Dull as ditchwater FC

[Deutsch Wolf]

You're watching through a mirror, for some reason

But Raul does pull out left a lot. Mind he always has done.

 

[Paul]

I'm happy to give Nuno the benefit of the doubt for now .

That's very magnanimous of you my dear

 

[sycophantia]

Yeah Raul has always pulled out wide and come deep.
Thought he was very clever for his goal the other day, every corner we had was headed out to the edge of the box, Neves is always closed down there these days and Raul spotted this and drifted out when the corner came in

 

[WolfmanOz]

I’d echo the view that this has been an outstanding thread with plenty of food for thought, without the hyperbole and emotion that we see on some other threads.

I hope Nuno actually reads this - we have some excellent football analysts !

 

[Norman Deeley]

I watched some of Atalanta vs. Ajax last night, simply because I've seen a suggestion somewhere that Atalanta might be our model. I certainly hope so - they were great to watch. A very fast 3-4-2-1 (at least that's what it looked to me) with quick, technical forwards and the width coming from the WBs - Semedo and RAN looked absolutely ideal for that system

 

[Boozad]

Ilicic and Gomez are brilliant for them, Gomez can be fantastic to watch.

 

[Norman Deeley]

Ilicic and Gomez are brilliant for them, Gomez can be fantastic to watch.

Gomez is just lovely to watch isn't he?

 

[Boozad]

Gomez is just lovely to watch isn't he?

Such a great little player. I think he’s be great in the PL but he’s the wrong age to be making the move now.

 

[YoungWolf]

I've just been watching the game back (twitter thread to follow...)

Wouldn't describe us as dull. More frustrating.

Bad decisions in the final third. Lots of shots from silly angles/distances when there were potential passes on or opportunities to get into the box first. Podence and Neto both worked closer to Raul than previously so there was an obvious improvement in that regard IMO having the chance to watch back, even if on occasions they are too deep or wide. It was more their decision making around the penalty area that let them down, as well as not making the most of a couple of opportunities each of them had inside the box in the second half.

Saiss didn't have a bad game but he definitely wasn't an attacking threat and although Marcal is quicker and moves the ball swiftly neither really was he. Ait-Nouri is the option to add more threat round the outside so definitely keen to see him, even if it is off the bench on Friday.

 

[Jinky]

Not sure where else to post this, but this has been an interesting thread so thought this might add to it. Stumbled across this earlier -



“Smart passes” are defined as incisive, defence-splitting ones. The kind we see from De Bruyne (clearly) on a regular basis.

Basically the graph shows the amount of smart passes and forward passes made by players in the PL. If the player is high on the graph, that means they do lots of decent smart ones. If they’re far right, they do lots of forward ones. Ideally, you’d want to be in the top right.

On this front, Neto is the worst scoring player in the PL (from the players selected)

Obviously it doesn’t account for lots of other things. Forward runs, dribbles, etc. Neto being a ball carrier. We give him the ball and he often gets us up the pitch 50-60 yards. But there’s clearly an argument to be made that he needs to massively improve his end product or “smart” passing.

Nuno leaves no stone unturned with his tactical analysis, so you imagine he’d be aware of something like this.

Given the above, and whilst Neto brings other qualities to the team, it wouldn’t surprise me *too* much if Adama comes back in for him at some point. It’s odd, because Nuno has put a lot of faith in Neto this season.

 

[lemonjelly]

to be fair, given Neto has frequently been the most advanced player we have, to expect him to be anywhere else is unreasonable.

 

[Norman Deeley]

I suppose the obvious comment you'd make is that it is far easier for Neves to play a forward pass than for Neto to play one, given where they receive the ball. But equally maybe it points to the fact that we commit so few men forward and therefore Neto's only option is to play it back. What would be really interesting is to see a comparison graph after, say, another ten games

 

[slink]

I've just been watching the game back (twitter thread to follow...)

Wouldn't describe us as dull. More frustrating.

