Wolves 1-3 Man City - Verdict Thread

[Newbridge Wolf]

Moutinho still has a role, I don't think its starting every week though. I bloody love him but just think it might be too much exposure for him in some of these games where we are chasing the oppositions midfield.

City were class apart first half and were ruthless in attack who were struggling without wingback who could defend.

Second half we could and probably should have got something, but I've no complaints at the result. Get our wingback in and get some results on a favourable run which will hopefully get some confidence in the lads.

 

[Premier Quality]

Bring back GFFH's Soumare rumour...

Ooh, was that who it was? He’d be perfect.

Get Todibo in for RCH as well and I’ll be ecstatic with this window.

 

[jd1981]

Outclassed first half and were lucky to go in only 0-2 down, even before Saiss challenge we were very much on the back foot and still think City would have scored sooner or later. We needed to get the goal back earlier than we did when we missed all those chances. The goal back comes when city can just manage the game by keeping possession and picking us off. Adam thankfully won't have to play RWB again and started to show similar signs of last seasons form second half. Podence and Neto also looked very sharp second half to.
Biggest concern is if Marcal is out for a while because I'm sorry Vinagre just isn't cutting it and hasn't for a long time now.

 

[Tony Towner]

Here's the one half of tonight. City were sublime in the first half. They would probably be ahead of most if not all PL teams at half time.

Here's the other. We are now at the level where we need to compete with everyone, not beat, but compete. In the first half we didn't. When we did get into the game we were 2 down, but then had 3 gilt edged chances in about as many minutes in the second half and didn't take any. This isn't new, we are a wasteful side.

Some player thoughts:
Rui - Our MOTM
Traore - Get him up the pitch
Boly - He's been poor in many games since lockdown. Casual and refined now looks slack. Is he better on the left?
Saiss - It's a brainless challenge. A mostly decent game outside of it gets negated by that moment
Vinagre - We know what he is, pointless moaning about it
Moutinho - chasing shadows today, another who has had more poor games since lockdown than the rest of his Wolves career combined. Time for him to be the option to be rotated in rather than a starter? He's 34 and in a midfield 2 against a side like City that's now asking too much.

 

[Premier Quality]

Nuno’s not happy with the pen.

 

[Charlie Wolf]

Given a lesson in the first half and shows why we are still a million miles away from top six. City were superb and KDB was unplayable. Most of our players were not much better than a 5 out of 10 and that’s the disappointment. Poor touches, miss placed passes, not closing down fast enough, not strong enough in the challenge, and poor decision making

Second half we could have nicked something but it would not have been deserved

Hopefully we will have a LWB by the next game

Onwards and upwards but we do have a lot to learn

 

[Carsy]

Given a lesson in the first half and shows why we are still a million miles away from top six. City were superb and KDB was unplayable. Most of our players were not much better than a 5 out of 10 and that’s the disappointment. Poor touches, miss placed passes, not closing down fast enough, not strong enough in the challenge, and poor decision making

Second half we could have nicked something but it would not have been deserved

Hopefully we will have a LWB by the next game

Onwards and upwards but we do have a lot to learn

Wouldn’t say a million miles away from the top
6. The top 2, absolutely

 

[StuardoWulf]

Some players have adapted better but it must be hard playing behind closed doors.

 

[The Bion]

Wouldn’t say a million miles away from the top
6. The top 2, absolutely

This, they're far and away the best 2 teams, there's then a gap to the teams we're fighting to be amongst.

Crowd would certainly have helped tonight - imagine the scenes after Raul scored. Sigh.

 

[StuardoWulf]

We're not million miles away. If we finish our really good chances we win.
Not that I.m saying we are there yet but we played against one of the two best teams in probably the best league in the world.

Ref was OK but should of booked the diving bastard and Mendy should have walked for taking Traore out while on a booking

 

[Tony Towner]

This, they're far and away the best 2 teams, there's then a gap to the teams we're fighting to be amongst.

Crowd would certainly have helped tonight - imagine the scenes after Raul scored. Sigh.

I agree, but do think it cuts both ways. Would we be 2 up at Bramall Lane in the first game of the season after 6 minutes with 32k in the ground?

 

[prawnking]

Can't be too harsh about a performance against a side like City when they're purring.

Positives are we'll have Semedo and Hoever imminently and Traore at RWB can be a thing of the past. Good to see us on the scoresheet and give them a game second half, at least we saved a little face. Three points from the first two games is still more than acceptable considering we're in transition, hopefully we can see more of the new signings over the next few games.

I'll be a bit concerned if Marcal is out for any length of time, Vinagre will need to up his game to avoid being a big weak link

 

[GLASGOWOLF]

Awful 1st half looked like a poor premier league team.
Vinagre not good enough by a long way, he just has not progressed.
Traore is never a WB


Podence, Nero, Raul, Boly, Mouts, and Neves were no where near good enough.
Saiss a damn stupid tackle for the pen.

We need a RWB, and Fucking pray Marcal is not too bad

2nd half much better we looked a top 6 team and scared them. The comical defending and shit luck for there 3rd.

