We all know Moutinho is capable of turning water into wine, so you’d think a chap going by the name of Jesus could magic up something a little better than Aldi’s £2 range.
The intensity we began with; playing on the front foot (refreshing to see a fast start), unsettling a clueless Southampton defence with clever movement and slick passing went to pot as soon as Vallejo replaced the stricken Bennett.
The Spaniard was that shaky I wouldn’t trust him to even pour a glass of red without spilling half on my lap.
Jesus’ nerves and indecisiveness resembled the parting of the Red Sea on the right side of our defence. Especially in the first half, Bertrand and Redmond had a field day, with Jesus and Traore vacant. Just when you thought Traore had cracked it, he threw in a baffling performance. Adama failed to track back in the first half, and was too busy looking for soft fouls in the second when operating further forward.
Jesus’ nerves alarmingly spread through the rest of the team for long spells. Too many misplaced passes and too little movement – the pace and accuracy went out of our game. I was not in the least bit surprised when one of our many moments of hesitancy led to Coady gifting a goal to Ings.
Positives? Moutinho drove the team forward with the panache we’ve become accustomed to during a brief purple patch that led to Raul’s equaliser. Doc added some much-needed protection at RWB after half-time while also winning the penalty with a trademark slalom into the box. And Diogo’s directness scared the living daylights out of Southampton.
Make no mistake, though, this was two points dropped, despite the play being stretched late on as both teams pushed for the win.
If we kept the early intensity up after Bennett’s injury, our class would have won out, but the Saints thrived in an increasingly open encounter. We should have penned Southampton in more and played around them.
A final word for VAR. If you want fans to eventually stop celebrating goals to ensure the most marginal decisions are given, you’re going the right way about it.
Vallejo demonstrated yet again today that at this level he is completely useless. An absolute liability. Can`t tackle: poor in the air: diabolical distribution: abject positional sense. This guy would struggle to get into the majority of Division 2 sides.
But worse was the huge adverse impact his inclusion had on his defensive colleagues. Prior to Bennett`s injury we looked rock solid and composed at the back — the platform on which we were able to play free flowing football. But Villejo`s erratic performance seemed to create doubt and uncertainty across the back line. No one seemed to know just what he would do next. Southampton were gifted a lifeline back into a game they seemed destined to lose by a wide margin.
Hopefully this will be the last time we see this guy in a Wolves shirt
Can we trade Jesus for Roger Johnson – or Boris Johnson as he’d be no more useless.
God……..please.recall Jesus to Heaven before he sends us to Hell. He is the worst player ever to have stepped out of Madrid.
I assume someone from Madrid is keeping tabs on him well I could write there report for them……..panicky error ridden slow out of position if he even knows what position he is supposed to be in in the first place…?
I blogged a while back he should be no where near the first team or any team for that matter. Surly Anderson or Killman could do a better job and cost a lot less I bet.
Who ever recommend him want marching down to Specsavers ASP……did anyone actual watch this guy play….? before putting him on the plane.
Adam after his brilliant display showed again why he had so many clubs in his short career because he infuriates and pleases in equal measure he swanned around the pitch today as if what he did against City he was given the freedom of the City and didn’t have to bother with the tiny matters like say tracking back and defending.
Also confused why Doc didn’t start……..I said this was a banana skin and it proved but make no mistake this was a missed opertunity I only hope Bennetts ok because if we have to rely on Jesus……Lord help us….!
I totally agree with these views on Vallejo who should never have been loaned .He simply must not be in the team again even if this is an embarrassment for the club to Madrid .I fear he will though not least since the small squad as many of us predicted is just not enough for the commitments we have now .
We have heard a lot about our great medical staff and they do do a fantastic job but as I have said in this blog in the past injuries happen on the field which they can do nothing about -see Saiss Bennett Neves Jodao et al .It is naive to think we can get away with such a short squad and this will be proved this season .
Yes, but we keep praising our Academy`s talent. So, in the event of injuries to proven regulars, why not give Kilman an opportunity ?
From what we `ve seen so far Kilman is a far better prospect than the useless Vallejo. Can it be that Nuno is prejudiced against him because he`s not Portuguese or Spanish ? This is surely the time to see just what Kilman can do.
