If the highlights were anything to go by, the home side should feel aggrieved to have only scored three.
Uncharacteristically bad defending was Wolves undoing today, the dreaded Wembley hangover seemingly in full effect.
Jonny went missing for the first, with young whippersnapper Josh Sims handed the freedom of Southampton and duly crossing expertly for Nathan Redmond to tuck home.
Big Willy handed us an unexpected lifeline, nodding home from another sumptuous Joao Moutinho set piece.
But the elation of the travelling hordes was short-lived as the usually impenetrable ‘five at the back’ came unstuck once again.
There was more than a few culpable second time round, with Romain Saiss making it far too easy for the Saints midfield to slip the ball in behind him and Connor Coady playing a grateful Redmond onside for his second.
By all accounts it seemed as if we picked up in the second half, and could have perhaps nabbed ourselves an equaliser.
But it wasn’t to be, and more car crash defending meant the day ended on the sourest of notes with ex-Albion man Shane Long poking home past a helpless Rui Patricio.
To be fair to the Portuguese stopper, his save shortly after prevented the game from descending into total humiliation but he certainly could have done more to stop the second and third.
On this evidence, fringe players such as Ruddy, Vinagre and (to a lesser extent) Bennett will fancy their chances of breaking into the lineup for next Saturday.
Perhaps a little experimentation wouldn’t go amiss, with there being only five games to go. But you sense Nuno and his Chinese paymasters will be keen to nab that final European place, given the ambition they have shown to date.
Whether an early start to next season would be wise, given the modest size of our squad, is certainly a topic for debate.
One thing that isn’t up for discussion though is that afternoons like this shouldn’t taint the memory of this season.
Wolves are still giving us plenty of reasons to dream, even if they do still have a knack for letting us down every now and again.
Looks like a few are already on the beach and a major kick up the arse is urgently required.
Slack !
Why Saiss when Bennett has been absolutely sound all season ?
Off to Marbella ?
C’mon Nuno work their bollocks off .
That was a pile of shit!
Embarrassing!
Agree. Seems Nuno believes he’s too good for us. If that’s his attitude he can go asap. He cost us the semi final and now he’s messing us up in the league.
It is with some regret that I must say…. NUNO OUT! Sorry but enough is enough
Agree totally. Nuno is a fraud. No plan B. And looks like he’s lost the dressing room..
Thanks for the memories Nuno but time to go
Is that John d shite fan?
And Harry the shite fan? If not then you pair are typical Johnny come latelies who haven’t followed the boys through thick and thin. Please return to the poorthorns asap and don’t return.
Summed it up perfectly chap. Once again I have been about on social media and the hysterical reaction is there. Does my fuckin head in. Please please please recognize we are in to 33 games. You have to look at the points accumulated. It ay too bad.ask Cardiff.
Always room for improvement dear boy, such as, starting on the front foot against bottom half teams, upping the pace a bit, giving Coady a rest, pushing Neves further forward and realising MGB doesn’t fit.
If we get into the Europe and we play the Asian cup in china we have one week then start playing middle of july. Unless they are going to sign 4-5 or 6 new players we will struggle i think Fatigue is starting in a lot of the squad as its the same players week in week out thecsquad is to small and its starting to show.
I had said we might do better to give some fringe players a chance, not that Bennet is fringe. And – Southampton are not a struggling side, they have shown much improved form under their new manager, so would have been quite confident at home, with us still licking our wounds. Apparently we did have goal chances, but it wasn’t our day; I reckon that defeat last week will take some time to overcome for our lads.
maybe a few days in the Spanish sun will work wonders, but they’ve played hard all season, the same eleven mostly, and must be jaded.
It is clear that Bennett is a better defender than Saiss and Nuno will surely play him next match. What Traore was dawdling at playing Long onside for the third! The kid is totally clueless! We have 16 outfield players with very limited choice for subs. Cav. in attack. Vinaigre for Johnny and Saiss/Ryan B. As yet Traore/Helda + MGW are not good enough. If we were to get 7th and Europe we will need at least 3/4 summer purchases.
Looked tired today and maybe our small squad is now starting to show. Thought St Mary’s was like a library today, until they got their 3rd. Have to agree with Cheese though. We need perspective. We have had an awesome season. Take stock of Fulham. Next season we must take our learnings and kick on. We could still have Lambert in charge and look what has happened at Ipswich today.
Purely an off day.
I thought we were better in the first half. Didn’t think S’ton poses much of a threat & defo want a humiliating 3:1 defeat.
Don’t believe Nuno’s dream has changed & we have 5 games to add to The Best Season ever in my 40 years.
