Reading 0 - 2 Wolves Verdict Thread

[The Bear]

Hello everyone, new poster here but have been lurking for a while. Recently got back from the game so here were my thoughts.

Ruddy - Awful first half. Made a hash of Swift's long range effort in the first minute, could have gone in, almost cost us a goal when he tried to pass out and it got blocked going just wide. Dropped a cross at the start of the second half leading to a scramble but then went on to make some good saves, one of the ones from Barrow was superb. 7/10
Vinagre - More than adequate replacement for Douglas. Solid defensively and always impressed by his dribbling and technique. Beat his man for pace a few times and put some good crosses in. 8/10.
Boly - My MOTM. So calm and composed at the back, threw himself at the ball time and time again to block a shot or hack away a cross. Attackers barely got the beating of him one-on-one and it's so refreshing to see a centre-back who can run with the ball and pass it without just lumping it out for a throw-in. Great block on the line too. 9/10.
Coady - Made some good interceptions/blocks/clearances. Came out with the ball a few times and made some decent long passes. 8/10.
Bennett - Admittedly I am not keen on him but he was mostly solid. Smacked the ball away and cost us possession a few times when I think he could have played it out from the back instead. Got a yellow card for taking out Aluko when it looked like he was on a dangerous run. At fault for Reading's best chance by not stopping the pass to Kermorgant which led to Barrow's chance which he should have scored. 7/10.
Doherty - Took his goal well. Good with his running, and picked out with the pass by Saiss/Neves as usual though his crossing was poor and often made the wrong choice in the pass. Defensively solid, got booked for diving (looked like he did). 8/10.
Saiss - Neat and tidy for most of the game though late on like a few others kept giving the ball away. A few good passes but not his best game. 6/10.
Neves - Same as Saiss really but kept the ball a bit better. Offered more going forward. 7/10.
Cavaleiro - Had a very good game, particularly in the first half, Ilori couldn't handle him and ended up getting subbed off after 30 minutes. Made some dangerous runs and was unlucky not to score again. Goal was superbly taken, wonderful bit of skill. 8/10.
Bonatini - Didn't get on the ball much, link-up play was OK. Went agonisingly close with a shot right before being subbed off. 6/10.
Jota - Brilliant assist, and almost set Cav up for a second. Good in the first half but faded in the second. 6.5/10

Bright - I find him so frustrating. Yes he has ability but he makes the wrong decision far too often. Gave the ball away and offered nothing. Like the Preston game I find the decision to bring him on for Bonatini odd. 3/10.
Costa - This was a far better showing off the bench than what I have seen previously. Good with his running and looked much sharper. Made a good run to beat three men and then his run to set up the goal for Doherty was great. Only 15 minutes but his best performance of the season for me. 7/10.
N'Diaye - Similar to Preston, brought on when there was a lot of pressure on us. Can't remember him doing much though, and before the second goal we were just generally terrible at keeping the ball. 5/10.

Ref was OK. No complaints about Bennet's card and it looked like Doherty dived to me. Linos missed one obvious throw-in our way and what looked like a Reading corner when Ruddy let the ball go out after a save but otherwise no real complaints.

Reading can feel unlucky to have lost this one, draw would have been a fair result in my opinion. Not sure how they haven't scored but was impressed by how they played, even with Dave Edwards in the side. Aluko and Barrow were big threats but we did manage to contain them. Well done and looking forward to Wednesday.

Cheers White Wolf, and welcome to the forum.

 

[Aikiwolf]

Spiers said it was Boly's best game in a Wolves shirt, Alan his worst that he'd seen.

Both are wrong! Though instinctively I would give Boly motm, but I've not seen the c5 highlights (didn't get home from the game until 11.30ish). Boly seemed to head and block anything thrown at him and he also was the only member of the back 3 that brought the ball out effectively.

Vinagre was, imo, poorer in defence than he has been previously, he seems to lose his position and let's attackers in over his left shoulder. No doubting his quality though, just not his best game!

Thought Neves had one of his worst games for Wolves, and Saiss was marginally better but there was a lack of control in midfield.

As for the positives, I muttered the word "gorgeous" 5 or 6 times at some sublime passages of play, I've never uttered those words at a match before. Ever.

 

[ndorsetwolf]

Had the night to sleep on it, and will now offer a few thoughts.

Overall I thought we were fortunate to take all three points, however, it is goals that win games and ultimately, we scored and they didn't.

My biggest concern was the number of misplaced passes, we gave the ball away a lot in dangerous areas and virtually all of Reading's chances were a direct result of our mistakes. The hope is that it was just a messy game on a rain slick pitch.

I am not going to rate players individually, though I will give the defence a big well done for the way in which they continually put their bodies on the line to block goal bound efforts. Yes, often those efforts were a result of defensive mistakes, however, it is about how you react to those mistakes that really counts.

It was lovely to see Costa come on and for the first time start to look like his old self. Hope that is the start of something special again.

On a side note, are Reading the quietest home fans ever, Imean, for twenty minutes or so towards the end of the game their team were going for it, but there was barely a squeak. Apparently that annoying drummer is no more, and without it they don't do anything.

Anyway, another three points, winning ugly I think is the term, the sign of a good team.

