Brighton 3-3 Wolves: Verdict Thread

[redvictor]

I think there is a lot of truth in this. I do however think that we need more than just a striker, we need players who are more attack minded, You can not change players whose first thought is safety first into players who are attack minded. Our whole outlook till now has been not to get beat and try to win on the break to change this will need different players or mindset

Agree on the mindset thing. It's almost like the team go into a shell on a few occasions when we have the ability to play teams off the park. Inviting pressure for 30 mins is a very bad way to play unless you are Burnley, who seem to get away with it a lot as they have strong tall defenders.
I think we have the players. I think they need to be braver.

 

[Paul]

I think the safety first element is more of a Nuno thing than an individual player thing.

Definitely

ps I take it from every comment that you're not in favour of 'buying for the future'

 

[prawnking]

Im not sure how posters on here knew/felt comfortable that he was good enough when there was literally no evidence to go off as he’s played such little first team football. Would appear so far that the trust/confidence was misplaced.

I knew next to nothing about him. But you know the greatest of all virtues advocated on TWF is trust and patience...

Of course no one could have predicted what happened to Raul, but it's not unreasonable to deduce that, for the transfer fee, Fabio was capable of playing some part this season, with the talk of him being a generational talent.

We still all hope for that outcome, but it looks a little like a transfer borne out of hubris at this moment

 

[Tony Towner]

think this is a good point. I know a few on here hate the 'Neves and Moutinho can't play together' mantra but I think its valid if we're trying to be a more attack minded team and rely less on a counter attack style.

My view is it's a valid concern in a 343 or a 442, not that we play the latter. In a 352, 3412 or variation of where we have a 3rd player playing higher in midfield it's fine dependant on what's in front

 

[exfan]

Prawnking and Redvictor you may be right and the players maybe can play more attacking style, but that would mean the coaching staff is getting it wrong. This does not mean a want sackings and complete upheaval, just a small change in approach from Nuno and staff.

 

[AndyWolves]

I knew next to nothing about him. But you know the greatest of all virtues advocated on TWF is trust and patience...

Of course no one could have predicted what happened to Raul, but it's not unreasonable to deduce that, for the transfer fee, Fabio was capable of playing some part this season, with the talk of him being a generational talent.

We still all hope for that outcome, but it looks a little like a transfer borne out of hubris at this moment

It's very early days yet, my own personal expectation for this season was that he'd give Raul a breather now and then rather than being numero Uno for an extended period.

I think it's way too early to evaluate Silva when he clearly still has to physically develop. If we haven't seen any improvement when he's 21/22 then I'd agree with you.

We shouldn't let the situation dictate how we perceive the player.

 

[prawnking]

ps I take it from every comment that you're not in favour of 'buying for the future'

Buying for the future is fine as a supplement to quality in the here and now.

It doesn't look like we got the balance quite right this summer, especially as I don't think that strategy complements the change of style and approach we chose to undertake at the same time.

 

[redvictor]

I'm still not a Fabio fan yet. He's just not strong or savvy enough in this league. Pretty obvious he wouldn't be coming from the Portuguese league. I do think he will come good given a year to bulk up and learn his trade a little but that isn't helping us right now.
I don't think anyone connected to Wolves in any way could foresee Raul's injury, in the way it happened and the severity of it, hence buying Fabio as occasional cover rather than a proven striker sitting on the bench waiting.
Now though we are toothless in the box without him. Apart from putting Saiss in there i can't see any other option than a ready to go striker.
Any formation we play the above kills us imo.

 

[Trips]

It’s a fair point on Sheffield Utd and the Albion, and agree there’s still some rubbish, my fear is who will fill the third relegation spot?

Fulham, Burnley Brighton et al.? All are capable of putting a run together of 3 or 4 wins and scratching 40 points then all of a sudden we’re looking over our shoulder.

Just think it’s a mad season

Burnley will get out of it, they will shithouse their way to enough points.

Brighton and Fulham have won 2 games each this season. Fulham especially I have seen nothing from to suggest they will put 3 or 4 wins together in a row. Fulham need 29 points from their remaining games to get to 40. That's almost 10 wins, they arent getting it.

The only was we get dragged into trouble is if we go on a run of 5 or 6 defeats in a row. I just don't see it. When the fixtures came out we all highlighted December as a tough month, and so its proved. We will be fine

 

[redvictor]

BTW, BBC now touting Arsenal for Europe. That is what 3 wins on the bounce does in the this topsy turvy season.
Panic button not pressed yet.

 

[Paul]

I'm still not a Fabio fan yet. He's just not strong or savvy enough in this league. Pretty obvious he wouldn't be coming from the Portuguese league. I do think he will come good given a year to bulk up and learn his trade a little but that isn't helping us right now.
I don't think anyone connected to Wolves in any way could foresee Raul's injury, in the way it happened and the severity of it, hence buying Fabio as occasional cover rather than a proven striker sitting on the bench waiting.
Now though we are toothless in the box without him. Apart from putting Saiss in there i can't see any other option than a ready to go striker.
Any formation we play the above kills us imo.