Have a break lads, regroup & let’s rock the last few games.
Want – WTF – wasn’t
Still hate productive text.
Fleetwood Town may be looking for a new manager. I hope they don’t go for Nuno.
Nuno has to figure out how to break down teams that sit back considering we are a defense first team ourselves. Maybe we need some super offensive minded midfielders for these kinds of games. Maybe we need defenders who have come up through the ranks of English football and have proven themselves capable of defending against these kinds of teams.
Nice to see Nuno throw his toys out of the pram when asked about the lack of recent wins on the road. You think he would have been ready for that question.
I remain of the view that much as it would be enticing to play in the Europa League we do not and will not have the squad for it .Nuno will not change his philosophy on small squads .He is a stubborn guy .
In my view one of the key reasons for last week’s sad loss and today’s was the team looked mentally and physically tired with not enough fresh legs throughout the long season .
A great season but I will be more than happy to be top 10 and do not want 7 th .
I appreciate everyone saying, and I agree with them, that we have had a fabulous season, but that does not excuse the performance today.
I have seen most of our games, and today’s was by far and away the most disappointing.
The only word I can think of to describe it is SHIT.
Not one of our guys looked up for the challenge, Saiss in particular looked as if he was already in Marbella, Traore put in two crosses and did sod all else, and Gibbs White has been reading far too much of his own press and was anonymous.
I thought they would have been fired up after Wembley, and Southampton would have been put to the sword, but Boly’s goal apart, their keeper didn’t have a shot to save.
Really, really pathetic.
There has to be a clear out of some in the summer, and a bigger, hopefully better, squad assembled for next season.
I am usually very positive about my team, but the apparent disregard for the fans and total lethargy pissed me off big time today.
Shit performance, no excuses and that includes the bollocks of it being a small squad. We still have 23 players in our squad and yet he has only used 18. Last season we played 50 plus games with it being more or less the same squad! So I’m not buying that.
Recruitment needs to be done properly and not in a Fulham way…we need 5-7 better players without dispruting the harmony of the team. I do have faith it will be done right. It’s gonna be an exciting summer
Clive I thoroughly agree. Our squad is too small. We certainly have a great first team, but it is the case that the fringe players simply aren`t good enough. New additions are surely imperative in the summer if we are to maintain our progress
Pivotal to todays`s ` shambolic performance was the hugely substandard defensive display. In Boly, Coady and Bennett we have at our disposal a superb, proven central defensive unit who understand and complement each other. So why on earth is this unit unnecessarily broken up ? Why continue with this Saiss experiment ?
In my opinion Saiss is not, and never will be an adequate right sided central defender. In contrast Bennett is the solid reliable defender that every successful team surely needs. He may not be as pretty on the ball as Saiss, but he understands his role and sticks to it. His is a commanding presence: he makes very few mistakes, and very little gets past him. He must surely restored to the side.
Yes right on, I was there today & our defending was poor. All of Southampton’s goals could have been avoided. Sloppy lackadaisical defending from our back 3.
I agree with you on Bennett over Saiss, Mike, but as I’ve mentioned before Bennett’s distribution simply isn’t good enough for us to get to the next level. Opposition managers are aware of this and hence he gets targeted and pressurised when on the ball. That’s why a right sided centre half will be one of the principal targets in the summer.
That may well be true, but for now Bennett is by far our best option. He has come a long way under Nuno, and in my view further improvement is likely.
But in any event, Saiss is not the answer, either for now or for the long term. He is just not a natural solid defender. He is prone to big errors which will always have the potential to destroy us — as was the case at Southampton.
I prefer Saiss as a back up to our midfield three.
I agree Steve. He should not replace Bennett. In my opinion, we have conceded early when Saiss played instead of Bennet, giving us a harder task from the off.
What can you say about that.
Plenty of possession, plenty of corners.Strikers having a off day.
Defending abysmal .
Nothing much going our way at the moment .
Players look tired and no one to come on to make the difference.
They’re off to the sunshine now ,I only hope they come back reinvigorated and rejuvenated and push on for the rest of the season… UTW FOWB.
Slow, and predictable
If there was ever a game to rest a few , this was it imo
They aren’t a bad team but there was a bit of luck to a couple of their goals
Once we are losing, it’s much harder for our subs to come on and break teams down who are well set up
I would have liked Traore and Vinagre on from the start instead of hoping Traore can turn the game around with limited time, still, as I said at the end of the last post
Beat Brighton, Fulham and Watford and we finish 7 th
Looks very much like we will be joined next year by visor Sandwell
Any preferences??
Utw
They’ll draw each other in the playoffs and the winner will lose in the final to Sheff Utd. So no worries!!
