Cardiff 2 -1 Wolves: The Pantwetting Verdict.

[The Bion]

1st time we've lost under Nuno after being in front

 

[MARKakaJIM]

What an awful game of football that was and some really bizarre decisions from Wolves to help it go down that route.

If Huddersfield was a tactical victory for Wagner and a sign of stubbornness from Nuno to not try anything to combat that then this was the complete opposite. Cardiff just did exactly what they've always done under Warnock, pump it long and compete like fuck, but for some reason Wolves appeared to lower themselves to the same in attempt to go toe to toe. Seems a bonkers decision given how much more combatative the Cardiff team is and as it transpired Wolves' long balls barely caused any concern whilst Cardiff's constantly caused panic.

Given the interview on the Sky Sports website following the Huddersfield game, Nuno's talk of identity and a consistent style, I just can't fathom why he went down this route. Why play the big boys largely at their own game and then actively surrender any footballing intentions against one of the worst teams in the league? There was literally no attempt to control that game at any point, it was pathetic.

Not that I think it made any great impact on the overall performance but the decision to have Saiss in that position looks similarly illogical. As does the sub of Vinagre for Cavaleiro, not really sure what that was meant to achieve.

In less than a week it seems to have gone from being too stubborn for your own good to a complete clusterfuck of nonsense. Taking that one game in isolation it's like he's lost his mind!

Going to be difficult to pick things up for Chelsea now. Neves' suspension provides an opportunity to try something new, hopefully that at least means a start for MGW who looked sharp again rather than a left field replacement like we saw with Saiss tonight. The front three is still looking like an unsolvable puzzle though, Jimenez seems to be a significant upgrade on Bonatini but is yet to have anything like the interplay with the wide forwards that we saw with the latter last year. Can't be helped by the troubling form of all the wide forwards but even when individuals have had isolated good performances they still haven't had much link up with Jimenez through the middle.

Something just doesn't feel right compared to last season, it doesn't feel as balanced. Against the big teams, playing a more restrained game it still seems to work well enough but against less teams when needing to control a game and be more expressive, well it's plainly just not working is it.

 

[Johnny75]

Nuno after the match:

And he's right. Out front 3 aren't playing well and the change of tactic didn't help IMO. We look miles better when we get the ball forwards and keep it as MGW, Cav and Jota did. Our tempo was higher and our position up the pitch was far more attacking. We need to attack more at a higher tempo as playtheace has said.

Our set piece defending was abysmal and Rui had a shocker.

 

[Norman Deeley]

Big problem for me was that only one team looked like they really wanted to win the game. As Van Wolfie says, if the rest of them had Coady's attitude we'd be fine, but they don't. I suspect like a lot of people I am too disappointed by this result coming on top of Huddersfield to put it into words. Nuno has a hell of a job now, and any credit he had for last season has gone.

 

[jdrodrigues]

This is getting very hard for me. I don't even know how many games in a row I've been losing, with both Wolves and Benfica.

Bad form, players are not performing as they should too. Don't think Nuno's at fault for tonight, but something's clearly not working.

Had a very nice time with Rob here at my place, though.

 

[Dire Wolf]

On current form we are without a doubt the worst side in the league and I honestly cannot see where the next win is coming from. We have lost successive games convincingly to 2 of the worst sides in the division which says everything you need to know about us. I honestly think without drastic changes we are in dire trouble. Lose our next 3 games, which I think we will, and Nuno could be gone before the New Year.

 

[arklowolf]

Relegation fodder. System is ok, if we had the quality to make it work against any opposition, we don't.
Need a goalscorer, replacement for Moutinho, cover for Doherty, replacements for Costa and Caveleiro. Gutless performance from a lot of them. Burnley, Cardiff, Huddersfield will all scrap, what we've got now wont, not with Nuno in charge anyway.

 

[Norman Deeley]

The problem is that if Nuno goes the entire bloody coaching staff goes with him. But no win in the next four and we're in trouble.

 

[Wolf of Ashford]

Once we went in front we just had to keep the ball, control possession. We didn't need to force anything but time and time again we conceded the ball cheaply smashing it up to Traore. After we went 2-1 down we started knocking it around and looked much better. The ineffectiveness of our front 3 puts too much pressure on the rest of the team. Jota and Cav in for Traore and Costa, get the closer to Raul and start getting back to what worked do well last season.

 

[Premier Quality]

There’s no way Nuno is under any pressure at the moment, we’re on a shitty run, but he’ll turn it round. He’s learning a lot about his players at the moment, that’s for sure, and he won’t like what he’s seeing in many of them.

 

[Trips]

So much OTT hysteria in here tonight. Yes it was poor, very poor. And yes we are on a bad run. But comments like "any credit Nuno had from last season" and "relegation fodder" smack of short memories. Just a couple of weeks ago we should have won at the Emirates. We need to realise what we are, we are a promoted side with exciting potential, but are still a newly promoted side who will put in inconsistent performances in this league.

Nuno is still 100% the man to take us forward.

 

[Quirkafleeg]

Any fucker wanting Nuno out can suck a dick.

