Wolves 2-2 Hull - Verdict Thread.

[White Wolf]

Back now. Disappointed but not the end of the world. Friday morning I was expecting three points from our next two games. To have four from those two is pretty good even if they didn't come from where we expected.

That said, if we want points from our next game we need to be better. I'm no fan of Doherty but his absence hurt us even more than Neves'. Bennett's a solid defender for this level but is pretty limited going forwards, and in turn moving him to the right weakened our defence as we had to bring Miranda in. As has been said, we weakened ourselves in two positions rather than one by trying to fill the hole. Ofosu-Ayeh failed to make the bench so is clearly not fit, and I doubt many were seriously calling for Buur to start before his goal but we made a mistake by not playing one of Graham or Vinagre especially. The back-pass by Costa is bad but what is Miranda doing? Such a silly foul. N'Diaye started strongly, had a good half hour and was then average. Saiss was really poor and so was Jota. Costa was good. MGW's introduction seemed to spark us into life but we could have done with this earlier. We were limited down the right due to no Doherty but didn't utilise the left-wing enough, Douglas was often ignored and our second goal was the only time he was really involved (set-pieces notwithstanding) and our best move of the game.

Draw was fair. Hull pleasantly surprised me as I expected them to go ultra-defensive and lump the ball aimlessly forwards but they tried to play in fairness and defended well. Time-wasting started after HT but I've seen worse antics.

 

[StuardoWulf]

IMO Bennett in the first half just kept naturally coming back to his usual position and in doing so made the right wing back position obsolete so Nuno stuck him back there and tried Cav. Fair enough
Cav at right wing back didnt work because he needs space to do his magic and up against the line sort of blunts him.
This MGW should came on earlier thing is wishful thinking its OK when a team is defending for all its worth his weakness isn't as exposed but he aint strong like saiss and alf not when I have watched him play there anyway.
We were all a bit off the pace Jota and Afobe (when he came on) were the furthest away from their best.
Although Miranda didn't need to give the penalty away that won't be a defining moment for him and Wolves that may have already been decided. Costa dropped him in it and if he let the guy through and he'd scored.........
Shock News Flash from Gornal: Teams in the Championship don't just roll over
86 points from 40 games is a damn good position to be in
BTW I timed their goalkeeper on goal kicks a couple of times 10 seconds less than Ruddy was booked for (13 secs)
We have to give a bit of credit to them, OK they parked the proverbial but their shape without the ball was really good.
On the plus side 4 points from the last two fixtures is a decent return. Another positive is Buur getting the goal.

 

[slink]

While we looked a little leggy a times tonight which may have lead to the mistakes we made too many and Nuno's team selection didn't help. I wanted Phil at RWB if he was fit enough but apparently he isn't however in that case if he trusts Buur enough to be on the bench he should have played. Bennett through no fault of his own meant we had no threat down the right at all. Never thought i'd say me miss Doherty but we do, he gives us so much going forward when we're on it.

It's going right down to the wire for me now and we need to hope that the players rest and recover enough for Friday as that will be the toughest game of the season and one that could push us or Cardiff on to the title. It's in our hands though and it's up to us to prove again that we are the best team in the league.

 

[Tony Towner]

Just seen the highlights, lovely assist from Douglas again, but he can't defend against a man running at him in the middle of the pitch.

 

[Deano]

Just seen the highlights, lovely assist from Douglas again, but he can't defend.

Yeah he was really poor defensively tonight. His man goes by him far too easy.

 

[Jack Regan]

The red cards for Neves and Doherty may not have cost us the weekend but they did tonight. I never thought I'd see a Wolves team miss Matt Doherty but his outlet was sorely missed and we lacked any probing passing from midfield. That being said their equaliser was completely avoidable, sloppy pass from Helder and then we can see why Bennett and Batth have been preferred to Miranda as rather than make any attempt to recover the situation he just hauled their player down.

We were no less ponderous in the 2nd half either, hopefully we can put this behind us for Cardiff. Because if we don't I can't see us getting anything. On the plus side it certainly will show that any team with Afobe leading the line isn't going to cut it remotely the way we try to play.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Thought we controlled the game ok without being scintillating up until their penalty..what a cluster$#@! that was. We lost control after that, second half we just got worse and worse. Picked up a bit when MGW came on and we finished strongly....but too little too late. Thats the poorest I've seen Jota, first touch not good enough and a bit slow, didn't look anywhere near fit to me, didn't understand why Nuno didn't just swap him for Afobe at half time. TBH think its all down to me, I'm a Jonah, we've played the best football in living memory this season, won loads of games, scoring for fun and everytime I've been this season, we've been crap

Mate you sound like I have in previous years. Its just your turn! Every midweek match I saw over the years we often played pretty crap. This year it has been different by and large.

My overwhelming frustration is that we have won at Forest, Norwich and Hull and yet failed to beat any of them at home. These extra 7 points would have us home and hosed by now instead of nail biting. If we dont win the league but get pipped by Cardiff these are the games that cost us. That said a point was as much as we deserved tonight. Disjointed and flat. Hull chased better and exploited the often alarming space between Saiss and Alf. Douglas did his detractors no harm with a poor performance defensively and too many poor crosses/ set pieces, and for their penalty only Costa knows what he was trying to do with that pass. Miranda was sold down the river and a penalty or a goal was always going to be the outcome. Buur however looks a little pocket rocket. Good turn of pace , a real terrier in his run and manner. Very neat finish for his goal.

