Wolves 0-4 Man City (16/08/2025) - Verdict Thread

[jd1981]

Yep next 2 games should gives us a better idea where he’s at.
Look I’m not going to go in on our players for yesterday as some of them aren’t at level of quality we need. I can see why VP picked the side he did and he’ll be more frustrated as any of us at what he’s been left with.
All the causes of our problems point in one direction.

 

[prawnking]

All the causes of our problems point in one direction.

Jinky?

 

[Jinky]

Jinky?

You called?

 

[AndyWolves]

By this (slightly patronising) logic I presume you expect us to put all the promoted clubs and the likes of Bournemouth next week to the sword?

Football isn't deterministic.

It's stochastic, and there is nothing wrong with saying we have a far higher chance of doing better against teams that aren't as good as city.

 

[prawnking]

Jesus so many 'smartest people in the room' on this forum, I think Tony is the smartest one of all though

 

[Lycan]

I don't care about City. They're the most despicable club in Britain and I include MK Dons in that. I absolutely hate playing them and it was just shit luck that we were drawn to play against them and their dirty oil money mercenaries on a day which was supposed to be about way more than just the football.

Tijjani Reijnders was absolutely incredible, Haaland is a machine, Oscar Bobb was spectacular and James Trafford showed why he's going to be England's #1 for the next decade+. Yippie for them and their shite support.

Wolves were okay I suppose. It's hard to say. Munetsi was probably our best player yesterday although I have no idea how he managed to be so far offside for the disallowed goal. Sá was probably the only player who I thought had an absolute stinker. He's a massive issue for us, it's just a shame that the squad has needed such a massive overhaul in other positions and he's been allowed to continue unchallenged. Bellegarde was the biggest problem for us in an attacking sense, his short run of form last season is going to end up looking like a massive outlier when we eventually end up looking back on his utterly unremarkable Wolves career. I think we saw enough from the subs to see that even before we sign another forward he'll be well down the pecking order within a month or 2.

Overall though, the day was just about Diogo and our chance to say goodbye to a true Wolves legend and a lovely man. The tributes before the game were so moving and perfectly executed, well done to all involved. The chant at the end showed Wolves fans at their best and worst, 10 minutes of non stop chanting for Diogo to a half empty stadium. I can get leaving early when you're getting battered, I completely understand it. Fuck, I've done it myself a fair few times over the last 7 years in this bloated monstrosity of a football league. That show of support at the end was always going to happen though, it was literally half the fucking point of attending yesterday surely? Why, why, WHY did everyone fuck off early? It genuinely blows my fucking mind. Shit support. Plain and simple.

 

[slink]

Also I guess no-one can say Reijnders looked pretty good on his debut as it's seemingly wrong to say Wolfe looked unimpressive on his

I think that’s perfectly fine to say isn’t it. Riejnders was the best player on the pitch and Wolfe was very average. Seen on social media a lot write him off already which isn’t fair but criticising his performance yesterday certainly is. I do worry about any lwb that isn’t Rayan playing outside of Toti and making something of his passes which often lack so much detail i wonder how he’s got to this level.

 

[Lupo]

Not much to add that hasn't already been said. Poor errors leading to goals against a side that will capitalise on everything. Up until the first goal we looked like we were holding our own but then they took control. The team has mediocrity running right through it.

Agba's poor pre-season carried on into yesterday's game and needs sorting quickly as last season he was a Rolls Royce who contributed greatly to our survival. Yesterday he was more Dacia Sandero (have we been linked with him yet?).

Sitting in the Steve Bull I got my best look at DMW in the second half where pretty much every involvement resulted in lost possession or throw-ins conceded though one of those was a clear lino error.

I really liked Arias's cameo, his attitude and effort really freshened us up and gave cause for optimism, shame he didn't come on 15 minutes earlier. Has to start next week.

Great tributes to Diogo before and after the game. Lovely to see Ruben and Rute in attendance and I hope we gave them great comfort and showed them how much he was loved. Fair play @Lycan for starting the chant, excellent stuff and lovely that some of the Portuguese contingent from City went to the South Bank too.

Tough opening fixture, hope to God we can improve. Apparently Jorge Mendes was in attendance with his entourage, maybe Ruben wasn't just there for Diogo...

 

[Lupo]

 

[Wilf Wolf]

I don't care about City. They're the most despicable club in Britain and I include MK Dons in that. I absolutely hate playing them and it was just shit luck that we were drawn to play against them and their dirty oil money mercenaries on a day which was supposed to be about way more than just the football.

Tijjani Reijnders was absolutely incredible, Haaland is a machine, Oscar Bobb was spectacular and James Trafford showed why he's going to be England's #1 for the next decade+. Yippie for them and their shite support.

Wolves were okay I suppose. It's hard to say. Munetsi was probably our best player yesterday although I have no idea how he managed to be so far offside for the disallowed goal. Sá was probably the only player who I thought had an absolute stinker. He's a massive issue for us, it's just a shame that the squad has needed such a massive overhaul in other positions and he's been allowed to continue unchallenged. Bellegarde was the biggest problem for us in an attacking sense, his short run of form last season is going to end up looking like a massive outlier when we eventually end up looking back on his utterly unremarkable Wolves career. I think we saw enough from the subs to see that even before we sign another forward he'll be well down the pecking order within a month or 2.