I hate VAR with a passion, but that’s probably because I am an old fart.
The decision against Cutrone was correct, but the margin was tighter than Stuwolf’s fist on his wallet.
The decision against Raul was baffling, and I disagree 100% with the “one handball for attackers, and one for defenders” rule.
It should be both or neither, and we have now lost 4 points already this season for innocuous, unintentional handballs.
VAR will quickly strangle the game, and I feel it was brought in for the right reasons, but is being incorrectly applied.
Definitely needs reviewing and revising asap.
That said, we did not deserve to win.
We huffed and puffed but could not blow down the straw house of twelve pigs in white (actually one was in black)
Atrocious decisions on their tackling, several more cards, and of a different colour, should have been meted out for some very bad challenges.
I agree about Jesus, the messiah he ain’t, and Traore back to his frustrating best.
Still, we didn’t lose, which is about as good as it was.
Onwards to Bratislava, and Newcastle should prove easier than today.
FOwb
I don’t mind VAR but where was it at Everton away. Second goal miles offside. But no massive VAR inquisition. So all I ask is consistency. If that isn’t VAR what is ?
Leicester got away with it again. For the fourth time. Must be 7 points they ay got
I have been a big fan of Ryan Bennett for a long time.
When we have a central defensive axis of him, Big Willy and Conor Coady, more often than not we have a SOLID defence.
This was perfectly illustrated today by the way everything went tits up after Ryan’s injury. Up until then, we looked smooth, fluid and impressive.
Then came the second coming of Jesus.
Not quite the Paradise we were all promised.
He is probably a lovely chap and good to his mum, but… please God, don’t let him on the hallowed Molineux turf again!
That, plus the total anonymity of Ruben Neves, the headless chicken running of Dendoncker and Traore reverting to his old ways, led to a performance that was light years away from the Man City display.
That’s the negatives out of the way.
Plus points were the renewed vigour of Raul Jimenez, and Doherty and Diogo Jota’s return to fitness.
We were desperately in need of someone to run at the Saint’s defence and they did just that. And Jota’s link up play with Jonny and Boly on the left was a joy to behold.
On this showing though, we are nowhere near achieving seventh spot this season. Mid table is probably the best we can achieve.
But, as someone said over a beer after the match. “We’re in Wonderland compared with a few seasons ago”.
Yes we are, and should appreciate that.
But fans always want better.
Cutrone has a fabulous work ethic. He is a great team man, working endlessly for others. But goal poacher he aint. And this is a big problem for us.
Regrettably, up front we are almost entirely dependent on Raul. What a magnificent player he has become – and he just seems to get better. This, despite the absence of quality support from midfield, where Moutino is presently fighting a lone battle.
The best we can hope for in the near future is the return of Jota to fitness and form. Otherwise goals will be difficult to come by
HE WAS A PLANE CRASH TODAY…!!
Cutrone was a bucket of energy and I thought he played ok. But, Jota brought a different element – attacking the defenses
Vallejo cost us 2 points today …… fact.
Traore is annoyingly inconsistent ……. fact.
I hate international breaks …… fact.
Don’t disagree with any of that Paddy. Thanks for the write up mate.
As bad as Vallejo was, and he was bad, I’m surprised at how little criticism Coady is getting for the supreme bollock he dropped today.
Mistakes like this and the hesitancy at Everton that cost us the opening goal there haven’t been in his game. I love our skipper but he’s set the bar higher and needs to maintain those standards.
We can’t afford any mistakes as we don’t score enough at the other end to compensate.
I felt the team selection was wrong today. Should have been 343 from the start with Doc at wingback and Adama further forward. This wasn’t Man City away it was Southampton at home.
Hjolberg and Romeu are solid in the middle of the pitch and we needed to get around them with genuine width. We started well and hurt them with crosses but after that it just became a midfield slog until we changed shape.
Definitely a ‘take the point’ performance. Four unbeaten in the Premier League is not to be sniffed at.
Thomas your right Coady made a mistake yesterday….but Jesus put him in that situation if Jesus had used the ball better instead of punting it stariaght to a Saints player then Coady would not have made a mistake with miss timing his header.
