Wolves 1-2 Everton: Verdict Thread

[Paul]

We are saying it every game. If only that header/shot/free kick went in. If my mom had bollocks she'd have been me Dad.

What the f#ck are you on about ??

 

[Johnny75]

Just play a 3.

I don't think that solves the problem. Only Boly attacks the ball in the air.

Also we're very poor defending set pieces in general. We are far too static and zonal. Saiss is facing his own goal when Keane heads that ball, he should be facing the sideline.

It's the first time I've been really pissed off with Nuno.

First half I thought we were OK, despite playing MGW as s false 9, it was a good entertaining half of football and had Silva any strength or instinct he would've got on the end of a couple of those chances.

He needed protecting and Nuno failed him tonight, he should've been hooked at HT as he was done.

Some of the one touch passing and movement, particularly for the goal was scintillating.

We then come out in the second half and do the same passive shite we did against Utd and Brighton. That's what's irked me the most. We stopped doing what we were doing well.

Whatever Nuno and the coaches said at HT has fucked us far too often, tonight, Villa, Brighton, we were holding on against Palace ffs.

It has to stop.

These players are fucking good players and if you play them as an attacking force they will score goals, even in a bizarre diamond as we did tonight.

We can't keep asking Donk to score because he can't. We have to use this quick movement, we have the players to do it and a poacher in Cutrone that does little else but score.

Yes the injuries have done us in and losing both Pod and Traore has hurt us more than it should. I would hope that if those two were for we'd still go 4-2-3-1 with Cutrone in front of Neto, MGW, Traore/ Pod.

But Nuno has to get out of his own funk of playing a passive, slow tempo with 3 defensive midfielders. He can do it, we've all seen he can do it and defensively we're conceding every game and can't stop it.

I don't think new players are the answer. Nuno being more attacking with his resources is.

 

[prawnking]

How did we go from being the most solid defence to any fucker can score against us these days?

For me, in an effort to have more possession and be more attacking we've understandably had to play less defensively and break up some established partnerships and attempt to create new ones.

It's just not happening as quickly as we'd like, and we're struggling to turn those moments when we're on the front foot into clear chances and goals

 

[redvictor]

What the f#ck are you on about ??

Read what i wrote. People saying if only, and i'm saying if only my mom would have had bollocks she'd have been my dad. Waste of time saying if only really. It doesn't do anything to get a result.

 

[redvictor]

For me, in an effort to have more possession and be more attacking we've understandably had to play less defensively and break up some established partnerships and attempt to create new ones.

It's just not happening as quickly as we'd like, and we're struggling to turn those moments when we're on the front foot into clear chances and goals

I get that, but we have never given away such sloppy goals in Nuno's tenure. It must be drving him mad.

 

[jd1981]

Our weakness at set pieces is real concern for Saturday as you know it’s what Albion will try and hurt us with.
The fact we’re not probably getting what we deserve out of games is irrelevant because it keeps occurring. Fact of the matter is put Boly, Johnny & Jimenez in that side and it gives us far more of a backbone.
People keep telling me we won’t get dragged into a relegation scrap because the teams down there are so bad. For that to not occur we need to start picking up points now.
When you’ve won 1/8 games and are depleted by so many injuries it just can’t be ignored. Yes the chances are we’ll put a couple of wins together and move into mid table but being so dismissive comes across as arrogant.

 

[redvictor]

I don't think that solves the problem. Only Boly attacks the ball in the air.

Also we're very poor defending set pieces in general. We are far too static and zonal. Saiss is facing his own goal when Keane heads that ball, he should be facing the sideline.

It's the first time I've been really pissed off with Nuno.

First half I thought we were OK, despite playing MGW as s false 9, it was a good entertaining half of football and had Silva any strength or instinct he would've got on the end of a couple of those chances.

He needed protecting and Nuno failed him tonight, he should've been hooked at HT as he was done.

Some of the one touch passing and movement, particularly for the goal was scintillating.

