Just when we all thought this most wretched of seasons couldn’t get any more miserable, we’re reminded of Raul’s harrowing head injury with another shuddering collision involving another one of our heroes.
It feels we’ve had enough slings and arrows to last a lifetime this season and the sight of a stretcher tending to another member of the pack was so depressing it made Diogo Jota’s inevitable winner seem inconsequential.
A positive health update on Patricio represents a good return from our evening’s defeat, which is a pitifully apt abridgement of this dire campaign that few could have dreamt of a year or so ago, when we were dancing in the streets of Barcelona.
If it’s not mathematically done and dusted just yet, then let’s plunder enough points to make it so and have some time away from Beautiful Game, which has never looked uglier set to a backdrop of soulless seats and a soundtrack of shameless shrieks.
The only thing more certain than death, taxes and a spurious new strain of the coronavirus to keep us all indoors for a few more months was Diogo Jota coming back to score the winner. Listening to him talk so dismissively about his time here – and us fans not being there to see him stick the knife in – only compounded it further. Then there was a nailed on penalty not being given by the cheats at Stockley Park, who again put the feelings of a referee over the right-and-proper decision on the field of play. It all conspired to facilitate the most predictable of outcomes which most of us had been dreading all weekend.
Maybe it was the footballing gods intervening? They always seem to at Molineux when responding to a nonsensical decision that defies logic; in this case selling the matchwinner and replacing him with players who will never be fit to lace his boots.
Once that goal went in, owing as much to Patricio’s benevolence as Liverpool’s zippy interplay, the worst side in the Premier League since the start of February (statistically) were on easy street, knowing we’re short of the firepower needed to find a way back into the game.
While we looked a very capable side for spells outside the box, it took us 72 minutes to get our first shot off and over the course of the season we’ve scored just 14 from open play. Watching Fabio fail to direct his entire head onto the actual object he was attempting to connect with (I.E. the football) was a reminder of why. Is it any wonder he fails to find a static, 24yd target so often? That most fans clamour for him over Willian José is an even bigger indictment on the Brazilian we’ll probably end up signing in the summer.
It’s no wonder Jota was so keen to erase the past and rub our noses in it. (The same Jota that some fans will continue to protest should still have been sold, and would still offer to drive him to Anfield themselves. Go figure).
In his and Raul’s absence we have the most anaemic strike force imaginable, which needs a radical overhaul in the summer if we’re serious about improving. No team must make so many wrong decisions, so often, and look so incapable of putting the ball in the back of the net which is a fatal flaw when that’s the objective of the game.
Signing Fabio Silva and loaning Willian José on the one hand, while selling Jota and Pedro Gonçalves on the other, demands greater scrutiny if ‘The Project’ still exists. A better solution from outside is essential this summer, irrespective.
Until then, I’ll keep watching the same inevitable shortcomings from my soulless living room, where wood-chipped wall paper peels around the skirting. The monosyllabic Martin Tyler tries to sugar-coat it, through the muffles of a disposable facemask, but there’s no getting away from the truth.
This season has been terrible. Life is the same and my cup doesn’t so much runneth over these days, but go cold on some tawdry flat pack furniture that I wished I’d never built.
Wolves lost, Liverpool won and Jota scored the winner.
It was ever thus.
As you say mate, the early bulletin that Rui is conscious and ‘alright’ is the most important thing. Hopefully more good news to come in that respect and not a Raul repeat.
On the game itself, I just found it infuriating and that 14 goals from open play stat is so damning, I can’t believe I didn’t dig it out for my own post last week. It felt like we could have played all night and never scored, such was our inability to convert good positions into meaningful attempts on goal.
Traore did his thing and was overall pretty decent, but fluffed his lines in and around the penalty area. Jose did what Jose does with nice touches and no goal threat. Neto didn’t turn up. Fabio missed his customary sitter and our set pieces were never really good enough.
A shame really because there were so many positive aspects to the performance, most notably our improved first-half showing where we every bit as good as Liverpool but simply couldn’t produce in the final third.
Individually, I thought Moutinho was excellent throughout. Semedo in the first half suddenly made sense with his advanced positioning and ball carrying. Things went a bit south for him second half, losing possession in bad areas.
Once the subs came on, we looked infinitely worse and added to our toothless attack, it’s clear we need summer reinforcements if we’re to progress.
Completely agree with all you say Thomas. Come to think of it, I do this whenever you speak about anything, football or non-football related. Speak soon mate.
Let`s talk a little more about the subs– or rather the lack of them We`re losing and need to score to get a much needed point. So we bring on the two players least likely to achieve anything !!
The hugely over-rated MGW would have trouble in getting on the Accrington Stanley bench, while little more can be said about our boy wonder of tomorrow. Probably a very nice young man, and it`s hardly his fault that some idiot or other chose to pay so much for his services. But he`s so far out of his depth as to be nothing more or less than hugely embarrassing. It cannot be doing him any favors to continue to throw him in among the big boys, to realize just how inadequate he is.
The question that must surely be asked is why does Nuno still continue to include Silva ? Is he under pressure from above to do so ? Surely, somewhere in our much vaunted Academy there must be another youngster equally deserving of an opportunity !
I do feel there might be an obligation to play Fabio, subconciously or otherwise, owing to the huge price tag. Nuno did say upon his arival that Wolves weren’t a farm to grow youngsters and they must be ready for the here and now…Like, if Fabio Silva was a local lad from Willenhall called Fabio Smudger, he’d have been loaned out for his own good months ago.
There’s something of the ‘Baniesta’ theory in this, I know , but I’m just throwing it out there!
Sickener seeing Patricio supine like that? What a season! The head and opening salvo on this defeat & yet another nil goals in our column reads like the opening of a dystopian novel!
Flat pack furniture and wood chip ugh! Yep as I circle my regular route yet again and again to get out, I think are we ever going to be free of this virus?
But there is hope, where there’s life there always is I think. Yes and I thought there was promise in last night’s performance, sometime soon the ball is going to hit Fabio in the right place and fly into the net. Even thought MGW did well in his cameo, but he failed to convert his chance when running through.
Anyway on the Hope and promise theme. Is five wins possible from our remaining games.? You gotta hope so! Hopefully we can begin with a beating of those East London blue collar Ammers. Revenge for the earlier in the season drubbing.
Let’s hope after all the angst of this season we end on a high note. We surely deserve to.
Hi Allen. You’re right, there’s always hope! And there were positives, some of which I didn’t address, like the performance of Moutinho who was wonderful, and the sight of Willy Boly at the back.
Ben- this was another of your quite brilliant posts. It is so easy to critique a piece but how many of us could capture the flavour in quite the way you did? Your anger and frustration boiled over in ‘Private Frazer’ mode and most can identify with your sentiments exacerbated by the lockdown restrictions. Nothing boring about your post or this excellent blog , however, sometimes it is better to fine tune a piece, after sleeping on it, before posting. It is certainly a season we will never forget.
Thank you Woodend. I really do appreciate the comment here. To be honest, it’s a wonder I have anything left in the (ink)well to draw from anymore, such is my state of lockdown lethargy to all things life…It’s nice I managed to summon up something that you could relate to.
But better not to fine tune it, as it’s just best to get it all out there sometimes. You start fine tuning it, then the moment passes, the fire burns out and time has moved lots on to other sites. As Thomas, Ben and Paddy will testify, sometimes you’ve got to file it, rough edges and all, to keep the content within its sell-by date. Time is a fickle mistress.
(I’d probably rewrite every one if I looked at it again for more than 5mins!)
But as Andy Gray said (about the great Steve Bull) I like rough edges!
Patricio is Ok. So that is good news for me. Bangjng on about ‘Jota should never have been sold’ and how Wolves are not as good as last season is not Ok. It’s becoming tedious and boring, as is this blog to be honest.
Let us just see what next season brings and then decide if Fosun are here for us, as opposed to grumbling.
I thought we played some good football last night.
So just to clarify… I was up until midnight writing this tedious and boring blog, but it’s not okay to express an opinion whilst penning it? If not airing an opinion, on a blog, is now not allowed , then I can conclude that the blog has now eat itself.
That’s the difference between me and you. If I disagree with your opinions, then I’ll never dream of saying it’s ‘not ok’ to air them, as I’d respectfully disagree. In fact, to be told it’s not ok to write a blog – after 11 years of writing them – is the best fucking advice I’ve had in years. Thank you!
Tell you what, why don’t you write some 500-600 word blogs sometime Brompton Wolf, rather than the flippant, santimonious comments you’re so prolific at? I’m sure I could learn a few things and at the very worst, I’d have a good laugh.
