If you count the Celta Vigo game, that’s three consecutive matches we’ve dominated and failed to score.
It’s also a trio of games where one lapse in concentration has cost us at the other end.
Those, unfortunately, are the margins.
And while I’m encouraged by our confidence in possession, our aggression out of it and the ability to occupy good positions, it’s not enough without the missing ingredient.
Bottom line: if you’re not airtight defensively or scoring regularly, you’ve got a problem.
And we’ve got a problem.
Traore is dynamite between the boxes but can’t shoot for toffee. Trincao drifts inside and outside but is invariably anywhere but the penalty area. Even Raul is doing his best work 25 yards from goal.
Moutinho is a goal a season guy, as demonstrated by his shooting. Neves similarly isn’t finding his range.
Semedo and Marcel both did a lot of positive things but neither attack the back post in the same way Matt Doherty used to and when they do get in behind, there’s invariably no gold shirts to be seen.
Even the centre-halves we’ve got don’t look like getting on the end of set-pieces (partly because we don’t always put them in the box).
This isn’t to say all of the above are bad players. Quite the opposite. I’m struggling to think of anyone that had a bad game today.
The point is, we’ve just ended up with a team of players that don’t have goalscoring in their makeup.
At least two attack-minded players with a proven track record of scoring must be added before the month is out.
If we don’t add some killer instinct, the summary of ‘played well, didn’t get anything’ will be a persistent theme and the club’s hierarchy will have nobody but themselves to blame.
Traore awful .if we had someone decent ,through on goal last 2 games ??? .
Come on fellas take ur blinkers off
Let’s hope someone comes in for him .
I’m 19 stone I’m quicker than coady .
It’s gona be a long season gentleman
Sorry Keith, but I totally disagree. Infact, I`m very encouraged by what I`ve seen in the two games so far.
For one thing Bruno has us playing attacking football. We are on the front foot, pressing and creating plenty. We have a team worth watching. Nuno`s mob today were to me like step back in time. Boring and predictable. I`m actually beginning to believe that although Nuno was brilliant for us in the early part of his tenure, we are now going to be much better off with Bruno at the helm. This is a new era. Let`s embrace it.
But we have no cutting edge. Raoul is fearless and will score a lot of goals again, but he needs time and in any event cannot be regarded as a one man forward line !! Neither Traore, good as he is, or Trincao are natural goal scorers, and we have no one bursting forward into the box from midfield to provide added support. Urgently we need a proven striker to play with Raoul and a qualilty midfielder.
So its all down to you Mr. Shi. Please stop all the bullshit promises about team strengthening and talking in Chinese riddes as you try to confuse us. The time for talk is surely over. Just step up to the plate and support your new man. Neither he, nor us loyal supporters, deserve anything less.
Forecast. If Shi acts now Wolves to finish the season above Spurs.
Don’t be sorry mate ,that’s your opinion. Everyone to there own .
Traore awful .if we had someone decent ,through on goal last 2 games ??? .
Come on fellas take ur blinkers off
Let’s hope someone comes in for him .
I’m 19 stone I’m quicker than coady .
It’s gona be a long season gentleman.
I can’t see where the goals are going to come from
You also have a habit of repeating yourself.
And if you are nineteen stone, I suspect you are probably not quite as quick as… a very slow thing.
But at least, most people on the blog seem to agree with you.
Oh! Sorry, they are dislikes, not likes.
Hilarious!
He could be 12ft tall DG.
13 ft xx
Blinkered ? end x
– Traore MOTM. Bruno Lage did great things with J.Felix. Can he do it again with Traore? My answer is yes. He’s an iconic player for Wolves, and people follows Wolves just to see Traore play. Had some incredible dribblings today. Jimenez is clearly a bit rusty, and Trincao has just kicked off his career at Wolves. Great tendencies from Trincao too. It’s so nice to see progress are being made when it comes to team play. We deserved a point and dominated Spurs totally during the first half. And the entertainment was top notch. Up the Wolves!! A couple of top signings to assure Lage has options are the only thing we lack. I dread what will happen if Jimenez is injured again if we don’t sign a proper backup.
How the man of the match, two games running, can cost us at least two and more likely six, points is beyond me.
Unplayable for the first half, and only marginally playable in the second, and over 25 attempts collectively. Unfrickinbelievable.
And Nuno’s boring Spurms timewasting from the tenth minute on.
But, and its a big but, the person who really stole the show was atwell, closely followed by atkinson.
I use lower case for their names coz they aint worthy of any sort of respect.
Ali dived for their penalty, and yet Semedo was just as harshly hit, and no foul.
Utter disgrace to their profession, both of them.
Once again, the record books will show we lost, and won’t reflect how dominant we were.
I reckon we have now set up Manure to come to The Mol with a sense of complacency, only to get stuffed.
A performance to be proud of, an exciting match to watch, with a travesty of a result.
Bruno’s side will come good, Nuno’s side has already started it’s inevitable downward slide.
Funny ?
Yes, only the point lacked today. Progression is being made though.
I agree absolutely. We are about to embark on a new exciting era. Time for negativity to be binned. Let`s just get right behind Bruno and the major change in playing style that he is trying to input, cos if he`s successful we`ll have a real attacking team to be proud of.
Oh and by way, another word for Kilman. He was again outstanding today. A real rock. This guy could well develop into a top class central defender
Downward slide 2 wins ,beating man City. Lol
I didn’t see the match, so cannot comment on that.
But… why, why, why can’t players, who can pinpoint passes to each other, not hit a barn door at three paces when it comes to shooting at goal?
I’m starting to feel pessimistic again.
