Cardiff City (A) 30.11.2018 7.45pm

[Elephant Pyjamas]

I initially thought Dendoncker for Bennett for Cardiff, but the more i think about the likelihood of Cardiff aerially bombarding us (long diagonal balls, throw ins, corners), the more i think we need the physicality and dark art mastery of Bennett against Cardiff.

I haven't seen enough of Dendoncker to know how good he is in the air or physically?

 

[YoungWolf]

Bennett's distribution certainly isn't the major issue at the moment (and Punts is right he is capable of playing some nice passes into the forwards). Leander is obviously a better footballer and I think a more intelligent defender (if less physical) which is why I see him coming in soon.

 

[Lord Knows]

Cav shouldn't be dropped yet. He's our only midfielder with more than 1 goal.

Cavs first half on Sunday was like watching Frank Nouble in its execution. Your not going to keep your place after such a performance.

 

[Tony Towner]

Jota for Costa, Saiss for Moutinho are the 2 changes I'd make given the formation isn't going to.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

As expected, we won't be changing formation or shape. Ever!

"Three home defeats in a row - more than Wolves had suffered in the previous 25 games of Nuno's reign - have led to accusations of inflexibility. Could this commitment to the same shape and personnel mean the dreaded lack of a plan B? "What changes your game is not your shape," he says. "It is the characteristics of the players that change the dynamics.

"You cannot have a situation where you think that if you want to attack then you play this formation and if you want to defend then you play this formation. For me, this is totally absurd because you are relying on your opponent not yourself and so you're not improving.

"But if you have something that can become very defensive and then in the next moment become very offensive, this is the right way. It is utopia maybe but this is our idea."

https://www.skysports.com/amp/footb...nto-interview-wolves-boss-explains-his-vision

That bit just doesn't make sense to me, surely changing your formation to suit a different situation is the complete opposite to 'relying on your opponent'? To my mind that would be seen as a very proactive move on your part to change the course of the game through your own actions opposed to plugging on in the same fashion hoping something changes.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Agreed, a lot of what Nuno says doesn't make sense to me though.

 

[Jinky]

Not sure why people think Saiss is the answer. He’s a slower, less talented version of Moutinho & Neves and he’s also a liability for a card at any time. If we are making a change in the middle, then it has to be MGW that comes in.

I’d go with Cybers team, although I think it’s highly unlikely we’d see a repeat performance from Cav of last weekend, so he may be fortunate in that sense and given the opportunity to right the wrongs.

I think Jota is quite suited for this kind of physical, scrapping challenge - so I’d have him starting ahead of Costa. Dendonker has to be close to a start too, but for the reasons mentioned earlier in the thread, I fully expect Nuno to keep faith with Bennett for this one.

 

[Parkins left foot]

Bennett's distribution isn't that bad, but is slow & the greater percentage goes back to Coady which gives time to the opposition to get back in formation - Cardiff probably isn't the game to change him as we will need the physical presence (no idea how Dendocker would cope as haven't seen enough of him), but against Chelsea that might be something to consider.

Would play Jota - should have been the half time sub rather than Traore on Sunday really. Did more than the other 2 (though that could well be due to the fact that they were both completely off colour all game).

Nuno does need to look at the midfield area - if we only have 2 in there (whoever that is) & the opposition tries to overload them then however good they are then they will have problems in playing the ball forward. Maybe a 3 with MGW in there with licence to be the most forward looking of them to assist the 2 remaining front men.

 

[Tony Towner]

Not sure why people think Saiss is the answer. He’s a slower, less talented version of Moutinho & Neves and he’s also a liability for a card at any time. If we are making a change in the middle, then it has to be MGW that comes in.

Because we need to get back to what we do best and Saiss is proven to get the best out of Neves. Saiss coming in moves Neves further up the pitch rather than sitting in front of the defence like he has been recently. As we saw on Sunday afternoon that doesn't happen with MGW. Personally, I'd play all 3, but that'd involve a formation change which isn't going to happen. As for yellow cards, he picked up one less than Neves last season with 3 less suspensions.

 

[Johnny75]

That bit just doesn't make sense to me, surely changing your formation to suit a different situation is the complete opposite to 'relying on your opponent'? To my mind that would be seen as a very proactive move on your part to change the course of the game through your own actions opposed to plugging on in the same fashion hoping something changes.