(Promise not to call them tedious and boring, no matter how poorly constructed they are. I’m respectful like that)
Thanks for that.
Difficult times for everyone Steve and has been for all too long. We all need to bear that in mind, both when reading and putting forward our thoughts.
Hope you’re keeping well Buddy.
Very good analysis as usual Ben and Thomas. The performance was ok but lacked cutting edge as usual. It was good to see us try to be more progressive in our first half play. The news that patricio is ok is the most important thing. If Jose is signed, no matter how cut price as per recent media speculation, we really will have to question the whole integrity of the mendes/ fosun relationship. Signings can always go wrong but when you have had the benefit of seeing the player in your line up for multiple games, it would be unforgivable to invest money in him- there are surely much better out there. Without wishing to reopen the whole Nuno debate ( and I am NOT calling for him to be sacked) , his card has undoubtedly been marked this season. The statistics don’t lie. Our lack of goal threat was an issue before the Jimenez injury and of course that hasn’t helped but our scoring record is pitiful for the talent at the club. It is no coincidence that jota has been scoring far more at Liverpool and despite my comments on Jose- look at his goal scoring record in the top level in Spain over many years before joining us. I think Nuno has the summer and maybe through to October/ November next season to get the right signings in, reshape the way we play and get the pack pointing in the right direction. I hope he pulls it off, he has achieved tremendous things for us and deserves time but football clubs are never in a state of equilibrium and at the moment we are not progressing and fosun won’t want to take the risk of further regression
Thank you Sutton Coldfield Wolf. Means a lot. It has been a tough watch for so long now and you’re right…signings are key. We’ve had two or three really poor windows now, and we just can’t afford another one. I am mildly encouraged that we got Jose in, as it showed a sense of pro-activity and backing to remedy an issue we were struggling with. That it hasn’t worked out is another story. Like you say, get the right signings in!
I agree with both the above posts .
The season shows how much a team can regress in a short space of time with bad decisions on sales and purchases .You have to laugh when you see Shi’s generational talent 3 yards from goal miss the ball completely and try to score with his shoulder .
Like many of us I am desperate for the season to end so I can watch some other sport and not feel obliged to tune in to these games which give me endless distress and precious little joy .
We all travel hopefully but this new cycle we are supposedly on looks pretty horrid compared with the great 3 years which came before it .That-is being a Wolves fan I guess .
I’ve never felt so indifferent watching football these days Nick, and I hate what VAR has done to it. It’s a pseudo-game now, with the screams of play-acting players mingling with Martin Tyler’s monologues to bleed my ears, as the spectacle on the pitch slowly burns my soul. The only benchmark is staying up and praying things return to normal soon.
I’m too pessimistic to think it ever will now, with 12,000 gates the best we can hope for, no doubt. At least that would be like the good old days for me. A full turning of the football back to where it began, when I watched with that number of people in Barclays League Division 3.
Anyway, I’m digressing. We all hope for better times ahead. (I thought we played quite well last night, all being said and done! Ha!)
By the way Ben please keep writing the blog with your own views whatever they may be .We must all be able to express our views on this blog or elsewhere whether others agree with them or not .
At the end of the season I think it would be interesting for you and Thomas to write your views on where you feel we are with Nuno as manager as views differ .
If you do it as your last blog of the season you then have a whole summer to shield from any flack ?
Thank you Nick, that is very kind of you. I would really like to write that blog idea that you mention too. I’ll definitely do this! I’m glad you took the time out to comment here. Ben
By the way Ben I second what Nick said.
I always look forward to your blog you pull no punches and tells it the way it is instead of flowering it up to appease the masses.
Keep posting.
I must say I’m a little worried we could get sucked into a relegation battle unless we can start putting away the chances we create all though meagre one’s.
Thanks John. Likewise. I’ve always been a fan of your ‘shoot from the lip’ style on here, whether or not I am in agreement! Ha! (I usually am, deep down!). i’m an admirer of the ‘don’t give a toss’ approach, and you say things as you see them. More power to your typing fingers!
Me too. I am still looking over my shoulder at the relegation zone. Old habits die hard I guess, but even me at my most pessimistic can’t see us going down. One more win will be enough, I’d wager. (Newcastle are absolutely wretched and I can’t see them getting many more points, while WBA and SUFC have surely gone)
Can I just say after dalliances and flirting with others, I bloody love this blog. Even Paul who I’m sure if I ever met in person would want to punch me.
We’ve got a great balance of insight, passion, wit as well as a good number of disrupters who keep us real.
So for anyone that reads but never comments, come on, let’s hear what you have to say.
I wish your keeper a speedy recovery, sorry about the awful pen decision we have had our share of them also . Agree with you the game is awful without fans and Martin Tyler makes it even more painful .
A much improved performance everywhere except in front of goal. If the teams had exchanged shirts before the game, we would surely have had two penalties. No way would Liverpool have been denied spot kicks for the fouls on Semedo and Moutinho.
Still, we are improving, and with a nice rest and a revamp in the summer, season 21-22 should see us back in the groove.
What a shocking review. I enjoy reading Thomas’s reviews as they are balanced and objective but I’m afraid this reviewer just fizzes when we win and wails when we lose. We’ve just lost 1-0 to Liverpool (who admittedly aren’t in the best run of form) and we have adjectives such as wretched, miserable and dire. I must have been watching a different game in some parallel universe!
I actually thought this was our best performance for a while and with better finishing from our forwards (including Traore and Neto) we could have got something out of this game. But no mention of a much improved showing (especially in the first half), or noting the individual performances of Semedo and in particular Moutinho who was superb could I find.
Then calling the officials cheats is ridiculous. They may well be incompetent but at no time have I ever thought that our officials actively cheat. That is a really poor thing to say and smacks of sore loser.
As for Jota and Goncalves they both wanted to leave so how could we have kept them? We got the best price we could at the time for Jota, and young Goncalves was homesick. We obviously recognised his potential as we inserted not just one but two sell on clauses into the sale.
I do agree that a refresh is needed in the summer. Not with Nuno, but with our identity and style. Do we stick with what has worked so well for the previous three years, or do we make changes in the style and formation? We all hope that our transfer dealings this summer are more successful than those last year.
Until then we are where we are, not as great as the last two years but still better than wretched, miserable and dire.
Hi Newt. At least you think it’s ok for me to express my opinion. That’s a start! I’ve only been doing so for the past 11 years, more fool me!
Actually, come to think of it, it’s not ok to be writing blogs past midnight on a school night. It’s bloody stupid! Brompton was right.
You’ ve quoted Jota and Pedro as wanting to leave as fact. That’s not fact, it’s your understanding and you’ve used it to suit your narrative, just as you have when taking the words ‘wretched, miserable and dire’ out of context. You little tinker.
You’re right…it’s not as bad as my blog doubtless sounds, but I’m traversing between football and life (like the woodchip wallpaper I’m not allowed to replace in this pathetic place I now call home).
Take care mate.
Morning Ben
You are absolutely okay to express your opinion, along with every other contributor and blogger on this great blog. I enjoy reading all the posts even though I only comment sporadically.
While I do think that the performance didn’t merit the review (my opinion!), having read my post back it was unfair of me to call it shocking and I apologise for overstepping the mark there. I understand the time and effort you take and that was unfair of me.
Football and life is pretty crap at the moment, and hopefully both will see better days in the summer and beyond.
Until then I look forward to reading your next reviews and more importantly – get that woodchip changed!
Evening Newt. No apology needed whatsoever! You’ve got me down to a ‘tee’ anyway…
…You’re spot on. My highs are too high and my lows are too low, I am a sore loser and Thomas is a more balanced, objective person full-stop, never mind writer! Ha!
There was a big dichotomy with this blog anyway and if I had last night again I’d have written it completely differently (or not at all). ..
…It started off as a match report of sorts, then it meandered into something else, as I got sucked down a vortex of sadness, somehow. So the football became more of a vehicle for my general state of sadness, rather than the lead story. So it meandered off up my arsehole, and I used the state of PL lockdown as a metaphor for my own shit existence.
Jota scoring the winner was the emodiment of all this. Of lockdown. Of regret, sadness, the lot. Just so typical.
So the adjectives I used were as much for my existential vantage point from the second hand sofa rather than the game itself. I thought we played well! We look a very adept in the two thirds behind the final one, then we go to pieces. I am sure that this can be rectified in the summer and we’ll have that cleansing window that we could all do with.
