Wolves 0 - Sunderland 0 A disappointing verdict thread
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Banjo
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I thought I'd chip in with my verdict for this one, despite being a couple of days late.
In a number of games this season, we have got a relatively early goal from either a set piece or a defensive mistake. This has meant the other team has had to change their game plan and open up a little, which has played into our hands as it creates more space on the pitch.
In the early part of this match, Sunderland looked like they definitely had a defensive mistake in them and, given our dominance of the ball, you'd have expected us to get a few set piece chances. Unfortunately, nothing came which meant that Sunderland were happy keeping either 10 or 11 men behind the ball at all times.
Our front three found it very hard to find any space and this meant our midfield pair couldn't find the passes that they wanted to. We addressed this in the second half by playing more advanced up the pitch - with the wing backs as additional forwards, and the wide centre halves practically at full back. The problem we had, however, was the wide centre halves didn't really know what to do with the ball other than to give it to Neves. This meant that Neves was repeatedly receiving the ball just inside Sunderland's half, looking up and finding 11 Sunderland players in front of him and 7 or 8 Wolves players. All in less than one half of the pitch.
I think this is part of why Nuno prefers Douglas over Vinagre. His deliveries have led to a number of goals early on which have settled nerves and changed the opposition's game plan. The Bolton game being a good example.
Sunderland offered absolutely nothing in this game and if we'd have scored at any stage, we'd have won. But Sunderland stuck to their game plan well, causing frustration amongst our forward players, all of whom were guilty of allowing their frustration to affect their finishing.
Our best chance came towards the end of the first half when a bit of individual skill from the otherwise disappointing Cav got him around the back of the Sunderland defence, squaring the ball for the unmarked Bonatini to swipe at the ball and end up hitting across it, sending it out towards the corner flag, rather than connecting with it and sending it towards goal.
Neves was probably our best player, but had way too much to do and there was a huge over reliance on him - particularly by Bennett, who was solid again defensively but is clearly the least comfortable of our players on the ball and who can't wait to lay it off to someone else if left on the ball for any amount of time. Boly is more comfortable on the ball, but was no more effective with it. I would have done one or both of bring Miranda on for Bennett and/or put Saiss back to left centre half.
Player ratings:
Ruddy: Nothing to do of note. Commands his area so well and gets the ball moving quickly whenever he collects.
Boly: Largely solid, did allow a player past him on one occasion, but generally as dominating as ever. His distribution was poor - perhaps attributable to the fact he's clearly not that comfortable on his left foot, meaning he often went for the safe option of a ball into Neves. Given we had to break down an 11 man wall, we needed to pass the ball out better from the back.
Bennett: Solid defensively, but does not like being on the ball and so would inevitably lay it off to Neves or Coady at every opportunity.
Coady: He tidied up very well on a few occasions and because he's comfortable on the ball (more than the average centre half) he would deal with defensive situations calmly and keep things moving nicely. However, as with Neves, every time he looked up to play the ball out, there were 11 Sunderland players in the way. We didn't show the movement we needed to and it limited the ability of our distributors to do much with the ball.
Doherty: Didn't get the space he has been used to and in my view should have gone looking for the ball more as a result. Because our wide centre halves were pushed up, this gave the wing backs the chance to effectively play as wingers. Doherty is good when driving in-field with the ball, but when he's in advanced wide positions, he simply cannot get a decent cross on and we need him to work on this quickly as it will otherwise become obvious that if you stop Doherty from driving in-field, he's largely ineffective out on the touchline. This is probably why he sometimes looked okay at left back (when he was in attacking positions) because he can cross from the left by cutting in on his right foot, but he can't cross from the right using his right foot.
Douglas: Had the same problems as Doherty in that he had no space to work with. The difference is that Douglas can get a cross in from out wide, not that this led to anything of course. Douglas was involved in most of our attacks but was later booked when tracking back and seemed to drop his head a bit after that. We didn't see the usual quality of dead-ball delivery from Douglas either on Saturday - with a couple of corners coming in too close to the goalkeeper. I'd have brought Vinagre on once it was obvious Douglas' head had dropped rather than move Cav to LWB.
Neves: As I've said above, he had a great game but he just didn't have the options either ahead or him or next to him to be able to affect play the way we would have wanted him to. We were over-reliant on Neves to do something with the ball in this game.