I don't think you've understood him if you think that. He's saying that changing formations to attack/ defend depending on opponent isn't in his philosophy and his mind set is to impose his style of play on the opposition not the other way around.

Strength through a superior system, if you like, and the better you are at it the harder it will be for the opposition to cope with it. I'm not sure I agree with it completely but I can understand his reasoning.

I do remember one D. Saunders changing formation after 10 minutes of a game because he had pre-planned it. Didn't work.

 

[Premier Quality]

Simply cannot start Costa in this one. One of the Cardiff thugs will whack him early doors and that'll be us down to 10 men until he's subbed an hour later. And yes to bringing Dendoncker in

Agree with this - Jota and Cav for me. I want to see Dendonker in too, but wouldn’t complain if Bennett stays in for this one - experience of how Cardiff play is a big thing - I could imagine the Donk being shocked at some of the crap they come up with.

 

[Johnny75]

Where has this nonsense come from that Costa goes missing if he's tackled hard?

I've not seen that in his game at any point.

 

[Kenny]

Must have been on the end of a nasty challenge about 0.1 seconds into the game on Sunday...

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Where has this nonsense come from that Costa goes missing if he's tackled hard?

I've not seen that in his game at any point.

It certainly happened v Spurs, he got knobbled in the challenge that lead to Dembele going off.

Not sure of another instance though?

 

[MARKakaJIM]

I don't think you've understood him if you think that. He's saying that changing formations to attack/ defend depending on opponent isn't in his philosophy and his mind set is to impose his style of play on the opposition not the other way around.

Strength through a superior system, if you like, and the better you are at it the harder it will be for the opposition to cope with it. I'm not sure I agree with it completely but I can understand his reasoning.

I do remember one D. Saunders changing formation after 10 minutes of a game because he had pre-planned it. Didn't work.

Up until the point where he said about 'relying on the opposition' then that's how I would've taken it too but that part just confused things for me.

I'd agree that an attacking and defensive formation would generally be somewhat over the top and you can certainly play offensively or defensively within pretty much any formation, I think he goes too far the opposite way and seems to suggest that mentality and player input almost exclusively impact on the overall success of the plan. Sometimes it's beyond the individuals on the pitch to sufficiently alter the course of the game on their own, either through opposition tactics successfully negating their approach or just poor performance on the day, and a tactical or formation change can, and is sometimes needed, to swing things back in their favour by cancelling out what the opposition have set up to do.

 

[Carrotdude]

It certainly happened v Spurs, he got knobbled in the challenge that lead to Dembele going off.

Not sure of another instance though?

Fulham away last year rings a bell but I wouldn’t say it’s a constant trait of his

 

[Tony Towner]

Marriner is the ref. Moss for Chelsea

 

[YoungWolf]

Me either. I think it will be Costa and Jota who start.

That interview with Nuno is great and a really good insight not only for Wolves fans but for coaches.

This bit interested me:

"An idea is not a formation," he says. "If you embrace a project that will require time and patience then you need something to work on. So the first step of the project is to create an identity. If you don't have an identity then today you want this player and tomorrow another one. If you have an idea and a shape then this is how you develop an identity."

There are plenty of fans, especially on social media, going on about a lack of plan B, how he's being stubborn, like Wenger etc etc.

At Valencia and Porto (I know less about how he set up Rio Ave tactically) he was definitely not stubborn in terms of shape. At Porto he used switched formation half way through a season, and at Valencia he had several systems. The difference really being that he was at clubs with clearer identities and also better quality players.

As someone who loves what the likes of Guardiola and Pochettino do with their teams, my hope is that as we grow in time (and I hope Nuno is at Wolves for a long time) we become tactically more flexible. What I really enjoy about Tottenham is the way they are comfortable playing 3-4-3/4-3-3 and slight variations of those. The idea, as Nuno puts it, always stays the same. But you have to have that idea first. It took Spurs, a top level team anyway, time to become that way. They played 4-3-3 (two holding midfielders) for a couple of years until they were good enough to be able to change the shape like they do nowadays. But the way they play never really changes.

So maybe that is Nuno's thinking. We need to get to that level first before we can start making those more subtle changes to the shape like the top teams do. it's interesting nonetheless to me anyway!

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

LACK OF A PLAN B

=


GERRIT FORWARD

And should be treated with similar contempt.

 

[YoungWolf]

We need to sign a big man like Stefan Maierhofer or Yannick Sagbo