I love your positive outlook and reasoned debate. Note to self: Be more Newt! (Or Thomas for that matter!)
Take care
Decent enough performance. Problem remains sticking the ball in the net. We have to trust that the decision makers at the club are wise enough to see what is required over the summer. For the immediate future just one more win and a draw or two should be enough. Then we can end this soulless season and hopefully come back to a rocking Molineux in August.
Better performance but ref and var went against us
We deserved a draw
Boly was my man of match never lost a defensive header how he was booked for supposedly studs showing tackle is beyond me
Hope Patricio is ok
I hope you’re feeling better after getting all that off your chest Ben. It sounds like you’re mad at the world and not just football.
I think there were positives to take from the performance that we can work with for next season. Yes there’s work to do but in a bad year we’re still middling in the best league in the world.
We really need to let go of this Jota thing. He’s long gone and anyway to be honest it was Mane that did for us. He was brilliant all match.
Despite their bad run Liverpool are still one of the best teams around and with a bigger pair of balls at Stockley park we’d have probably probably taken a point off them.
It Looks like Rui is fine which is good news. For a moment it did feel like Deja Vu all over again!
I’m glad he’s ok as it makes it easier to point out his culpability for Jota’s goal.
It’s also becoming clear that Moutinho can only play one game a week if we want the best out of him. Neves is doing the dirty work superbly and probably to the detriment of his reputation. I’d love us to have another holding midfielder to release him going forward.
We seem to have a lot of the pieces ready to put a decent team together. We’re just a few pieces short plus a few spares.
Thanks Prawny. I hope you’re well. You’re right, there are positives. There’s positives everywhere in life, even a lockdown one…You’ve just got to find them I guess.
Joao Moutinho was wonderful last night (to quote the great Eric Clapton).
Take care mate x
Personally I won’t let the whole Jota thing go until he’s been adequately replaced so I hope we can agree to differ in a civilized fashion on that.
But I do totally agree on Neves; he is wasted in his current role as his strength is in a combination of great creativity and all round ability.
There’s a popular demotivational poster on ‘Mediocrity’ that quotes ‘just because we accept you as you are doesn’t mean we’ve abandoned hope you’ll improve’.
Get the necessary points, rest and preseason, fans back and a few astute signings and this squad might do just that, again.
Keep up the great blogging,
Thank you Dan. This means a lot. I shall store this quote and save it for a rainy day!
I think you’re right too. Nothing that a couple of new signings won’t fix, I’m sure.
I took Jota’s comments completely differently. It was obvious to me he only wished the fans were there so he could see them again, rather than cup his ears to the South Bank. He said he’d had a good three years here. But at the end of the day he’s Portuguese, he’s got a move to a ‘super club’ which I presume was his aim in joining us in the first place. Good luck to him.
It’s funny because I’ve been brutally honest about our shortcomings lately but no-one can look at that game last night and say we didn’t play well. We were more than a match for the champions. It is, as Ben says, that finishing touch which has eluded us all season. But at least we showed a bit of bottle last night.
A few things that made me disappointed and angry last night.
1 Another defeat in another game we did not deserve to lose
2 Why weren’t we given a penalty in the 2nd minute when Allison took out Semedo?
3 Craig Pawson gave every 50/50 decision to Liverpool
4 What idiot decided to tell linesmen not to put their flag up straight away? Saleh was clearly offside and if the flag had gone up maybe we wouldn’t have had to suffer the sight of Rui Patricio being laid out for 15 minutes
5 When your three substitutes are Dendoncker, Morgan Gangsta-White and Fabio ‘shoulder’ Silva you know you have problems.
6 Jota should have been wearing old gold not red.
On the positive side I think we played well and started strongly for a change. Willian Jose had his best game by far and is clearly streets ahead of Silva with his hold up and link up play. Also we now have thee weeks before we play again so time to re-group, recuperate and recover and then go again with some eminently winnable games coming up.
OODCL
Like nearly everyone I thought we played better last night but once again poor decision making ( including those of Pawson and VAR) in the final third let us down. But it’s hard to know how much a coach can correct that. If a player has lost confidence or just isn’t good enough there isn’t much can be done. If you coach them how to get into scoring positions then you have pretty much done all that can be expected.
We just have to hope transfer decisions in the summer can offer solutions.
BTW Ben thank you for all your efforts in getting your views to us so quickly. At the very least your Blog kicks off an interesting debate!
The Fabio bashing is baffling to me. He gets that “miss per game” because he’s smartly putting himself in position to get that miss. He’s mastered the hard part. The finishing will come with an off season and some bulk.
And, watch the play. Donk didn’t see Silva and kept backing into him – leaving Silva surprised the ball got to him.
He’s not a finished article. But, to act like there’s nothing there is absurd
Lou I hope I didn’t come across as Fabio bashing. On the contrary I have been amongst his most consistent supporters. I have often pointed to the difficulty, that he,as a very young man moving into a different culture,must have had replacing a club hero. And he’s done OK, but like a lot of other Wolves players he’s not converting chances.
I wasn’t referring to you. I have also been frustrated by his finishing. But, when I see Jose not come close to those opportunities (though he did well yesterday), but, all of a sudden, Fabio comes on and has opportunities… that tells me he’s doing the right things to get into good spaces.
I think he’ll be a star. And, ever since Jose came and Silva started coming off the bench, I’ve actually started to think we’re going to see a double digit scorer next year.
Hear hear. DenDonker was a liability. I have not been impressed with him for a while tbh.
I’m not sure why it’s not happening for Donk this year. One of the real positive lights from last year.
Have to agree Lou, you beat me to it. I’ve just watched the extended highlights and was going to post about the ‘shoulder miss’. Donk did back into him, not much, but a three or four inch move backwards would have been sufficient for the point of impact ball on head to change from square on the forehead to slightly below. He is clearly having to bend his head down to make contact and had no chance of getting it into the net.
He may not be a traditional number 9 as were some of his illustrious predecessors, but I do wonder how some of them would fare in today’s game where defences are that much closer and better organised and most present day defenders have the skills that used to be seen almost exclusively from the top inside forwards. I still believe he will turn out to have been cheap at the price.
A lot better performance than I’ve seen for a long time. It was inevitable Jota would score the winning goal showed us just what we are missing and what he can do with decent players around him he had one chance and took it we had several and didn’t .
Ref and VAR were blind to the foul on Semedo if that had been at the other end I bet my Vespa PX200 my pride and joy they would of given Liverpool a penalty.
Silvia came on and had his customary miss, I make that 9 points now we could have if he had scored the chances he has had. Siliva and Jose are not the answer it seems but you also have to say Jose in particular has been past over a lot of the time but I would not buy him personally, I would go for the lad at Brenford he would cost a bit more, he has a proven track record in one if not the hardest league in Europe we’ve been there the Championship is relentless muck and bullets .
14 goals from open play that says it all really, major reconstruction in the summer is required in all areas of the team if we are to improve if finance is not forth coming then the only way we can buy is if we sell our best players which is basically Neto and may be Adama which IMO defeats the object, selling your best players to improve your team doesn’t work it’s counter productive you only have to look at Jota last night if you want proof…..Jeff. He had one chance and scored.
Really wouldn’t class Adama as one of our best players. One assist no league goals all season. Big part of the reason we’ve only scored 14 goals from open play
But Paul, if , as many claim, Patricio should have saved Jota’s hard and low and accurate shot, then it would have been one chance and no goal ! But no, Rui was not ‘ben-evolent’, he got a hand to it, but it was just to quick and low. He’s so often man of the match, he doesn’t deserve that kind of sniping. And neither is jumping to head a cross or getting a foot to the ball, bot scoring, a ‘spurned’ or ‘squandered’ opportunity.
Our opponents have been putting open goal opportunities over the bar for weeks now; Villa ‘should have been’ three up after 20 minutes. I suppose their fans also want those players dumped ?
It is a funny old game, with fans who’ve watched the same game having such opposing attitudes and opinions. For me the positive was certainly that we played better all round (except for shots on goal, of course!) than just about any time this season, Jose was a completely different, in a good way, ‘lost legs’ Moutinho was top class and nippy, Samedo was again very good (the permanent scowl on his face is probably in defiance of his many detractors on this blog)
It certainly doesn’t help to write a blog or a comment when you’re at war with the world, or drunk as many on here admit.
