Just how good were/was/is/are (Wolves Edition)

[Deutsch Wolf]

He does hide, watch him next time Shrewsbury are on TV. He's supposed to be the big name there, he puts himself in positions where he can't possibly receive the ball.

9 of those goals were in League One, it's 32 in 254 without those. A frankly pathetic 11 in his first five and a half seasons with us and yet he had the reputation as a goalscoring midfielder somehow!

 

[YoungWolf]

I'm still a bit annoyed that Ken binned off Jacobs in the Championship and played Edwards there every single fucking game. So stupid.

Same, I really wanted Jacobs to have the opportunity to play (with some good players around him too) in that position. He linked our midfield and attack so well, whereas Edwards playing there caused such a huge gap. Although as others have pointed out sounded like Jacobs shot himself in the foot with his own attitude, shame.

Edwards for me as just so symbolic of why we struggled (and were so fucking awful to watch) for a good two years before Nuno arrived (and was part of the issues going back before then too, of course). Limited to no technical ability for that level, ran around like a headless chicken, in the team no matter how little impact he had on the game. So unambitious. We'd play someone different in that position (first Bright, then Cav) and have an upturn in performances and results then he'd somehow end up in the team again.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

He does hide, watch him next time Shrewsbury are on TV. He's supposed to be the big name there, he puts himself in positions where he can't possibly receive the ball.

9 of those goals were in League One, it's 32 in 254 without those. A frankly pathetic 11 in his first five and a half seasons with us and yet he had the reputation as a goalscoring midfielder somehow!

I think he does that through a lack of intelligence rather than purposely doing it though, that's what I am saying.

Why dismiss those 9 goals?

Would you dismiss Bull's league 3rd and 4th division goals?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Because we should never have been at that level and we were stupidly overpowered when we were there.

Bully did it consistently in the second tier, I would say those goals hold more value, yes.

 

[Kenny]

Too much hate for Dave here. He doesn't deserve OTT praise and he doesn't deserve the same level of shit some of our midfielders over the years have got.

In terms of hiding, I wouldn' say he hid. It was interesting to see him talk about his role at the Wolves Live Podcast thing he did. He used to do extra training on passing and Joe Gallen told him to stop wasting his time, never going to improve that but instead work on your position on the pitch and he was essentially asked to fill spaces and block off options and if the ball was won back then do his (apparently) trademark late run into the box.

Lambert was a tit with him because he actually had him in a postion where he was looking ok and then for no reason whatsoever, moved him from it.
The issue I would raise with Dave and it comes from his limitations, is he could only generally pass the ball in the directon he was facing. It didn't seem to have the footballing brain to be able to scan around him or have the awareness of people making runs or being space behind him and that led to him giving the ball away a lot or making a shit pass 10 yards when someone was free 30 yards away. We are of course spoilt now what we have in midfield. To have survived across 9 years (?) means he offered something to every manager he worked with bar Nuno and you know it was up for him when Nuno had to make adjustments to how he wanted to play to include him v Yeovil.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I think it's more redressing the balance than anything else. When you've got that dickhead Mikey Burrows and the likes of Timbo bigging him up as if he's a Salopian Iniesta, you're going to get a possibly disproportionate reaction to that.

I honestly hated watching him play, he was so poor.

 

[lemonjelly]

Edwards had many attributes, but the fact the main one missing was technical ability was critical.

If he had some technical prowess, then he could have been a really good footballer. Problem was, without it, the ball basically bounced off him a lot. His control was never great, and he couldn't hold up a ball. Maybe this is why he didn't do so bad with headers.

His engine and ability to get across lots of ground would have been superb, if it could have been utilised.

Had the had some technique, he could potentially have done something in a 10 role. I suspect we just kept hoping it'd work, as he did get occasional goals.

It has always been confusing to me how much time he spent injured. Seems like 5 of his 10 years was on the treatment table in some form or another.

 

[White Wolf]

Watching that video above he was way more of a weapon in the air than I ever remembered, actually some really good headers in there!

Was what jumped out at me also, I never thought so at the time but he can head the ball well. Good memories of his goal against Leeds.