UTW

 

[Siggy]

The strange one with the Reading game is do you focus on the errors (there were many) or the sheer guts and determination to make up for it. Some of the last ditch defending was top notch as Ndorset said. I was all but ready to say Ruddy needs dropping then he pulls of possibly the best save I've seen from a Wolves keeper, it's really strange.


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[Aikiwolf]

Passmaps and xg for those who like them:

https://twitter.com/11tegen11/status/931932138617868295

Shows Boly as having a good game.

Interesting to see how deep leo ended up and how little width Cav and Jota provided. Also the XG surprised me, suggesting we were never in any difficulty.

 

[AndyWolves]

We've had games this season where we've not been able to "get going" with our usual style i.e. Brentford, Cardiff etc. By that I mean misplaced passes, players being caught in possession, this felt like one of those games - the fact that we're still able to make our quality show and also defend like demons are very good signs.

Also, props to Ruddy - he'd had a few close scares (that backpass from Coady wasn't really his fault - it was bouncing and between the sticks, a nightmare for a keeper to deal with) but sorted himself out to ultimately win us the game. Shows his character that his head didn't drop

Anyone can win when they're playing well, it's winning when you're not playing well that is key

 

[Wolf Hunting]

Warm welcome to White Wolf. Thanks for your analysis. Always helpful to us lads who are miles away and requiring to build a picture up from people actually at the game.
As opposed to those two rubes doing the bloody commentary!

 

[Lupo]

Hopefully Costa is back. I think maybe the international break came at a good time for him as it's given him those 2 weeks to do some catching up fitness wise.

Regarding Cav's goal, the finish was nice the way he rolled his foot over the ball but I was also impressed by his intelligent run from the right into the box looking for the ball into him

 

[Parkins left foot]

Hopefully Costa is back. I think maybe the international break came at a good time for him as it's given him those 2 weeks to do some catching up fitness wise.

Regarding Cav's goal, the finish was nice the way he rolled his foot over the ball but I was also impressed by his intelligent run from the right into the box looking for the ball into him

Could see him pointing to exactly where he wanted Jota to put that - he did & Cav scored

 

[Azul]

Glad to see Boly´s doing well.

 

[Sedgley Wolf]

2nd half saves or not, those errors in the 1st were shocking.

I couldn't care less to be honest. He's kept a clean sheet in over half of his games since he joined us and he marshals his defence superbly.

To dwell on his mistakes, which every good keeper make from time to time, strikes me as petty.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

I couldn't care less to be honest. He's kept a clean sheet in over half of his games since he joined us and he marshalls his defence superbly.

To dwell on his mistakes, which every good keeper make from time to time, strikes me as petty.

I have him as my favourite signing. Jota and Neves pure class. Ruddy playing himself into contention for an england recall. His save this season have been awesome. Kicking has its moments lol

 

[Trips]

Passmaps and xg for those who like them:

https://twitter.com/11tegen11/status/931932138617868295

Shows Boly as having a good game.

Interesting to see how deep leo ended up and how little width Cav and Jota provided. Also the XG surprised me, suggesting we were never in any difficulty.

Haven't looked at these over the last few games, but looked at them with interest previously.

Regarding the pass map, earlier in the season we saw Bonatini playing deeper then Cav & Jota, but the one from yesterday looks very strange. Cav up top on his own, Jota in behind and Bonatini extremely deep, and little width from Cav & Jota. Was this just a one off yesterday, or something that has been happening recently?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Haven't looked at these over the last few games, but looked at them with interest previously.

Regarding the pass map, earlier in the season we saw Bonatini playing deeper then Cav & Jota, but the one from yesterday looks very strange. Cav up top on his own, Jota in behind and Bonatini extremely deep, and little width from Cav & Jota. Was this just a one off yesterday, or something that has been happening recently?

Not really a recent trend. Probably something Nuno and the analytical team have seen in Reading's play to exploit in that specific game.

 

[Trips]

Have only seen us play at home, so didn't know if it was something we were doing with any regularity away. Didn't recall from watching games us playing like that. Jota seems to drift centrally at times in games, but Cav is predominantly wide

 

[Jinky]

Absolutely no idea what match Alan watched :icon_lol:

 

[slink]

Haven't looked at these over the last few games, but looked at them with interest previously.

Regarding the pass map, earlier in the season we saw Bonatini playing deeper then Cav & Jota, but the one from yesterday looks very strange. Cav up top on his own, Jota in behind and Bonatini extremely deep, and little width from Cav & Jota. Was this just a one off yesterday, or something that has been happening recently?

Something we had definitely looked at with Reading possibly changing shape to match us which they did. At times when in possession they were playing 3-3-4 and the 2 wide in the middle 3 were really wide so it left lots of space centrally when we could break. When we had possession their wing backs stayed very wide with our wing backs so we had without a doubt looked at Jota and Cavaleiro playing really central. Nuno again showed that he is a very tactically aware coach.

 

[pavlosmacwolf]

I just love wolves match reports!!!! Such a fucking joy!!!!

 

[Aikiwolf]

Ruddy, Boly and Cavaleiro in the champ team of the week according to whoscored.com.

 

[Quirkafleeg]

Absolutely no idea what match Alan watched :icon_lol:

You're one of just a tiny few that havent figured Alan out yet.. Blimey.