I was shocked to read Ben’s article, never read such a diatribe in the years I’ve been following the blog. I take the leading article to be intended as a journalists report, with good style and knowledge, statistics to hand, and yes, including reasoned opinion, and the followers responses like the ‘Comments below’ . I don’t think Ben has written in that tone before, and hope he’ll sleep on it in future, and take a complete break if he’s so unhappy with his Ikea sofa and wallpaper that his report is influenced so badly. We could have won it, but the positive is that the upcoming fixtures are eminently winnable and perhaps the players will continue with the new tactic of attacking in the first half, and we’ll have some wins to celebrate.
But it will always be good to sleep on the match to give a balanced report, win or lose.
Hi Oldandwise. This isn’t an editorial outlet, it’s a blog. I’m flattered you’d consider it as the former. Ergo, the lead article most definitely WON’T be a journalist style report. If it was, then people would just read journalist style reports elsewhere. Again, it’s an opinion / perspective.
I’m surprised you’re so misguided on this.
One example I can give to substantiate this is the fact the club won’t allow us to interview players / give us access to the press box or support with any outputs, as they don’t recognise us as a media channel. I am a qualified journalist though.
So with respect, the day I adhere to bland platitudes and a written account of a game (which you’d never need anyway as you can get that content elsewhere anyway and probably wouldn’t even give credence to my interpretation of the game) is the day I’ll definitely pack it in!
Don’t understand where you are coming from or your the point or points you are trying to make.
As Ben has said this Blogg is all about options of which we are all entitled to air but not nessarary abliged to agree with.
I don’t agree or disagree with you because……simply put…..I haven’t a clue what you are talking about…and I don’t think you do either..!
On many occasions, I think that certain bloggers wear their gold and black blinkers when reviewing games so please excuse me if you think me hypocritical but in my opinion we were denied two ‘stonewall’ penalties last night, ie Allison’s felling of Semedo and Alexander-Arnold’s push on Moutinho. It’s on such fine margins that the difference between winning and losing often lies. The problem isn’t VAR but the failure of the ‘referee’ who monitors the VAR cameras not stepping in when he so patently should.
For anyone to say that this blog is “Tedious and boring” is a bit rich in my opinion.
I’ve always admired all the people who write the posts, and reserve a special admiration for the way that Ben writes from the heart and tells it like he sees it…
…Even if it’s not always the way that I see it.
But, like Ben, I am starting to feel more and more indifferent about watching football in the present sanitised, atmosphereless (is there such a word?) echoing emptiness of this season.
I can only imagine what the players feel like, having to perform twice a week in front of a handful of masked, or not, substitutes, most of whom would rather be somewhere else.
The shouting of the participants, and the shrieking of wronged, savagely tackled and hideously injured men (you know who you are), being the only noise in the empty, Castle Gormenghast-like structures that were once filled with… well… us!
It’s ironic that the only noise accompanying the two really bad injuries that we have witnessed this season was the thud of the collision. Thank God that Rui seems to be OK.
Back to the game last night.
Why do I always end up feeling cheated after a match with Liverpool?
Why do I feel that all the conspiracy theories are true?
Referees, and VAR are against us and biased towards the ‘Big Six’.
Craig Pawson was absolutely useless last night. Closely followed by whomever was dozing in the Stockley Park arm chair yesterday.
I thought that we put in a decent performance. Moutinho was back to his best and Jose looked as if he could give a damn – which was a first.
But we continue to be our own worst enemies. (Officials excepted of course).
Until we learn that slotting the ball between the three white sticky things, into the netty thing, is what wins matches, we are going to struggle.
Liverpool has someone who can do that.
I wonder if he’s available?
Thanks for the thoughtful post again Doog. That’s all I ever associate you with…thought.
You know more about literature than I ever could dream (my D in English A level tells you I’m winging it), and you’re always so considered. And thoughtful.
If ever you like a blog I’ve written, or a subtle Kipling reference that Google might want to ignore, then I’ll know it has been worth the effort. My well has already run dry on such turns of phrases though, I fear. Not much in the vault to begin with there, sadly.
If is atmosphereless, yes!!!! It is just sad and mirrors life. VAR mirrors the Animal Farm existence we’re all sleepwalking in, as communist Mike Riley snatches away all spontanaeity from the masses, using a felt-tip pen for graphics as some sort of sick joke. But it’s not a joke, it’s a reality. This is life now.
There’s very little joy for me anymore and football was my one salvation. I’d genuinely prefer it not to exist until it is back properly – with VAR scrapped for good and a good old fashioned chewing of the fat after the game – if we’re not all locked up in our homes on a curfew and banned from that, too.
I just get sad sometimes, that’s all. Comments like yours never cease to cheer me up though, so thank you.
Thanks for that Ben. Much appreciated mate.
One thing all this has done is make me promise never again to moan about normality.
We’ll wake up soon and find this was all a bad dream.
Someone pinch me.
That was a typical tedious post Mark
I miss the odd banter with you due to having a nervous breakdown linked career in hospitality but had to mention I chuckled at ‘a bit rich’ comment…
I see your very positive no Nuno criticism lives on and seems you have insurmountable patience with Silva.
Fosun promised so much so I’m expecting big things nxt season..
If they give us a chance for one more experimental season if it goes wrong then the axe will fly IMO.
Have you (ever) seen a demise of such a brilliant player such as Neves?
Manager training?
When you turn up with a nine man team, against twelve, the ref was wearing the wrong color, you are going to lose.
Add in the fact that Pedro chose last night to have probably his least effective game of the season, and all the ingredients are there for a most frustrating, scream at the tv match.
Positives to take away are Patricio is ok, thank dog, Boly literally head and shoulders above anyone else for MOM, together with Moutinho, and………….
Negatives, too many to list on one post.
Jose waste of space.
Traore, like a character from the Wizard of Oz, needs a brain, of the footballing variety.
And we had the worst refereeing performance since Mike Dean in Cardiff.
And Ben, dear boy, whom I have known since before you were born, you have such a potty mouth!!
I get chastised on here for the rare mild expletive, so I expect a full, grovelling apology for using a naughty word.
And I think you need to change the picture of your right hand in your wallet!!
Keep up burning the midnight oil, my friend, I really love your passion and prose.
We now have almost three weeks to conjure up limitless theories on Fosun, Nuno and the World situation in general.
By the time the ‘Ammers ‘it town, we will all be happy bunnies again!
Keep the faith boys and girls, its only football.
Jose isn’t up to it and I really am getting totally pi$$ed off with no show Traore. Not saying Helder Costa was a world beater but he was crucified on here and elsewhere for far more productive performances,
As you say, we won’t win many with 9 v 12.
Wotcha Clive! Fining me for using the ‘f’ word?! Fuck off!
Hope you’ll have me in Houston one day, when we are allowed out again. (as long as it’s not 2 degrees farenheit when I come. That’d be about as typical as Jota scoring the winner!)
Up the Wolves!
It really is a shame you cannot hear the written word. Even with the correct punctuation it does not always come across as it was meant.
In my first post I said ‘banging on about’ meaning repetively saying the same thing. I also used the word ‘becoming’ before ‘tedious and boring ‘ .
I know what I meant and if my posts are considered flippant and sanctimonious (I think that is how it is spelt) and poorly constructed then I apologise profusely.
I did not realise that I was making a show of being morally superior to others. I never meant to come across like that.
Brompton. It’s usually me apologising for various misdemeanors on here! So to have you apologising as well gives me great comfort. Look. We are all Wolves fans. Me, Brompton, Ben ,Thomas and Paddy. Everyone on this blog. Sometimes we fall out but that is what football is all about. WOLVES AY WE.
Hi Brompton. You’ve got nothing to be sorry for. I am sorry too. I said you were sanctimonious which wasn’t fair and I bit.
I could see what you were trying to say, and only took exception to it ‘not being ok’ to express my opinon! But I was going on more of an inference rather than you saying ‘you’re not allowed an opinion’ because I know you’d never write that!
As I tried to articulate pretty poorly to Newt above, it’s just a testing time generally in life. I find it to be a very confrontational world we’re in these days. It’s a black and white world and I’m more of a shade of grey nowadays, preferring not to be noticed.
I kind of got sucked down a wormhole of life when writing it last night, and if I had the evening back, I’d have never written it, truth be told.
I can’t expect you to make the distinction between peeling wallpaper in my living room and a 0-1 defeat to Liverpool being emblematic of where I am personally! It was me being self indulgent, essentially.
