Pre-Season 2017

[Johnny75]

RE: the captaincy, it's also nothing like as big a deal in other countries as it is in this one. Really wouldn't read too much into Batth/Edwards having it so far in these three friendlies.

Wouldn't surprise me if Batth or Edwards were named club captain with a playing captain named on the day. Neither player will start in my opinion.

 

[Parkins left foot]

Wouldn't surprise me if Batth or Edwards were named club captain with a playing captain named on the day. Neither player will start in my opinion.

Didn't Craddock have that role in his last season despite not really playing that much?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

RE: the captaincy, it's also nothing like as big a deal in other countries as it is in this one. Really wouldn't read too much into Batth/Edwards having it so far in these three friendlies.

As Tony says, deposing the incumbent and immediately installing your own man is a one way street to dressing room discontent. For now Nuno still needs this lot on board. Eventually he'll just get rid of them, but we can't do that in one go in 10 weeks or so.

Ask Stale how it goes when the players don't want to play for you...or actually just ask us lot who watched it unfold

 

[Johnny75]

Didn't Craddock have that role in his last season despite not really playing that much?

He did, it's almost ceremonial.

 

[Langers]

He did, it's almost ceremonial.

Ricketts had a similar role.

As for today, really like the look of Ronan, Miranda and Douglas in this system. Plenty of promise there. And Doherty of all people hasn't looked out of place. Not convinced at all by Deslandes or Mason.

Neves looks a level above this lot.

 

[rather sceptical wolf]

They're playing as inside forwards but I'd still say even that isn't Bright's game (not yet anyway). He's a #10 or a second striker, basically nothing else.

Bearing in mind I haven't seen too much of him, he never struck me as the playmaking type of number 10. How much of a difference is there really between a second striker and an inside forward then? A slightly wider position out of possession and being, in theory, stuck on one side? You're still doing much of the same work requiring the same set of skilld - linking up with the centre forward, runners and overlapping wing backs, and using your pace against centre backs. The terminology is somewhat vague in my eyes, but the point is he really should be able to do them both. The issue is more likely to be one of a lack of first team experience, or perhaps (and if so more worryingly) of footballing intelligence. A loan move will sort it out one way or another, and if he turns out to be good enough I'm sure he'll adapt to a slightly different role.

 

[leedswolf]

I see the opposition have Zorro playing for them

A fox in the box?

 

[Lycan]

It's been a very positive tour IMO. I think in the first 15 minutes of the second half of the Jablonec game we looked absolutely shattered and after the 2nd half changes our overall quality out wide/up front dropped (as it did in the previous two games) so we struggled to create chances.

I'm a big fan of the formation, defensively it's rock solid. We've conceded 2 goals from set pieces, the second being a routine save palmed into the net by our 3rd/4th choice keeper, but I can't recall any of our opponents creating any clear cut chances through general play. Not even Bremen when they were controlling the play in the second half. Very impressive considering we've basically built the defence from scratch and have only been playing together for 3 weeks. The way I see it, when the opposition have the ball out wide the near side wing back drops into the back line to make it a 4 and the far side wing back moves into midfield to act as a 3rd DM. Very hard to break down.

The new signings all look like improvements:
- Ruben Neves. If you love football you love Ruben Neves. Baller.
- Barry Douglas. Really like the look of Baz, he's got a lovely touch, great work ethic to get up and down the line and whenever he's been tested defensively he's dealt with it calmly and decisively.
- Willy Boly. One of the biggest positives from this tour IMO. He looks perfect for the Championship and for our new style of play. Huge, fast, strong in the tackle and keeps it simple in possession.
- Roderick Miranda. Really impressed, thought he was excellent vs Plzen when he played 90 minutes. A bit more ambitious with his passing than Boly.
- Ryan Bennett. Looks like a solid Championship defender. Very similar player to Batth really, they'll both need to work hard to adapt to the new formation but will be good back up for us.
- John Ruddy. Yep. That's definitely John Ruddy. Looks like he's slimmed down from last season.
- Will Norris. Impressed. Looks very calm and distributes the ball well. Just a gut feeling but I wouldn't be surprised if he won the pre-season GK battle with Ruddy and made his debut vs Boro.

The new style/formation really suits a few of our old players as well. I've been really impressed with Cavaleiro on this tour, he looks really sharp, he's going to be a huge player for us this season. Dicko has scored a few, Jack Price looks to have played his way back into contention after seemingly being close to an exit and what about Conor Coady? What a transformation! If you'd told me a few weeks ago that we could be going into the season with Coady at the centre of a 3 man defence I would've been furious but having seen it in action it really works. Boly & Rodders look like our 2 best centre backs but Batth, Hause & Bennett will have their work cut out trying to win the 3rd spot back off of Coady now.

I'm happy with Connor Ronan's progression as well. He'll end up back in the middle eventually but right now I think it's wise to play him wider and further forward. Neves & Ronan would be far too lightweight in the middle and out of possession Connor still looks a little unsure of himself. He's quite tenacious but Nuno is asking him to do a lot more than just chase around snapping at opposition players and I think he's struggling with positioning atm. Having said that, when he actually gets on the ball his quality is clear to see and I'm delighted that he's getting the chance to prove himself with the first team. I don't want to get into the Enobakhare debate as it's been done to death and I'm not sure it's fair to be writing off a 19 year old so soon, certainly not one with Bright's natural ability with the ball at his feet. He's got a lot of learning to do though and, similar to Mason, I just don't see where he fits into this formation. I think it's clear to see that Deslandes & Simpson aren't ready yet, Simpson might never be. I'd send both out on loan.

