Stoke-on-Trent might not be the most glamorous place to visit, but there’s nowhere else I’d have rather been.
Seeing Wolves in the flesh for the first time in nearly 18 months felt so special and yet, so normal, like being at home again, albeit not at Molineux.
And the atmosphere generated in the away end made you forget it was a friendly; it meant so much more than that.
As for the action on the pitch; it wasn’t exactly a brave new dawn or an earth-shattering performance, but I came away from the bet365 Stadium feeling upbeat.
Whilst it would have been nice to create more clearcut chances (sound familiar?), the football produced by Bruno’s charges was more imaginative than anything we saw post-Project Restart under Nuno.
It was a breath of fresh air to have a goalkeeper who was eager to play out from the back – and actually half-decent at it. This filtered through the rest of the side, with Wolves naturally playing higher up the pitch. We looked more confident on the ball, which led to some decent movement (can’t remember the last time I said that!) and a number of attractive passages of play. Everything was that little bit quicker, looking to play through both the middle and out wide.
The biggest positive was unquestionably Raul. It’s as if he’s never been away. His goalscoring touch and sublime link-up play were as good as ever. There is nothing to worry about there.
I wasn’t disappointed by young Yerson either. I don’t want to get too carried away but this boy could be a bit special. Confident in possession, eager to get through plenty of defensive work and bags of pace.
Gibbs-White can hold his head high too after an encouraging second-half performance on the left. It was nice to see him ditch the fancy stuff and cause problems with some direct running and general willingness to get on the ball as much as possible.
As for the negatives, we still can’t defend set-pieces – Stoke’s goal from a corner was a bit of a mess. Trincao drifted in and out of the game and was knocked off the ball too easily, but I’m sure there’s more to come. Dendoncker is so woefully inadequate technically that I haven’t clue how he’s a Premier League midfielder – he certainly doesn’t look a natural fit for a more progressive style Brun’s trying to deploy And Fabio was infuriating when he came on; his first touch and decision making were so poor.
But I’m very much in a glass half full kind of mood.
I just hope that we sign a top-quality centre back, physical midfielder and another striker.
That’s a bit harsh on Dendoncker. I’m not necessarily a great fan of his but he manages to put in some decent midfield performances for Belgium and, yes, I’m perfectly well aware of who his international colleagues are. Midfield has been a must improve area for a considerable while but ,as yet, nothing has been done about it.
Still loads of work to do on and off the pitch. Short corners have returned again lead to nothing ended up passing backwards….why do we keep going short on corners Raul is in the box waiting, get the ball in the box…..for f..k sake.
Agree re: Dendonker ran around a lot but ineffective. Boly passed his best injury prone now it seems. Haven’t learnt how to defend set pieces still.
A lot of sideways passing midfield not getting into the game. One massive positive Raul but he needs support and service to many times he made a run only for the ball to be passed back wards and when he got the ball a lot of the time he was on his own with 3 Stoke players round him and no support.
I still think the squad in its current state is not big enough and doesn’t have the quality in depth. If we ignore the failing and don’t learn the lessons of last season and don’t strengthen the first 11 we are in for a long season.
Well I for one was encouraged by that..
Possession was good but not sideways, backwards etc.. there were many foreword passes between the lines…. and on quite a few occasions the ‘ball did the work’.
I thought the ref was too kind on occasions.. allowing obvious red and yellow to go ‘unwaved’ but overall.. very encouraging performance.
Shame on Batth for dragging back Jimenez , which normally would have been Red…. but as I say overall … yep .. I’ll have some more…
Cutrone I thought was unlucky not to score and Fabio Silva needs to up the ante.. otherwise he’s going to be the 2nd Robert Taylor.
And at last Trincao showed glimpses of what he can do..
I’m definitely feeling the vibes and can’t wait for the opener at The King Power stadium in two weeks time..
Would you be happy to go with the current squad without any more additions then, do think the squad is big enough and good enough to compete at the top half of the Premier League…?
This was Stoke we were playing a mid table Championship team at best.
Firstly Paul I thought it was a comment rather than a reply to your post..
But in reply.. no
I think the squad CERTAINLY needs strengthening…
Apart from Trincao and Mosquera we’ve not signed anyone … but I was genuinely encouraged today.
Not wholly, but encouraged.
We’re still not working the keepers but I thought we controlled the game and with a decent ref would have won the game..
So yes .. we need more personnel on board…
Fair comment, Me the only thing that was a positive for me was Raul and the new lad at the back but like I say this was Stoke.