In Coadys defence the back line has been messed about to much in my option. Like why didn’t the Doc start…..he’s fit.
Last year the back line was the Doc Coady Boly, Bennett, Jonny now they are all fit…..or were yesterday so why were they not all starting that’s our best back line and they are all fit apart from Bennett now so why is Nuno not playing them all together in the Premier if he wants to experiment use Europa the Premier is the most important.
Well that was an awful exhibition, have to agree with all the comments especially about Jesus. I would gladly fund his airfare back to Madrid. Our cat could play better than him and the cat has been dead for a few years now.
I thought Traeore had cracked against City but he was worse than his normal self yesterday, never tried to take anyone on on the outside, as has been said always looking to get a foul. Doc showed him just how to do that when he got the penalty. As for the rest the player markings on the E&S site are a bit generous in some cases.
VAR should be scrapped until they learn how to use it properly, not to chalk off reasonably good goals but sort out the thugs on the pitch, how about trying the NFL challenge system where a coach can challenge a decision and get it reviewed.
As for the ref up until yesterday I always thought Atwell was the worst, but Peter Bankes looked like a very nervous rabbit caught in the headlights. Absolute crap. Should not be allowed on a parks pitch. Rant over.
On a positive note it was a pleasure to meet up with Stu and his wife, The Twix’ s and the Lowes before the ganme, and also ran into the doogooder after the match on the way to the car. Great to chat even if only for a few minutes
Tipton.
I spoke with Newark, the answer to your request, was yes.
Sorted…
Thanks Stu, I will have a very happy grandson
As much as I want to defend Vallejo, yesterdays performance and what Iv’e seen so far is scary. The lad has no confidence on the ball, he continually passed the ball back and forwards to Coady, this put the back line in trouble, Southampton spotted this and were able to push further up the pitch than in the first half.
Our problems started from the minute Bennett went down and Vallejo came on, if he’s premier league then I’ll let Clive eat my hat!
I agree with Paul AD 100%, Vallejo hoofed the ball forwards, but instead of up the line, for some strange reason known only to him, he sent it into the middle of the field where most players were. This resulted in the Southampton player pinging it forwards with a wicked bounce, which I have to agree did catch Coady out. That ball should never have been there in the first place, a really bad decision from Vallejo.
He wears the old gold, I will support him, but he is not the man to replace Bennett, something Nuno is trying to do, IMO.
The sad thing is, we were up for it, 15 minutes in even my Grandson who was off the hooks, perked up and got enthusiastic., but Bennett going off and VAR
did little to keep our enthusiasm going. If we play to the letter of the law, both goals were rightly disallowed, on a positive, Slovan Bratislava can look out because Jiminez and Jota were on fire yesterday. Also, Jiminez had the ball in the net 3 times yesterday, there’s no VAR in the Europa. 🙂
Most of the comments being posted,are going to state the obvious defensive flaws,but as l have previously flagged the real cause for concern is our midfield,reflected by 1 shot on target from moutinho.We need a CD,CM in January and the way Fosun are moving to raise funds,leads me to think we may have to sell,before we can buy.Top of my list to sell is Sir Adama.I was very optimistic when we signed him,believing he only had to add scoring goals to his game,but l have seen enough of him to see @23 this is as good as it gets.Those of you who think 23 is still young,and theirs more to come,he’s been around a long time and is as consistent as Delafaou,both Barca rejects,and then compare him to likes of HudsonOdoi (18).l also feel he doesn’t suit Nuno,s system who is trying hard to accommodate him.Summing up l think he’s done enough to command a fee around £30mill and the club should take it.I cannot hide my frustration from watching to many games like yesterday,and the Man City result in a different context.
Got to agree with all comments regarding Vallejo. Has to be right up there as one of the worst defenders ever to play in the old gold and that’s saying something. Fully agree with Paul AD, Vallejo ‘s awful clearance set up a situation which led to a twitchy Coady error. We somehow made Redmond and Ings look like world beaters.
So good to see Jota on and running at their defence and
Doherty drawing the foul.
A mistake ridden game deservedly right down the MOTD running order. On the other hand how did Villa scraping a 2-1 win against 10 man BHA get to the top billing?!
