General Wolves News

[darlowolf64]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/5004789/wolves-nuno-santo-espirito-ruben-neves-championship/

Finally, a report that doen't expect to breach FFP. Shame it had to be in the Sun, but ...

I was just going to post this Tom Barclay piece (with the same Sun apology). Pretty decent article

 

[MARKakaJIM]

By the same token we were picking Solbakken up after he'd been a disaster at Köln. Nuno has nothing like that on his CV. He just wouldn't have come into that environment.

You can't give Stale a free pass I'm afraid. The whole club had an element of dysfunction about it (and that only got progressively worse over the next 9-10 months) but he is as much to blame as any factors that he couldn't influence.

For a kick off why did we always look absolutely shattered after 60 minutes? Not as if we were playing a really high tempo, hard pressing game either. Quite the opposite.

I'm not giving him a free pass, he certainly did things wrong, like the lack of flexibility that you've already criticised him for. I was merely trying to add some balance, Nuno hasn't had to face a situation where you could argue over him being stubborn yet because he's come into a more much streamlined operation where the squad was already more able, the recruitment more focused to his needs and with the resources to make it all possible, he's had pretty much everything his way so far.

If the two had come into the clubs at the opposite times then perhaps they would've faired oppositely, I don't think it's as simple as Wolves are flying now solely because Nuno is the next big thing in football management and failed after relegation purely because Solbakken was a stubborn git.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

It isn't just luck that every single one of our summer signings (bar the injured Ofosu-Ayeh) has worked out. We know enough about Nuno now to say that he would have final say over everyone coming in.

 

[Johnny75]

I'm not giving him a free pass, he certainly did things wrong, like the lack of flexibility that you've already criticised him for. I was merely trying to add some balance, Nuno hasn't had to face a situation where you could argue over him being stubborn yet because he's come into a more much streamlined operation where the squad was already more able, the recruitment more focused to his needs and with the resources to make it all possible, he's had pretty much everything his way so far.

If the two had come into the clubs at the opposite times then perhaps they would've faired oppositely, I don't think it's as simple as Wolves are flying now solely because Nuno is the next big thing in football management and failed after relegation purely because Solbakken was a stubborn git.

Not sure I agree with this. Nuno has come in and changed everything around, stripped things out and built them back up by putting players in correct places instead of trying to get them to do something they couldn't. Not one of the players had been used to a possession type game and to my knowledge there wasn't a single player that had played this formation.

I guess the big difference between the two situations is the meddling from the board/ outside agents who were clearly buying players and Nuno having a friendly agent and owners who are willing to do things his way. That's where Moxey was detrimental to the running of the club and it is noticeable that more coaches, better commercial staff and a general sense of letting people be good at what they are actually employed to do has been as important to the success of the club as merely gifting the manager the reins.

 

[White Wolf]

Depends, if you're saying the recruitment was erratic are you putting it wholesale down to him or the setup as a whole? Because if we're picking and choosing which of the signings were "his", then you could probably only go with Sigurdarson and Margreitter. Both flops. He also wanted us to sign Demidov whose post-2012 career does not inspire confidence that he'd have worked out. I suppose his other target Geromel looks a little bit better. Somen Tchoyi would have been a bloody awful signing.

It wasn't an easy situation for him and doubtless not everything was as it said in the brochure. But he made too many of his own mistakes and didn't change things either personnel or system wise when it was apparent that we just couldn't make his ideas work with what he had.

I'll give him credit for ditching Zubar inside the first month of the season but we're talking about a man who thought it was a good idea to pair Roger Johnson and Christophe Berra then play a defensive line around 10 yards shy of the halfway line (and for the first month of the season, Zubey Zubes daydreaming 20 yards behind the rest of the back four and playing everyone onside)

Peszko also, surely? Played under Solbakken at Cologne. Thought he seemed decent. Would explain why Deano never played him...

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Peszko also, surely? Played under Solbakken at Cologne. Thought he seemed decent. Would explain why Deano never played him...

Yes, good shout (and didn't cost us much at all). Actually we went to pot after he got injured vs Palace, or should I say Palace injured him.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

It isn't just luck that every single one of our summer signings (bar the injured Ofosu-Ayeh) has worked out. We know enough about Nuno now to say that he would have final say over everyone coming in.

Personally I don't think that's a known at all, as with any club operating a head coach/recruitment guy kind of setup the fans will never really know where the ultimate balance of power lies, Nuno has worked in that kind of setup in all his previous jobs so I don't see it as such a given that he's the one having the final say so on every incoming player. It could just be that the club is now functioning better under this system, having everyone on the same page so even the players that Nuno might not have had any previous knowledge of have been bought in to function within his desired style, I don't really see the likes of Ofosu-Ayeh, Douglas or even N'Diaye having Nuno's fingerprints on them but that doesn't matter as long as the person responsible is on the same wavelength.

I think what's certain is that there's obviously a much better connection through the different sections of the club now than there has been for years, the owners have a connection in the business side of the sport through Gestifute, Mendes has a lot of sway with players/managers to help sell the club to them and that understanding is bearing fruit, they're all singing off the same hymn sheet. It's a world apart from previous years where Moxey only seemed to care about the balance sheet, the guy above him didn't seem to have a clue about anything and the manager just got left to sort of do whatever they wanted footballing wise within those constraints.

Not sure I agree with this. Nuno has come in and changed everything around, stripped things out and built them back up by putting players in correct places instead of trying to get them to do something they couldn't. Not one of the players had been used to a possession type game and to my knowledge there wasn't a single player that had played this formation.