Slow, and predictable
If there was ever a game to rest a few , this was it imo
They aren’t a bad team but there was a bit of luck to a couple of their goals
Once we are losing, it’s much harder for our subs to come on and break teams down who are well set up
I would have liked Traore and Vinagre on from the start instead of hoping Traore can turn the game around with limited time, still, as I said at the end of the last post
Beat Brighton, Fulham and Watford and we finish 7 th
Looks very much like we will be joined next year by villa or Sandwell
Any preferences??
Utw
I guess the gaffer doesn’t pay much attention to my blogging but I really thought that he could give some of the A team a rest today and play at least 3 if not 4 from the bench
Teams have also sussed that we are slow starters.. a punt down the line for a throw in from the kick off is hardly going to put the fear of Dog into our opponents.
Meantime quick through balls expose our lack of pace… and whilst I thought Traore did ok when he had the ball his failure to move out of the. box played Long onside for his goal …. that was poor if not just inept
Ok
So a bad day at the office
Nuno bollocks the offenders and he re groups next week and re installs the quick precise move and pass that got us 47 points
No more 3 goal giveaways
5 games left
I’m for three wins and two draws to finish the season on a high note and heres how
BH A. W
Gunners W
Ex – cons. D ( ideally 1-5)
Fulham. W
Reds. D
7 th
Then trade out a few and bring in 5-6 heavy hitters across the Summer so we have a Top quality core of 18-20 in the squad ready for August
If Europa Cup is a distraction so be it.. let’s play those games and be ready to hit the ground running for next PL and be able to harvest points from bottom 10 …then we get ever closer to Champions League … surely that’s the plan?
UTW
Leicester 0 Newcastle 1
Fulham 2 Everton 0
Man U 2 West Ham 1
Southhampton 3 Wolves 1
Get a grip guys, if Arsenal beat Watford on Monday, everyone fighting for 7th did bad, not just us.
Yes we played shite, but we can’t win every game, we did look leggy, we do look jaded and yes the Wembley result had possibly got to them.
I was standing next to one of the founding members of the Fans Parliament and he was telling me, Fosun said, ” they bought Wolves for what they make profit in a day” jimmy was bought now to offset FFP. They will have the ground owned by a Third party owner so as to offset FFP against the £300m they have earmarked for ground development, finally they have also earmarked £300m for new players if needed, they never wanted 7th, they wanted top 4.
We got beat by a team fighting to the death for survival, we looked ok in parts of the game and it looked like we could have won it but killer goals made the legs even heavier.
Me, I don’t give a flying ferret about yesterday, we don’t have strength in depth despite Nuno trying to smooth over the obvious cracks by telling us otherwise, we need quality on the bench. How many times have we said, “I wish we had the quality of the players on opposing teams bench at ko”.
We’re not pissing off to Spain for a Jolly, the physio’s and medical staff know the benefit of sunshine training and recognise the guys are tired. As I said above, “if Arsenal beat Watford tomorrow, then no harm done” these are the shocking results that crop up at the arse end of the season.
In the Bog at Southampton i was standing next to Kenny Hibbett, we were listening too an arsehole giving it we are a shit team this and a shit team that, Nuno was shit and so I said, ” I’d much rather be watching this shit, than the shit I was watching two seasons ago, any day.
This is what keeps us coming back for more, keeps us paying higher prices and gives each and everyone of us a right to whinge and whine. I respect each and every comment on the blog as the individuals opinion, but this is my opinion and I’m not having it that we are suddenly a shit team.
Could be a lot worse, we could be Brighton fans, beaten by that shower of sherbet from Bournemouth.
Highlight of the day, RikRak with Traore and Hibbitt, the lad gets around. (Pictures please Phil)
Also Stu there were a few rounds of “One Kenny Hibbit, there’s only one Kenny Hibbit” resounding around the concourse plus the legend was posing for selfies – absolute legend!
Thought we were really poor and off the pace yesterday btw.
UTW!
Stu, no blowing of smoke up any back passages, but 100% with you.
1st Photo as requested
And with Traore! (Well I say Traore, it’s actually my mate Geoff who’s a Traore lick’a’like in the circuit)
Very good.
But who’s the guy on the left?
Yow dough get no prettier, do ya, Ricko??!!
That’s gunna get me another slap upside the ‘ead in a few weeks!
Personally I’m gutted that Clive things I ain’t no prettier. Since last year in Sunderland:
Boob job £1,250
Liposuction £759
Botox £448
Hair £155
Nails £86.37
But at least I do look like “Donkey Pig”
COMB FWAW FOwb
And as for the facelift, I would ask for me money back!!!!
