Norwich 0-0 Wolves: Verdict Thread

[Wilf Wolf]

I think what trincao is missing is what Neto, podence and Jota all have and that's aggression and determination. If he had that he'd be a very good player but without it the PL is going to be tough for him.

He looks like a public school boy playing against kids from Low Hill.

 

[Tony Towner]

Finishing aside he's looked decent in spells at home, but a passenger away. I don't see that changing

 

[sycophantia]

I like some of what I've seen from Trincao but it just isn't often enough and he doesn't seem to be getting any better. If Adama does leave in January I expect we'll keep him till the end of the season though.
Can't make my mind up about Hwang, he's got a good eye for goal but apart from that doesn't have much else. He does come back and do some defensive work and does work hard though. I understand what someone said about him being a better option up front than Silva should Raul get injured but I'm not confident it would be that much better.

 

[Johnny75]

I think signing Hwang is a bit of a no brainer, he's on 4 goals (a very small margin from that being 5) that kind of goal output is like gold dust when you aren't really getting many goals from elsewhere in the team outside Raul. Plus even if you disregard that and you didn't even want to use him, at 13m you'd be able to flip him immediately for a profit.

That's fair. And as Tredman says he could be a good sub.

I just hope buying him doesn't impact our budget too much for the obvious need of a CM and CB.

I'm interested to see what we do in recruitment as if we stay as we are I'd say we need a new RWB as Semedo isn't productive enough. Add to that an in-house forward of Pod can't stay fit and it becomes a real challenge to balance the squad.

It would make more sense to me to buy a CB and CM then move to 4 at the back. I think that works the end for Coady though.

 

[WolfMan]

The the way the team is set up has been hampering our forward players for ages. Jota could hardly get a game for us and now he's a goal machine at Liverpool, I don't think he's a better player just has more support.

I think every one of our forward players would look far better if we played a back four. Our forwards are better than our defenders, but it's being made to look like it's our forwards that are the problem when it's actually our defenders lack of quality that necessitates an approach that will never allow our forwards to shine.

 

[Aikiwolf]

Well, yesterday was a looong day! Out for near enough 15 hours!

The front three were really static yesterday, there didn't seem to be an attacking plan. We'd work the ball wide to Aït-Nouri but the front three would be all in a line just outside the box. Aït-Nouri would then pass back to Moutinho, and the front three were still stood in a line.

We really needed a striker to drop deep and one to run beyond the defence to try and stretch the game and disrupt Norwich.

The masterstroke of bringing Adama on for 20 minutes but then asking him to play him in 3 different positions is just bizarre. How anyone is supposed to influence a game when they're are shifting position every 7 mins is beyond me.

 

[AndyWolves]

The the way the team is set up has been hampering our forward players for ages. Jota could hardly get a game for us and now he's a goal machine at Liverpool, I don't think he's a better player just has more support.

I think every one of our forward players would look far better if we played a back four. Our forwards are better than our defenders, but it's being made to look like it's our forwards that are the problem when it's actually our defenders lack of quality that necessitates an approach that will never allow our forwards to shine.

I was just thinking something similar.

I also think that we expect a lot of our wingbacks to be creative but if they lose possession we immediately give the opposition a run at our CBs in wide areas. It's very risky for our wingbacks to be progressive.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

The masterstroke of bringing Adama on for 20 minutes but then asking him to play him in 3 different positions is just bizarre. How anyone is supposed to influence a game when they're are shifting position every 7 mins is beyond me.

Agreed, Trincao and Hwang are being afforded far more chance to perform than Adama just lately, and I'm not sure what they've done to deserve them.

 

[StuardoWulf]

I know we are sixth and I didn't expect us to be this high with our squad but our performances have been poor. The West Ham performance was over stated to f*** and the Everton miracle was only one half of good football. The only thing I've learnt this season is you can be shit and win.

Just glad we've amassed 20 points cus if we start losing and we will at some point we should be able to avoid any serious threat.

 

[sycophantia]

Agreed, Trincao and Hwang are being afforded far more chance to perform than Adama just lately, and I'm not sure what they've done to deserve them.

I agree to a certain extent but tbf Hwang has 4 goals and works harder than Adama. Now we have a good amount of points on the board I'm a bit surprised he hasn't gone back to Traore in an inside left position, if my memory serves that's where he played first 3 games and he looked more useful there.

 

[sycophantia]

I know we are sixth and I didn't expect us to be this high with our squad but our performances have been poor. The West Ham performance was over stated to f*** and the Everton miracle was only one half of good football. The only thing I've learnt this season is you can be shit and win.

Just glad we've amassed 20 points cus if we start losing and we will at some point we should be able to avoid any serious threat.

Think that's a bit harsh on the Wham and Everton performances, don't think anyone went ott. Wham was our best overall performance of the season against a form side and Everton, although they came at us second half, we coped quite easily.
However we do seem to struggle away, apart from Watford and the last 15 against Villa it's been a bit attritional. Southampton was a pragmatic performance with one moment of brilliance.
Not sure if it's Bruno setting us up this way or the players haven't got enough self confidence without the home support to play for prolonged periods on the front foot and default to safety first approach.

