Wolves 0-1 Arsenal: Verdict Thread

[Tony Towner]

Dendoncker was fine, don't have a dig at him, have a dig at the recruitment that meant he had to play. He played towards the top of his level of ability

 

[BeaverWolf]

Really? He was useless. A complete and utter waste of a shirt. Did absolutely nothing in midfield, whereas poor Ruben, admirably, worked his socks off. What exactly did you think Donkey contributed tonight? He wasn't the only issue, by the way, as I said in my original verdict post, but he was dogshit, again.

You are not a fan of Leander then?

 

[Carsy]

Really? He was useless. A complete and utter waste of a shirt. Did absolutely nothing in midfield, whereas poor Ruben, admirably, worked his socks off. What exactly did you think Donkey contributed tonight? He wasn't the only issue, by the way, as I said in my original verdict post, but he was dogshit, again.

Kept possession ticking along. Broke up play a few times. Few runs forward. Thought he had a solid game, personally.

Not disputing neves worked his socks off, as he always does, but if you’re implying that’s because dendoncker did nothing, then that’s just wrong.

Didn’t see you go in on anyone else in your original post apart from donk tbf. Hence why I highlighted it

 

[Alan]

Dendoncker should have done better with his chances but overall he was good.

Midfield was not the issue tonight, even when Arsenal had 11.

 

[Loki]

Do you think we actually practise the “pass it out from the back” tactic? I’ve never yet seen it successfully used.

Don`t know, but we certainly don`t practice set pieces.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Throw ins, fuck me i think they are getting worse. How many times was there a complete lack of movement and/or we lost the ball within 1, 2 or 3 passes after a throw?

It's been a problem for years now and it's desperate, it's proper kids stuff, 1 player moving will create space for another, we just don't do it.

 

[Mild 'n' Scratchins]

Meanwhile, Jota bags a brace for the scousers tonight....

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Awful from both teams, a truly horrible game of football with virtually no redeeming features. No better than a couple of Mick vs Pulis 0-0s we had against Stoke a decade or more ago.

Sa - Will have to see the goal back, didn't look great on his part. Playacting like a wanker never looks good, stop it. Nowt else to do

Kilman - Uncharacteristically sloppy early on but decent second half

Coady - A low bar but probably our best player. Looks like we're managing his ankle injury to an extent

Saiss - Looked ring rusty and his booking was a plain stupid challenge. Did at least try to drive forward in the last half hour and had our best (only?!) effort on goal

Semedo - Couple of dozy moments, generally OK but he stops attacks for no reason so often

Dendoncker - As beige as beige can be. Whether it's confidence or whatever he is offering nothing on the ball at all

Neves - Worked incredibly hard and tried his best but not his night. Final ball was miles off. Another daft booking and two away now from a two game ban

Marçal - What a waste of a pick, on the manager this one. Meant we had to use a sub to replace him and in turn leave a forward unused. Crap

Trincao - Add to the 'heart of a pea' club. Close to done with him after that. Rubbish

Podence - Somehow punches below his Scrappy Doo weight. End product is all for YouTube clips with dreadful Eurodance music

Raul - Offered nothing, very poor. Needs to step up

Subs: Not much of note other than Chiquinho looks very raw and Fabio should have shot having worked the space himself.

We're not a whole lot of fun to watch. Brilliant at Old Trafford but I doubt we've created half a dozen chances in four games since. The owners are complicit but so is the manager.

Great to see the gang though, a nice evening punctuated by some shite football.

 

[BeaverWolf]

Awful from both teams, a truly horrible game of football with virtually no redeeming features. No better than a couple of Mick vs Pulis 0-0s we had against Stoke a decade or more ago.

Sa - Will have to see the goal back, didn't look great on his part. Playacting like a wanker never looks good, stop it. Nowt else to do

Kilman - Uncharacteristically sloppy early on but decent second half

Coady - A low bar but probably our best player. Looks like we're managing his ankle injury to an extent

Saiss - Looked ring rusty and his booking was a plain stupid challenge. Did at least try to drive forward in the last half hour and had our best (only?!) effort on goal

Semedo - Couple of dozy moments, generally OK but he stops attacks for no reason so often

Dendoncker - As beige as beige can be. Whether it's confidence or whatever he is offering nothing on the ball at all

Neves - Worked incredibly hard and tried his best but not his night. Final ball was miles off. Another daft booking and two away now from a two game ban

Marçal - What a waste of a pick, on the manager this one. Meant we had to use a sub to replace him and in turn leave a forward unused. Crap

Trincao - Add to the 'heart of a pea' club. Close to done with him after that. Rubbish

Podence - Somehow punches below his Scrappy Doo weight. End product is all for YouTube clips with dreadful Eurodance music

Raul - Offered nothing, very poor. Needs to step up

Subs: Not much of note other than Chiquinho looks very raw and Fabio should have shot having worked the space himself.