We then come out in the second half and do the same passive shite we did against Utd and Brighton. That's what's irked me the most. We stopped doing what we were doing do well.

Whatever Nuno and the coaches said at HT has fucked us far too often, tonight, Villa, Brighton, we were holding on against Palace ffs.

It has to stop.

These players are fucking good players and if you play them as an attacking force they will score goals, even in a bizarre diamond as we did tonight.

We can't keep asking Donk to score because he can't. We have to use this quick movement, we have the players to do it and a poacher in Cutrone that does little else but score.

Yes the injuries have done us in and losing both Pod and Traore has hurt us more than it should. I would hope that if those two were for we'd still go 4-2-3-1 with Cutrone in front of Neto, MGW, Traore/ Pod.

But Nuno has to get out of his own funk of playing a passive, slow tempo with 3 defensive midfielders. He can do it, we've all seen her can do it and defensively we're conceding every game and can't stop it.

I don't think new players are the answer. Nuno being more attacking with his resources is.

I agree with that. We have great players that pretty much every fan from other teams would kill for. .

 

[Trips]

Read what i wrote. People saying if only, and i'm saying if only my mom would have had bollocks she'd have been my dad. Waste of time saying if only really. It doesn't do anything to get a result.

Dont think anybody has said "if only" about todays game. The point you picked up on and ran in a different direction with it was Paul saying if we had scored the goal Everton did we would be saying great goal.

 

[YoungWolf]

https://www.skysports.com/watch/vid...eague/12186428/nuno-we-need-to-find-solutions

Quite a non commital answer when asked do we need to strengthen through a signing. But about ‘not making mistakes’ is quite telling I think though. Clearly don’t want to waste money on a signing, but I still think we need another wide player. Do understand it can’t just be ‘anyone’ though.

 

[prawnking]

This injury thing... Jonny has been injured for about five months, and Boly has hardly been head and shoulders above Saiss or even Kilman this season. Neither are going to score goals for us. What's killing us is that we just don't have goals in the team and Nuno uses his bench too conservatively. We're not just the passive victims of fortune here

 

[redvictor]

Dont think anybody has said "if only" about todays game. The point you picked up on and ran in a different direction with it was Paul saying if we had scored the goal Everton did we would be saying great goal.

We've been saying if only for the last few games because the amount of spurned chances the team have been having. I missed the other guys point in fairness, but we need to put the ball away to stop us saying if only..

 

[redvictor]

https://www.skysports.com/watch/vid...eague/12186428/nuno-we-need-to-find-solutions

Quite a non commital answer when asked do we need to strengthen through a signing. But about ‘not making mistakes’ is quite telling I think though. Clearly don’t want to waste money on a signing, but I still think we need another wide player. Do understand it can’t just be ‘anyone’ though.

On BBC gossip the Mirror ran an article saying forget spending money for signings. https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/wolves-transfer-news-liverpool-chelsea-23305158

 

[NicholasG1973]

I don't think that solves the problem. Only Boly attacks the ball in the air.

Also we're very poor defending set pieces in general. We are far too static and zonal. Saiss is facing his own goal when Keane heads that ball, he should be facing the sideline.

It's the first time I've been really pissed off with Nuno.

First half I thought we were OK, despite playing MGW as s false 9, it was a good entertaining half of football and had Silva any strength or instinct he would've got on the end of a couple of those chances.

He needed protecting and Nuno failed him tonight, he should've been hooked at HT as he was done.

Some of the one touch passing and movement, particularly for the goal was scintillating.

We then come out in the second half and do the same passive shite we did against Utd and Brighton. That's what's irked me the most. We stopped doing what we were doing well.

Whatever Nuno and the coaches said at HT has fucked us far too often, tonight, Villa, Brighton, we were holding on against Palace ffs.

It has to stop.

These players are fucking good players and if you play them as an attacking force they will score goals, even in a bizarre diamond as we did tonight.

We can't keep asking Donk to score because he can't. We have to use this quick movement, we have the players to do it and a poacher in Cutrone that does little else but score.