The most critical part of our season is the next 9 days. Shi, Sellars and Co have done very little in the transfer market to inspire confidence to date. Trincao should be given a few games to adapt but on the evidence of today he is lightweight and one paced, shows the odd nice touch but nothing other than a squad player in a team supposedly aspiring to European football.
For all the frustration of Traore he is the only one today who actually worried Spurs. Take him out of the equation and it would have looked very anaemic today. None of the players had a bad game the trouble is none of them looked like game changers. Even if we sell Traore and/ or Neves would anyone trust Shi , sellars et al to use it wisely? £ 65m spent on Semedo and Silva and to what effect? I hope Lage is backed. I like his commitment to attacking football and the players appear to be working hard for him but they need help. With the right decisions over the next 9 days we could have a good season. With the wrong decisions, this team will soon lose its steam without goals and we will be in a relegation fight. Some will disagree but they are probably the same ones who talked about “ a Period of transition” last season when many could see that we simply weren’t going anywhere fast.
It is too late to sell and buy proper replacements in my view .
Neves and Traore must stay .
If we can get a couple of decent additions that would be good but it will be difficult to do that .
Semedo is going to make you eat your words :=)))
Really? Has he just been using the first 40 games to warm up? He looks good going forward but can’t shoot and rarely delivers end product. Defensively he has improved but I reiterate what value have we got from him for a 30m investment plus wages?
– Semedo was nr. 8 on the premier league top list over amount of tackles ;=)
– Duels won he was placed as nr. 13 (Adama was nr.2 on the list).
So obviously he’s done a very solid job defensively, but didn’t contribute a lot forward when it comes to end product. Hopefully he improves on that this season.
The stats were found on the Kickest website.
Semedo is the second or third best player on this team
Gutted with that result today. The effort was their in abundance. Traore was immense but shouldn’t be allowed to shoot. Woeful that effort after doing brilliantly to get into the box from the left to just hoof it out towards the corner flag, it’s like watching foreign armies shooting with their rifles above their heads, they will never hit the target and neither will he.
I was impressed with VAR in the Euros but for the life of me I cannot understand how one penalty is given and the other one not. All we deserve is a fair rub of the green which we very rarely get and as for commentators/pundits who regularly spout “it evens itself out in the season”…no it doesn’t and never has for us.
A lot of positives in the play and much more entertaining than how Spuds played (slow first half, slight improvement in the second, very familiar).
I was chuffed with the appreciation shown by the fans and if we can get 3 or 4 in before the deadline with a couple of dead eye dicks then we will be fine.
I do think regardless of his panic shots it would be a mistake to let Traore go. He is never going to be a goal scorer, never, but he will give every defender in the league a few sleepless nights prior to going up against him and that is invaluable .
Traore scored regularly for Middlesbrough, so why not for Wolves?
Sorry K-J, I’m a Traore supporter but you are wrong. He scored 5 goals in 61 games for Middlesbrough- not what you would call prolific
For all the huff and puff and yes we deserved a point but at the end of the day or game we got nothing. Did our play deserve that no but you have to take your chances and we didn’t or should I say Adama didn’t but in his defence there were not many options, time and time again he got in good positions but there was one Wolves player in the box he had little options.
Raul is not at full strength that’s plain to see and no a critisum what I will critises is we have no one to take his place a like for like replacement and this is were our recruitment has let us down badly.
You cannot expect Raul to be back to himself after 9 months out and just pick up where he left off. We should have foreseen this and planned acordanly but no we carry on blinkered thinking it will be ok……..but it’s not and he needs time to get back to his best but what are we doing in the mean time sitting on our arses or should I say Jeff is.
Two games in and two defeats but that not what’s pissing me off…….what’s pissing me off is there’s not urgency no concern that we are slipping into the trap of thinking oh well we are playing well we have had a tough start……that’s bollocks there are no easy games in this or any professional league……what will it be next we are to good to go down.
Bruno needs to be backed and as nice as it was today to watch the lovely cross field passes at the end of the day there was no end product.
We relied on Adama and yes if he put that one on one away it might have all been different but as the bloke sat next to me said…………that’s why he is still a Wolves player.
Bruno has done wonders since he came in with what he has got…..but he knows he needs players in certain positions that can make the difference from being unlucky loser to winners.
Kilman awesome today absolutely awesome…….why Nuno didn’t trust him I don’t know .
Don’t want to end up like Forrest a few years ago with the tag to good to go down……….what happened……you got it they went down.
Jeff for fucks sake pull your finger out..!
Hang on Paul.
We have a £35 million striker on the books bought as back up for Raul and by now he should be “one for the present.” 2 other strikers bought as “ones for the future ” have departed the club this week-one for Sevilla the other to Empoli. They were bought for the future 3 and 2 years ago respectively, but apparently not our future.
And we aren’t playing well if we aren’t scoring goals. Two games, no goals, null points. 36 from 38 games last season, the trend shows little sign of change.
As for Traore – brilliant with the ball at his feet but no end product, shooting or crossing.
So 9 days to deadline day. To the many who said let’s see what the transfer window brings we are getting close to the point of pulling rabbits out of hats, so we need to hurry up.
We do have good players on the books, but they need supplementing in quality and quantity, because the squad is threadbare, we only need to look at today’s bench to see that.
WE also have some very good players out injured, so the bench will not be quite so full of Academy players in due course. All our players did well today, the new goalkeeper is fine, Trincao will obviously improve as he gets used to the PL, Kilman is now a dependable first team regular. Semedo is proving the many scornful doubters wrong, Since we did so well against both Leicester and Spurs I seenothing to worry about – the goals will come, and the points.