We still need quality signings and quick so they can bed in.
Agree with you Paul regarding quality signings mate…
I for one would like to see Bruno succeed.. I’ve had enough of just .. ‘getting by’…
I remember seeing Dendonker 3 seasons ago when we played Everton away and he looked a class act. To say he’s gone backwards since would be an understatement and after starting Belgium’s first game at the Euros, he was substituted and only made the briefest of appearance in the remaining games. I tend to agree with Paddy about his technical inadequacies and he hasn’t added any value to our team for over a season now. He reminds me of Bez from the Happy Mondays – runs around a lot but ultimately there just making up the numbers.
The difference being that, although he just shakes his maracas and does dad dances nowadays, the Mondays are just not a complete band without Bez.
The same certainly can’t be said about the Donck.
Constructive comments.
Positives.
Raul`s back !!
Macal looks a solid defender. Much needed.
Traore looks a real threat, who could again work well with Raul
Yerson looks to have real long term potential
Sa looks to be a good acquisition
Negatives.
We still have no idea how to defend crosses and corners. A quality no nonsense central defender urgently required
We have no striker alternative to Raul. Should he be injured again we`d be up the creek big time. Silva is nowhere near the standard required for the Premiership. Lightweight. Should be sent out on loan.
Suggestion. Bring back Mir and give him a half decent chance. He`s still our player. Why continue to ignore him, when it`s clear he has made huge progress as a genuine striker ?
Overall conclusion. We`re on the right track. Glass half full for sure
I understand the problem with Mir is that he doesn’t want to play for us anymore.
I was quite encouraged .I thought we looked good going forward but the central defensive situation is a genuine concern .With this group of defenders we are going to concede lots of goals and that will not lead to a successful season .
I agree with giving Mir a go but I am afraid Nuno treated him so badly that he simple has no interest in returning .Although I would sell him anyway Cutrone feels the same way I suspect .For all his strengths I do think Nuno treated some players poorly .
If it’s about Nuno treating players badly then surely they will be eager to impress Bruno; new broom and all that. There’s got to be more to the Mir situation as, at the moment, he seems the best alternative to Raul unless we raid the market.
One other point .
I so so hope we keep Traore .He is a unique talent .If we have to sell I would sell Neves who although he has served the club very well is in my opinion replaceable and probably needs a fresh start .
Spurs impressed against MK Dons. They won 3-1 and should have won more, so I don’t know Paddy. It’s too easy to blame Nuno. I think the way Wolves played last season were because it was the way Nuno thought he would get the best possible result with the players he had to his disposal. It’s gonna be interesting to see which team scores the most goals this season ;=)
Pretty obious I would have thought and it won’t be us,unfortunately.
Well, I though the Donk looked the best I’ve seen him in a Wolves shirt, but that’s not saying much I guess. Thought we had some Man City-like fast passing interludes and Traore was magnificent at times. MGW is getting better, but that shot he had was a token effort rather than actually trying to score. On the whole, I like what Bruno is trying to do, but we look woefully short in midfield – the bit occupied by Neves and Moutinho unfortunately, so wouldn’t mind a bit of transfer activity in that area.
If we have real ambition for top 6 finish why are we not competing for Zuoma, Renato Sanchez/Bissuoma/ and Danny Ings/Jesse Lingard instead of trying to look for cut price deals.
Would sell dendoncor and Silva
Great idea, but the problem is that Silva is Shi`s blue eyed boy, who seemingly can do no wrong !
But far worse, even if we are willing to sell him, who would pay any real money for someone with so little talent ? Currently, this guy is no better than Division 1 standard. We would surely be faced with a massive loss on any sale.
But on a positive note, perhaps at last we are learning the lesson about paying out huge sums for unproven ‘ones for tomorrow ‘. In my opinion our biggest success in this transfer window so far, is that we`ve avoided lamming out a massive over-payment for the very limited, overvalued Vitinha
I actually think the Fosun decisions this time are sound so far with getting Ait Nouri at a good price, not getting Vitinha ,doing a smart loan deal for Trincao and doing what I believe will be a cracking deal for the young Colombian .
The problem is the glaring gaps are not being filled two weeks from the start in central midfield and central defence .That worries me a lot .
Some excellent performances all over the pitch though I think Semedo, Raul, MGW and Adama were standouts.
