It’s nearly that time of year again.
And if there was any doubt about what needs to be at the top of Nuno’s letter to Santa before this game, there isn’t now.
The need for a goalscorer is clear, and is starting to become a major problem.
No disrespect to Huddersfield, they did their job well today.
But it’s a pretty damning indictment of your attack when you manage to muster only one meaningful chance against a team that had shipped 22 goals heading into this fixture.
Opposition manager David Wagner must be thinking Christmas had come early, given the meek nature of our performance.
So many good players were off colour, and our play was so predictable.
Quite frankly, it was painful to watch at times.
What’s concerning is that Nuno made no effort to tweak the system, despite it being all too clear that Town had us sussed from the off.
Changing players will do nothing unless they’re giving the opposition something different to think about.
Adama Traore and Morgan Gibbs-White were both improvements on what they replaced, but were ultimately shoehorned into the same formation.
That meant the former had to spend most his time chasing lost causes, and the latter trying to win headers against a guy twice his size.
I’m not for one minute suggesting I know better than the gaffer, but our problems were glaringly obvious today.
And with it now being five games since we tasted victory, you’d suspect we’re going to have to try something different to break the slump.
Whether Nuno is inclined to do that remains to be seen, but belligerent devotion to one style of play is beginning to look naive in a division that doesn’t leave a lot of margin for error.
That being said, it’s important we don’t lose perspective. We’ve come a long way in a short space of time, and a bump in the road should be expected.
Let’s hope the Sky cameras are kinder to us on Friday.
I agree, it was pretty obvious from the first half that 2 against 3 in midfield was not working. We need to have a Plan B. 2 at the back (CBs) to 2 up top? something that mixes it up.
After hearing good things about the Arsenal performance it was a pretty wretched watch from here in Finland.
I’ve packed up shipped home and at present eating humble pie ! What a shower of shit this afternoon. Can’t blame Neves going to Juventus we were awful I mean proper shambolick . Kept giving. the ball away time after time and young Vinagre looked way out of his depth.God help us at Cardiff!
This is not the championship Huddersfield are better than their results have shown and they made us look very poor today. I feel the bubble has burst and we are in a dog fight with 10 other teams to stay up
Considering Neves had a bad game, I don’t think he will think that way.
So we’ve played 2 bad games out of 13 and people are saying we have to change our style?
That means we are playing good games at a 84.6% rate.
Yes, we need to be able to score more but that is not down to our style of play, it is down more to the abilities of our forwards.
Nuno is not going to change the style of play just because we have some stinkers against some lower table teams.
Let’s face it. The passing was atrocious and that has nothing to do with the shape.
Neves made at least one pass onto the foot of an opposition player in our final third and let the ball sail by him into the net when he was part of the wall for the second goal.
If he can’t move 6 inches to the left to try to stop the ball, what is the point in having him as part of the wall? He looked scared and just cost us 20 million pounds :^)
And why was Costa a few feet away from the wall? What was the point in that?
I think Traore played reasonably well. One almost assist. He can fall down as much as he wants if he can make a cross like that each 1/2 game.
Cav shouldn’t be playing on the left side. I wonder if that is why he had a poor game.
On the positive side, we’ve now played 2 poor games so there is at least enough of a sample base to try to see why.
Tim, I don’t think anyone is saying change our style of play……..just have something up our sleeve when it’s not working….!
tim, i never thought i would say this but i completely agree with you
I’m as embarrassed as you are.
The most inept, pathetic and utterly crap performance since Nuno took over.
If I had as many bad days at the office as our last five games, I would be sacked, and I’m self employed!
We couldn’t string one pass together, let alone two, and getting to the second ball?
Not once.
Not a single shot on target, just one header which should have gone in.
Colin away on Friday and Chelsea to follow.
This past month, my friends, has been relegation quality.
Not a single player can hold up his head and say he had an ok game.
Maybe John Ruddy will return to the scene of one of his finest hours on Friday?
The only saving grace is that we are so crap after our players have been away on international duty that they will hopefully not get picked by their countries next time.
Pissed off in Texas
Good message, Clive. My first reaction was, like many other fans, to blame our sussed-out strategy. But, on reflection, no! I agree with you.
The problem yesterday was not mainly our formation and strategy, but our attitude and competence. This team has shown plenty of passion and an admirable work rate in several games this season. But not yesterday.
If the team plays this listlessly and, as you say, can’t string one pass together never mind two, it doesn’t matter what tactics we use.
The Wolves performance was summed up by Matt Doherty’s sleepy walk back while the Terriers scored their first goal. And by Raul Jimenez’s one-on-one break when he was onside because a Terrier’s player was hurt. Suddenly Raul hesitated for no reason and then passed the ball into empty space. Totally ineffective! Unbelievable and incompetent.
The team has become spectacularly inconsistent. Why has this happened? God knows! The team can play much better than this, and, if there is a cure, it is at Mol.
Well said Clive. This looked just the same shambles when viewed in Panama City
One thing which is increasingly obvious is the fact that we NEVER seem to be able to start a game positively. We always seem to allow our opponents to gain the early initiative — it`s almost like our players believe they only have to get on the pitch and the opponents will roll over and capitulate. Then, there is the inevitability of the urgent need for a second half fight back. But this time it just didn`t happen. Huddersfield just stuck to their knitting and continued to play us off the park. They fully deserved their victory.
