Wolves 1-1 Newcastle: Verdict Thread

[Wolvensam]

I agree with Johnny. He is a cowardly manager and that will be his biggest downfall.

 

[Johnny75]

That wasn’t a defence of Bruno, it’s a obvious he has deficiencies and he isn’t getting any better by the looks of things and i have no issue at all with anyone that wants a new manager as i can totally understand and Fosun should go all out and get someone to push us on.

In my opinion i can see what he wants from the team but they aren’t doing it and he can see they aren’t. I don’t think he can get it out of them either but as i said the most frustrating thing for me are the bits where Bruno’s tactics/set up don’t even affect what’s happening the pass/shot etc… is just nowhere near good enough.

Don't you think that's a bit coaching by numbers?

I've seen championship clubs with better movement and less telegraphed intentions.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I think he'd struggle at any level unless you just gave him the best team. There aren't any tactics.

 

[NicholasG1973]

Nunes looked way too deep for me today too

Unfortunately he looked pretty shit today full stop - superstar, or not.

 

[slink]

Don't you think that's a bit coaching by numbers?

I've seen championship clubs with better movement and less telegraphed intentions.

I think in certain parts it is yes especially when they get close to each and try to link up but it’s not that i’m getting at while understanding that is an issue. Biggest example i can think of today was first half, Jonny had the ball in transition and both Guedes and Neto were on that side, Guedes inside and around 20 yards infront whereas Neto was just to the left of Jonny. Neat movement from Guedes and he clearly wanted the ball, Jonny saw it but hesitated and then when he did finally play a pass played it behind Neto and out of play.

That’s not a coaching issue because I guarantee Bruno is telling him to play that in training and he does. His mic’d up session proved that. Now for whatever reason there’s tons of times we don’t play those passes. It could be Bruno’s cautious attitude/demeanour outweighs the tactics on game day and that filters into the decision making.

 

[Johnny75]

I think in certain parts it is yes especially when they get close to each and try to link up but it’s not that i’m getting at while understanding that is an issue. Biggest example i can think of today was first half, Jonny had the ball in transition and both Guedes and Neto were on that side, Guedes inside and around 20 yards infront whereas Neto was just to the left of Jonny. Neat movement from Guedes and he clearly wanted the ball, Jonny saw it but hesitated and then when he did finally play a pass played it behind Neto and out of play.

That’s not a coaching issue because I guarantee Bruno is telling him to play that in training and he does. His mic’d up session proved that. Now for whatever reason there’s tons of times we don’t play those passes. It could be Bruno’s cautious attitude/demeanour outweighs the tactics on game day and that filters into the decision making.

Player confidence maybe?

 

[slink]

Player confidence maybe?

Maybe that’s it, Neves, Kilman seem to be fine though and I think it was there under Nuno too and held us back from getting 6th. I honestly don’t know what it is but whoever is the manager that’s a big thing they need to change, the players have the ability but like you suggest don’t seem to have the confidence on matchday to play those passes that break lines.

 

[WsWolf]

Maybe that’s it, Neves, Kilman seem to be fine though and I think it was there under Nuno too and held us back from getting 6th. I honestly don’t know what it is but whoever is the manager that’s a big thing they need to change, the players have the ability but like you suggest don’t seem to have the confidence on matchday to play those passes that break lines.

Not playing off instinct, being overloaded with information?

 

[slink]

Not playing off instinct, being overloaded with information?

Again yeah it could be. There’s definitely something not right and for me that’s the biggest issue. I think Bruno can set us up well and has done numerous times but when things aren’t going well we never regain that momentum. Second half today time and time again we had a chance to take back control, keep the ball and slow it down for 2/3 minutes but just kept giving them the ball back. It’s ridiculously frustrating when you know they can do it.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

They didn’t create that chance. Moutinho stupidly shot straight into bodies as we seem to do a lot and ASM broke away. I really do think the players are getting an easy ride right now purely because of the dislike for Lage. Most of their chances came from our stupid mistakes like Collins not controlling the ball, us not clearing our lines despite having 5 opportunities, Jonny passing it out of play, Nunes not able to play a simple 5 yard pass, Raul forgetting the ball time and time again to wrestle needlessly with the centre backs.

You can go on about the way he sets us up, can’t change things etc and i tend to agree while jot agreeing that he’s anywhere close to Saunders etc, that comparison should just invalidate anyones opinion but i will continue to repeat that our decision making in the final third in particular is abysmal and quite often it’s nothing tactical it’s just a lack of composure. Lage could be contributing to this too but the players have to take some responsibility as well.

If Lage goes whoever comes in has to settle us down in possession, we’ve always had similar struggles since promotion when trying to open teams up but it seems worse than ever now apart from the odd player like Neves and Kilman.

Lots of talk about how great this squad is, how they're better than x,y or z on paper, how they're being wasted or how some other manager would do with them but how many of them are legitimately showing that? As bad as any coach might be there should always be some elements of promise that manage to shine through, players should be able to do the odd bit here and there in spite of the worst coaching, if they put their minds to it.