Agreed oldandwise, but everyone has to cope with injuries and by my reckoning we have 3 – Boly, Jonny and Neto which is pretty much par for the course at any given moment.
In a way you reinforce my point – the squad is simply not big enough to field a full complement of first team players, as there will always be injuries.
It’s been 10 months since Raul got injured and we still haven’t found a partner/replacement for him we went down the loan route with William that didn’t work we tryed the wonder kid that was not the answer either.
We are nine days away from the window closing and still no sign of a striker……..why I can only suspect.
1. We are waiting on a sale to fund a deal. Trouble is there will be a smaller pool to pick from most of the talent in our bracket have been snapped up Ings for example.
2.. We go down the loan route again. This has a up side and a down side as William proved yes you can take a look at a player but to if they really don’t want to be here which I believe IMO William didn’t they are not going to full comitted or up to the task.
And.
3. We do nothing. To me this is the worsted option. The forward line has been far to reliant on Raul for a while now and with goals not coming from any other part of the team at the moment not to invest in a striker could mean the difference between bottom half of the table finish and a relegation battle.
By leaving it this late the market to choose from has got smaller by the day which is frustrating when the club bang on about working 24 hrs a day year round to bring in players. At the end of the day you pay for what you get if you are not willing to pay the going rate don’t be surprised when you end up with a donkey.
One week into the season, and deja vu all over again.
Window still firmly wide open, yet you are still telling us what will and won’t happen, with your wonderful crystal ball.
Boring, boring, boring
Yep. 9 days to go. Dont panic Mr Mainwaring. Stupid boy Pike. Etc etc etc…
Yep, and you’ve still got your head in the sand……….nothing changes…….a Clive.
Boring it might be but its a fact. I suppose your next answer will be wait until January you just keep on moving the goal posts a bit like Jeff.
He knows everything that bloke
– Yes, the club got some money from the Mir and Otasowie deals. I wonder what kind of buys they are saving the money for? If Traore or Neves are sold for around 40 mill, the club would have 60 mill to spend (Man U fortunately needs to sell in order to buy too). The amount of players we’ve been linked with during this window have been so many that I’m almost sick of transfer rumors.
Agree 100% Paul! Well said mate!
– Kane missed a sitter as well, and he’s worth over 100 mill ;=)
Keep playing like that and we’ll win more than we’ll lose.
We always knew it was a tough opening. For all sorts of reasons we knew it’d take a few games to hit our stride.
No need to panic just yet.
I still think we’ll have 20+ points before January and then we’ll only get stronger.
My mantra is always let’s have a look after 10 games. If we have less than 8 points at that stage I will be worried I don’t expect that . We got in to lots of promising positions down the sides but failed to find the telling ball across the 6 yard box. I thought Spurs were quite ordinary although perversely they probably had the more clear cut chances second half and our goalie deserves praise for his efforts. I am not going to panic. But I do expect the pressure to grow on Jeff and Fosun if they don’t back Bruno in the next 9/10 days.
Great to be back
Great to meet up with several bloggers
Great atmosphere in the ground
Great to see Jeff release funds to buy a few players who can score though.
Great to be back home.
Hi Brompton.
Where do you meet usually, would love to meet up with the fellow bloggers.
If an extra bod can be accommodated?
Was expecting you at the Combemere. I had to leave around 12 but Wolfstroker was there still.
We were gutted journey up was a pig we never arrived until 1310, which kinda buggered up our plan. Will deffo leave earlier. Will be great to meet you guys. Soz we let you all down. I blamed Dom, he was driving 🙂
Welcome anytime mate. I am staying at A Park View hotel on Sunday post Man Utd game.
Another Traoremendous performance. The jet healed superstar is worth my ticket money on his own. I love what Lage is doing with him. Its paying dividends in chances but will come up trumps in terms of goals and points I’m certain.
He has 2 years on his deal. So unless it’s north of 75m Jeff should tell them to f off because it’s false economy.
Agree, he’s worth way more than 40 mill
Two games, two defeats, but I’m far from downhearted. Today was the Leicester second half for 90 minutes. Yeah, we should have points on the board but we are playing far better than I thought we would be at this stage and the return of Willy and Yerson will only make us stronger. New signings will come, I’m sure though I fear Adama may be heading out. Romaine Saiss too spent a lot of time waving to the crowd pre and post game.
So good to meet up with several bloggers today. It’s been far too long.
Keep the faith my friends. The future holds much promise.
Keep the faith guys trust me know they are working on new players, if we were getting outplayed, or thrashed, i would be worried, we kneed a slice off luck, Adama can’t finish is tea we will be fine, wolves aie we.
All in all, a very enjoyable day.
Good to meet up with Brompton, Wolfstroker, Lord and Lady Twix, and then spend a VERY convivial evening with Dougie, Barbara and Tricia, in their lovely house next to West Park.
Before that, being royally entertained at Molineux.
Throughout the first half, I just knew that we would get something from the game.
As the second half wore on I just knew that we wouldn’t.
But, on the match preview I said that I was prepared for any result as long as we gave it a good go.
And by cracky we did!
I agree with Thomas that nobody had a bad game, but Bruno should make them all stay in after school and practice crossing the ball into the box so it ends up somewhere near Raul’s head or feet.
I feel quite positive after this performance, but we have an obvious goal scoring problem and it will NOT be cured by selling any of the current first team.
We need to add proven goal makers and scorers.
Over to you Jeff.
Jeff! … Are you there?
The only bit I don’t understand is that when Traore is faced with a defender, he’ll go round them.
But when it’s a keeper, he doesn’t.
He shoots.
