Spurs 1-0 Wolves: Verdict Thread

[Johnny75]

I’m surprised with your obviously superior knowledge and skills that they didn’t appoint you

And another stupid comment from a Mixer. Get in the bin with this shit.

 

[Johnny75]

Our attacking plan is basically just work a shooting oppourtunity for Neves. Or a forward to cut inside and smash it into shins. Our best two opportunities fell to RAN and Donck but neither shot and Donck didn’t even touch the ball. We still never cross the ball, and the rare time we do it’s when the defence are set.

Set pieces were awful too. Maybe we should go back to the short stuff!

This is the bit that bothered me, we got into positions where a quicker ball across the box or incisive pass to a forward moving towards the goal would've at least caused a chance, as Raul did.

Too many times we see players get to the byline to cut it back and it's not working. No matter how many times we try it still won't work so why Lage can't see this is beyond me.

That bit needs to change and fast or he will be sacked.

 

[MobNet Wolf]

What plays on my mind is that we basically have this season only to field that midfield three. It hasn’t been better in my lifetime so far and if gets any better in the future we’ll be incredibly lucky. I’d hate to waste it.

 

[KRR1954]

Another same old, same old. Play well in patches but no points. That said the new guys showed some promise and it’s only one game.

I worry about Bruno - his pre and post match interviews are full of praise and cliche - lacking in content - maybe his English? Whatever it’s better than my Portuguese!!

I agree with others, next two league games are crucial.

 

[KRR1954]

Also, what’s happened to Jonny? He seems unable to pass to a Gold Shirt?

 

[Carrotdude]

I’m not sure if this group is capable of scoring goals regularly but what is it now - 3 wins in 17? If we don’t win at least 2 of the next 3 we’re in massive trouble with Liverpool, City, West Ham and Chelsea after that

 

[prawnking]

We've had hardly any goals in this squad for a while now with Doc (I know, DW ) and Jota gone and Raul and Neto drying up.

Guedes and Nunes have to bring goals sharpish, either scoring or creating or both

 

[Tony Towner]

At what point does Neto become a worry? Other than a half hour cameo at Liverpool he's not looked anything like his old self. I don’t know if it's physical, mental or a bit of each but that's 3 pretty anonymous performances in a row now

 

[Dire Wolf]

At what point does Neto become a worry? Other than a half hour cameo at Liverpool he's not looked anything like his old self. I don’t know if it's physical, mental or a bit of each but that's 3 pretty anonymous performances in a row now

He's been a bit disappointing but I hope that's just him shaking off the rust after so long out with what was a pretty serious injury. It can take a good few weeks or months of regular playing to get everything back I reckon. Has he even had 10 full games back since his injury? Can't be much more than that.

 

[Johnny75]

At what point does Neto become a worry? Other than a half hour cameo at Liverpool he's not looked anything like his old self. I don’t know if it's physical, mental or a bit of each but that's 3 pretty anonymous performances in a row now

Thought he played well and was a success in Lage's tactics.

Tracked Perisic superbly well first half and then made space well in attack.

Suffered from the same nonsense tactic of having nobody attack the six yard box as others.

He was up against Perisic in attack who was the best player in the pitch.

 

[Johnny75]

We've had hardly any goals in this squad for a while now with Doc (I know, DW ) and Jota gone and Raul and Neto drying up.

Guedes and Nunes have to bring goals sharpish, either scoring or creating or both

We do have goals but I think the manager has to take responsibility for our lack of attacking output.

 

[sycophantia]

Agree with Johnny, looked like he'd been told to do a number on Perisic and get forward when he could, it's why he was blowing like an old cart horse by the time he was subbed. Perisic was brilliant, a top player who has played at the top for a long time.
Still think Neto is feeling his way back after his injury. Tbf even at his best he had a tendency to run up blind alleys and as Johnny says when he did get forward had very little help.

 

[b3h]

Watched the game back last night as felt I didn't see it well enough in the pub, normally watch at home. Neto had a tough job to do as others have pointed out. He was probably constantly thinking that if he loses the ball he's gotta sprint back to sit next to Jonny. Weird seeing us having to deal with a 3ATB!

 

[Tony Towner]

I agree re the tracking back, but whenever he got the chance to go forwards he took the safe option. That cavalier element to his game has gone. The open goal he failed to take against Fulham was an example of the cautious approach, by trying to take a touch

 

[Aikiwolf]

I agree re the tracking back, but whenever he got the chance to go forwards he took the safe option. That cavalier element to his game has gone. The open goal he failed to take against Fulham was an example of the cautious approach, by trying to take a touch

I agree with that TT. Whilst he was clearly asked to drop deep and help out Jonny he wasn't effective going forward. Almost looked as though he's still concerned about his knee.

