Cardiff 2 - 0 Wolves: Piss Poor in the Pissing Rain Verdict Thread

[The Bear]

If I had to give anyone MOTM it would probably be Hause with EEL a close second.

 

[YoungWolf]

If I had to give anyone MOTM it would probably be Hause with EEL a close second.

I think I'd go with EEL personally. Hause was one of the least rubbish I suppose it's just he looks scared to receive the at the moment

 

[Dublin Drummer Wolf]

Im defo overdue a post match curry, Penk brought us to an amazing Indian in Penkridge to celebrate staying up on Survival Sunday.

Jalfrezhi is an Indian dish Alan

 

[KentWolf]

Possibly linked to the Old Empire's presence in Asia.

It's entirely linked to 'our' empire which included modern day India and some surrounding areas and subsequent immigration to the UK from these parts. Interestingly chilli is not native to any part of Europe or Asia, all came from the Americas and yet it's an integral part of Asian cooking now. There were riots in India a few years ago due to the price of chilli's going up steeply.

On the recent football.... I'm not sure what to say. Just very depressed. And I can't even have a drink. Things got a bit out of hand after I split with my missus and so I've taken the decision to quit the booze for a while. After waking up with no glasses, keys (both eventually found in back garden!) and a black eye with a massive graze down the side of my face! Thing is I was actually glad to be rid of her but I guess you can't spend ten years with someone without something being missing when it ends.

Too much info and off topic but there you go. Back to winning ways in the near future I hope! But it sounds like there are a lot of players not playing and a manager who is floundering with man management and tactics.

I saw KJ's interview (or one of them) pre season and he said promotion was the only goal. Made me think then that he might get sacked if we miss out. Not that I want him gone unless we are sitting miles off the playoffs come January and still playing crap. I really hope we can put the last couple of games behind us and kick on and that Kenny keeps his job. Just to make myself absolutely clear on that point!

 

[SouthWestWolf]

:icon_lol:

Ashamed to say I'm drinking if from the bottle, it's the flavour/warmth you get as it goes down your throat that makes me so happy.

 

[The Bear]

Ashamed to say I'm drinking if from the bottle, it's the flavour/warmth you get as it goes down your throat that makes me so happy.

As long as you don't feel the warmth going down your leg, keep drinking.

 

[PPB]

Ashamed to say I'm drinking if from the bottle, it's the flavour/warmth you get as it goes down your throat that makes me so happy.

You should write on the happy thread SWW.

Red wine does the same to me, although I might add i'm not drinking it straight from the bottle.

 

[SouthWestWolf]

You should write on the happy thread SWW.

Red wine does the same to me, although I might add i'm not drinking it straight from the bottle.

I'm straight over to it now!

Oh you rookie.

 

[SouthWestWolf]

As long as you don't feel the warmth going down your leg, keep drinking.

Does it make me immature to laugh out loud to that?!

 

[Jolemai]

Just had a cracking curry in Cardiff which has negated the doom somewhat.

Where did you end up going?

 

[Premier Quality]

Recorded that to watch after playing footy. That was just fucking awful. I'm a massive kj fan but this ones on him, it really didn't work at all.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I've had time to think about it now (and I'm back at my PC, typing out reams of text on my phone doesn't appeal).

I'm not having it that the formation change caused that - before kick off the team looked much more balanced and the weird rhombus stuff just looked awful against QPR and in the closing stages against Hull; the good period on Wednesday was largely caused by QPR being as bad for 35 minutes as we were for 90 today. That is the formation we used for a year or more from Griffiths leaving to Afobe arriving and it largely worked absolutely fine, even at this level - providing Dicko was available. Which leads us on to two areas of concern.

1) Afobe. We have rarely used him as the one up top on his own in this system and today didn't look good for his long term future in that role. Yes, the service was abominable, non-existent, derisory - but as the lone man up front you have to be constantly working the centre halves, offering an out ball, showing in the channels, Afobe didn't do any of this. Not that you would ever seek to directly compare the two but it was a bit like when we had Leon up there last November with his mobility and skill of a fridge, if the striker isn't moving around then the system is intrinsically flawed.

