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WBA 1-1 Wolves: Verdict Thread

It'll be interesting to see if Allardyce stays at WBA. Over the past few weeks he has actually turned them into a fairly competitive Premier League side. I fancy them to bounce back up and stay for a bit if he takes the job.
 
Otasowie had a decent match on the whole imo, made some mistakes of course but also some good stuff. As I said earlier, clumsy as fuck. For me did enough to warrant some more starts and sub appearances but probably won't be good enough in the end........hope he makes me eat my words.
 
Given he is only 20 he has 6 years still to even reach the average age of a prem outfielder, I think the plan for him is not to necessarily feature more next year, but the season after.

Did he play wide right for the u23s in that previous game?

Wondering if we will see Marques on the bench if RAN is out, as presume Semedo would move to left and Hoever would start at right.
 
Well I thought Vitinha put to bed the myth that he can’t be much good as Nuno sees him in training every day and isn’t picking him for good reason. One swallow doesn’t make a summer but yesterday he was the best player on the pitch by a mile. The only reason not to give him lots of game time in the rest of our matches this season is if there is a loophole where he could be snapped up by someone else.
 
It was a much improved attacking performance. We still are not finishing the chances well enough and Semedo should have scored. The goal had an element of luck but Fabio Silva had to be there to get that luck so, you get that luck if you are in the right place. I thought Otasowie grew into the game well. He has a languid style and is only 20. I prefer the look of him to Morgan Gibbs-White who huffs and puffs but does little else. I do not like a centre back pairing of Coady and Saiss. We really do need an upgrade there this summer. Dendoncker staying further back was a much better approach. I thought he was ok after a couple of early poor touches much like Otasowie. Traore is the enigma for me. We looked more in control but Traore cannot hold the ball well enough and made some poor decisions yesterday too. RAN looks a player for the future as does Vitinha. I really hope Nuno plays those two and Otasowie more for the last few games to give them a chance to stake their claim for next season. I still believe that Podence is struggling for any sort of fitness. There is a player in there. I have seen Mir is doing well in a poor side at the moment so would not mind him getting a chance here either. We do need to spend a bit of money on a new CH a new inside forward and a new CM as Moutinho is either off (see rumour transfer thread) or not got the legs for the premier league at 35.
 
Really? "if it was up to me I'd fuck Semedo off for £15mish"

Well, don't include me because I think that's rubbish
Did you read where I said, apart from the weird Lowton stuff??
 
A few quick thoughts:
A better performance, but it's a low bar. Four games against the three worst teams in the league and Burnley and we've scored three goals.
Semedo is never going to convince me he can defend, so yes, I'd sell him for £15m. Matty Lowton? George Baldock would do for me and save a ton of money on wages.
Three years after being promoted we are still playing Romain Saiss as a CB. That's a 0/10 for the Wolves recruitment team.
RAN - not sure he'll ever be 100% defending either, but goodness me he's good going forward. We look better to me with a left footed LB/LWB. Maybe Jonny - if he ever comes back - could break the habit of a lifetime & move to RB.
Vitinha - just pay the money and start him in every game
Fabio - best game for me by some distance. Great shot from outside the box
Adama - even I am starting to get frustrated. But I'm cut him some slack as I think he's a horse that needs good to firm, and last night wasn't.
And Neves clearly isn't right - let's hope it's nothing like Willy Boly
 
Semedo's value is about £15m, we overpaid no doubt, but Lowton and Baldock, jeez
 
I don't get this we should play actual CBs at CB thing, Saiss has played at least as many games at CB as CM hasn't he? every game for Morocco I've seen he's been at CB. Coady has played all of the last 4 seasons at sweeper/CB. I'm not saying either of them are ultimately good enough but this narrative that they're career midfielders baffles me
 
Neither are natural defenders. Coady's role in a 3 isn't really that of a centre half, it's more of a sweeper, he's there to build out from the back with and is fine when he does have natural defenders like Bennett and Boly either side of him. Asking him to play in a 3 with the other centre halves off form or in a 4 exposes his vulnerabilities. Although he was decent last night.

Saiss cannot defend the high cross, ball watches and loses his man has done so on countless occasions, some which have cost us others that haven't. Also has failed to defend his zone properly from set pieces, he's a liability in a 2 and I'd rather not see him in a 3 as first choice.

Whether you call them career central midfielders or not ultimately is just words what matters is that neither senses danger like a true number 1 centre half would, so if we are going 4 at the back, I'd prefer to see them both on the bench
 
Will need to be Boly and a new guy. We haven’t seen enough of Boly in a four of course but he’s our best centre back by miles, and I think he’d be fine
 
You've only got to watch Coady attempt to stop someone 1 on 1 to know he isn't a defender, he immediately looks panic stricken and has a tendency to over commit which then makes it very easy for anyone with a semblance of agility to get past him. In the centre of a three man backline he can get away with it because he's not often troubled by those situations, gets to just drop off and pick up anything that's overhit instead.

The concern for me with a back four, an almost inevitable loss of Coady in the starting line up it would bring, is who replaces him from a communication perspective? He's constantly chirping away, marshalling that backline and keeping everyone organised, which in my opinion is a big reason it works so well. I think Boly in particular needs that assistance, for me he gets drawn out too easily at times chasing the ball into situations and positions that he shouldn't be engaging with. When you're playing a back three it isn't so much of an issue as you've got Coady there to cover to some extent but you take away that cover and you've got a gaping hole in your defence every time he does it, which I think could potentially happen more often without Coady to hold the reins.

Upsets me to think that professional footballers need someone performing that role, that they can't all absorb that information in training and display that level of organisation through collaborative effort but you see it all too often where one man missing can bring a whole system down. Would be nice if Patricio could step into that void to some extent, he'll be the closest to replacing Coady's perspective on the backline with that sweeper position removed and he's got plenty of experience but he doesn't seem particularly vocal even in his own role so seems a stretch to expect to take on any extra responsibility there.
 
Patricio isn't a screamer but he is an organiser or at least used to be in the good old days of watching players from behind the goal. Those characteristics should come with the centre half we are targeting
 
Spin forward a season or two / three and I think some of the levels these youngsters will get to should be very high indeed.

Add in players like marques, Lonwijk etc
 
Its a pity Boly has been injured/ill so much this season, could have done with seeing him more in a 4. Think he'll be ok with that but its fair question to ask if he has been our best CB (by a good margin) due to playing mostly in a 3. Hopefully we get a good CB in, needs to be at least as good as Boly if not better......are there any available?
I notice Ake is a bit part player at City, no way he's getting a place in front of Dias, Laporte, Stones. Not sure he's good enough anyway
 
In other news Joe Edwards gave Vitinha a 7, he also gave lots of other players a 7.
 
Just seen a worrying report (one of the local rags so not sure of accuracy) about Boly's condition post covid, problem with his heart rate, not able to train since Burnley
 
Just seen a worrying report (one of the local rags so not sure of accuracy) about Boly's condition post covid, problem with his heart rate, not able to train since Burnley
That's what Nuno said after the game
 
Just seen a worrying report (one of the local rags so not sure of accuracy) about Boly's condition post covid, problem with his heart rate, not able to train since Burnley
Yes, he also has problems with exhaustion amongst others.

It's worrying - I've had exactly the same conditions after I caught COVID last Feb with no sign of it going away over a year later. At least he will get excellent medical attention.
 
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