Wolves 1-0 West Ham: Verdict Thread

[machin05]

Semedo effectively won it for us in the last 2 minutes with 2 vital challenges which saw the game out.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Semedo effectively won it for us in the last 2 minutes with 2 vital challenges which saw the game out.

He has been an infinitely better defender this season.

 

[Leigh Griffiths' Hairline]

Great performance. I'm not sure we will score a better goal all season. Sublime build up play and a world class finish from Raul.

Neves and Moutinho were excellent, particularly Neves who's vision and passing was perfect, and won lots of duels in the middle.

Semedo had his best game I have seen him play in. Defensively perfect. Still struggles a little getting forward, and if he could finish he would be our top scorer this season.

I thought Podence offered a lot more than Trincao and I would start him in the next game.

Adama was a good sub in last 10, especially as we were defending. He had one excellent driving run towards their box, but probably should have passed it rather than shooting.

And finally... Max Kilman take a bow. One of the best defenders in the league this season. He pretty much won every challenge. Reads the game impeccably. I wish his shot had gone in. Needs an England call up imo.

 

[prawnking]

Great win against the unbeatable behemoths that are West Ham

So strange to see us with so much possession... I still don't think we always know what to do with it, but hopefully that will come.

Didn't think there was a serious weak link today, Kilman was terrific against Antonio, Neves and Moutinho ran the show (the former was magnificent, and got into surprising areas of the pitch at times), Raul's movement is just unreal, I really enjoyed a lot of the close control and unpredictability Pod brought too... His chip was delicious and deserved a goal
Lovely ball from Sa which Pod nearly made something out of, too.

I will say I think the Semedo love-in is a little desperate. He had a great engine today and saw loads of the ball, especially first half, unfortunately he just didn't have the quality to make anything of it. He had a couple of very good defensive moments (and gave the ball away dangerously too), but going forward he's a minor weak link for me. I just never think he's going to do anything to hurt the opposition. A solid 7/10, but not the 9/10 that some seem to be hinting at.

6th place and I believe we've never won 6 out of our first 12 PL games before? Not too shabby?

 

[Andre]

Christ I hate prawnking. Where is the fucking ignore button?

 

[Andre]

Well I've found the ignore section but no way to ignore him LGBQTUI+

 

[Newbridge Wolf]

Just had a look and in fairness they are taking it well, lost to a better team on the day (and have us down as a good side) and no complaints seems to be the assessment .

After we thumped them 3 or 4 nil a few years back in a midweek game me and my mate ended up going for a drink in the town and ended up bumping into some Hammers we ended up going on a bit of a mad one with them.

They were pretty decent lads and very complimentary of us. They get stiffed by the media but I've always found their fans pretty decent.

On the game its a fantastic result, we seem a bit inconsistent in terms of performances this year but the table doesn't lie. We're 6th and that's no mean feat, we will always have bad days, ala Brentford & Palace. What's important though is we have more good days, which yesterday most certainly was.

 

[Charlie Wolf]

After we thumped them 3 or 4 nil a few years back in a midweek game me and my mate ended up going for a drink in the town and ended up bumping into some Hammers we ended up going on a bit of a mad one with them.

They were pretty decent lads and very complimentary of us. They get stiffed by the media but I've always found their fans pretty decent.

On the game its a fantastic result, we seem a bit inconsistent in terms of performances this year but the table doesn't lie. We're 6th and that's no mean feat, we will always have bad days, ala Brentford & Palace. What's important though is we have more good days, which yesterday most certainly was.

I agree with this, of all the London clubs West Ham are the most grounded.
The comments on KUMB are very balanced and to be fair very complementary to Wolves following yesterday’s game whilst they also suggest that they just had a bad day at the office.
They are still one of the form teams with champions league aspirations and we stifled them yesterday. Our challenge now is to make yesterdays game our benchmark to build from and not let standards slip, otherwise our current ‘love in’ will turn sour again if we lose the next game.

 

[Boozad]

Just watched MoTD and I’d forgot about RAN’s cross for Semedo’s chance and his free kick that out Kilman clean through. So his delivery was actually very good.

 

[Carsy]

Just watched MoTD and I’d forgot about RAN’s cross for Semedo’s chance and his free kick that out Kilman clean through. So his delivery was actually very good.

Well, those two were. Felt in open play it could’ve been better. Knit picking Ofcourse

 

[Carsy]

Great win against the unbeatable behemoths that are West Ham

So strange to see us with so much possession... I still don't think we always know what to do with it, but hopefully that will come.

