Wolves 1 Man United 1: “another Neves-esque classic goal” The Verdict thread

[rather sceptical wolf]

Great second half but the first one was surprisingly poor. No idea why Doherty played, I can only remember one more or less mentionable involvement for him in the oppostion half. Jota certainly had a day to forget and lost the ball to poor toughes more times than I could count. Some wayward long passing by Neves and Coady, though the latter made some important clearances behind our defensive line. Thought Moutinho and Dendoncker had decent games and Raul had his moments as well.

The penalty was relatively clear. Yes Pogba is going for it and there is minimal contact but it is within the rules of the game - if he hadn't jumped/dived he would have been fouled, at the very least he would not have been able to keep control of the ball. Exaggerating slightly, you should't have to get yourself injured by letting yourself get tackled as opposed to evading the challenge and losing the ball and a goalscoring chance.

As a little comment on the James issue, and perhaps Pogba too: on his day, when he is actually able to control the ball, I'll bet Jota dives/goes down like sack of potatoes at the slightest of touches at least a couple of times on average per game. The difference is James does it poorly enough to get booked for it.

 

[Tom Hark]

His shoulder was only just onside, as per the onscreen VAR graphics on Sky.

As I understand it, they were looking at whether Moutinho was offside when Jota passed it back to him from the corner. He was behind the ball, it transpired, so offside doesn't enter into it.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Pogba knows exactly what he's doing. It's a pen, just a soft one.

 

[Paul]

Agree its a pen all day, bot Conor makes it easy for him

 

[Charlie Wolf]

Pogba knows exactly what he's doing. It's a pen, just a soft one.

Spot on, it’s a soft pen

Thankfully didn’t cost us so we can move on

 

[Kenny]

Love this pic.

 

[Rui_CostCo]

you either want to stay on your feet or you don't

[video]https://media.gettyimages.com/videos/george-best-receives-pass-and-runs-through-on-goal-evading-scything-video-id1B27489_0003[/video]

 

[Alan]

Like Neves has been ‘plain as day’ not very good for months?

Watch the replay, he’s already on his way down before the contact that HE made.

That's not what I said regarding Neves, but sure, go for that.

It's an easy call for the ref, IMO.

 

[Boozad]

That's not what I said regarding Neves, but sure, go for that.

Near as damn it.

I think I've been pretty vocal in my criticism of him tbf.

I honestly can't remember the last time he put in a performance that made me go "yeah, that's the player I know he can be".

It's an easy call for the ref, IMO.

IMO it’s a dive.

 

[Alan]

I expect Neves to be more than a 6 out of 10 player. That's what he's become far too often for me. Especially if we're bandying around valuations like 50m.

 

[Dire Wolf]

To be honest, I said in the pub last night watching the game that Neves just hasn't had enough games where you could say he's been a standout player and the man running the show/dominating the game from his midfield playmaker role. He's been largely decent and rarely outstanding and I don't think it's unreasonable to want to see more from him.

 

[Pablowolf]

How about you get your arse to Molineux and see what he does when the TV camera isn't on him.

 

[Penk Wolf]

Pogba knows exactly what he's doing. It's a pen, just a soft one.

Although I agree it's a penalty, I think VAR should be used to cut this stuff out as it's also clearly a dive.

 

[Dire Wolf]

How about you get your arse to Molineux and see what he does when the TV camera isn't on him.

Wow. Sorry, superfan. I live a 350 mile round trip away, I have a family and not much money to spare, never mind the difficulty in obtaining tickets. I apologise for not living up to your high standards. Now do one, you fucking arse.

 

[Kenny]

How about you get your arse to Molineux and see what he does when the TV camera isn't on him.

Man you are bitchy fucker the day after a game

 

[Kenny]

Wow. Sorry, superfan. I live a 350 mile round trip away, I have a family and not much money to spare, never mind the difficulty in obtaining tickets. I apologise for not living up to your high standards. Now do one, you fucking arse.

Its ok, Pabsy only generally watches 45 mins of the game anyway...

 

[Banjo]

So I think that Man Utd have set the blueprint of how to play against us - if you press Neves and Coady, we're unable to get any rhythm going and that means we keep surrendering possession. That was the theme in the first half - usually, our back three plus Neves have all the time in the world on the ball (often too much time and we don't really go anywhere with it); but, particularly in the first half, we could not cope with the pressure being put on us by Man Utd's high press.

Traore coming on changed things because Rashford couldn't press as high up the pitch (he had to sit deeper and protect Shaw), giving our back 3 and Neves a bit more time to distribute.

We had a really good 20 minute spell where we almost scored (Raul) and then did score (Neves), but then the balance shifted again and, after that first half, I think we can count ourselves lucky to have got a point against a scarily dominant team. Even after the penalty save, the momentum was largely in their favour (although the game did start to open up at that stage and Jonny's header ought to have been brought down on the chest IMV).

I've always been pro-VAR (long before it came in) as I've watched it be used to such good effect in international rugby union for over a decade. However, at international rugby stadia there are giant screens which show you exactly what is being reviewed. Those two minutes of utter confusion after Neves' goal was horrific when there was zero explanation from anyone as to what was being checked. How difficult would it be for an announcer to say, or for some text to appear saying, "VAR check: possible offside"? If it turns out Moutinho was offside, then he was offside. I've no problem with that - there are going to be dozens of disallowed goals this season because football has - for so long - being poorly officiated by far too few officials (I've never understood why we have 2 linesman rather than 4, for example).

 

[Tony Towner]

Ever since we've been in the PL Neves has played deeper, so his influence hasn't been as much as it was in the Championship. Goal aside he was poor last night, but in general we are sacrificing his potential higher up the pitch to accommodate Moutinho/overall shape of the team.

 

[The Bion]

While it's true Traore changed the game and forced Man U to alter it's also true to say he at least partly changed it because Doc was basically AWOL in the 1st half. If he'd been fully fit I don't think we'd have been near as poor nor struggled to move the ball as much.

 

[Norman Deeley]

I’ve been one of the [few] defenders of Adama Traore, but even my patience was wearing thin before last night when I thought he was simply excellent. I still go back to our promotion season and the two stand out players for opposition teams were – for me – Maddison and Traore. So I’m really pleased for him last night – he looks more confident and I agree with whoever said it: he looks slightly thinner as well. But let’s not get carried away – he needs to do it consistently, esp now we’ve seen what he’s capable of. But if – as DW says – there is going to be some humble pie eaten over Neto, there’s going a lot of whatever comes after humble pie if Traore turns in performances like last night on a consistent basis.