If we had top four aspirations...

[NicholasG1973]

I think we did well against Liverpool, for what it’s worth.
We matched them in most areas and, with a bit more luck, it could have been a different game.
Remember, that Liverpool side (on their day) can still be world class.
For me, it was always the final ball that let us down. And it always is. Our front three just don’t make the right decisions, most of the time.
Neto is young and brilliant but can be greedy and I don’t blame him sometimes wanting to do it all on his own.
Adama runs when he should pass, passes when he should run and stands still with the ball when there’s a break on. He also never ever moves when he hasn’t got the ball. He must be so frustrating to play with.
And WJ can be neat and tidy but does nothing of note. Gets it, lays it off. He’ll never score like that - nor does he ever look like getting into the right positions.

I don’t think we’re that far away. I just think we need a bit more consistency from our better players and to play a little more on the front foot.

New CB, new CM, replace Adama and we won’t be that far short.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

I think that’s a very fair assessment.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

I hope we don't slip back to the first halves against Soton and Newcastle and we did seem to play well against Liverpool all game which I was surprised at. You're right on the goalscoring and attacking, that bit is missing but on the whole I'm glad we are creating chances now rather than sitting back being too passive and creating nothing.

I think everybody recognises the need for better attacking play and I think that will come in the summer with good recruitment and the return of Raul (I'm loathe to put it all on a pre-season) but I would like to see better, less individual attacking play and I think that is the next stage of our evolution.

I have hope we can put in another Liverpool type performance with added finishing rather than reverting back to the passive crap and on that i think Nuno does too.

I know I am seen as negative on here but it is usually with good cause. I have been the voice of caution on more than one occasion and also called for time for players to show their stuff. I am afraid that in the last two years our recruitment has oversold and under delivered. We stuck gold with Raul, Silver with Neto and Bronze with Podence. After that there is a very long gap to successes in the last 4 windows. Now we also like a small squad. However if we can’t score , and two of our front three starters are zero goals in 55 games between them ,it does not take a genius to see where we need instant improvement . We simply cannot afford vanity projects like Fabio yet either. He is clearly not ready on several levels. That appears to be in agreement. What confuses me now is our approach In the last nine games of this shit fest season.
Personally , as soon as we hit 40 points we should experiment and try things out to pre empt pre season.Give game time to those we are looking to spend big on or bin off. Vitinha either gets a run or gets sent back. It’s pointless signing him based on what we have seen so far.
I love the concept of Adama but at present he is a waste of a shirt as he is providing squat. If we want to keep Neto we must give him some green shoots that next year it won’t be Neto versus defence which it has been at times. In turn he may learn that he has forwards who he can trust and pass too. Our tactics can be cautious but we created enough against Liverpool to have scored and we actually never really troubled Allisson. We put our eggs in the basket of players who don’t score . WJ and Adama have less goals between them in more games than Saiss! That is the first problem to solve. And the answer cannot be “Raul will make it better”. It was broken before he was injured. Performance wise Liverpool was ok in two thirds of the pitch, just in the final third it lacked. That can happen. It’s far too regular for Wolves who have scored first once in 19 games and that was an own goal. This summer’s recruitment will make or break Nuno and define his legacy. Get it wrong and he may be gone and that would be an ignominious end to his tenure.

 

[Tony Towner]

Not aimed at anyone in particular, but this is just the same people saying the same things. It's all a bit dull.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Not using this as an excuse but there genuinely aren't many out there. It's a weird void out there at the moment.

Arsenal paid stupid money for Saliba who they wouldn't even trust to play against Dundalk in the Europa League. What would Brighton/Burnley ask for players as manifestly limited (and with miles on the clock) as Dunk/Tarkowski? Michael Keane cost £30m, he is shit.

We are not aresenal. No where near. We don’t have 35m to hoss at projects.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Not sure what that has got to do with what I said, tbh.

I'm saying the pool of centre halves is very shallow.

By the way Arsenal's finances are a shitshow.

 

[Alan]

We're one of the healthiest clubs in England financially, aren't we?

 

[AndyWolves]

Not sure what that has got to do with what I said, tbh.

I'm saying the pool of centre halves is very shallow.

By the way Arsenal's finances are a shitshow.

I wish we'd gone for Tapsoba when we had the chance. IIRC Nuno was happy with Donk at CB so we didn't pursue it - no idea if this is true or not

 

[Johnny75]

I wish we'd gone for Tapsoba when we had the chance. IIRC Nuno was happy with Donk at CB so we didn't pursue it - no idea if this is true or not

It isn’t true, it was work permit related.

