Wolves 1-0 Reading: The Verdict

[slink]

Added to which, our ball retention when we're under pressure is appalling, this is in large part down to Edwards as well. Either he's 30 yards away from Afobe when he holds the ball up, offering no support when that should be one of his main jobs, so we lose it, or we pass it to him and he loses it on his own with his crap touch and/or inability to hold on to the ball, beat anyone, pass the ball etc.

I fail to see the correlation between him missing out vs Sheff Wed and us conceding four up there, that really is clutching at straws.

Still haven't heard any defence of him having no shots on goal in a home game since October despite starting all of them.

Well yeah exactly, the amount of times we have it and a number 10 would go deeper to pick the ball up and run with it or find a pass but we have Edwards who runs away from it into a position where he becomes next to useless as he can't link with anyone and isn't in a position where the opposition have to worry about him.

Numerous times yesterday Graham had it but had no one to pass to and has to do it himself, he then finds a cross but there's only Afobe in there and Edwards is nowhere to be seen. It's not Edwards fault that he keeps getting picked though when we have a number 10 on the bench.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

I don't see it as a problem with 1 or 2 players, it's team-wide, squad-wide even.

Wolves just don't play as a team, and I think it's been a long time since they really have. Far too many individuals who are happy to pass the ball off to someone, stick their feet up with a job done mentality and wait to see if their team mate can do the next part.

It's not like you can drop an ineffective Edwards or out of sorts Henry and suddenly everyone else is playing slick 1-2 touch pass and move football. It'd all largely remain the same but you may have a couple more individuals in there who are getting the better of their man.

Wolves need a complete change in mentality. They need to be coached to work together rather than rely on individual ability, both with the ball and without it. They just don't combine well on the ball to create things nor can they display any sort of organisation to prevent chances when they're without the ball.

It's completely uncoordinated rubbish from top to bottom and has been for too long.

 

[North West Wanderer]

Added to which, our ball retention when we're under pressure is appalling, this is in large part down to Edwards as well. Either he's 30 yards away from Afobe when he holds the ball up, offering no support when that should be one of his main jobs, so we lose it, or we pass it to him and he loses it on his own with his crap touch and/or inability to hold on to the ball, beat anyone, pass the ball etc.

I fail to see the correlation between him missing out vs Sheff Wed and us conceding four up there, that really is clutching at straws.

Still haven't heard any defence of him having no shots on goal in a home game since October despite starting all of them.

I'm merely pointing out that Edwards is hardly the biggest cause for concern.

 

[The Bear]

I'm not going to get into another Edwards argument but I remember a shot on target just in the first half yesterday (the corner routine) so that argument is unfair.

 

[slink]

I'm merely pointing out that Edwards is hardly the biggest cause for concern.

He is though or that position is, it's as much as a concern as the rest as it is all linked.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

No single position will end Wolves' woes, as was seen when Graham finally gave a viable option on the left wing.

You could drop Eriksen in for Edwards and the others still wouldn't be able to do anything between themselves.

 

[Premier Quality]

No single position will end Wolves' woes, as was seen when Graham finally gave a viable option on the left wing.

You could drop Eriksen in for Edwards and the others still wouldn't be able to do anything between themselves.

I disagree with that - put Ericsson in there and suddenly you have someone who can pick a tight pass, has good movement and has excellent close control - suddenly it's worth Adobe and the wingers making runs in behind, give and go's become an option and we can make breaks and building of pressure pay.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

I disagree with that - put Ericsson in there and suddenly you have someone who can pick a tight pass, has good movement and has excellent close control - suddenly it's worth Adobe and the wingers making runs in behind, give and go's become an option and we can make breaks and building of pressure pay.

The other players aren't suddenly going to be blessed with great off the ball movement because suddenly there's one bloke who can pass the ball. Unless you're suggesting they're already capable but choose not to make these runs because Edwards is shit?

Also, one player can't be everywhere at once, so if your star man is building a move down one side and then there's a big switch you're left with the same old duds working alone again down that side.

If Wolves had a player of that ability you'd just end up with everyone looking to him to do some special on his own every time. Much like with Sako, the rest of the team would largely be useless.

 

[North West Wanderer]

He is though or that position is, it's as much as a concern as the rest as it is all linked.

Respectfully disagree completely.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I'm not going to get into another Edwards argument but I remember a shot on target just in the first half yesterday (the corner routine) so that argument is unfair.