 

[prawnking]

The issue with the WBs is that Semedo can’t beat a man or cross, and RAN seems hesitant to do it now for some reason and his delivery is very hit and miss.

This is spot on, and is one of our main attacking problems imo.

Nothing wrong with either player, but the amount of possession they have so rarely leads to even a sniff of a decent attack or effort on goal

 

[Aikiwolf]

The issue with the WBs is that Semedo can’t beat a man or cross, and RAN seems hesitant to do it now for some reason and his delivery is very hit and miss.

What's the point of crossing if there's no one in the box?

Semedo played a decent cross yestersay (with Trincão at the back post) if that was Raúl it would probably have been a goal.

Other than that I can't really remember a single time we had bodies in the box that would have made a cross a sensible option

 

[prawnking]

What's the point of crossing if there's no one in the box?

Semedo played a decent cross yestersay (with Trincão at the back post) if that was Raúl it would probably have been a goal.

Other than that I can't really remember a single time we had bodies in the box that would have made a cross a sensible option

You're right, we don't often have enough bodies in the box, it's marginally better than last season but not by much and not consistently
It's a team problem, other players don't show often enough to give the WBs another option aside from getting in a crossing position, but also if that's what they aim to do 90% of the time, the rest of the team are going to react accordingly

 

[Papper]

Thought Norwich were organised through midfield and attack and got up and down the field in numbers far better than what we did. We struggled to create space and get balls in through the channels on the counter. All a bit slow and leggy compared to the highly energetic Norwich.

 

[Johnny75]

I agree to a certain extent but tbf Hwang has 4 goals and works harder than Adama. Now we have a good amount of points on the board I'm a bit surprised he hasn't gone back to Traore in an inside left position, if my memory serves that's where he played first 3 games and he looked more useful there.

Hwang has more goals in his 9 games for Wolves than Adama has in his last 68.

 

[Aikiwolf]

You're right, we don't often have enough bodies in the box, it's marginally better than last season but not by much and not consistently
It's a team problem, other players don't show often enough to give the WBs another option aside from getting in a crossing position, but also if that's what they aim to do 90% of the time, the rest of the team are going to react accordingly

I think it's a coaching thing. As much as we (rightly eulogised about the movement for Raúl's goal last week, this week we should be focused on how there was no attacking plan.

Podence being out at the last moment may have impacted but we should expect players to be able to step into the role and make different runs - that's pretty standard isn't it?!

 

[1986]

A point at Norwich is not to be sniffed at . Gets us up to 20 points with Burnley to come midweek .
Bruno keeps on talking about ' points , points and points ' . He is mad keen to get as many points as possible as quickly as possible and keep us safe for another season . That would also allow him to perhaps experiment with a back 4 come March for instance .
Playing a containing game in away fixtures is understandable , if not frustrating .
Speaking of which - people say our form away is poor - wins against Southanpton , Watford and Villa , plus draws against Leeds and Norwich and just two defeats against Leicester and Palace.........very little wrong with any of that .

I would still much prefer if he would play some of the younger players , even just for 10 minutes and see what happens . He's not even bringing on Fabio anymore now . Putting Moulden on the bench is OTT . If we get players in during January it will most likely be late January . That means no extra players for two months . One serious injury to our present first 11 leaves us very short . Jonny and Pedro are still a bit off returning . We just have Jordao training at present that is extra .

 

[The Bear]

Well Neves is out for the next game. So we'd better hope Joao and Donk hold up without injury during the Burnley game.

 

[Tony Towner]

A point at Norwich is not to be sniffed at . Gets us up to 20 points with Burnley to come midweek .
Bruno keeps on talking about ' points , points and points ' . He is mad keen to get as many points as possible as quickly as possible and keep us safe for another season . That would also allow him to perhaps experiment with a back 4 come March for instance .
Playing a containing game in away fixtures is understandable , if not frustrating .
Speaking of which - people say our form away is poor - wins against Southanpton , Watford and Villa , plus draws against Leeds and Norwich and just two defeats against Leicester and Palace.........very little wrong with any of that .

I would still much prefer if he would play some of the younger players , even just for 10 minutes and see what happens . He's not even bringing on Fabio anymore now . Putting Moulden on the bench is OTT . If we get players in during January it will most likely be late January . That means no extra players for two months . One serious injury to our present first 11 leaves us very short . Jonny and Pedro are still a bit off returning . We just have Jordao training at present that is extra .

There's a lot wrong with this starting with the fact you said last week it was a must win game, so by your own metric the first sentence is, to be polite, inconsistent

Secondly nobody has said our away form is poor. What has been said is that the results have been better than the performances which won't be sustainable in the long run.

Who is on the bench from the U23s is irrelevant, doesn't matter who it is, they aren't going to play, so whether that's Moulden, Campbell, Richards or whoever they aren't coming on. Cundle is at the front of the queue, has been on the bench for every league game I think and has played 0 minutes in them.