Can't remember him adding much in the Prem. Defensively poor and a bit of a nothing midfielder. Only moments that stick out is the (crap) goal against Man City and a good finish v Fulham. At his best under Jackett in League One which shows his level, but I did think he got better defensively around that time. Ran around a lot in the Championship and wasn't totally ineffective, but still brought little. His best contributions were when he went on those good scoring runs very briefly and then contributed nothing for the reason of the season but still played because of it. Don Goodman, Mikey Burrows, Spiers, they all used to bang on constantly about how good a goalscoring midfielder he was, like he was the Frank Lampard of the Championship or something. So bizarre. His best season (statistically) was the one under Lambert but that was probably when my frustration with him peaked. What an awful #10. He did nothing, barely touched the ball. That 'performance' in the home loss to Birmingham under Zola was embarrassing. Fairly sure he was 2nd in the POTS vote that year as well (with Coady third). Why he got such an easy ride from the fanbase I'll never know. Was great to see Nuno move on him so fast, highlighted how we really were moving on in terms of style and personnel.

I've met him before and he was a really nice guy, so my dislike of him as a player has cooled a bit. Think it is a bit harsh to say he hid, put a lot of effort in but lacked the ability. Not his fault that managers kept picking him, I blame Jackett and especially Lambert for starting him so consistently. No ill will, wish him all the best.

 

[Lycan]

I don't necessarily think he hid either, just that he had no idea how to play that #10 role at all.

My issue with the 'goal scoring midfielder' tag that he had was that he was a truly dreadful finisher. Completely lacked any semblance of composure. More often than not he'd end up falling over whenever he tried to shoot.

As bad as he was as a #10 though... Does anyone remember the halcyon days of the Kenny Jackett midfield Rhombus? Dangerous Dave cutting in from the left. Football hell.

Sent from my GM1920 using Tapatalk

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

-------------------------Ikeme------------------------

Iorfa----------Ebanks-Landell-------Hause-------Golbourne

-------------------------McDonald-----------------------

---------------Coady----------------Edwards------------

------------------------Henry----------------------------

-------------------------Afobe---------------------------

-----------------------Le Fondre------------------------

What could go wrong?

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

Edwards should be one of my favourite ever players. He ticks almost every box with the primary one being effort and the second being that he's a nice guy. A really nice guy. The reason why he doesn't get anywhere near my top 50 is because he was such a poor player technically and I believe tactically, although being picked as often as he was for club and country means I probably haven't got a clue what I'm on about...
I occasionally watch Shrewsbury [I'm normally at a game somewhere if we aren't playing] and know several fans because of where I live. They were delighted when he was 'coming home' and despite my attempt to burst their bubble, they couldn't wait for him to sign. To say they've been underwhelmed by his return is being polite to him.

He does fantastic work with his charity and is personally involved and is not just a name, is no big time Charlie and has one of the best looking wives in the game!

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

My best mate from my uni days is a Reading fan. He'd heard me bang on about how shit Edwards was for years.

When I said they were signing him he refused to believe it for ages, thinking I was winding him up. Nope.

First WhatsApp message on his debut simply read "Christ".

 

[machin05]

-------------------------Ikeme------------------------

Iorfa----------Ebanks-Landell-------Hause-------Golbourne

-------------------------McDonald-----------------------

---------------Coady----------------Edwards------------

------------------------Henry----------------------------

-------------------------Afobe---------------------------

-----------------------Le Fondre------------------------

What could go wrong?

That looks like one of those cheat tactics on CM01/02

 

[Kenny]

His move to Reading made no sense at all. The way they played at the time was not one Edwards could have worked in at all. Another example of lazy transfer work.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

£3m for Edwards and Bödvarsson. Crazy scenes.

 

[YoungWolf]

That was incredible. How much did we get for Dicko?

That was an incredible transfer window, which still ended with people complaining that we didn't have enough strikers :icon_lol:

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

£3m for Dicko I think!

Fred was claiming we should have got £8m for him.

 

[Sniffer]

That was incredible. How much did we get for Dicko?

That was an incredible transfer window, which still ended with people complaining that we didn't have enough strikers :icon_lol:

I was one of them. I thought that one was waiting in the wings to finish off the excellent summer recruitment. Didn't we get Afobe in to get us over the line even though he was not suited to our style?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Afobe was right at the death in January (we also signed Rafa Mir).

We nearly signed Jürgen Locadia in that window but it fell through. A bullet dodged.

 

[YoungWolf]

Afobe was right at the death in January (we also signed Rafa Mir).

We nearly signed Jürgen Locadia in that window but it fell through. A bullet dodged.

Sat in the car crying apparently... and in response to Sniffer I would still have backed us to go up comfortably, though Afobe did OK.

And yeah definitely bullet dodged on Locadia