 

[arklowolf]

So much OTT hysteria in here tonight. Yes it was poor, very poor. And yes we are on a bad run. But comments like "any credit Nuno had from last season" and "relegation fodder" smack of short memories. Just a couple of weeks ago we should have won at the Emirates. We need to realise what we are, we are a promoted side with exciting potential, but are still a newly promoted side who will put in inconsistent performances in this league.

Nuno is still 100% the man to take us forward.

We are relegation fodder. Hopefully we can limp along and pick up a few points before the transfer window in Jan. Sign four or five quality players and go from there.

 

[White Wolf]

I said to people last week that I didn't feel confident about this game was expecting a loss so I'm not surprised. It was a poor performance but we weren't utterly outplayed by crap like last week, just beaten by it. The problem is the big area where we didn't do well was the area where Cardiff thrive - we were really bad at defending set pieces, struggling to deal with their long throws and corners. Even if we got the initial header away Cardiff were first there to every second ball, look how often Arter was ending up on the ball and the space that he was afforded. We generally looked a disordered mess when defending set plays that was hooking the ball away more thanks to good fortune than any organisation.

Doubt we'll get anything out of Chelsea but it'll be interesting to see MGW start with Neves suspended. Ideally I'd have liked to see him start alongside Neves but this gives us a chance to try a different approach in a game where we're expected to lose anyway. Disappointed by Neves today, his shooting was off. Last season I used to say how impressed I was by the consistency of his shots, 75% of the time, probably more, the ball was on target and he forced goalkeepers into a good save a lot of the time. His shooting and FKs (latter not much of a factor this game) haven't been as good as last year by a long way. Costa was poor, he's bullied off the ball far too frequently and I think it's time to be starting Jota again. Vinny looked bright at times with his running but his crossing was very poor. After a strong start Patricio has been disappointing - completely his error for the equaliser. Traore was a disaster and this is why you don't start him in games. I've made my opinion very clear but his use is under very specific circumstances (this was not one of them) and even in those he spends most of the time looking out of place on a football pitch. Absolute dross as per.

To compare it to under Solbakken is completely wrong. At our lowest point under Solbakken we'd just been comprehensively beaten by a very weak team managed by the guy we had binned off 9 months prior with the players not buying into the manager's style of play and the atmosphere in the stadium and around the club just felt toxic. This is nothing like now. The players have bought into the way we play (regardless of individual opinions on it) as have the majority of the fanbase and I'm not seeing much appetite for a managerial change right now. Things could be much, much, much worse than they are now.

Going to be difficult going forwards as we are entering a tough run now. If a change is necessary then Fosun will make the change, Zenga was binned after 1 point from 5 games. But I don't believe a change is necessary right now and hope that the majority of the fanbase don't either, we need to stay on board. Forget talking about credit from last season - by the international break in October we had 15 points from 8 games. That was a month and a half ago, we've not magically become shit nor are we. This is a poor run of form but it wasn't long ago that people were thinking about us pushing for a Europa spot, have some perspective.

 

[Dolph06]

Any fucker wanting Nuno out can suck a dick.

Wait one moment, why can one simply not put forward a plausible possibility without such insults? I've not seen anybody asking for his head nor say he should be gone! Simpy that we have played way below par recently and questions are being asked. Stop being so extreme, for crying out loud!

 

[Quirkafleeg]

I'm saying it now Jota and Cav against Chelsea. Adama back to the bench for you. You really are a poor footballer..

 

[Quirkafleeg]

Wait one moment, why can one simply not put forward a plausible possibility without such insults? I've not seen anybody asking for his head nor say he should be gone! Simpy that we have played way below par recently and questions are being asked. Stop being so extreme, for crying out loud!

You're welcome.

 

[Premier Quality]

I'm saying it now Jota and Cav against Chelsea. Adama back to the bench for you. You really are a poor footballer..

That’s just mental, he was the only player who created anything at all. He won free kicks, he won corners, he played the ball simply to keep possession and some good balls forward to create crossing opportunities. He had some crap touches, and moments of standing around as usual, and lost the ball at times (with no options to pass it) plus the one huge error on the break where he didn’t twig manga was in front of him, so it’s not like he was amazing, but your view there is ridiculous.

Jota and Traore for me. Costa should go to the under 23’s for a bit and try and get some form and confidence.

 

[Dire Wolf]

There’s no way Nuno is under any pressure at the moment, we’re on a shitty run, but he’ll turn it round. He’s learning a lot about his players at the moment, that’s for sure, and he won’t like what he’s seeing in many of them.

Of course he's under pressure. And he should be. That doesn't mean I want to see him sacked, just that the reality of football is that it is a results driven league and we are on a run of terrible results that this ownership and board will not tolerate given their ambition for the club.

 

[Keef]

Patricio seems to be having a fair bit of blame pointing his way lately,would it be worth putting ruddy in for a few games maybe? And promoting either Ennis or Ashley-seal to the bench as an option? They find the net for the U23s maybe they could do it for the first team? Couldn't do a much worse job than what there now,and for what it's worth,I think nuno is under pressure job wise,it's time for him to earn his money,and show he can turn it around or we will be sucked into a relegation fight.