Let's talk about Nuno....

[AndyWolves]

This argument would hold more water if we were talking about summer 2019.

We bought Fabio (and only Fabio) for that role fully aware of the pandemic and fully aware we'd just come off the back of a knackering season, with a new one due to start imminently.

Should we not have expected Raul to be playing less and this backup would need to be ready to step up?

I don't think anyone at wolves expected Fabio to played as many minutes this season as he already has. It was a bit short-sighted to leave us without adequate cover this season , I guess the management team saw an opportunity to get a talent for the future in now rather than paying more in the future.

In the context of this season it looks poor, whether it remains poor or becomes an astute piece of business remains to be seen.

 

[sycophantia]

I'm another that only thinks it's 3 starters missing if I second guess what I think Nuno would have done last night with a full squad.
Podence/Traore
Jonny
Raul

If the top 3 had played there would have been marginal gains, maybe significant with a moment of magic, but the latter is the killer, but we've done that to death

those 3-4 would make more than marginal gains imv and also Boly would be in there if fit, thats a lot of quality. As it is Nuno has to work with what he's got, I think he is struggling with the 'new' style especially with those players missing but I have absolute faith in him sorting it out. If at the end of next season we are still struggling against consistency (which is this seasons main problem imo) then Fosun will no doubt look at it

 

[prawnking]

I don't think anyone at wolves expected Fabio to played as many minutes this season as he already has. It was a bit short-sighted to leave us without adequate cover this season , I guess the management team saw an opportunity to get a talent for the future in now rather than paying more in the future.

In the context of this season it looks poor, whether it remains poor or becomes an astute piece of business remains to be seen.

I can't believe we didn't forsee that Raul, after having a baby too (something else we knew about), wouldn't be able to play nearly every minute of this season like he did last. It's ludicrous.

My guess is we thought Fabio was further along in his development than he is

 

[Stan Hullis]

All good points, but there's still plenty of stuff Nuno has agency over.

Let's hope there are clearer heads this summer, as we knew about Jonny's injury, the need for a Raul backup, the pandemic and (I hope) the plans for a playing evolution last window

I agree that Nuno is culpable for the decisions he makes - some of the ideas around personnel and formations this season have been strange and haven't come off - I put most of that down to him trying to find different "solutions" as he puts it within the squad but they certainly haven't all worked and some of them have been outright failures (Silva on the left last night for instance).

I just think we have been found out a little bit as a squad/team - we are very reliant on the family atmosphere within the squad and the club, the players/staff have a lot of their families based in Portugal etc. and we used to take plenty of opportunity to go and visit and do the warm weather training etc.

I think we have had to completely rip up the plan that was working so well due to the pandemic and we haven't quite found a system that works to replace it.
When you then combine this with questionable recruitment, the injury situation, trying to evolve the style of the team - we seem to be in a bit of a perfect storm of problems, some of our own making, others based on external factors and I think we're just going to have to dig deep to see our way through and out the other side.

 

[Trips]

I can't believe we didn't forsee that Raul, after having a baby too (something else we knew about), wouldn't be able to play nearly every minute of this season like he did last. It's ludicrous.

My guess is we thought Fabio was further along in his development than he is

The reason Raul isnt playing is because he fractured his skull in a freak accident. He would still have been playing every game if not for that, having a baby wouldnt have made him available less.

Whilst I maintain that finding a like for like replacement to sit on the bench was pretty damn difficult, the points made about a Jota-type player have some merit, and probably something the club could have done better with.

 

[AndyWolves]

I can't believe we didn't forsee that Raul, after having a baby too (something else we knew about), wouldn't be able to play nearly every minute of this season like he did last. It's ludicrous.

My guess is we thought Fabio was further along in his development than he is

Wait a minute, no one is saying Raul would have played "every minute". It's entirely reasonable to have expected Silva to play early cup games and be the sub for Raul in the PL with 5-10 minutes to go.

A PL game here or there should Raul not have been able to play would have been fine also.

 

[Del Woppio]

Yes we've got injuries, but that doesn't excuse the performance level this season. The eleven that's been on the pitch at any given time have, mostly, been underperforming as a unit, all season. Other than Raul to Fabio and Jonny to RAN, all of the others are minor drop offs, if at all. We didn't start with a 'one win in eight' XI last night, but we're a one win in eight team. Some of that is in game luck, but a lot of it is tactical confusion, cautious mentality, and poor game management, and that's on Nuno

 

[Lycan]

Yes we've got injuries, but that doesn't excuse the performance level this season.

It literally does.

 

[Derby Wolf]

Parking the injuries we've had form issues compounding it, Boly was very poor for a few games Somedo has had a rocky start, Traore was a passenger for the first 6-10, Joao looked poor, even Raul looked isolated but was making his chances count.

Then you throw in individual brain farts like Saiss/Coady v City/Liverpool, Somedo v Villa and Rui v Newcastle for good measure.

All that is going off before you get to Nuno. Whatever Nuno's plans are the players have dismantled them conceding to Spurs after 45 seconds or a penalty 10 seconds into the second half at Brighton.

I've wrote before on Nuno's passivity and how that played out at Porto as they drew numerous games to bottom half sides and that does merit some focus, particularly when you consider the gulf in class between Porto and the team in 13th in the Primeria is greater than that of Wolves v Newcastle (suggesting this "flaw" is becoming a blindspot) which is evidenced by 4 out of 5 draws with perennial bottom half Newcastle and the number of games where we've drawn after conceding first since our return, Burnley, Southampton, Everton, Palace etc etc

His subs are relatively ineffective offensively, it was clear as day Silva was finished last night so unless he's had a "so THAT'S why I binned you off" moment with Cutrone it was very odd he didn't put him on.