Overall though, the day was just about Diogo and our chance to say goodbye to a true Wolves legend and a lovely man. The tributes before the game were so moving and perfectly executed, well done to all involved. The chant at the end showed Wolves fans at their best and worst, 10 minutes of non stop chanting for Diogo to a half empty stadium. I can get leaving early when you're getting battered, I completely understand it. Fuck, I've done it myself a fair few times over the last 7 years in this bloated monstrosity of a football league. That show of support at the end was always going to happen though, it was literally half the fucking point of attending yesterday surely? Why, why, WHY did everyone fuck off early? It genuinely blows my fucking mind. Shit support. Plain and simple.

It’s really odd how we keep playing Bellegarde further forward as he’s never been better than ok in that role and often well below ok. His best game for us was as a CM against Villa and I’ve no idea why we don’t see him as cover there rather than as one of our wide forwards. Given we are desperately short of attacking flair I hope we don’t see him starting again unless we have players out as he should be behind Arias, Lopez, Munetsi and hopefully a new signing.

 

[Jinky]

Not much to add that hasn't already been said. Poor errors leading to goals against a side that will capitalise on everything. Up until the first goal we looked like we were holding our own but then they took control. The team has mediocrity running right through it.

Agba's poor pre-season carried on into yesterday's game and needs sorting quickly as last season he was a Rolls Royce who contributed greatly to our survival. Yesterday he was more Dacia Sandero (have we been linked with him yet?).

Sitting in the Steve Bull I got my best look at DMW in the second half where pretty much every involvement resulted in lost possession or throw-ins conceded though one of those was a clear lino error.

I really liked Arias's cameo, his attitude and effort really freshened us up and gave cause for optimism, shame he didn't come on 15 minutes earlier. Has to start next week.

Great tributes to Diogo before and after the game. Lovely to see Ruben and Rute in attendance and I hope we gave them great comfort and showed them how much he was loved. Fair play @Lycan for starting the chant, excellent stuff and lovely that some of the Portuguese contingent from City went to the South Bank too.

Tough opening fixture, hope to God we can improve. Apparently Jorge Mendes was in attendance with his entourage, maybe Ruben wasn't just there for Diogo...

Absolutely spot on re; Arias and similar to what I said yesterday.

Essentially, I can understand Vitor’s thinking when it comes to starting Bellegarde AND Munetsi against that opposition, but I don’t think you can play them both - because what you gain in running and pressing, you lose in quality on the ball and genuine attacking threat. You have to play one of them (probably Marshall) and Arias. That was the first error from Vitor. The second was waiting until we were 0-3 down before making the changes. As I said yesterday, the subs were 10-15 minutes too late & should have been made around the hour mark when anything could happen at 0-2.

Vítor’s probably learned a fair bit from yesterday, though. We all know we need new signings through the door, but I think he’ll know we need to be starting Arias next week. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Rodrigo start ahead of Hoever either.

 

[Kenny]

I would hope Jackson T starts tbh. Presuming he has done his medical and starts training tomorrow

 

[Quirkafleeg]

View attachment 14611

Knowing our Twitter wankers their sharpening their knives to slice up Raul.

 

[Alan]

By this (slightly patronising) logic I presume you expect us to put all the promoted clubs and the likes of Bournemouth next week to the sword?

No, the talent gap between us and City is far wider than between us and Sunderland, Bournemouth, et al.

We should be beating them but nothing’s guaranteed. If we start whiffing badly against those sides, I’ll be significantly more concerned. But there’s no more shame in us losing to City (and playing decently) than for Levante losing to Barçelona. If the squad can’t work past such a defeat, more the fools us and we don’t deserve to stay in this league anyway.

 

[Alan]

There’s been quite a few people out-right writing him off though which has seemed strange to me. I didn’t think he looked terrible - just seemed like he’ll be a fairly steady performer with time. Tough first game to be thrown into.

Literally the deepest end of the PL pool to get chucked in on debut.

I know it’s easier and often more cathartic to hand blame to defenders than credit to attackers but I’m struggling to think of many/any moments in which Wølfe (and even Hoever who I really thought was okay, not bad or great but steady enough) got rinsed in a “ohhhhhhhh shit” kind of way.

The way blame gets handed out also feels too intwined with standing opinions. See Hoever somehow getting flak for Haaland’s opener while I haven’t seen João catch any heat whatsoever for getting olé’d to death by Reijnders in the buildup.

I wish the benefit of doubt given to JG was the norm.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

View attachment 14611

Raul not reading the room there.

 

[Lupo]

Raul not reading the room there.

 

[Alan]

Damn players forming relationships and shit. I find it offensive

 

[Alan]

Nunes can get fucked tho tbc

 

[Lycan]

Damn players forming relationships and shit. I find it offensive

Lemina definitely has a bit of a chip on his shoulder when it comes to us. He's done stuff like this before, I think he said something like 'well done on finally getting out of there' when Cunha or Aït-Nouri left.

Very weird.