Summer 2022 Transfer Window

[Paddingtonwolf]

He won’t get another job this size. Not a chance.

 

[prawnking]

If Lage is sacked and wanted to stay in England I think the best he could hope for given his record since the honeymoon period at Benfica aided by Felix would be lower Champioship at very best. I’d love to hear his answer if questioned at interview why his record when conceding first is so dreadful.

Wouldn't you say all managers who win a league title are 'aided by' their best players?

 

[Bigbadwulf07]

I agree with both Mark & yourself, Johnny.

What I struggle to get my head around is the average football fan (and I include myself in this) can see it's obvious that we slow down attacks too much - but it doesn't appear to be obvious to the coaches. If it is, why are we still doing it? We don't have a cutting edge going forward and haven't for years now. We never go for the juggular and instead, seem hellbent on ball retention and keeping hold of possession rather than getting in behind a defence or going for the kill. How many times have we seen us get the ball in a promising position, but to then stop, turn, pass backwards or across the midfield line (hello horseshoe of doom), allowing the opposition to get back in to formation? This is a coaching issue, I agree. We're incredibly easy to defend against.

On a separate note, I lost count of the amount of times I saw Guedes running in behind against Spurs, but we rarely looked for him. He'll end up getting frustrated and will just stop making those runs. You can't tell me that we don't have the players to find those runs. I guess the hope is that eventually Guedes/Neves/Moutinho will have a change of mindset and will start picking them out - but they also need to be told to do this by the man in charge. Then we need the jigsaw to come together by the player making that run to actually finish the move with a goal.

Having Raul back will help us score more goals by virtue of him being a centre forward and his first thought is generally to get in a shooting position (like last night). I was also hoping we'd have another forward in by the weekend but that's looking unlikely.

Isn't that indicative of not having a striker who's quick into the box so then we have to slow it down to give time for anyone to get in

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

I think we have/can have a striker that gets quickly into the box but, like I said on the verdict thread, our patterns of play and midfield with everything being recycled through a deep lying Neves (when he plays in the three with Moutinho and AN Other) mean that despite the ball being wide on numerous occasions the crosses aren't delivered early enough. Strikers runs become futile, lack spontaneity and ultimately are easy to defend against. As a result the striker drops deeper and stops making the runs across defenders that they don't like. We play in front of teams, never through or behind them.

 

[The Saturday Boy]

I can’t argue with that - but I can say for sure that under Nuno the big 6 took us very seriously and we’re delighted f they beat us. Under Bruno they only have to turn up and score.

When Bruno was appointed I remember all the talk of Lageball and how it was going to be great to watch. It isn’t. It’s the same as under Nuno with no chance of winning a game.

I’d be flabbergasted if Fosun start investing in the team and leave it to Lage to manage.

Who are the big six?

Spurs, Manchester United are two of them. Didn’t score against twice last season when we beat them. Goalless draw against Chelsea at home. Man City and Liverpool scored 1 goal each against us in the space of a week. Arsenal celebrated like they had won the league when they beat us at Molineux.

All that aside, your argument stacks up nicely.

 

[Tyrannosaurus Dan]

According to O Jogo we have ‘no intention’ of selling Neto this summer. I’ll be very relieved if that’s true but still suspect we’d sell if Arsenal offered enough.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

I agree with both Mark & yourself, Johnny.

What I struggle to get my head around is the average football fan (and I include myself in this) can see it's obvious that we slow down attacks too much - but it doesn't appear to be obvious to the coaches. If it is, why are we still doing it? We don't have a cutting edge going forward and haven't for years now. We never go for the juggular and instead, seem hellbent on ball retention and keeping hold of possession rather than getting in behind a defence or going for the kill. How many times have we seen us get the ball in a promising position, but to then stop, turn, pass backwards or across the midfield line (hello horseshoe of doom), allowing the opposition to get back in to formation? This is a coaching issue, I agree. We're incredibly easy to defend against.