Yes the injuries have done us in and losing both Pod and Traore has hurt us more than it should. I would hope that if those two were for we'd still go 4-2-3-1 with Cutrone in front of Neto, MGW, Traore/ Pod.

But Nuno has to get out of his own funk of playing a passive, slow tempo with 3 defensive midfielders. He can do it, we've all seen he can do it and defensively we're conceding every game and can't stop it.

I don't think new players are the answer. Nuno being more attacking with his resources is.

Agree with virtually all of this.

For all the neat passing, we actually create hardly anything. Pickford is one of the dodgiest keepers in the league and we didn’t test him? I don’t remember him making a save. Only one that he didn’t act have to make, he’s that bad.

We’ve got too many errors in us defensively. Saiss has always got one in him, Coady can have a moment and Semedo and RAN are both shaky defensively. Doesn’t help that Rui has suddenly turned into a bag of nerves overnight.

We’ve got the players. No doubt. And when they’re on the top of their game, they’re top four. They just don’t do it often enough.

I think it’s probably a bit of everything. Injuries, confidence, change of shape and personnel and even the pandemic.

Which leaves me thinking about Nuno. He needs to be accountable tonight because we were awful second half. And, trust me, Everton were a diabolical mess tonight. I have no idea why he keeps messing around with the shape and playing people out of position. I’ll forgive him changing the players (cos of injuries) but leaving Silva on tonight was unforgivable. At 1-1 the game was there to be won.....and he made no effort to win it.

if we thump Albion on Saturday, all will be forgiven. But we won’t. We can’t thump anyone. We might nick it if they’re worse than us.

But it’s mid-table at best for us this season and that makes me feel a little sad after the previous two.

Maybe I’ve been a little spoiled.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Think the worst performance tonight was Nuno.

Looking at the line up before kick off it was difficult to discern exactly how the team was going to take shape. MGW out of position as a straight swap for Traore? A flatter midfield three with MGW in behind the front two? Could've been ended up like a midfield diamond with Neves sitting deeper. Maybe Donk dropping to centre half and playing that sort of 3412 like against United?

Don't think anyone expected to see the front three arranged as they were with Silva punted out on the left. Feel a bit for him as he's physically just not ready, maybe adrenaline carried him through against Arsenal because he did an admirable job then but standards have slipped continually since, why would anyone think that role tonight was going to do him or the team any favours though?! Felt to me like Nuno picked his starting 11 and the formation in isolation of one another, the shape ended up as a bit of a mess for most of the first half with Neto and Silva wide, Donk pushing up around MGW, almost looked like 424 at times but with an impotent pairing of makeshift centre forwards.

Individually most players did alright, except for Silva, but it just didn't look right. There didn't seem to be any great plan of how it was all meant to work, MGW wasn't really a forward but the wife players weren't close enough to run in behind him if he was dropping in to link play. It just looked like throwing a few bodies forward and hoping something would click.

Something just doesn't feel right, like they're half trying to do something new without letting go of what they're trying to move away from. The formation change gets an extra body up the pitch but the overall plan is still conservative. The midfield just don't contribute as an attacking element, Dendoncker gets up there but to little effect, he seems to excel more as an athlete than a footballer, doesn't appear thrive at anything in particular. I still think Neves is a big problem in the balance of that area too, as well as he played individually tonight he still like an anchor in that midfield, holding it back because he's either too slow to catch up with the long passes he plays forwards or too worried about making the journey back if the approach is more patient. If the ultimate goal is for the team to be more assertive in games, play on the front foot more often and control the game higher up the pitch then I'm not entirely convinced he fits that style.

There still seems to be a mentality issue there, players hesitate when they need to force the issue, play it safe when they should gamble or rush/panic would then need to be calm and restore control. Some of the younger additions seem far better in this respect, perhaps through naivety more than anything but they look comfortable on the ball, willing to take a chance and that's the attitude that's required if the team wants to take the game to opponents more often.