Got blocked about eight yards out as far as I recall. A shot has to get reasonably close to reaching the goal to count really. Sky didn't count it in their stats, at half time we had one shot on target.

We aren't gelling well as a team at the moment at all, however if you are going to set up as a team of individuals and just hope for the best - which we do, a lot of the time - then picking better players has to give you a better chance. If Edwards was keeping an objectively better player out of the team but he fit our system miles better and was contributing heavily in other ways you could see the sense in picking him. However he does not do any of that. I don't count chasing the opposition centre halves and defensive midfielders around a bit in irrelevant areas to be especially vital characteristics of a number 10. Especially when it's accompanied by said number 10 controlling the ball straight out of play multiple times a game.

 

[YoungWolf]

That was a genuinely terrible victory. A desperately needed 3 points it was but what use is that if we continue playing like this? Because that certainly won't win us many more games.

We have so many thick players in this team it is unreal. The back four is a shambles not helped by a midfield three who jus time and time again allowed reading to play through us. Shocking.

We need at least two signings to go with Zyro in January. A centre back but also if we are not going to give Wallace a chance, nor Evans or Saville we need a central midfielder with a bit of quality going forwards. McDonald isn't the type of player to do it all by himself, as good a footballer as he is, Coady/Edwards are just shite and Price is good at what he does (and I want him in the team) but doesn't provide us anything going forwards.

Such a sorry state of affairs. we might even win tomorrow again because Charlton are bloody awful!

 

[Premier Quality]

No, but any off the ball movement they have is wasted as there is no chance Edwards will be playing them in. Any breaks are wasted as by the time Dave has the ball under control and turned their defence are set.

Most of this team had an excellent second half of the season. The only real differences are graham for sako (now he's not sako but he's not bad) and Edwards for dicko (with Afobe moving up top). Second half of last season we played some great stuff, the main issue for me is that lack of control and options in the final third

 

[east-coast-wolves]

I think ball retention was our biggest issue yesterday. Second half, the ball just kept coming straight back. That was for two reasons.

1) Everyone was defending way too deep. We sat 9 men along the edge of the box most of the time, with Afobe up top by himself. Whenever Afobe did get the ball, he had to hold onto it for 5 minutes before anyone caught up with him! I'm assuming this was a managerial tactic as they stuck with it all half from the get go. Not okay.

2) Whenever we won the ball back, we just hoofed it up to Afobe, normally with little accuracy. This is never going to work. This I suspect was due to a complete lack of composure brought on by a lack of confidence throughout the whole team. It also meant we had no chance of building dangerous counters, so they could afford to throw as many people forward as they liked.

That said, from a pure defensive point of view, we did okay. They didnt have THAT many absolute clear chances (considering their dominance), and most of their shots were from outside the box. That said, they still had enough clear chances to blow us away and we were incredibly lucky to not get stuffed.
EEL and Iorfa did okay, but Batth and Doherty were really poor.
The midfield in front (including the supposedly tough tackling Coady) were walked through too easily too often.
Up front we offered absolutely nothing for almost the whole game. Why would Afobe want to stay here in January?
As we didnt lose though, I thoroughly expect the next game to start with the same team. This time, chances will be taken and we will be trounced.

 

[thehistorymakers]

Yes you did. If you think it a pivotal moment you infer the decision is wrong. As Jackett has taken responsibility for Stearman's departure you are saying he, a professional league manager, was wrong.

I am saying that on June the 26th 2015 Kenny Jackett thought Stearman had a good future at Wolves.

This is what he said about Stearman and Dicko, before the sale of Stearman.



"It’s correct to say both of them have futures at the club and we’re very happy with both players.

“I’m very keen to retain their services. They've been picked on a consistent basis and I would see them as having very strong futures at Wolves"./B]

This is what kenny said after the sale,

[B"If it's a situation where he was here, fine, but when the bid comes in of millions of pounds, that does change the picture.

"For Richard he's been our captain, we do understand that, but we're very close to having our captain Danny Batth back as well in that same position.

"The thing that changed it was the bid and the size of the bid".