And on that point, it wasn’t so much Jota being sold (although I clearly state that it was!), but more the fact that it had to be him, didn’t it? it just feels like someone is intent on keeping that boot firmly in my guts. It couldn’t be Coady heading one in against his old club? That’s not how life works for me these days (just like Lee Westwood being the ONE player in the top 20 at the Players Championship not to shoot under par on the final round, but he was the ONE player I wanted to win. There you go Smallman, have that. (I told you I was being self indulgent)
So the whys and wherefores of the Jota sale is secondary really, and I’d probably sympathise with a decision to sell, if we could only have a beer to discuss it. It is just the principle that he WILL come back and score, because that’s what has to happen and that’s how life has to be now.
But I’ll snap out of this and look to better times and remember the good times we’ve had, which can be hard to do when we’re stuck in this lockdown vacuum.
The time you spend on here is really impressive. You’re way more invested than I am and interact way more, so please don’t go anywhere, and please ignore me.
I know what you meant and you just wanted a bit of positivity…
…But when it comes to one of my typical blogs, you should have known you were in the wrong place! Ha ha!
Take care Brompton. Ben x
Ben
I must disagree with you once more, as it is I that failed to read the change from your normal blogs. So I remain apologetic.
I respect you highly for acknowledging me and close by saying your posts are one of the main reasons why I remain a blogger.
Take care my friend.
Last night was the same as many, many matches over the last 18 months – played quite well but didn’t score, probably deserved a point. We didn’t score so we didn’t get a point.
But Jota did,
And to those who scream Jota’s gone forget about him I say ba!!s.
Because we didn’t have to sell him at that point (for a paltry £43 million) and having done so we haven’t replaced him. Neto is not a direct replacement and subsequent events have proved that it was a serious mistake which hasn’t been rectified. There was plenty of room for both in our small squad.
It’s easy to see why we can’t score. Doc, Jota and Jiminez scored the bulk of our goals. How many have many have Semedo, Silva, Jose, Traore., Podence and even Neto scored between them?
So I will accept that we can move on when this piece of misjudgment / mismanagement has been corrected.
The bottom line is that we will continue to straggle until we start to score far more regularly. And the current playing staff are proving incapable of doing so.
There is plenty to build on but I really hope our ambitions aren’t confined to presuming that we have a fully fit and firing Jiminez back in harness next season.
So as previous posts let’s see what the summer brings.
And a speedy recovery to Rui.
Forgot to agree with all who correctly vilify Pawson and Stockley Park for another plainly biased effort last night.
Burt we can only join in solidarity with the other 17 teams who don’t play in red and come from the North West on this. When even Carragher calls the decisions questionable that shows how bad it really is.
It’s not any conspiracy, just plain bent.
Well I found the first 46 minutes the most enjoyable for a long time despite the missed chances.
Aside from the bemusing penalty decision, the missing extra time, their goal and Patricio’s injury….it wasn’t my worst Wolves experience of the season.
What missing extra time?
I couldn’t do the maths myself but a colleague seemed to be of the opinion that the time spent treating Patricio was not fully allocated because the clock was fixed at 7 mins.
I guess it was just the added time that the ref had already accrued + the 3 mins up to the 90 that Rui was on the pitch. Is that how it works ?
Our keeper got injured on or about minute 84
There had been at least 5 or more minutes of stoppages prior to then.
Which even with my useless maths ability, adds up to at least 11 minutes of play upon resumption of hostilities.
Only 7 were allowed.
No saying we would have scored, but no saying we wouldn’t have either.
Another example of the pathetically piss poor refereeing in this match.
But with Dean as fourth official and Manley in the Stockley Park shed, what more could we hope for?
Suggest you rewatch the last fifteen minutes, Timmo, and you will see , as ever, that I’m correct!
Fabio bashing ! Have been a basher since his early appearances in Gold and Black !
You can tell if you have a player on your hands very quickly. I won’t list his non
attributes as they are a long list.
Absolute joke of a signing, there is nothing there ! The worst signing in the clubs
history based on cost and ability and those responsible for it should be sacked , whoever they are !
Robert Taylor? Even at a mere £1 million?
Zeljko Kalac – 250 grand and never played a game for us ?
Nah! Mike O’Grady from Leeds, he only had one leg! I don’t know how he past the physical, played/hobbled through a game about twice.
And Dave Thomas ex QPR, well past his use by date, a winger who couldn’t even trot.
My Dad would say Mark Lazarus who didn’t know he’d been raised from the dead.
There again, they did come cheap – about 500 times cheaper than our Fab.
To be fair IIRC O’Grady did score the winner at Molineux in a 1-0 victory over that lot from Smethwick, so well worth whatever he cost if only for that !
I think he might have been £750k?! Eeek! Didn’t Sir Jack sue his own son shortly after that one?!
God knows what happened there. He was next seen in the San Siro playing for AC Milan. I think!
Bloody McGhee!!
Don’t…You’ll give me nightmares! Taylor! Agghhhh!!!!!
Yet another great blog Ben….
I find your blogs riveting, passionate , dramatic but also having that …’ je ne sais quoi ‘ .. perhaps more ..’ va va voom ’….
Yourself, Thomas, Ben R , Paddy and all the other writers the utmost respect for the time you give in provide a minion like me the pleasure of life… Wolves!
As usual last night proved how bent the officials are when you see a VAR penalty given for a toe tap for MAN U as it happened… then I’m just not sure any longer about the honesty of the game, or officialdom.
You’ve summed my feelings well, although our wall paper is flocked, and my biggest gripe is whether our wonder kid was trying to emulate Steve Mardenburgh off the shoulder number… at least Steve did find the net….. Fabio is just so poor, words fail me.
As for Martin Tyler… well he needs sacking …. drivel from someone showing absolutely no empathy for the seriousness of Raul’s injury.
Good to hear that Patricio is recovering.
Thank you Crunchie Kid! (Remember the good old days, when you’d get the Crunchies in?! Lion Bars too?! The halcyon days!)
I can’t wait to share a Twix with you at the next home game, all things being equal. Your comments mean a lot Lord Twix, and I hope you know that the Molineux experience over the years would have been a vastly less fulfilling one were it not for you being beside me. (feeding me Twixes! Lol!)
Hope to see you soon mate.
Well, that was frustrating but felt somehow inevitable after 2 minutes – no intervention from Stockley Park for Semedo foul or Moutinho. Then the comic handball given against the immense Willy Boly when replays showed it clearly hit his chest and, moreover, Pawson was unsighted! Yet he blew for a handball !
We all know finishing it our problem. One observation: Liverpool goal was all due to the quickness of thought of their forwards, in particular the brilliant flick on by Mane. Interesting to contrast that with the late flick by Fabio which put MGW through on goal. Had it been Jimenez rather than MGW I believe that would have been 1.1.
Personally would love to see us get in a Championship finisher (possibly even Division 1) as our squad needs more options up front.
Agreed Haseley.
I don’t know what is worse. A referee seeing an incident and getting it wrong, or a referee not seeing an incident and assuming what had happened. Either way, POORson did both in spades. He was awful.
And it was unfortunate that MGW had only just come on to the pitch, otherwise even he would probably have converted the flick from Fabio.
That’s meat and drink for Jimenez.
Fabio’s flick was genius, his positioning is excellent but he has a lot of work to do on ball protection and finishing. I would not judge him until the end of next season.
Can’t remember when I last swore so much at a tv match…by my reckoning we must have set up at least 10 potential openings for a killer pass or second phase then wasted them and that’s quite apart from seeing the wonder kid from Porto scuff his shot wide just before their goal
We need a throw in coach as we consistently lose possession when we start with the ball in our hands
We need to stop lumping the ball in the air into the penalty box
We need …. oh so many things
But I cling to the belief that this squad doesn’t need more than 3/4 changes and we will have a winning team… but next two seasons required for that outcome
Still think 50 points is doable this one
Still doubt that Raul Jimenez will come back
Very glad to hear Patricio seems OK
Very glad to have a brilliant blog like this to read when I wake up with sore head
OODCL
I’ve been banging on for ages about a throw in coach mate.
We might just as well throw the ball direct to the opposition. Well, we do anyway most of the time.
And we never mark the opposition when they get a throw.
When you think of the detailed studying of previous games that goes on while ‘Lookin to gain an edge’ – as Chief Dan George once said in one of the greatest films ever made (?) – something so tactically important as a throw in would be pretty near the top of your ‘to do’ list.
I hope you’re doing well mate. Look forward to see you at a future Bloggers’ Ball.
We can all have sore heads together.
Brilliant film and lots of quirky dialogue. The Tom Hanks western, News of the World is very good, for those of us getting bored staying in. Regarding throw ins- couldn’t agree more. It seems only the wingbacks take them but since Jonny is back, those taken on the left are much improved? Sadly Nelson is very poor and maybe one of the CBS takes over his duties? Our corners leave a lot to be desired too.
