WBA 1-1 Wolves: Verdict Thread

[Law's Bus]

A 4-2-3-1 with Neto, Vitinha and Jimenez would be pretty sexy.

I'd keep Traore too. Time is up on Podence for me at the moment...

I get the impression that Nuno is starting to lose faith in Podence, and once that's gone, you're history.

Best player tonight was definitely Vitinha, followed by RAN and Silva. Not bad, these kids...

 

[Tony Towner]

---------------------------Rui-----------------
----Semedo---New----Coady/Boly----RAN
-----------------Neves------Vitinha---------
-------New---------New-----------Neto
------------------------Raul-----------------

Could play Vitinha further, but you'd still need a new player behind

 

[Parkins left foot]

Wasn't going on the matchday thread just in case it went badly.

Wasn't great but better than some other matches have been.

The kids were allright - Vitanha, Otasowie, Ait Nouri (till he had to go off) & Silva.

Just give the last the rest of the games, there not important (apart from a possible couple of million from end placement) & he brought more in that 90 mins than Jose has in all the time he has been here.

Agree on Traore with others - wrong decision so often - players were getting up to support him & he just takes the shot with blinkers on.

 

[Alan]

It was a promise of good things to come, and that's more than we've had in a little bit now.

 

[AndyWolves]

Rui: made a couple of excellent saves and claimed the ball well. No chance with the goal

Semedo: Instrumental in both goals. I do like Semedo but what is he doing there, and why was he left with a 2 on 3. Should he have been close to Coady, maybe he was stopping the run in between the FB and CB, if he's doing that he needs help when they overlap.

Coady: Fairly solid with a couple of decent long passes.

Saiss: Caught under the ball for the goal but otherwise ok. Tidy in possession.

RAN: excellent going forward and on the ball. Seemed to develop an understanding with Traore, not too bad defensively. Got right to his man which made crosses difficult. Sign him up!

Neves: Started well but seemed to fade, maybe the effects of Covid or the knock he got? His night was summed up near the end when he won possession in the WBA area and somehow the WBA defender cleared it off Neves head.

Donk: His best position, running around in midfield trying to break up play and offering a pass. Not spectacular but I could see him and Neves working well as the 2 in a 4231

Vitinha: Sublime, exactly what we've been missing. Busy, mobile, intelligent, excellent passing. Too many superlatives to describe him.

OO: Looked asleep at times and misplaced a fair few passes, it might be confidence or just a naturally languid style. Key pass for our goal. Needs to work on positioning but a decent performance

Adama: Business As Usual, worked plenty of openings and opportunities but the usual challenge of not moving the ball quick enough. We need to stick a tennis ball under his chin so he looks up and sees who is around him

Silva: Right place, right time for his goal, pressed well and was mobile. I thought that WJ could have come on with about 20 minutes to go as he started to tire and would have given wba something more physical to deal with.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Easier on the eye than it's been in a long time but still a struggle to really conjure a clear cut opportunity for the most part and still pretty flaky in defence too when there's a bit of pressure applied. Much more watchable in that form though.

 

[Wolvensam]

I get the impression that Nuno is starting to lose faith in Podence, and once that's gone, you're history.

Best player tonight was definitely Vitinha, followed by RAN and Silva. Not bad, these kids...

He's fine as a back up but not a starter for me. He frustrates himself and then it's all downhill.

At least Traore can produce a moment of brilliance.

 

[PuntsWolf]

Vitinha was great. Silva was lively. Poor start from OO but looked good second half. Shoe horned out wide but still looked a more accomplished player than Traore (who was dreadful, more of a hinderance than useful). RAN was decent, could have had more effect if Traore passed him the ball once or twice

Semedo left it a bit late getting out but there was miscommunication from the two behind shuffling accross. Saiss just did a Saiss.

Probably a fair result. We were so wasteful in good positions, Rui made some good stops.

MGW put himself about and looked OK, Podence rubbish. Neves ok but shooting still way off.