 

[Dart wolves]

I agree with most of this, but in terms of the timing of backing Bruno, there surely has to be something in play that has meant we're acting so late in the window? Combination of policy change at Fosun along with playing a waiting game for first choice targets?

Bit of an odd performance to reflect on in some respects. Some encouraging signs towards a bold new world but coupled with some all too familiar faults anchored firmly in the past.

Not been many teams Wolves have looked as dominant against in the first half as they did today, was generally restricted to the teams propping up the table in recent years. It's long been an issue turning that dominance into damage though, Wolves' best periods of late have always been founded on counter attacking and the players still look largely clueless when put against a set defence. They just don't ask enough questions of opposition in those situations, content to keep the ball and go side to side rather than probe and push for an opening.

A lot of goals at this level come down to fine margins. Looked to me on one replay today that Collins was stepping out to attack the ball on it's original flight, flick on took him completely out the game and gave Kane a tap in. Another day that early anticipation sees him beat a forward to the ball and prevent a goal rather than concede one.

You look at Wolves in general play and they fall short on these fine margins all across the pitch. Whether it's a man taking an extra touch, picking the wrong option, they all stack up and form a barrier to a genuinely threatening performance. Even when they pick the right option at the right time it's so often let down by the execution. How often do you see a Wolves player get a ball perfectly into their path to run onto? Appears to me, all too often, passes are just a touch behind their target or they don't have quite the right weight on them, so often the receiver has to check their run, stand a wait for the ball to arrive or get forced wider than they'd want to be.

It's why I think they find it so difficult to really raise the tempo because the football never really flows all that fluently or naturally. The core of the squad has been together for a relatively long time in football terms and they still don't appear to really click 100% when going forwards. We saw isolated bits between certain players at times under Nuno but rarely a fully cohesive unit in an attacking sense, they just don't appear to bounce off one another all that well.

As talented as some of these players are, I'm far from convinced we'll ever get to see them really let lose and play free slowing attacking football. I'm not sure they're really that way inclined.

That's not to say Lage is faultless or blameless, he certainly makes his fair share of mistakes. Odd selections, completely rudderless performances, he seems just as out of sync with the squad as half of them do with one another. I doubt he's the man to ever get a consistent tune out of this group of players, though I doubt they'll ever play a tune I'm a huge fan of regardless of who's at the helm. Everything was aligned in the Nuno era, the players suited the manager and the style suited the standing of the club at the time. You can't be a counter attacking underdog forever though if you've got your eyes on the big time and sooner or later you've got to step up and play like the big boys if you want to be one of them.

Agree with a big chunk of that , but the other issues with Lage is he doesn't seem to know how to change a game if we're 2nd best!
His starting team selection and system look ok to most posters on here but tweaking something to change the game to our advantage seems beyond him ??

 

[slink]

A good performance on the whole for me and one we lost on a player error again rather than a team breaking us down.

We do need more cutting edge but this has been the case pretty much all of our time in the premier league but we don’t have prime Jimenez and Jota now. Lage will take the blame with most but we get the ball in good areas but the decision making from the players when we get there is too often poor for premier league standards and i think this is the issue. There’s a real lack of conviction and composure in and around the box.

I do think it looks like Guedes will score goals and maybe Jimenez/new striker will too which in turn may make everyone’s decision making better as they know we’ve got players that score regularly.

We know we need points but i think performances are very important, if they stay at the level for most of yesterday’s game we’re definitely going to pick up points and soon.

Players wise i think most were good yesterday, Collins made one big error, both full backs were better but still not at their best. Neto was good first half apart from his end product but got dominated physically by Perisic as the game went on. Podence did ok but false nine isn’t for us and Moutinho continues to astound me as i thought he was brilliant apart from one pass that could have put Guedes through.

When it comes to Bruno i’m much more relaxed than quite a few on here and i’m prepared to give him time with a squad and system he wants. As i said that requires points but i think they’ll come and if they don’t then the club will act which I’m comfortable with. I do think it’s a bit easy for those that made it clear they didn’t want Lage from the start to just put everything on him and at such as early point in the season. Yes you can’t forget the end of last season but this is a totally different set up now and I think it needs to be treated on its own merits that will take us up to around world cup time imo.

 

[sycophantia]

I agree with that TT. Whilst he was clearly asked to drop deep and help out Jonny he wasn't effective going forward. Almost looked as though he's still concerned about his knee.

That was in my mind too

 

[Alan]

Yes you can’t forget the end of last season but this is a totally different set up now and I think it needs to be treated on its own merits that will take us up to around world cup time imo.

Is it? Obviously the formation has changed but the way we approach getting forward doesn't look all that different to me.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Is it? Obviously the formation has changed but the way we approach getting forward doesn't look all that different to me.

You can only piss with the dick you've got unfortunately.