll wait for Exiled Wolf’s ‘On the spot report’ before I say too much, but it all looked pretty smooth and easy to me.
A bit early to tell because Newcastle were truly shocking, but, as has been said before, you can only beat what’s in front of you and we sure did beat them.
Dougie and Barbara being over there with the lads has leant credence to the rumour that he is taking over from Tim Spiers as the E&S reporter.
I can’t wait for the first D&B podcast, discussing all things Wolves and shopping in Shanghai.
Shopping? Shopping? She will no doubt tell you straight that she went to Disneyland lol.
Are you coming up for the match on the 25th and/or the Man Utd game on the Monday?
I will be at both so hope to catch up.
Can’t make the 25th but will be there for Man U.
Will see you then.
Okay buddy. See you both then /\_/\
Before the season proper starts, Thomas, I want to take the opportunity to say something I’ve wanted to say for a long time: I’m completely with you in your lament for Nenad Milijas. Astonishing the way Mick was unable to use the talents of two of the most skilled players we had in that era—Milijas and Dave Jones. Now he can’t use Doherty in a mediocre Republic of Ireland team. Seems to tell us something, doesn’t it?
Let’s enjoy Nuno while we’ve got him, eh?!
Ha, thanks Nippy.
I don’t know if anyone heard Mick McCarthy on the Old Gold Club Podcast (recommended listen if you haven’t) but he mentioned Milijas in a wider comment about recruitment during the Premier League years, saying something like:
‘…he looked great in Serbia when his team had the ball 75% of the time but at Wolves he wasn’t so good with 30%’.
I just found it funny and so typical of Mick that a. that fact never occurred to him ahead of time and b. he obviously had zero intention of evolving the style of the team to make us more competitive in the Premier League.
He was one of the many reasons every Wolves fan always expected things to go tits up all the time.
He was a dinosaur before dinosaurs were invented, and he is proving it once again with the Irish.
There should be a maximum age for managers, and he, like Bruce and others, has been well past his sell by date for years.
Thank dog for Fosun and Dr. Nuno.
Hello from Shanghai – the wine is good / champagne magnificent – Wolves Mega Store was SH@@.
That’s Barbara’s contribution but the Megastore was poorly stocked and everything was overpriced, which explains why I’ll wait until Molineux to buy the new shirt (though it is nice).
The game was played in 30 degrees heat and 85% humidity. It was difficult just being in the Stadium, let alone running around. Great respect therefore to both teams out on the pitch. Wolves were just cooler than Newcastle in every respect.
The fact that there was a running track between the pitch and the fans didn’t help with the atmosphere. I was impressed with Wolves but the opposition was poor. We were 3-0 up in the first half, so the second was always going to pale in significance. A big plus were the performances of Ennis and Sanderson (though we still need two to three new signings).
Looking forward to the match in Shanghai, particularly as we don’t have a two hour train journey to get to the game. Also, to renew acquaintances from those at the Nanjing game.
Hope you are having a great time out there Exiled. I watched the game up the pub and we brushed Newcastle aside. I was very impressed. Just picked up a Jeff Shi interview on Sky. He knows the fans are ‘nervous’ about lack of signings but assures that there will be investment in the team. They are working hard to bring players in and says not to worry. So there you have it from the horse’s mouth. Big Jeff has spoken. Good enough for me. Looks like we are playing Crusaders next Thursday.
Thanks Cheese. Just picking this up as WiFi was poor there and I also had issues getting on to FB and Google because of the blanket ban by the Chinese authorities.
Hi Dougie and Lady Barb,
Jenny and I scoured the Sky coverage for you but you must have been in the bar.
Looks bloody spiffing over there and we’re very jealous, well I am, Jenny wanted a new suite before I got trips to China so that was me buggered. She’s got the new suite now so no excuse next year when we go out to retain the trophy.
Clive said he will fly out too, but he will go via Hawaii and meet us there, well I’m sure he will say that.
Give them a shout for us mate, enjoy the rest of your trip, try and get your visa card back off barb, sounds like everything is cheaper over here.
Hi Stu, just picking this up as per the reasons given to Cheese above.
I had a long chat with Steve Bull last night after our fabulous win. He says Wolves will be doing US (‘hip hip hooray’ says Clive) and Mexico next summer and defending the PL Asia Trophy in two years time (location to be determined).
Can we convince them to do Vegas as part of the tour.
I am up for the US and Mexico mate. I WILL be there…
I read elsewhere that the Rondon deal didn’t go through because he was asking for too much in wages. Will make 250,000/week in China.