Anyone ?
That’s a very fair point mate.
Perhaps Bruno should ask him.
I did wonder about this. Looked like he had plenty of time and space to round the keeper on the left. You could see what he was trying to do with his shot though. Had he lifted the ball just 6 more inches it would have been a thing of beauty. Just comes down to those split second decisions. What made strikers like Bully and Andy Gray so lethal. They made the right call most times. Hopefully it will come with Adama too.
Andy ‘Brittle Bones’ Gray, cost 1979 from the Villa, £1.5 mil, Sold to the Toffees £200k 1983. Ok he scored the tap in that won the League cup 1980, but really in the same sentence as Bully? Weirdly played well for Everton after that. Footy eh?
https://www.byfarthegreatestteam.com/posts/andy-gray-brought-success-everton/
And yet at The Etihad a couple of years ago, he suck two past their keeper exactly the same way as he’s tried this past 8 days.
Perhaps he needs to stop watching that video and look at the home win over the same opponents that same season!
stuck
When asked how he had such fantastic ball control George best replied “practice ,practice, practice” and thats exactly all adama should be doing in training as that fantastic player has already had three one on ones after only two games and thats probably more than harry kane will get all season.
Train the nuts off him bruno.
Where to start … the positives, that’s always a great place to start. And I’ll end on some more positives as well, because I think there are plenty.
First positive for me is that for two games running, I saw a lot of urgency from the players, hustle and hunger. These ingredients were missing from the team most of last season, and they are crucial, so for me, something has to be going well behind the scenes for this to be restored. Whether it was just a rest that did it, whether it’s Bruno, or the return of the fans to the the ground … it’s great to see. I believe if these ingredients exist, if there is the will and determination to win, things will come good. Have patience.
As all of you know I was against letting Nuno go when it happened (and kinda still am) but he has now, and Lage is trying to change the system to improve the game going forward. We need to give it time. We need to let him persist with it. Anytime one tries to improve something there is a period where things seem to get temporarily worse before they get better. It is crucial to believe in the new system and to stick with it until it bears fruit. Quitting during the time when things seemingly get worse (before they get better) is called the “Loser’s Pocket” referring to that dip in form (looks like a pocket on a graph) before the improvements manifest. Goals will come if they persist with this system, mark my words. They need to keep working hard at it. Raul needs to get fitter and find his form, Adama will find the net, and partnerships and confidence will be restored.
Having said this, the calls for reinforcements are totally justified. We are just 1 or 2 injuries from regressing back into the woes and troubles from last year. We definitely need an in-form natural finisher like Ings. Probably won’t happen with Fosun since they seemingly only invest in Mendez sell-me-ons, but it’s a shame really, because I really think we are just 1-2 (right) players short of terrorizing the league. An Ings like forward and a Rae like midfielder. Come to think of it, we need Jota! How we miss that guy. He’s been the missing link from the success of the first 2 seasons, and the lack of it thereon after!
I agree with Cheesey that we need to give this 10 games. I think the players and the system will be sharpened by then, results and goals will come, and hopefully, so will the missing players.
Btw, Spurs also had a few 1:1 opportunities and clear chances and missed them. As did Man U if any of you watched their game. It’s not just Wolves. Only way Spurs won was through a penalty. Not by taking their chances either. Any of you out there who played at a respectable level will know how hard these opportunities are to convert. Not saying they shouldn’t, but just saying it’s not just Wolves players. Finding that clinical touch will make all the difference, and what will win games. All teams work on this.
One last positive for me is that for 2 games straight I’m finding it hard to single out a player who had a bad game. I thought they all did really quite well. That has to tell you something when you lose but can’t single out anyone who played badly. Just means the cards didn’t quite stack up for us on the day. But they will.
Go Wolves
Excellent post GoWolves.
A well balanced view on the game and the current Wolves situation.
I think Bruno is on the right track.
But he needs to be backed by the owners.
And that doesn’t necessarily have to always include Mendes.
Agree Doog, need to be not so reliant on Mendez he’s not got a monopoly on good players.
As ever GW. Spot on and can’t add anything else.
9 days to resurrect the season Jeff Shi you need to move big time Mendes to the rescue too I just know he has a wonder player up his sleeve..But we need 3
Keep Traore or your cursed.
This game a travesty to see Nuno
walk away with 3 points ..
I shake my head…
Resurrect the season? It’s only just started Stevie lad.
I do agree with us needing to bring in a prolific goal scorer though, as Traore has failed in that respect so far. But Jeff can do that without Mendes help.
Neatly summed up Thomas. There were a lot of good things about the performance but there’s two areas we continue to let ourselves down. One, obviously, is the lack of goals. It’s a big burden to lay solely on the shoulders of Raul and it doesn’t look like goals are coming from anywhere else.
Traore was explosive, lightning, frightening but the one thing missing from his game is composure in front of goal. It’s a real shame and the difference between no points and 2 or more from the first two games. Also a shame there was no one getting onto his balls after his many darts in behind.
The other failure that is so frustrating is the slow starts. Again we conceded early, giving ourselves a mountain to climb. It also gave Spurs something to protect and affected the pattern of the game. Whether we would have been so dominant were it 0-0 i’m not so sure.
Fine margins of course in this league and we’ve cruelly seen that this week. Still, many positives.
Was the early goal due to a slow start or to the ‘dive’ – contested penalty decision ?
Greetings,
MotD are a disgrace, showed one replay of the Deli pen mid match edit and it clearly looked dodgy, a proper Tom Daly effort, then refused to discuss the issue vis the pen award for Semedo, which looked a better shout the little I saw of it. They’d have been all over that last season. Probs been told to cool it by the FA. Hope Kenny Hibbitt was monitoring the refs performance and even now getting a posse together.