Saiss: A mixed bag from Saiss, who did not help Neves out at all when it came to sharing the creativity workload. Saiss loves a needless foul and he did this on a couple of occasions just when we were looking to shift defence into attack; he also gave the ball away on too many occasions and I can't imagine Nuno being impressed with this. I would have brought N'Diaye on sooner - but wouldn't have been upset to see Saiss moved to left centre half.
Cavaleiro: After a number of fantastic performances, this was a poor game from Ivan. "Never gives the ball away" is about as far away from reality as you can get. In fairness, it was a piece of individual skill from him that set up what ended up being our best chance of the game, which Bonatini failed to connect with properly. I'd have had Vinagre come on for Douglas rather than move Cav to LWB - it didn't help us out at all. Here's hoping he makes amends because otherwise, it might be time to start Costa on the right.
Jota: A frustrating game for Jota, who was involved but not to the same level as the high standards he has set himself. He's clearly too good for most of the defenders in this league, which is why they have to resort to hacking him to the ground. Yet another red card against a player for scything down Jota - I wish he would get greater protection from referees. He had a few frustration-inspired wayward shots and didn't really seem to start running at players until towards the very end. Given how high up our wing backs were able to play, I would have liked to see Jota come and receive the ball from Neves and Saiss in advanced midfield positions and drive at the Sunderland defence down the middle. His frustration at how Sunderland stuck to their effective game plan summed up everyone's frustration in this game.
Bonatini: I watched him quite closely in the first half and he really does have great movement, but he had very little space to operate in. Had our best chance of the game and had more time than he realised to get his shot on target.
Subs
N'Diaye: Didn't really get on the ball and drive forward with it, which was clearly his brief. I would have liked to see him come on earlier as Saiss was a bit of a passenger in midfield.
Costa: Didn't get involved as much as I'd have liked. There were so many bodies in such a compact space, it made it difficult for him to play the way we're used to. Some wayward crosses too. I think he should have come on sooner and come on for Cav, with Vinagre replacing Douglas.
Overall, we just lacked ideas as to how to break Sunderland down and in previous games we've unlocked teams early on with good set piece deliveries and forcing defensive errors. I do worry that Sunderland will now set the blueprint for any team who wants to come to the Wolves and play for a point as, at times, we looked like we had no idea how to create chances with so many bodies in the way.
In a number of games this season, we have got a relatively early goal from either a set piece or a defensive mistake. This has meant the other team has had to change their game plan and open up a little, which has played into our hands as it creates more space on the pitch.
In the early part of this match, Sunderland looked like they definitely had a defensive mistake in them and, given our dominance of the ball, you'd have expected us to get a few set piece chances. Unfortunately, nothing came which meant that Sunderland were happy keeping either 10 or 11 men behind the ball at all times.
Our front three found it very hard to find any space and this meant our midfield pair couldn't find the passes that they wanted to. We addressed this in the second half by playing more advanced up the pitch - with the wing backs as additional forwards, and the wide centre halves practically at full back. The problem we had, however, was the wide centre halves didn't really know what to do with the ball other than to give it to Neves. This meant that Neves was repeatedly receiving the ball just inside Sunderland's half, looking up and finding 11 Sunderland players in front of him and 7 or 8 Wolves players. All in less than one half of the pitch.
I think this is part of why Nuno prefers Douglas over Vinagre. His deliveries have led to a number of goals early on which have settled nerves and changed the opposition's game plan. The Bolton game being a good example.
Sunderland offered absolutely nothing in this game and if we'd have scored at any stage, we'd have won. But Sunderland stuck to their game plan well, causing frustration amongst our forward players, all of whom were guilty of allowing their frustration to affect their finishing.
Our best chance came towards the end of the first half when a bit of individual skill from the otherwise disappointing Cav got him around the back of the Sunderland defence, squaring the ball for the unmarked Bonatini to swipe at the ball and end up hitting across it, sending it out towards the corner flag, rather than connecting with it and sending it towards goal.
Neves was probably our best player, but had way too much to do and there was a huge over reliance on him - particularly by Bennett, who was solid again defensively but is clearly the least comfortable of our players on the ball and who can't wait to lay it off to someone else if left on the ball for any amount of time. Boly is more comfortable on the ball, but was no more effective with it. I would have done one or both of bring Miranda on for Bennett and/or put Saiss back to left centre half.
