[FA Cup 3rd Rnd Replay] Wolves 0-1 Liverpool: Verdict Thread

[Wulfie88]

 

[1986]

What was most disappointing for me last night was that we played like we did under Nuno ( in his final season ) or even Lage . If you hadn't seen JL on the side of the pitch and didn't know of his appointment you would still still the old regime was still in place .

Probably the first game where the JL style was not all that evident , first time under him where we didn't look a threat at all .
We all thought that was gone .

It looked at times as if we didn't really care a whole pile - and when you consider all the fuss we made of the drawn match and how we were cheated out of a win , you would have thought we've have been up for it .

I was quite hopeful before last night of picking up points somewhere off either City or Liverpool over the next few weeks . I'm far from confident of that now .
It all goes back to our number one problem - we can't score goals . Klopp knew that too , he looked for the early goal and once he got it he was happy to let us have it for as long as we wished in the second half . As damning as it gets .

 

[sycophantia]

It's bought us all down to earth a bit, we'd had a few games of slight incremental improvement and we all got a bit giddy (well I did).
Shows there's still a lot of work to do and the need for a few better players.

 

[Deano]

I'm surprised about how pissed off some people seem about last night. I was annoyed in the first leg about the decisions because we should have won on the merits of that particular game, not because I was desperate for Wolves to get through to the next round of the FA cup. We need an away game at Brighton like a hole in the bollock with the form they're in anyway.

There's going to be at least 5 or 6 changes to that line up for the upcoming league games and although they made changes they still had some good players out there.

We are still a work in progress with our strongest 11 on the field so when you start without 5 or 6 of those and you've got 2 kids who aren't ready to play this level starting, I was never expecting a quality, coherent performance.

 

[SSB]

I'm surprised about how pissed off some people seem about last night. I was annoyed in the first leg about the decisions because we should have won on the merits of that particular game, not because I was desperate for Wolves to get through to the next round of the FA cup. We need an away game at Brighton like a hole in the bollock with the form they're in anyway.

After a three hour drive to get there and standing in the freezing cold for two hours I can say I was mildly pissed off. More-so probably by the Neves end of game free kick. But we need to concentrate on the league.

Would be interesting to know how many regulars decided to give it a miss. There were a lot of different faces around by us and only a couple of my mates decided to go.

 

[prawnking]

Why wouldn't we be pissed off at a toothless, unimaginative home defeat? Still plenty of first team players on the pitch (especially by the end), more than Liverpool for sure. It was a retrograde step, hopefully just a temporary one. I imagine it won't bode well for the futures of some of those on show.

 

[Woburn Wolf]

This match also confirmed that Lembikisa and to a lesser extent Hodge are not ready for the first team right now and need a loan move. Both being substituted at HT kind of confirmed this.

 

[Deano]

Why wouldn't we be pissed off at a toothless, unimaginative home defeat? Still plenty of first team players on the pitch (especially by the end), more than Liverpool for sure. It was a retrograde step, hopefully just a temporary one. I imagine it won't bode well for the futures of some of those on show.

With the amount of games we have played over the past few weeks Lopetegui has rotated players in and out for these Cup games to ensure some players aren't being over worked and because of this you have Lembikisa and Hodge who aren't ready to play at this level in the 11 and a mix of others who dont start in the league, some of which who have been in shit form for some time (Jonny and Traore.)

Given the above, as soon as I saw the lineup I wasn't going into this game expecting a top quality performance. I also don't think we were as bad as was made out by some, they didn't threaten our goal that much at all and once we started to bring on players that would usually play in the league as the 2nd half went on we looked more of a threat.

 

[Dire Wolf]

This match also confirmed that Lembikisa and to a lesser extent Hodge are not ready for the first team right now and need a loan move. Both being substituted at HT kind of confirmed this.

Again, I agree but I didn't think Lembikisa did much wrong at all really.

 

[WsWolf]

With the amount of games we have played over the past few weeks Lopetegui has rotated players in and out for these Cup games to ensure some players aren't being over worked and because of this you have Lembikisa and Hodge who aren't ready to play at this level in the 11 and a mix of others who dont start in the league, some of which who have been in shit form for some time (Jonny and Traore.)

Given the above, as soon as I saw the lineup I wasn't going into this game expecting a top quality performance. I also don't think we were as bad as was made out by some, they didn't threaten our goal that much at all and once we started to bring on players that would usually play in the league as the 2nd half went on we looked more of a threat.

It was arguably stronger than the first leg line up.