Thanks Doog
I talked to Wolves and they told me there’s no chance my vip tix for last game this season are any use so I’ve asked Park View if I can punt to next year and that’s all now in place
A year from now … who knows?? At least we will have a brilliant Bloggers gig in prospect
If Fosun stick to their plan ..and we can make the in/out trades needed I’m still of the view that Top 6 is in prospect
And Ben will have his wallpaper fixed ..and life will look a whole lot better for most if not all of us
(And Sandwell will be sliding towards oblivion )
14 goals says it all, Jose looks like he can’t be bothered, Silva I know is a kid, but last chance hit is shoulder, o for a Steve bull. Next season window is massive, big clear out required, glad Patricio is ok, Adama I’ve supported, Next season with preseason is make or break for him , the only player who has made me drink more, wolves aie we.
It did strike me that Jota’s goal was very reminiscent of the ones we used to score – win the ball, a couple of first time passes and a shot from a ‘can’t miss’ position. We seem to have lost our directness, exchanged the penetrative final pass for dithering about twenty yards from goal, always searching for a better opportunity instead of taking the one with which we have just been presented.
Back in the early days, standing on the South Bank with my family, I remember that if the team weren’t scoring or making chances my uncle used to say the he’d make them play till they dropped. I’m beginning to see what he meant!! 🙂
COYW
Had a day to digest it, luckily my future son in law is on an island which is off grid in New Zealand, so at least I did have not had to bite my tongue!
Ben, Thomas, please, keep writing from the heart. You echo the thoughts of the majority, I would say.
I have to concur with those bloggers that watching so much football in soulless stadia, with refs who seem to make up the rules to suit themselves as long it favours the big boys is becoming all to wearisome.
Like most on here, thought we played well, but, as was also said, getting super fed up of shouting at the telly, the settee, the dog, the moon or any other object that has my ire at our approach. We need some spark, some magic, that fast paced slick, attack minded football, we were getting to like… Last night LiVARpool were there for the taking.
Thought Mouthino had a great game last night. His shout of anger, seen in slowmo, as J@@ta ran past in the background to celebrate the goal said it all.
Let’s scrape our way to the safety of the 40 point mark, bring the curtain down on what is becoming a rather predictable, dull and uninspiring season.
Think the journey is only just starting tbh in the summer, we have to wait and see what our owners are planning or thinking. Personally I can’t 2nd guess what will happen.
Keep the faith.
Thank you Marnhull. I’ll keep at it, when inclincation arises. (Thomas is a Harry Redknapp to my Paolo di Canio petulance, nurturing me through each one these days!)
Yes, this summer window should tell us a fair bit. Just being linked with the right names would be a start! I don’t think we’re too far away.
I would definitely want to get Sanderson back, and even Giles for a look. And Mir would be on a plane back too. If Nuno really believes that the solutions lie within, then lets check out these three first. (I don’t want a Golden Tit speech ringing in my ears as we sell them for peanuts and they end up coming back to haunt us, as seems to be the case!)
A couple of astute signings, the emergence of one or two of the above, Jimenez and Podence fit and there’s no reason why we can’t be cautiously optimistic.
Then we can look back at this season and laugh at its unrelenting misery (knowing it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things) My aim is to do this, to a floral wallpaper backdrop.
Agree regarding Sanderson and Giles Ben. Definitely two young men on an upward trajectory. Rafa Mir was deeply unimpressive when here previously, but he’s older and wiser now and scoring goals in a struggling team, which is never easy. So yes, give him a run out in Old Gold to see how he goes and if his heart is still in it.
Just spent a happy hour watching us beat Arsenal, Luiz get sent off, ( can you believe Pawson was the ref that night?) Neto’s fabbo winner against Chelsea, Lampards miserable face, and Pep’s as we destroyed his champions last Christmastime.
Gets the old cockles warming, it does!!
The shit fans never have such memories!
FOwb
There appears to be an outbreak of Peace and Love on the blog today. Which is nice to see. The days are getting longer. Spring is on the way. It’s only 61 days to go until we are allowed back INSIDE the pub. Another day to mark off my GET THE PUBS OPEN advent calendar. Henrietta the psychic slug has some new false teeth. Next door neighbours cat has assumed Portuguese nationality and now calls himself ‘Pedro’ instead of Graham and Sandwell Town are going down hallelujah! Yeah man. It’s all cool.
Reading Ben’s opening comments made me want to buy him a pint and cheer him up. I’m still on half glass full mode in terms of seeing a performance which had more positives than recent ones. Liverpool had one shot and scored in the first half, got away with a challenge which even arch scouser Carragher said was a penalty and didn’t look like Liverpool of previous seasons. We defended properly, went forwards from midfield and threatened down the flanks. Good individual performances from Coady, Boly, Moutinho and Jose was sound in the build up play.
The frustrations have been listed. Liverpool are beatable at the moment but it’s not a fixture we normally take points from. We suffer when we play the teams we think we should beat and there’s a procession of those to come after this weekend. The threat of relegation is a powerful motivation if it means salary cuts and redundancies.
Two decisions made against Boly were clear and obvious errors and the late flag for offside is so stupid and now thanks to Rui , it might change.
But the biggest frustration is Fabio. I have defended him thus far, it’s not his fault that he has had to play at this level so soon, nor is the fee his fault but what is his strength? What special gift does he have? He is neither quick nor strong, his first touch is not reliable and he has fluffed simple chances that would have won matches against Spurs,& Leicester and gained a deserved point last night. That’s five points which takes us to 40 points and a place of comfort. This is serious elite football and he should be nowhere near it, it may ruin him rather than make him.
Have just watched Phil Foden in full flow for Man City, magnificent., and to think MGW was once in the same category. What happened?
MGW believed his own hype, got far too big a head, and consequently his performances went tits up.
He might become a good player, but not with us.
One of the biggest positives of the game was that the ball was getting to the centre forward more. That is an important thing in our new possession based approach which wasn’t happening earlier this year.
Sure Willian and the other forwards were not executing their passes perfectly but at least it was getting to him. (It seemed as though the person being passed to stopped running just before the pass was made sometimes.)
Next year, it will be an important thing, regardless of who the centre forwards are that year.
Thank you Ben for your passionate and heartfelt account of the game. You have held our heads up through thick and thin over the years, and the fact we all flock here week in week out for our rants and banter is testimony of our appreciation of what you and Thomas have built. Truly, WWFC need leaders like you to help them steer the club to success. I hope they listen to you when you speak at the Fans’ Parliament. One day I hope I could meet you and Thomas after a game to celebrate better times. One day!
I share the hollow, “doesn’t matter anymore” feeling about this season. I want us to win, and it’s depressing when we lose. The apathy is not because of the result; quite frankly, expecting to beat Liverpool is in itself a sign of how far we have come. My resignation is that I know that beneath it all the underlying issues are there regardless, and cannot be addressed now, from game to game, not until summer. At least not on the pitch. In the board room, however, it’s a different matter and I hope that Nuno, Fosun and the staff at WWFC are plotting late and hard for next season. There’s much to do. But I remain confident in their commitment to doing it. They’ve brought us a long way from where we were and they’re not letting us down now.
Keep the faith! It’s just a bump in the road.
As usual Go, a well written piece.
As you say, be great when we can all meet up. There maybe many differing opinions and opposing views on players, our owners et al, however we must all never forget, to a person we have a common denominator, we all love our club.
Really excellent synopsis Ben, truth spoken in every area.
A piece every Wolves supporter should read and digest. Nothing could be more obvious to all our fanbase is that you do not sell your source of goals ( both of them) and replace with inadequate substitutes. Fabio – really? ??
Please, please, please Ben or Thomas, put another topic up for discussion asap.
Otherwise we are going to have three more weeks of the “Jota and Doherty shouldn’t have been sold/Fabio shouldn’t have been bought” saga.
It’s getting monontonous, chaps, get friggin’ over it!!!!!
We can’t live in the past, much as some on here want to.
Most of us cannot wait for this season to be over and for radical improvements to take place in the summer, so why all the backward looking?
They are gone, just like all our previous players, so in the words of soneone famous, Fuggedabahtit!
I 100% agree Clive. Well said.
Mind you we should never have sold Doherty or Jota and should never have bought Fabio Silva.
OODCL
Spot on Clive and Bedford- we are very fortunate to have the aforementioned Blog authors who write so eloquently. It is so easy to pull a post apart but very tricky to put together a well written and thought provoking item. It’s going to be a long three weeks before our next game – should we have a midterm poll on best goal ( few nominees for this one!) , save, move, player to date. It might improve our spirits too having reviewed some of our season highlights to date. As an example I could watch Podence’s goal again and again. Just a thought.