On a separate note, I lost count of the amount of times I saw Guedes running in behind against Spurs, but we rarely looked for him. He'll end up getting frustrated and will just stop making those runs. You can't tell me that we don't have the players to find those runs. I guess the hope is that eventually Guedes/Neves/Moutinho will have a change of mindset and will start picking them out - but they also need to be told to do this by the man in charge. Then we need the jigsaw to come together by the player making that run to actually finish the move with a goal.

Having Raul back will help us score more goals by virtue of him being a centre forward and his first thought is generally to get in a shooting position (like last night). I was also hoping we'd have another forward in by the weekend but that's looking unlikely.

I agree with the identification of the symptoms, lack of movement, cautious use of the ball and poor tempo. I do differ on the cause though, it's not completely down to coaching in my view.

You can only coach out of players what they're capable and willing to do, if you've got players that are fundamentally opposed to something then it's a hell of a task for anyone to change their mind and getting them doing something different. It's almost exclusively a mental issue as I see it, players aren't comfortable enough doing risky things which would be threatening to opponents, whether that be moving to a position that exposes themselves or playing a pass which might not make it.

Technically it's a squad that is generally more than good enough with the ball to play in that way. Physically most are more than capable of doing more, pressing higher, committing to more and earlier runs off the ball. It's the mental side that's stopping them doing so, whether it be a confidence issue which could be corrected or just a natural aversion to risk which I think is much more difficult to overcome.

Then you've got the odd ones too where the mental issue is more one of poor decision making, sometimes through a bit if selfishness, which again I'd say is very difficult to correct.

 

[Jinky]

According to O Jogo we have ‘no intention’ of selling Neto this summer. I’ll be very relieved if that’s true but still suspect we’d sell if Arsenal offered enough.

Arsenal aren’t going to offer anywhere near what we want. We need to draw a line under it.

 

[WsWolf]

Isn't that indicative of not having a striker who's quick into the box so then we have to slow it down to give time for anyone to get in

Not really, most players who rack up big assist numbers don't wait for the striker to move or try and pick out a single player. They'll get the ball in an area to be attacked and that's their job done.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Not really, most players who rack up big assist numbers don't wait for the striker to move or try and pick out a single player. They'll get the ball in an area to be attacked and that's their job done.

Plenty of current examples too.

Salah lays the ball back to TAA and you know it's getting whipped in first time so you attack the 6 yard box.

de Bruyne picks it up in the insight right channel you know he's doing exactly the same thing so again you make you run as soon as you see him getting the ball in that position.

Wingbacks at Chelsea both the same, if they get played in on the overlap then you hit the box knowing they will deliver.

Big problem for me at Wolves is that the ball doesn't get to those who may, or may not, deliver quickly enough. That means they rarely have these big spaces to hit and for forwards to attack. The slower your build, the longer your opponent has to prepare and invariably the spaces to attack become more and more restricted.

 

[WsWolf]

Plenty of current examples too.

Salah lays the ball back to TAA and you know it's getting whipped in first time so you attack the 6 yard box.

de Bruyne picks it up in the insight right channel you know he's doing exactly the same thing so again you make you run as soon as you see him getting the ball in that position.

Wingbacks at Chelsea both the same, if they get played in on the overlap then you hit the box knowing they will deliver.

Big problem for me at Wolves is that the ball doesn't get to those who may, or may not, deliver quickly enough. That means they rarely have these big spaces to hit and for forwards to attack. The slower your build, the longer your opponent has to prepare and invariably the spaces to attack become more and more restricted.

Exactly who I was thinking of.

Good players work it out once they've built an understanding but this sort of stuff should be being drilled in every time they do shape work. Then again a lot of it is basic stuff, if the balls on one wing the other winger should be attacking the back post.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Exactly who I was thinking of.

Good players work it out once they've built an understanding but this sort of stuff should be being drilled in every time they do shape work. Then again a lot of it is basic stuff, if the balls on one wing the other winger should be attacking the back post.

