Wolves 0-1 Bournemouth: Verdict Thread

[Walshes Wolves]

We can beat the best and lose against the worst, which is an improvement to where we were before Lopetegui arrived.

 

[Tredman]

It's probably more a result of persisting with Adama and the inevitable predictable route he takes us down

It’s hardly his fault that we fail to create anything from any other route.

 

[jd1981]

Seems a while since I’ve had to try and forget that I like football on a Saturday anyone got any Netflix suggestions?

 

[The Bion]

Pretty sure lumping it wasn't the plan. Not sure what the plan was, exactly, but don't think that was it

https://twitter.com/x/status/1626996486130085892

I'm guessing the thought, long-term, is probably to play Cunha and Sasa together, which could potentially work. But we really need to think about what we're doing at the moment.

I said in the match thread I had faith in JL to get the subs right, not sure he did. Didn't seem any reason to swap the LBs for example. As poor as Nunes was could've done with his ability to carry the ball forwards - couple times in the 1st half he ended up inside left and it looked like that might lead to something...then we just stopped doing it?And we ended up with Sarabia just punting it in from the touchline constantly (and almost injuring Podence...)

You have half a point about Ruben, Alan, but it's not just down to him. Plenty of experienced players out there who should know better - we've done similar when Neves and Moutinho have both been playing, and Joao is one of the most experienced and decorated midfielders in Europe.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

It's probably more a result of persisting with Adama and the inevitable predictable route he takes us down

Even as an Adama sceptic I wouldn't put it on him today. He's the only attacking player who offered anything at all. Alright, it came to nowt but he beat his man plenty and we then had our trademark collective allergy to the six yard box.

Podence was utter shite when he came on, why didn't he shoot after working a yard on the edge of the box near the end? We're losing, Half Pint!

 

[PuntsWolf]

Not a great day.

Always worry when I look at the team and see us playing a 433 with that midfield. Just zero goals in there, beyond something special from Neves. Then you’ve got Traore who is never going to score, Sarabia shunted over to the other side to accommodate him where he’s going to be less effective and Cunha who we can be polite and say “isn’t a number 9 in this team” or harsh and say “a waste of money”. Certainly looking a strange use of £45m with how he’s being utilised.

Nunes was awful. Everyone else sub par, anonymous or ineffectve. No one was good.

Second half possibly one of the worst I’ve ever watched. Combination of time wasting, awful refereeing and then the biggest part -awful, brainless play. Trying to pass it out of positions and play each other in to trouble only to lose it or aimless hoofs. Then sometimes hitting it long, which was the play given everything else was awful but then having no one within 20 yards of the frontman to play off him or win seconds.

Their keeper had nothing to do and I don’t think he would If were still playing. Brings us back down to Earth with a bang. But the manner of it given who it was against is a massive concern.

 

[jd1981]

The logical side of my brain says bad day at the office move on, the monkey in my head is saying Rotherham away this time next year.

 

[prawnking]

The point about Adama is that he was fine in isolation, but he has little to no connection with the rest of the team. We don't have/play players who can capitalise on what he offers, even when he's at his best.

It's not his fault, but he just doesn't fit into this squad or how successive managers have asked them to play

 

[Alan]

I don't think you're exactly wrong, Prawns, but none of our wingers seem to consistently "connect" with the rest of the team.

 

[prawnking]

I don't think you're exactly wrong, Prawns, but none of our wingers seem to consistently "connect" with the rest of the team.

None of them are as one dimensional as him though. He's like a magnet, give him the ball constantly, get excited, then even when his delivery is good it yields us absolutely nothing 9/10

This is who he is though, you either try and build a team around him or fuck him off. We're doing something in the middle

 

[Derby Wolf]

It's like Huddersfield in 2018 all over again.

Today's performance goes way beyond Lopetegui and is systemic of games against these sorts of sides and I think rests with our midfield. Who these days are the only constant from back then.

I'm hoping we move swiftly on but it's a huge missed opportunity but let's not pretend we haven't been here before.

 

[Tony Towner]

I wrote this at half time:
We are better set up, we play with more intensity, we try to be more creative. We still don't have a goalscorer.

That's it in a nutshell, we get in promising positions around the box, but the lack of a focal point means there's nobody to pick out, so it's balls into the box and hope for the best. Cunha is not a centre forward or at least not one in a team that doesn't have goalscorers around him. His shooting is poor and he doesn't make runs that attack the space, we will continue to struggle to score with him up front.

Other thoughts
Our midfield 3 were all poor out of possession, constantly caught out of position, ball watching or done by a simple dummy

Bournemouth with the help of the referee shithoused themselves to 3 points after the goal, but we'd have not scored with another 10 minutes of injury time. There wasn't a coherrent gameplan to get back into the game, just hoof it towards the box against a team of mutants. Even Neves was just lumping it.

Disappointed with Lopetegui's subs. He brought on 2 washed up centre forwards neither of whom can run and took off the one winger who could beat a man and get a cross in. Adama was having a very Adama game, but without him I have no idea how he expected us to score with those 2 up front. The hoof we did choose to do certainly wasn't the answer. RAN for Bueno seemed like KJ's right back move

Don't know what to make of Sarabia. Neat and tidy, but doesn't affect the game enough. Podence's response to coming on to chase a game was the usual ineffective flicks in areas where he gave the ball away.

They are really poor, but can't complain about losing to them

 

[Tredman]

We looked much less likely to score after he went off. Not sure how we blame him for that.

 

[prawnking]

Today's performance goes way beyond Lopetegui and is systemic of games against these sorts of sides and I think rests with our midfield. Who these days are the only constant from back then.

Kind of game we're unlucky to be without the options of both Boubacar and and not have a fully firing Joao Gomes for

 

[prawnking]

We looked much less likely to score after he went off. Not sure how we blame him for that.

It's not about blaming him.

We looked unlikely to score with or without him on the pitch, just for different reasons

 

[Alan]

See! I'm not the only one!

 

[WsWolf]

The point about Adama is that he was fine in isolation, but he has little to no connection with the rest of the team. We don't have/play players who can capitalise on what he offers, even when he's at his best.

It's not his fault, but he just doesn't fit into this squad or how successive managers have asked them to play

He doesn't t really fit into any team unless you have two freaks up front. He'd be winning ballon d'ors if it was the 80s but it isn't. The games moved on.

 

[PuntsWolf]

We looked much less likely to score after he went off. Not sure how we blame him for that.

Putting Raul and Costa on and taking Adama off was just baffling.

 

[GLASGOWOLF]

Poor, but to be honest the ball was bobbling around in the box and always fell to one of them.

Lack of quality in the final ball, summed up by Raul spannering the ball at the defender with enough space and time to pick a decent ball.

Not much movement up top zero composure anywhere on the pitch

 

[Aikiwolf]

Amazed we took Adama off when we put two strikers on, especially as he'd put in a couple of reasonable crosses. One especially good but Cunha didn't get his head to it at the near post.