This overconfidence might have worked in the Championship, but there are no easy games this time around. Attitudes urgently need to change, if we are to avoid the wheels falling off.
I watched the game over breakfast. I just could not believe my eyes at what I was witnessing. I was sitting there with my mouth open in disbelief at the team. I would never have imagined they could drop their standards so much over 2 weeks. It was dreadful and I am still in shock. I hope this is just a one off because I want to continue looking oh so forward to the games here in Texas.
Come on Wolves ….get a grip!!
Well that was a fucking horror show but a least I wasn’t one of the plastic premier league fans that we’re booing at half time
These are the pricks that have somehow found themselves in front of me for away tickets after my 36 years of loyal following
Booing at half time .. I ask you. ? Lol
Well said London .
Well said London. Me too, season ticket in ‘the new stand’ since it opened (with red seats!). Away games too, now because of working overseas, not able to get enough points for an away ticket!
For the first time, Nuno is worrying me.
His “We will not change the way we play” stance is an open invitation to every team in the division to play four in midfield, double team Neves and Moutinho, and press and harry our central defenders and wing backs.
It’s happened twice so far this season and we’ve been found woefully lacking both times.
We end up looking like a rather poor championship side. Giving the ball away, being muscled off the ball and not being able to create any chances of note.
He HAS to have a plan B for when teams do this to us or we will end up in a relegation dogfight.
And Cardiff, on Friday, are going to do just that.
Cav and Costa were absolutely terrible today. Doherty looked like he couldn’t be bothered to break into a trot and Neves looks like the talk of Juventus or Man Citeh has scrambled his brains.
Patricio was horribly at fault for the second goal and Big Willy looked lumberingly slow.
Whether it’s a mass bad day at the office, another International break hangover, or teams ‘finding us out’, will become more obvious after Friday.
But this was a truly dreadful performance against a good Huddersfield side who could have won by four.
Colin Wanker will be licking his lips.
Let’s hope that we revert to the Wolves we have grown to love over the last few months and not the clueless bunch that we were today.
Spot on DG. I hope he adds an extra midfielder at Cardiff to give Ruben and Moutinho some help.
Also agree with London above re half time booing.
UTW!
How can one extra man in midfield destroy our system?
Was anything learned against Watford?
More needed than a striker? A ball winning battling midfielder that protects neves in these games.!
Karl Henry would have made more impact today than moutinho.
Dendoncker is the man! And he’s a far better player than Karl Henry.
I said these type of games are harder than playing the Man U’s and so it proved.
I agree the lack of a plan B is worrying because teams will study our style as Uddersfield did and Palau a system to conter act it and so it proved.
When does a slump become a crisis…..well this is not a crisis……BUT we need to to adapt to situations in games when things are not working we need to be able to try something different to come up with something that will supprise teams and put them on the back foot.
If we are a become a one trick pony…..we are in for a long season. We play sublime football at times and have had many plaudits but we also need to grind out results do the ugly stuff and win ugly and show the Premier League we can mix it up when we need to.
P.S a out and out PROVEN striker would not go a miss !
RE: the ” out and out PROVEN striker………..yeah I know as rare a rocking horse shit……….but may be not this time of year….?
I was in complete agreement with the 12th man before this game, this was ours & 3 points firmly in the bag.
During & after the game it was as said a very poor game as Wolves in the now are much better than that performance.
Games against Spurs, Arsenal we should have got 4 possible 6 points from so what went wrong? I wish I knew but hey we can all agree today we were poor to a man.
Friday against Colin WILL be a different game again.
We’re still 8 points clear of relegation & have had the best football down the Mol & on the road during the past 12 months that I can still ever remember.
Let’s not change it because of this game. And Ben sorry but we could have added 2 x number 9’s today & if we couldn’t supply they still wouldn’t score – end of.
Nuno please don’t compromise based on this one off horror show but please let’s see Colin with a titty lip next Friday.
And as for the bell-ended tossers that boo’ed MY team today, do us all a favour & fek off to Sandwell Town – you know who you are & you’re are a disgrace & not welcome in the golden palace.
It`s difficult not to be disappointed, after such a crap display. But remember guys, this is the team– and the method — which saw us give Arsenal such a torrid time just one game back. A performance that was widely acclaimed. Today was a bad day for sure, but this is definitely not the time to begin doubting Nuno, or to turn on the team.
That said , the lack of goals has been a season long problem for us, and one which is worsening. It is the case that whilst we certainly have fast and skilled players, so that usually we play very attractive penetrating football, we have no natural finishers. Week after week great scoring opportunities are scorned. In my humble opinion, the signing of a confident “in the box poacher ” able to convert the good work of others with some reliability, has now become a critical issue. Failure to address this urgent need in January will likely result in us enduring a very uncomfortable second half of the season.
For now, why do we not include on the bench one of the juniors, such as Ennis, who are scoring freely for the under 23`s. It would at least give us some different options up front, and put pressure on some none performing incumbants
One other matter worthy of comment. Today`s performance, draws attention to the quality and contribution of Otto. Without him on the left flank of our defense we looked very vulnerable . He is going to be sorely missed during the coming weeks
Here’s the thing. We aren’t scoring anyway so Nuno should just tell the players to fire away at the net and not worry about anything. Don’t overthink it. Diogo, just shoot. Helder, just shoot. Raul, just shoot.
