Aston Villa 1-1 Wolves: Verdict Thread

[Johnny75]

Can we get on with discussing last nights game please? We can create a different thread for discussing emoji's and the use of them if necessary.

Personally I didn't see the game but the summariser on Sky Sports thought that we were terrific first half. She also stated that if we play that way then we'd have no problem in moving clear of the relegation zone. Was the 2nd half that bad to take away the optimism form the the first or were the injury/changes the reason that we struggled? Can credit be given to Emery for negating our threats with his changes?

I admire your attempt at changing the discussion Sniffer.

Not as good as we were last night in the first half with high pressing and quality in every space but the final third but better than the second.

In short, we don't have depth, Adama is a musclebound waste of a shirt and Alan thinks Kilman should be fired into the sun.

 

[thisisgil]

Was the 2nd half that bad to take away the optimism form the the first or were the injury/changes the reason that we struggled? Can credit be given to Emery for negating our threats with his changes?

It wasn't that bad tbh. We just fell back and stopped pressing so it contrasted with what was perhaps our best performance this season in the first half.

We actually could have scored in the 2nd half if Traore was in his playing for a transfer mindset and made the runs he was supposed to.

 

[Del Woppio]

Survival is clearly ultimately dependent on transfer business; I don't think Lop would have joined if he wasn't 100% confident that he'd get players of the profile he wants, but then again he's never worked for Jeff Shi, so that confidence could well be misplaced.

Yes, it's 4 points from 3 games, but then it's also true that we were very lucky to get at least 2 of them, so we certainly need to see, for the majority of the rest of the season, performances more like that first half.

While I accept the (and mainly share) the view that the changes Lop makes hurt us is due to the paucity of options available to him, I do also have a niggling fear that the negative/protective mentality to them may continue. I guess if it gets the job done, fair enough, but I think in this league if you invite pressure, it tends to fuck you over. Definitely giving him the benefit of the doubt though. I haven't checked so might be wrong, but if this is Lop's first bona fide relegation battle, he might not know how to handle it, which could potentially explain that thought process?

On the performance itself; Nunes was superb, both full backs and Collins also did well - but I'm very keen to see Kilman replaced in the next week or so. I'm leaning very much to thought that his spell of good form was a purple patch rather than a potential ceiling, much like that 12 week run where Adama looked like a footballer about 4 years ago.

Adama has either lost his pace or his desire, and is a waste of a shirt and needs to go. Yes, he nominally got an assist the other day with a shit cross, but at the same point, with the ball from from Nunes and the space ahead of him I think any of our wide forwards would've been able to get into a crossing position from that situation, I don't think that was uniquely because of Adama's pace.

I do think there's definite value in using RAN further up the pitch, he's technically superb, brave on the ball, and moves well off the ball, so I think that's something we should continue to explore - I'd feel a lot happier with a front three of RAN - Cunha - Podence than having Hwang or Adama in there stinking the place out one way or another.

 

[Tom Hark]

Maybe we should have an 'irony' emoji

Maybe we should have a policy whereby any non-football-related post in a football-related thread is immediately deleted. It would make scrolling so much less tedious. It's like a primary-school playground in here sometimes.

 

[Tony Towner]

Have to admit Del that there were points in that second half, specifically the 10 minutes or so before they scored which were reminiscent of the same old under Lage. I don't know if that was by design or the squad mentality taking over. We had the players to get us higher up the pitch either by taking care of the ball or hitting it long and using pace, but played hot potato and sat deep instead, although ironically not for the goal itself

 

[Tony Towner]

Maybe we should have a policy whereby any non-football-related post in a football-related thread is immediately deleted. It would make scrolling so much less tedious. It's like a primary-school playground in here sometimes.

He started it

 

[Walshes Wolves]

We are a work in progress.

 

[Tom Hark]

Can we get on with discussing last nights game please? We can create a different thread for discussing emoji's and the use of them if necessary.

Personally I didn't see the game but the summariser on Sky Sports thought that we were terrific first half. She also stated that if we play that way then we'd have no problem in moving clear of the relegation zone. Was the 2nd half that bad to take away the optimism form the the first or were the injury/changes the reason that we struggled? Can credit be given to Emery for negating our threats with his changes?

As a friend said, that performance was just so Wolvesy. Perhaps Pod's enforced withdrawal was partly to blame, but it seems as though we've been crap at game management for years, no matter who's on the pitch or in the dugout. If Lopetegui can just sort that out, we'll be fine. (I think we'll stay up anyway; I'm not sure the other candidates would be capable of putting on that first-half performance.)

 

[Wilf Wolf]

Have to admit Del that there were points in that second half, specifically the 10 minutes or so before they scored which were reminiscent of the same old under Lage. I don't know if that was by design or the squad mentality taking over. We had the players to get us higher up the pitch either by taking care of the ball or hitting it long and using pace, but played hot potato and sat deep instead, although ironically not for the goal itself

Lopetegui had three games prior to last night, of course squad mentality will take over, that mentality will take a lot longer to change. Look at Arsenal under Arteta, there were calls for him to be sacked after he’d been there well over a year yet now he’s had time to implement changes in both personnel and tactics and Arsenal have been transformed. In the time he’s had Lopetegui has exceeded most expectations but he cannot perform miracles.

 

[jd1981]

Nuno had a very good ability of seeing games out. Problem is we’re just not that side anymore. It beggars belief that people who are supposed to have a football brain looked at what we had available at CH and thought it was good enough for a PL campaign.

