Sheffield Utd (A) - Verdict thread, 14/09/20

[Deleted Cyber]

Impressed with Marcal too, thought he was neat and tidy on the ball and not afraid to boot some shithouses when they needed it

He looked up for it and shirked nothing. Rightly yellow carded and he will get those. Plenty of them.But he did his job pretty well and showed some excellent touches.

 

[Jinky]

Where did you read comments about not being convinced about Marcal? If it's Twitter then it doesn't count as it's a fuckwit party on there.

Buur will never be a starting PL player but I don't mind him on the bench at all.

Someone in the matchday thread. Can’t remember who. Seemed really odd at the time.

 

[sycophantia]

Yeah agree Marcal was excellent, although for me he wasn't playing lwb, more traditional defensive LB, good passes forward out of defence too, a good addition to the squad I think

 

[sycophantia]

Feel free to quote me!

I just don’t think he’s a premier league footballer, I’ve seen enough of him over the years to not just judge him on a 10 minute cameo. Happy to be proved wrong.

Don't think anyone's disagreeing about him not being good enough at this level, but think he did what was required tonight

 

[YoungWolf]

Look forward to watching the game back tonight! Sounds like a very positive performance (in difficult circumstances for the squad)

 

[Carrotdude]

Someone in the matchday thread. Can’t remember who. Seemed really odd at the time.

That was me [emoji51]. Tbf he was worrying me a bit in the first half, nearly turned into trouble a couple of times and looks like he has a rash tackle in him. Got better as the game went on, he’s definitely not a long term answer at lwb but he’s fine and probably actually helps us defensively.

 

[Tony Towner]

Crazy that I’ve seen posts this evening saying they’re “not convinced” by both Burr and Marcal. Marcal was excellent - worked so hard. You can see he’s a proper defender and for his first game, with no pre-season, no warm up games, in a new league with new players around him - I thought he was superb. Burr kept it simple and helped close the game out. Weird to criticise him.

Important to not get too carried away, though. They hit the post, smashed one over from just outside the six yard box (when they got the wrong side of Adama) and it was harder for Sharp to not pass to McBurnie who had a tap in to an empty net. So yes, it was an extremely encouraging performance but Nuno will have already started dissecting the performance, that much is guaranteed.

We are going to give City a good game next week.

I've seen a post today that said Raul missed an open goal WTF about a ball that bounced at him at pace off the post when off balance. Opinions innit?

 

[Premier Quality]

I've seen a post today that said Raul missed an open goal WTF about a ball that bounced at him at pace off the post when off balance. Opinions innit?

He’ll be disappointed with himself not to have scored it though. Was very quick so not an easy one.

 

[Carrotdude]

Think Saiss will be disappointed he didn’t score himself as well!

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Think Saiss will be disappointed he didn’t score himself as well!

Could have had hat trick, scored the hardest chance!

 

[Premier Quality]

Saiss was brilliant today. A new centre back was my main want from this transfer window, but if he keeps playing like that, he’d be really hard to shift.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

He's been the most consistent of the 3 CBs since Christmas, but tonight that was his best CB performance that I can remember?

 

[Langers]

Really enjoyed that - a good game of football.

Very refreshing to see us score so early - to do it again mere moments later was even better!

Overall I thought we were comfortable, composed and professional. We managed the game very well, obviously helped by the terrific start.

Some excellent performances tonight - Saiss and Raul the pick of the bunch but I also thought Podence, Donk, Coady and Marçal were very good.

Only downer for me was Traore who really was bad at RWB - awful decision making and some terrible touches that could have been punished by better sides. I don't wish to seem overly critical of him though because its clearly not where he's suited, and when he moved further up when Buur came on, he looked great!

Buur isn't going to be a regular for us but I struggle to understand the criticism of his performance tonight. He wasn't on long, he didn't have much to do and what he did do was tidy enough. Clearly it's an area of the squad we need to strengthen, but when you look at the ridiculous talent we had on the bench tonight, I can live with that - the squad looks very good and confidence seems to be high.

Terrific start to the season in a tricky fixture. Personally, I haven't been worried about our recruitment or how we'd fare in the early part of the season because we have a good side who look just as hungry and just as much of a team unit as ever. And we'll get better.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Only caught the last half an hour or so but didn't seem massively different to the post lockdown games in that spell. Obviously not the full picture and job done to a certain extent with the two early goals but still seemed very passive for a lot of that time, just sitting deep and defending the box.

Obviously it's always been a largely conservative setup under Nuno but doesn't seem to have quite the same level of control in the last 6 months. The shape just doesn't look quite as resolute as it has done previously and end up with the back three defending a lot more than they would have done a year or two ago. Think use of the ball in those situations has dropped off too, perhaps leading to the former issue, used to be common to see the ball played back under pressure and recycled across the backline to avoid pressure but now it's often a lot more hurried and pushed forward even under little pressure.