Can’t get less than 0 goals.
And what exactly is our style or philosophy?
Is it to play 3-4-3?
Is it to counter attack?
Is it to not park the bus?
Is it to not be intimidated and just play every team as though we have a chance to win?
Maybe we are reading too much into the term “our philosophy”. We really don’t know exactly how it is defined.
You actually have to have the ball, and be reasonably near to goal (25 yards will do), to shoot Tim. We hardly achieved either the whole game so you are rather oversimplifying the problem a tad.
Apparently the table does lie….bastard
We were woeful, it seems we can only get up for the big games. And I got out of bed at 3am on a Monday morning to watch that tribe. Still, onward and upward I hope
Although we are really struggling to score from open play, we somehow look even less likely to score from set pieces (except hopefully Neves free kicks in shooting range – and even they looked awful today).
From their corners, opposition teams look like scoring (and get some free headers)
From our corners, opposition teams are as much chance of scoring on the break as we are from the corner.
I think we need better plans at both ends.
Yes that was garbage as all have said. Why Nuno remains stubborn in keeping two in midfield is beyond me.
Moutinho didn’t deserve to come off. We needed to go 3 in midfield & two up top to combat a team that were outplaying us through high pressing & overwhelming us in midfield. Billings, Mooy & Hogg, I think it was, outmannned our midfield duo & rendered us ineffectual.
A static moribund defensive display, a holy wall presumably set up by Patricio for Mooy’s second, a misfiring striker & hopeless control of the ball through stray passes & poor control made this an afternoon to forget, & reminded me of the grey days before Nuno when we’d lose against Wigan etc.
Yes a miserable afternoon at Molineux, 3 home defeats in a row sets the alarm bells ringing.
Be interesting to see what the team is against Cardiff, need some fresh legs & fresh impetus to halt the rut.
MGW looked good, Traore, if only he could stop falling over, created several moments of danger but other than that it was dire from our team.
The top teams just play their natural game against us & give us space but those outside the top 6 know how to beat us as Watford & Huddersfield have shown.
Maybe it was just a reaction after the International break & we are worrying unduly & normal service will be resumed at Cardiff. Let’s hope so.
The writing is on the wall, our philosophy has well and truly been sussed out. We are in a relegation fight whether we like it or not. After a 2 week break the boys should have been well up for this game. How can you ask the support not to boo when they sit and watch such utter crap, I sat there in complete frustration and those around me could only react to what they were watching. We were terrible with a Capital ‘T’. Colin will be licking his lips at the prospect of playing our totally disorganised team and their complete lack of passion and effort for the game. I’m afraid this game just highlighted Nuno’s lack of footballing knowledge and expertise, even Dean Saunders could have organised the team better. I do not want to suffer that humiliation again, I will tape the Friday game and read the reports online, win, lose or draw, if we play a more structured game I will then watch it. After 50 years of watching Wolves I honestly thought we had turned a corner, but I feel really let down again. UTW
Yes can totally understand your frustration, supporters I spoke to after were shell shocked more than anything. They couldn’t believe how bad we were.
Neves giving the ball away 2nd half to them in a dangerous place could’ve led to a third goal down. His free kicks were woeful, & it seemed he didn’t stand up to the free kick Mooy scored.
He’s fallible I guess! Don’t agree with the booing, but could understand the emptying of the stadium before the end. It was the way we lost & like it or like it not there were high hopes that we would have enough to beat bottom of the table Huddersfield. Nuno says find solutions & work hard this week.
We do need something a bit different as well Costa & , Jota have looked short more often than not this season & I’d like to see MGW get a first team slot over both of them. Feel he could play as part of a midfield 3 or behind Jimenez & another striker. Maybe try Bonatini with Jimenez? I don’t know, but hope Nuno does. Talk of Dean Saunders is too much, it brings back darkness out of light!
I understand your frustration Bill but saying that Dean Saunders could have organised the team better is taking things a bit TOO far.
He couldn’t organise the proverbial piss up at the Hopshop.
Nuno does have to be able to counter these tactics though, or we WILL be in trouble.
Just a few thoughts on what I watched and what I have read, on here mostly.
We were out thought and out fought. They won the 50/50’s. They picked up all the second balls. They pressed us remorselessly and didn’t really flag as the match wore on, as I expected them to.
I like Doherty, but after giving them the ball before their goal, he then ambled back like he was out for a Sunday afternoon stroll instead of trying to rectify his critical mistake.
You can’t be a wuss if you’re on the end of a defensive wall. Ruben didn’t need to move towards the ball to block it. He just had to stand his ground. Pathetic!
They outnumbered us in midfield. But to me, that means we outnumbered them somewhere else on the park unless they’d sneaked a twelfth man onto the pitch. Use that space.
Deeply disappointing display. Things can only get better.
We outnumbered them in our defence (5 at the back) and that space is no good for scoring goals. We were outnumbered in the vital midfield engine room where we were outmuscled and outplayed.
It’s a bit bleedin’ obvious…..
