Wolves 0-0 Leicester: Verdict Thread

[Tony Towner]

Tbf, I reckon Raul would do a lot better job as a ten than Sagbo or Clarke

That's setting the lowest bar since the residents of Hyde hoped for a better GP

 

[AndyWolves]

Hasn't Raul played wide right at some of his previous clubs?

Obviously doesn't make sense to play your best player out of position but was just wondering

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

He played more or less as a second left back for Mexico vs Germany at the World Cup (and a load of our idiots wrote him off as a result).

I would not do that, or play him wide, or play him as a #10.

 

[Trips]

He is better than Jose as a 9, so play Raul as a 9. You want to play a 10 then sign one, rather than shoehorn Raul in there and play an inferior player up top

 

[Lycan]

Raúl moves out wide all the time for us when he's interchanging with another of the front 3 or pulling out wide without the ball when he's part of a front 2.

You wouldn't want him to spend the majority of his time there though.

Raúl & WJ could definitely work as a pairing though. It's obviously way too early to tell with WJ but I've been most impressed with him when he's pulled back a little deeper into the 'traffic' to use his strength & soft touch to link play, he's way more than just a big #9. I don't feel that you'd necessarily be limiting another striker by playing him alongside WJ.

 

[Trips]

Raúl moves out wide all the time for us when he's interchanging with another of the front 3 or pulling out wide without the ball when he's part of a front 2.

You wouldn't want him to spend the majority of his time there though.

Raúl & WJ could definitely work as a pairing though. It's obviously way too early to tell with WJ but I've been most impressed with him when he's pulled back a little deeper into the 'traffic' to use his strength & soft touch to link play, he's way more than just a big #9. I don't feel that you'd necessarily be limiting another striker by playing him alongside WJ.

Playing alongside no, but if we are playing a 10 behind a 9 I dont know why we would move our best striker out of position

 

[Jinky]

Raúl moves out wide all the time for us when he's interchanging with another of the front 3 or pulling out wide without the ball when he's part of a front 2.

You wouldn't want him to spend the majority of his time there though.

Raúl & WJ could definitely work as a pairing though. It's obviously way too early to tell with WJ but I've been most impressed with him when he's pulled back a little deeper into the 'traffic' to use his strength & soft touch to link play, he's way more than just a big #9. I don't feel that you'd necessarily be limiting another striker by playing him alongside WJ.

I agree. Raul + WJ could play together as a pair. And we've already seen Jose pulling out to the wide positions and being effective. And even if they're not on the pitch at the same time, they will still be able to share minutes and have enough games to keep them both happy.

I have no idea what people are on about when they say they'd be happy to send him (WJ) back to Spain in the summer. That would leave us in exactly the same position as this season, which is a large part of why it's been such a mess on the pitch. Having Raul AND Jose available and fit, with Silva as the younger, high potential back up option to utilise as and when required makes our squad (and that particular area) much stronger. That's what we want.

If people want a "Son type" to add options, then there's nothing saying we can't also bring in that kind of player. I'm not sure why some are suggesting it's one or the other.

As I said on the previous page, though, unless WJ crashes and burns over the next 15 or so games (just can't see it, myself) there's no way we're not signing him.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I'm not really seeing it with Willian. He's an ok footballer and all that, and not a child like Fabio is. So for now he has value. Beyond that though - he doesn't attack crosses properly, he doesn't show for the ball enough, he isn't quick and he isn't particularly skilful.

We can do better. For me, unless things change from what we've seen so far, it's thanks and goodbye.

 

[Jinky]

I'm not really seeing it with Willian. He's an ok footballer and all that, and not a child like Fabio is. So for now he has value. Beyond that though - he doesn't attack crosses properly, he doesn't show for the ball enough, he isn't quick and he isn't particularly skilful.

We can do better. For me, unless things change from what we've seen so far, it's thanks and goodbye.

And you're basing this on all 4 games in a struggling side...

Raul only got 2 goals in his first 8 games for us, so I'm willing to give Willian the benefit of the doubt for the time being. I'm also not convinced we can "do better" without spending £50m+ in the summer (which we don't do). Especially if Raul is back and quite obviously our first choice.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I have eyes and I've been watching football for 33 years James, I think I'll be ok making a judgement on a player

He's ok. But I don't want ok. Neil Emblen was ok.

 

[Jinky]

Fair play, mate. We’ll agree to disagree on Jose - I think he looks decent.

Let’s not forget you & several others have just spent multiple transfer windows telling me (and others) that it’s “extremely difficult to sign a striker who knows they’re going to be back up to Raul” - now we have one, you’re saying we can do better!

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Ah but we can.

He is A striker. I'll give him that. And he's not rubbish or anything. He's just not worth the money given he'd have zero resale value IMO. Just my opinion.

 

[slink]

Fair play, mate. We’ll agree to disagree on Jose - I think he looks decent.

Let’s not forget you & several others have just spent multiple transfer windows telling me (and others) that it’s “extremely difficult to sign a striker who knows they’re going to be back up to Raul” - now we have one, you’re saying we can do better!

WJ is decent, i think he'd probably look even better if we got bodies around him for all that he's not even close to a fully firing Raul.

It is extremely difficult to sign a striker to be backup to Raul, WJ at the moment hasn't been signed as that. He's been signed to come in and fill in for him.

No way should we be signing WJ if Raul is back and we're still going with 1 up top which i imagine we will. We'll then basically have 3 players who can only play in that 1 position and then that probably means we're not playing our best striker enough, our £35 million signing that will need minutes won't be getting enough or we've bought WJ for £20 million to sit on the bench just in case of injuries. That's why it makes much more sense imo to sign a player that can play wide and up top or a player that can play in the hole and up top if needed.

 

[Deano]

I think Jose definitely needs to show more than we have seen so far. He's still settling though, hasn't even had time to find somewhere proper to live yet so will judge him more towards the end of the season when he's bedded in properly.

 

[PuntsWolf]

Thing is if we sign the “Son” type we’d still have to change our style. Sons rapid and also one of the best players in the league. When he plays up front he can drift wide, he can run in behind, drop deep, get by a player 1v1.

We don’t really ever hit the ball over the top or into the channels, it’s always in to head/chest/feet. There aren’t many players who can play as a genuine wide player like Neto and then down the middle as well. Even if we’d played Jota there (the championship doesnt count), I think he’d have struggled without us changing our play into the forwards. We certainly couldn’t hit into the forward and hope for the best which is effectively what our play is when we’re sitting deep.

 

[slink]

To be fair i think no matter what happens we have to change our style if we want to progress.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

I'm not really seeing it with Willian. He's an ok footballer and all that, and not a child like Fabio is. So for now he has value. Beyond that though - he doesn't attack crosses properly, he doesn't show for the ball enough, he isn't quick and he isn't particularly skilful.

We can do better. For me, unless things change from what we've seen so far, it's thanks and goodbye.

Christ on a bike that’s harsh. I also think you’re completely wrong. If you offered me Bonatini or Cutrone or WJ as Raul back up from what I have seen so far it’s WJ by a mile. I have also been watching football for 40 odd years and and Pope is a bloody good GK but you disagree so let’s call this 1 1. I am happy to give you a smug grin when Pope is England’s number 1 and WJ is wolves number 9 and scoring.

 

[redvictor]

To be fair i think no matter what happens we have to change our style if we want to progress.

Not neccessarily our style imo, but to be able to change our shape to the opponents. 3-4-3 is good against some, 4-2-3-1 against others, sometimes even 3-5-2. If you have that ability you can compete with anyone.