I’m not usually one to criticise individual players but I do feel the comments on Vallejo today are largely valid. I had a sense of foreboding when he came on and saw nothing afterwards to make me feel I’d been unfair. Hopefully it’s just a confidence thing but if so, performances like yesterday can only serve to exacerbate the situation.
Otherwise, it was a patchy showing from our boys though we did show several glimpses of our best form. The magical, jinking run by The Doc being the most notable moment.
But a point was what we deserved and a point was what we got.
One to forget as we never got out of 2nd gear. I guess we’d all like Vallejo to succeed, and he has the credentials, but something is clearly amiss when he turns in performances like that. When Bennett went off my immediate thought was to put the Donck in there and bring MGW on. Not that it would have made much difference, so congested was the middle of the park. Had we started with Vinagre we would have had the width which we saw when Diogo came on.
Yes VAR is a pain in the ass, & lessens my enjoyment of watching Wolves, but we were pretty flat yesterday.
The two T’s or the two V’s did for us. Traore just poor today, summed it up for me when he got in Jiminez’s way & we lost the ball in a promising position. Technology! Doc at right wing back every time for me.
As everyone has commented Vallejo was not an ideal replacement for Bennett, I got the jitters every time he got the ball. His pass to their forward setting him up for a goal scoring opportunity was an error you’d only really see at Parks or schoolboy level.
VAR has wiped off 4 points from our total theoretically, but that’s the Maths, to me the spirit of the fast flowing football game, the passion of celebrating a goal, or a penalty is being leeched out of the game. But looks like it’s here to stay. Will I ever get used to it? Never!
It’s for the pundits in the TV studio’ s, I can live with a few bad decisions, human error is part of life. But as it was pointed out on MOD VAR is only as good as the human beings operating it in the dark parallel universe far far away from the blood & guts of the game. It’s never, yet, overturned a referee’s penalty decision. How Watford didn’t get a penalty in the Spurs game is beyond me, it was stonewall. So why are we sacrificing the joy of celebrating goals in real time when the so called technology is ,to put it bluntly, shit?
Looking at the programme pre match two things caught my eye, one, the ref Peter Bankes, was he not the ref who sent Nuno off at Bristol? And two, the VAR ref was George Friend……..how did we even draw that game when we were on to a loser before we kicked off??
At least with Bankes he give us that iconic moment when Nuno fist pumped Waldorf a Staedtler in the directors box, best loff I’ve had in ages.
Anybody got any thoughts on the Fosun £50 mil loan story the Express & Star broke, just a normal business transaction or more to it?
At least we took a point yesterday, more lessons learnt and I fancy us to beat Newcastle…Up the Wolves!
It probably means we’re buying big in January. Lot’s of teams borrow against future income aka Sky money.
Quite a few prem clubs have done similar apparently Bognor
Only 4 percent interest atm against guaranteed prem money that is paid in instalments
I think it is because the league owes them something like 127 million pounds in television revenue from last season and so they are borrowing against that so they don’t have to put anymore of their own money into the club.
The league is paying them in installments this season so that is how they will pay off the loan.
Of course, it might be this year’s television revenue. Not sure after reading another article written by a man.
I think Nuno has to decide if Vallejo has long term potential. If he does, Wolves should try to buy him at a good price. If not, send him back to Real Madrid.
What is the point in trying to develop him only for him to leave at the end of the season? (His errors are dangerous.) I thought Jeff said we don’t do that kind of thing.
Other than that, one positive to take away from the game is we scored 3 goals. Only one was allowed but we still scored them. A slight offside doesn’t negate that and the armball was not necessarily on purpose. Not sure if it deserved a yellow.
I thought Jota looked more dangerous when he was closer to the centre of the pitch. Too far wide and he seemed to be out of the play an ineffective.
As for Traore, he is going to blow hot and cold for the next little while. Can’t expect him to become a consistent superstar in such a short period of time.
Well at least Jesus getting crucified (sorry) makes Bennett look good. Strange thing is, Real Madrid insist on having him back at the end of the season – he appears to be the only player to get progressively worse under Nuno, with the exception of MGW
Actually, I heard RM will consider offers for him to raise money for the purchase of other players.