 

[Johnny75]

Have to admit Del that there were points in that second half, specifically the 10 minutes or so before they scored which were reminiscent of the same old under Lage. I don't know if that was by design or the squad mentality taking over. We had the players to get us higher up the pitch either by taking care of the ball or hitting it long and using pace, but played hot potato and sat deep instead, although ironically not for the goal itself

We'd changed Moutinho, Hwang and Podence at that point and on TV (not sure what it was like live) we looked like we'd stopped pressing on the right and up top.

Mings had no pressure on him when Moutinho went off and neither did Digne/ the Swedish lad who came on.

The drop off in quality was noticeable and DW is right, we just need new players.

 

[Jinky]

Have to admit Del that there were points in that second half, specifically the 10 minutes or so before they scored which were reminiscent of the same old under Lage. I don't know if that was by design or the squad mentality taking over. We had the players to get us higher up the pitch either by taking care of the ball or hitting it long and using pace, but played hot potato and sat deep instead, although ironically not for the goal itself

The same happened against Utd after they scored. Everything was rushed & panicked - we couldn't string two passes together. I think that's the 'old' Wolves mentality under Bruno seeping out, rather than what Lop wants us to do, but there's only so much he can control from the sidelines and hopefully with time, the players will learn.

Hwang has looked better recently but I heard last night that he has 1 goal in his previous 29 PL games, or something like that. And that was Feb last year, so it's been nearly a whole calendar year since he scored for us in the league, and when he's 1/3 of our attacking line up, that's enough to say to me that he shouldn't be starting games. I'm ok with him coming off the bench because he's good at pressing & he works hard, so if we're trying to see a game out, I'd rather he came off the bench than Adama, for example. Podence as infuriating as he can be, is one of our main goal threats for moments like last night. I think we should be going with Podence/Cunha & RAN moving forward.

Judah also mentioned all of our subs were taking it in turns to warm up in groups of three last night, with the exception of Raul who didn't go out at all. I'm concerned about him.

 

[YoungWolf]

Raul is done, especially now Matheus is here. You can tell Lopetegui wasn’t impressed by his actions leading up to the World Cup (think he even said it in an interview he didn’t think he should be going).

 

[Tom Hark]

Hwang looks a lot better under Lop than he did under Lage. Hopefully he'll become an asset.

 

[Johnny75]

Hwang looks a lot better under Lop than he did under Lage. Hopefully he'll become an asset.

I have the faintest of hope he becomes our Almiron

 

[pr0sl0]

Hwang's role in the squad by the end of the season looks pretty obvious - he should be one of the players being subbed on to keep the energy up with the press from the front. Same as Lopetegui has been using RAN so far.

Assuming Raul is as done as he seems to be, I'd be going for a starting front three of Cunha - Costa - Podence until Neto's fit again, then put Neto on the right and drop Podence into the number 10 role where we're currently running Moutinho ragged. That said, I think Podence is just as flawed an option there, albeit in different ways. Moutinho doesn't have the legs for it, but Podence doesn't really have the physicality to escape being crowded out in the middle. Getting someone new in who can play there is going to be the most crucial signing of this window for making Lopetegui's new system work, even more so than any hypothetically available pure striker maybe.

 

[Carsy]

It's not exactly constructive feedback. Would you ever go up to someone, laugh in their face, and walk off in real life?

Tbf I would today if I came across Bailey.

 

[WsWolf]

We'd changed Moutinho, Hwang and Podence at that point and on TV (not sure what it was like live) we looked like we'd stopped pressing on the right and up top.

Mings had no pressure on him when Moutinho went off and neither did Digne/ the Swedish lad who came on.

The drop off in quality was noticeable and DW is right, we just need new players.

The goal was such a great example of how we stopped pressing. Mings under zero pressure as your mate inexplicably decided to amble out rather than triggering the press and then we try to play offside terribly. Can't play a high line with no pressure on the ball.

 

[The Saturday Boy]

Villa were poor in the first half, that they improved in the second half wasn't a surprise and it was individual errors that caused their goal and the few other chances they had. The substitutions have a logic to them but as others have mentioned, the squad depth isn't good enough so the quality drops off. We want to be in a position where we can bring Moutinho on in the second half if we want to manage a game - I think Hodge has some qualities but he doesn't close down and win the ball like Moutinho does.

Podence caused Villa problems, but he lacks consistency - a better version of Podence would be nice but probably expensive and in demand of other clubs. Or there's is Cunha.

Hwang is a meh footballer, he played fairly well without ever offering much. Functional footballers are fine if they have an end product...Hwang doesn't. I would like to see Bueno and Ait-Nouri down the left side in tandem.

Matheus is the type of midfielder we haven't had for as long as I can remember. He rarely loses the ball, gets himself out of tight spaces really well and has great vision. I feel he will only get better. He also enables the full backs to get forward as Neves drops in between the two centre halves and Matheus plays the deep midfield role - and when he goes forward, Neves steps up. Those two will make a formidable midfield partnership...it would be hard to replace if they were to both leave in the Summer.

Costa is a yard too slow and he was never that quick. He didn't read Collins' header down - those are the sort of chances he should be getting on the end of. When he takes a shot it feels rushed. He's not the answer.

It's time for someone at the club to call time on Adama or find him a new Jiminez - he is the type of player who is made to look good by the quality of others...and where has his speed gone? He got caught offside playing on the shoulder of the defender...he used to be able to find a yard just from his acceleration. Other times I just wish he would be a bit more Tim Steele...knock it past the defender and run.

If we can make the first half performance something like our normal level...I don't have too many worries. Mid table and two cup finals would do for this season.

 

[wanderer89]

I have the faintest of hope he becomes our Almiron

Just need Jack Grealish to slag him off.