So its onwards and upwards. Whatever happens we will be top after Cardiff, so reasons still to be cheerful. I just thought it was pretty poor all round from us but hope that it is now out of the system and we can bounce baclk with points against Cardiff.

 

[jd1981]

Just imagine if we lose Friday there’s a very good chance we’ll only be 5 points clear of 3rd going into the Derby game.

 

[Norman Deeley]

Only seen the higlights on Sky but holy hell we were poor - we looked way below Fulham's level of commitment and energy and with 20/20 hindsight maybe Nuno should have rested a few more. Simple fact is that we now cannot afford to lose on Friday if we want to win the league as the games against Birmingham and Wednesday are no longer the automatic 3 points they were a few weeks ago. Absolute bloody madness from Miranda and I think I'd throw MGW in for Costa on Friday, or start Cav - Afobe - Jota. What Cyber says about Forest, Hull & Norwich is spot on: how important will those two points thrown away with the last kick of the game against Norwich be...

 

[Tyrannosaurus Dan]

There is no point worrying or predicting what is going to happen over the next 6 games. Fulham are not going to catch us and last night was one point closer to promotion.

 

[AndyWolves]

It was always going to be tough last night. Playing with 9 men at Middlesbrough was always going to affect energy levels - couple that with an unbalanced side and a couple of players having an off night meant it was tricky.

We did well not to lose. Maybe we win the game if Miranda doesn't give away a needless penalty, maybe we don't

What happened with the ball boy???

 

[jd1981]

Reality is after the Villa game if you’d offered us 10 points before playing Cardiff we’ve been delighted, any normal season we’d be home and hosed for the title and promotion would be a game away. We’ve got 2 teams behind us in the form of their lives. If Fulham were to win there last 6 their record over the last 24 games would be W21D3L0 which is just insane.
As I’ve said before sort promotion out then worry about the title if we do come second I won’t be gutted just happy we’ve gone up, all that matters.

 

[Tony Towner]

My overwhelming frustration is that we have won at Forest, Norwich and Hull and yet failed to beat any of them at home. Thse extra 7 points would have us home and hosed by now instead of nail biting. If we dont win the league but get pipped by Cardiff these are the games that cost us.

Fullham lost at home to Sheff Wed and drew with Norwich and Bolton. Cardiff drew with Sheff Wed and Millwall and lost to Preston at home. In the Championship any side can look at results over a season and say 'if only we'd won this one or that one'. Equally we've got points we might not have got; half an hour with 9 men against Boro, injury time winners versus Barnsley and Bristol City, holding on for grim death v QPR and Preston. Unless it's the last 2 or 3 games I don't really hold with the 'if only we'd done this or that' notion in individual games across an entire season.

 

[Johnny75]

Only seen the higlights on Sky but holy hell we were poor - we looked way below Fulham's level of commitment and energy and with 20/20 hindsight maybe Nuno should have rested a few more. Simple fact is that we now cannot afford to lose on Friday if we want to win the league as the games against Birmingham and Wednesday are no longer the automatic 3 points they were a few weeks ago. Absolute bloody madness from Miranda and I think I'd throw MGW in for Costa on Friday, or start Cav - Afobe - Jota. What Cyber says about Forest, Hull & Norwich is spot on: how important will those two points thrown away with the last kick of the game against Norwich be...

So you expect us to win every game then? And expected us to beat both Boro and Hull?

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Adkins was holding on to the ball and time wasting so the ball boy jumped on him, grabbed the ball, and threw it to our player. MOTM for me.

 

[Sniffer]

Adkins was holding on to the ball and time wasting so the ball boy jumped on him, grabbed the ball, and threw it to our player. MOTM for me.

He was dismissed from his duties. Will the ovation he received from the North Bank make up for the probability that he will have lost his job?

 

[Jinky]

He was dismissed from his duties. Will the ovation he received from the North Bank make up for the probability that he will have lost his job?

Don’t think he’ll be dismissed for that. Adkins was laughing. I suspect they moved him away to defuse the situation.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Fullham lost at home to Sheff Wed and drew with Norwich and Bolton. Cardiff drew with Sheff Wed and Millwall and lost to Preston at home. In the Championship any side can look at results over a season and say 'if only we'd won this one or that one'. Equally we've got points we might not have got; half an hour with 9 men against Boro, injury time winners versus Barnsley and Bristol City, holding on for grim death v QPR and Preston. Unless it's the last 2 or 3 games I don't really hold with the 'if only we'd done this or that' notion in individual games across an entire season.

The sign of champions in any league is to win when youre expected to. Of course we can lose games.If we had drawn away at Hull and won at Home then its a different complection with the same points. The fact we did the hard part ( accepting that away games are considered harder) and dropped home points is frustrating. If Cardiff beat us on Friday they will have done the double over us. The only team in the league to do this, this year, a year when we have come so far forawrd on and off the pitch. By that fact alone if they then finish above us I would struggle to argue it is undeserved even if their style of football is different to ours . Promotion is the goal. The championship would be nice icing and my point was that

 

[SSB]

What happened with the ball boy???

I think he’s been relieved of his duties from a message I saw on Twitter.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

He was dismissed from his duties. Will the ovation he received from the North Bank make up for the probability that he will have lost his job?

Probably not. It WAS a stupid thing to do, admittedly, but the whole reaction from the Wolves staff was OTT.

BTW - My other gripe last night. Just fuck off to lyrics on the screens. Jesus, no.