Problem is if the other winger is Podence then he's winning bugger all. If it's Adama....well he won't be there. Hwang won't score if he's there either.

We fundamentally lack goals throughout.

 

[The Saturday Boy]

Gary Lineker used to go near post. He knew this, defenders new this, the player crossing the ball knew this. If the ball came to him near post it only needed a slight touch and there was a good chance it would be on target.

“You’ve got three real (possible) movements. You can do what I did, gamble on the near post. You can make a little run towards the near and then check to the far post, which was one I didn’t enjoy because I think it makes the pass harder. And the other one is to stand still, which I didn’t used to do much. They’re your three choices.”

My game in my words. By Gary Lineker

To mark his 60th birthday, Gary Lineker dissects some of the most important goals of his career and explains how he scored them

theathletic.com

I remember him being interviewed when he said this and thinking how simple that was…why doesn’t every striker do that. And then I watch Wolves and see how infrequently our forward players are missing in action when a ball is crossed into the near post. It’s also why I think Silva will eventually be a big player for Wolves…because he gambles in the penalty area on trying to find space in a way few other of our forward players do.

 

[WsWolf]

Problem is if the other winger is Podence then he's winning bugger all. If it's Adama....well he won't be there. Hwang won't score if he's there either.

We fundamentally lack goals throughout.

But that's a decision making thing right, if you are wide and you've got Podence in the box, you ain't going to loft an Adama cross in. If it's whipped in early with pace then it gives the player attacking it an advantage. Podence scored one like it preseason I think.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Exactly who I was thinking of.

Good players work it out once they've built an understanding but this sort of stuff should be being drilled in every time they do shape work. Then again a lot of it is basic stuff, if the balls on one wing the other winger should be attacking the back post.

It beggars belief that professional players can't figure these sort of things for themselves at times. I can see from watching a stream on my phone that Podence wants to drop into space between forwards/midfield as often as he can and invariably play it off quickly. Yet it's not given that anyone actually looks to pass to him in those areas and considerably rarer still that anyone even thinks about making a 3rd man run towards/beyond him to allow that quick pass. The whole team is so disjointed in that respect.

I remember one game years ago under Mick, maybe the Albion embarrassment, where Fletcher won a flick on and turned to see Doyle statuesque. He had a word and then next goal kick came up, Fletcher won it again and Doyle is still 20 yards away, stationary, a dog would've shown better anticipation.

 

[WsWolf]

Gary Lineker used to go near post. He knew this, defenders new this, the player crossing the ball knew this. If the ball came to him near post it only needed a slight touch and there was a good chance it would be on target.

“You’ve got three real (possible) movements. You can do what I did, gamble on the near post. You can make a little run towards the near and then check to the far post, which was one I didn’t enjoy because I think it makes the pass harder. And the other one is to stand still, which I didn’t used to do much. They’re your three choices.”

My game in my words. By Gary Lineker

To mark his 60th birthday, Gary Lineker dissects some of the most important goals of his career and explains how he scored them

theathletic.com

I remember him being interviewed when he said this and thinking how simple that was…why doesn’t every striker do that. And then I watch Wolves and see how infrequently our forward players are missing in action when a ball is crossed into the near post. It’s also why I think Silva will eventually be a big player for Wolves…because he gambles in the penalty area on trying to find space in a way few other of our forward players do.

Pomo.

 

[The Bear]

So, new striker.

Do we go for Ramos if he becomes open to move to us for £25m? Or do we go for the recently linked Kalajdzic for £21m?

Or do we go for both? Jimenez is 31 now and doesn't look the same player any more.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Jimenez is 31 now and doesn't look the same player any more.

I don't think that's particularly cut and dried, as much as you like to push your "Ol' Six Goal Raul" routine.

Sign both if we can afford them without selling anyone else.

 

[AndyWolves]

if we have enough for two strikers, i'd rather get one striker and a decent midfielder so we don't have to play Donk unless we really have to.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

We are not going to spend money on a fourth choice midfielder, are we.