There are a few that are getting left by the wayside. I think Batth & Bennett have got a lot of adapting to do to fit into this defence and I'm STILL not sure what kind of player Joe Mason is supposed to be. He'd look okay as a second striker in a 4-4-2 (even allowing for his hit-and-miss finishing ability) but seems to struggle with almost every other role he's been asked to play. Once again, really poor scouting on our part, if someone offered us £1M right now I'd cut our losses and sell him. Edwards is going to struggle in this formation, he's not going to be able to make those late runs into the box as regularly and our 3-4-3 calls for more defensive discipline than really suits Eddo. Take away his high press/nuisance factor and his goal scoring and you're left with a very run of the mill footballer I'm afraid.

If the Boro game was tomorrow this is how I'd line up considering all the injuries/suspensions:

Norris
Miranda Coady Boly
Doherty Neves Price Douglas
Zyro Dicko Ronan

SUBS: Ruddy, Batth, Bennett, Deslandes, Saiss, Edwards, Enobakhare​

​
Obviously some huge weaknesses in there with Cavaleiro, Costa, Marshall, Gibbs-White, Graham, Ofosu-Ayeh & Hause unavailable right now but I'm very happy with how the squad is shaping up. We clearly need to buy/loan a centre forward and another LWB but I'm not worried about that yet, I've a feeling recruitment was put on hold while we were away in Austria and we'll get the last of our business concluded fairly quickly now we're back. Mason & Evans will be sold, Burgoyne, Simpson & Deslandes out on loan and I think Enobakhare will go out on loan as well but only towards the end of the window once we've signed a striker and a few of the injured players have made their comebacks. Maybe a few of the other U23's as well like Wilson, Ennis and Herc.

 

[Langers]

Good post mate. That's pretty much my POV from it all too. Though I think Ruddy will start the season as the number 1, it's great that we appear to have a more than able back up who will challenge him for the shirt. Totally agree with Coady - great to see. Even Matt Doherty impressed me!

I think there's still plenty to do and we must be patient when the season starts, there will be times when the system doesn't work for us. It won't just click into place at 3pm on the 5th August but as long as we see some progress, I think the fans will buy into the new look Wolves.

And there'll be new faces to come in as well - at least one striker and another LB/LWB are required as a priority.

 

[machin05]

Top post Lycan. Having only fleetingly watched some of the preseason games it's good to read aconsidered, informed and balanced account from someone who actually pays attention!

 

[Siggy]

Good post Lycan hard to believe we are warming to Coady but that role suits him so much more than RB or CM

Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

 

[Kenny]

Good post Lycan hard to believe we are warming to Coady but that role suits him so much more than RB or CM

Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

Defensively he was fine at Right Back, not that often he was done there. His downfall was when he had to attack, He got the occasional good ball in but a lot of the time it was wasted. So no surprise he has adapted fine to being in the middle of the 3 quite well.

 

[darlowolf64]

Any highlights yet?

There are now...

5 minutes worth. I hope this is a sign of things to come on the Wolves YouTube channel, extended highlights instead of the rubbish 2 minutes that Sky give us

 

[Lycan]

There are now...

5 minutes worth. I hope this is a sign of things to come on the Wolves YouTube channel, extended highlights instead of the rubbish 2 minutes that Sky give us

We'll get to watch the full game back with Wolves TV this year wont we?

 

[darlowolf64]

We'll get to watch the full game back with Wolves TV this year wont we?

Yes if we pay for it...I don't intend on doing so and will be really happy with good extended highlights

 

[darlowolf64]

Ah bless them...

 

[Tony Towner]

I can see teams putting a central midfielder to almost man mark Neves, certainly the tactic more often than not will be to press him quickly. Hopefully he'll be able to find the time and the space to knock the ball around like he does in that video

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I can see teams putting a central midfielder to almost man mark Neves, certainly the tactic more often than not will be to press him quickly. Hopefully he'll be able to find the time and the space to knock the ball around like he does in that video

They probably will, but he's no slowpoke like K-Mac or say, Shelvey. He's pretty nimble and has a good turn of pace. You can't just stick a man on him and it's job done.

 

[Lycan]

Agree with Dan, you'd have to double or triple mark him if you wanted to completely take him out of the game. His touch, ability to avoid the high press and reading of the game would make him almost impossible to mark 1v1. He doesn't need much space to knock the ball around in, he makes it for himself.

I think unfortunately what most teams will do is kick him. It'll probably work as well, unless the ref gets on top of it early on.

 

[Langers]

I noticed in the last few games that Neves knows where he's passing the ball way before it reaches him. He lays it off so quickly and is always on for a pass. It's very difficult to mark someone like that - especially when he drops deep. I remember England trying and failing to contain Pirlo when he did that in the 2012 Euros.

As Lycan says, they'll try and physically stop him early on - I don't know how he'll react to that, but his partner in the middle (whoever that is) will need to take some of the heat off him if that does happen.