Wolves 0-2 Brentford: Verdict Thread

[SSB]

If folk are expecting to beat better teams then you'll always be disappointed.

Are we talking “always” as from now on? We’ve had some great wins/draws against the “better teams” in the past recent seasons.

 

[AndyWolves]

FWIW I think all of these are objectively better than us at the moment, in terms of both first XI and squad (probably manager too):

Man City
Man Utd
Chelsea
Liverpool
Leicester
Tottenham
Aston Villa
Everton
West Ham

But if you're going down the slightly perverse road of writing these games off and 0 points is fine so long as we sort of entertain the fans, that leaves you 20 games to get yourself 40 points.

Fancy us getting 2 points a game from the other lot? I don't.

That's why it's a mindset that doesn't make any sense.

Can you explain why we should get points off these teams? And more importantly how?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Can you explain why we should get points off these teams? And more importantly how?

We could have a gameplan and stuff.

I dunno, we managed it before.

 

[AndyWolves]

Are we talking “always” as from now on? We’ve had some great wins/draws against the “better teams” in the past recent seasons.

Yep, great results which went far beyond my expectations.

That doesn't mean I'll expect us to get anything from man city this season

 

[AndyWolves]

We could have a gameplan and stuff.

I dunno, we managed it before.

We probably will do it again, but at an individual game level I won't expect us to.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

So essentially we have to win nearly every game that we "should" win?

Good luck with that one, because you'll get shitshows like Saturday quite a lot.

There's nothing about Bruno Lage's philosophy or track record that suggests to me we can get points when we don't play very well (which we won't all the time).

 

[AndyWolves]

We could have a gameplan and stuff.

I dunno, we managed it before.

So you expect us to consistently get points off teams better than us?

 

[Newbridge Wolf]

Forest in the Championship under Nuno was the one it reminded me of. 2-0 down and try to get back into it by unloading every attacking player from the bench without any real gameplan on how that was going to happen

Missed that one but he did that against villa too didn't he. Think there were a couple of times he just chucked the kitchen sink at it hoping it would stick.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

So you expect us to consistently get points off teams better than us?

It's not an expectation. I've said this more than once.

It's just I don't think "Leicester away, oh well, might as well think anything's a bonus there".

Are you flat out expecting us to lose at Villa?

Given how we generally cope with say, Burnley, what makes you think we can make up the difference from all these losses to superior teams against the flotsam and jetsam? We're pretty shit against Newcastle as well (and indeed Steve Bruce teams as a whole, I don't know why).

 

[AndyWolves]

So essentially we have to win nearly every game that we "should" win?

Good luck with that one, because you'll get shitshows like Saturday quite a lot.

There's nothing about Bruno Lage's philosophy or track record that suggests to me we can get points when we don't play very well (which we won't all the time).

I would expect us to beat better teams, and be disappointed when we don't.

I think you're slightly missing the point fo what I'm saying.

You can throw shade at Lage when we lose to teams we should expect to beat i.e. Brentford. But to do it against teams that would be expected to beat us seems unfair.

 

[AndyWolves]

It's not an expectation. I've said this more than once.

It's just I don't think "Leicester away, oh well, might as well think anything's a bonus there".

Are you flat out expecting us to lose at Villa?

Given how we generally cope with say, Burnley, what makes you think we can make up the difference from all these losses to superior teams against the flotsam and jetsam? We're pretty shit against Newcastle as well (and indeed Steve Bruce teams as a whole, I don't know why).

Given that villa are better than we are, I have no basis to think we'll get a result there.

I'd like us to obviously, and I want us to play well and put as much effort is as we can.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

It's far too binary to have that mindset. Otherwise anyone could predict the league table by and large before a ball's kicked.

I've said this before but "missing chances" seems to have become a badge of honour for some (not just with Wolves). No, it means you can't shoot. Which is quite the problem.

Nothing about us says we'll keep clean sheets on any kind of regular basis as well, there's another issue. It's not sexy to think of that as your first priority. Helps quite a lot though.

 

[AndyWolves]

It's far too binary to have that mindset. Otherwise anyone could predict the league table by and large before a ball's kicked.

I've said this before but "missing chances" seems to have become a badge of honour for some (not just with Wolves). No, it means you can't shoot. Which is quite the problem.

Nothing about us says we'll keep clean sheets on any kind of regular basis as well, there's another issue. It's not sexy to think of that as your first priority. Helps quite a lot though.

It's my mindset, expect to beat teams poorer than you, and hope you beat teams better than you.

Is it really that odd?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

As Tony has said, if you think that way then you pile unrealistic and unhelpful pressure on the games you "should" win.

Which given we're currently running at 0.6 PPG, we already have done.

 

[AndyWolves]

And why does expecting to lose to man United mean I've written games off, like somehow I'm preparing the team and have said "don't worry about this one chaps".

I find it strange that people have a thought process where they're disappointed if we don't get something from teams who are demonstrably better than we are.

 

[AndyWolves]

As Tony has said, if you think that way then you pile unrealistic and unhelpful pressure on the games you "should" win.

Which given we're currently running at 0.6 PPG, we already have done.

So back to my original point, should I be disappointed we haven't got something from teams who are better than us?

*I am disappointed we didn't get something from Brentford as I thought that was one of the games we should have.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Well, you can't have it both ways.

Either we played well against Man Utd (we did, by and large) and deserved to get something out of it so I'm disappointed we didn't, or well, we were likely to lose anyway so whatever.

It can't be both.

Regardless, if you can't score goals, you don't deserve anything. It's the very fundamental aspect of the game. We have scored one.

 

[AndyWolves]

The positive from man United was we did play well.

Did I expect to get anything from the game, no.

Why? Because man United have a much better squad than we do.

Anything from that game would have been a bonus

Thats how I think.

 

[AndyWolves]

If that's your attitude then you should be bloody livid after Saturday then because you are piling so much pressure on games like that

It wasn't that unexpected given how Brentford had played against Arsenal and how much they like to press.

Annoyed yes, but also kind of worried that Brentford would expose us.

 

[PuntsWolf]

Football isn’t played on paper. Worst teams regularly beat better teams.

Without bizarre refereeing Saints beat City at the weekend. Brentford beat us. Brighton beat Leicester.

I honestly expected us to not lose to United or Leicester and thought we could/would beat Spurs. They are shit and Kane wasn’t playing.