Wolves 1-1 Sheff Utd Verdict

[Monstrum]

Disappointing result, thought we did OK but we can't have too many complaints.
Silly super early goal to concede, they're well organized defensively, hard to break down, but at least we managed a draw.
With good strikers they could have scored another 2-3 easily, had quite a few fast breaks but poor finishing let them down.
We weren't too good offensively either, unfortunately the best chances fell to jota who was terrible. Traore would have got a goal with half those chances.
Our lack of bench was obvious here, Nuno too scared to take anyone off lest we end up the same way as the Braga game. Jota atleast should have been taken off.

Thought Raul and Traore were our best players, both dangerous, Traore in particular had so many good runs, just runs through their defense and creates opportunities nobody else could. Moutinho did well as always. Doc was poor defensively but did really well for the goal. Neves/Coady fairly anonymous bar some good passing.
Kilman looked OK, very solid for his PL debut. He's a bit slow and lost his marker quite a few times but will improve.
Donk was really poor, his worst game for us possibly, especially first half. Sad to see considering how well hes done at center back so far.

 

[Tony Towner]

Point about right, which I'll take after a tough game on Thursday. Donck and Jota chose to have their worst games in a Wolves shirt at the same time. It was probably too late to make a difference but the none Baldock red card was a spineless decision by the ref and his linesman couldn't see at least one ball out of play from literally under his nose.

Nuno needs to freshen things up on Wednesday, but I'm not sure how. I think I'd put Vinagre on the left of the front three, Bennett if fit for Donck and Saiss for Kilman. I thought the latter was fine defensively, but whether it's confidence, instruction or ability his distribution doesn't give us what we need.

 

[The Bear]

I'll take a point given we were up against a decent side, went a goal down immediately and were up against a set of bent officials too.

Jimenez was great again. He's pretty much carrying the team at the minute. My MOTM ahead of Joao.

Jota really is starting to worry me. Is it a case of 3-4-3 is not playing to his strengths much like last season? Or is he just out of form? I think it's probably a bit of both. His decisions have been poor as well as his lack of end product.

 

[Premier Quality]

I thought Patricio was excellent today, some really nice saves, Kilman was untroubled, the midfield pair worked well, though Sheff Utd really tried to flood the midfield and Raul was excellent as ever - but Traore I thought was superb - time and again he got the ball in our third facing our goal, turned and ran into their third and either passed or crossed - he was fantastic.

I thought Diogo was really quiet until the last ten minutes and should have been brought off on about 55mins as nothing was working for him.

As for the ref - he was truly awful, blowing the whistle every time Bournemouth - I mean Sheff Utd - fell over under very minimal pressure. And he completely bottle the second yellow for baldock, would love to hear his excuse as you’ll never see a more nailed on yellow card.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

I enjoyed the game a lot. Two good sides and a point was fair. Referee and officials dreadful. Kilman looks the centre back solution if we have injuries so we can send Vallejo home with no hard feelings.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

I didn’t think Traore was at his absolute best but still good. Times where I wanted him to use his pace rather than his acceleration and he checked to try it the other way. A little frustrating but like I say still a good performance by him.

 

[YoungWolf]

I enjoyed the game a lot. Two good sides and a point was fair. Referee and officials dreadful. Kilman looks the centre back solution if we have injuries so we can send Vallejo home with no hard feelings.

Agree. I do like Kilman, and think with more confidence he would break lines with his passing more (he did it well a couple of times).

Thought our midfield two did well considering the energy of their midfield three but I think that was also helped by the movement of Jota and Traore to receive in space. Jota had a poor game overall, his decision making running with the ball was poor. Traore as Paddy say wasn't at his absolute best but still had a good game (a real sign of progress).

Think it was clear that we needed more options on the bench. Felt we could have trusted Neto/Cutrone but understand why we didn't. We will need them this week coming I think, and they will both start against Besiktas I imagine.

Was surprised by Sheffield United's antics at times, hadn't really noticed it before. And how was Baldock not sent off!!

