Been away all weekend and have missed the first 17 pages discussion in this very verdict thread - but I watched the whole match and what a wonderful result. Two things I wanted to comment on, and I appreciate I'm late to the party here.
- GON mentioned a few times a number of weeks ago about getting us to "arrive in the box with more bodies". I really feel like you can see that the message has sank in with the players and they are listening to his instructions. It's a joy to watch a Wolves team that attack in numbers, with so many players bombing on in to the box. We'd have never have seen the likes of Toti starting a move and then striding at full pace forward to try and get on the end of a cross underneath Nuno/Lop etc. This isn't a criticism of them, but it's just so refreshing to see us playing in this way. Leading on from that, I know most of the praise will be given to Sarabia for his phenomenal effort - but for me, that second goal was absolutely brilliant. 96th minute. Lemina wins the ball back and is fouled in the process - but he doesn't stay down, and instead gets up and even though he's running on empty, powers in to the box, times the run perfectly and scores the winner (and he absolutely deserved it after his performance). I'm sure GON will be pointing that out as an example to the players of what can happen if you make those runs. Of course, Lemina was helped out with the quick thinking of Doyle, and the excellent assist from Sarabia, but would we genuinely have seen that kind of goal/run from Neves? - again, I don't say that to slag Ruben off who was a wonderful player for us - but it's brilliant to see that the squad are all fighting for each other in that way. The volume of the crowd in that final 5 minutes or so was as loud as I've heard it in a long time.
- I also wanted to mention the impact of the subs. Sarabia gets the plaudits of course, and Doyle had a massive part to play in the winner; but I actually thought Doc was brilliant. He wins so many headers from those crossfield balls, and he is just so much better than Semedo in attack when playing this shape and formation. Yes, I understand the criticism (and was part of that) aimed at the decision to bring him back. But in this system, he just sort of works... football is weird, what can I say? I also thought that, considering people are sometimes quick to jump on his body-language, he really looked up for it and showed a lot of passion. He got booked for having a pop at the ref - he really seemed up for it and that was good to see. I don't want to repeat myself, but the squad really seems in a good place, with everyone fighting for one another. Lemina and Sarabia both said as much in their post-match interviews with Sarabia referring to it as "a family". It's a massive positive for the club and for Gary O'Neil. As he himself said in the clip shared earlier in the thread, that's their level now, and they need to stay at it.
Brilliant result.
