Sheffield United 1 - 0 Wolves: The Verdict

[Deutsch Wolf]

That's not how zonal marking works. Jonny's job is to block the run, not beat him in the air. Boly is marking his zone, once Egan gets the run on him he'd got no chance. It is on Jonny. He also ball watched the chance Norwood put wide

Agreed on the Norwood one but I don't think Jonny has a role at all in the goal.

I understand zonal marking, ta x

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

That's not how zonal marking works. Jonny's job is to block the run, not beat him in the air. Boly is marking his zone, once Egan gets the run on him he'd got no chance. It is on Jonny. He also ball watched the chance Norwood put wide

Boly has every chance, Boly is 4 inches taller than Egan.

Boly has been incredible in the air for us for 3 seasons, so i'm not going to hang him out to dry at all, but i was as surprised to see Egan beat him in the air tonight as i was when Richarlison did it earlier in the season, fortunately it happens very, very rarely.

 

[Tony Towner]

Agreed on the Norwood one but I don't think Jonny has a role at all in the goal.

I understand zonal marking, ta x

Yea sorry didn't mean it to read the patronising way it did. Still think he's the blocker on the run though

 

[Freddeno]

MGW?

I dont know, he has lot of talent but has been tough for him understandably on rhis level..if he get the development, like foden he definately has the chance..the one i was thinking about was Podence though..i know he us mainly a winger but think he has the quick feet and hopefully understanding of making a dualplay

 

[Tony Towner]

Boly has every chance, Boly is 4 inches taller than Egan.

Boly has been incredible in the air for us for 3 seasons, so i'm not going to hang him out to dry at all, but i was as surprised to see Egan beat him in the air tonight as i was when Richarlison did it earlier in the season, fortunately it happens very, very rarely.

He's coming from a standing start though, he's not winning that ball. The players on the edge of the box are supposed to block that kind of run. If people don't think that should have been Jonny then fair enough, but he shouldn't be running on to a ball 6 yards out with that momentum.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I dont know, he has lot of talent but has been tough for him understandably on rhis level..if he get the development, like foden he definately has the chance..the one i was thinking about was Podence though..i know he us mainly a winger but think he has the quick feet and hopefully understanding of making a dualplay

Absolutely no chance Fred, as much as you will it mate. He is not a central midfielder and never going to be.

We won't ever play with a #10 either.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

He's coming from a standing start though, he's not winning that ball. The players on the edge of the box are supposed to block that kind of run. If people don't think that should have been Jonny then fair enough, but he shouldn't be running on to a ball 6 yards out with that momentum.

Thing is, we score it we're saying "great ball, great header".

The fault if anywhere is having the ball spannering around our box to create the corner, uncharacteristic flailing. Normally someone gets it under control and knocks it away to a safe area. Not having 3-4 ricochets and it spinning towards the goal.

 

[Freddeno]

Absolutely no chance Fred, as much as you will it mate. He is not a central midfielder and never going to be.

We won't ever play with a #10 either.

Thats too bad if so. Time will tell..maybe switch Neto in then and podence out wide

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

..but he shouldn't be running on to a ball 6 yards out with that momentum.

Totally agree, although Boly still usually wins out in those circumstances, just not tonight. It was a good, do or die, brave header from Egan

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Thats too bad if so. Time will tell..maybe switch Neto in then and podence out wide

Again, Neto is not going to do that (we did try it once and it was so bad it was on the same level as playing Connor Ronan at RWB vs Bristol Rovers).

I don't disagree another midfielder who offers a different option is something we need but Neto and Podence are not the answer in that respect, they are wide forwards, nothing else.

 

[Dennisons Wrong Foot]

Random thoughts

We did not play well (again), but we did not deserve to lose (Alan would disagree but he has a different definition of 'deserve'). We were playing away against a top half team and sometimes those games don't go to plan.

I thought the game had 0-0 written all over it. We had better quality players but Sheff U played to the conditions and to their strengths and Henderson's long downfield kicks posed more attacking threat than our whole team. None of our defenders were great but they coped quite easily for 92 and a half minutes until Jonny failed to block a run, and just like that the game is lost.

Not Boly's best game but better than Arsenal (imo) and I don't think he will let Everton bully him. I'm more worried about Saiss.

Moving Jonny over to the right is not just a question of current form. He has an understanding with Jota on the left that he has not had time to develop with Adama (or anyone) on the right.

I'm guessing that Adama's dislocated shoulder will keep him out of the next game. Nuno understands the problems better than any of us and I don't think he will go 352 with Donk. More likely 343 with Neto (or Podence) or if he really feels the need for a change then 352 with MGW behind the front two.

We were never a team that should beat Arsenal 3-0 and we're not a poor team either. We are a team that puts together a few decent runs interspersed with occasional random glitches that tend to last 2-4 games. We will hit form again just as quickly as we went off the boil.

Things have not clicked for Jota yet, but they will do and it would not be a surprise if he gets on the scoresheet on Sunday.

 

[Alan]

FWIW, I thought this was a pretty good performance from Diogo, aside from the break when he really should have slipped the ball through to a very open Jiminez.

 

[AndyWolves]

we played well v West Ham
OK v Bournemouth and Villa
Poor v Sheffield
Awful v Arsenal

Is that fair?

I don't think so

If we hadn't scored against villa & Bournemouth that OK becomes a poor and then we get "we should be putting teams like that away"

If traore scores against arsenal that poor probably becomes an ok

 

[AndyWolves]

Even in this game, if Neves scores that free kick or Jimenez controls that chance or Jota finds a way through and scores the narrative becomes a "gritty, hard fought win / draw" rather than the current narrative when in reality the difference is something very fractional

 

[Premier Quality]

The problem with that is that you’re relying on us scoring pretty much our only chances in both those games.

We’re not playing well at the moment, I’m not sure why people are being so defensive about it.

By the way, why on earth did we only use one sub? That made no sense at all, we looked tired and flat...

 

[Premier Quality]

Absolutely no chance Fred, as much as you will it mate. He is not a central midfielder and never going to be.

We won't ever play with a #10 either.

You’re right that Podence won’t play centre mid, but there’s no reason MGW can’t play in the three, he has ability and energy, and would give us more going forward than Donk.

When the opposition sit back and let us have the ball, We are completely reliant on one of the front three conjuring something up, would be good to give them someone who can help them create something at certain points of the game.

 

[Tredman]

Yes, I would play MGW too - Nuno clearly likes him else he wouldn't have kept him around.

Rui
Boly - Coady - Saiss
Jonny - Neves - Moutinho - Vini
MGW
Raul - Jota​

 

[malta mick]

How many goals have our midfield 5 scored in the last 12 games ? (I'm sure Dan will know). We don't seem prepared to shoot from 20-25 yards out very often when a shot is possible. It seems we have to try and get well inside the box which with fairly packed defences, makes it very difficult. Apart from free kicks, I know Neves tried a couple last night, but well off target. Moutinho, Donk and Jonny rarely try a shot from outside the box - an area which needs working on surely.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Hitting the bar is hardly well off target

 

[Norman Deeley]

Our xG last night - in a game where we really needed to be proactive - was 0.48: with the exception of Newcastle at City, that's the lowest xG of any Prem team in the last week.