Didn't think there was a serious weak link today, Kilman was terrific against Antonio, Neves and Moutinho ran the show (the former was magnificent, and got into surprising areas of the pitch at times), Raul's movement is just unreal, I really enjoyed a lot of the close control and unpredictability Pod brought too... His chip was delicious and deserved a goal
Lovely ball from Sa which Pod nearly made something out of, too.

I will say I think the Semedo love-in is a little desperate. He had a great engine today and saw loads of the ball, especially first half, unfortunately he just didn't have the quality to make anything of it. He had a couple of very good defensive moments (and gave the ball away dangerously too), but going forward he's a minor weak link for me. I just never think he's going to do anything to hurt the opposition. A solid 7/10, but not the 9/10 that some seem to be hinting at.

6th place and I believe we've never won 6 out of our first 12 PL games before? Not too shabby?

Don’t think anyone is saying he was a 9 out of 10 are they? Felt he made a few good driving runs and was crucial in creating the space for Pod for our goal.

A definite 8/10 for me

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Don’t think anyone is saying he was a 9 out of 10 are they? Felt he made a few good driving runs and was crucial in creating the space for Pod for our goal.

A definite 8/10 for me

He didn't really create space for Podence on the goal, if anything to me the opposite happened, he just carried the ball forward a bit and sort of drifted towards the passing options in field as he did so.

Podence went wide of his own accord, either to create an alternative passing option outside or simply to try and drag a defender with him creating space centrally for Raul or Semedo to advance into. Best part of the move for me was that Raul had noticed that run and the space Podence found so played it out to him first time and that really opened West Ham up.

 

[Boozad]

Well, those two were. Felt in open play it could’ve been better. Knit picking Ofcourse

The one for Semedo was from open play. Nit picking again maybe.

 

[The Bear]

Semedo always looks to make good runs in behind defences, which RAN (or Marcal) do not.

He did it 3 or 4 times at least and is one of the most under-rated parts of his game. Even if he doesn't make the most of it with crosses, it turns the defenders back to their own goal which means the likes of Podence and Neves can then move right up to the edge of the box and work their magic from much closer in when the ball gets moved back round to the centre.

And it often creates chances for him. He had one yesterday, and also just missed out on being one on one from a chipped pass over the top after he made a run centrally.

 

[The Bear]

Also want to mention the volleyed through ball to Podence out of Sa's hands in the first half, which was incredible.

 

[prawnking]

Don’t think anyone is saying he was a 9 out of 10 are they? Felt he made a few good driving runs and was crucial in creating the space for Pod for our goal.

A definite 8/10 for me

When people say he was excellent, or praise to that effect, I'd call that within 9/10 boundaries (check Sniffer's breakdown for Alan).

He played well and was always an outlet, but he didn't do much with all that possession, his control let him down several times and he's mostly zero threat to the opposition.

I'm not expecting Reece James but if we're playing wing-backs like this we need Doc Max, Nelson just isn't that kind of player.

 

[sycophantia]

Also want to mention the volleyed through ball to Podence out of Sa's hands in the first half, which was incredible.

That was superb, he's done it a few times. What I like is the way he does it, his foot strikes the ball coming from a horizontal position which means it travels quite low, which makes much more difficult for the defender and gives our forwards a better chance of getting on the end of it.
It's not a punt upfield, it's an actual pass

 

[Tony Towner]

Semedo played as well as could be expected. Defensively very solid and always an option offensively. He missed 2 of our best 3 chances in the first half, the first he mishit and the second he took a touch when he needed to hit it first time. I don't expect him to score those chances, but it's a shame we don't have a player in that position who can.

 

[prawnking]

Didn't you want to keep Marcal over RAN? Or were happy that it wasn't Marcals role to not attack?

Nope. I said I could understand why Bruno went with him at the time, and that RAN was in danger of being over-hyped while on the bench. 'A sackable offence' I believe someone called it?

Having one conservative and one more adventurous WB was a model that served us well, if Bruno wants to have Semedo and RAN together instead that's great if it doesn't cost us defensively, equally in games like yesterday we need some end product

 

[WolfMan]

Watching the MOTD highlights it's striking how much Podence and Semedo were involved in our key moments. I thought Semedo was excellent personally, he's a constant threat going forward and is very sound defensively.

Not everything he does comes off but that can be said about all players really, you only needs one or two things to come off per game. His burst forward which led to the goal was fantastic. He's starting to justify his price tag imo. It's quite exciting as with Ran on the other side we've got two potentially excellent WB's going forward.