[FA Cup 4th Rnd] Wolves 1-0 Brighton: Verdict Thread

[Sniffer]

The atmosphere was absolutely banging tonight. Can't wait for the Quarter Final.

El Lycano?

 

[sycophantia]

The atmosphere was absolutely banging tonight. Can't wait for the Quarter Final.

Last 10 minutes or so when we were under the cosh, the South bank got going and the rest of the ground took it up, it was very impressive, helped get us over the line.

 

[The Bear]

Lemina:

“I had a little pain on my heel and I didn’t really want to risk it because we’ve got another game on Saturday and I want to be fit."

 

[The Bear]

Gazza:

On doing what it takes to win

“We haven’t done it in the prettiest way tonight. I’d love the progression of this team to be where we get it to a place where we can have more of the ball. Maybe if this game was played on a Saturday at 3pm after a week of preparation we’d have done it differently.

“But I’d like us to be a bit more progressive and a bit more of the team that has control. But short term is can we get results, can we do what we need to do to get results on the day, and the lads carried out what we asked of them extremely well.

“I’m delighted to get to the quarter-final, a home draw, so I’m really pleased, but there’s no rest because we’re travelling to St James’ Park in a day and a half, so the lads need to get recovered and get ready for another tough game.”

On changes paying off

“I was really pleased. It was a tough team to pick because obviously Channy has felt his hamstring a little bit, which for a squad as small as this, especially in that area of the pitch, is a disaster, but I’m trying to pick the right ones to play and the right ones to rest meant it was a tough couple of days for us. Channy’s [injury] doesn’t look too serious, but I’d be amazed if he plays at the weekend.

“The lads who came in, I thought Doc was excellent defensively, very, very good, Tommy Doyle was very good, Bellegarde caused them some problems, although he started to tire and lose his quality a little bit towards the end, but caused them some problems, so delighted that we were able to change it and still win the game because winning the game was the most important thing.

“We’re a small group and we can’t afford to just keep injuring people, so we needed to be clever. But apart from Channy, we managed to get through ok.”

On facing Coventry in the quarters

“Of course [there are tougher draws], you could get Man City away, Liverpool away, so there are tough games, but I’ve seen quite a bit of Coventry and they play some fantastic stuff, so to play them here, in front of our fans, there will be huge expectation on us, but it won’t be easy. It definitely won’t be easy.

“The lads will know how I feel about that game straight away, and we’ll be really clear on how we approach it. We’ve not been fantastic against teams who are below is in the league this season, so it’s going to be a really tough game.

“We’ve got a few more really important games between now and then as well – the lads have to go to Newcastle in two days’ time and it’s crazy really, a crazy schedule, but we’ll recover and we’ll do our best to go to St James’ Park and see if we can get another result.”

On the draw being made before kick-off

“I was made aware of the draw, and it does seem strange. I don’t think it was added motivation. The moment we travelled to Brentford to play in the third round, we set out with the aim to win the FA Cup.

“We know there are a huge amount of hurdles in the way and it’s going to be really tough, but to win every competition has to be your aim. We went down to ten men and had to scrap for 90 minutes with ten at Brentford, we had to go for 120 in the replay, so the lads are taking the competition really seriously.

“Whoever we got in the next round, we were desperate to win again tonight – especially against Brighton because we haven’t beaten them in a while, I’ve never beaten them as a coach and these players haven’t beaten them in the last five attempts, so it was an important game for us, regardless of who we had. But a home draw is good for us because we love playing here.”

 

[Lupo]

Not seen anything of the game as I'm up in Newcastle and been out tonight but get the fuck in, great result, great QF draw and great opportunity to go to Wembley again (without wishing to dismiss the Coventry challenge of course). Well done lads

 

[The Dude]

Think we looked better although not fluent once Hwang went off who is rapidly joining messers Iwelumo and Bonatini as half season wonders. He's reverted to type dramatically.

He's not looked fit since he returned. You're really writing him off after three games though are ya?

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Also, the good news is this should mean we get one extra Prem game from Cunha, as the Bournemouth game will be moved back.

 

[The Bear]

Also, the good news is this should mean we get one extra Prem game from Cunha, as the Bournemouth game will be moved back.

Just came on to post that The Bournemouth game on 16th March will be postponed.

Playing it before Liverpool on Wed 15th May would be ideal in terms of an extra days rest afterwards, but April has plenty of midweek slots too.

April

Tue 2nd - Burnley (A) 7:45pm
Sat 6th - West Ham United (H) 3pm
Sat 13th - Nottingham Forest (A) 3pm
Sat 20th - Arsenal (H) 3pm
Sat 27th - Luton Town (H) 3pm

May

Sat 4th - Manchester City (A) 3pm
Sat 11th - Crystal Palace (H) 3pm
Sun 19th - Liverpool (A) 4pm

 

[Sniffer]

Hwang Hee-chan went down with what O’Neil described as a minor hamstring injury that will most likely rule him out of the trip to Newcastle. “I’ll be amazed if he plays Saturday,” the Wolves head coach said. “At least I can have another couple of days playing ‘Who plays No 9’ on my white board.”

