Pre-Season 2024/25

[Johnny75]

As GoN is going for inverted wingers I would say Bears formation is about right.

JSL
Gomes -- Cunha -- Neto
​

With a second string:

Hwang/ Guedes
Chiquinho -- Hwang -- Sarabia
​

That's a really strong set of forwards.

 

[Johnny75]

Neto always looks better on the left IMO/IMV/IMHO

I think there's a fluidity that both Gomes and Neto can operate on both sides and can make us wide or narrow and fullbacks overlap or defensive.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Look at the fees that the top teams have paid recently for guys like Mudryk, Doku, Díaz, Gordon etc who are all (supposedly, looking at you Mykhailo) a similar profile.

Saw Chelsea fans calling him "Ukraine Bolt" the other day

 

[Deano]

Haven't watched the game yet (a friend has paid for all 3 games so I'm going to watch it on his log in after work) but they were very impressive against WHU.

It's definitely the biggest risk around this change of shape though. We've got a very tough start to the season, if it goes wrong through a weakness in personnel in that position the obvious temptation for O'Neil will be to move back to the 'tried and tested' shape that we used for most of last season.

Mosquera didn't play and Toti only came on for 15 minutes.

I watched the first half. Thought we knocked it about pretty well, Guedes looked lively, a couple of good balls across - O'Neil has been talking about how he loves how Rodrigo Gomes always attacks the back post and gets into the box when the ball is on the other side and he displayed that again in this game, he should have scored his chance early in this game, could very easily have had 4 goals in these 2 games. Looks like he will be a threat.

 

[sycophantia]

Ok, at the risk of DW (maybe a few others) exploding or coming round and kicking my head in....Guedes is getting a lot of love from some, is there any chance of redemption for him at Wolves? I've only seen high lights tbf. Could he be back up for Cunha?

 

[Tony Towner]

Not a hope in hell a player who has never wanted to be here will now want to as a back up.

 

[Del Woppio]

I can see it, genuinely. As a manager I'd rather have a player than a few million quid as a loan fee, and I'd back myself to be able to get a tune out of him

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Nothing in his career suggests he's ever going to be a decent Premier League player. It could happen but if we were linked with someone with his numbers for half what we paid, we'd all be extremely wary and suggest we could do a lot better.

 

[Quirkafleeg]

Even if Guedes knuckles down he's so far down the pecking order he will eventually want off again. No way he;s getting in front of a fully fit Neto, Hwang, Sarabia or even new signing Gomes. Bellegarde gets a gig over him as well and he's not pulled up many tree's so far.

 

[Blakenhall Wolf]

So who's staying up for the shizzle in an hour..?

Struggled but made it to 87 mins.

I thought we were the better team, alot fitter, and better patterns of play and passing. Schoolboy errors from Bentley and very poor defending a couple of times. But we will hopefully strengthen both those areas.

Even if Guedes knuckles down he's so far down the pecking order he will eventually want off again. No way he;s getting in front of a fully fit Neto, Hwang, Sarabia or even new signing Gomes. Bellegarde gets a gig over him as well and he's not pulled up many tree's so far.

Based on this preseason alone. Guedes is 10 times the player Bellegarde looks.

Bellegarde has shown nothing at all for me since he came. I've watched every single game too. Guedes commitment is his downfall. There is a very good player in there.


However for both the jury is very much still out

 

[sycophantia]

Struggled but made it to 87 mins.

I thought we were the better team, alot fitter, and better patterns of play and passing. Schoolboy errors from Bentley and very poor defending a couple of times. But we will hopefully strengthen both those areas.




Based on this preseason alone. Guedes is 10 times the player Bellegarde looks.

Bellegarde has shown nothing at all for me since he came. I've watched every single game too. Guedes commitment is his downfall. There is a very good player in there.


However for both the jury is very much still out

GON seemed to be bigging Bellegarde up in the Wolves podcast while at the same time says there are things he 'doesn't like'.
Unless I misunderstood, Gary was saying he's in contention to start against Arsenal.

 

[Tredman]

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[Deutsch Wolf]

Don't think they have the Leipzig game. Barcelona vs Real Madrid and West Ham vs Crystal Palace are on their two channels at the same time as we're playing.

 

[Jinky]

Even if Guedes knuckles down he's so far down the pecking order he will eventually want off again. No way he;s getting in front of a fully fit Neto, Hwang, Sarabia or even new signing Gomes. Bellegarde gets a gig over him as well and he's not pulled up many tree's so far.

