Swings and roundabouts and all that.
Two lethargic performances at home to Burnley and Forest were hard to sit through, but four points from six shouldn’t be sniffed at.
Cunha’s goal highlighted the incisive passing and movement Wolves are capable of, but those moments were few and far between. When teams sit in, we think we have all the time in the world.
In reality, the passing is sidewards or backwards, the movement is non existent, and pressing is optional.
That sloppiness led to Forest’s goal when Bueno cut back for the umpteenth time and gifted possession to the visitors. His reluctance to take his man on underlines how much we miss Ait-Nouri’s driving runs.
The one positive was Cunha’s fifth goal of the season. The Brazilian runs himself into the ground leading the line. Such selfless performances and the way he plays with a smile on his face makes him easy to like.
Forest were there to be got at after the break but Wolves didn’t turn up. As soon as Lemina came off, the midfield looked disjointed, and there was no rhythm to our play. It was the perfect time to introduce Doyle and let him dictate the play with Forest sitting so deep.
Bringing on an erratic Traore made no sense. The Malian looks way off the pace. He’s unable to trap a bag of cement or track his man.
O’Neil’s other subs also failed to inject a much needed spark. Doc was leggy, Bellegarde struggled to bomb on through the lines, and Sasa felt like an afterthought.
Wolves are ticking along nicely but we can’t afford another sub-par showing at West Ham next Sunday.
I thought for 25 minutes in the latter part of the first half we were gaining the upper hand. Pity half time came around because as Paddy says above, we just didn’t turn up second half. I can only remember a Cunha effort which he created himself bothering the Forest keeper. Dissapointing really. I am always bothered playing a team who just 3 days earlier were on the end of a 5-0 thrashing. I sort of had a hunch the game would turn out like it did. But hey ! Could be worse. Just look what happened to Man Utd Brentford and Brighton yesterday. Funny old game football.
We missed an opportunity, again, to claim tenth in the PL and doomed to be on the outskirts of the top ten.
Having said that, it could be worse as it has been in the past, so we must be careful what we wish for.
I’m uncomfortable with playing the ball back a little too much and prefer a bit more driving forwards and keeping the pressure on.
But hey, four from six points isn’t too bad even if they were both home games.
Spot on Paddy.
Cunha, like Roy Kent (Ted Lasso), he’s here, he’s there, he’s every fxxxing where.
Really starting to see him justify the price tag.
On Tuesday, Bueno’s lack of risk taking, confidence? saw promising transitions stop dead. He’s not the only one guilty of that.
We clearly miss Neto and Rayan.
We’re doing fine and we all know we should be 7 points better off.
Wouldn’t be great to coax a little more out of some of the current team and not be so hung up on returnees.
Still, 12th and comfortably mid table considering the last 4 months. You’d have to lack some
perspective to be too down about that.
UTW
That’s somewhat harsh on Bueno because I lost count of the number of hospital balls he was given, particularly from Toti who had a very poor game having excelled against Burnley.
Overall we were far too ponderous which makes wonder why Doc was brought on because he slows the game down to less than snail’s ? pace.Also, Traore added little when brought on, same with Bellegarde although Sarabia was generally very good once again and was the only wolf with any real quality on the ball.
Good job Hwang is a goal threat these days as he’s contributing little in open play and he needs to stop going down like a sack of spuds every time he receives anything like a physical challenge.
No VAR issues for once and, credit where it’s due, I thought the ref had a reasonably decent game which probably means that’s the best refereeing performance we’ve seen against us this season as its normally 3/10 or less.
At least we got a point because we could have very easily lost that game.
We need more players .. that is a tired squad . We couldn’t generate enough energy in the second half to break down a tough and resilient Forest side
Same against Burnley really .
I would have liked to have maybe given Silva a run out second half . His running behind and through the lines may have Stretched Forest enough . Happy with the points haul though. If there’s any truth in the the rumours about Brownhill …. I think that would be good
Please no. Anything but he useless Silva. He`d not get a start in a division one team.
Let`s hope he`ll be gone for good come January
Fabio is a busted flush. Unless we have a catastrophic run of injuries I doubt if we’ll ever see him again.