Plick!!!
You should write one.
Once upon a time………
I have – like others I am sure – noticed some raised emotions and feelings on here in recent weeks.
I would just like to say three things about that.
1 The people who write this Blog – Thomas, Ben, Ben and Paddy – do so freely and willingly and provide all of us with a wonderful platform to ‘speak’ with other fellow Wolves fans all around the world. They have given us the opportunity to meet some great people – I have made many fantastic friends through this Blog (yes even Clive!) and we should never forget that we owe the Blog creators and contributors a lot.
2 We are all entitled to own opinions – however wrong some might feel they are – and to do so in whatever manner we see fit. I am damned sure many people don’t always agree with some of my opinions but that doesn’t make me wrong or them right. We can disagree or agree but it is just our individual opinions.
3 We all, every single one of us, want the same thing at the end of the day – for our beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers to be successful. To win the league, to win the FA Cup, to win the League Cup, to win the Community Shield, to win the Champions League, to win the European Super Cup and to win the World Club championship – every season for the next 50+ years – and to see Molineux transformed into a 60,000 seater stadium packed out every game. We should never forget that. We are all from the same pack.
The strength of the wolf is the pack and the strength of the pack is the wolf.
OODCL
You forgot the World Cup.
Now your’e just being silly. Anyway go away I are busy.
Yes BLF, agree with all three. May I add as number 4, I would like to take my grandson to his first match, that life enhancing first experience of the joy and bedlam when Wolves score and Molineux shakes………without having to shield his ears when 30 000 start chanting F*** VAR.
BG – maybe the powers that be will realise that VAR is an abomination and do away with it but I’m not holding my breath!
Unfortunately we can’t shield young innocent ears (or eyes) from the reality of a the language one hears from people at a live football match as football crowds merely reflect society and sadly, in my opinion, bad language, and particularly the ‘F’ word, seems to have lost it’s shock value and is now widely heard everywhere including on TV.
If we could do away with and ban it at football matches I’d be all for it but it’s never going to happen just as the chap who sits near me in the North Bank is never going to stop saying ‘pacific’ when he means ‘specific’ or the young girl who sits behind me is never going to understand that the letter ‘H’ is pronounced ‘aitch’ and not ‘haitch’.
OODCL
Sounds as though you are sitting near Delboy. I though he support The Hammers.
You been on the bottle Bedders ? Most correct thing you have posted for quite a while. Stay strong, we will soon be back at the Mol big time.
Although I read the blog regularly I don’t contribute very often.
I notice many bloggers saying that £35 million spent on Fabio Silva is a waste of money. Has anyone posting on the blog actually seen or read the full details of the contract between Wolves and the player ? Do any of you know for a fact that a significant part of the fee, whatever that might be, is not conditional on the number of full appearances he makes for Wolves, the number of goals he scores etc. etc.? My guess is that Wolves are unlikely to have committed to paying the whole fee regardless of performance.
Then we come on to Jota and what many of you see as a mistake in letting him go. My guess here is that Nuno had an honest face to face chat with the lad, asked him if his heart was still in playing for Wolves and the answer was “no” because there was more money and a good chance of greater success elsewhere. Faced with this position what would you have decided to do if you had been Nuno ?
And now, to stir the pot even thicker, there is talk about Doherty re signing for us, for a much lower fee than was supposebly paid for him.
If that happens, does Mendes have to give back a portion of his original commission, or does he get another chunk of wonga?
If so, I’m definitely in the wrong job!!
If he does come back, and underperforms as he has so far at Spurms, what will all you
“ we shouldn’t have sold him” lot say then?
“ please pass the humble pie”?
Ha
Have a nice day, y’all!
He should not come back. No player who chose to leave should ever come back imo.
Do we actually know that Brompto’? I haven’t heard whether he jumped or was pushed because the offer from Spuds was too tempting.
Maybe you can put me straight on that.
However, if he chose to leave, then he can stew in his own juice AFAIC.
I’d welcome him back with open arms. We could then sell Semedo and with the £20m difference buy a player we do need like a right footed centre back or a dominant defensive central midfielder to play alongside Neves.
Have I ever mentioned that I don’t think we should have sold him – or Jota – before?
OODCL
Having belatedly read the post-Liverpool blog, I now feel depressed! And that’s just with Ben’s starter, without reading all the responses. Quite a difference from his eloquent, lyrical pieces that confirm the place of football in our souls. This isn’t the most wretched of seasons – there have been many, many worse than this when there was never any hope. And that’s the problem here – it’s the hope that kills you and expectations have been raised so high that this season does feel grim. But there are increasing tones that feel a bit like the end of big Mick’s era, when the voices turned critical, and at the same time as an acknowledgement of his work in the E&S. It is indeed an incredibly disappointing season with some excruciatingly dull football and there is work to be done before next season, but surely the foundations remain and the future is brighter (in all sorts of ways)? Please!!
I think the attractions of footie on the telly, without fans, is wearing a bit thin for many of us PW. Soulless, meaningless games in front of empty stands, stuffed full of cardboard cutouts which only serve to remind us how things used to be. Canned crowd noise as fake and unconvincing as canned laughter on a cheap yankee sitcom. They’re only being played at all to secure the TV money.
But it’s not real. And I can only congratulate the players on how convincingly they play their parts in the farce without the roar of the fans behind them to spur them on. Just stands full of ghosts silently watching on.
Roll on next season. All being well.
For me the Doherty and jota debate incorrectly focuses on whether we should have sold them or not. We did, it’s done we have to move on. The debate should focus instead on whether we used the money in the way we should have and whether we think we have generated an improved return on the investment. Currently you would find it hard to argue that Semedo and Silva have provided more value to the team this season than Doherty and jota did last season. The goals and assists comparison shows a massive chasm. Of course, this might change over time. Personally, I don’t think we necessarily sold poorly but we may well have bought poorly
You make a very good point Sutton about buying poorly recruitment has been well poor the last few windows IMO.
I’ve missed all the fun and games.
As always, I enjoyed Ben’s post match blog. I have some empathy for the tone and sentiments; this pandemic and the lockdown has been a struggle for many of us and I’m sure the same goes for the Wolves team.
I’m still smarting from some of Monday’s match decisions – and a former hero coming back to haunt us. But there were positives for us, not least regarding Rui’s health. And, whatever else you say about him, that flick from Fabio was superb. Pity MGW couldn’t finish it off.
I’m just looking for Wolves to achieve mid table obscurity this season and refresh and go again in August.
One last thing: my thanks to Thomas, the two Bens and Paddy for all they do for this Blog.
I’ve had my mind elsewhere since the game last Monday and only came to the blog today. Firstly I enjoy and respect Tom and Ben’s Blogs and can understand a downbeat summation due to the current situation we are all in regarding Covid and the sheer frustration of non attendance and the false atmosphere of games along with the strange vagaries regarding VAR. (It was a penalty)
.
Yet, for the first time in a long while the team’s performance interested me and lifted me overall. True, Neto’s non appearance was strange bar the odd short cameo and the lack of any decisive fire power is worrying. However the decrying of the youngster up front, to my mind is over the top. He’s behind the level of maturity and strength required in this league at present, but his reading of the game and ability to find good positions is apparent to me. He was never meant to fulfil Jimenez’s role due to his lack of years and the mistake has been, in my opinion, not investing far more in the striker department in the close season. I remember a time not long ago when managers of this club had a number of good strikers available.
The late header from the youngster which ended up coming off his shoulder, I suggest we need to take a further look at what happened; he rose to head it then received a nudge from Dendonker which took him away from the ball. This lad, barring misfortune, has all the makings of a future star.
I sit beside a guy at matches whom I respect greatly in his football knowledge, but we’ve spent most of the last season arguing about the merits of two players from opposite standpoints. It is not yet decided who may be right or wrong. I spent a lot of time telling him that Jonny was a more than decent left wing back but he would not have it and would point out any little indiscretion. I felt that Morgan Gibbs White was too short of pace for his role and preferred other options and felt he would make a great Championship player for the present; he loves the guy and thinks he will be great at this level. There has to be room for disagreement and a realisation that we may be wrong in generalising from our fleeting and prejudiced view points. Tomorrow is another day. What I’m saying in my customary ‘about the houses’ way is give the young boy a chance, what will ensue will happen eventually.
Southampton through to F.A Cup semi final.