Player ratings:
Ruddy: Nothing to do of note. Commands his area so well and gets the ball moving quickly whenever he collects.
Boly: Largely solid, did allow a player past him on one occasion, but generally as dominating as ever. His distribution was poor - perhaps attributable to the fact he's clearly not that comfortable on his left foot, meaning he often went for the safe option of a ball into Neves. Given we had to break down an 11 man wall, we needed to pass the ball out better from the back.
Bennett: Solid defensively, but does not like being on the ball and so would inevitably lay it off to Neves or Coady at every opportunity.
Coady: He tidied up very well on a few occasions and because he's comfortable on the ball (more than the average centre half) he would deal with defensive situations calmly and keep things moving nicely. However, as with Neves, every time he looked up to play the ball out, there were 11 Sunderland players in the way. We didn't show the movement we needed to and it limited the ability of our distributors to do much with the ball.
Doherty: Didn't get the space he has been used to and in my view should have gone looking for the ball more as a result. Because our wide centre halves were pushed up, this gave the wing backs the chance to effectively play as wingers. Doherty is good when driving in-field with the ball, but when he's in advanced wide positions, he simply cannot get a decent cross on and we need him to work on this quickly as it will otherwise become obvious that if you stop Doherty from driving in-field, he's largely ineffective out on the touchline. This is probably why he sometimes looked okay at left back (when he was in attacking positions) because he can cross from the left by cutting in on his right foot, but he can't cross from the right using his right foot.
Douglas: Had the same problems as Doherty in that he had no space to work with. The difference is that Douglas can get a cross in from out wide, not that this led to anything of course. Douglas was involved in most of our attacks but was later booked when tracking back and seemed to drop his head a bit after that. We didn't see the usual quality of dead-ball delivery from Douglas either on Saturday - with a couple of corners coming in too close to the goalkeeper. I'd have brought Vinagre on once it was obvious Douglas' head had dropped rather than move Cav to LWB.
Neves: As I've said above, he had a great game but he just didn't have the options either ahead or him or next to him to be able to affect play the way we would have wanted him to. We were over-reliant on Neves to do something with the ball in this game.
Saiss: A mixed bag from Saiss, who did not help Neves out at all when it came to sharing the creativity workload. Saiss loves a needless foul and he did this on a couple of occasions just when we were looking to shift defence into attack; he also gave the ball away on too many occasions and I can't imagine Nuno being impressed with this. I would have brought N'Diaye on sooner - but wouldn't have been upset to see Saiss moved to left centre half.
Cavaleiro: After a number of fantastic performances, this was a poor game from Ivan. "Never gives the ball away" is about as far away from reality as you can get. In fairness, it was a piece of individual skill from him that set up what ended up being our best chance of the game, which Bonatini failed to connect with properly. I'd have had Vinagre come on for Douglas rather than move Cav to LWB - it didn't help us out at all. Here's hoping he makes amends because otherwise, it might be time to start Costa on the right.
Jota: A frustrating game for Jota, who was involved but not to the same level as the high standards he has set himself. He's clearly too good for most of the defenders in this league, which is why they have to resort to hacking him to the ground. Yet another red card against a player for scything down Jota - I wish he would get greater protection from referees. He had a few frustration-inspired wayward shots and didn't really seem to start running at players until towards the very end. Given how high up our wing backs were able to play, I would have liked to see Jota come and receive the ball from Neves and Saiss in advanced midfield positions and drive at the Sunderland defence down the middle. His frustration at how Sunderland stuck to their effective game plan summed up everyone's frustration in this game.
Bonatini: I watched him quite closely in the first half and he really does have great movement, but he had very little space to operate in. Had our best chance of the game and had more time than he realised to get his shot on target.
Subs
N'Diaye: Didn't really get on the ball and drive forward with it, which was clearly his brief. I would have liked to see him come on earlier as Saiss was a bit of a passenger in midfield.
Costa: Didn't get involved as much as I'd have liked. There were so many bodies in such a compact space, it made it difficult for him to play the way we're used to. Some wayward crosses too. I think he should have come on sooner and come on for Cav, with Vinagre replacing Douglas.