Nuno robbed a point off us, probs the least we could do for him given the sorry bag of mouldy spuds he’s taken on. He didn’t look pleased in the post match chat realising the stress he’s got himself into.
Has anyone got any fairy dust for Adama’s scoring boots? Liking the new locks. Defo 10+ this season. I mean he’s missed that many already 2 games in.
If Jimi isn’t going to head the ball why is he on the pitch????? This is peoples lives ffs. Still preferred to the £35m fairy dust bag carrier though. Glad to see the back of that cnut, Luiz out of the prem. Disgrace. He’s not going to last long in Flamengo, too close to Mexico.
Any how we’re still above Arsenal & Burnley in the table. 1 lv.
Dissapointed, yes, but what a breath of fresh air! We have had 42 shots on goal in the past 2 games! Yes, 42, and while we did not score, the potential is there. Last season, it probably took about 20 games to have that many shots. And the defense may not be great, but has only let in one wonder goal from open play in the first two difficult games from potential top six clubs!
We “just” need 2-3 good new quality signings and we will blow many teams away. I am very positive, in spite of the results.
I have been entertained more in the past two games than the last 20 under Nuno.
Welcone, Bruno, welcome.
Just give Jeff a gently nudge, or a good kick up the you know where, and we will be fine!!
A couple of things struck me – 1) Raul will finish more chances when he’s fully up to speed. He’s a better finisher than he’s shown, and I think after the international break there will be more cutting edge just because he’s played 5 games not 1.
2) This is dominating Spurs and Leicester, this bodes very well for when we play comparatively weaker teams. Remember in the season we beat City twice we lost to Huddersfield twice. A new style will see less beating big teams, more beating small times.
Jeff Shi needs to hang his head in shame .. at the start of his reign the first down grade came when they took the potatoe out of the meat pie and so the gravy ran in your cost pocket if you’d had a couple of bites
Next to go was the beef pie that had the peas in the top of it
How can you get rid of a pie that you had to leave your seat ten minutes before half time to get one
And now for fuck sake …no banksys in the the North bank bar . None at all
No bitter no mild ,
Asset stripping
Shame on you Shi
You always did get your priorities right Matt.
I BLAME MENDEZ ….HE DONT LIKE MEAT PIES NOR BANKSYS
You could always get the wife of a previous CEO to do the catering. Or see if we can get pie and a pint back as a freebie……
How can you not smile when reading a post like that.
Still laughing now Matt. Catch up next Sunday mate hopefully.
Love it Matt.
Disgraceful let’s organise a protest march. Still chuckling now. 🙂
I didn’t see the match so I won’t comment on that but I would like to comment on the transfer situation, even though I haven’t seen that either.
Buying a world-class player isn’t like popping down to Tesco (and even that isn’t as simple as it once was with the shortage of lorry drivers).
The scouting team aren’t going to publish a shopping list to keep us informed just to see them picked off by others with deeper pockets, so the secrecy shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Everytime Bruno is interviewed he says that there is a lot of activity going on in the background trying to seal deals with the players he wants to improve the team and no doubt all of those players (and their agents) are trying to get the best move for themselves.
Why don’t we delay our judgement of Jeff Shi and Scott Sellars until the window closes or at least until we have an inkling about what’s going on?
As for Traore: very little I’ve read about the game changes my mind that we’d be better off cashing in and buying a couple of proven goal scorers.
As exciting as he is, we need goals.
BUT, “useless”, he ain’t!!!!! I’d relish a goal-less Traore if someone else was knocking them in.
When the fixture list was first published I’m sure we all (well, all who have a clue what they’re takling about) realised how dfficult it was going to be to get anything from the first three games.
Let’s also reserve judgement on the team until after we’ve played 10 games, eh?
Full agreement here Jack.
If we’d had these three games last season we’d have expected very little. OK, nil points this season either but a bucket load of entertainment and a shed load of promise of better days ahead.
I believe in the process too Bruno.
Just had a look at that penalty again on the replays. Watching it live yesterday it looked a penalty. But now it is clear he has conned the ref by leaving his foot in. The very thing that VAR has supposed to have been looking out for under the new guidance this summer. So. Where was VAR yesterday ?
Compare the two.
Alli goes towards the keeper and away from the direction of the ball. Nelson running towards the ball and the defender gets in the way.
Real explanation. The colour of their shirts.
Yes. I remember Spurs at home last season when Fabio Silva does much the same as Deli Alli. Difference.Last season no penalty and a booking for Silva. Yesterday.Penalty.
And talking of the keeper Wolf, what an upgrade Sa is….great shot stopper, fearless, confident, area commanding and the boy can distribute , for me man of the match. He put the brakes on before colliding with Deli Diver so as far as I am concerned a very very exciting and encouraging display. His quick distribution should have been rewarded at the other end but I am sure it will come when the forwards catch up with the keepers quick thinking.
Agreed Norsk. With the very high defensive line, we need a keeper that sweeps too.
As they used to call them, a ‘sweeper keeper ‘. He’s good at it too.
Agree, was thinking the same. Great bit of business. Patricio suited a Nuno team (deep) was older and on big wages. Sa is younger and seems a much better fit for Brunoball (TM)
I agree WS – I’ve just been playing at DIY Stockley Park on Youtube. I hadn’t read your post at that point but had come to the same conclusion. Alli plays the ball with his right foot and it goes towards a spot I estimate as halfway out to the corner. He makes no attempt either to follow the ball or to jump over Sa so that he can then follow it. He then slides his right leg over Sa and continues his dive. At the very least he ‘drew a foul’ in the modern phrase and at worst it was very dubious practice which referees ought, if they had any respect for the spirit of the game – an old fashioned idea I admit in this age when cash is king – be trying to stamp out and not encourage. Wasn’t VAR supposed to help in this? If it was it doesn’t seem to be working.
