The last time I was writing a European match report, we were all giddy with excitement about travelling the continent.
Now some are talking about the Europa League as if its the worst thing to happen since the Bhatti brothers.
If you believe everything you read on Twitter, we’re in meltdown.
Thankfully, most of us are long enough in the tooth to know this is an adventure we could only have dreamed about not so long ago.
We should embrace it while we can, because there’s no guarantee it’ll be a regular occurance in the years to come.
That said, I’m not naïve enough to ignore what’s in front of me.
Wolves are badly out of sorts, especially at the back.
Tonight’s performance was an improvement on Saturday, but you can’t legislate for the error which cost us the game.
It’s the latest in an ever-growing list and I can’t put my finger on why we’ve forgotten how to defend all of a sudden. Nuno will need to nip it in the bud if we’re to get up and running.
As we all know from past experience of watching Wolves, defensive instability will sap a team of confidence to the point where defeat becomes routine.
I don’t think we’re anywhere near that point yet, as we’re only two months into the season, but if we don’t get some wins out of the Palace, Reading and Watford games I might begin to wonder.
Tonight’s a hard one to take because I thought Braga were there to be beat. Sure, they’re a neat and well-organised side but the truth is we made it pretty easy for them.
We were so predictable and ponderous in possession that it was straightforward for them to regroup whenever we wrestled the ball back.
The refusal to pass to Traore when he came on was something that particularly irritated me. Over a year after he arrived at the club, I still don’t know why Nuno signed him. An exciting prospect, but clearly not suited to our system.
Neves is playing far too deep for my liking too. If Moutinho isn’t playing, you need our midfield maestro playing higher up so that we can make the most of his clinical eye. Tonight he was virtually a fourth centre back.
With my glass as half-full, if Cutrone scores in the first half it’d have been a different game.
We’re a stroke of luck from turning this bad run around.
I just hope we do it soon.
I’ve been lucky enough to watch the last two games on the last leg on my world trip in India.
The Chelsea performance was unfortunate, especially as there was a Chelsea Indian contingent watching it with me in my hostel!
However, last night I thought wolves looked back to their best at times. Passing seemed slicker and more cohesive, especially the move that led to the donks chance. On another day Cutrone scores a couple.
Yes the defence can tighten up a bit but, for me, this season is about consolidation in the premier League. Don’t get relegated and have a bit of fun in Europe then build from there, that’d be a success.
I’m still enjoying every game, although the Delhi Belly meds may be given me some golden tinted glasses!
It was clear Europa league has come to early for us as a club but you say embrace it.Anything that may threaten our place in the premier league is not something to be embraced.I would bin it now -play the kids. We never going to win anyway.100% now on Premier league games.
Imagine you worked really hard at your job, got a promotion, with all your normal duties plus additional superior responsibilities… Then when the time comes that you’ve been looking forward too, the reason you joined the club, the vision you were sold, just to be told some apprentices are going to get the fruits of your labour. I don’t know about you but I’d be pissed.
Footballers want to play football. They want to play all the time. They want to play at the highest standard. It’s not a straight forward game, one mistake can cost 3 points, one piece of brilliance can win 3 points. Game plans go out the window in a second, problem solving is part of management. Us fans may think ‘premier league is priority’, as if Nuno doesn’t know that…
Nunos philosophy is every game is worth fighting for, to prove to all that you deserve to be where you are. I say play the best team available in every game.
Good write-up mate.
‘Flat’ is how I would describe the whole evening.
UEFA must have a strong say-so on music, pyrotechnics, etc as all those things that have made Molineux feel like the place to be for the last two seasons – even before kick-off – were absent.
I think Nuno was right to reinstate the tried and trusted back five, but without Jota we lacked devilment going forward or the ability to beat a man to open up space.
As you say Ben, Cutrone had a couple of openings and would have changed the game had he taken them. He’s a decent enough player but as my old man commented, it feels like he should be playing alongside Jota, not in his place.
Braga were very, very average so it was depressing we didn’t extend them more – before and after they took the lead.
Need a couple of wins in the next week to lift morale.