That when the opposition put 5 players in midfield, as both Watford and now Huddersfield did:
1. They’ll be all over Neves and Moutinho like a rash and stop them (the side) from playing.
2. Any loose balls in the middle of the park are, through sheer weight of numbers, going to go to the opposition.
3. Latching onto loose midfield balls the opposition swarm forward against our back 3, and as our wingbacks are committed upfront, we are are very vulnerable on the flanks viz. the first Huddersfield and Watford goals.
Neither Watford or Huddersfield allowed Wolves to play and Costa/Cavaleiro just weren’t given time on the ball, so the whole side was misfunctioning. Good sides will set out to play football and allow Wolves to play (Man City/Man Utd/Arsenal), others like Watford, Huddersfield, and more than likely Cardiff, will pack the midfield and strangle the life out of our game. Put simply, it’s a tactical issue, so when you see the opposition packing the midfield you have to change your formation. I’ve not seen him play, and he could be an absolute dobbin, but Dendoncker is rumoured to be pretty mean in midfield. At least he might give some solidity when we’re being overrun.
Whilst Nuno is stuck on “we play the way we want to play”, he needs to realise that against some of the also-rans that philosophy will lead to giving away points. I don’t know about Plan B, but we also need a Plan C and D, in which case we’d be doing more than fighting to survive.
Never at it, woeful passing, mgw did ok when he came on and Traore at least tried things, Costa, Cav and Doherty (What did Martin O neill think of that display ?)thought vinaigre did ok but perhaps not as Boly seemed to have a lot to do.
Should have gone to 3 in mid and reduced strikers but for 1.8cm it could have been 1-1 but clutching at straws. On to the next
Don’t panic mr mainwaring , Nuno will sort it.
It all started so well, we stuffed the wallabies, set up a Sri Lankan whitewash in the cricket and Hamilton was doing celebratory doughnuts at the Final formula one race , then the clock ticked midnight and the main event kicked off ,, well non event really wasn’t it
I’m not getting carried away with one game though, it wasn’t just the players who perhaps thought the points were already in the bag was it , every pundit and bookies had us for a wil (7-1 against an away win) and if you look back at our predictions I think you will find we were a tad over optimistic too ,
I’m not sure how many Huddersfield players were away on international duty but we were almost to a man , off our game and credit has to go to them for being up for it , similarities to us playing at arsenal a couple of weeks ago !
I don’t agree with changing our philosophy either, it’s served us well up to now and this is mainly a young team getting to grips with a new league so back off and give them support,
We haven’t been exposed, we just didn’t play our game good enough, if we had of then we probably would have won. Every body knows how man City and Liverpool play but that doesn’t mean we will all beat them now !!
Cardiff 0
Nuno s wolves 2
Utw
I think they had seven away on Int’ duty Marney.
Thanks wolfstroker,maybe they just wanted this more than us !
Utw
Negatives:
Huddersfield were better than us. In the same way that Watford were better than us.
The writing is on the wall. We can be out thought.
Nino is as stubborn as MM!
My hero Neves -don’t stand in the wall with your elbow protecting your face. Watch the ball.
POSSITVES:
Class is permanent.
Long pause…. .
We have matched the best in this league.
We did not play well but we are far far better than that.
It was painful to watch on the box at home.
Im just glad i didn’t stay in the pub as it was so embarrassing and the boozer was full of vile twats jumping up and down.
So thats twice now we have been done by so called inferior opposition.
Wont be long before they all play us like that if we dont change to combat the blindingly obvious imbalance in midfield.
Their man in midfield won everything on match of the day stats and good old nuno comes out with “It was probably one of the worst performances we have had. We have to take a good look, find out why and prepare better.”
Sorry mate but it was obvious after the first couple of minutes they were going to copy watford and you did nothing about . Not even for the second half !
Cardiff will copy this, have no doubt about that so nuno you need to get your thinking cap on and sort this out .
So many players were so bad its weird, almost as though they had been hypnotized into being shite.
Had cav ever played football before? was doherty out on the piss Saturday night? had neves had a his hair done and didn’t want to mess it up ? did traore have any studs in his boots ? was Bennett supposed to be right wing back after doherty disappeared into thin air ?
All a huge mystery as to what the hell goes on during these international breaks but i get a sneaky feeling that Portugal gets visited and molineux shuts down for a fortnight or at least thats what it looks like .
if not then what goes so wrong that we always produce a performance where it looks like no one knows each other and we have to start from scratch ?
On to the sheep shaggers and bigger shin pads will be needed as well as a plan b.
Hopefully the players will get to know each other over the next few days and cav will watch some videos of who he used to be.
We were terrible yesterday.Full credit to Huddersfield who probably should have won by more. The good thing about this league is you probably only need to win ten or eleven games and draw a few to stay in it. So glass half full shows we probably need 7 more wins from 25 games and we are safe. I back this team to learn that in the premier league there are no easy games. We played a Huddersfield team who are used to the rigours and are battle hardened. They are used to getting beat but also know how to hang in there. I know we all want our team to be better than that but like I have said before small steps and let’s get those 6 or 7 wins as soon as possible. FWAW!
