Burnley 2-1 Wolves: Verdict Thread

[Throbber3]

I thought the best that Neves had looked was against Chelsea with Otasowie beside him. Owen created plenty of space and Neves was like a quarterback dictating play.

 

[Tony Towner]

Nuno asked to explain his comments by the FA. I know it's the protocol but not a lot to explain, either charge him or don't.

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

This is Ruben's third PL season, and he's not turned into the player I thought he could be as yet. Like Moutinho we somehow set the bar of acceptability lower for him. Stats aren't everything but isn't it a bit of a luxury to have our central pairing never score and never assist either? Is that the case with any other teams with aspirations of success in this league?

Neves and Moutinho's inability to score/assist is a major issue and one that utilising Donk (either instead of one or with them) hoped to address. Unfortunately this has been limited in it's success. I agree with the point made earlier that Neves, if utilised correctly would flourish and I believe could still be one of the best midfielders in the league.

We have six players capable of playing left back/LWB at the club and while I accept two aren't currently available, we have nowhere near the required options in midfield (or at centre forward for that matter). Our recruitment, while exciting to the layman, has not been balanced over the last two seasons.

I also liked the Semedo/first wife analogy earlier. I would be trying to recoup as much of the £27m as possible as soon as possible. We need to have a rethink and ensure that we have the right players for the club and the system. For the first time in four years, we don't look like a team that wants to be together.

 

[Deano]

Yeah admitting the mistake with Semedo would be for the best but it depends how much of that money you can recoup. If we could get 20m plus now we should just take the hit, he's not very good.

 

[prawnking]

Nuno asked to explain his comments by the FA. I know it's the protocol but not a lot to explain, either charge him or don't.

He should get Kenny in to defend him

 

[Kenny]

He should get Kenny in to defend him

Nah he broke the Golden Rule - Never EVER say a bad thing about a ref. You are 100% getting a fine and a slap on the wrist.

His defence, in his mind, will be the truth "Well he is shit". Has anyone ever got away with anything once the FA have asked them to explain something they said?

 

[The Bion]

Few individual things to mention. RAN playing as the WB was the right thing in a “horses for courses” approach, but he did absolute zero in an attacking sense other than fake pass > drag back > pass to Saiss. If he wasn’t going to cross the halfway line and we were going to play so deep we may aswell have played Saiss there and had more height in the team.

Tbf he was forward a few times in the 1st half and offered himself on the overlap. Podence ignored him/didn't pass it to him a couple times and at least once when Neves tried to find him he passed it to the oppo.

Incidentally for those saying there hasn't been much change since lockdown, I just had a brief look and while our PPG in the league has only dropped marginally (for now, at least), our Goals/game is down from about 1.4 before lockdown to the current 14 in 14. That's not easily sustainable, to say the least.

Raul is a part of that, of course. But it was already dropping after we resumed from lockdown, before this season. Him being out has only exacerbated the trend.

 

[Loki]

I know coulda, shoulda, shoudn`ta is easy with hindsight but I think letting Doc go when we already had Johnny injured was a big mistake. A big ask bringing in two new wingbacks for each side of the park.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Doc wanted to go and we were never getting that money for him ever again.

If a player wants to leave then Nuno will always tell the board to accept a fair bid.

 

[Johnny75]

Just watched it back - while he's getting to his feet, Taylor is still nearer Pope. Now I accept he's just ran the length of the pitch, but Taylor himself only walks to the half way line, and only sprints into the space down the left when the ball is played back down the line. I'm not saying it's solely him, by any stretch, but when I saw him just trotting over half way when it's nodded in about 30 seconds after we lost it, I was fuming.

And clearly not understanding how we defend.

We defend in spaces not man for man. Podence should've covered but for some reason he stopped the Kilman should've got there and he didn't even though he could see that's where the ball was going to end up.

And Semedo looked as though he'd taken a knock which was why he was slow to his feet.

There were 7 men behind the ball before Taylor makes his lung bursting run.