We're not a whole lot of fun to watch. Brilliant at Old Trafford but I doubt we've created half a dozen chances in four games since. The owners are complicit but so is the manager.

Great to see the gang though, a nice evening punctuated by some shite football.

Largely agree with that. Marcal was badly fouled so no wonder he went down. It really is annoying that Semedo suddenly stops when advancing menacingly.

 

[PuntsWolf]

Awful from both teams, a truly horrible game of football with virtually no redeeming features. No better than a couple of Mick vs Pulis 0-0s we had against Stoke a decade or more ago.

Sa - Will have to see the goal back, didn't look great on his part. Playacting like a wanker never looks good, stop it. Nowt else to do

Kilman - Uncharacteristically sloppy early on but decent second half

Coady - A low bar but probably our best player. Looks like we're managing his ankle injury to an extent

Saiss - Looked ring rusty and his booking was a plain stupid challenge. Did at least try to drive forward in the last half hour and had our best (only?!) effort on goal

Semedo - Couple of dozy moments, generally OK but he stops attacks for no reason so often

Dendoncker - As beige as beige can be. Whether it's confidence or whatever he is offering nothing on the ball at all

Neves - Worked incredibly hard and tried his best but not his night. Final ball was miles off. Another daft booking and two away now from a two game ban

Marçal - What a waste of a pick, on the manager this one. Meant we had to use a sub to replace him and in turn leave a forward unused. Crap

Trincao - Add to the 'heart of a pea' club. Close to done with him after that. Rubbish

Podence - Somehow punches below his Scrappy Doo weight. End product is all for YouTube clips with dreadful Eurodance music

Raul - Offered nothing, very poor. Needs to step up

Subs: Not much of note other than Chiquinho looks very raw and Fabio should have shot having worked the space himself.

We're not a whole lot of fun to watch. Brilliant at Old Trafford but I doubt we've created half a dozen chances in four games since. The owners are complicit but so is the manager.

Great to see the gang though, a nice evening punctuated by some shite football.

We watched the same game. It only seemed better than Norwich because the crowd were up for it.

The team just lacks pace. Semedo the only player who gets above a canter and he bizarrely never tries to run past a player, ever. I just want to see him once, just once try and run past some one rather than just turning around.

Marcal was Marcal. Bonkers pick playing a defensive LB as a WB in a team who can’t create/score.

Donck had a good game for him. But he didn’t do anything. “He does the dirty stuff well”, erm, no he didn’t (or ever does). 0 tackles and 1 interception in 90 minutes, great. The bar is so fucking low if that’s a good game.

Podence and Trincao can go and play FIFA street with each other. Waste of time. Too slow, too weak, no tangible results, sack them off.

Raul was shite again and it’s hard to say. We need an alternative

 

[Derby Wolf]

Wank.

Trincao when he got the ball to his feet looked to make things happen but he wasn't on the same wavelength/flat footed at least twice in the first half (I sit NB lower so caught it more in the first) where he was slow off the mark and easily crowded out.

Marcal is way off the standard. He wasn't helped by been "Harry Kane'd" but unless RAN was carrying a knock it was a baffling choice to play him.

Donk, Donked. Did a good job of breaking the play up for Wolves, and Arsenal. 50p head as per with his headed chances. Wasn't dreadful, which isn't exactly high praise.

Raul just isnt right is he, whether it's psychological after that trauma or just a striker desperately short of form is anybodies guess but having a 35m child means we have to flog the life out of him (and Joao)

Podence is busy but he's starting to push Adama for the decision making. I wouldn't lose any sleep if we binned any of them at this point. Its quite incredible to achieve the fees we did for Costa and Cav and then manage to reinvest it on two players with basically the same output. We haven't moved on from them whatsoever really.

Arsenal were for the taking. They're no great shakes while still having opportunities, they'd of scored a hell of a goal in the first half with some lovely football and then the biiiig Lacazaette chance in the second half. We could be still playing now against training dummies and we wouldnt have carved out an opportunity of that quality. However, what a thoroughly dislikable shower with their shithousing, I bet Arsene tosses in his sleep at their descent into Stoke City. Captain Black can get in the sea.

 

[Mel Evo]

We watched the same game. It only seemed better than Norwich because the crowd were up for it.