Firstly I want to apologise for my outburst on the previous thread. I’d had a few beers and when my team Wolverhampton Wanderers are hurt. So am I. I can take constructive criticism of the team performance, managers tactics etc. What pisses me off is the outlandish conspiracy theories that suddenly crop up on other social media Wolves forums. Just because we lose a game. Any way. Last night. Certainly an improvement on Saturday. But against lesser opposition. We need to start on the front foot. We need to get the all important first goal. We need a bit of luck. I have noticed that we seem to have lost the ‘spark’ of last season although there were plenty of games when we didn’t look brilliant then. Watford. Huddersfield. Cardiff. Palace to name a few. People need to remember that. BUT we need a win. We need it starting at Palace. A scruffy, horrible 1-0 win with a penalty in the 89th minute will do.
…… post in wrong location. Sorry.
I thought we played much better and despite the Bennet blunder defended much better .We have yet to have any luck as loose balls in the box not falling our way and Cutrone should be taking at least one if his chances .
Still Ithink these six games are magical as a Wolves fan and I intend to savour them all as I doubt we will be playing in Europe again anytime soon .
Consolidation is the name of the game this season .We have probably just reached this level a bit too soon from where we were two years ago .As long as we don’t get relegated I will accept a modest PL season for the Europa experience .
We do need a win from somewhere though that is for sure .
Yep .. got to agree .. a much improved performance and if we play like that at palace then a win creates confidence and we could be back to business
Don’t know what’s been going on with Ryan Bennet but after he made the mistake his head dropped and his strong confidence seemed to ebb away
.chin up Ryan , you ve been superb for a couple of seasons.. it’s just s blip !
Much better tho !
Didn’t deserve to lose
U t w
Loved the game of thrones Europa thing on the screens at half time could
Any of you clever techies put it on here ?
We had our team back last night, right up to the point where Bennett skewed his pass onto the legs of the winger, then Coady came flying across to cover, but so did Boly, this left Horta wide open to slot it home.
Then Bennett lost all confidence and just would not attempt a pass forward after his misfortunate error, we took non of the glaring chances that were opened up for us and that was the difference between the two sides in an evenly matched game.
Had we taken one of those chances presented to Cutrone, Jimenez, Dendonker and Neves we could have all been singing a different tune and I would have been able to get some sleep.
After playing as we did I’m left feeling well and truly gutted.
How on earth did we lose that game.
Ce la vie.
C’est la vie.
Pedant.
Very disappointed with yet another pretty lacklustre performance in truth.
Ponderous, pedestrian & predictable when we try to move it from the back with Neves deeper than Bennett & the opposition getting 10 men behind the ball.
But as has been pointed out if Cutrone had had the Steve Bull touch we could have been in a very different place. He wasted a gilt edged opportunity. Maybe should’ve had 2.
The heads dropped but Jota & Moutinho livened things up. Hopefully Jota & Jiminez can do to Palace on Sunday what we all know they’re capable of & our season can get going.
Two wins are what the Doctor needs & ordered.
On a final note MGW had a few good moments in the 1st half, one beautiful through ball gave Cutrone a good chance. MGW’s pace adds something different for us. With Dendoncker seemingly off his game maybe a midfield of MGW, Neves & maestro Moutinho would prosper. But with nerves all round think Dr Nuno will revert back to his last season’s trusted 11, & hope we have enough to lift all of us out the doldrums.
Cheesy I wouldn’t say that was an outburst, you just got a few things off your chest & I don’t blame you!!
We played better last night but we still don’t look as sharp (IMO) as did last season. Cutrone should have had at least 1 goal & had he scored if would have been a different match I think. Team seemed to deflate after the goal went in.
It’s already been said that the team can’t become bad overnight but Nuno needs to fix a few things – which I’m sure he will! I also agree with what Paul’s been saying with our squad not being big enough for Europe – I thought a few more would arrive over the summer but I was mistaken.
I’m not starting to panic (yet) but a win is badly needed this weekend!
At the moment, we’re like a high performance car that is desperately in need of fine tuning.
Everything seems to be in place, there’s a powerful motor waiting to roar into life… but there’s just no spark getting through to the plugs.
Nuno needs to get out his feeler gauges and adjust the points – so we actually start picking some up.
To me, we looked pedestrian in everything we did, whereas Braga were lively and quick in their counter attacks.
Neves played so deep that at one point he actually bumped into Coady going after the ball on the edge of our penalty area.
Do we really need a back six?