I’m not surprised to hear that Tim. If he’s actually top notch, he must be wearing his boots on the wrong feet….
https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/real-madrid/transfer-talk/news/real-madrid-to-sell-vallejo-next-summer_370924.html
VAR was totally correct in our game (unlike Spurs v Watford), apart from the yellow card for Raul. Think Nuno got the team wrong tbh, and should have played Traore up the middle with Raul, the Doc at wingback – why change a winning formula?
Yes Baron, I hoped Traore might be paired with Traore as I have a feeling it could keep working as we saw v Man City.
And when Bennett went off, with the gift of hind sight perhaps Donk could have been dropped back. But always Nuno knows best.
Jesus , no better than others in the under 23s
Still not convinced Cutrone is any better than anything else in the championship yet
We definitely need a good ball playing centre half in January ( easier said than done I know)
However Jota is back, jimi is on fire, dogherty is getting on fire so lots to look forward too
What’s amazing is that had we won ,( 6 inches off side for jmis goal) we would have been seventh?
This league is wide open this year apart from the top two imo
unbeaten in a a while now though so things building nicely
Utw
I have to ask the question Twix would you play Jesus if Bennett is out..?
I’m not blaming him but when you can see a player is clearly out of his depth what are we supposed to do…… Ignore the fact he is not up to the pace and standard of the Premier League.
He might be brilliant playing against Granada in La Liga where the game is a lot slower.
The simple fact is he’s not at this time anywhere near Premier League standard I’m only pointing this out for his sake as well as the team it’s not fair on him to be put in that position if he not coping which he clearly isn’t.
I’m putting my head above the parapet here with Jesus’ (Vallejo) performance but come on guys Southampton came to do a good closing down job on our back three…. to good effect.
Ok he passed straight to Ings.. who let us off on that one and also made a pigs earhole of a clearance which that too would have caused no lasting damage in itself but unfortunately Coady made a real hash of clearing his lines and … we’ll Ings won’t get too many easier chances.
I personally don’t want to get into any blame game and believe me .. there were others who weren’t at the races…. why oh why wasn’t the Doc on from the start.
A point is another point and now onto VAR…. how much more damage is this Mickey Mouse system going to cause….. we have different rules for defenders and attackers. Some VAR refs interpret handball different to others… and penalties generally aren’t given by VAR…. a la Watford v Spurs….. I was more than expecting ours to be given as a free kick to Southampton.
It’s becoming funnier, yet more damaging by the minute as judgement itself is by humans… that’s if Kevin Friend, Chris Kavanagh, or Peter Bankes are.
Isn’t it a shame that a video recording viewed a million miles away takes credence over a instance requiring judgement… the worst bit yesterday was that for Jimis goal near half time the teams had lined up to restart.
Anyway back to us… I’m supporting every man jack (and Jesus) who dons a Wolves shirt that they give there all for us….
The days of O’Hara and Johnson are history and I don’t see any of the current squad remotely not giving their all.
I have to ask the question Twix would you play Jesus if Bennett is out..?
I’m not blaming him but when you can see a player is clearly out of his depth what are we supposed to do…… Ignore the fact he is not up to the pace and standard of the Premier League.
He might be brilliant playing against Granada in La Liga where the game is a lot slower.
The simple fact is he’s not at this time anywhere near Premier League standard I’m only pointing this out for his sake as well as the team it’s not fair on him to be put in that position if he not coping which he clearly isn’t.
Hiya Paul…. simple answer is … it’s not my decision.
There are ifs and buts … is Saiss fit, should Dendoncker drop back, give Kilman a go?… they’re all possible yes’s and no’ses….
One thing for certain from my part is that who ever gets picked to play wherever will have my total support ….
Yeah. Anyone who puts the gold shirt on.
That’s a cope out I support the team first and foremost as Nuno said it’s not about players it’s about the team but ok but when one of the team is no performing they have to be made aware so one they have the chance to put it right and to removed if they don’t . … for the good of the team.