 

[Norman Deeley]

but why would you strip out the penalty from xG? it was a legitimate attacking move which lead to a goal

I always take out penalties when I'm looking at xG as I think it gives a better reflection of the game. As you know, a penalty on xG is worth 0.8 - no way was that attacking move worth 0.8. Take the handball pen against Kilman at Leicester - that cross was worth 0.05 at best then suddenly it's an xG of 0.8
So I'm not particularly using it to make a point about last night, simply for my own info and for anyone who might be interested.

 

[YoungWolf]

Semedo is better than Doherty. Don't agree with those writing him off. He's not been amazing but neither has he been terrible like some suggest, in my opinion.

I don't think he is quite on the wavelength of some, not consistently anyway. There was a moment in the second half when Joao had the ball, Semedo ran across to receive to feet but the ball was played behind the Burnley defence.

My main concern with him is his aerial ability which is poor

 

[Kenny]

My main concern with him is his aerial ability which is poor

Tommy Rowe at RWB next week then

 

[prawnking]

You'd ideally want Semedo to settle in faster as he's an expensive and established international player, but I agree it's too soon to write him off.

He needs to play in a settled team to build some awareness and relationships.

If we're hoping he's potentially Doc-Max then IMO we need to start getting more out of him offensively. I'd personally be giving him and Traore some time together through the week and in games so they can start to understand what each other's about

 

[Kenny]

You'd ideally want Semedo to settle in faster as he's an expensive and established international player, but I agree it's too soon to write him off.

He needs to play in a settled team to build some awareness and relationships.

If we're hoping he's potentially Doc-Max then IMO we need to start getting more out of him offensively. I'd personally be giving him and Traore some time together through the week and in games so they can start to understand what each other's about

A couple of times last night we went go outside of Adama but had to stop as Adama went on his own. When he hung back...Adama went on his own.
Then of course it seems his teammates hate passing a simple ball to him....nah mate going to put this simple 5 yard pass a mile ahead of you

 

[Deano]

Semedo is better than Doherty. Don't agree with those writing him off. He's not been amazing but neither has he been terrible like some suggest, in my opinion.

I don't think he is quite on the wavelength of some, not consistently anyway. There was a moment in the second half when Joao had the ball, Semedo ran across to receive to feet but the ball was played behind the Burnley defence.

My main concern with him is his aerial ability which is poor

Nothing he has done in a Wolves shirt has shown that he is better than Doherty was for us at all. Teams know Semedo is a weak link.

Canvas any neutral teams fans views on Semedo, everyone knows he is bad. He can't defend at all and in an attacking sense he never looks like scoring or providing any assists.

 

[Jabbawolf]

Semedo is better than Doherty. Don't agree with those writing him off. He's not been amazing but neither has he been terrible like some suggest, in my opinion.

I don't think he is quite on the wavelength of some, not consistently anyway. There was a moment in the second half when Joao had the ball, Semedo ran across to receive to feet but the ball was played behind the Burnley defence.

My main concern with him is his aerial ability which is poor

I think he is not at all combative full stop, in the air nor on the ground - needs to make more of a nuisance of himself, stiffen up all his challenges etc - being RWB at Barca probably wasn’t that taxing - the demands for Wolves in PL are greater.

 

[AndyWolves]

We play a system with attacking wingbacks, if said wingback gets caught upfield its reasonable for him to expect cover in behind?

 

[AndyWolves]

Nothing he has done in a Wolves shirt has shown that he is better than Doherty was for us at all. Teams know Semedo is a weak link.

Canvas any neutral teams fans views on Semedo, everyone knows he is bad. He can't defend at all and in an attacking sense he never looks like scoring or providing any assists.

I certainly wouldn't swap Doc at Spurs for Semedo at Wolves

 

[prawnking]

A couple of times last night we went go outside of Adama but had to stop as Adama went on his own. When he hung back...Adama went on his own.
Then of course it seems his teammates hate passing a simple ball to him....nah mate going to put this simple 5 yard pass a mile ahead of you

For me, Semedo is someone the club doesn't have the luxury to give up on, and Adama is potentially one of our best attackers (and, again, a big asset). We should be doing as much as we can to make that a working partnership