Wolves 0 - 2 Huddersfield: The Verdict.

[Parkins left foot]

Tracking the runner wide if they lay it short

That would have made sense, but not sure that there was anyone out there to track

 

[PuntsWolf]

That would have made sense, but not sure that there was anyone out there to track

There’s two over the ball so they have the option of laying it wide and getting a cross in, shooting direct or laying it inside to be smashed.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

There’s two over the ball so they have the option of laying it wide and getting a cross in, shooting direct or laying it inside to be smashed.

That's true, but that could be done from joined to the wall surely? 2 yards won't make a difference.

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[PuntsWolf]

That's true, but that could be done from joined to the wall surely? 2 yards won't make a difference.

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I’m not a PL manager and I’m not Privy to Nunos set piece instructions. One thing I do know is he’s not in the wall to block the shot, that’s obvious.

On top of the things I’ve Already mentioned he could be there to mark billing in the second phase or be and outlet on the counter if we regain possession.

 

[Alan]

Again I'm left slightly bewildered at opinions of Adama's performance when he was the only player who created anything at all (bar one good chance for Jota around the 87th).

Indeed, MGW and Traore were both comfortably our best players on the day. Not a high bar, mind.

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[Tony Towner]

Coady, Bennett and Vinagre all had better games than Traore Alan. He wasn't the problem, but he certainly wasn't the solution, but did set up our best chance which is more than Cav or Costa did. All 3 of them seriously pissed me off with their constant falling over at the slightest touch. I thought the ref handled the game well in that respect and as they all speak to each other that will have been noted more widely.

It's clear to me now where he can be effective for us and that's when the opposition are looking for a goal and we can use his pace on the break. When they are sitting deep and/or defending in numbers he's not going to pose too many problems. When he can't rely on his pace, he plays the game on his heels, does next to nothing off the ball and watches what's going on only reacting when it comes to him.

Personally as he's here I think he has a role to play, but it's a very specific one and we paid a hell of a lot for it.

 

[Kenny]

Again I'm left slightly bewildered at opinions of Adama's performance when he was the only player who created anything at all (bar one good chance for Jota around the 87th).

Indeed, MGW and Traore were both comfortably our best players on the day. Not a high bar, mind.

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He created our best chance. No denying that and he also scares the living crap out of defenders when he runs at them BUT there will be things that simply didn't show up on TV that frustrates the crap out of fans. The ball goes out of play and he switches off. We won a throw in the 2nd half and if he had looked up instead of ambling towards the ref he would have noticed he was in the clear for a quick throw and been in on goal (and Doc was shouting at him as well). That switching off happened nearly every time he presumed the game was stopped. Now compare that with Raul on the incident where the Huddersfield player was playing him onside (ignore the end product...like he did) but if that had been Traore I can pretty much guarantee he would not have noticed and been trying to get back on side, slowly. Now the end product would be the same but still.

There is such a good player in there but he can't live off being a threat every now and again if he wants to be a starter in this team. Right now, I would say we will go and buy someone to replace Costa or Jota rather than bump him up into the team and for £18m that is a huge waste of money and for Adama, a huge waste of his talent but he is the one that needs to start to be aware of what is happening around him.

 

[Premier Quality]

Again I'm left slightly bewildered at opinions of Adama's performance when he was the only player who created anything at all (bar one good chance for Jota around the 87th).

Indeed, MGW and Traore were both comfortably our best players on the day. Not a high bar, mind.

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Some people have decided their views before the game even kicks off to be fair. On Sunday, he was vastly better than costa or Cav (their bad performance rather than him being amazing), but he’s still the one being picked out. It’s very sad, but the scapegoat has been decided I think...

On Kennys point about him switching off, that’s very true. He stands still, and looks pretty blank, he still has a huge amount to work on. However, he’s also run into space so he can get the ball whilst he’s moving to Atack full backs rather than doing it from a standing start all the time, and has played simple passes rather than trying to beat players from a poor position, both of which were legitimate criticisms of him earlier in the season. He’s also still roasting people at times, turning them, and creating chances.

He’s definitely not amazing, and he is definitely still frustrating - but he has some really good attributes and is clearly improving on the aspects Nuno is working on. Hopefully he will keep doing so.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

His touch is appalling, above all that's what annoys me most about him (there are a lot of other things too). Creating one chance does not get you off the hook for having the control of a housebrick.