I agree Stu, one bad game doesn’t make us a s*** team. However, I am surprised that Nuno lost his cool at a press conference. We could finish 7th, if we can do that, the recent bad results will be forgotten. The fact that the other teams in the battle for 7th all lost this weekend could be a good omen.
My only criticism of Nuno’s recent tactics is that we tend to sit back and attempt the counter too much in the first half. An example of this was Chelsea away. An excellent point yes, and an injury time goal for Chelsea. But, if we had attacked more in the first half, we might have had more than a one goal advantage.
This had been an immense season, I only hope that the great disappointment of the semi-final defeat does not affect the remaining 5 games.
We lost! We played crap! It happens so we accept it, pick ourselves up, improve & move into next week. Personally any finish in the top 10 I’ll happily take & I don’t want the Europa League just yet. Our squad isn’t big enough to handle it IMO.
Anyway it could be worse, I’ve had to deal with a hubby with man flu & his team getting relegated to league 1 – not a fun eve!!!
It is clear from the amount of negative chatter that some fans are struggling from last weeks disappointment. In a way, the manner in which we conceded our three goals, convinced me the players are still hurting just as much.
We were undone defensively less than two minutes into the game, and yet again straight after we equalised. But we dominated possession and chances in the first half.
I agree with Ben and Stu, among others. We’re not shite. We played poorly for the minutes leading up to the goals, where we were uncharacteristically out of shape, didn’t follow runners, and played opposition miles onside. That’s what’s disappointing. The rest of the time we clawed our way back into the game and had many chances, equalising with one. By the time the third went in, it was goodbye and goodnight.
I think most of us are in agreement with the squad however. I have been impressed with what we have achieved with a tiny first team squad. But yesterday highlighted yet again the poor influence of Nuno’s substitutions. One player less likely to rescue the situation after another. Traore, because he shows flashes of brilliance on the ball, then the promising MGW, and lastly some guy named Costa who last scored in Jan. Nuno says he believes in the squad, but he clearly thinks that the first 11 is the best way to compete in a very difficult league.
Singling our Traore seems harsh, just so that I can make a point. As soon as he enters the field, our identity and philosophy vanishes, and all rests on his brilliant skill to save the day. With the likes of Moutinho, Neves, and even Coady or Boly able to pick a decent pass, Traore should be making intelligent runs and using his skill further up the pitch. Truth is I have never seen him make a run anywhere near as good as Jota and Jimmy. Watching him run backwards to collect the ball off a team mate seems like such a difficult way to play the game, when it’s not how the team as a collective is set up to play.
Quality off the bench is key in the future, as is competition for first team selection. Small squads tend to do shite in European competitions don’t they? Players will leave, players will come in and hopefully we will be the stronger for it. UTW, the future is still bright!
Thought Wolves had some great moments of pressure yesterday. I thought Southampton were there for the taking. They just don’t have the skill & quality we have in Jota, Jimenez & Jao.
But as others have pointed out it was calamitous, on the beach defending that was our undoing yesterday & it could have been a lot worse.
Definitely not a performance to bury the bad dreams of Wembley’s disappointment. But at 2-1 Jiminez had a gilt edged chance after a sustained period of Wolves pressure & he ballooned it out for a throw. Next attack & it’s 3-1.
Wish I’d have seen the legend Kenny Hibbit in the concourse, what a guts, sweat & skill player he was.
The form of Neves is a bit of a mystery, yes we’ve had a great season but the wonder kid from Porto seems to have lost some of his mojo. Stray passes yesterday & a tendency to get caught in possession.
Bennett’s return, for me, a must. He adds determination & know how defending. Where was the shouting at Traore from his team mates when he played Long onside for their 3rd?
Maybe Adoma would benefit from a sustained run in the side, but from the evidence I’ve seen so far, he looks a gulf away from Prem quality.
But it’s been an absolute dream of a season, albeit with an odd disturbed night’s sleep. Great to see where we are, loads of praise in the Southampton programme for our achievements this season. Especially liked, & agreed with a Southampton fan’s assessment of Jota, seemingly the only way to stop him is to foul him. Yes & Southampton did that!
One of my very rare forays away, & I have to say it’s one hell of an assault on the eardrums, given I spend all the games at home in the Billy Quiet. But I did enjoy the Im a Believer song, I think it was, “We’ve got Jonny & Willy Billy, Rui Patricio, & Jao Moutinho.
Upwards & onwards, here’s to at least another 3 wins to end a glorious season strongly & on a high.
Good things about yesterday.
1. The journey – very smooth, got the 10.15am train from Bedford and were in Southampton by 12.49pm. The shuttle bus to and from the stadium was great, £3 return and took 10 minutes.