Set pieces have also become a big problem, and second balls resulting from them. There are big players missing at the moment which doesn't help, probably only two players tonight who are much cop in the air and one of those seems better in the opposition box than his own, but it seems to have been a bit of a worry most of the season. Remember it being an issue too when Nuno first arrived but problems got ironed out one way or another, need to try and do that again because it's far too easy to exploit at the moment. Reminiscent of when people first starting trying zonal marking over here and people just overloaded small players with their biggest threats and lumped it into those areas. You can't be so wedded to the theory when it's clearly not working in practice, been too many goals where opponents have won easy headers because they've got a free run on it in a dangerous area. It's not a static game like chess where people take their turn, it's free flowing and often chaotic so you've got to wrestle for control at times, not just plot out some hypothetical solution and cross your fingers.

There's plenty of talent in that squad, even with Silva's recent struggles I think all of the summers young recruits have shown they've got some football in them to be nurtured and moulded into something more. There just seem to be too many things not quite hitting the spot, losing 5% here and there then you tot it all up and realise you're running at 60%. Need to refine some things and then those small improvements start to combine and get the whole back closer to what it's capable of.

 

[YoungWolf]

On BBC gossip the Mirror ran an article saying forget spending money for signings. https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/wolves-transfer-news-liverpool-chelsea-23305158

I think (rightly or wrongly) they don’t want to just go for short term fixes. So if someone comes available who we think adds to the team both now and towards what we are building, we’d do it.

so Josh king for example. For the next six months would give us an extra option, give the younger players a bit of breathing space and allow us to rotate the team for example. A capable mid table player, but does he actually help us finish in the top six in the future? No. We don’t want any waste in the squad, so it makes sense. It just means this injury crisis is amplified somewhat and we probably have to accept the short term hit (which I guess is fine as long as Nuno is happy with that).

 

[prawnking]

I think (rightly or wrongly) they don’t want to just go for short term fixes. So if someone comes available who we think adds to the team both now and towards what we are building, we’d do it.

so Josh king for example. For the next six months would give us an extra option, give the younger players a bit of breathing space and allow us to rotate the team for example. A capable mid table player, but does he actually help us finish in the top six in the future? No. We don’t want any waste in the squad, so it makes sense. It just means this injury crisis is amplified somewhat and we probably have to accept the short term hit (which I guess is fine as long as Nuno is happy with that).

I've never got this vibe from either Fosun or Nuno, but if your analysis is correct some of this sounds like a bit of a purist/arrogant approach, like we're above doing simple, short-term things other clubs would do in our situation.

Smacks of hubris if we've an eye on finishing in the top six over our present situation of being barely above the bottom six.

You could say the same about the bulk of our summer transfer dealings and doing the whole evolution idea this season if you were being harsh

 

[YoungWolf]

I've never got this vibe from either Fosun or Nuno, but some of this sounds like a bit of a purist/arrogant approach, like we're above doing simple, short-term things other clubs would do in our situation.

Smacks of hubris if we've an eye on finishing in the top six over our present situation of being barely above the bottom six.

You could say the same about the bulk of our summer transfer dealings and doing the whole evolution idea this season if you were being harsh

I disagree. I like the idea that they are looking at the bigger picture.

in the meantime, it’s frustrating, and it feels like it’s directly hurting us (and probably is). But if and when Raul is back for example and Fabio has benefitted from the minutes he has had, we are in a stronger position. Bringing back Cutrone makes sense in that case (and will be interesting what we do if he performs well).

this season won’t be going how they want it to, at all, but they also won’t be panicking about it like some clubs would. We can look at Leicester for example in envy, but after their incredible title winning season, it took them a few seasons to actually get back on track (signing/developing a fair few young players in that process that they have had to be patient with).

 

[PuntsWolf]

We’re just not a very good team. Can’t score and give goals away. That’s the signs of a bottom half team.

Everton haven’t done anything yet have scored 2. We haven’t really done anything either despite looking neat and tidy for 30 mins in first half.

