Wolves 1-2 Newcastle: Verdict Thread

[Kenny]

Seems my avatar is apt at this point.

Sadly that bit is a bit harder to achieve.

Would be more confident if Jeff was recalled to Shanghai and someone actually able to run a football club took his place.

 

[Tredman]

You can blame GON to some extent but look at his options on the bench. Howe makes three huge changes at half time and it changes the game ultimately. We don't have any strength in depth although it is arguably better than the end of last season.

Trying to look at it from GON's point of view, he went with Doc to replace Semedo as he wanted experience. And Doc hasn't been as bad as some have painted until today. So it was an understandable change. Sure he could have gone with Lima but I honestly don't think Lima would have done any better defensively.

And, much will be made of Doc's awful contribution but we also need to level some blame at Lemina for the first goal and Cunha for the missed chances. That said, that was a fine save from Pope to stop the equaliser.

As for comparison between Lage's team and this. This one has far more talent, skill level and determination. As I said, let's see what happens when we play teams mid to lower level. If results don't come then, then changes will have to be made and that means replacing the manager or spending more money in January as we did before.

Lima could hardly have done any worse.

 

[Johnny75]

Sadly that bit is a bit harder to achieve.

Would be more confident if Jeff was recalled to Shanghai and someone actually able to run a football club took his place.

I'd celebrate Shi being recalled to China more than a Cunha winner.

 

[SSB]

Any Korean managers currently out of work? That’s all Fosun seem interested in at the moment.

 

[BeaverWolf]

Nuno
And World Cup winner, Morgan Gibbs White ( England U17 winner in 2017)
What’s your point?

Fairly obvious I would have thought. We have capable managers who are not given sufficient resources. They then lose the best players at their disposal.

 

[sycophantia]

But is it the manager’s fault if his best players are taken from him? I have no idea if GON is not good enough. I do know that nearly every manager plays unattractive possession football that bores the ass off everyone. Man City needed a world class striker in order to win yesterday. We do not have that luxury.

It's not about it being GONs fault imo.
I thought this time last year that Gary had been promoted beyond his expertise or at least his experience, it's tough to learn the job at a team like Wolves.
He got us playing well from the City game last season and did well for the middle part of the season but as soon as things got tricky with injuries and squad depth he had no idea how to mitigate that.
I'm not saying we should sack him now but we need to get some points on the board quickly and not expect us to just start winning regularly once we're past this tricky period.

 

[jd1981]

GON is hurtling towards Bruno Saunders territory, dreadful end to last season and a piss poor start to this one. Infact Bruno will have points logged at the 7 game point than Gaz will.
The concern was how many fans coming out the ground just thought it was bad luck not a fuck by the coaching staff.

 

[Kenny]

On the game...

Good of Sammy J to come in and replace the manic Sa just now we have a keeper who is too calm. Was that 3 or 4 occasions he allowed himself to be closed down.

On the winner. Not all on Doc but really hate how he gives up and waves the responsibility onto another player. Shame Semedo picked up a knock but then again he waved Barnes through as well and was rescued by Mosq.

Andre looks like he is going to be very good indeed.
Loved Mosquera on his ridiculous run forward to assist a counter attack.

The goal was lovely. Gomes starting it and a top class dummy at the end. Great to see him and Mario the furthest up the pitch on a counter.

 

[Wilf Wolf]

The build up to the winner was right in front of me. Doherty got back after Barnes had been held up and then gambled Barnes would go down the line. Barnes just stood still and then moved infield and from that moment Doherty was struggling. If Andre had been on the pitch still I suspect he'd have been there to intercept Barnes but sadly Doyle is a poor sub in the holding role and was miles away. Barnes only had to put a burst on and he had a clear shot. Not all on Doherty but if he hadn't sold himself by gambling Barnes would go wide he'd have been in front of Barnes not alongside of him. It's so typical of Doherty, just never quite up to speed defensively.

The Good
Andre looks a Rolls Royce of a player. Extremely assured and aware of what is going on around him.
Larsen battled well and Mosquera looks to be settling in well

The Bad
Johnstone looked no more assured with the ball at his feet than Sa, but he did manage to kick towards Larsen when going long. Doyle looks decent on the ball but is ridiculously weak when doing anything defensive.

Overall we probably deserved a point but I fear we'll be saying that quite a bit this season after playing quite well in parts but conceding soft goals.

 

[Kenny]

The Bad
Johnstone looked no more assured with the ball at his feet than Sa,

It's the other end of the scale but just as bad (if that makes sense)
Sa looked uneasy and rushed it and Sam takes his time...waaaaay too much time.

A couple in the first half he sliced out though were more on our defenders putting the ball on his wrong foot under pressure.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

It's not bad luck, we can't see games out like Nuno and Lopetegui could. After over a year it's a feature, not a bug.

We're not red raw awful to watch like we were under Lage but we're getting the same amount of points, it only ends one way. I do feel for O'Neil in some respects, I wouldn't want to work for the cunt who runs the club, it's a rough run of fixtures to be handed (when you need to redress the balance from March onwards anyway) but then managing a Premier League club isn't supposed to be easy. If you keep losing then you can write all the hard luck stories you like.