We need quite a bit of surgery in the summer. But happy to sign RAN and Vitinha for sure.

 

[Wolvensam]

I'd be happy with signing a wide player in the summer and pumping most of the money into that backline. A CB has to be the "marquee" signing. Not suggesting he is the answer but I didn't think Coady did anything wrong this evening.

 

[Johnny75]

Don't think I can cope with Podence and Traore on the pitch at the same time, the wrong decision twins

I'd sell them both. Just not PL quality for a forward thinking team.

Fucking terrible players when asked to do something intelligent with the ball that isn't instinct. Not a brain cell between them.

I'd rather see Otasowie/ Corbeanu and MGW either side of Vitinha.

The game itself was very enjoyable and we played some lovely fluid stuff at times. We should be scoring more goals and whilst I'm glad Fabio got his goal he isn't ready physically yet to be a lone striker. He's not afraid to shoot which I really like but he's very easy to defend at the moment.

Neves, Semedo and RAN ( both first half) Rui and Coady were all very good.

Vitinha clearly MotM. Just beautiful to watch.

 

[Paul]

Honestly thought OO was going to get someone hurt in the first half hour, the amount of hospital passes, but his bringing the ball out of the box half way through the second half was sublime, he will be quality in a year or so !

 

[Wolvensam]

Looking at their goal again it looked more of a mix up between Otasowie and Donck than it being Semedo's fault.

 

[Deano]

Yeah both Traore and Podence can go for me not good enough, need a couple of new wide players in the summer.

 

[YoungWolf]

If we sold Traore and Podence we'd be left with Neto who is injured. We don't have enough in that position as it is. I can see a loan of Trincao and also Guedes, which I guess might allow you to sell one (most likely Adama) unless you move Podence inside more often as back up to Vitinha

 

[Parkins left foot]

Looked like Saiss getting to his man then running forward to leave him free - cross was good (even if we should have been covering it better), but if Saiss had stayed with Diagne then there is an opportunity to prevent what was a free header

 

[Wolvensam]

Vitinha's back-up should be MGW who I think is showing a fair bit of what he can do at the moment. I'd be offloading Podence and keeping Traore.

 

[Quirkafleeg]

First and foremost thats the type of performance I want from Wolves, plenty of bite into tackles, winning and closing down quickly. I think Vitinha was my man of the match, plenty of times a midfielder would receive the ball send it out wide straight away, this lad assessed stuff quickly and moved the ball mostly forward into Silva who led the line fantastically. Special mention to RAN who did the same from the left and was very direct towards the Albion box. A few moments up top that we need to address but tonight was much much better and although we didnt win Im happy tonight.

 

[PuntsWolf]

If we sold Traore and Podence we'd be left with Neto who is injured. We don't have enough in that position as it is. I can see a loan of Trincao and also Guedes, which I guess might allow you to sell one (most likely Adama) unless you move Podence inside more often as back up to Vitinha

When Podence is playing in the middle we are basically carrying him and he’s not good enough when he has the ball to justify that. Rather just play to 8s.

 

[Bulderdash]

Hopefully that gives Nuno the confidence to keep the youngsters in even if some of the senior players are fully fit next week. Ait Nouri with another good performance, Otasowie better after a sloppy start and Vitinha providing everything we've missed in our build up play if we do want to transition to a more possession based siden and Fabio with another goal and continuing to occupy defenders more and more each game even if there's still a massive drop off from what Raul gives us.

I'd have the goal all on saiss, semedo is dealing with another player so can't leave him too early to get to the winger but Saiss just needs to stick on Diagne.

I thought Neves faded a little in the second half and that allowed them in to the game more in the spell just before they scored but that's more just showing how much of an effect he has on the game rather than any criticism of him.

 

[Tredman]

If we must play 2 defensive mids i’d much rather one of those is an Otasowie type who can bring the ball out too - Neves can pass it out (fucking can’t shoot though), would be nice to pair him with a player who can run with the ball.