 

[sycophantia]

Bloody hell there's some panicky comments on here tonight...against an excellent team and after 2 games.
City quite simply blew us away first half, we did well to keep it down to 2.
The most disappointing thing for me was our quality on the ball when trying to play on the break, but then City's pressing was superb.
Saiss challenge was absolutely mad but tbh I thought he was our best defender after that, Boly hasn't been at his best for a while now but you don't just become a bad player overnight, hopefully when we get an actual rwb in he'll get back to his best.
I agree with the opinion that Neves and Moutinho struggle in a midfield 2 currently, against good teams anyway, think the years are starting to catch up and Neves is never going to be mobile or athletic enough to play in a 2 against the likes of City or Liverpool imo.
Second half we were much better, the better team I think, should have been level before we actually scored.
We showed enough to suggest we're going to be competitive against most teams

 

[Langers]

Well Saiss went from being MOTM last week to being 'the next player we have to upgrade' this week. Yes it was a stupid challenge for the penalty but its alarming how poor some fans' memories are.

1st half was disappointing from our point of view, a lot of unforced errors at times, but to see City purring like that was a joy. Foden and De Bruyne were unplayable. Our difficulties at RWB were striking - Traore just can't play there. Good job we've bought 2 new players who can.

I always like to focus on the positives and the 2nd half gave us more positives than negatives. I think we always look dangerous going forward and in Podence, Neto and Traore, we're always going to create chances. Just a shame we couldn't take most of them. I've no concerns about us not scoring.

A frustrating night but we'll learn and we'll improve. Looking forward to seeing a more settled line up at the weekend and hopefully a performance more like the 2nd half tonight as opposed to the first.

On the bright side - we won't face opposition as good as tonight's for a long while.

 

[Charlie Wolf]

On reflection yes agree and retract the million miles away from the top six, I do still think we are a level down in quality to the teams that finished above us last season.

Not disheartened by tonight’s performance and we know that we are a club that is on the up and will continue to compete on and off the field

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Need to write that off and learn from it.

*No more Adama at RWB - ever.

*Podence to just bloody shoot! But good assists for him so far.

*Vinagre is still a kid, but something significant needs to change if he is to be a success at Wolves.

*Saiss was fucking mindless with the penalty

*Rui made some great saves, rare he is called to action as often as that.

*I'm getting a little worried about Boly, just doesn't seem as solid as he was post comeback from injury.

*Moutinho was very ineffective tonight.

*If Marcal is out for Sunday I'd play Semedo LWB and Hoever RWB.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

First half was just a schooling, we weren't quite on it and they absolutely were. We definitely cannot afford that against teams of that calibre (mind you, who can). That first half is as well as I've seen a team play against us since we came up so while there's no disgrace in being outplayed so comprehensively - we did get a fair bit wrong. Slack use of the ball, a slight lack of intensity and the two goals are terrible. No idea what Saiss is thinking sliding in there, KdB is going nowhere and they had one bloke in the box for him to aim at, there was as good as no danger. Second one, Adama aimlessly gives the ball away, we're done by a simple enough ball down the channel and Rui makes an uncharacteristic poor decision to rush out when Sterling was very unlikely to score from that position (don't think Foden scores on the cutback either if the keeper's where he's supposed to be).

Much better second half. Gave it a real go, while there's no way you can realistically claim we deserved anything out of the game - the balance of play was such in the first half that we could have been four down - we did create some very presentable chances and spooked them for a bit. Did help that Mendy got a harsh booking and then he was scared to go near Adama (who picked up second half after a very poor showing before the break, thankfully we're unlikely to ever see him at RWB again). Goal at the end was irrelevant, there were 10 seconds left at best and we weren't sparking an attack from there.

Enough positives to take from what really was a free hit. Should win the next two and we have at least one very very good player coming in before then. Hopefully Marçal isn't too badly hurt.

 

[PuntsWolf]

Saiss was good apart from the penalty, which was a ridiculously bad decision from him.

Boly was not good, Moutinho was poor on and off then ball too.

Traore was a liability a RWB. Get him higher up the pitch though and you can see what he can do. Particularly against someone like Mendy who is terrible.

Neto and Podence lively. Unlucky on the chip, Ederson rushed out taking away the shooting angle, forcing the chip but a hard technique to execute. Neves fucked him with the call on the other one. Nice assist though.

Vinagre just isn’t a good footballer. Simple things like high balls across he gets underneath and heads it to the opposition or heads out of play. A good player either gets it down or finds a team mate. Offers zero in the final third, he’d be better off just passing back inside. And he makes up for none of this by being a solid defender. Sell him and sign someone else.

 

[YoungWolf]

Seeing people saying we should have played 352 - we did in the first half from the bits I saw? Neto played the same role as against Sheffield United? Thought Nuno got that wrong and we looked much better in the second half with Neto on the right of the front three. Neves can play higher that way and still do his defensive duties.

Very sloppy throughout though. So when City have a first half as they did you are lucky if you get away with it - we didn't. Shame we missed some of the opportunities we did (like Podence chip and Jimenez in the box) but 2-1 would have been about fair.

Shame about Marcal too. Gives Ruben a couple of opportunities to prove himself though.

Really looking forward to seeing this team with Semedo in it. Going to open up our attacking options. Always been fairly limited in that sense with Jonny and Doherty, no huge change of pace but Semedo can dribble, is quick and is much better defensively than Doherty was.