It's not just the goal threat, Rauls hold up play is sorely missed, the ball is coming back at us twice as often, law of averages says something will happen if that is the case

 

[Trips]

BTW, BBC now touting Arsenal for Europe. That is what 3 wins on the bounce does in the this topsy turvy season.
Panic button not pressed yet.

A few weeks ago Arsenal were relegation candidates and Chelsea were title contenders. 3 points between them now. We are only 4 points behind Chelsea

 

[prawnking]

It's very early days yet, my own personal expectation for this season was that he'd give Raul a breather now and then rather than being numero Uno for an extended period.

I think it's way too early to evaluate Silva when he clearly still has to physically develop. If we haven't seen any improvement when he's 21/22 then I'd agree with you.

We shouldn't let the situation dictate how we perceive the player.

It's not a personal attack on Fabio. I like the kid and I want him to be a star at Wolves.

He may be the best player in the world at 22, but it's not reasonable to ask us to wait four years to have an opinion on him or his signing!

It's a (mild) criticism of Nuno/the club.

If you're spending that much on a striker and it's your only striker signing then we don't really have the luxury of putting him in a cocoon for three or four years. We're Wolves, not an elite club.

If you don't think he's ready then, by all means sign him, but get someone else who can step in or share the load in the event that your only striker and star player has to miss some games

 

[jd1981]

Burnley will get out of it, they will shithouse their way to enough points.

Brighton and Fulham have won 2 games each this season. Fulham especially I have seen nothing from to suggest they will put 3 or 4 wins together in a row. Fulham need 29 points from their remaining games to get to 40. That's almost 10 wins, they arent getting it.

The only was we get dragged into trouble is if we go on a run of 5 or 6 defeats in a row. I just don't see it. When the fixtures came out we all highlighted December as a tough month, and so its proved. We will be fine

The 40 point number is a myth anyway, based on what we’ve seen so far once we hit 35/36 points we can relax Fulham would have to go over a point per game to get that.

 

[prawnking]

A few weeks ago Arsenal were relegation candidates and Chelsea were title contenders. 3 points between them now. We are only 4 points behind Chelsea

4 points is a lot when you're mainly getting draws and defeats though.

Also, I've seen a few people say this, but Arsenal were never relegation candidates. They're an elite club, we're not (incidentally, I don't think we're in danger of relegation either)

 

[redvictor]

It's not just the goal threat, Rauls hold up play is sorely missed, the ball is coming back at us twice as often, law of averages says something will happen if that is the case

Absolutely, and his chasing back and trying to win the ball back in midfield. Even when he wasn't scoring he was always chasing.

 

[redvictor]

4 points is a lot when you're mainly getting draws and defeats though

It can all change with the rub of the green and a bit of confidence.

 

[Premier Quality]

But you basically have two choices

1) buy Fabio, knowing he’s only 18 and no 18 year old has come to the premier league and scored a significant amount of goals in their first season - but to develop he needs minutes, so you hope Raul remains fit (as he has for the entirety of his career up to that point.

2) buy Fabio AND a backup striker with sufficient quality to cover for Raul if he gets injured. Someone with that quality will want games, meaning Fabio probably doesn’t get the minutes he needs to develop unless Raul gets injured (which he never has before).

it’s a judgement call - Nuno obviously chose option 1, and got caught out by Raul’s freak injury. Now they need to rectify it in this transfer window.

probably the right call at the time, given the faith they have in Fabio to turn into a fantastic player and replace Raul at some point, it’s only hindsight that’s made their choice wrong.

 

[prawnking]

The bookies don't have us down as relegation favourites and that's good enough for me

 

[sycophantia]

It's not a personal attack on Fabio. I like the kid and I want him to be a star at Wolves.

He may be the best player in the world at 22, but it's not reasonable to ask us to wait four years to have an opinion on him or his signing!

It's a (mild) criticism of Nuno/the club.

If you're spending that much on a striker and it's your only striker signing then we don't really have the luxury of putting him in a cocoon for three or four years. We're Wolves, not an elite club.

If you don't think he's ready then, by all means sign him, but get someone else who can step in or share the load in the event that your only striker and star player has to miss some games

There's a lot of sense in this post but I have to admit to being in the camp of it being the right thing to do at the time. Its difficult to sign players to sit on the bench (apart from has beens) and now with hindsight it would have made sense to sign a lower level (than Raul) striker just in case Raul got a season ending injury.
I'm hopeful we can find a striker in the next week or so to take the weight off Fabio and we can have a strong end to the season. More importantly some kind of base system and identity.