Apparently, Patrick Cutrone wants to play for a bigger team than Wolves. We will see if Wolves are able to change his mind.
Also heard that some players are not being signed because of work permit issues.
Wallace for instance.
It’s Talisca all over again.
Not sure which sources you are using Tim but I’d bin them if I were you.
OK, will do.
http://sportwitness.co.uk/wolves-e18m-deal-sign-brazilian-player-one-foot-club-work-permit-denied/
Portuguese newspaper Record has today a front page saying Benfica are very close on signing Carlos Vinícius from Napoli.
According to the report, there’s a full agreement for the transfer, with the Eagles paying €17m for the Brazilian striker.
Now what Record also claims is that Carlos Vinícius could have ended up signing for Wolverhampton Wanderers this summer instead.
They say the player had ‘one foot’ at Molineux, since his transfer to the English side was ‘practically closed’.
Wolves were ready to pay €18m for the transfer, but the deal collapsed once they tried to get the player a work permit and it was denied.
To be fair there has been a story around saying we were ready to sign Carlos Vinícius but he couldn’t get a work permit so we pulled out the deal.
Story originated from Portugal from the Record so probably very little in it I would imagine.
https://www.premierleague.com/news/597662
Players with passports from outside the European Union and the European Economic Area need permission to work in the UK.
A club need to have applied for a permit prior to the window closing.
The UK Home Office has a points-based system based on which clubs must apply to The FA for a “Governing Body Endorsement” for such players. (See p551 of the Premier League Handbook 2018/19 (Download PDF, size: 8.39MB))
If the player does not automatically meet these criteria, the club can request an FA Exceptions Panel consider the player’s experience and value in order to determine whether a Governing Body Endorsement should nevertheless be granted.
2.1. Criteria under which a Governing Body Endorsement will automatically
be granted
The FA will automatically grant a player a GBE under either Tier 2 or Tier 5 if the applicant club is able to show that that player has participated in the Required Percentage of senior Competitive International Matches played by that player’s National Association during the Reference Period.
Notes:
1 The applicant club must provide written confirmation setting out all matches (including Competitive International Matches, friendlies and any other international matches that the player was involved in) in which the player:
• took part;
• was Unavailable for Selection; and
• did not take part but was not Unavailable for Selection.
An applicant club should obtain such confirmation from the player’s National Association. If the relevant National Association is not able to confirm this, this fact should be confirmed by the applicant club to The FA. At which stage, The FA will seek to independently verify this information through its own sources. The responsibility lies with the applicant club to provide this information where it is able to do so. A decision will not be made until this process has been completed and any relevant supporting evidence is submitted.
2 In calculating the Required Percentage, any Competitive International Matches for which the player was Unavailable for Selection are to be excluded.
3 If less than 30% of a National Association’s matches during the Reference Period are Competitive International Matches, friendly matches will be included in the calculation.
2.2. Discretionary criteria under which a Governing Body Endorsement may
be granted
If a player does not meet the automatic criteria set out above, an applicant
club can request that an Exceptions Panel consider the player’s experience
and value in order to determine whether a Governing Body Endorsement
should nevertheless be granted.
The applicant club must make the request for an Exceptions Panel to the
Player Status Department at The FA which will then appoint an Exceptions
Panel in accordance with the below. Clubs should ensure that all evidence
that they want to be considered in respect of the player is submitted in
writing ahead of the determination by the Exceptions Panel.
2.2.1. The Exceptions Panel will be made up of three (3) members who will
be appointed by The FA.
2.2.2. The three (3) member Exceptions Panel will be constituted as
follows:
2.2.2.1. an independent, legally qualified Chair (“Chair”); and
2.2.2.2. two (2) additional independent panel members having
relevant experience at the top level of the game
(“Independent Members”), (who shall together be referred
to as the “Panel Members”).
2.2.3. No individual who would objectively be considered to have a
current association with the applicant club will be appointed to the
Exceptions Panel.
2.2.4. In the event that a Panel Member(s) considers there to be an
actual or perceived conflict of interest (whether or not an objection
is raised by the applicant club) on the part of a Panel Member(s)
(which for the avoidance of doubt can include themselves) where:
2.2.4.1. this relates to an Independent Member(s), the Panel
Member(s) must declare this to the Chair; and
2.2.4.2. this relates to the Chair, this must be declared to The FA.
In either case, this must be declared at the earliest opportunity and, in any
event, in advance of determination of the case.