2) Edwards. If he plays then he should only be playing in that position - everyone knows this, the manager has even directly said it on occasion (then forgotten about it and put him in a 4-4-2 or parked on the left). But he isn't actually that good at playing in that position anyway. As I said in the last couple of weeks - he doesn't create anything at all, you might get the odd one or two assists dotted around through a season (assists being an incredibly woolly stat anyway) so really you are only picking him to run around and nick you a goal. His movement doesn't really do anything other than get himself into the positions to score goals, it doesn't create space for others - his finishing and general touch are not good enough though. He had the best of the very limited opportunities we had (bar Hause's header at the back stick) and it was squandered each time through a bad touch or a poor finish. This is why his goal return isn't really very good and why talk of him being a bona fide goalscoring midfielder or getting into double figures this season is incredibly wide of the mark. By no means am I putting the defeat today down to him, he wasn't anywhere near our worst player, he didn't have a terrible game on Wednesday even. But his limitations mean he is not suitable as a regular starter for a top six chasing team, nowhere near.

Away from those two areas, the defence looked rickety throughout, Stearman is no leader at all. He doesn't organise the defence and he's always got his own airhead moments to contend with - he shouldn't have been Player of the Season last year as he basically had three good months near the end and that's it (although that is a separate matter). We desperately need Batth back, all the other centre halves look or will look fine next to him, without him and paired together they look an accident waiting to happen.

The full backs offer zero going forward and with this being the case we need to develop our attacking play in a way which doesn't rely on them getting into the final third, because really what is the point. Have them concentrating on defending.

Ken has said McDonald wasn't fit today, 70-80% in his words, don't fucking play him then. We have other midfielders at the club that we could use. Coady's yellow card definitely affected his game, not that I can pin the result on anyone not connected with Wolverhampton Wanderers today but how he gets booked then Digkacoi commits an identical foul five minutes later and avoids a second yellow is the most pissweak of pissweak refereeing.

The wide players were rarely supplied with the ball, I thought Ojo provided a couple of promising moments - Edwards should have at least hit the target from one cross, Hause should have buried his header - but there wasn't much there to suggest he's definitively the answer out there. He is, after all, 18 with limited senior experience to date, is it really a realistic prospect anyway at this stage? Van La Parra took on Fabio three times and beat him three times so why on earth was he constantly checking inside and laying it back (frequently just losing it anyway with a slack ball), play to your strengths man. Don't ever let him take corners again either, amateur.

Overall, 1/10, the 1 being for at least setting out a team which makes sense on paper and doesn't resemble one of Dave Jones' brilliant tactical ideas. Much work needed.

 

[playtheace]

I've had time to think about it now (and I'm back at my PC, typing out reams of text on my phone doesn't appeal).

I'm not having it that the formation change caused that - before kick off the team looked much more balanced and the weird rhombus stuff just looked awful against QPR and in the closing stages against Hull; the good period on Wednesday was largely caused by QPR being as bad for 35 minutes as we were for 90 today. That is the formation we used for a year or more from Griffiths leaving to Afobe arriving and it largely worked absolutely fine, even at this level - providing Dicko was available. Which leads us on to two areas of concern.

1) Afobe. We have rarely used him as the one up top on his own in this system and today didn't look good for his long term future in that role. Yes, the service was abominable, non-existent, derisory - but as the lone man up front you have to be constantly working the centre halves, offering an out ball, showing in the channels, Afobe didn't do any of this. Not that you would ever seek to directly compare the two but it was a bit like when we had Leon up there last November with his mobility and skill of a fridge, if the striker isn't moving around then the system is intrinsically flawed.

2) Edwards. If he plays then he should only be playing in that position - everyone knows this, the manager has even directly said it on occasion (then forgotten about it and put him in a 4-4-2 or parked on the left). But he isn't actually that good at playing in that position anyway. As I said in the last couple of weeks - he doesn't create anything at all, you might get the odd one or two assists dotted around through a season (assists being an incredibly woolly stat anyway) so really you are only picking him to run around and nick you a goal. His movement doesn't really do anything other than get himself into the positions to score goals, it doesn't create space for others - his finishing and general touch are not good enough though. He had the best of the very limited opportunities we had (bar Hause's header at the back stick) and it was squandered each time through a bad touch or a poor finish. This is why his goal return isn't really very good and why talk of him being a bona fide goalscoring midfielder or getting into double figures this season is incredibly wide of the mark. By no means am I putting the defeat today down to him, he wasn't anywhere near our worst player, he didn't have a terrible game on Wednesday even. But his limitations mean he is not suitable as a regular starter for a top six chasing team, nowhere near.