The mitigation of course is the covid situation and lack of pre season particularly when we were denied exemptions at the start for some reason. (Read: Not a big club.) Has lead to us asking some players to go to the well more than anybody should.

Theres a multitude of reasons, internal and external for why we are where we are and there are definite aspects where we need to shed the - what feels like - a newly promoted club mentality of subs to hold on and just keep our foot on an opponents throat. That doesn't mean going gung-ho but surrendering the initiative is dangerous and we've got enough fuck ups and last minute goals to encourage teams when we do.

 

[Del Woppio]

It literally does.

You think that the eleven players we've been able to put out are performing well?

 

[prawnking]

Wait a minute, no one is saying Raul would have played "every minute". It's entirely reasonable to have expected Silva to play early cup games and be the sub for Raul in the PL with 5-10 minutes to go.

A PL game here or there should Raul not have been able to play would have been fine also.

I said nearly every minute... And Trips just above you is saying he'd still be playing every game!

It's a well known fact that Nuno chose to play Raul almost every minute of every game.

I'm saying that the club were aware of many of the problematic variables - pandemic, abbreviated close season, exhausting 2019/20 season (especially for Raul), Raul's new fatherhood (remember his form before his injury?), so I'm surprised that wasn't all taken into account when we made our big striker signing. What if Raul had caught covid? We signed Fabio in September 2020, not September 2019

 

[Paul]

His subs are relatively ineffective offensively, it was clear as day Silva was finished last night so unless he's had a "so THAT'S why I binned you off" moment with Cutrone it was very odd he didn't put him on.

I get the impression he doesn't really want to make the substitutions, but he has to give in and make them in the end, I personally would have took MGW and Silva off just after half time, but why leave it so long when at that time they were obviously struggling ?

 

[Haggstone]

You think that the eleven players we've been able to put out are performing well?

I would say under the circumstances they are playing to a level I would expect of them by and large. When I saw that team sheet last night with Silva out of position, no striker and our best defender out, I wasn’t exactly thinking stellar performance here we come. My initial thought before a ball was kicked was ‘man these injuries are killing us’. That said, we played pretty well first half.

What were you expecting to see?

 

[prawnking]

All this Boly love is a bit of a red herring. On his day he was our best defender in a back three, he was not playing well before his injury and there's no evidence at all that he'd be any better than Saiss in a four.

 

[Haggstone]

All this Boly love is a bit of a red herring. On his day he was our best defender in a back three, he was not playing well before his injury and there's no evidence at all that he'd be any better than Saiss in a four.

He was our best defender for the best part of three years, when he last came back from injury we went from shipping goals for fun to keeping clean sheets again. Then his form dipped for a dozen games before he got injured.

Plenty of evidence that he’d be better than Saiss in a four, for the simple reason that he is a better defender.

 

[Del Woppio]

I would say under the circumstances they are playing to a level I would expect of them by and large. When I saw that team sheet last night with Silva out of position, no striker and our best defender out, I wasn’t exactly thinking stellar performance here we come. My initial thought before a ball was kicked was ‘man these injuries are killing us’. That said, we played pretty well first half.

What were you expecting to see?

I'd expect pretty much any eleven we've put out since Raul's injury to be capable of better than one win in eight. This form isn't because the lads on the pitch are bottom third players. It's because we've lost our identity in search of tactical flexibility and that we've lost our solidity in search of changing our style of play, despite it showing no offensive benefit to date.

The eleven we put out yesterday is comfortably top half, notwithstanding the weirdness of playing Fabio on the left. The performances aren't good enough, and that's not because of the quality of the players we can put out.

 

[YoungWolf]

All this Boly love is a bit of a red herring. On his day he was our best defender in a back three, he was not playing well before his injury and there's no evidence at all that he'd be any better than Saiss in a four.

There's an understandable Boly love - he's our best defender in 40 years!

I would personally be playing him to the left of the two centre backs, alongside Coady. Think Semedo is a bit better within the defensive organisation with Coady next to him (by no means perfect right now) and I think Boly looks more comfortable with the ball driving in from the left side.

No guarantees, but Boly is just a better defender than anyone we have got IMO. He has to play when fit.

 

[prawnking]

Plenty of evidence that he’d be better than Sais in a four.

... except for the slightly important evidence of him actually playing well in a four for us!

We've just got a case of missing players suddenly becoming the messiah, conveniently ignoring that we looked unconvincing earlier this season even when Boly, Pod and Adama were playing together.

Raul is the one.

 

[prawnking]

There's an understandable Boly love - he's our best defender in 40 years!

I would personally be playing him to the left of the two centre backs, alongside Coady. Think Semedo is a bit better within the defensive organisation with Coady next to him (by no means perfect right now) and I think Boly looks more comfortable with the ball driving in from the left side.

No guarantees, but Boly is just a better defender than anyone we have got IMO. He has to play when fit.

I like Boly too, look back on the forum earlier in the season, plenty of people picking Saiss and even Kilman ahead of him. He's not the undroppable behemoth he was previously, that could be the other defenders improving, of course

 

[Haggstone]

I'd expect pretty much any eleven we've put out since Raul's injury to be capable of better than one win in eight. This form isn't because the lads on the pitch are bottom third players. It's because we've lost our identity in search of tactical flexibility and that we've lost our solidity in search of changing our style of play, despite it showing no offensive benefit to date.

The eleven we put out yesterday is comfortably top half, notwithstanding the weirdness of playing Fabio on the left. The performances aren't good enough, and that's not because of the quality of the players we can put out.

I don’t think it’s the quality of the individual players we can put out either, the blend isnt right. Our game is about partnerships across the pitch, not having 11 individuals who are good on paper and then wondering why they aren’t performing.