Very old fashioned view, but I still believe that against a packed deep defence a useful tactic is to get the ball wide and get crosses in. For that tactic to be effective you need a true CF and we have one.
I am convinced that having that representation in the box encourages wide overlaps and early crosses. Sasa soon after half-time would have retained momentum. He’s being under utilised at present in these type of games.
Wolfus
Worked very well with Waggy, Hibbitt and Jimmy Mac crossing in to the Doog and Richards. “Old fashioned” maybe but you are right, still very effective. Or even Costa and Cav in the promotion season under Nuno.
Two abject games (despite the points gained) against equally weak teams.
Puts things into perspective as to where we lie with the current available squad.
The absence of Ait Nourri + Neto is immense. The left side of the field was redundant with no attacking intent. (Bueno backwards, backwards, bloody backwards.)
It shows our lack of squad depth – injury/suspension to Neto or Lemino or Dawson and we are struggling.
However, with above two mentioned back and a couple of additions in January – in particular a real centre forward goal scorer – then we have the makings of a team with real potential.
A real center forward goal scorer ? It could well be that we virtually gave one away in the summer.
Notice how Raul Jiminez has turned his game around. Two great goals in midweek and on the scoresheet again today — and all because hes`now getting proper support in Fulham`s revised system.
Following Nuno`s departure, when with us he was left to plough a lone furrow up front without any real strike partner. Now he`s again showing just what a class act he is.
Maybe we acted too hastily is selling Raul for a knockdown price. !!
Two games don’t make a season, Mike, and there have been plenty of other matches where he’s been virtually anonymous. Having said that, I’d prefer him ad back up to Silva and Sasa.
You think Forest are ‘weak’ after the money they spent compared to us ?
As Ant points out, no VAR issues for a change and generally well reffed, on the whole.
I do titter though when there is just a smidge of claim in the opponents box which is usually checked and dismissed inside 20 seconds.
Unlike in our own box this season when it’s more like 20 minutes till they find someone in the crowd who has it on their phone offering an angle that that incriminates our player sufficiently for the ref to point at the spot.
Just because we’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get us!
I’ve seen the photo of Toffolo, with a fistful of shirt, climbing onto Semedo’s back. If it ain’t a fowl, surely Semedo should get a credit for the assist?
Said that yesterday. No VAR. How surprising…….
Another tough watch, particularly the second half as we seemed to run out of energy and ideas.
Like others, I thought Doyle and possibly even Fabio would have been good options to inject some invention and energy into the performance.
It felt like Gary was happy to take a point because he didn’t show a great deal of adventure with the changes he did make.
Forest were quite passive and I think he could have gone to a 4, moved Toti out to full back to retain some protection and got another attacker into the team if he’d really wanted to go after the win as the game progressed.
On chances alone, we should have lost so pocketing a point is a positive.
Another positive would be the goal, which was top level stuff and showcased the incisive football some of these players are capable of producing. It’s just a shame we didn’t see more of that. Sarabia was unlucky to get the hook as he looked the most likely to produce. Hwang did pretty much nothing so should have been withdrawn, but you can understand why Gary likes to keep him on the pitch.
Overall, I’m delighted with 4 points from the two games. West Ham and Chelsea are tougher fixtures on paper but I do think they’ll be more open and consequently, suit us better. These results give us the platform to attack those matches.
Hope to see Pedro and Rayan back to swell the ranks and sign off 2023 with at least one more good victory.
Agree completely
It’s all pretty much been said. A few thoughts. Whilst Bueno was disappointing more often than not no one showed for him when he got the ball so he was forced to go back to Toti. How often do we see a Wolves player isolated with no support? Is this the players fault or a result of the coaching focus on structure? Doc looks far too slow and out of condition for this level. Given his 3 year deal maybe his agent is a better negotiator than Hobbs. Sasa and Fabio have had 4 minutes between them over the last two games when other players have run out of steam. It’s unlikely we will see any new arrivals until the end of January at the earliest so why not use them? Without Pedro and Rayan the team lacks some spark and Sarabia is basically the only creative outlet. Traore looks like Bambi on ice so when the opposition is sitting back I’d like to see Doyle on. Lastly I know it’s early days for him with an inherited squad but I think Gary needs to find an identity for the team (that allows some flex). He’s getting results but if someone who hadn’t seen us play asked me to describe us all I could say is reasonably well organised and hard working.