Technically he's a poor footballer and his awareness is shocking. 23 in January, it's nearly December and we're still having to nursemaid him and use him in a very, very limited role (he is still nowhere near a viable option to start games). That's a terrible state of affairs for our record signing.

We could have bought an actual footballer for £18m.

 

[Carrotdude]

Kind of agree with Punts that the system wasn’t completely the problem with Sunday, we couldn’t cope with their press and wanted too much time on the ball. Our passing was terrible, every lay-off and short easy pass was just misplaced or under/over hit. When we did get into the attacking third no one could make it stick or again couldn’t cope with being hounded by multiple players constantly. In theory we could have played our way around the pressing to exploit the spaces they vacated but we didn’t seem remotely capable of it. I’m intrigued and a bit worried by how it will go on Friday.

 

[Carrotdude]

As for Traore, I like him and really want him to do well, unfortunately at the moment he’s only really useful as an impact sub when we are defending a lead or maybe controlling a 0-0 draw and that’s a hell of a lot of money for that. I think if you play an old fashioned 4-4-2 where you can just give him the ball and let him run the full back and get crosses in he would be fine.

 

[Johnny75]

We could have bought an actual footballer for £18m.

That's the bit that bothers me the most. There are plenty of footballers out there who are clearly miles better that we could've had for that kind of money. If we were in a position of strength where the squad needed to be given that x-factor as they were a settled mid-table prem side I could understand it. But we're not there yet and we need quality to go straight into and improve the XI before we start getting players with 'potential'.

 

[Premier Quality]

His touch is appalling, above all that's what annoys me most about him (there are a lot of other things too). Creating one chance does not get you off the hook for having the control of a housebrick.

Technically he's a poor footballer and his awareness is shocking. 23 in January, it's nearly December and we're still having to nursemaid him and use him in a very, very limited role (he is still nowhere near a viable option to start games). That's a terrible state of affairs for our record signing.

We could have bought an actual footballer for £18m.

Okay, so say I buy that - and I think you’re both exaggerating and ignoring the improvement in a player we all said wasn’t the finished article at the start of the season - why so heavy on Adama and so light on Costa? Adama has many flaws, but is also the player with the most end product this season. Costa has achieved nothing. Adama is in his first season here and learning the system. Costa is in his third season with us. Adama plays on average 25 minutes a game, Costa on average 65...

Now, I’m not using this to moan at Costa, he’s our player and has a part to play - what I want to know is why, in game after game, you, Johnny and paddy Slag Adama so heavily, whilst giving a far, far easier ride to others. It looks like you slagged him so much when we were trying to sign him, that you feel you can’t back away from that view.

Why so much sustained and unreasonable hate for one of our players?

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Traore needs to stop being knocked over. He is built like a tank. Is he hollow? However he was better than Costa and Cav this week by a street. As an impact sub he has a role. Others are not cashing in on what he brings. We are not using the fear factor to our advantage IMHO.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Okay, so say I buy that - and I think you’re both exaggerating and ignoring the improvement in a player we all said wasn’t the finished article at the start of the season - why so heavy on Adama and so light on Costa? Adama has many flaws, but is also the player with the most end product this season. Costa has achieved nothing. Adama is in his first season here and learning the system. Costa is in his third season with us. Adama plays on average 25 minutes a game, Costa on average 65...

Now, I’m not using this to moan at Costa, he’s our player and has a part to play - what I want to know is why, in game after game, you, Johnny and paddy Slag Adama so heavily, whilst giving a far, far easier ride to others. It looks like you slagged him so much when we were trying to sign him, that you feel you can’t back away from that view.

Why so much sustained and unreasonable hate for one of our players?

I don't really need the psychoanalysis at 9.30 on a Tuesday morning but the same applies with any player as far as I'm concerned - if they play well I say so, if they're crap I say so. There are games where I've said Traore has played well. It's not my fault that there aren't many of them.

Costa has had some very good performances this season, Traore has had about three decent sub appearances. Costa is a good footballer, Traore is not.

If Costa plays poorly I say so but he has enough credit in the bank over two years for me to think that he'll turn it around. I'm afraid I can't rosetint my view on Adama Traore because he now wears an undersized Wolves shirt. I don't think he's very good. There's no hate there, it's just my judgement. And he is ridiculously bad at times, that's twice already this season where he's come on as sub and could have had no complaints if he'd been dragged back off after 20 minutes.