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

They will leave a May midweek slot for the Arsenal game just in case we beat Coventry

 

[Squeak]

He's not looked fit since he returned. You're really writing him off after three games though are ya?

Not at all. He is a poor quality footballer who has had one golden spell in his time here. That didn't last too long.

Anyone who has watched football for any serious amount of time will know that he isn't good enough for the Prem. His touch is abysmal and frankly, there are hundreds of footballers who can control a football better than Hwang. He's playing at an elite level and demonstrating qualities far below that level. Who can forget some of our players laughing at him a couple of seasons ago when he failed to control the ball near the touchline?

On the plus side, he tries and he gives everything he has got but the fact is, he isn't good enough for a team with top 10 aspirations. So no, I don't think anyone is writing him off after three games at all. He's 28 years of age, played 87 games for us and scored 20 goals. Time to shift him on and find someone better while his market value is still at a reasonable level. He isn't improving and while he may still have decent good spells in form, his technical ability simply isn't where it needs to be.

And, all that said, I still like the guy and wish him all the best.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

I think he is prime for selling off the back of the purple patch. As long as we invest the money (yeah right)

 

[Wolf of Ashford]

I think with Hwang, he just has very limited skill set. He gets in good positions, makes good runs, work hard off the ball and is a decent finisher. That was what we had him doing earlier in the season and it worked well for him.

Last night, we needed him to hold the ball and retain possession in the the way Cunha does and he simply can't do it any more than Bellegarde can.
Which is why we so very obviously needed to sign a "number 9" in January

 

[Lycan]

I think it's no coincidence that his best spell here has been when he was injury free and getting consistent game time.

Before this season he's had a string of niggly little injuries and when fit has been in and out of the team. Once he gets past this latest injury and 'plays himself in' a little he'll be fine.

 

[Dire Wolf]

The problem is that I don't think he is very resilient. He gets a lot of innocuous injuries that seem like very minor knocks that keep him out for 2 or 3 games. He'll ask to be taken off at the drop of a hat and then miss the next game for something I think you see lot of players just get on with. I'm probably being harsh, but I'm fed up of seeing him wincing in pain at something that looks like nothing. He'd have a toughness rating of 1 on Champ Manager.

 

[Jinky]

The problem is that I don't think he is very resilient. He gets a lot of innocuous injuries that seem like very minor knocks that keep him out for 2 or 3 games. He'll ask to be taken off at the drop of a hat and then miss the next game for something I think you see lot of players just get on with. I'm probably being harsh, but I'm fed up of seeing him wincing in pain at something that looks like nothing. He'd have a toughness rating of 1 on Champ Manager.

Yeah, he’s not the most robust. When I saw him noticeably rubbing his hamstring before kicking off the second half I had a funny feeling something like this would happen.

He also seems to struggle with the mental side of the game. If something isn’t going quite right for him, he seems to go in to a shell rather than raising his game.

I’m not sure what we’ll end up doing. Common sense would say to sell him this summer if we get a decent offer as his stock will never be higher, but we have form for holding on to players that don’t kick a fuss up to leave for to long.

 

[The Saturday Boy]

Challenging for the top ten and not fighting a relegation battle. One home game away against a championship side for an FA Cup semi final. Not bad for a PE teacher.

Personally, I think our league form will take a hit from here on. We don’t have the depth in the squad, which shows, and the FA Cup is now a very real possibility. Despite not being in the game for 90 minutes, it wasn’t a stressful game…I thought the defence coped with everything and the midfield supported the effort admirably.

 

[Tony Towner]

Just came on to post that The Bournemouth game on 16th March will be postponed.

Playing it before Liverpool on Wed 15th May would be ideal in terms of an extra days rest afterwards, but April has plenty of midweek slots too.

April

Tue 2nd - Burnley (A) 7:45pm
Sat 6th - West Ham United (H) 3pm
Sat 13th - Nottingham Forest (A) 3pm
Sat 20th - Arsenal (H) 3pm
Sat 27th - Luton Town (H) 3pm

May

Sat 4th - Manchester City (A) 3pm
Sat 11th - Crystal Palace (H) 3pm
Sun 19th - Liverpool (A) 4pm

They are more flexible than they used to be re playing in European weeks, but I have a feeling they'll avoid them if they can. In between Luton and City would be my guess. 3 home games in 10 days.

 

[Carrotdude]

If we beat Coventry it’ll go between Palace and Liverpool right at the end of the season. Otherwise it’ll go between Arsenal and Luton.

Source: fantasy football nerds who are incredibly good at predicting fixtures

 

[Tony Towner]

If we beat Coventry it’ll go between Palace and Liverpool right at the end of the season. Otherwise it’ll go between Arsenal and Luton.

Source: fantasy football nerds who are incredibly good at predicting fixtures

If we were to beat Coventry the Arsenal game would also need rearranging