 

[Paul]

Not aimed at anyone in particular, but this is just the same people saying the same things. It's all a bit dull.

I love Prawnking with all my heart !!!!

 

[Alan]

Not aimed at anyone in particular, but this is just the same people saying the same things. It's all a bit dull.

In fairness, the core group on this forum hasn't changed much in the past 5 years so it can all get a bit "broken record" pretty quick.

 

[prawnking]

I love Prawnking with all my heart !!!!

Shocking self-awareness from the guy who literally only ever talks about me or the matchday thread

 

[Jinky]

Haven't really been on the forum much the last few weeks, so this thread passed me by. I just posted this in a different thread, but looking at it, it may have been better served posting it in here -

Tbf, looking at those fixtures, if we had turned a couple of results in to wins (Villa, Newcastle draws & maybe grabbed a deserved point v Liverpool the other night) - if we had put a run together against the likes of Sheff Utd, Fulham, Albion etc - we could still have made a fist of getting in the Europa spots. I think that's what everyone expected after we gave up our place in the FA Cup, but it hasn't really happened - even if our form has improved slightly.

I'll add to this that we obviously don't score enough goals to go on the kind of run it would have taken to get ourselves in the Europa mix. But it's frustrating that we *could* have been, if things had worked out a little differently.

Next season I think we need to do something about the lack of goals from people like Adama, Donk, Moutinho etc. Neto hasn't scored in 9 games - Jose hasn't scored at all. Simply put, it's no where near good enough. Nuno's tactics hold us back at times, but the players must do better. You can't have a player like Adama Traore on your books and he doesn't score or get an assist in a calendar year - that's ludicrous. And we shouldn't be putting so much pressure on Raul to come back and completely change our goalscoring form either - that would be totally unfair.

 

[Tony Towner]

Neto is 5 games. Adama isn't doing enough, but the assists number is a statistical misnomer - really he's has 2 a penalty and an own goal.

 

[Johnny75]

Neto is 5 games. Adama isn't doing enough, but the assists number is a statistical misnomer - really he's has 2 a penalty and an own goal.

Wow, 2!

He's ace.

 

[Tony Towner]

Hey, my views on him are well known, but may as well call it accurately

 

[sycophantia]

There's a bit more to it though isn't there? I'm not sticking up for Traore, he's been mostly cack this season but when he gets the ball he immediately has 2 or more often 3 players clustered around him, in theory that should give more space and opportunities to other players but we don't seem to take advantage of that. Some of its down to Traore not being aware and moving the ball on but also we don't give him that many options.....guess its a bit of a catch 22 situation.

 

[prawnking]

Remember, it's only Nuno and the players we like that get cut slack due to lockdown/no crowds/no Raul.

Also, stats don't matter when discussing Semedo and Doc, but they're the most important thing on the rare occasions we discuss Adama

 

[Jinky]

Whether it's 2 or 0, it's no where near good enough. A player of his ability should be getting close to double figures. Especially when he is one of our only attacking outlets.

Anyway, I didn't mean for this to become another Traore debate. Collectively as a squad Nuno needs to get them back to playing in a way where we actually look a threat. I think it's a bit shite that we've gone "we've lost Raul, lets stop trying to score" for a large chunk of the season. When we've actually had a bit of a go, we've looked alright.

 

[prawnking]

Haven't really been on the forum much the last few weeks, so this thread passed me by. I just posted this in a different thread, but looking at it, it may have been better served posting it in here -



I'll add to this that we obviously don't score enough goals to go on the kind of run it would have taken to get ourselves in the Europa mix. But it's frustrating that we *could* have been, if things had worked out a little differently.

Next season I think we need to do something about the lack of goals from people like Adama, Donk, Moutinho etc. Neto hasn't scored in 9 games - Jose hasn't scored at all. Simply put, it's no where near good enough. Nuno's tactics hold us back at times, but the players must do better. You can't have a player like Adama Traore on your books and he doesn't score or get an assist in a calendar year - that's ludicrous. And we shouldn't be putting so much pressure on Raul to come back and completely change our goalscoring form either - that would be totally unfair.

Adama has never been a goalscorer and never will be, at his best he creates chaos and assists. Yes you'd have expected him to still score a couple by now, and he's undoubtedly been poor this season, but who else has missed Raul as much as he has in our fragile and one-dimensional set-up?

Who else is he supposed to be assisting? Willian who never gets in the positions, or Fabio who currently can't put them away?