It’s all been very well reviewed above and we were well beaten. However, my one overriding emotion is one of embarrassment- yes, we can be accused of arrogance in thinking we only needing to turn up to beat the bottom of the table club. Embarrassed by the idiots booing at half time- the lout in Row R North Bank foul mouthed every player for the whole 95 minutes, by our poor passing, by the International break impact excuses when MOTM Mooys travelled 21000 miles, ran 7.5 miles and scored two beauties. Embarrassed by Costa and Neves limp wristed wall- the pictures don’t lie-We need numbers and muscle in midfield for Colin’s mob. I thought Jimi tried hard and too much is being expected of him, we can’t play two wingers against the bottom teams. Now let’s get behind the lads I thought the Mol was a morgue, even in the old days there was a bloody minded roar of ‘get into em’. Roll on Friday.
I’m with you on the boohing, people need to realise that when Nuno walked in we would have ripped the arm off of anyone offering us the position we are in now, mid table in the Prem having played some fantastic football against some very good teams and got some great results. Yes it was an awful performance but to booh I think is a disgrace, it makes our fans look clueless. We are a newly promoted team who are having a decent season. A bit of patience and understanding when we have an off day wouldn’t go amiss. I’m really disappointed in the Huddersfield game but I’ll take the season as a whole and am more than pleased. Supporting your team doesn’t include boohing them in my book.
Well, that was a stroll down memory lane. Unfortunately just when we thought we’d turned a corner it brought back memories of those turgid performances under Taylor, Hoddle, Saunder etc etc.
In the history of football can there have been two more contrasting performances in consecutive matches than ours against Arsenal and then yesterday ? What went wrong ? Complacency ? Over-confidence ? Or are Huddersfield a bit better than anybody thought? Probably a bit of all three.
Coady apart, nobody did themselves justice out there. We know they can all play a hell of a lot better than that and will do so again.
It appears we didn’t learn anything from the Watford match. Again we were swamped in midfield but, (unlike the 2nd half v Watford), this time the back 3 didn’t push up to cramp the space in midfield to give Neves and Moutinho some support and consequently we didn’t improve. Credit to Huddersfield, they were up for it, organised, made sure they won the 2nd balls, were prepared to be physical when necessary and deserved their victory. Its ominous that in this little run of ‘easier’ matches (Watford, Brighton, Huddersfield, Cardiff) we are failing to perform.
I hear the calls for a ‘fox in the box’ but I don’t see it as the way forward as it would compromise our system which, lets remember, has got us where we are. The problem is, and the reality remains, that Jota, Costa and (yesterday) Cav are offering very little in the way of a goal threat. Added to that, our passing was particularly sloppy, inacccurate, badly weighted and quite often the wrong option was taken.
Along with many others on this blog I have followed this club for over 50 years, have left many matches not just disappointed but downright angry at the performance but I have never booed them off. Shame on those so-called supporters who do.
100% well said Jack.
Well that was pretty awful. I am struggling to remember when I saw a Wolves side play so bad or nullified by the opposition. Huddersfield were excellent and deserved the points.
No doubt Nuno and his staff will be looking at this and trying to find out why we failed so badly.
It’s great when you are winning/playing well but it really hurts when we are so poor and put on such an embarrassing display.
Cardiff away will be interesting……….
Mike
Thanks for the replies all, really enjoy reading your comments as always.
However, just want to clarify I am NOT advocating a change in style. What I’m trying to say is that we have to be able to counter other team’s tactics, and that means tweaking the formation every now and then.
For example, why is Saiss not being used? He was a great foil for Neves last season, and is surely worth a go when we’re up against it as per yesterday’s game?
Where is Dendoncker? He’s a Belgian international so obviously a decent player. Why sign him if you have no intention of playing him?
And why persist with two wide players when NONE of them are playing well. Cav and Traore have both indicated they could play through the middle, so why not try it?
I am and always will be a huge fan of Nuno and will defend him to the hilt, hence why I was at pains to stress I don’t know any better than him. Just think we need to be a bit more flexible as this is a tough league and teams will continue to punish us if we just persist with the same style regardless of context.
UTW x
HeyBen, I like saise but I think he is more likely to be used when we are winning 1-0 perhaps away from home , not sure about Dendoncker but my guess is that he too is more a defensive type of player, what I love more than anything about Nuno is his positive mindset regarding subs, he will bring on atacking players to win a game as apposed to say lambert who would try to shore things up and protect a draw away from home ! Just my opinion of course,
Good discussion this though, interesting when things get a bit tough eh ?
Hey Marney, absolutely – love the difference in opinion and how respectful people are of others’ point of view!
Agree re Saiss and Dendoncker, just think bringing one of them might have freed up Neves and Moutinho to get on the ball as both couldn’t deal with Huddersfield’s pressing. I thought Moutinho was unlucky to be subbed in all honesty, he didn’t do a lot wrong.
I also love Nuno’s positive approach, long may it continue. Just don’t think it’d hurt to be a little more flexible when the game is going against us. We can certainly forgive him this bad run, it’s the first we’ve had in 18 months and we’ve had some tough games too.
Still fancy us to get something against Cardiff. They’re slowly improving but a limited side at this level, if we play our game we should have too much for them.
Nice one Ben , it’s worth remembering that Nuno is also learning about the premier league even though he has coached in the champions league.
We had an 18 year old, a 19 year old and a couple of 21 year olds on the pitch today, we were well beaten but how far have come ! And how far can we go ! I I too fancy us at Cardiff btw
Utw
Fully agree. As I said in the preview this was a game for Saiss. He showed us last year that he will do the dirty work and let Neves do the pretty stuff.