Of course Matt Doherty’s a better negotiator than Hobbs – his name is Jorge Mendes.
agent
Another poor game between two very average sides who are fortunate there is a collection of probable dead men down at at the bottom. However I did say before the Burnley match that 4 points was the minimum required from these fixtures and we have achieved that without playing anywhere near our best so will take that as a positive of sorts.
To be fair would have settled for Wolves to be in mid table or thereabouts at Christmas back in August, but there is a long way to go and the stragglers are all starting to pick up form and points; many more performances/results like this will have us looking over our shoulders again.
The current bright spot is the improvement of Cunha and the productive partnership he is now developing with Hwang – long may it continue. But lack of depth in this squad is showing clearly and it’s costing us. Reinforcement needed in Jan. window no matter how creative the finances need to be.
I’ve got nothing against GON but his subs leave a lot to be desired why not bring Doyle on when Lemina when of. And what’s happened with Sasa he’s not getting any game time what’s 4 minutes we neeed him on with 20 minutes to go to try and change things. But at least another point on board GON says he needs a no
9 he’s got one on the bench give the guy a chance with some game time.
So is Bueno doing this against Gary’s instructions or is that what Gary is telling him to do?
Just watching Luton v Man City match. Anyone else think Matheus Nunes looks like Wallace from Wallace and Gromit? ?
A poor performance from which, in my opinion, we were fortunate to get a point.
GON`s subs made little sense, given the way Forrest were playing. Doyle with his incisive passing range would surely have been the right sub after Lemino went off.
Unfortunately Traore appears to have been yet another transfer mistake. His basic skills are minimal, and generally he adds virtually nothing to the overall performance of the team. The removal of Serabia was a big mistake
Then there is the sparse use of Sasa. What impact can he possibly have when given just four minutes ?
A big plus must be the form — and commitment — of Cunha. His confidence in front of goal is growing, as demonstrated by the way he took his excellently worked goal , and his skill level,and dribbling ability are exceptional qualities. It could well be that his signing fee represents outstanding value
I’ve got to agree on all points Mike; also glad to see you have changed your opinion of Cunha too, after the Ipswich game you didn’t think he would score all season?
From a quotation in the epic Gladiator’s film ..
‘“are you not entertained..?”
Quite frankly .. NO….
It was pedestrian at best, lacking quality and energy.. apart from the goal .. YES.
And did we deserve a point .. really … NO.
I watched O’Neil through the first 20 mins and none of the front three knew where they were playing or what the tactics were…
We were fragmented and casual, and the passing of Toti and Kilman was dreadful.
Forest set up with a back 5 so you’d expect it would be difficult to penetrate sone defensive areas.. but we were continually going side to side, back to wide and back again.. there simply was no movement ahead of the defenders ..
Hwang looked as though he was exhausted.. and Sa made a poor judgment of whether to come for the cross from Niko Williams or not .. and his choice was wrong .
However to Sa’s credit he kept us in the game and in the end we scaled an undeserving point.
We’re definitely short of personnel and I’m bothered that what we already have isn’t quite good enough..
.. there’s are few uphills in front of us for sure.
If I’m being honest …. I’m not sure O’Neil is up to the task … sorry..
LT
I agree.
It’s all too hit and miss.
Lack of continuity, little consistency with substitutions, random tactics drawn up on the back of a fag packet etc. This guy is no tactical genius and possibly a bit of a chancer, which is ok as long as it comes off more often than not.
If we don’t have our first choice team available we are way below PL par.
Mitigation for O’Neil is that he was parachuted in to a shambles but that is now wearing thin and little sign of improvement with the safety margin in the league receding by the week we seriously lack PL quality.
Getting nervous again.
How does 19 points from 16 games sit with your argument ? And we all know VAR and their admissions of wrong decisions cost us at least 7 points.
You’re ridiculous PJB. We’re 10pts above the drop zone. we’ve beaten Spurs and Man City, been robbed of a likely 7pts, we have a couple of poor showings still coming away with 4pts and you’re back on the doom trail.