2. The recognition – as we crossed London from St Pancras to Waterloo we lost count of the number of times people, including children, said “Oh look, Wolves fans”. A couple of years ago no one would have said anything and we took this as further proof that Wolves are back and known to everyone now. It felt good.
3. The pre-match singing in the concourse inside the stadium. Si Senor! Give the ball to Raúl and he will score!
4. Good company – went with Paddy Day and also saw Newark Wolves.
5. Met this chap in the concourse and told him how I’d seen his full debut and first goal for Wolves at Stamford Bridge all them years ago.
OODCL
That man is a legend …………………………….and I quite like Kenny as well.
Typical, understandable fan reaction to yesterday’s poor defensive performance. I’m still gutted with regard to the previous week and suspect some of our lads were still ‘down’. Not an excuse, of course, professionally, but a common reaction to a gut wrenching result. Little tweeks to the side to allow some players to regain their ‘mojo’ would have been my personal approach; Bennett would have played for me; he is rested and solid at the back. Traore, for me, needs to come on earlier and on the right up front. Vinagre would have played in this game and Jonny, who I know was poor; who wasn’t? would have started on the right giving Doherty a rest. Neves has looked, to me, fatigued of late, and I would have played Saiss defensive left and, yes, he was poor in the back three, but we’ve seen that before, whereas he shines in midfield.Statistically we were down for a loss in this game despite me thinking and hoping we would edge it. Whatever, for the next game, Bennett needs to be reinstated in my opinion and let’s hope, with the sun on their backs, they return seeming much more themselves.
I could not stop smiling, especially when the first goal went in. I even found myself laughing out loud when the penalty shouts were turned down and when the second went in I had to chuckle at Warnock’s face. More entertaining than our game.
We play Brighton on Saturday, so will see some bloggers there. Got to be better than today!
Tennis players play multiple matches in a week during tournaments.
The Stanley Cup playoffs have begun and teams are playing every two or three days in best of 5 or best of 7 playoff rounds. Same with the NBA.
So why is playing games 6 days apart so fatiguing for association football players?
That’s got to be one of the weakest excuses ever.
And the ice hockey and basketball players rotate every few minutes, they have lots of time outs for tv adverts, and usually only actually “play” for about one third of a game.
Plus, comparing totally different sports is useless.
Thats got to be one of the weakest arguements ever, but not unexpected.
I think you will find running the equivalent of the 50 metre dash at full speed multiple times over a 60 minutes to be as fatiguing as jogging around and walking for 90 minutes.
How about one of you going out and running 50 metres as fast as you can. Then sit down for 3 minutes.
Repeat that for 60 minutes. Take all the breaks you want.
Let me know what you think.
Not going there.
You do not want to know what I really think, this is a family show.
I was watching a few minutes of the Man City game. Lots of walking around.
How many miles do they run in 90 minutes? I think around 7.
That averages out to a brisk 90 minute walk.
(STATS puts the average at 7 miles per game depending on position, and as much as 9.5 miles for some players (not including goalies, of course).)
So, you say you can walk 7 miles in 90 mins? I would say jog/run actually as I know a lot of people who cant walk a mile in 12minutes tbh.
Yeah, OK. I just downloaded an app and will see how fast I actually walk at 60 years of age.
Still, you have to admit there is a lot of walking going on and short slow jogs for positioning. Hardly enough to actually induce fatigue.
OK, just did a test with an app I downloaded. Very brisk walk. It fluctuated between 6 and 7km/hour. For a bit it even showed 8 but just very briefly. Unfortunately, this app did not show 10ths of seconds.
So I stand my by contention that is isn’t much more than a brisk walk.
You are now quoting kms. I was talking miles.
Yeah sorry. I thought everyone knew that 5 mph is around 8 kph.
interesting observation Tim, but I think it is the accumulated stress on body and mind of August to April in all weathers that has done for our lads, compounded by the manner of the Wembley defeat.
The sunshine break will do them good, and we’ll get back on track. to
If you doubt how far we have come in a year.
These were the headlines at 4-50pm I year ago today
Wolves’ performance yesterday was, for me, summed up by two incidents.
1) Jimenez, who has been our best player over the last couple of months, going for a volley in the penalty area and putting it out for a throw in.
2) Adama Traore, who hasn’t been our best player… well, ever really, falling asleep on the goal line to present Southampton with their third goal.
I know stats aren’t everything but, Traore’s Premier League stats read as follows:-
Appearances 62
Goals 1
Assists 3
Shooting accuracy 28%
Southampton won’t get three easier points this season, that’s for sure.