VAR is really getting under my skin. I reckon Leicester have now benefited to the tune of 8 extra points. 2 v us. 1 v Bournemouth when they should have had a bloke red carded. 3 v spurs when they should have gone 2-0 down but went up the pitch and equalised. And 2 yesterday when Burnley equaliser is ruled out for nothing. We have been denied 5 points. 2 at Leicester ( have seen similar goals given when ours is ruled out- Sheffield it’s at Bournemouth. Newcastle home to Watford. Spurs yesterday). 1 at everton ( I reckon their 2nd goal was offside- no big VAR inquest there) and 2 yesterday. Our second goal technically offside but linesman didn’t flag. Saints didn’t appeal. Ref gave the goal). Even Rauls handball. Spurs got one given which was even more blatant. Just seems everything we do gets checked where as elsewhere it just stands regardless. Beginning to think VAR is owned by Leicester City.
And just to compound it all. A Liverpool cross in injury time hits s man utd defender in roughly the same place as Willy Boly at Leicester (top of the arm). Goes to VAR and no penalty. Handball is handball. Not when it suits the occasion ( injury time -old trafford- it’s 1-1).
Agreed Cheesey which makes VAR a laughing stock….
The original intention was to correct the ‘clear and obvious’ refereeing errors….
Now …aaaaggghh…
Who judges the judge…?
Agreed chap
Just watched the Liverfool – Manure bore, and once again, the glaringly obvious VAR inconsistencies, as well as the ” Thou shall not let Manure lose under any circumstances at OT” rule were well in evidence.
Firstly, Mane scores what virtually everyone thought was a perfectly good goal.
But no.
Accidental handball.
No goal.
But why no booking, as per Raul yesterday.
Top six club, ay they?
Fuck off.
Then, Fred in the Manure box, ball hits his arm, accidentally, almost.
No penalty.
No booking, not even any fuckin’ VAR review.
So called top six club, ay they?
Fuck off.
If we are going to have VAR inconsistency, what is the point of it?
Refs have always been human, and inconsistent, so why not revert to the old ways, no VAR, and we can celebrate a goal, or offside, or whatever, in real time, not two minutes later?
I like the goal line technology system, which tells a ref within 10 seconds whether a ball has crossed the line, but we should stop there.
This weekend has convinced me, without a shadow of doubt that VAR, far from being the technological wonder it’s cracked up to be, is a retrograde step and should be put in the same trash bin as the brown ball and nail-in studs.
VAR, fuck off.
Well said Clive. It’s a fucking farce.
Totally agree. The worst thing about it is the flat feeling after celebrating a goal only to see it ruled out for two toe-nails length of distance. Totally ridiculous.
I also thought, but may well be wrong, that if the ball hits an opponent then the goal stands. Jimenez netted from an onside position after their keeper could only parry Cutrone’s shot.
I’m sure VAR decisions also affect players performance negatively. Why should we have to get used to this imposed system? It’s a lesser spectacle for me this season anyway.
Adding another layer of decision making is not needed. It’s open to error and interpretation, and even corruption. I may possibly be going to far there but why oh why can’t people realise some decisions will go for you some against. It’s going to even itself out over a season. Why bother with Technology as perfection & 100% accuracy is all but impossible to achieve? As VAR continues to prove every week.
Totally agree mate
Well it seems to me that as many arguable decisions are being created because of var as there were before it’s invention so by default it’s bloody pointless.
If we have to have an extra level of scrutiny then the most it should be is a screen at the side of the pitch for the ref on site to have another look and an agreed number of appeals allowed to each side and that’s it .
There is absolutely no argument that var is killing the game from a spectator point of view and the authorities need to act quickly before this badly thought out checking system ruins the game we have loved and cherished for over a hundred years.
Var is not the way forward !
Absolutely chap. Yesterday in my view Raul second dissalowed goal. The fact the linesman didn’t flag offside is wholly significant. It was obviously marginal at best so ‘clear and obvious’ ? Absolutely not. If it was ‘obvious’ the linesman would surely have flagged. So in this respect the decision by VAR was totally wrong. You were right. All we are doing is shifting the contentious decisions from the Ref to VAR who then make contentious decisions. Might as well go back to how it has always been. May be keep VAR for goal line stuff to ascertain if ball crossed line etc
Well said. Just hope they do discontinue it. But really know they won’t. The ordinary paying customers are never listened to, and our wishes are ignored.