Perhaps three games in a week played a part?
Won’t be a popular opinion. But, even Fabio’s biggest haters will admit he’s anything but lethargic. When these games start to get stale, I think he would provide a burst of energy that Sasa doesn’t.
But Lou, what`s the point off having plenty of energy if all you do is run around like a headless chicken while committing ting endless fouls into the bargain ?
Think back to Silva`s dreadful cameo performance at Sheff Utd which says it all
One game says it all?
He’s gonna be a 20 goal per year guy for an EPL team at some point. And, the negativity of the fans made it so it’s not us.
I don’t know, Lou, about one game. Fabio has had numerous chances and has been ineffective. When this ‘generational talent’ made his debut under Nuno, he looked to me nothing more than a promising lad from the academy being given a chance with the grown-ups. Jeff has been scammed big-time by Uncle Joerg on this one. The transfer itself was particularly opaque at the time with a mysterious large sum unaccounted for in the monies received from the selling club.
The reason Fabio has not had more chances is that he has not improved one iota, and might even have regressed a bit. Originally it was just his young age and Jimenez’s sudden injury used as the excuse. But equally young players have made stunning debuts in the top flight since time immemorial, so the age thing was not a valid excuse. He’s older now and filled out a bit but GON obviously feels that he just can’t hack it in the PL. His future probably lies in a less-demanding league in Europe.
I was referring to the last guy using one game as an example.
And, I agree that he’s regressed. But, he’s also been mishandled.
Plenty of young EPL players go to lower leagues and don’t score 16 goals. There’s a player there. And, the squad, and, (more so) the “Never Fabio” crowd have destroyed his confidence.
A bit boring I must admit but I am a great believer in stats. So with my anorak on I can state as fact the current bottom 3 are averaging as follows: Luton 0.56 points per game. Burnley 0.50 points per game. Sheff Utd 0.50 points per game. After 16 games. If you take Luton currently on 9 points. To get to the fabled 40 points they will need to average 1.41 points per game from now on. Which is near enough 3 points every 2 games. Or one win every two from now on. They have all won 2 of 16 (1 in 8) Realistically is it gonna happen?
Or if people are still worried just stick £100 at 18/1 and at least you’ll offset some of the pain if the worst happens
20/1 in places.
I would think that any neutral watching yesterday’s game, who knew nothing about the two teams involved, would say it was a poor match between two very ordinary sides.
After nearly 100 minutes of tedium, I thought pretty much the same.
Sarabia looked impressive in the time he was on the pitch and there were odd glimpses of positivity from Semedo, Cunha and Lemina towards the end of the first half, but apart from that we were ponderous and lethargic.
We can be so much better.
And we have to be if we’re going to stay long term in The Premier League.
If GON isn’t careful, he’ll be losing his tactical genius label he had a few weeks ago and going back to his old job of PE teacher. It usually takes a run of defeats to suffer such a demotion, but he’s managed it after a win and a draw. Takes some doing and shows how he’s changed expectation levels.
We all know we struggle to break through a low block, not just under GON, and the lack of our two most talented wide attackers, was always going to make things difficult.
If possible, we need some extra bodies through the door in January. If we get them, then it will be the time to begin to assess young Gary’s credentials. Until then, let’s be happy with mid-table and the memories of some wonderful Molineux moments in the first half of the season.
Our starting 11 is a top ten side. Sadly, when you take out any of the integral parts of that 11 we’re vastly weaker.
We’ve got some promising youngsters, Doyle and Bueno to name but two but let’s not kid ourselves they’re ready to compete regularly in this league. We need reinforcements sooner rather than later if we want to do any more than stay up.
And to criticise GON. Think back to August and get a grip.
During Christmas shopping I went into a store store and asked the assistant “Where are the Arnold Schwarzenegger dolls?”
He said “Aisle B back”
If Sa is tempted by the Saudi league, we could look at Thomas Kaminski, who is doing great work for Luton. I read somewhere that he is the top shot-stopper in number of saves he makes.
Faces more than most, I’ll wager.
If Luton get relegated Adebayo would be a good shout.