Wolves 0 - Charlton 0 The most frustrating verdict thread

[lemonjelly]

To be fair if we were going to score it was only coming from the right hand side, we didn't have a left hand side all afternoon for me.

Quirk is bank on here.

Quite a weird experience. I didn't think that we were terrible first half. I think the back 5 picked itself, owing to the good defensive record we've had. However as stated Hause is not a LB, & looks less comfortable on the ball. Charlton targeted him. Every time the ball was played to him they got on top of him quick. He had no time, & lost possession, affecting his & his team mates confidence.
I didn't think Henry was that poor first half, though he was ok.
MacDonald has significantly improved his defensive abilities. Possibly to the detriment of his attacking abilities. Price was pretty quiet. Edwards not involved first half. RVlP looked up for the game.

I expected Hause to be withdrawn for Golbourne. When I also saw Dicko coming on, I expected for Edwards. Withdrawing Henry limited our attacking ability, & was a diabolical sub from KJ. For the entire 2nd half we had no shape. Neither Dicko nor Afobe knew which of them was the main striker, or was to be further forward. VlP was the only outlet, easy to mark out of the game. Edwards looked lonely out wide left so started wandering in, leaving Gobourne as the only outlet down that side. No balance, no direction to the players, disjointed.

End result, no attacking threat whatsoever.

Afternoon topped off by bizarre substitution at right back. If that wasn't because Iorfa had a knock, then it was pointless.

We had very little creativity in the final third. Something that has caused us problems many times this season. I think KJ still hasn't worked out his plan B, as it is a variant on 4-4-2, but he's no idea where to play Dicko or Afobe, or any of the midfield to be fair. What he did do however, didn't work, & I'll bet he regretted taking off Henry instead of Edwards.

Finally, apologies to Deutsch as I was supposed to meet him & others after the game. I went to the bank, bought a book & it completely slipped my mind & I remembered after walking nearly 20 mins towards my car, by which time it may have been pointless turning back! But sorry about that!

No wonder they gave free tickets away. Worst 0-0 I can remember (though my memory is shite)

No way was that worse than the Birmingham game.

 

[machin05]

Thing is LJ, Kenny made the same change against Blackpool (albeit with Afobe coming on instead of Dicko). Henry sacrificed and Edwards wandering around like a rudderless ship leaving the left flank empty. We got away with then because Afobe made such a nuisance of himself and was making loads of runs and creating space for Dicko and RVLP. Dicko didn't really inject that surprise burst of pace and movement.

 

[Lycan]

The braver substitution would've been to take off Price.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Finally, apologies to Deutsch as I was supposed to meet him & others after the game. I went to the bank, bought a book & it completely slipped my mind & I remembered after walking nearly 20 mins towards my car, by which time it may have been pointless turning back! But sorry about that!

Apology accepted....this time....

Lycan is right, we could and probably should have taken Price off. No need for two holding midfielders in that game and it was obvious as such after 10 minutes. It's not Edwards' forte to play in the centre of a midfield two but he did ok in that role vs Bournemouth. I'd rather have him there than shoved out on the left and us still having our two central midfielders predominantly parked 10 yards in front of the centre halves.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Ok- Team changes manager on the back of a thumping defeat and their next game is a visit to Molineux. Its a scenario that we have had at least twice this year and both ended in 0-0 draws and an inability to break down either Birmingham or Charlton. I was not surprised at the 0-0. Really good to see that after a mid season wobble defensively we look stronger. No coincidence that Iorfa and Hause have helped and Goldbournes return can only add to this. Stearman and Batth look happier with them as full backs. Ikeme seems to have his confidence back that took a knock in November time ( I called for him to have a rest but he has come through) and that gives stability. Really wish we were more clinical. We are haveing attempts and seem to be creating but lots are still off target. We have one end sorted better now lets get the other going. I love clean sheets and would settle for 1-0 wins but we should be scoring more given our possession and chance rate. Our conversion rate is still lower than many teams lower than us in the league. Off to NOTLOB we go.......