It seems that more goals are chalked off than allowed nowadays.People will stop celebrating goals, just in case. Then they’ll stop going to games.
This is the reason for the £50m loan explained.
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/explained-wolves-owners-fosun-borrowed-17118792
For me the introduction of VAR simply continues a series of poor decisions by those who have the say on how our favourite game is played. As I see it the sequence goes something like this…..
1. For years the ‘experts’ derided aimless long kicks down the field by goalkeepers. So the rules are changed so as not to allow most pass backs …. and the result? even more aimless kicks downfield by GKs who can no longer pick the ball up and do something constructive with it. [Incidently, when I played – as GK – we could only take two steps before we had to bounce the ball, GKs now can run around unrestrictedly. Why?]
2. For years the ‘experts’ bemoaned the fact that games were spoiled as a spectacle by injuries which left sides a man short or with a limping passenger on the wing ….. and the solution …. introduce inflexible disciplinary rules which result in several red cards a week. I started watching football in 1954 and the first time I saw anyone sent off was David Woodfield for a tackle on Mike Summerbee – I can’t be sure of the date but it has to be ten years later. [BTW at the hearing MS spoke up for DW who was acquitted]. This ‘improvement’ has resulted in more and more matches ending up with uneven sides, and games presumably ‘spoiled as a spectacle’.
3. Refs have always done their best, but mistakes have inevitably been made…. so we add to the mistakes and misjudgments of the ref those of the VAR staff. For me the situation is similar to that of the photo-finish at horse races. Before this, if the judges couldn’t separate the horses a dead heat was declared – surely a fair result after anything up to 4 miles odd of racing. VAR is very similar – just because it’s possible to separate players to a resolution of 5mm doesn’t mean it’s desirable. How much of a player has to be offside before he has a real advantage – or perhaps it should be which part of a player has to be offside. If their head is offside but their feet are not where is the advantage.
No! for me VAR has been tried and found wanting – as it would have been even without the blatantly unfair different interpretation of handball for defenders and attackers.
I’d want to say that I’m not a complete Luddite – the goal line technology was needed and is performing well.I’m speaking here as someone who saw Malcolm Finlayson, lying on the floor, pull the ball out of the back of the net (on the blind side of ref and linesman) and clear it up the field where the game went on – despite the protests of the Turf Moor fans who’d seen exactly what I had.
It’s all good discussion fodder though isn’t it- so long as it doesn’t distract us from the main thing … the game itself and our support of WWFC.
COYW
My recollection regarding pass backs to GK s Jazz is different to yours. I thought it was to prevent time wasting i.e. passing back and forth between defenders and GK s for as long possible.
Thanks for that HW – You are right, time wasting was behind the rule change, but the change actually made the much-derided distribution from the GK worse not better.
I’m very cynical about time wasting, I believe that if you want to waste time there’s always a way – taking a free kick or throw-in from the wrong place and having to re-take it is always good for whiling away a few precious seconds as is shaping to take the kick/throw and then deciding to leave it to someone else. And of course the old faithful of putting the ball next to a corner flag and standing over it – preferably with a team mate.
Also there’s always the law of unintended consequences – players substituted are now, I believe, required to take the shortest route off the pitch. This can subject them to running the gauntlet of, possibly irate, opposition fans. If the player reacts in the wrong way, real crowd trouble could result.
having watched the spurs v watford highlights and the two blatant turned down penalties then the spurs equaliser which was without doubt handball as we now know it i am more than ever convinced this whole ridiculous way of adminstering justice is totaly floored .
how can another layer of errant, opinion led refereeing from a television screen miles away be an improvement.
the only factual judgements to come from var are about offside which can be measured and is being administered in a hugely vociferous over the top manner.
we had a goal dissalowed at leicester which was no more handball than the deli ali goal yesterday.
can we have our two points back please !!!!!!
We had a great surprise today, we were on the train making our way back from London, the ticket office called and told us Jen de Wolf had got a ticket for Slovan Bratislava.
So, one of us doesn’t have to sit in a bar somewhere in Bratislava pretending to enjoy it on a tv.
Nice one Wolves, we were on the stand by list and they came up trumps…
Oh yes, 21,000 screaming kids.