The defence still looks shaky however. Of course, when bringing in a new way of playing, the back line takes the longest to get organised. So new personnel alone may not be the answer. It may be needed though and we rely on the management to earn their corn and make the call.
Pretty pleased overall though, both with the style of play and the application shown by the players. Add Neto, Jonny, Podence and Big Willy to that squad and we ain’t looking too bad.
Trouble is that your extra four are all injured and it’s long odds on that we won’t be seeing the first two until next year when the season will be half gone. Never mind what will happen if we pick up new injuries; I think that, based on the evidence before us, Marcal won’t be too long away from the treatment table.
Meanwhile, Vitinha has been a wonder at Porto.
Agree with most of this. Still think Fabio has star written all over him. Gets into position. Hustles. Spent the off-season bulking up. He’ll have at least a couple of 25 goal seasons in the top five leagues. Hope we have the patience for that to be with Wolves.
Sorry I disagree. It`s very easy to be a wonder at Porto. But the Premiership is a very different standard. Nuno clearly decided last season that Vitinha is well short of the standard we need.
Negatives and positives we kneed a cb, cm, cf 3 worst teams than us It’s going to be a rollercoaster , wolves aie we.
It’s very easy to be a wonder at Porto? What a strange thing to say.
I was going to say the same. Are we considered a better club than Porto?
“It’s easy to be a wonder at Sporting”.
– mike (when Man U signed Cristiano Ronaldo)
Yes, he was unselfish and and unlucky not to thread the ball through to Cutrone against Stoke. The best option for Silva is probably to go out on loan in order for him to get most possible play time. If other players are signed and Rafa Mir comes back, he’d be way down the pecking order. But in Lage I trust.
Mir will probably go out on loan. But, Silva will undoubtedly be above mir in the pecking order
Brung a tear to me eye, it did!
Listening to “Si Senor” reverberating around a foreign stadium, like wot it did 18 years ago, pre covidorona.
Another friendly training session in the bag, two to go, then off to the Kung Poo Stadium in deepest, darkest Lester.
Wot I really love, and y’all know my propensity for taking the piss, is the plethora of clever football managers on this and other blogs.
We need a cf, a mf, a cd, a wcd, a cdm, an fbi, a cia etc. etc. etc.
Shit, to listen to some of you, the whole team needs replacing, as well as the tiny stadium.
Yes, you are entitled to your opinions, but don’t start bitching and throwing your toys out the pram until the season unfolds, if you need to.
Well, some of you will never be happy, even if we won the Triple, there would be some of you complaining we missed out on the quadtrupler, or Fosun don’t love us enough to spend all their money, except at the Dollar Store, or Poundland.
There’s more to life than moaning how other people spend their money.
If you don’t like the end product, sod off down the poorthorns, where your miserable faces will fit in well.
Totally racked off in Texas
Clive, that`s a crap attitude.
We`re all commenting on here only because Wolves is our team and we`re committed. Just like you, we`ve all got the right to express our opinions, right or wrong, and sometimes this means constructive criticism, because maybe we`re concerned with what`s happening.
To listen to you, we should all be singing glory glory hallelujah irrespective of what is happening to our team. Why not get some prayer mats out so we can kneel and pay homage to Fosun ?
So quit moaning just because some of us dare to express an opinion.
Oh, and by the way, isn`t it time you got on your ‘Let`s Get Rid of Traore cos he`s crap ‘ bandwagon ? Or, is this silence a sign of the more considerate and patient Clive which none of us knew was waiting to step out of the shadows ?
PS. Maybe it`s you who should consider transferring allegiance to Sandwell — you could be just the man to live up those nerds who have so little to look forward to.
As well as Up arrow and down arrow can we have a third button called “Shadow Dweller Alert” – the SDA button.
When pressed it will alert the rest of us that a sandwell town supporter has passed a comment rather than watching the sh**e get relegated for another year.
I will then be able to ignore all these supposed comments.
What the hell has happened to Tim?
I thought I should reserve comment until seeing us live. Went to Coventry today. Notwithstanding pre season context, I’d say it was a contest between an average pl side and a very average championship side. Without acquisitions I’d be surprised if we finish above mid table. If we sell neves and Traore I’d fear for us. Some decent young talent such as Marques and Mosquera on show but the likes of them,
ait nouri, hoever, kilman etc really should not be considered to be anything more than bench/ squad players in a team aspiring to European football . If we can keep neves and Traore and make 2-3 decent acquisitions we could be in or around top six. Over to you Fosun.