On the subject of Willie Nelson……..
Lowves was with us at the Outback Shack in the park where we gather pre-match to grab some bush tucker and talk about how we shall put teams like Uddersfield to the sword.
Whilst there, we decided to have a blog Christmas meal in the Sunbeam by the railway Station, aiming to do it before the 8pm kick off at the Liverpool home game on 21st Dec.
It’s £13-99 for three courses and it’s quite a varied and decent menu, at present we have 9 of us going and numbers climbing steadily. If you fancy a blog Christmas meal before the game, we are planning to sit down about 4-30pm, guessing we are there for a couple of hours, leaving plenty of time to tootle off to the game and do what you normally do before kick off.
Anyone who’s up for it, contact Lowves (Ken Benbow) via the blog and he will add your names, £5 deposit required to secure a seat at this festive whinge.
Should be happy at the moment but full of Bah feckin Humbug with the Udders game.
Link to the menu below….
https://www.hungryhorse.co.uk/pubs/west-midlands/sunbeam/christmas/festive-menu/
Beware the scousers nicking your pigs in blankets when your not looking !!!!
I’m up for that Stu. Can you contact Lowves for me?
Hi W/S
My email is kenwolf@virginmedia.com just let me know how many
Ken
Thank you kind sir.
Stuwolf told me what you have arranged for me.
I owe you a pint
Not a problem Houston …..we have lift off!!!
Gonna have to close meal bookings now we have our quota thanks for your interest
XX
Everybody has said all there is to say with regard to passing, attitude et cetera so will just dwell on one detail.
Watford’s and Hudderfield’s first goals came from Wolves right side. As many opposition teams appear to target this area, I believe it has been identified as a weakness. Certainly Doc often seems to switch off when beaten or as yesterday gives the ball away. Costa yesterday was all over the pitch and therefore often unable to offer any assistance and at the same time freeing up his defender.
I would no more boo the team than I would wish back the tactical illiterate Dean Saunders.
We must trust in Nuno.
Also meant to say wonderful to see Carl Ikeme on the pitch at halftime. Goes without saying a great improvement on the fatuous “entertainment” we’re normally subjected to. (Good also that the singing contest has been dropped. A success for this Blog?)
Traore down the middle is the basic answer to these teams .
It allows us to put more bodies in the middle and control it abandoning the 2 wide men.
Play it basic straight through the middle and let the fighting bull loose.
Would you want to have to chase him around for 90 minutes.
Or even 45 minutes.
Get our goals early and shut up shop , control the game and dont give them a look in.
We have to win on Friday night no matter how we do it.
No one has mentioned the elephant (literally) at The Mol on Sunday.
Who let that fat, greasy, money grabbing, slimy, snake of a weasel moxey into our beloved ground?
And did the fat fuck pay for his seat?
I doubt it.
No wonder we lost, with those foul vibes emanating from it’s rotting carcass of a body.
I bet it was Twixfix, he just loves that guy!!
If he was in there it is unlikely he went through the turnstile as he wouldn’t fit through it. Secondly, the stair case would have needed to be widened to get him up. It is also likely that the restaurant had to increase burger output by 80%. Including the mega saturated fat burger with 7kg of cheese on it. The melted fat enabling him to grease back his hair. On the way down the lift capacity would have been increased from max 10 to max 20 just to fit him in. Finally a taxi with a facility for 15 folks would have been required to get his girth through the fucking door. No wonder we lost. He oversaw thousands of shambolic performances. Never let him darken our doors again Jeff. In fact send him to China if you can find a jumbo jet big enough to fit him in. Au revoir….
Nice guy is our Jezza… always sends a Xmas card…
Note that he’s never paid to watch football in his entire life …neither has Mrs Moxey … free loaders ….
Still driving around in their Porsche…. times are hard…
No wonder we lost with that fat twat about ! Who invited him ?
Probably the burger bar outside the Billy Wright. Saw the thousands of quid coming from his order.
Anybody see those live streams of wilderness areas or Rocky Mountain towns on YouTube?
Wolves should do something like that with their lower age or women’s team games.
If they aren’t drawing that many anyway, allow people to stream a single camera view of the game.
Wouldn’t cost much and might draw some attention to the teams.
You’ve been reading my mail*
KK “To beat the Devil”
Is there any way Wolves can control the opponent’s positioning on the field through our own actions?
Like luring them into our end and then counter attacking?
Make them think the are backing us into our end while we are really just drawing them away from their half of the pitch.
If we are best at counter attacking, maybe we should try to manipulate things so that we can do that more often in games where our normal approach is being stifled – a Plan B, if you will.
Wouldn’t have worked on Sunday, Tim, only Coady was showing the necessary composure on the ball.
Wolves need to address a few points which we did admirably last season.
1. Midfield enforcer: Saiss and big Alf protected Neves last year. This term we have two similar midfielders and no warrior back-up.
2. Dead ball specialist: I realise this has been done to death but nobody is delivering crosses, corners or free kicks like Douglas did last year and that threat has completely vanished. When you consider his assists, I still don’t understand how or why he became surplus to requirements. It was a total waste of talent.
Finally, what can Dendonker bring to the party? Surely it’s time to give the guy a run out?
Anyway, that’s my gripes out the way. Hopefully Colin’s video has broken and he can’t review the match!