I guess the big difference between the two situations is the meddling from the board/ outside agents who were clearly buying players and Nuno having a friendly agent and owners who are willing to do things his way. That's where Moxey was detrimental to the running of the club and it is noticeable that more coaches, better commercial staff and a general sense of letting people be good at what they are actually employed to do has been as important to the success of the club as merely gifting the manager the reins.

I don't think the formation is a massive issue personally, players like Costa, Cavaleiro and Saiss were here before Nuno and capable of playing the game 'the right way' even if they hadn't played this formation before, even some of the others like Marshall, Price, Ronan, even Doherty(!) have shown to have enough quality to not look completely out of place with the ball at their feet so I don't think it's been quite the amazing revolution of all that existed before Nuno. The scope of clients that Mendes has made attainable that has made the biggest difference, and of course the collaboration to ensure those that were recruited fitted in with the planned style of football, the whole club is pulling in the same direction now, from the very top down everyone is on the same page and that makes a far bigger difference than any one individual in the chain being better than a predecessor.

 

[YoungWolf]

I liked Stale, and the environment he came into was pretty toxic, but too many things conspired against him. He had just come off the back of a pretty disastrous season at Cologne, and we had just been relegated. He came in with ideas far too complex for the players, who themselves did not play for him as soon as it got tough. I don't think Solbakenn was ruthless enough, he gave Johnson, Ward, Henry, Doyle etc chances when it needed ripping up and starting again. Those who really were committed would have shown it in performances, like Coady has done under Nuno.

Nuno would have done a lot better in the same situation IMO.

 

[Tony Towner]

I liked Stale, and the environment he came into was pretty toxic, but too many things conspired against him. He had just come off the back of a pretty disastrous season at Cologne, and we had just been relegated. He came in with ideas far too complex for the players, who themselves did not play for him as soon as it got tough. I don't think Solbakenn was ruthless enough, he gave Johnson, Ward, Henry, Doyle etc chances when it needed ripping up and starting again. Those who really were committed would have shown it in performances, like Coady has done under Nuno.

Nuno would have done a lot better in the same situation IMO.

As you have alluded to the big difference between the two is Nuno came in from day one, decided on his formation and style of play and from friendly one played it, he recruited players with it in mind and gave players already in the squad the chance to see if they fitted into it. In reality he'd made his mind up on the likes of Doherty, Batth, Coady, Edwards, Dadi, Graham, Dicko etc etc before the season had started and didn't have to wait for meaningful football to understand whether they could or couldn't do what he wanted. Stale thought he could make the likes of Johnson, Henry, Doyle etc play the way he wanted, when he should have seen a lot earlier they weren't capable of it.

 

[Alan]

Ståle was not helped by being persuaded to keep some of the old staff on board. I think the biggest boon to Nuno (aside from Fosun + Mendes) has been that he was allowed to clear out the ENTIRE coaching staff.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

As you have alluded to the big difference between the two is Nuno came in from day one, decided on his formation and style of play and from friendly one played it, he recruited players with it in mind and gave players already in the squad the chance to see if they fitted into it. In reality he'd made his mind up on the likes of Doherty, Batth, Coady, Edwards, Dadi, Graham, Dicko etc etc before the season had started and didn't have to wait for meaningful football to understand whether they could or couldn't do what he wanted. Stale thought he could make the likes of Johnson, Henry, Doyle etc play the way he wanted, when he should have seen a lot earlier they weren't capable of it.

I don't think it would've made much difference, their wasn't the same ability to bring in new players as there is now so he'd have likely only had been able to replace them with kids or gambles like Sigurdarson. He came with a plan but he didn't have the players to give it a real go and then he had no alternative approach to make a fist of what he had.

 

[Alan]

I don't think it would've made much difference, their wasn't the same ability to bring in new players as there is now so he'd have likely only had been able to replace them with kids or gambles like Sigurdarson. He came with a plan but he didn't have the players to give it a real go and then he had no alternative approach to make a fist of what he had.

And tbf I don't think we saw Sig as a gamble, the hype around him at the time was properly nuts. "Next Zlatan" FFS.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

And tbf I don't think we saw Sig as a gamble, the hype around him at the time was properly nuts. "Next Zlatan" FFS.

I don't think anyone was expecting the next Zlatan, more that he'd been the next best thing since Zlatan came through that league.

 

[Alan]

I don't think anyone was expecting the next Zlatan, more that he'd been the next best thing since Zlatan came through that league.

Putting aside that Zlatan never played in Tippeligaen, you're right that I don't think anyone expected Sig to truly be the next Ibra but I don't think anyone expected him to be the nothing player he turned out to be.

Shame. Such good hair.

 

[b3h]

Do you know Romain Smith?

 

[Nando]

Nuno charged with improper conduct along with Parkinson.

 

[The Bear]

http://www.skysports.com/football/n...uno-espirito-santo-and-boltons-phil-parkinson

What a load of nonsense this is btw. Handbags at its finest. Plus Nuno was barely involved.

 

[jdrodrigues]

I'm planning an holidays for March / April and I've been looking at games at Molineux around that time. Albion seemed like a promising date, at March 17th.

Do the dates fluctuate a lot or are they pretty much set and change, at most, a day before / after?

Thanks guys!

 

[Tony Towner]

It'll be sometime between the Friday and Monday evenings...and please call them Burton [emoji6]

 

[jdrodrigues]

It'll be sometime between the Friday and Monday evenings...and please call them Burton [emoji6]

Fair enough!

Thanks for the info!