Good result to get off the mark but based on that last 30 minutes in isolation I'd say there's still plenty of work to do for Wolves to get back to their best of the last couple of years.

 

[Jabbawolf]

Buur is more a PL starter at RWB than Traore is.


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[The Bion]

Only concern at this point is we didn't look comfortable at all when Sheff Utd started overloading in the WB spots - they managed it ok for the most part but equally there were a couple times players got into big spaces. Have to assume that's down to limited practice time and familiarity though. I'm not a million % convinced how Marcal will deal with pace running at him, but hopefully he's got the experience and know how to position himself.

If I'm being super picky we didn't keep the ball 2nd half too well, at times even Moutinho and Neves were just booting it. But, if the alternative's not clearing our lines properly, which we got caught out with more than once last season, then I'll take it.

Really bright start and was refreshing to be on the front foot from the start. If we can do that more often it should suit us to do what we did today, soak up pressure and counter. I can still see a RWB and LWB coming in tbh but perhaps I'm being greedy.

Saiss MotM, Raul and Coady honourable mentions.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Only caught the last half an hour or so but didn't seem massively different to the post lockdown games in that spell. Obviously not the full picture and job done to a certain extent with the two early goals but still seemed very passive for a lot of that time, just sitting deep and defending the box.

Obviously it's always been a largely conservative setup under Nuno but doesn't seem to have quite the same level of control in the last 6 months. The shape just doesn't look quite as resolute as it has done previously and end up with the back three defending a lot more than they would have done a year or two ago. Think use of the ball in those situations has dropped off too, perhaps leading to the former issue, used to be common to see the ball played back under pressure and recycled across the backline to avoid pressure but now it's often a lot more hurried and pushed forward even under little pressure.

Good result to get off the mark but based on that last 30 minutes in isolation I'd say there's still plenty of work to do for Wolves to get back to their best of the last couple of years.

Nah, we totally bossed it in the first half. Had 65% possession at one stage. Very different to how we were setting up in those restart games.

If it was close to anything from that period then it was the second half vs Everton at home.

Just managing the game in the final half hour, if we didn't do anything silly then the game was won.

 

[Premier Quality]

Buur is more a PL starter at RWB than Traore is.


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I don’t think Burr will ever start a PL game for us.

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

Only caught the last half an hour or so but didn't seem massively different to the post lockdown games in that spell. Obviously not the full picture and job done to a certain extent with the two early goals but still seemed very passive for a lot of that time, just sitting deep and defending the box.

Obviously it's always been a largely conservative setup under Nuno but doesn't seem to have quite the same level of control in the last 6 months. The shape just doesn't look quite as resolute as it has done previously and end up with the back three defending a lot more than they would have done a year or two ago. Think use of the ball in those situations has dropped off too, perhaps leading to the former issue, used to be common to see the ball played back under pressure and recycled across the backline to avoid pressure but now it's often a lot more hurried and pushed forward even under little pressure.

Good result to get off the mark but based on that last 30 minutes in isolation I'd say there's still plenty of work to do for Wolves to get back to their best of the last couple of years.

The problem with seeing parts of games or highlights in isolation.

We did more than enough (and were definitely on the front foot from the off) to justify our win tonight. Podence in particular took the game to Sheffield early on. We did drop deep later on and I would have liked to have seen us retain possession better in the second half, but we had earned the right to be a little flat at that point. Job very well done and yes they could have had a couple, but by the same token we could have added three or four.

Saiss and Raul were excellent with Podence setting the tone early on. Decent debut from Marcal and he looked what he is, a comfortable experienced left sided defender. Not sure about his height at LCB, but was the perfect foil to Adama on the right tonight. I suspect at some stage further down the line he will become a very vital squad member that covers several positions [and by default plays plenty of games (see Dendoncker)] without ever being 100% first choice himself.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Nah, we totally bossed it in the first half. Had 65% possession at one stage. Very different to how we were setting up in those restart games.

If it was close to anything from that period then it was the second half vs Everton at home.

Just managing the game in the final half hour, if we didn't do anything silly then the game was won.

As I say I only saw 30 minutes in isolation but I wouldn't say it painted a picture of a team in complete control.

Barely strung a passage of play together in that time, few individual breaks from Traore but generally doing little more than clearing lines. Sheff Utd laying it on heavy with the overload down Wolves' left and Billy Sharp pulling an invisible man act running off Boly several times. Didn't really make any clear cut chances to make Wolves pay but some fairly average individuals got themselves into worrying positions where better players would've taken advantage, that happened a little too often for me to say Wolves were bossing it.

The whole thing just doesn't appear quite as slick as it did 12-18 months ago.