Gaz has used him mainly down the middle. Sure, we have Larsen now, but it's unrealistic to expect him to play every minute of every game. His back up is Hwang, who will be a starter in one of the wide roles (my guess is he'll start ahead of Rodrigo initially). So we're still a tad on the short side up top. If Guedes ends up staying and genuinely has turned over a new leaf under GON, I can quite easily see him getting a fair few minutes rotating with Larsen. He'll just have to accept he might not start many games. And for all the comments on his attitude, it's seemed spot on this pre-season so far.

 

[WVWolf]

The second half last night was very bad.

It was effectively 7 of Palace's U23 side and a few experienced subs (Ward, Holding, Ayew).

But it was like watching the Wolves of old when an inferior side sets up defensively and we have zero creativity or idea of how to break them down, until a smart bit of play from Larsen for the goal.

Sarabia was really bad and spent the whole time kicking them, one of which saw him get an injury.

First half was an encouraging performance given we were the poorer side on paper. We competed well and probably deserved to be ahead.

Can't really get my head around the minutes players have had so far.

Such as why Cundle, who probably won't even be a Wolves player, has more game time than anyone else.

Why Bueno has played more than Ait-Nouri. Mosquera played the fewest minutes of the CBs.

Hopefully we start getting a bit more serious against Leipzig and Vallecano.

Overall, more positives than negatives in the two performances to be fair.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

On Cundle it's because we have four first team CMs (not including him) and two of them haven't played yet (in fact Bouba isn't even there and won't be).

It's him, 16 year old Luke Rawlings or Joe Hodge who would struggle in League Two.

 

[big mean bunny]

On the basis of the highlights that's dreadful keeping. 2nd and 3rd goal in particular. I can ignore king as the 3rd choice is that means the younger keepers are freer for loans etc, but Bentley is a concern. An month long injury to Sa and we'd have an appallingly below standard keeper as our 1.

 

[Johnny75]

On Cundle it's because we have four first team CMs (not including him) and two of them haven't played yet (in fact Bouba isn't even there and won't be).

It's him, 16 year old Luke Rawlings or Joe Hodge who would struggle in League Two.

It's weird with Cundle as he's not even playing in his best position. He's a 10 not an 8 or 6.

These friendlies are a bit strange in that regard.

 

[The Bear]

Official highlights here:

Thank fuck we don't have a highlights editor who puts 3 different replays of every single chance to pad the time out. The Palace version was genuinely awful to try and watch.

 

[Squeak]

Well, what to say about that. Obviously GON is trying a few things and taking a hard look at some of the players at his disposal.

Let me start with Guedes. Shows a lot of willing and is absolutely putting the effort in to become a part of GON's plans IMO. I'll give him great credit for that but how he will perform if he is still with us in a weeks time with the home friendly and some fans possibly on his back, time will only tell. For me, and having watched him at JAX and Annapolis, he's making the runs, wants the ball and is definitely trying to make an impact. Leave it there for now.

Larsen ...Put himself about and another lacking quality but trying to make it up with effort. Two assists and some good vision in making those goals.

R Gomes - Quiet game last night and if he had scored with the chance he had early doors, who knows? Good save though by Henderson.

Lima - can't help but like this guy and I'd like to see the second disallowed goal again as that must have been really tight. Defensively, he has much to learn but he's an exciting player going forward. More testament to our recruitment team.

Doyle - led the team last night in the absence of Lemina and had an effective game.

Bueno / Dawson - look OK as a pairing but our midfield last night was generally poor giving amble opportunities to find the space and the gaps. That exposes your defenders but on the whole they were OK.

Bellegarde / Chirewa / Cundle - Mostly ineffective and if these are our back ups, we can only hope the main guard stay fit.

Overall, Palace easily deserved the win. They closed us down well, looked cohesive and made the most of their opportunities. And that brings me to our back up keepers.... get rid. Bentley has at least an error a game in him and King just doesn't look assured. I think the Titanic went down quicker than him for the 3rd.

So, now to Ft. Lauderdale and Inter Miami's stadium. And again, another word for the players as they'll be glad of playing there on Saturday before their Sunday flight home. Whoever has set their schedule needs to be questioned. Again last night, the players and staff were leaving for Ft Lauderdale after the game. They got in at 4.30am on Sunday morning and I have no doubt it wasn't much before that last night. Meanwhile, West Ham are lapping it up at Busch Gardens and enjoying some rest in St. Pete's before their game with Palace on Saturday. A 3-1 win for West Ham would make it interesting!