 

[Tredman]

Decent game today, probably a fair result. Could have won, but we looked a little erratic going forward. Sheff Utd looked a very good team and very well set up, if we’d have had more time to prepare then I think we would have won easily.

Very nice to meet a few fellow forum users, all very nice people. Though the strong beers have ruined my plan to watch the Irishman tonight

 

[Derby Wolf]

Another David Coote masterclass. That cunt wasn't fit to ref in The Championship three years ago much less than the Premier League now.

That VAR can't intervene and say sorry that's a stone wall second yellow is just varcical.

Think both Raul and Jota had poor decision making earlier, Raul had Doc in an awesome position but rabona'd it into Henderson's arms. Jota ran into cul-de-sacs a few times with options available.

Donk had a stinker, seemed to improve somewhat in the second but that first half was shocking. Think Kilman kept it simple but did fine. Lots more to come from him.

Win on Wednesday and I'd be more than satisfied with 4 points from the two.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Another David Coote masterclass. That cunt wasn't fit to ref in The Championship three years ago much less than the Premier League now.

He was beyond awful . Complete bottle job re Baldock. It was the easiest yellow to give. Jota and Donk were awful , but at least it got that out of their system for West Ham. I reckon Jota will score against West Ham who have just had an amazing result and football is a great leveler.

I said it on the thread but this lot can fuck right off with the lovable underdogs everyone's second favourite team shit if they are going to fall over like Bournemouth and hack at every opportunity. They got a good point today. I would fancy us strongly at their place.

 

[Lupo]

Sheffield United showed that they are a decent, well drilled side and knocked the stuffing out of us a bit hy scoring so early. I felt we weren't really our usual selves in that first half.

The second half started much the same way but we gradually improved. Raul worked his bollocks off as usual but Jota just isn't working at the moment. It's not that he's not trying, in fact he is probably trying a bit too hard but things aren't coming off for him. Traore had a good run into the area and set him up nicely but he completely fluffed his lines.

A change was required but strangely Nuno made none.

The goal when it came was well worked and a huge relief though with that Coote of a ref I was expecting it to be ruled out for something until the game restarted.

Moutinho was his usual exquisite self and Traore excited and frustrated at times but I am loving what he has become. When he has the ball and he stops the game to decide what to do the opposition look scared of him. With his build, pace and technique he can be a beast at times. If the season finished now I would expect the POTS shortlist to be him, Moutinho and Raul.

Rui made some excellent saves too as did their keeper.

Coote was diabolical and made some shocking decisions.

Yet another 1-1 but on reflection I'm happy we got a point as prior to the goal it seemed like it was going to be one of those days and happy that the unbeaten run continues.

 

[Premier Quality]

Fair play to the Sheffield Utd forum, they all say that’s the most cynical they’ve been this season, they deserved their bookings and baldock should have been sent off...

https://www.s24su.com/forum/index.php?forums/general-blades-chat.5/

 

[The Bear]

I fully expected a long VAR check for our goal as Raul was offside when the ball was played forwards. Luckily the deflection nullified it, but I still expected a check.

 

[Johnny75]

We huffed and puffed for the first hour yesterday and looked off the pace for a good portion. I don't understand the Jota comments, his movement off the ball was excellent yesterday he seems to be trying just a bit too hard and over thinking things, some of his link up play with Raul in our central midfield was instinctive and his work rate was never in doubt. Basham was all over the place against Jota and only that shithouse of a referee knows why he wasn't sent off. Similarly I thought Stevens was very lucky to stay on the pitch after some of the blatant fouls he made on Adama.

Adama did OK yesterday and it was good to see him getting his head up more when he receives the ball, his execution is still not there but it is improving, even his passing is starting to display vision if not the end product and if he doesn't pull that ball back to Jota in the second half but stands it up to the far post Raul scores. It's the little things we need him to improve on.

Quite why Donk had the worst game for us defensively I don't know, he and Doc were a disaster 1v1 yesterday.

Our midfield pair are in great form and I don't think there are many better pairs in the PL right now in midfield that can best these two, watching some of the touches they made in the second half along with some of Neves passing is a joy.