There just doesn't seem to be any understanding at Wolves, players that have been together for years still look like strangers more often than not. You've got people who've spent their entire careers at big clubs and playing for top international sides but they can't pick or time a decent run, they struggle to make good decisions consistently and they're often rattled by fairly timid resistance. Can their collective psyche be so fragile that they all need that level of support and micromanagement to get through a game? They'd surely never be at this level if so.

I was never a big fan of Nuno's brand of football, too slow and conservative for my liking but you can't knock it's effectiveness for the most part. There would've been times I felt he was holding the players back from doing something more expansive but now I don't believe that to be the case. His backs to the wall mentality appeared to give them a comfort blanket under which majority thrived, drawing teams onto them and striking on the counter with the front two or three. Games where that counter attacking plan couldn't come to fruition were a real chore, the team looked more laboured the more of the ball they had an teams invariably found them easy to hold at bay.

This is where I was talking about the issue being bigger than the head coach, we've seen similar issues previously when needing or attempting to be a more dominant side. Nuno tried to change things a bit and that failed, similar when Lage first arrived and again now. So, who is actually steering the ship at club level? Who decides what Fosun want Wolves to be? Whether by hook or crook the squad and Nuno had a symbiotic relationship, the football wasn't by any means the prettiest but it worked. Personally I think it had to change if they really wanted to push up the table, you can't keep playing as the underdog if you want to be one of the top dogs, somewhere along the line you have to put on your big boy pants and assert yourselves.

Do Fosun still want Wolves to be the best football team they can be? They don't appear to have a cohesive plan for achieving such. Newcastle went and got themselves Ashworth to dictate that policy, who do Fosun have? Mendes is perhaps the closest person to having that sort of influence but I can't imagine anyone is thinking he has Wolves best interests at heart. This squad has been predominantly assembled by him or his representatives, is he bringing players primarily to create the best team for Wolves, targeting players who will form a cohesive group with a common style of play or is he just shuffling his deck to boost his bank balance?

If you're not recruiting to a consistent theme how do you pick a manager to best utilise that group? How do you ever expect to recruit a decent coach if they're only ever going to be allowed to oversee Jorge's latest pick and mix?

We've seen other clubs get bought as toys by some very rich boys and at times they've had a tendency to meddle too much, grabbing whichever manager is flavour of the month or bringing in big name players with no clear plan. Fosun started off looking very shrewd with the Gestifute tie in but these days they're not looking that much different to a meddling oligarch, Jorge gives them a fancy name and they throw money at them.

You compare that to the likes of Brighton, they found the man they wanted in Potter and they've stuck with him through some rough patches. They sell some of their big players when required or when it suits but they recruit in line with what he wants the team to be. It may not be glitz, glamour and household names but their team keeps functioning and their brand of football is largely easy on the eye. Similar story at Leeds, despite most people taking a dislike to Marsch he's been backed with what he wanted and so far it's looked like the plan is working out. They've still got a similar mentality to under Bielsa which must help for the players who were there before but they've backed him with players he wanted too and early signs are looking good.

Does anyone think Fosun have such a clear vision for Wolves?

 

[Tredman]

Tl;dr?

 

[Leigh Griffiths' Hairline]

Bruno has clearly lost the dressing room. Get him out.

 

[Loki]

Bruno has clearly lost the dressing room. Get him out.

He appeared to have lost the dressing room the latter end of last season yet he is still here.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

How do you expect to recruit a decent coach?

Step 1 - don't hire someone who has most of his experience in youth and B team football, who never previously had one full season at senior level on his CV, who has absolutely no name recognition and whose last 'achievement' was presiding over literally the worst run an elite club has ever had in its entire history.

I mean it's not foolproof but it's a start.

 

[Aikiwolf]

Biggest question: given Lage has shown zero signs of proficiency, why is he still at my club?

It's pretty likely we have one of the best midfields we will see at Wolves for a long time, yet we play a version of football that is neither counter attacking or possession based.

Plus we look absolutely knackered after 55 minutes.

Lage out.

 

[Johnny75]

Tl;dr?

Yep

 

[Leigh Griffiths' Hairline]

Biggest question: given Lage has shown zero signs of proficiency, why is he still at my club?

It's pretty likely we have one of the best midfields we will see at Wolves for a long time, yet we play a version of football that is neither counter attacking or possession based.

Plus we look absolutely knackered after 55 minutes.

Lage out.

To play a hoof style of football with that midfield is just baffling. Our tactics going forward was either to boot it long, or hit it wide to Neto. Just terrible, terrible coaching from a management team that are totally out of their depth.

Replace Bruno and all of his minions before it is too late. Especially that goalkeeping coach twat.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

To play a hoof style of football with that midfield is just baffling. Our tactics going forward was either to boot it long, or hit it wide to Neto. Just terrible, terrible coaching from a management team that are totally out of their depth.

Replace Bruno and all of his minions before it is too late. Especially that goalkeeping coach twat.

It's actually annoying that him handing the Portuguese Carl Hoddle a senior position has gone under the radar.

 

[Wolftone]

Utter rubbish, there is no lack of effort from the players and on the rare occasions we score there is massive celebration from all of them.

Bruno has clearly lost the dressing room. Get h

 

[prawnking]

Sorry to carry on in a negative vein, but how fitting was it that Hwang would deliver the decisive assist for a Newcastle equaliser?

FFS the guy is to football what Mr Chinnery is to animals