/B]



KJ later said after the sale of Stearman, that it was because of a good bid(money). My thought on this would agree with the 82% of Wolves fans who were upset about this sale.
If Jackett had complete faith in the youngsters, surely Stearman wouldn't have been an ever present and the youngsters would of taken his place before.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

No, but any off the ball movement they have is wasted as there is no chance Edwards will be playing them in. Any breaks are wasted as by the time Dave has the ball under control and turned their defence are set.

Most of this team had an excellent second half of the season. The only real differences are graham for sako (now he's not sako but he's not bad) and Edwards for dicko (with Afobe moving up top). Second half of last season we played some great stuff, the main issue for me is that lack of control and options in the final third

So Edwards is the sole reason none of them can produce any sort of decent interplay between them with any sort of regularity? It wouldn't be possible for say 3-4 other players to string a few passes together and create something without him?

It's not all about one player, that's the problem for Wolves, it's about how they interact together. McDonald, for example, is a more able footballer technically than Edwards but you still don't see him playing neat little triangles around people with his team mates because they all lack that level of understanding.

Not every Wolves move breaks down because of Edwards, there are plenty of culprits for that I'm afraid.

As for last season, same system I'm sad to say but when you've got enough individual talent to rely on consistently, as Wolves did with Sako, Dicko and Afobe then it attains the results to cover the shortcomings. McDonald, Henry and all the other also rans from last season are still looking for that individual ability from somewhere else on the pitch to dig them out the shit.

 

[Premier Quality]

There is good play - iorfa and Henry link up really well at times, and golbourne and graham were also before he was dropped. The problem is that Edwards is then supposed to support whichever winger/full back has worked his way up the pitch, receive the ball and find someone else. We don't have that as its not Daves skill set, which means either the winger/full back has to do something amazing (hence graham running into one too many defenders a fair bit) or just toss it into the area, which is relatively easy to defend.

Likewise if price and McDonald work some space they can't lay it into the Number ten to link to the forward, they have to go over the top for Afobe or go wide, we're simply missing one of the most important options.

And McDonald does play neat triangles - his goal against Huddersfield being an example. He and price play triangles a lot, he just doesn't have that link man further forward to play them with.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

The best football we've ever played under Ken - with the caveat that it was in League One - was when we had Henry/Jacobs/Sako behind Dicko. I just don't understand how he can't see how important technical ability in that position is in this system.

 

[Parkins left foot]

Back home after a good Christmas away with limited access as could only do so via the phone with limited time as needed to not exceed my data download & evry bugger near where I was staying had protected their Wifi so couldn't 'piggy back' on someone else.

Could only get a flavour of yesterday's game, but from what I could & comments on here doesn't sound great, though 3 points are welcome (those who are concerned that it keeps KJ in the job longer shouldn't worry as he is unlikely to be to be got rid of unless we are cut off in the relegation zone anyway).

Going to the FA Cup game which is at least a day out & a meet up with Darlo, though what prompted me to book a ticket for the next week v Cardiff is unfathomable - I really shouldn't read emails offering a half price seat after I have had 1 or 2 drinks!

Not commenting on the game/individual performances as didn't/haven't seen any of it, but if it was as bad as intimated then it is still very worrying.

We are still nearer the bottom than the top

 

[Deleted Cyber]

The supporters at the matches I have been to have been patient and understanding. They have been fantastic.

I would say its the most patient and understanding I have known in my 40+ years of supporting. Despite being served with some real shite performances at home

 

[Deleted Cyber]

There is good play - iorfa and Henry link up really well at times, and golbourne and graham were also before he was dropped. The problem is that Edwards is then supposed to support whichever winger/full back has worked his way up the pitch, receive the ball and find someone else. We don't have that as its not Daves skill set, which means either the winger/full back has to do something amazing (hence graham running into one too many defenders a fair bit) or just toss it into the area, which is relatively easy to defend.

Likewise if price and McDonald work some space they can't lay it into the Number ten to link to the forward, they have to go over the top for Afobe or go wide, we're simply missing one of the most important options.

And McDonald does play neat triangles - his goal against Huddersfield being an example. He and price play triangles a lot, he just doesn't have that link man further forward to play them with.

I whole heartedly and completely agree. What absolutely grips my shit is that we have been saying this since about Feb 2015 when we realised what a gem Afobe could be and we repeated it when we were talking about strengthening the side in May and again when we were talking about Sako replacements. I am not Mensa mind or a football coach but it was bloody obvious then and its bloody obvious now. The difference is we have half a season of proof to back us all up now if it were needed.