We're quite an easy team to play against. We'll always grant enough chances to the opposition even if they're not playing particularly well. We burn ourselves out and we rarely look organised.

God knows who we'd get if we pulled the plug in the next month but that's a separate question. Managers simply don't survive going about six months with one win.

 

[wanderer89]

6 points out of a possible 42 in our last 14 games.

 

[NicholasG1973]

For starters, I want GON to stop all this “siege mentality” and “them against us “ bullshit…….managed properly, we have a group of players that should easily finish top half…….we’ve got two of the three Brazilian central midfield, for fucks sake.

His game management is shit. He can’t see what even we can see. All that “Sky Sports great tactician” bullshit is just for the cameras. His decision making is wank.

We have moments. And some of our stuff is brilliant. It’s just not often enough and we make too many simple mistakes.

If you’re going to play Hwang, either play him centrally or don’t fucking bother.
If you’re gonna play Doyle, he has to play in a three, not a fucking two. Bloke can pass…..but can’t run or tackle.
If you insist on playing JRB, ask him to try and do more than one thing per game.

And, finally, if you absolutely insist that Matt Doherty is an able Premier League player and can actually do a job at this level……it might well be that your time is up.

 

[Wilf Wolf]

6 points out of a possible 42 in our last 14 games.

View attachment 11613

That's grim reading. Two draws with Forest aside, the only teams we've taken points off are now in the Championship.

 

[Wilf Wolf]

I've read a few posts saying the November fixtures are kinder - two of the four are against teams in the list above. Can't wait!

 

[jd1981]

Since returning from Covid it becomes blatantly obvious that quality in side is diminishing each season.
The gaps and space to expose us were still visible today just that Newcastle were so poor they couldn’t exploit it enough.
As we’ve said we’re on a tough run of games but even still we should’ve been realistically aiming for 3 points at least by now.
You can’t just turn the lights on in November and assume it’ll be all ok.
Do I think GON should stay? Probably not do I think they’ll replace him with better? No they won’t
To note if you could afford it today you could’ve got a seat in most parts of the ground, the golf stand had big gaps and plenty of empty dotted seats in the BW upper to. Yep it’s on tv and it’s not great weather. Nevertheless it’s not freezing or coming up to Xmas yet, the crowds will drop rapidly once we pass the Man City game

 

[Templeton Peck]

Potter won't come to us. I dread to think who we'd get tbh. Rumours were Hobbs considered Lampard and Smith before appointing O'Neil.

 

[PuntsWolf]

Don’t think we deserved to lose, but we have and that’s a problem. Particularly when it keeps happening.

Bringing Doc and Hwang on is embarrassing. I have no idea why we didn’t accept the bid for Hwang, particularly when he can’t make our first XI

Squad balance seems all wrong. We’ve got a heap of “wide players/forwards” but played 4 CMs of sorts today and none of them are really a backup for Strand Larsen.

Haven’t seen enough of the other teams to know how close we will be to relegation, but given we were in all likelihood a bottom third team then it doesn’t take much to be sucked down there. Even more so with this poor run and tough fixtures.

 

[jd1981]

Don’t think we deserved to lose, but we have and that’s a problem. Particularly when it keeps happening.

Bringing Doc and Hwang on is embarrassing. I have no idea why we didn’t accept the bid for Hwang, particularly when he can’t make our first XI

Squad balance seems all wrong. We’ve got a heap of “wide players/forwards” but played 4 CMs of sorts today and none of them are really a backup for Strand Larsen.

Haven’t seen enough of the other teams to know how close we will be to relegation, but given we were in all likelihood a bottom third team then it doesn’t take much to be sucked down there. Even more so with this poor run and tough fixtures.

I think we’ve got the exact problems that a most sides that fight relegation do.
Not good enough to outscore teams but neither good enough to be pragmatic to grind out results.
Piss weak character so that 1 goal conceded is usually followed by another.
If I was a Villa I’d be looking forward to playing us big time.

 

[Tony Towner]

We also need to stop selling our best players. Several of them played well this weekend.

Everton Onana
Brentford Toney
Palace Olise, Andersen
Fulham Palhinha
Bournemouth Solanke

They are our contemporaries and those the club aspire to be measured against. That's the reality of where we are at, delusional to think otherwise. It's how you invest and how the manager reacts that counts

Of the players we've sold in the last 3 years who were starters or thereabouts
MGW - that's on Lage and Nuno. Didn't want to be here
Boly - Lage again
Neves - had to go due to other poor financial decisions
Nunes - never wanted to be here in the first place
Coady - Lage again and an issue with playing in a 4
Kilman - would have been madness to reject £40m
Jimenez - Fell out with Lop and looked a shadow of his former self. Still not close to what he was, but has recovered more than I thought he would.
Podence - Fell out with Lop, wanted out from then
Collins - made a profit, I still think there was a player there, but the right move
Neto - wanted out, see his celebration on their 6th. Got a good fee given his injury record. Early days, but not going well for him there.