The team just lacks pace. Semedo the only player who gets above a canter and he bizarrely never tries to run past a player, ever. I just want to see him once, just once try and run past some one rather than just turning around.

Marcal was Marcal. Bonkers pick playing a defensive LB as a WB in a team who can’t create/score.

Donck had a good game for him. But he didn’t do anything. “He does the dirty stuff well”, erm, no he didn’t (or ever does). 0 tackles and 1 interception in 90 minutes, great. The bar is so fucking low if that’s a good game.

Podence and Trincao can go and play FIFA street with each other. Waste of time. Too slow, too weak, no tangible results, sack them off.

Raul was shite again and it’s hard to say. We need an alternative

Just back home. Afraid I agree with all of this. Sorry performance and a baffling selection of Marcal compounded the blow of Moutinho being out.

Hard to maintain from that that away performance, alongside the other four of the Sky Six at Molineux this season, that the standard of the league this year is particularly high. Looked shit to me. Not that it matters if you have no plausible way of creating or converting threat.

 

[Boozad]

How on earth do you get to be a moderator with your sweary comments?

I'm not a fucking moderator

 

[Tredman]

Let’s hope we never see Marçal again, offers literally nothing to the team. Like Doherty minus the occasional goal. Looked infinitely better when RAN came on (low bar though).

Im not a huge Hwang fan, but I think he would have at least added more goal threat today - hope his back isn’t serious.

Donk was ok, but we just look so much poorer with him in the team - perhaps if we played 4 at the back he might have a purpose.

Not sure what we do about Raul, don’t know whether he’s just in a shit phase (which he definitely had pre-injury) or it’s more serious. We had a fair few chances at the end and for the vast majority he was nowhere near any of them. He didn’t attack the 6 yard box, but neither did he show for the pulled back cross.

Fucking cold too.

 

[SSB]

Throw ins, fuck me i think they are getting worse. How many times was there a complete lack of movement and/or we lost the ball within 1, 2 or 3 passes after a throw?

I’ve seen some Arsenal fans claim Martinelli shouldn’t have been sent off as Podence foul throwed In the first hand. Hmmm.

 

[Throbber3]

The whole squad has peaked as a unit . It is probably obvious to anyone that it needed a refresh in the summer and it didnt happen. I love the fact that we are defensively solid , however when we concede we lose unless we play Villa. Thats pretty much it. It is unrealistic to expect to fail to score in half your games and not strugg;le. This season is an anomaly. Rarely does a team fail to score in 11 of 22 games and sit where we do. That form is unsustainable. It effectively says that you are pinning your hopes on not conceding to take a point if you cant score goals. Only Norwich and Burnley have scored fewer goals and they are both camped in the bottom three. Norwich have failed to score in 15 games. Burnley have only failed to score in 9 and they sit bottom of the league. We have enough points not to worry this season. Talk of europe is very premature for me. January 2022 was as good as it gets. We wont get any higher. So much needs to be done this summer.

 

[AndyWolves]

Playing the way we do means we'll always have this ceiling.

I do wonder though if we aren't causing some of these problems ourselves by setting up in a way that doesn't get the best out of our players.

At some point I think we have to go 4 at the back and get an extra player into midfield. Our wingbacks are generally better as full backs and not really creative enough or take enough risks to add much to our attack.

Get more players around the front three would go some way towards mitigating our lack of threat too.

 

[Tony Towner]

Jota wasn't looking like he'd turn out like he has, we wouldn't have accepted £45m for him otherwise - but for Raul the ratio of bad games to good was already starting to tip in the wrong direction in the second half of that 19/20 season.

Yes he was. Nuno mismanaged him, said it at that time, ultimately he backed Adama over him by going 343 I'm not in the slightest bit surprised by what he's doing at Liverpool. Obviously he wouldn't have scored that many for us, but we were a better side with him and shouldn't have ever abandoned 352. Nuno got seduced by Adama's cameos off the bench and now we have neither of them

 

[sycophantia]

Think we're at a point where we need to try something completely different, feels like we're going through the motions, same every week, we simply have to start scoring more goals. I know Bruno has been let down in the transfer market but its pointless banging on about it, he needs to come up with a plan. We're are completely safe (league position and style) so he needs to change something, whether that's 4 at the back or 2 up front or a change within the 3-4-3. We have nothing to lose, will be a wasted opportunity if we just stay the same and meander to 10-12th.

 

[Tony Towner]

Another thing. Chiquinho looks like a chalk on the boots winger to me, we had one of those, it doesn't suit what the manager wants to do, so why sign another? I know Mendes etc etc, but even the 1 player the manager did get doesn't help him do what he wants.