Great atmosphere yesterday, not even spoiled by the travesty of a result; If their penalty counted, then the one in front of me was nailed on for us also. Benefits of being a “big” Team, I guess, yet again. It is ridiculous to end up with no points, whereas if we had the six, it would not have been unfair to Leicester or Spurs.
I’ve still got a nasty niggly feeling with regards to our squad, especially since the Neto news. Raul is nowhere near match sharp for a guy of his quality but we know he will get there. I must admit to cringing when he went up for a competitive heading challenge in midfield.
I tend to agree with the pundits about Jimenez concentrating his positioning between the posts centrally at present; we need someone there and there appears to be no one else available. I say this fully realising his link up play was always a strength, but with no other striker able to Get across defenders at the near post for instance, ( how many times do we have balls played there with no one attacking them?) I feel we need him in there. We have nine other guys to do the build up work primarily.
There was yet, imo, another outstanding performance from Kilman, and I’ve heard whispers that Saiss may be on his way out; good servant to the club. Boly and Mosquera back and kilman on the left with Codey in between looks okay, but we still need some speed. Mosquera looks quick, but we need someone good and also quick with so many speed merchants around; difficult to obtain as all teams are chasing these guys.
Moutino’s days are limited at this level and speed; I have it on “good” authority that Neves will be gone to Man U. Now he is back to normal almost after his Covid bout, I think replacing him would be difficult. Hope my source is wrong, especially as we are also short in that department.
I thought MGW should have come on ahead of Fabio and much earlier; I think he looks stronger and can do a better number ten job. I’m far from anti Silva as he seems presently lightweight as MGW did for some time at this level; some guys are still boys at his age physically; It’ll come, I believe, and you just have to be patient. Mick McCarthy had it right when it comes to strikers; four experienced guys available as injuries tend to occur in their chosen role. How we could not be tempted by Ings being available does my head in; Fox in the box, just what we need.
Manchester United playing below par has done us no favours, but we are due a lot of luck, which our play deserves so all is not lost for next weekend, yet another big match and our voices have now been warmed up.
I remember a game in particular in the early sixties against Tblisi Dynamo where we were losing badly and the crowd noise was the best I’ve ever heard down the Molineux and the team responded as equally over the top in their hyped up performance to produce a result. To be in this ground with fifty to sixty thousand baying members of the pack is an experience to be recommended. Smaller crowds nowadays, but we are still capable of rocking the stadium and a good performance next week will guarantee this, I hope.
Isn’t it great to be back…
I wasn’t at the match so I can only go by what I saw on MOTD and the many reports from fans that did attend.
After two 1-0 defeats to top teams I’m actually quite encouraged. Why? because Bruno has us playing attractive and attacking football, unlike the turgid stuff of Nuno’s final months. Even the opposition fans generally believe they were lucky. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately Traore for all his outstanding talent has again proved that he is not a natural finisher. Is it a rush of blood to the head at the crucial moment? Clearly he is super-quick and should have rounded the Spurs keeper when he was one-on-one. That might even have resulted in the keeper bringing him down for a yellow card and penalty.
Bruno is a breath of fresh air. Our of darkness cometh light.
Like what Lage is trying to do. Lovely approach work on the whole, but the same old problems still exist – we can’t finish it off when we get to the edge of the penalty area and can’t convert crosses, though It would help if Traore’s crosses didn’t finish up in the stand opposite.
And we still have some 6th formers on the bench.
Come on Fosun show some intent.
Agreed. I watched Arsenal v Chelsea after and Chelsea first goal was sort of a replica of the amount of times we got in behind the defence. Difference was Chelsea found Lukaku who put in the net. Our final cross/pass/decision making was poor and probably tells you why Chelsea pay 85 million for players and we don’t/can’t.
Room booked in APV for Sunday, to allow me that evening to celebrate our first win of the season.
Any bloggers want to suggest a pub?
Well I popped in to see witley and Sean they were in the lych gate . Looked good in there but it was too full when we got there so going to be earlier on Sunday.
Under subway past church on right
Thx Matt, but I was also thinking post match.
Depending on ETA I might try it pre match too though
Nick’s Place
Houston, Texas!!!
Saying that though near the apv … if we lose then a some late whisky s in the combermere . Sticky floor … tree growing in the toilet … Good pint .sometimes a strange band playing in the garden (am I right wolfstroker or is there not strange bands and it’s just the whisky? )
No idea Matt. I was trying to keep up with you, if you recall.
Actually, in the loo is the best place for a tree. Gives you another option when the urinals are full.
Lol. Steve was telling me about you two and the whiskeys when we were in the Combemere pre match yesterday.
If Fosun sell Traore or Neves (and particularly at this late stage) it would be a disaster for the club. They are an essential part of the club identity and you can see how both will play a key part in the Lage philosophy of attacking football as the season progresses. I don’t care if Traore scores a hat full of goals, or not, he is an explosive disruptive player who creates so many chances – truly unique – once other players are up to speed and a shared mental model of the new footballing philosophy is more deeply embedded in the team, goals will come. As for Neves – what a great visionary player – we are lucky to have him. Other top clubs want Traore and Neves because they are the business. With our threadbare squad (in pure numbers) it makes no sense whatsoever to potentially sell our best assets and I would ask, who would you replace them with anyway? Selling Traore and / or Neves at this point would destabilise the club. Instead, we need to shape the future Lage team and tactical game play around Neves and Traore. A couple of shrewd purchases in the last few days of the window and I think we can look forward to an exciting and hopefully successful season.