I’m not understanding the clamour for a back 3. We weren’t any good with that either, weren’t scoring and we’re still giving away goals. I said it in the pre match, most the goals we concede are set pieces or second phase. The goal today, nothing to do with the system. Saiss has all day to look over his shoulder and see who is there, RAN is watching it all happen and can tell him in French! If Saiss just takes a few steps back and gets closer to Keane he clears it, or gets something on it or at least puts him off so he can’t just plant it. But he doesn’t look and is no mans land. RAN then puts a feeble effort to challenge him. Do something at least. Back into him a little, try and jump, lean into him or anything. Nope free header - goal. This is just poor defensive play from the left side of defence. There’s only one man to Mark between them.

Silva was rubbish. He’s not ready, but he’s not really showing any redeeming features either which is concerning. £35m is a ludicrous fee for “potential” and is clearly dodgy accounting for some reason but we’ve done that to death. Look at his touches and pass completion compared to the rest of the team on whoscored, it’s grim reading. His pass completion was 55% after 70 mins! Way lower than everyone else and his touches way lower to.

Donck is playing like a rich mans Dave edwards (without the late runs) Awful technique, runs around a lot, useless with the ball in the final third or back for goal. But it’s not his fault, he’s a CDM who we asking to play as some kind of second striker. It’s like asking Eric Dier to play #10.

Cutrone comes on after they scored. He then doesn’t have a chance to get in the game as we were playing Hoever RW, 3 DMs, an injured Neto, and Everton were shutting up shop. We were also just awful that half full stop. No idea why he came on so late. Particularly when we subbed MGW and Silva was woeful.

The injuries are a problem, but we can’t just blame them. We were losing before the injuries, and haven’t really played well all year. We’re still not getting as much out the team as we should be. This is on Nuno.

I’m terrified of Semi Ajayi scoring from a set piece at the weekend. I can see it already

 

[prawnking]

I disagree. I like the idea that they are looking at the bigger picture.

in the meantime, it’s frustrating, and it feels like it’s directly hurting us (and probably is). But if and when Raul is back for example and Fabio has benefitted from the minutes he has had, we are in a stronger position. Bringing back Cutrone makes sense in that case (and will be interesting what we do if he performs well).

this season won’t be going how they want it to, at all, but they also won’t be panicking about it like some clubs would. We can look at Leicester for example in envy, but after their incredible title winning season, it took them a few seasons to actually get back on track (signing/developing a fair few young players in that process that they have had to be patient with).

I support the idea of a bigger picture, but you could argue we're trying to rush it and change too much in a season wholly unsuitable for doing so.

We're hardly doing it confidently, we look imbalanced to me, like we're pushing bodies forward and keeping the ball more, but the mentality of many players and Nuno himself is still stuck in the past. We're in a bit of a no man's land

Getting a more experienced player in up front this month, for instance, imo wouldn't be a betrayal of vision, it would be a necessary transitional aid, however short term

 

[NicholasG1973]

I support the idea of a bigger picture, but you could argue we're trying to rush it and change too much in a season wholly unsuitable for doing so.

We're hardly doing it confidently, we look imbalanced to me, like we're pushing bodies forward and keeping the ball more, but the mentality of many players and Nuno himself is still stuck in the past. We're in a bit of a no man's land

Getting a more experienced player in up front this month, for instance, imo wouldn't be a betrayal of vision, it would be a necessary transitional aid, however short term

With football being a business and Fosun being great business people, I totally see why they won’t spend big this month.

They’ve given Nuno a small fortune, for one. Including spending £35m on a back up striker (the fact that he’s sh*t isn’t their fault). Ask yourself which other club have spent £35m on a back up striker, they had no intention of playing?

Worth noting at this point, we’re not ending up Top 6 and we’re not going down.
Josh King will want a 3 year deal, minimum. He’s 28. He’ll also want at least £80k per week.

Ask yourself, as a business owner, whether you’re spending that money - on him, this season, in a pandemic, when we’re underperforming and not really playing for anything?

Thought not.