UTW
I still think Nuno will use pretty much the same line-up, to start and see what happens from there.
He may have back-up plans for Saisse or Dendoncker but that will possibly eliminate his normal substituting of two from the forward line.
Well we’ll find out in a couple of days I guess.
I honestly hope we can start rolling again and take out these ratters of teams with our stylish and exciting game. I hate to think our undisputed quality will be steadily overcome by sheer barbarianism,
It’s far too early for the fall of the Nuno Empire, so we need go, see and conquer Colin’s Celts on Friday.
UTW
Well that was something of a horror show and has got to be the worst 90 minutes under Nuno’s tenure yet. We couldn’t string two passes together, we can’t score for toffee, lacked bite and energy and when we did manage to get a bit of momentum in the 2nd half, it was snuffed out by Huddersfield’s time wasting and feigning injury. Their goal keeper must of thought he was in the Moulin Rouge the amount of times he spent kicking the ball out and to add insult to injury, they kept winning the headers and kept possession. Well done to them and their game plan but they really are not good and it should have been three more points on the board for us. I was so angry and frustrated that we allowed a piss pot team come to our patch and turn us over, this was not the Wolves I have enjoyed watching over the last couple of seasons.
I have absolute faith in Nuno and his coaching staff and I am confident that they will turn this around, I would imagine that targets have already been lined up in the forthcoming transfer window. What would i want for Christmas, well please Santa can I have a proven goal scorer, a big 6ft plus midfielder, built like Big Willy, with the skills of Neves, bravery and conviction of Coady and nimble feet of MGW. Oh and can you wave your magic wand at Adama so he can spot a pass, execute it whilst still traveling at 75mph.
Yes, a terrible, terrible performance. Our creative midfield player s were never granted any time on the ball to orchestrate the play. Huddersfield seemed more competitive, quicker and stronger. We never looked like making a real match of it, even given the one that didn’t quite cross the line.
The most worrying thing for me is Nuno’s insistence that “we don’t change. We have our style, our way of playing and we don’t change.” Well I’m sorry, but we haven’t won for 5 games now and teams seem to have found a way to negate our strengths and capitalise on our weaknesses.
I’ve thought from the start of the season that we appear to be undermanned in midfield and we don’t have a natural ball-winner in there. Now it seems that all teams have sussed that they simply have to outnumber us in midfield and our much vaunted creative play is stopped in its tracks. Yes, when a team takes us on and allows us to play, a la Arsenal, then we can still flourish. But when a team comes to shut us down and keep it tight as Huddersfield did on Sunday? Well then Nuno’s one-track approach seems to strike a rock to me.
It’s a well established adage that repeating the same actions in the light of clear evidence of failure when doing the same previously is doomed to also end in the same failure. In fact it’s said that to expect anything other than that outcome is a sign of insanity. Is Nuno aware of that? He’d better wake up really soon, because there is now abundant evidence that our team is floundering. We don’t score many, if any and we don’t keep clean sheets either. That’s not a healthy scenario and we have to reverse this trend ASAP, starting against the arch-cloggers, Cardiff. I don’t think we’ll do it with just Moutinho and Neves in central midfield. They’ll surely be overrun and kicked out of it.
Time to wake up and smell the coffee I think Nuno. Sticking to your one and only plan in the face of clear evidence highlighting its unsuitability is a sign of weakness, not strength.
Embarrassing reminder that we are Wolves fans and this sort of result happens to us even with Fosun behind the team..
DNA of the club.. self inflicted cock ups….
2 strikers needed or we will start sliding down the league big time.
If you were there on Sunday, or watching on TV, Steve you will be well aware that our failure was nothing to do with the lack of strikers. PeteRobbo’s comments above hit the nail on its head.
I do think these are worrying times. The result on Sunday was not a one off. As many have said if you flood the midfield and press us high up the pitch our passing game breaks down.
It is ironic that we may stand more chance against Chelsea at home than we do against Cardiff away because we will have more time on the ball. Warnock may be irritating but he isn’t stupid. He will play exactly the same way as Huddersfield and Nuno needs to find a way of playing against this tactic. The question is whether he will modify his game plan. I suspect not.
It must be time to bring Dendonker into the team. He is a Belguim international for god sake. After Bennett’s and Boly’s performance on Saturday if he can’t get a game now, when? You could even stick him in midfield as some have suggested.
Again Gibbs-White must be close to a start and he would certainly be more mobile against Cardiff than Moutinho. I would also have either Ennis or Ashley-Seal on the bench as a different option to Bonatini whose days must be numbered.
A very significant game coming up on Friday night.
3-5-1-1 ……………bennett- coady- boly
Jota -Neves- dendonker-Gibbs white-costa
Jimenez
Traore
And obviously Patricio in goal
I would go with 5 at the back , three in midfield Dendonker, Moutinho and Neves . Costa and Raul upfront . Lets face it Cardiff is going to a scrappy affair and we need to not get over run in midfield .
Teams playing better teams adjust their system to one that will give them more of a chance against the better teams system.
Nuno goes against this. He plays his system regardless. Against better sides, its actually not too bad, but the trouble comes when the not as good teams adjust to play us. Our players struggle. Nuno refuses to have a plan B. So something has to give.