On another point, a small squad is OK if your substitutes are game changers, or ‘Finishers’ as Eddie Jones likes to call them.
Ours are neither.
Am I the only one who’s heart sinks when I see Traore, MGW and Costa warming up late in the game?
I find it hard to believe that Helda Costa was so good a season or so back. He could have the ball with two or three defenders around him,and then in a flash he would be gone and they would be flat on their backsides.
Traore spends most of his time on his own backside, and MGW has gone from the wide eyed lad who offered something different in midfield, to someone seemingly more interested in tattoos and silly haircuts.
Nuno has a big job to do this Summer and his reaction at the press conference shows that the pressure is starting to tell.
I’m sorry to be negative but I feel like shit and have to take it out on someone so it’s going to be you lot.
Hopefully I’ll be better by next weekend and can witness us hammering another nail in Brighton’s relegation coffin.
With you 100% on all of the above, Doogle
Traore wasn’t singed as a wingback.
And I think the first or second time he got the ball, two different players lunged at him and he was lucky to be standing and not injured. That is what he is up against and it appears to be legal even in the Premier League.
Putting Costa in seems to be some kind of a joke. Nuno is stubborn.
We need a second set of players who have been brought up through the English system and who can excel playing against teams who play a “park the bus” style of play.
Do no teams do that in Portugal or Spain?
I was wondering why there were rumours of players being scouted by Wolves where their first team player was an international but now I think they just need players who can handle different styles of play from opponents.
So bring in an offensive minded mid fielder or two. Bring in a hard as nails defender with loads of Championship experience who can handle teams that play that style.
Bring in a left and right winger who are 6’2″ and 200 lbs who can just run through some of the big defenders that might give Diogo a problem.
Horses for courses, I think you call it.
Diversify and Nuno has to adapt his philosophy because Fosun want points, not principles.
So, sell the whole team, replace them and start again?
Brilliant!
Why has no one else thought of that?
Oh, because we are not Canadian, eh?
You’d think the term “second set” would make it obvious what I’m talking about but nooooooooo.
You get more players and get some who are better suited for different situations, like tougher defenders or get some midfielders who have experience in the Championship breaking down a defense that is sitting in front of their goal line. Get some 6’2″ 200 lb midfielder or striker and when Deeney comes calling, let’s see if he is man enough to take a cheap shot at him.
Horses for courses.
This idea that we only need 18 players may be fatally flawed.
I don’t expect the team to start with players like that but adding them to give some steel when necessary might be something to consider.
Honestly. No wonder you are using an nom de plume.
Yes I agree on Traore, I’m not best pleased at the prospect of him coming on. Especially yesterday replacing Doherty, & it showed, the guy cost us the Shane Long goal.
I’d rather see Cavaleiro & Vinagre on as first choice subs, MGW has quality as he showed only too briefly against Spurs but he needs first team football, so a loan would bring him on more.
Costa surely has to come good again, but he also needs game time. Tricky balancing act.
We said the same thing about Leo.
We’re in the Big Boys League now and we need to not only stop giving mediocre teams a one goal lead but to begin matches as though we are interested in getting a result. Some of the passing in the first 15 mins yesterday was shockingly sloppy. Having said that, we wrested the initiative from a quite limited Soton side and, when Boly scored, I could only see one team winning. Sadly, we did another ‘Watford’ and after that struggled to open up a team that knew when to press and when to sit deep.
Its worrying tho’ that our previously watertight defence has now started shipping goals at an alarming rate. Back to the training ground, Nuno, to sort out those issues.
Me and Sue got back about 3 hours ago and I have to say we had a fab weekend. Okay, we played crap but our hotel room overlooked Southampton High Street and all you could hear was their fans singing “we are staying up”. This game was massive for them and I think you could see that in the game. We were at Wembley last Sunday and we were gutted, we were there yesterday and we were gutted and we will be at Molineux next Saturday (hopefully not gutted though). This season has still been an amazing rollercoaster ride and if Liverpool need to win on the last day of the season to claim the title they sure as hell would choose someone apart from us to play. One last note, we were having a nice chilled out 180 mile drive back to Newark this morning and were just about to join the M40 when a car behind us must have seen the Wolves sticker in the back of our car – they pulled up right behind us , flashed their lights and then pulled up alongside to gesticulate at myself and my wife !…………………..always lovely to see Stu and Ken.
Wolves on tour mate!!
It helped that I knew the car too, but the sticker certainly drew my attention. Sorry we didn’t stop mate, but we had just vacated a MacDonalds 7 miles back. If we hadn’t we could have bought you two a frothy latte.
See you Saturday.