I haven't seen much (if any) improvement in him either, nothing has changed.

 

[Tony Towner]

Some people have decided their views before the game even kicks off to be fair. On Sunday, he was vastly better than costa or Cav (their bad performance rather than him being amazing), but he’s still the one being picked out. It’s very sad, but the scapegoat has been decided I think...

On Kennys point about him switching off, that’s very true. He stands still, and looks pretty blank, he still has a huge amount to work on. However, he’s also run into space so he can get the ball whilst he’s moving to Atack full backs rather than doing it from a standing start all the time, and has played simple passes rather than trying to beat players from a poor position, both of which were legitimate criticisms of him earlier in the season. He’s also still roasting people at times, turning them, and creating chances.

He’s definitely not amazing, and he is definitely still frustrating - but he has some really good attributes and is clearly improving on the aspects Nuno is working on. Hopefully he will keep doing so.

Some people have decided their views before the game even kicks off to be fair. On Sunday, he was vastly better than costa or Cav (their bad performance rather than him being amazing), but he’s still the one being picked out. It’s very sad, but the scapegoat has been decided I think.

Although I agree that opinions are pretty well entrenched, I think that's equally applicable on both sides of the divide. Paddy's comments on Sunday which I'm guessing may have been liquid aided were OTT, but so is Alan's assertion that Traore was in our best two players. He's my son's favourite player, because he's "exciting" whereas I think he's a footballing Forrest Gump, he sees the burst of pace that gets past the player like he isn't there, I see him running the ball out of play at the end of it. He's just that type of pollarising player.

As for him being a scapegoat, you are making the mistake that this place is representative of the fan base as a whole. It's not on a number of issues - Doherty, Traore, Edwards back in the day, Brexit. We are obviously correct, but not representative [emoji6]

 

[Premier Quality]

Although I agree that opinions are pretty well entrenched, I think that's equally applicable on both sides of the divide. Paddy's comments on Sunday which I'm guessing may have been liquid aided were OTT, but so is Alan's assertion that Traore was in our best two players. He's my son's favourite player, because he's "exciting" whereas I think he's a footballing Forrest Gump, he sees the burst of pace that gets past the player like he isn't there, I see him running the ball out of play at the end of it. He's just that type of pollarising player.

As for him being a scapegoat, you are making the mistake that this place is representative of the fan base as a whole. It's not on a number of issues - Doherty, Traore, Edwards back in the day, Brexit. We are obviously correct, but not representative [emoji6]

Haha, fair enough, and you’re right with everything you say.

I’m never going to convince people who clearly will never change their views, regardless - feels wrong to let it go consistently without saying anything though!

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Although I agree that opinions are pretty well entrenched, I think that's equally applicable on both sides of the divide. Paddy's comments on Sunday which I'm guessing may have been liquid aided were OTT, but so is Alan's assertion that Traore was in our best two players. He's my son's favourite player, because he's "exciting" whereas I think he's a footballing Forrest Gump, he sees the burst of pace that gets past the player like he isn't there, I see him running the ball out of play at the end of it. He's just that type of pollarising player.

As for him being a scapegoat, you are making the mistake that this place is representative of the fan base as a whole. It's not on a number of issues - Doherty, Traore, Edwards back in the day, Brexit. We are obviously correct, but not representative [emoji6]

 

[Langers]

I think he's a footballing Forrest Gump

This is the exact term I used to describe him when I spoke to my dad about the game on Sunday night.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Haha, fair enough, and you’re right with everything you say.

I’m never going to convince people who clearly will never change their views, regardless - feels wrong to let it go consistently without saying anything though!

See that's not right either. Look at how Bennett changed minds last season (and to an extent this, although I still think he's on borrowed time). Ditto Coady, most people would have happily let him go for <£500k 18 months ago. If Traore puts in the performances then he will get praise. He does not look very good and so he doesn't, unless you want to clutch at straws and say "that was a good three seconds of play, makes up for all the times it bounced off him like a squash ball and we lost possession".

I'm not keen on this narrative that keeps springing up (and it's not just you), "you're only having a go at X because you don't like him/you think it proves you were right all along", get out of town with that crap.