I'm not so bothered about looking a bit disjointed, to be expected. I think it's poor that it looked like we just went through the motions, however my general expectation of early round cup ties is that we don't care about progressing which is why I never bother to go and watch them, in that sense I got exactly what I thought we would.

 

[Alan]

Dex did well until the 5-3-2 which discombobulated everybody, IMO. Then he didn’t really settle again when we switched back.

 

[sycophantia]

After a three hour drive to get there and standing in the freezing cold for two hours I can say I was mildly pissed off. More-so probably by the Neves end of game free kick. But we need to concentrate on the league.

Would be interesting to know how many regulars decided to give it a miss. There were a lot of different faces around by us and only a couple of my mates decided to go.

I thought the last free kick by Neves was our most clever piece of play. Liverpool expected him to shoot, the chip over the top was spot on, found a head which knocked it into the danger area, we just were a bit unlucky no-one in front of goal got on the end of it.

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

The performance of our young inexperienced right back is one of our least concerns. The fact that (again) we had eight international forward/attacking midfield players on the pitch at various times not being able to fashion a single chance of any note between them, let alone scoring it, is the reason why we're out of the cup and near the bottom of the league.

 

[Wilf Wolf]

Spoke to a mate who is a Brighton fan today. He thought we played quite well and deserved a draw. He also thought Marriner was shocking against us. Maybe we are being overly critical.

 

[Mild 'n' Scratchins]

Most people have described quite accurately what happened tonight, poor first half after a fairly promising opening 10 minutes and then quality levels just dropped off a cliff and Liverpool ran the show.

We just set ourselves up for defeat until we got an established team on the pitch but that wasn’t until about the 65th minute and then we only huffed and puffed.
What is disappointing is, irrespective of who we play, is that most teams can easily nullify any threat we have, just pack 8 players in defence when we attack and we don’t have the guile or quality to find a forward and create anything. They don’t really need to do anything special just keep a tight defensive shape, whilst at the other end we look a car crash at times and invariably we have a collective brain fart and concede, it’s like deja vu.

As for the goal it really is on Sa with his positioning, but we let Elliott advance too easily and invited trouble.
So no real positives for me although there was a bit of fight in the second half, but we just look disjointed at the moment with no leaders on the pitch. I certainly hope JL can get the players in and mild them into a unit, because on current showing we are miles away, big 19 games coming up.
On a final note with a number of detractors on here, I have to cut Hodge a bit of slack as I thought he did okay first half, but it was obvious we needed to make changes and he and Dexter were the obvious candidates to be replaced.
As a young footballer trying to make their way in the game, some of the criticism I hear lately isn’t justified. If not working for the kid at the moment hopefully someone will take him out of the firing line and work on his weaknesses. To often it’s a case of ‘he shouldn’t be any where near the first 11 or he’ll probably be a good league one player’….not helpful comments or opinions to be honest, especially when there are a few more established players who on tonights performance we’re really no better.

Let’s at least give everyone a chance, yes critique everyone and everything, and we know we have some shit that needs clearing, but at the moment it’s our shit, so let’s try and keep positive. We’re Wolves let’s act like wolves

Great post. Re Hodge, he seems to be technically competent. I really think he'll be a decent player with experience under his belt.

 

[Mild 'n' Scratchins]

I thought the last free kick by Neves was our most clever piece of play. Liverpool expected him to shoot, the chip over the top was spot on, found a head which knocked it into the danger area, we just were a bit unlucky no-one in front of goal got on the end of it.

Perhaps. I think it was too intricate given it was the last minute of added time. Neves should have tried a shot. After all he is capable of pulling one out of the hat. Wasted opportunity for me.

 

[Kenny]

We were poor then ok then good.

Perhaps. I think it was too intricate given it was the last minute of added time.

It comes off we are going nuts over it. Bit like that free kick by the Dutch v Argentina.
Probably had more chance to score that way than hoping Neves finds the right spot to beat the keeper

I would much prefer us to try something different than do the same old thing. We have lacked invention at times and although it didn't come off it should be applauded imo

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Think Neves was too far out on the final FK. Was at least 30 yards, maybe a tick over.

 

[sycophantia]

Perhaps. I think it was too intricate given it was the last minute of added time. Neves should have tried a shot. After all he is capable of pulling one out of the hat. Wasted opportunity for me.

Too far out, the most likely outcome was into the wall or just over, the option he took was hardly intricate, chipped to the back post, headed across goal, just unfortunate no-one got on the end of it.

 

[PuntsWolf]

When did Neves last score a FK? (Or anyone)