Credit to Sheffield United for their work rate, they won plenty of 50/50 balls and I thought they would be more direct than they were and I was impressed with some of their passing through the thirds considering that is a team of Championship players with a 'keeper who was pretty ropey. Fair play to Chris Wilder for setting them up like that, not so much fair play for the shithousing and diving though, the ref failed to stamp it out early and they continued to do it all game.

Raul MotM for me.

The linseman on the Steve Bull side for chump of the match, when Jonny is having a go at you, a man who seems to be serenely calm all the time, you know you've fucked up, he couldn't even get the basics right of whose throw it was or if the ball had gone out, a total shambles and hopefully we never get Coote or his team ever again.

 

[Sniffer]

The linseman on the Steve Bull side for chump of the match, when Johnny is having a go at you, a man who seems to be serenely calm all the time, you know you've fucked up, he couldn't even get the basics right of whose throw it was or if the ball had gone out, a total shambles and hopefully we never get Coote or his team ever again.

...?

 

[Johnny75]

...?

 

[lemonjelly]

We started badly yesterday, and it took us a loooooong time to recover from it.

Sheff Utd were good value for their point, and for their current league position imo. I don't have them down as a dirty team, and was surprised by how many bookings they picked up (and it should've been a few more).

Patricio showed his class yesterday. He was massively dependable. He was the one player properly on it from the ko. My MOTM. He's going to dislodge Murray as best keeper I've had the fortune to see this season.

Donck had a very poor first half. Unsure if it is tiredness or what, but he wasn't quite on it. Better 2nd half, though he only achieved a 6/10 in that for me. Coady was steady, and his passing was pretty good. Kilman showed he is capable of being back up for Boly or Saiss. He should play v Besiktas, and in the FA Cup games to continue his development. Did himself no harm at all. Liked that he did try, and look to pass forward. He was relatively conservative (his first PL start), and did frequently pick the safe pass, but got more confident through the game.

Sheff Utd did a midfield number on us, in that they won a fucking lot in the midfield. However, it shows the quality of Neves/Moutinho in that we weren't completely over-run in the often 3v2 there.

Jonny and Doherty were pretty good (goal aside). I am still a bit confused as to how Doherty ended up on the left for the header....

Jota, and to an extent Raul tried really hard with most things not quite coming off for them. Jota couldn't really have complained if he'd been pulled at half time, but again he was better 2nd half.

Traore is exciting, but sometimes either over-complicates things (ie beats his man then cuts back in to beat him again) or, eh stops, allowing the opposition to get back in place. Too often (for me) he slowed the game down, but this hurt our attacking intent.

We'd have won if there had been another 5-10 mins, as we were the only attacking team from 80 mins onwards really. That said, draw was absolutely a fair result.

Didn't realise til after when trips pointed it out that there were no subs made. Surprising given the context (game thurs, sun, weds...) however given we were relentlessly attacking, I can see why Nuno wouldn't want to break the momentum.

Nice to also meet tredman pre match (it's you're own fault choosing to drink rocket fuel before noon! ), and also I had a brief meeting with a gentleman who goes by the name of Lupo on here.

Edit - moment of the weekend (linked to sniffers/Johnnys exchange above) was observing tredman realise the Johnny in the pub was the same Johnny as online. The cognitive dissonance was awesome! Nearly as shocking as Johnny showing everyone his autographed/personalised copy of Das Kapital with post it notes inserted into specific pages of particular interest...

 

[Jabbawolf]

“moment of the weekend (linked to sniffers/Johnnys exchange above) was observing tredman realise the Johnny in the pub was the same Johnny as online. The cognitive dissonance was awesome!”

Harold Shipman’s patients used to say he was a lovely fella!

 

[lemonjelly]

:icon_lol:

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

“moment of the weekend (linked to sniffers/Johnnys exchange above) was observing tredman realise the Johnny in the pub was the same Johnny as online. The cognitive dissonance was awesome!”

Harold Shipman’s patients used to say he was a lovely fella!

I know this feeling only too well. :icon_biggrin: