Man City 1-0 Wolves: Verdict Thread

[The Bear]

A fine effort in the first half but ultimately against teams like these you have to take your chances or you're going to get punished eventually.

As I mentioned in the match thread their striker-less formation made it very difficult for Gomes to get into his normal role helping to link the attackers as he normally does, and he was always pinned back along with Andre. That meant the onus was on him and André to try and bring the ball forwards and get the ball to the front three. A mistake from Andre trying to do that cost us.

Then they found a way to play through our press and simply controlled the game from thereon. They kept the ball more comfortably and built from deep when they wanted. We barely had any possession in their half after the break because of it.

But ultimately the game was decided by the quality of deep lying attackers on the field - DeBruyne/Marmoush > Bellegarde/Munetsi. Quality eventually tells and when you miss gilt edged chances like we did then you're rarely going to come away with anything.

We need at least one good player on the ball in that position on the field in the summer. Especially with Cunha leaving. Sarabia should be that type of player but he doesn't seem to have the pace or energy to do it with any kind of consistency except for short spells off the bench.

MOTM - Toti for me. Made some fantastic blocks/challenges and brought the ball out of defence very well at times.

 

[Jinky]

How do you post your verdict before the match has even finished, Bear?!

Anyway…

Can’t go to City and miss the kind of chances we did in the first half. Should have had something from the game, but only have ourselves to blame. Bellegarde with a shocking pass.

Second half, the match died off and I think if we’d given it a real go, we could have got something. Definitely a ‘what if?’.

City are so boring to watch.

 

[Squeak]

Story of the game: We missed two great chances, they scored pretty much their only clear opportunity. But the game shows how far we've come in a few short weeks.

 

[pavlosmacwolf]

Motm, yep, i'llgo with toti too.
We really missed jsl tonight.

 

[Alan]

Jean is going to be up all night thinking about that pass.

 

[Deano]

A very good effort from us. Never thought they were going to score again and gave them a few nervy moments. We hit the post twice and the other chance where Bellegarde overhits the pass to Munetsi. Ultimately one of those has to go in really to give you a chance but proud of the effort again. We lack a couple of creative players in those attacking areas and a backup for JSL.

 

[MobNet Wolf]

What about that moment when Marmoush went down injured, City didn’t put it out themselves for 30 seconds. We won the ball back, had a break on. The ref stops the game. Unreal. THEN, city demand we give them the ball back. Mental

 

[sycophantia]

I quite enjoyed that, not a classic of course but it showed we can compete with the best teams. Matched them for large parts of the game and with a tiny bit of luck could have got something.

 

[The Bear]

How do you post your verdict before the match has even finished, Bear?!

I have it ready to go in the last 5 mins, edit as needed, and hit post as soon as the whistle goes.

#behindthecurtain

 

[ROVERT47]

Watched it on Sky, no complaints from me, that was virtually the same set of players O’Neil would have had relegated over a month ago.

 

[Lupo]

What about that moment when Marmoush went down injured, City didn’t put it out themselves for 30 seconds. We won the ball back, had a break on. The ref stops the game. Unreal. THEN, city demand we give them the ball back. Mental

Yeah that was unbelievable. I thought it was just me until I saw others commenting.

At least we were competitive and had good chances before they scored but looked a bit flat afterwards. Kept the score to 1 and had them worried up until the final whistle

 

[Dire Wolf]

It wasn't the worst I've seen us play, but we never really looked like we were going to get an equaliser. Andre made one mistake all game and it cost us. Subs really made us poorer. Agbadou or Toti MOTM, Cunha looked at times like he was having one of his stroppy can't be arsed days, but was still unlucky with his shot that hit the post. Real pity that we didn't score one of those early chances. Bellegarde will have nightmares about that pass.

 

[Jack Regan]

A game we should have feasibly have been two goals up in, which would doubtless have won the game. However we didn't score either of those chances and were then punished for that fact.

Meaningless in the grand scheme of things at the end of the day, but still slightly annoying to get nothing from the game which we certainly merited.

 

[Lupo]

Pep very complimentary about us there

 

[Deano]

Pep very complimentary about us there

When he said about us being in the middle of the league and us being an incredible team along with United beating the team 4th in La Liga away yesterday, it does hammer home how strong the Premier league is in general. The quality is really high

 

[Kenny]

When he said about us being in the middle of the league and us being an incredible team along with United beating the team 4th in La Liga away yesterday, it does hammer home how strong the Premier league is in general. The quality is really high

Nice of us to join the quality from December.
Wasn't a fan of that mini league we were previously competing in.

 

[sycophantia]

When he said about us being in the middle of the league and us being an incredible team along with United beating the team 4th in La Liga away yesterday, it does hammer home how strong the Premier league is in general. The quality is really high

Not sure the quality is that high at the top of the table, Liverpool have won it comfortably without being outstanding, the other top teams have been fallible at times. What I would say it's the most competitive it's ever been from top to bottom (not counting the bottom 3 obviously)

 

[Lupo]

Vitor had a twinkle in his eye with that interviewer, gave me vibes of Nuno with Laura Woods! Anybody notice before the game Vitor's comment about how good a manager he will be in this league?

 

[Deano]

Not sure the quality is that high at the top of the table, Liverpool have won it comfortably without being outstanding, the other top teams have been fallible at times. What I would say it's the most competitive it's ever been from top to bottom (not counting the bottom 3 obviously)

Agree about the top but generally down to 17th it's strong. Not many years back if teams came up from the Championship got promoted with 90 points you'd back them to survive. Burnley are on 97 this season and could make that 100 tomorrow. They've lost 2 all season and conceded 15 goals. They'll struggle to make that gap up next season.

 

[sycophantia]

Agree about the top but generally down to 17th it's strong. Not many years back if teams came up from the Championship got promoted with 90 points you'd back them to survive. Burnley are on 97 this season and could make that 100 tomorrow. They've lost 2 all season and conceded 15 goals. They'll struggle to make that gap up next season.

Is that down to the quality of the Premier league or the lack of quality in the Championship? Guess it's inevitable given the way football is run and has evolved.