Completely agree
Our best players by a mile … People moaning about adama missing chances that were only created because of his skill and pace ( and a clever pass or two from Neves
And we would look like shit if we let Nuno take our best .
STAND UP WOLVES .. Like we stand up for you
Agree 100% Silverwolf
Yes, neither of them are shooting straight but they define our difference ( as will Neto on his return) and no team wants to play against them.
Loved watching the positive approach especially after last season’s turgidity.
I get the anxiety that bloggers feel about signings,,,,,,mine is about sales1
With Mr Lage’s coaching the squad we have is fine. Yes, we’d all like 6 proven internationals on the bench but that’s not remotely an option, So give Raul a few matches , allow MGW a game or two and unleash the wingbacks ( still a winning formula even tho’ teams know what to expect) and we will have plenty of points on the board.
OODCL
Spoiler alert …I will be predicting loss to Manure…but after that we will be fine
Absolutely agree with every point; spot on.
Completely agree
Our best players by a mile … People moaning about adama missing chances that were only created because of his skill and pace ( and a clever pass or two from Neves
And we would look like shit if we let Nuno take our best .
STAND UP WOLVES .. Like we stand up for you
You’re getting little repetitive.
I know
I know
To me it’s looking increasingly likely that Traore will be off before the end of the window. A real shame as he is a great player for us but unfortunately it seems pretty clear that he won’t be signing a new contract, so in that case he needs to be moved on with the money being used to refresh the squad. Unless you’re a Barcelona or Man City this is the reality for clubs, we just need to hope that the money is invested wisely.
And if Spurs are thinking of a year’s loan with an option to buy then they need to be told – politely or otherwise – where to go with that idea!
Doesn’t he have a couple of years on his contract left? We need him now until a suitable (?) replacement is available imo. I think the same regarding Neves, but Fosun and companies may think differently. I don’t agree with keeping players who want to go, but both are playing very well (in the shop window, perhaps) and we are far too short of players to let them go in my opinion, which counts for nothing, I know…
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/soccer-files-fosun/
Checked and, yes, he does have a couple of years left, which could leave us a little working space.
Hi Debenham, yes he does have two years left which means this (or possibly January) is the last opportunity to sell for a healthy fee that we can reinvest in the team, in a years time he will be worth about half of his current value – that’s not a reflection on his ability on the pitch but just the reality of how the marketplace works.
Tim Spiers has tweeted that he was going to sign in May but has now pulled out due to Nuno leaving. Opinions will be split on this but if he signs a new deal I would be delighted for him to stay, if he has no intention of signing a new deal then now is the best time to sell.
I’ve read that Reuters article, in fact I posted it on here a few blogs ago. Makes very interesting reading don’t you think! There are plenty of other similar articles about Fosun, Mendes etc on the web if you look around for them.
Here’s hoping for a win to kick start the season tonight!
Theirs was never a penalty. Ali ran into the keeper; the ball was miles away and getting further away from goal all the time. If that was given then ours was nailed on. I though on both occasions that VAR would sort it out but it didn’t. Was it ever thus!
We deserved something but apart from ATs miss we created very little that was clear cut. Raul isn’t there yet and I’m not surprised. Would have liked to have seen Silva brought on earlier . . . . . along with Dendonker. Trincao has some nice touches but in the two games to date an end product has been missing. Thought the keeper did well along with Kilman.
We could have had 6 points with a bit of luck – that’s a hell of a lot come the seasons end.
Well said Step. Not much has been made of this highly doubtful pen. All the commenters passed over it quickly. I only saw Karen Carney on the BBC live text criticise the decision. She said it was not a foul straightaway. But she’s a woman and this was Spurs who don’t dive, do they? So move on.
Thomas
you are right when you say we have a problem – we don’t have enough first team players to fill our bench, we cannot score, and we have defenders playing a high line with no pace. Add to that we have no money to buy any premier league players and I do not believe we will sign any before deadline.
I do not know how Wolves Board sold this to Bruno, but he will be gone by Christmas and we will be relegated
Apart from that, all is good !!
I blame it all on spending £70 m on Silva and Semedo.
It’s true that we could do with a couple more players to bring on off the bench, but we do have 3 or 4 coming back from injury. You’re quite wrong about Semedo, who is already proving his worth, and there’s no doubt that the young prince will prove his worth this season.
As for Bruno, he’d been out of work for 12 months, and as a client of Mendes was probably very pleased to get the offer of following in Nuno’s footsteps. He’s already showing what he can do in terms of attacking ,the goals will come, and to concede only one goal in each match against top 4 teams was not so bad . One of them a doubtful penalty.
Ridiculous downvotes for a guy telling it pretty much as it s not not how we want it to be.
Keep your heads in the sand if you wish.
Not the Semedo bit though!
Are they not entitled to an opinion opposite to yours??
Funny when foot is on the other boot.
And no, one of them is not me.
Nice to see Leicester have a dodgy var decision go against them during their thrashing at West Ham tonight.
Fair point Clive, yes they are.
That’s the rich coming from you Clive…..pot calling the kettle springs to mind..!
Why would a pot call a kettle springs?
Dear OldandWise,
I appreciate your comments but do not share your opinion on Silva and Semedo.