The managers job is to adjust tactics if the opposition is neutralising his system. You can have all the belief you want but Fosun will be looking at this with cold, hard logic.
Unfortunately, I think this is why if Nuno doesn’t show more adaptability, Fosun will sack him in January.
Wow that’s a big if !
Why? He didn’t adapt on the weekend. How many goals down do we need to be before he does adapt his system do you think?
Nuno is married to his system , he even has the youth squad playing it. He can’t get enough of it! Making him very predictable. It’s got him this far, but if he keeps clinging to it regardless of circumstance, he’s a goner.
One third of the season gone and you are already screaming for Nuno’s head?
I suppose you would replace him with one of those up and coming young managers, like Allardyce or Moyes, or even be really progressive and poach Colin from Cardiff?
We’ve suffered a damn sight worse over the last 40 years, waiting for a team of quality players, Bully excepted, and a few more months of growing pains aint gonna hurt us.
I would take a wild guess and say you are one of London Wolf’s plastic boo boys.
If so, kindly exit stage left and fuck off.
Easy tiger!
He’s entitled to his opinion.
We’ll see who’s right in January.
I don’t think it will be Bill G though.
By the way, will you be accompanied on your visit in the Spring, or on your lonesome?
I will be on my lonesome, unfortuneately.
Might need some bodyguards tho!!
Much as I might disagree with Bill G’s comments, your last sentence is entirely uncalled for. Be big enough to realise that not everyone will always have the same views as you, e.g. your stalking victim Tim. If you can’t do this , I’d respectfully suggest that you do exactly what you want Bill to do.
Hey Clive! you may want to re-read, the bit where I said ‘unfortunately’ ie i wouldn’t like it if Nuno was fired. But then comprehension was never your strong point.
As for your last comment, its just unfortunate. This is the only forum Ive found were sensible and diverse opinions about Wolves are explained thoughtfully and discussed maturely. So i’ll keep posting thanks Clive, regardless of the odd loud voice of nonsense.
Clarification. It seems a few have taken my original post the wrong way. I’m not calling for Nuno to be sacked. I think thats the worst thing that can happen.
I spent a few days getting the emotion out of my thoughts after the game to try and work out whats going on and what must Fosun be thinking.
I had the alarming realisation that Nuno may not have many games left based on the points I made.
Thats why I posted my concerns to the blog, hoping the more knowladgeable fans could reassure me I’m getting carried away, so I can sleep better at night.
Yes you are getting carried away, but it is not surprising, if you have been a Wolves fan for as long as a lot of us have.
The fear of imploding is always lurking, based on the past 40 years or so, and the dreaded November has reared its ugly head again.
We all have our opinions of which line up will be best, and long may that continue, but what I believe we must do is show a united supporters front and be positive.
Good players dont go bad collectively overnight and things will improve.
I apologize for swearing at you, and I accept your apology above!!
If it’s any consolation Bill, though there’s no reason it should be, I see where you are coming from as they have shown themselves to be pretty ruthless in the past. However, I see our current travails as a phase, a little hiccup on our unstoppable rise to the top. A rise of which Nuno will prove to be an integral part.
This might explain something about the wall.
Not sure whether this has been posted but this is Nuno’s explanation why no Plan B.
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11699/11564297/nuno-espirito-santo-interview-wolves-boss-explains-his-vision
Thanks for going to the trouble to post that link. I found it very interesting.
The way I see it is that Nuno believes that if the players perform as expected, our system is flexible enough to cope with all situations.
Outnumbered in midfield?? Wing backs hold back (or push forward) into the midfield to give us four across the middle.
Opposition set up very defensively? Wing backs push up to supplement the front three.
Under pressure at the back? Wing backs drop back to give us a back five.
These situations, of course, can change from minute to minute or certain games can have a predominance of one or the other. It’s up to the players, especially the wing backs, to read the play and react accordingly.
What I mean is, playing one system has the advantage that the players become so well drilled that their reactions become second nature. Obviously, Sunday was rubbish. But we must believe that it was a one-off and Cardiff will reap the whirlwind as a result.
I do anyway. 🙂
Bill most people would agree Nuno should have a plan b or a different approach which the team practices and I agree that would make common sense to us non professional football folk.
But Nuno is a proffessional footballing man with a very strong philosophy and he firmly believes in it and will live or die on that basis.
Without saying it out loud I think he believes his players let him down .
God knows what some of them were up too during the break but they were so far off their game it was frightening .
Our system relies on everyone singing from the same hymn sheet and that is why the whole thing fell apart very quickly.
Nuno changed some players after half time but he couldn’t obviously change the vast majority who were not playing well.
I believe we should have another option but Nuno believes that if the players play his system properly they can beat anyone .
So maybe things will turn around and Nuno will be proved to be correct , after all it’s worked well up until recently.
Or is Nunos system flawed at this level OR are the players he has at his disposal not capable of carrying out his demands at this level and he needs better players
only time will tell .
But we are all upset after Sunday and we are all looking for a reason to what was , let’s face, it a mesmerising non sensical complete and utter mind boggling turn around in performance from what we all witnessed against the arsenal.
Lets hope it turns as much the other way against Cardiff.
I love the comment the Villa manager made last night after their 5-5 draw with Forest.
“ Our keeper hasn’t made a save”
Well, Duh, that’s stating the bleedin’ obvious!!!