Away from those two areas, the defence looked rickety throughout, Stearman is no leader at all. He doesn't organise the defence and he's always got his own airhead moments to contend with - he shouldn't have been Player of the Season last year as he basically had three good months near the end and that's it (although that is a separate matter). We desperately need Batth back, all the other centre halves look or will look fine next to him, without him and paired together they look an accident waiting to happen.

The full backs offer zero going forward and with this being the case we need to develop our attacking play in a way which doesn't rely on them getting into the final third, because really what is the point. Have them concentrating on defending.

Ken has said McDonald wasn't fit today, 70-80% in his words, don't $#@!ing play him then. We have other midfielders at the club that we could use. Coady's yellow card definitely affected his game, not that I can pin the result on anyone not connected with Wolverhampton Wanderers today but how he gets booked then Digkacoi commits an identical foul five minutes later and avoids a second yellow is the most pissweak of pissweak refereeing.

The wide players were rarely supplied with the ball, I thought Ojo provided a couple of promising moments - Edwards should have at least hit the target from one cross, Hause should have buried his header - but there wasn't much there to suggest he's definitively the answer out there. He is, after all, 18 with limited senior experience to date, is it really a realistic prospect anyway at this stage? Van La Parra took on Fabio three times and beat him three times so why on earth was he constantly checking inside and laying it back (frequently just losing it anyway with a slack ball), play to your strengths man. Don't ever let him take corners again either, amateur.

Overall, 1/10, the 1 being for at least setting out a team which makes sense on paper and doesn't resemble one of Dave Jones' brilliant tactical ideas. Much work needed.

Gotta agree with all of this.
Stearman may have experience but hes like a mouse on the pitch,we need an organiser on the pitch at the moment,You can see some of the players look lost when things are going tits up.
I thought Golbourne's wing play wasnt to bad in the match on weds (when he has been injury free, hes overlapping isnt like anything we saw since League1)
so to go back to the old formation and then drop him seemed strange to me.
Henry put himself about when he came on but then proceeded to overhit every ball and is anyone else now tired of Dave Edwards chasing balls and putting them in the correct place for the opposition?

 

[Alan]

At this point, if I were KJ, I'd do the following:

-Loan out Hause to a club where he'll play as a CB
-Promote Deslandes to the senior side
-Drop McDonald for the foreseeable
-Get Rajiv doing nothing but practicing his service for the next year
-Bench Stearman for Ethan once Batth gets back

We're the youngest team in the Championship by ~6 months IIRC, last year we didn't look like it at all but this year we look like it and then some. Time for the boys to grow up.

 

[YoungWolf]

Luckily none of the above suggested by Alan will happen, folks. (apart from the van la Parra one, maybe)

 

[Deleted Cyber]

I have kept quiet today as I didnt want to jinx it or incur wrath.On Wednesday I ranted about what happened and I was considered to be pant wetting. Today was as bad a championship performance as I have seen for a long while. Insipid crap lacking creation ideas and enthusiasm. We are a way off a promotion challenge on this form. Disappointing farye all round. I have checked.My pants are dry

 

[Jinky]

Luckily none of the above suggested by Alan will happen, folks. (apart from the van la Parra one, maybe)

:icon_lol:

 

[Dublin Drummer Wolf]

At this point, if I were KJ, I'd do the following:

-Loan out Hause to a club where he'll play as a CB
-Promote Deslandes to the senior side
-Drop McDonald for the foreseeable
-Get Rajiv doing nothing but practicing his service for the next year
-Bench Stearman for Ethan once Batth gets back

We're the youngest team in the Championship by ~6 months IIRC, last year we didn't look like it at all but this year we look like it and then some. Time for the boys to grow up.

Bloody hell, FIFA must be a load of shit these days. Straight from the Graeme Souness book of man management that

 

[Alan]

Sorry, should we be coddling them after that disinterested display? I think not.

 

[PuntsWolf]

Well as we were shit and made lots of changes but are still shit...

What do we do now ?

KJ has created a mess a few weeks into the season and now is going to have to stick with something. I hope he gets it right.