Overall, we just lacked ideas as to how to break Sunderland down and in previous games we've unlocked teams early on with good set piece deliveries and forcing defensive errors. I do worry that Sunderland will now set the blueprint for any team who wants to come to the Wolves and play for a point as, at times, we looked like we had no idea how to create chances with so many bodies in the way.
Deutsch Wolf
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Most teams do not have the paucity of ambition to set up in an ultra-rigid 5-4-1 with no attempt whatsoever to play in our half, even at Molineux. Ipswich, Brentford and Forest are our next three league games at home and none of them will play like that.
If this were a recurring theme then I'd understand the concern, but this is the first time since the 9th of September that we've failed to score at least two in a home game. On another day something drops for us, we score and then Sunderland's plan doesn't look so clever.
Miranda wasn't on the bench so no option to bring him on.
If this were a recurring theme then I'd understand the concern, but this is the first time since the 9th of September that we've failed to score at least two in a home game. On another day something drops for us, we score and then Sunderland's plan doesn't look so clever.
Miranda wasn't on the bench so no option to bring him on.
Banjo
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Fair points. I think a few things conspired against us at once too - I doubt we'll see a day where all of our forwards plus Neves have such wayward shooting and we see Douglas' quality of delivery fall short at the same time. It was just a bit disappointing, that's all - but games like this happen sometimes. We've been spoilt so far this season.
Lord Knows
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I thought there was the option of withdrawing Bennett then moving Douglas to left sided centre back with Vinagre playing the wing back role. Adding a left foot at the back who is quicker over the ground, then the ability of Vinagre to go past people in front of Douglas.
Deutsch Wolf
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It's tinkering round the edges really. None of the front three had their best day, the final ball and shot from everyone was poor and merely messing around with the back three probably wouldn't have done a great deal.
You could argue we could have ditched one (Bennett probably) and brought Bright on, but I don't get the impression we're even practising any other formation. We aren't working on playing with a back four and a number 10 in behind the striker. If we weren't going to deviate from this system against Yeovil and Bristol Rovers at home then we aren't going to do it now.
Lord Knows
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I think when your opponent is offering absolutely nothing in attack you have to create as many offensive variables as possible.
Douglas plus Vinagre down the one side could help create overloads down the flank which should then create more space through the centre.
playtheace
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1st half, when we attacked it seemed to start with speed and then fizzle out of ideas around the 25yard mark.
I think Bonatini realised that coming short wasnt going to do anything and so was playing on the last defender hoping for a through ball but it just kept going out wide to no avail, you could see how pissed off he was getting.
We werent getting any joy lumping the ball into the box and it needed a Bright to come on and run at Sunderland.
Thing is, a few folks round me moaned when Jota had the ball for more than 5 seconds so they would have spaffed their knickers
if Bright would have come on and got on it.
Anyone see the one instance in the 2nd half when Cav could have crossed with pace but decided to pull it back and turn his man (who he had beaten already)
Jota was in the middle going batshit mad having busted a gut to get on the end of anything.
I think Bonatini realised that coming short wasnt going to do anything and so was playing on the last defender hoping for a through ball but it just kept going out wide to no avail, you could see how pissed off he was getting.
We werent getting any joy lumping the ball into the box and it needed a Bright to come on and run at Sunderland.
Thing is, a few folks round me moaned when Jota had the ball for more than 5 seconds so they would have spaffed their knickers
if Bright would have come on and got on it.
Anyone see the one instance in the 2nd half when Cav could have crossed with pace but decided to pull it back and turn his man (who he had beaten already)
Jota was in the middle going batshit mad having busted a gut to get on the end of anything.
Deutsch Wolf
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Ok Ruben, stop showing off.
lemonjelly
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He's fucking amazing. If you love football, it is worth watching just him for a game.
Ok Ruben, stop showing off.
Even in the south bank, you can hear loads of people making numerous bizarre noises of appreciation regarding what he does on the pitch.
Cannot believe we're fortunate enough to watch him play regularly.
Deutsch Wolf
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Pretty sure there was a game last season where Edwards made 13 successful passes. Obviously he played the full 90 minutes because Lambert.
StuardoWulf
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Let hope he makes a few tonight and scores
Derby Wolf
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The Neves pass in the first when he chested It and volleyed it to Doherty on the touchline was simply incredible.
Wigan I believe.
Wigan I believe.