Yesterday at some point Ruben Neves’s wife had a baby, now I’m pretty sure that’s Ruben under that mask, (unless it’s Jiminez).
So, if they live in Wolvo and he played at Southampton at 3pm, that explains to me why he was perhaps a tad tired looking yesterday.
Is that a Wolves beannie?
Looks like a Vile Shit play off semi final. As much as I find it un appetising I will support Vile. The lesser of two evils. Was involved in an exchange of verbals last nite in the chip shop in Sedgley. Some twat supporting Walsall. Told him to knob off. Wanker
I just knew this would happen, I hope we can turn this around and not just limp through the last 5 games. I don’t know why Bennett hasn’t been restored to the back 3 and Neves was too passive again as he has been for much of the season. I do wonder what Traore gives us, he doesn’t seem to contribute when we are not in possession and only comes alive when he receives the ball but often to little purpose. The fact is we have had a great season so far but we aren’t as good as some parts of the media have been making out. Having said all that if you look through the side we should have enough quality to compete with teams in the bottom half of this league but perhaps not as time after time we have come up short. This result gives Nuno the opportunity to make changes and I think he needs to freshen up the midfield against a Brighton side low on confidence. I would at the minimum bring in MGW for Neves and Vinagre for Jonny.
If we concede first we’re basically screwed, unless its against a top six side of course.
Southampton didn’t park the bus at 1-0 and must’ve been cursing their luck when we pulled one back.
But we gave them another gift and they didn’t need to be warned again at 2-1… they parked the bus and ran the clock down from around minute 50.
The top 6 sides always find a way to overpower inferior sides that park the bus, and that, for now, is the difference between Wolves and the top 6.
It will take a couple more years for Nuno and Fosun to sort that. I can live with this.
I think we need to put this one down to a hangover from whatever we may have been doing last weekend. The back 3 were collectively poor as was Neves. Traore cost us by being the slowest defender (ooh the irony) for the last goal. Trouble is with the exception of Vinagre and Bennett, none of the remainder of the squad improve the starting 11
Whatever happens now, it’s been a great season. I don’t want it to just fizzle out, but if it does, it would only be a disappointment. The big picture would remain bright beyond belief. The upcoming window will be more important than these last few games, though the decision makers at the club will be affected by these games when making their decisions. Nuno, as we know, likes to work with a small squad, but he will know that the Premier League is an unforgiving place and any dropping off the pace will be severely punished. Our squad will be bigger, and stronger, by August for sure.
I’m heading off for a little holiday tomoz, touring Europe for six months. Does anyone know if the Hesgoal site, or similar, is available across the continent? I don’t want to miss a kick.
Take care guys and gals and have a great summer.
COYW.
Hiya Steve… I’m clicked onto hes@@@@.com down here and it works but not for too long … so you have to be patient with it… and refresh it as required.
Regardless mate I hope you have a fab 6 months backpacking around Europe and sorry that you’re missing the Ballbash ….
Thanks Twix. It’s been a bit dodgy here too recently, to be honest. I think their server is struggling to cope with the demands.
Look forward to seeing you next season buddy.
Hi Steve. Have a great time across Europe. Safe travels, mate.
Hesgoal was a bit hit and miss on Saturday. I had to refresh a few times. That said, it worked fine for me in Bangkok and Bali last year.
I’m sorry that you’ll be missing the Bloggers’ Ball on 4th May…….Just getting another plug in, bloggers, for the event of the year.
Cheers Exiled. I’ll raise a glass to you all at the Ball, wherever I find myself.
Sane pre-European trip words from Wolfstroker (as usual). What really hacks me off even more than the last couple of results is how quickly some out there forget the joy this club and team have brought us over the last two seasons and start castigating everything that moves. Recent history suggests it will be sifted and sorted, for a better end to the season. We’ll then be surprised by summer purchases and ready for next season.
And a big bonus for us is our unbelievable medical/fitness team. They must surely have the highest player availability rate in the whole league.
And finally, as someone who has suffered for 57yrs, it put all our history into perspective when a 30-something fan of Spurs recently described Wolves to me recently…..”you’ve sort of taken over from Brighton”!! Having rolled my eyes and picked myself off the floor, I realised we were seen as the new kids on the block, just making a good job of first season back. And also that he was misguided and rather one-eyed, as top 6 supporters tend to be.
Happy Monday morning (just) all.
Agreed, Saturday’s match was not the best. I also, concur with those who have pointed out the limitations of a small squad. We do need to strengthen our back-up options and I’m looking forward to seeing what business Wolves do in that respect in the close season.
That said, we have had some fun this season.