You wanna translate all that into plain English for us thickos?
The gist of it is that if the player is from outside of the European Union and European Economic Area, they have to get special approval if they are not a regular on their national senior team.
Many of the players Wolves are after fit into that category.
Seems obvious that the people who sit on these FA exception panels are in cahoots with the top 6 teams to hold Wolves back.
It just widens the gap because teams who don’t have the income to go after top international players from these countries cannot go after players who are less expensive but have the potential to be on their national team when they get more experience.
FACT!!!!
Yawn, and the season has not yet started. Oh woe is me.
Tim, we know all that, and those that don’t can research too. I will bet most won’t read all that info, so you have just wasted time.
Yes, because cutting and pasting takes a lot of time.
Some people may be interested and if they are not, they will just skip it.
I am bored at work.
Lol. Bored at work? I used to be too, chuffed I have now retired.
Hope you find youself able to get to a game mate as I would like to meet you. Carefull your boss don’t catch you.
Hi guys and gals. Been right out of the loop in the middle of nowhere without internet.
Seen the highlights from the game and very impressive we were. Bring on Citeh, although I know Crusaders is more important.
Before my enforced isolation, I read something about the demise of Laurie Dalrymple. Can anyone fill me in a little on just whats happened?
Thanks gents and ladies. And don’t fret about the signings. I’m sure they will come.
Just found the previous blog so I can see that I know as much as anyone.
Wolvo Express and Star now reports we are in for Ruben Dias from Benfica. 57 million. Wow.
I know they said the humidity was 95%, but this is taking it to the extreme Nuno.
Still if we have a flash flood tomorrow in Shanghai, We are sorted.
https://mobile.twitter.com/wolves/status/1152278726924754945
Conor Ronan putting his loan club DAC in Slovakia, through to the next round of the Europa league cup last night.
It would be cool if we bear Crusaders and drew them on Monday.
https://mobile.twitter.com/dac_1904/status/1152248850859663360
We Are the Champions. Champions of Asia. We Are the Champions. Champions of Asia ………
You have to say, we hung on in there. Grit, determination and fantastic organization. Congrats to Rui for a terrific performance.
Bloody brilliant. Who the f•**k are Man City
Dougie we saw you on the box in Shanghai taking your photo’s after the game, hope you enjoyed your trip and have a safe journey home, see you soon!
Look at the video on the Express and Star / YouTube of the Wolves fans after the game, Dougie comes down the stairs and the Chinese fans all congratulate him, absolutely brilliant. Exiled Wolf – he’s one of our own.
Thanks Ian. That was a fabulous moment but I didn’t know it was filmed. Just got into Vienna and am only now picking up this Blog and social media.
Thanks, Ken. I didn’t get to bed last night as our taxi was picking us at 6.45 in the morning. Now in Vienna for a few days, back in Wales late on Thursday. Absolutely wrecked – more so because of the poor air quality over there, than the drinking (though that was good).
At what point in time will the commentators realize that Wolves play counter attacking football and are not a possession based team?
Here’ssssss Dougie. (Front and centre)
Well done that man.
The trouble is he’s in the shit now, he told Barbara he was only popping out for a paper.
Bloggers on tour…
https://mobile.twitter.com/njudah_star/status/1152578545899622402
Why didn’t we use that excuse and buggered off to China?
And I didn’t get the paper.
Wolves Ay We
Love this club
That twat of a keeper from Watford, whatever his name, would he have taken such a bang on the face, kept going, made several world class saves, and then saved THREE penalties???
We all know the answer, don’t we, boys and girls?
Brilliant display, Rui, and there were some on here not long ago casting nasturtiums on his ability.
Hang your heads in shame, all ye doubters.
Two full games against premiership opposition, away from home, 4 scored, non conceded, and beating probably the best team in Europe on penalties.
Dough get much berra than this, do it??!!
And we love y’all, Dougie, see you in a few weeks.
superb result city had most of the possesion but as tim stated thats their game and not ours we counter and destroy.
city fans all saying they took us apart blah blah blah
used to like them but now they think they have the god given to win everything
well its not wolves who should be worried its you lot because we know how to beat you and i have a feeling your days at the top are numbered
Spot on spikey
I do laff at some comments from citeh ( always quite liked them btw) regarding just a friendly, pre season etc they had a top team on the pitch, and they were so uninterested in winning that they bought on more first teasers
We ended up with half an accadomy team on the pitch. And still won
Utw
The future is bright