We took a chance on Silva paying out £35m, and although in the first team much sooner than planned, has shown no qualities expected from a striker. His skill and ball control are poor, he is the worst header in the Premier League, and he missed a hatful of chances last season. He lacks the ability to poach goals in the six yard box, something no amount of experience will provide. We could have bought Danny Ings for £25m – he has already scored two goals for AV.
For £35m. from Barcelona I expect a polished defender. He has good ball control and is pacey but he cannot defend. I’ve seen him give away some needless penalties, and get caught ball watching and out of position resulting in goals conceded, so I would say he is a very good footballer but not a defender – Matt Doherty wasn’t a great defender either but he scored 7 goals a season and had many assists and he could survive in a back five..
If Bruno wants to play a back four, he needs full backs who can defend as a first priority.
I hope I am wrong about both and we finish top six and I will gladly eat humble pie – it’s better than being in the Championship. !!
If you end up eating humble pie, I hope it’s not one of Matt’s (London Wolves Loyal).
You’ll end up potatoeless and with gravy running out into your coat pocket.
Or, worse still, no peas!
Good points GD, well presented. As an aside, rumour has it that Chairman Levy has offered £5m as a loan fee for Adama with an option to buy at the end of the season. He has a sense of humour, i’ll grant him that, should we counter offer £6m as a loan fee for Harry Kane? Hope Jeff holds his nerve, retains AT and RB and strengthens CF as a minimum. Much changed team tonight, academy guys to step up.
So as the transfer window is about to get going, what is more important?
*New signings.
*Hanging on to what we have?
Good question Prawny and in a world where we are trying to invest and improve the two really shouldn’t be mutually exclusive but if the view is that Fosun will only sell to buy then I’d go for hanging on to what we have. If i had full confidence in the Fosun/Mendes axis i’d go for sell to buy but i’m not sure it can be trusted now as much as when we were demonstrating ambition to get out of the championship and into the PL . By definition, we are swimming in an ever smaller pool of Mendes clients that can take us forward and which from all logical perspective of scouring the world’s best talent increasingly makes less sense. I will fully reserve judgement until the transfer window shuts – Fosun’s actions should be what they are ultimately judged on but at the moment I’m not seeing anything that demonstrates real intent to move us forward from the backward step of the last season. People can cite Covid and FFP until they are blue in the face but that has impacted every club in the world and not all in the PL have retrenched as heavily as we have. Onr thing i’ve learnt over they years is that football clubs are never in a state of equilibrium – holding the status quo is a myth – you are either progressing or regressing because at any given time some of the competition will be investing to get better.
I totally agree that we are not in any position to let these two guys go at present; there is no guarantee of equable replacements. The fallout from such a decision would leave Fosun with a get out from the club. Do they want that? Our other players would see this as being an intention not to compete and they would be asking for a move with such lack of ambition. Fosun, though, have their own motivations and we’ll just have to wait a week to find out if they actually coincide with the fans’ wishes. Let’s hope the panic is uncalled for…
Great blog Sutton you make some very valid points agree with every word.
Excellent article from Dave Edwards on express& star on why wolves should keep Traore, what we need in the transfer window and Sunday’ s performance. I think he gets it absolutely spot on. Once again over to you Fosun, 7 days and counting…….
THE END OF AN ERA!
R.I.P. CHARLIE WATTS.
A great jazz and rock drummer. And a lovely man to boot.
I thought he would go on for ever.
Just so pleased that I got to see him at Glastonbury.
Sad news indeed.
Hopefully something we can all agree on.
RIP Charlie Watts.
Agreed.
I got to see him/them back in 2003, deep in the heart of Texas.
Very sad news.
They were not a band until they got charlie. And they had to get paid gigs to keep him.
What now then boys?
im available and im only 65
Much too young!
You’ll have to lie about your age.
Got to be happy to see a few goals go in, in preparation for our match on Sunday.
OK lots of shots and 50% ish on target, and yes, only against Forest, but at least we have now scored.
Can’t wait for Sunday now.
When was the last time we won 4-0?
Got to be happy with that no matter who the opposition.
Hopefully that will instill some confidence.
Bolton away???
Well done to Bruno and the team tonight on the first win of the season. Can only help confidence and nice to see podence back too.
RIP Charlie Watts and one of my favourite bands. Gimme Shelter absolute classic. Well done Bruno and the boys. These sort of fixtures litter the early season. Lose 1-0. Penalties etc. Bruno put a half decent side out . The goals finally came. Let us hope there is a lot of confidence installed in the team for Sunday when the plastics hit town. Wolves ay we !
We have lift off!
Bruno has been like a breath of fresh air through the club- remember Chorley last season? We stunk the place out. Well done lads .
BBC at it again. I think they mentioned every single match tonight on the sport section. Apart from one.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/58239476
It’s Bruno Bruno Bruno
Taken over from the nuno the nuno the nuno
At first we didn’t like it
The like it
The like it
But now we fucking love it
We love it we love it
Wowoah woohohahha
Let’s be honest, if that had been Nuno’s team last night, the last 32 minutes would have been spent with Kilman, Coady and Saiss (perhaps with the occasional inclusion of Moutinho) passing the ball between themselves just in front of our own penalty box, with us going on t0 scrape a 1-0 win.
If nothing else, it certainly shows our new-found desire to attack for as much of the 90mins as possible.
I have only one minor complaint: it would have been nice if just one of those goals had come in the first half.
I was excited about this season before it started and I’m even more excited now – bring on those buggers from Stretford!!!
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DOzXKhueJhkc&ved=2ahUKEwinwfPs78vyAhXeQEEAHXU2BzEQuAJ6BAgVEAY&usg=AOvVaw3eze2R2YGmN-aHzMuAiyOr