Not mentioning the Bloggers’ Ball on 4th May…….oops, I just did.
I’m not going to criticise any of the team. They do their best and do not deliberately play at a sub standard level. What we have to realise is that we have punched well above our weight this season. Nuno has been brilliant but there are some facts to take into account.
1) How lucky (perhaps the sports science dept has a lot to take credit for) have we been with the lack of injuries. 2 or 3 key players going down would have really put us in the clag.
2) We have such a small squad that other than the odd youngster on the bench the whole squad has been involved in any game.
3) Discipline has been good (1 red card?) Just as well as indiscipline could have had the same effect as a run of injuries.
4) We do not have depth of quality on the bench. Sorry but we need better players than most of them.
5) Europe would cripple us next year without more quality players.
Despite all the above we have had a great season although I did predict a top 7 finish but in hindsight that was more to do with optimistic expectation rather than reality. Having said that we could still get that 7th spot.
Overall there has to be an influx of quality players over the summer 3/4 because i have my doubts that this squad would be as successful next season and it would in my view be a relegation battle.
I think Nuno know what he wants and will get some of them. My final thought is that 5 at the back is suspect with our current midfield (not that the players are poor just I don’t think are mobile enough for the system). We do not have the attacking nous when 2 banks of 4 or 5 are deep against us. We need quality centre backs to allow the extra player in midfield.
Sorry to drone on. It has been a wonderful season and I have faith in the club and Nuno. He did eventually follow my advise and put an extra player in midfield but I think the delay was more the lack of personnel to do this rather than dogma, until along came Dendoncker. Bright Enobakhare is setting the world alight at Coventry and I accept it is only League one but we had one or two playing at that level not long ago.
Excellent post. The media hype has been OTT at times and even when we are bad, we are never that poor. However, the table doesn’t lie and we need similar levels of investment again this summer to provide real competition for places. The team practically picks itself.
Excellent development at Vicarage rd tonight. Firstly Sandwell turd Foster makes a massive howler. Put that on Twitter you twat. Then Blue nose cheating thug Deeney gets sent off. They say God works in mysterious ways.
Fekin brilliant – Donkey Pig – just got sent on 10 minutes for forearm jab in face.
I hate Donkey Pig
Poor old Troy ! Pity really cus I wanted to see Coades and The Bol mister kick him up in the air! Dirty cheating bastard !
How ironic to hear the Watford faithful singing ‘ same old arsenal always cheating ‘ . Tacking the piss me thinks
Deeney is a loser. Ha ha ha ha ha.
I’m surprised at so many on here wanting to kick Mr Deeney when he’s down. Mmmm, now I think about it, maybe I’m not, actually.
Serves the cheating little git right.
What goes around comes around. I would have liked for him to be in team when we smash Watford at theirs. I can put up with a bit of arrogance if he had a special talent but Deeney’s seems to be all about niggling his opponent and bring them down to his level. He belongs in the 1970’s.
Quotes of the season, Part 1.
“Whenever I play Arsenal I’ll go up and think, let me whack the first one and see who wants it”.
Troy Deeney.
“Love this team! What a win against the Wo 1 ve 5.”
Ben Foster.
“Shove it up your fat hairy arses you gits!”
Mark Earl.
Ruddy shouldn’t be anywhere near the side again after his “performance” at Wembley.
That is ARRANT nonsense. (And I mean that in a very loving way).
No ‘keeper in the World would have saved their first goal.
The penalty – you win some you lose some.
The third goal was also perfectly placed. Ruddy had to cover his near post or he would have been crucified.
You might just as well argue that none of the defence should be anywhere near the team after their last TWO performances.
Is that an Island in Scotland?
If on reflection I ever decided to get a pet Giraffe. I would call it Troy. It is a nice name and there are not many Giraffes called Troy. I saw one in Dudley zoo once and to be honest I think that one was probably called Sharon. You could tell. She was dancing around her handbag in the cage. This particular Giraffe was the rare breed that owns a hand bag. It was highly unusual but it takes all sorts. Even Giraffes. I may look to marry Troy and Sharon up. they can create a junior Giraffe. The outcome would be unlikely to be as ugly as Troy Deeney.
Message to Deeney and Foster…
Talking of Messi, nice to see our next signing score 2 already, after 20 mins, against manure!!
52 minutes gone at The Camp Nou. Barcelona in total control. Reminds me very much of Man U’s last 2 visits to the Molineux
Just watched one of the best games you’ll see all season.
Man City ARE beatable then.
It shows how far we still have to go.
But we’re getting there.
Apparently the powers that be have determined that Wayne Hennessey has to learn more about Nazi Germany.
What the f is that about?