Dendoncker spent most of the time doing a passable impression of Bedford Wolf’s old favourite, Dangerous Dave. Lots of running about but not much contact with the ball. The difference is that Dave Edwards would run a lot quicker and would chip in with a fair number of goals every season.
I felt sorry for Bennett, because ironically, until his howler, I thought our defence looked pretty solid. After the mistake he lost confidence and that made our moving the ball from defence even slower than before.
I’m not one of those fickle fans that turn on the team after a couple of poor performances. Patience is required, we don’t need to break the team up – just get it playing LIKE a team.
Only a couple of weeks ago, a lot of fans were saying “What does Conor have to do to get in the England squad?”.
Now it’s “Get him out, he’s not good enough to wear a Wolves shirt”.
I’ve said before that Nuno needs to start earning his daily bread, or his Godlike status is going to start going downhill at a rate of knots.
But he’s done it before. A successful manager and team don’t become bad overnight.
We must get through this poor patch.
And I believe we will.
Rumour has it that a Japanese High Priestess has cursed Fosun for their involvement in The Dolphin massacres in Taiji Japan. …seems to have rubbed off on Wolves. Kj
Enjoyed seeing our obvious improvement in the match last night despite losing. Braga were organised and very competitive- a lot like us last season but without our cutting edge. A bit more composure from our two most inexperienced players- MGW and Cutrone- in the first half and we would have won comfortably. Thought Jonny had his best game for ages and Wily was immense at the back. Give credit where its due, we looked back to our best for patches in the game. Significantly, Bragas winner came from our mistake. Agree entirely with the comments re Bennett’s and Cody’s lack of confidence. Traore was the key to winning- substitution too long in coming IMO and he received minimal ball despite having the freedom of the wing at times. As Doog says above just a little bit of fine tuning and luck required. I’m loving this EL, can still qualify and reach PL safety.
I think we need to tweak the formation 4 1 3 2
Patricio
Doc Bennett Boly Jonny
Coady just in front
Moutinho Neves Vinagre
Jota Jimenez
I am about to contradict myself here but here goes….
I only ever post a comment when I am truly despondent about our situation with the club as a whole; not just what’s happening on the pitch.
I have not posted since the days of 3M (or 2M to be strictly accurate)
Though Braga were tidy – Palinha a strong defensive midfielder, Bruno Viana a solid central defender and Galeno was impressively quick – even matched Traore stride for stride near the end. No shame in losing to them, but we can play so much better.
Seems that theres a bit of staleness about our play currently. Don’t get me wrong, we weren’t poor last night, just a bit slow and ponderous – passes under or over hit, wrong options taken. I thought MGW had probably his best game yet in a Wolves shirt and Jonny and Boly were also back to something like form. But with Neves playing so deep and games passing Dendoncker by we are being out-manoeuvered in midfield. Whilst that continues we won’t be creating too many clear-cut chances. Something for Nuno to address.
This Europa malarkey is simple when playing away, most teams sit back and hit the opposition on the break
This is possibly why some pundits predicted us to be good in this competition as it suits the Way we play.
I read somewhere that wolves are the only team in the prem that hasn’t been in front at any stage so far this season, can’t be bothered to check but it sounds about right,
We just need the first goal. Problem is we have a certain penchant for starting slow !
Simple then ,,,,,,, take the lead against palace,,,,,,,, we win
Utw
Ps. Loving being in Europe
Well they’re wrong mate.
We were ahead at Leicester for about 10 minutes (seemed that long to me any road). Then VAR put us back to 0-0.
Bugger
Gotta be more clinical in front of the net.
Will be interesting to see the xGoals stats. I’m sure we won by those.
No doubt as to effort or commitment. But, although much better than Saturday, we are not playing with the pace, confidence and verve of last season. With such a small squad, it appears that the accumulation of many games in a short period has resulted in mental fatigue.
In my opinion a real problem which is impacting team performance is the role of Nevez. Is this a deliberate ploy by Nuno ? With him playing so deep we are left with a depleted midfield, which the better teams will fully exploit. Worse, his much needed creative talents are being wasted. Surely, he should be playing further forward.
Every team goes through a short bad patch, and this is our time. But, we have not become a bad team overnight. Sunday is another day, another opportunity. Regaining confidence and belief is the key, and victory at Palace, no matter how gained, will change the whole mood, of the squad.