It will be just like a game at Veeela park.
200 hundred of us , so we should be able to outsing them!!
As usual, I’m late to the party here, and most of the points have been made, but I’ll try to add a few of my twists on things.
VAR – I don’t know what to say. I was originally 100% for it. I hate gross injustice and I felt it would eradicate that. No more Maradona hands of God that win games unjustly. But there has to be a better way. I think things like off-side are in the rules to prevent players from waiting for the ball by the goal, right? If VAR is going to be used to stall the game to disallow goals because they were a toenail offside, then I think we’re missing the big picture of why both VAR and the offside rule exist.
In a different universe, on a different day, both the other goals would have stood and this should have been a 3-1 win. Period. I know the team didn’t play their best, but I think we were cheated by the pedantic. Southampton have nothing to be proud of here. We won in terms of play. Pedantic decisions and happenstance are what saved them.
Having said this, I agree with all the points made above. The goal against us was indeed Coady’s fault, and the guy was man enough to admit it and say so. Top bloke. We all make mistakes and all you can ask is that players are honest and work to improve. And I am still waiting to see the summer signings step up and prove their worth. Personally I am not convinced we strengthened over the summer, and that’s why we are suffering this year. All that talk about how we will only buy players if they bring an improvement over what we already have … well, it doesn’t look like we did, did we.
Vallejo just doesn’t have what it takes at this level, imho. Doesn’t even look like he has the stature for a center half at this level. I just don’t get it. Why was this guy bought in? And as for Cutrone, ok, I like his work rate too, but a striker of his repute has had plenty of games now to be putting the ball in the net more. He still needs to convince me he is not just Leo Bonatini, mark 2. Unlike Vallejo, however, I’m not writing him off just yet, but I expect to see 3-5 goals from the guy by the end of the year. He needs to step up big time.
Last year’s success was largely due to the Jota-Jimenez partnership. It seems we are missing that right now. Without it we are back to the struggling phase. If we get that back, with Traore unleashed, we’ll be doing teams in again. Cutrone has to become part of that partnership solution too.
And we need more goals from the middle. One of the issues I see is that our midfielders rarely score. Apart from the odd setpiece from Boly or Saiss, the Doc is the only guy who scores. We need more goals from the middle. (This one’s for you Senor Neves. But Donker and Moutinho too.) We need a Kenny Hibbit in the team; a Paul Scholes or a Frank Lampard. We need a midfielder who scores on a regular basis, and not just rely on the front men.
OK, I think I’m done venting. 🙂 Look, overall, we’re still doing great. Had we won this one we would have been 7th. Just shows how early it still is and how just one win can still make so much difference. Still all to play for. Let’s win that Europa League. And then I’m not sure I care whereabouts in the top half of the table we finish. Cup silverware would be magic for me. All to play for!
It’s not just that the fans expect better. It’s that this team is capable of much better!
Let’s go Wanderers! Let’s get this show back on the road! Europa win on Thursday please.
Better late than never mate.
Good points made, particularly the one about needing a Kenny Hibbitt.
How much would that man be worth today?
An engine on him like my old V12 Jag (but rather more reliable), a shot on him like a Saturn Rocket and guaranteed goals… and sweat.
Boy, that guy could sweat for England.
And should have done many times if there had been any justice.
Yeah, he was one of a kind. I remember the sweat too! 🙂
We need someone of his tenacity and goal scoring ability in midfield. Alex Rae is another one that springs to mind with these qualities.
I still have hopes our Ruben will evolve into a more regular goal scorer as these two were for us. He’s certainly capable. Need him going forward more!
As no one else has said it……
With a name like Jesus I would expect he would be terrified of crosses!
Apologies to all our religious supporters.
You nailed it!!!
I’m pretty sure someone has said it before and was run out of town.
Apparently, Leeds fans are starting to realize why Wolves sold Helder.
And they ain’t happy.
That’ll do nicely!
Another good day at the office.
Great result can we play away in Europe every week….,!
Another second half special. We only need one half. We only need one half.
Lowves and me enjoying the fact that we actually found the ground in amongst the block of flats.
The result made up for the refs inability to spot offside and the crap decosion on Jota.