Bad decisions in the final third. Lots of shots from silly angles/distances when there were potential passes on or opportunities to get into the box first. Podence and Neto both worked closer to Raul than previously so there was an obvious improvement in that regard IMO having the chance to watch back, even if on occasions they are too deep or wide. It was more their decision making around the penalty area that let them down, as well as not making the most of a couple of opportunities each of them had inside the box in the second half.

Saiss didn't have a bad game but he definitely wasn't an attacking threat and although Marcal is quicker and moves the ball swiftly neither really was he. Ait-Nouri is the option to add more threat round the outside so definitely keen to see him, even if it is off the bench on Friday.

Late getting back in to this thread but i agree with everything said here. The game was extremely frustrating from a Wolves perspective as you can see what we're capable of at times and it doesn't always come off and then we can look pragmatic, rigid, boring etc...

Definitely lots of bad decisions in the final third from Neto, Podence and Raul which costs us regularly imo, they don't pick the right option often enough which would take our performances up a notch. We look a much better side when those 3 are narrow and link with each other and this would also allow us to get more players in the box. We have a tendency at times to sort of play the ball in a semi circle around the pitch rather than be incisive through the middle and this especially happens once Adama comes on. We stick him in the corner and get him to run to the byline and cross the ball in to one or two men at most. I'd love to see him come inside more and use his pace to run at centre backs and make him more unpredictable.

Saiss and Marcal give you a solid base at lwb but they are never going to give you the mobility and link play that Jonny gives us or that Ait-Nouri might be able to give us. The quicker RAN plays the better imo but it also needs Nuno to see that the front 3 need to be narrower to allow the wing backs to provide the width and other players can then hit the box.

It's going to be interesting watching us over the next few months to see if we can transition in to the style Nuno wants and whether that style will work. I definitely think it can do with the players we have but it will all come down to how Nuno can get players closer together and in more dangerous areas and then whether the players are good enough then to give us the end product.

 

[YoungWolf]

I've just been watching the game back (twitter thread to follow...)

Wouldn't describe us as dull. More frustrating.

Bad decisions in the final third. Lots of shots from silly angles/distances when there were potential passes on or opportunities to get into the box first. Podence and Neto both worked closer to Raul than previously so there was an obvious improvement in that regard IMO having the chance to watch back, even if on occasions they are too deep or wide. It was more their decision making around the penalty area that let them down, as well as not making the most of a couple of opportunities each of them had inside the box in the second half.

Saiss didn't have a bad game but he definitely wasn't an attacking threat and although Marcal is quicker and moves the ball swiftly neither really was he. Ait-Nouri is the option to add more threat round the outside so definitely keen to see him, even if it is off the bench on Friday.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1321861277933834240

Thread

 

[Alan]

I used to think that the "head down, run into an alley" thing was just a Jota problem, but Neto and Raul have both been doing it this season. I really hope it isn't something they're coached to do as I think it really hurts our ability to control the game in an attacking sense.

 

[sycophantia]

I used to think that the "head down, run into an alley" thing was just a Jota problem, but Neto and Raul have both been doing it this season. I really hope it isn't something they're coached to do as I think it really hurts our ability to control the game in an attacking sense.

Raul has done it quite often in the past, I've always thought our forward players main weakness has been decision making....tbf our 'on the break' style sometimes leaves them with few options

 

[Tony Towner]

Jota and Raul have always had their Freddy moments, but so does Kane. It sort of goes with the territory, Raul wasted 2 reasonable chances, one he needed to take a touch, but still would have been hard, the other he should have passed and scores a third difficult shot, it's a decent return. Our issue is we don't create that much so Raul and formally Jota feel like they have to do too much

 

[Alan]

I guess I would say that we would create more if they held the ball more effectively and allowed the rest of the shape to move up.

 

[Tony Towner]

I don't particularly disagree, but when you are waiting for someone to come on your outside, because nobody ever runs on beyond I can see why they feel/felt the need to do it themselves

 

[Boozad]

I guess I would say that we would create more if they held the ball more effectively and allowed the rest of the shape to move up.

And that's where the transition comes in. We've never played like that since we got promoted, we were the epitome of fast counter attacking football, what we're trying to do now is streets away from that. It will take time and it's on Nuno to get it right.