Wolves 0-2 Crystal Palace: Verdict Thread

[Paddingtonwolf]

Being asked to pay a large percentage more for worse fare is never going to go down well

 

[Johnny75]

I think the last 2 have been poor, and i've said that.

I don't agree that any of the games prior to that have been though.

And i don't think you remember Pulis all too well if you think we are playing similar tactics to what he did/does.

Burnley, Soton away and Norwich away were lowest common denominator long ball shit. Players more static than Stonehenge.

The last two games and Burnley in particular showed how static we are and how long we've gotten.

We spent most of our time passing to ourselves in the box before hoofing it back to the opposition (and some folks blamed Raul!). We did the same for 80 minutes at Arsenal and most of the Leicester game

Liverpool at home too but he can be forgiven for that.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

To be fair I think the fans have been remarkably tolerant so far - through a nobody replacing someone who is at least close to a modern club legend, an appalling start in terms of points return, then an absolute joke run of games (pushing a quarter of a season) where we barely scored any goals at all, and some very poor showings in the last month. Applies in the ground and online (I appreciate the latter depends a lot on who you choose to follow and where you look).

As I say, we're still getting people on here saying Lage should be handed a massive transfer budget in three months' time. That wouldn't apply at many other clubs who'd had to watch what we have. I don't get it but clearly a decent chunk of people feel that way.

These things turn quickly though. If we're awful again on Thursday against a team who are close to doomed, I can see the mood inside Molineux becoming pretty dark.

Quite a few clubs have announced or will be soon announcing their ST prices for next season. We haven't and I think it's because the owners (we don't have a board) know they can't currently sell an increase, or be overly confident of getting the kind of renewal rate we've seen since 2018. If fans get restless we all know who normally carries the can.

To repeat, I didn't want him in charge for a variety of reasons, some of my concerns have never been allayed, I don't like the way his team plays currently or some of the things he does and says, it wouldn't overly concern me if he left as it stands. That's not the same as actively wanting him to go, that's down the road if we carry on playing like we have in February and March.

 

[AndyWolves]

We won't be handing Lage a budget though, he doesn't decide who we buy does he?

And if previous windows are anything to go by, what Lage thinks we should do in the transfer market is largely irrelevant

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

And that in itself is rather daft. The manager should have a serious say surely?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

We're not going to randomly buy players over his (or anyone's) head either. He signed off on Hwang and Chiquinha, or at least he said so, so either he's lying or he does have a say. He won't get to sign whoever he wants with no other input as if it's 1995, but virtually no other clubs operate that way.

And it still matters anyway. If he carries on playing shite football then regardless of who we sign and what we spend, we're not going to want him in charge of the new players if we think he'll waste them, or have them playing desperate hoofball, or not use them.

 

[AndyWolves]

If he's a nodding dog he's not going to say no

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

He won't say no because he knows which side his bread's buttered.

I'm saying the club won't think "it's irrelevant who the manager is when we spend £50m because he isn't choosing the signings anyway", that just won't happen.

 

[AndyWolves]

I honestly think changing Lage won't change who we buy or how we play.

 

[Templeton Peck]

I think there's a bit of over-reaction (and slight opportunism?) that's mainly come about due to three shit defeats in a row.

In fairness, two of those defeats were in pretty tough away games to teams above us in the league.

It's shite, and worthy of concern, but just like Bruno wasn't the Second Coming when we looked like we were in the top four-to-six mix last month, he's now not suddenly the love child of Jones and Hoddle... imo

Cut this balanced shit out. This is a Web forum. Pick a position and die on that hill regardless of any evidence to the contrary.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I honestly think changing Lage won't change who we buy or how we play.

Really? We're ridiculously low on any and all attacking metrics, that hasn't always been the case under Fosun, he's only getting outgunned by no-hopers down the very bottom of the league in that respect. He picks the team, he carries the can for that. As I say we're significantly down on last season when apparently we were the dullest team ever, let alone anything else.

Loads of managers would play significantly differently to this. You'd do well to do worse in front of goal because it's almost getting to historically bad levels. Whether they'd be any more effective in terms of league position/points haul is up for debate, I'm not sure our 40 points from 27 games return is anything to particularly shout from the rooftops in any case.

The profile of who we buy won't change, that much is true. If we say for now that we carry on the current trend and we limp to the end of the season, how much we plan to spend significantly impacts on his job prospects. If we plan to spend essentially £0 then he'd probably stay as he won't complain (or he will, and then say later he's happy enough), no-one else credible will want the gig and he probably wouldn't relegate us (probably). If under those circumstances we planned to have a decent net spend then he wouldn't keep his job, they'd say "you've been shit for months, you're not getting these new players".

The only alternative to that is that he essentially has a job here for as long as he likes, irrespective of who we sign, what we spend, how we play, so long as we don't go down. That plainly is not the case.

 

[Johnny75]

He won't say no because he knows which side his bread's buttered.

I'm saying the club won't think "it's irrelevant who the manager is when we spend £50m because he isn't choosing the signings anyway", that just won't happen.

Immediate history says different. The club are clearly buying players to fit some sort of system.

It isn't working and that's why I would like Fosun to fuck off and sell to somebody without batshit ideas that don't work.

 

[AndyWolves]

Lage was hardly a peri peri Pulis before he came here, and had probably never heard of the horseshoe of doom.

 

[Johnny75]

Lage was hardly a peri peri Pulis before he came here, and had probably never heard of the horseshoe of doom.

Indeed that is the case which is why I think there's a deeper issue at play here.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

What he did at Benfica is irrelevant as they are favourites for 90%+ of all their league games. He was a nobody, this is his body of work.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Lage was hardly a peri peri Pulis before he came here, and had probably never heard of the horseshoe of doom.

It's where we are now though.

 

[AndyWolves]

It's where we are now though.

The way I look at is that this wolves team plays more like Nunos team than Lages Benfica team.

Not just formation, but the safety first, lack of risk / adventure in how we play.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

The point is his Benfica team were the best in their league. We are not. That's why style changes.

 

[AndyWolves]

What he did at Benfica is irrelevant as they are favourites for 90%+ of all their league games. He was a nobody, this is his body of work.

You honestly can't see the similarities with how Nuno set us up and how we played?

 

[Mel Evo]

The way I look at is that this wolves team plays more like Nunos team than Lages Benfica team.

Not just formation, but the safety first, lack of risk / adventure in how we play.

Bit of a stretch to blame Nuno for the current results, but I admire the reach.