That could have been Wolves…..missed opportunity.
We could be playing like them and getting dragged into the relegation battle, too.
Staying up is the #1 priority.
Anything else would be a catastrophe.
Here we go again!
If, the biggest word in the English language.
Following your missed oppertunity logic, we should have won the cup, the league and every other competition we’ve ever entered, but for the fact we lost a few games.
Please stop living in the past.
I will remind you and everyone else about living in the past next time you blog about how far we have come from being in League one only a few seasons ago……….your happy to live in the past when it suites your option…….ay…..yeah.
Your happy to use the argument….look where we have come from when judging our poor performances this season and oh yeah don’t forget COVID life has gone on everyones had to deal will the same things but it has stop them wanting to achieve something.
In response to your first paragraph, seeing how far we have progressed is actually commenting on the present, not living in the past.
Also, I personally have never banged on about where we were 5 years ago, etc. etc.
Your second paragraph really makes no sense, so without wishing to upset you any more than I usually do, can you kindly clarify what you are trying to say?
Theres a good chap.
That says it all Clive……you don’t understand those are the truest words you’ve ever blogg mate.
‘If’? What happened to ‘antidisestablishmentarianism’ then?
Of course it was a missed opportunity; we wouldn’t have been dragged into the relegation battle and the S-F spot was there for the taking.
After Fulham Brighton and Newcastle playing this weekend an update on how the season may end at the bottom end if current PPG is maintained to game 38.
SHEFF UTD 18
WBA 24
FULHAM 33
NEWCASTLE 37
BRIGHTON 42
Wolves will end the season on 46 points.
PPG is fluid and can change quite significantly at this stage with so few games left . For example, should Fulham win two in a row and Brighton lose two.
Future star !!! If you believe that ,you cannot of watched a game of football in your life !
We will be a looking at a 4th consecutive season in the top flight for the first time since August 1975. Given that the Premier League quite easily devours you and spits you out whilst trying to establish (Sheffield Utd). I am very pleased with our progression. A few astute signings in the summer and no reason why we cant kick on again next season.
Saw this on social media.
Solid piece of writing, I think.
So obviously not my work!!
Watching the FA Cup game, Leicester v Man Utd and listening to the pre match commentary about Leicester selling their prized players should tell the faint hearted Wolves fans that this isn’t exclusive to any football club. No club, not even the likes of Liverpool can stop players leaving, if they are offered better wages, terms or Champions league football. Understandably, the Wolves of the past under the guidance of Jez Moxey would expect less investment for players than Fosun, who are willing to spend when required. But, we can’t expect to keep players, who want to leave, or have ambitions beyond playing for Wolves. Long gone are the days of Steve Bull, who turned down moves away from Wolves. The main point is to keep the structure of the spine of the team at the club, most of which are still here, and build and rebuild around them. So let’s be realistic when reading pure speculation in the tabloids, it could happen, it might happen, but it hasn’t. If it does happen, I’m more confident that the club under Fosun ownership will, regroup and purchase more potential to add to the team, and they won’t stop the recruitment process that has seen the likes of Neto replacing Jota. Onwards and Upwards fwaw ???
We have good players and the tabloids will fuel transfer speculation to sell more copies or get more hits on line. We can’t stop that but we are at the mercy of Fosun and Chinese politics. However it wouldn’t make sense to not ensure Wolves were secure in the Premier League with the prospect of lucrative European football or UK Cup success. We need more quality in the starting eleven and a stronger bench. Other bloggers call for “astute signings” but what do Fosun want? Why has Jeff Shi dropped below the parapet? What will be the recruitment policy for the close season? Reasonable questions ?
You don’t know what Fosun want but judging by your narrative you are of a negative persuasion. Only time will tell. And Jeff Shi made a public statement at the start of last season.
Our performance against Liverpool was at least heartening. We looked more like the Wolves of the past two seasons. If we had had the firepower for this match that we had then (Jota, Jimenez, Doc and Traore at his best) the result would have given us the points. As it was, we deserved a point anyway. We were denied a stone-wall penalty and we conceded a very soft goal. I can’t decide if this is all down to an improved Wolves, or is it that Liverpool are not the team they were. Maybe a bit of both.
For me, we have to build on this performance against Liverpool and end the season on a high. We can also earn extra bucks for our final league position as well. Regarding the ‘Project’ or the Ten Year Plan, we don’t hear much any more and it’s easy to see why! After winning the Championship title in style, and two seventh placed positions in the PL, nobody would have expected this season’s struggle. The forthcoming sixth season of Fosun’s ownership will be critical. We have to turn things around. It would not surprise me if Nuno leaves, given the separation he has endured from his family due to the pandemic. Under Fosun until now, we have always had good reason for optimism when looking ahead to the new season. We need soul-searching into our botched transfer dealings last summer. otherwise we are liable to repeat those mistakes. If our main strategy will be to sell Neto for mega money, I fear a repeat.
Agree Dances. We approach the half way mark or just over of the 10 year master plan. We will find out this summer whether FOSUN are going to stick to there stated targets or lower them.
Bit nonplussed by all the whispers around our next prodigy being stolen.
I really hope to hear what the owners plans are for the next level.
Got to be able to not only keep our young stars but attract new stars too.
Mendes face keeps popping up in my nightmare.
A level question. “Mendes a nightmare or a a useful enabler of high quality football players in to Wolverhampton Wanderers “. Discuss.
Only time will tell cheese.
Surely there are world class scouts out there to spot ones for the future.
Mendes is very good at what he does but are we over reliant on him are the owners in bed with him, Only using his players thus making him more money or does it work for us?
None of these questions will be answered until probably this era is over but my gut tells me there’s something unhealthy about it.
One thing is certain though…. in a time and place before Fosun and Mendes we were superglued into the championship.
A conundrum.
An excellent question CoD. Definitely not a nightmare- how can a person who facilitated the signings of neves and jota in the championship and then moutinho and patricio be possibly labelled as such? So, I would place him at the other end of the spectrum and label him a useful facilitator of high quality international players into wolves. However, like most things in life the answer is never as black and white as your question suggests. It is more nuanced. It cannot be healthy if wolves only swim in the mendes pool for key acquisitions or indeed the network of clubs with whom he has close relationships.It is a global market and he does not have a monopoly on the best talent. I have two concerns. On the mendes front- will he facilitate the exit of high quality international players from our club e.g. Neto and therefore restrict our ability to progress. On the fosun front- is this as good as it is going to get? If the draw bridge is pulled up now, we can say we have had a great 3 seasons ( not including this of course) and they will have achieved more in that time than we could have hoped. However, it will be a dream unfulfilled and the indicators that their ambitions are cooling will I think become clearer over the next few months. It is a BIG summer for wolves, this has been the first season of regression under Fosun and the tide has to be turned the other way and Mendes and our player recruitment more generally will play a pivotal role.
FOSUN took over Wolves when China was encouraging company’s like FOSUN to invest in the west in particular sport and football to shine a light on China in a good way.
The landscape has changed dramatically in the last five years the west’ relationship has soured due to Hong Kong and pro: democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong and China being backed by Britian and the western block.
I would not under estimate the effect and damage this has caused to company’s like FOSUN who have a big stake in western company’s some of which ie Wolves would be easier to drop than others if push came to shove amid pressure being applied by China.
Football clubs cost money, they don’t make money so it seems logical FOSUN would pull the plug on Wolves first if put under pressure.
What has not been mentioned in a very long time is the fact that Fosun apparently spent two years looking in great detail for the right club to buy.
In that time they no doubt would have realized that, like the stock market and any other gambling venture, fortunes can go up and down, sometimes for the vaguest of reasons.
I have no doubt times of poor results, injuries, loss of form, bad luck and consolidation would have been factored into their deliberations.
We may not understand the Chinese mentality, or way of life, but one thing is certain in Fosun’s case, stupid they are not.
One thing that will influence Fosuns use of Mendez cheese is Fosuns financial stake in Mendes agency. My guess is you’d need more than A level accountancy to understand the financial “ins and outs”.
Then as I said earlier, mendes….
Or competent scouts?
Or both
Plus , does Nuno have a say in who we sign or is he here purely as a coach.
One thing is for certain…the owners are not stupid. I reckon they more than likely have a fifteen year plan rather than ten.
Just puzzles me why we haven’t seen or heard from them for some time
Times have changed since FOSUN starting looking to invest in a football club. The West’s relationship with China has changed in the last six year and not for the better.
It’s a different landscape altogether six years ago China was encouraging investment in the west now it’s the oppersite.