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Ok- Team changes manager on the back of a thumping defeat and their next game is a visit to Molineux. Its a scenario that we have had at least twice this year and both ended in 0-0 draws and an inability to break down either Birmingham or Charlton. I was not surprised at the 0-0. Really good to see that after a mid season wobble defensively we look stronger. No coincidence that Iorfa and Hause have helped and Goldbournes return can only add to this. Stearman and Batth look happier with them as full backs. Ikeme seems to have his confidence back that took a knock in November time ( I called for him to have a rest but he has come through) and that gives stability. Really wish we were more clinical. We are haveing attempts and seem to be creating but lots are still off target. We have one end sorted better now lets get the other going. I love clean sheets and would settle for 1-0 wins but we should be scoring more given our possession and chance rate. Our conversion rate is still lower than many teams lower than us in the league. Off to NOTLOB we go.......

Creation was a far, far bigger problem than conversion on Saturday, can only think of that one effort from Edwards from the edge of the box first half, don't think anyone else had a shot of note?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Afobe's header near the end.

 

[Kenny]

Creation was a far, far bigger problem than conversion on Saturday,

Too many games where we have got into good positions and the final ball has been shite this season. Henry summed that up near the end of the first half, does brilliantly to get into the box and has Afobe, la Parra and Edwards all around the edge of the 6 yard box and he chips the ball straight into the keepers arms from close range.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Afobe's header near the end.

Did it go straight down the keeper's throat? Seem to remember him making an important, yet ultimately routine, save late on but my mind had been numbed to great effect by that point so can't think how it came about. There were a few other 'efforts' first half, Henry's pathetic header where he looked more concerned about not getting hurt than heading the ball and Iorfa's horribly scuffed effort following a decent run but i can't remember their keeper having to really make a difficult save all game, they all least got Ikeme at full stretch one.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Yeah, it was a simple save, just dived on top of it. Cross was behind Benik tbf.

I don't think there's much value in overanalysing it, we faced an ultra defensive team without our overwhelmingly best attacking player for whom we have absolutely no replacement. Same issue City have when they play low end PL teams without Silva, it looks dirge. They mainly scrape by with a narrow win or it ends 0-0.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

I think that paints a rather worrying picture though, an over reliance on individual ability to make things happen rather than creating things as a team. Sako will bring more threat to the team but I don't think he neccesarily improves the team as a whole, he's a bit of a get out of jail card, give him the ball and see what he can muster up. Where does that leave Wolves next season in the likelihood that he'll no longer be around? Destined to be stumped by teams defending in numbers?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

We'll need to sign some better players.

 

[Kenny]

We'll need to sign some better players.

CRAZY TALK

 

[Penk Wolf]

Felt Kenny didn't do his homework on Bikey, it was blatantly obvious that Afobe liked to play off the last mans shoulder with balls over the top. This was food and drink to Bikey. He should have started with Dicko who would have caused him problems taking balls to his feet and dropping off to receive the ball. The half time sub should have been Dicko for Afobe.

The wide men also played too much like wide men and then when the ball went in the box there was only 1 possible 2 players in the box due to that. The substitution of Hause for Golbourne made sense as we need the three to took in more, which would have allowed Golbourne and Iorfa to push on in the space that was left.

Also, McDonald and Price sat too deep and it was very predictable that we'd be going down the wings every time as there was nothing through the middle due to them sitting deep. I can understand the logic of playing Price in the games were we are playing opposition that are going to push on a little, but when it's teams like Blackpool and Charlton we should be playing Evans with McDonald.

 

[lemonjelly]

Apology accepted....this time....
.

Won't happen again. TBF it's rare I get asked to go for a drink!

Too many games where we have got into good positions and the final ball has been shite this season. Henry summed that up near the end of the first half, does brilliantly to get into the box and has Afobe, la Parra and Edwards all around the edge of the 6 yard box and he chips the ball straight into the keepers arms from close range.

Agree with this. VlP also had a very tame shot into the keepers arms.

A massive positive though, Golbourne did very well in his 45 minutes. Shame he didn't have more support really.