Wolves 3-4 Man Utd: Verdict Thread

[PuntsWolf]

Doc looked so far out of his depth today it was untrue. To then bottle taking him off at HT was baffling. Ait Nouri might have had strapping on but he played over 45 minutes at a high standard, didn’t exactly look to be holding him back.

Bellegarde was totally out of his depth too. The fact we can’t sign any striker in the entire world that might be slightly better than that is embarrassing

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

I assume Neto doesn't get an assist for "winning" the penalty?

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

I agree it was cold but shouldn’t have been nothing will ever match Wigan on Boxing Day 2010 or Burton at home in 2018.

Burton at home was the coldest game I've been to for about an hour, then it warmed up. Weirdest weather day ever that was.

 

[Squeak]

Hard to know what to make of that to be honest. Great game for the neutral but for both sets of fans, the ultimate highs and lows this game has to deliver.

The game plan seemed to be to go toe to toe with United but all it did was expose our defence. How we didn't go into half time even more behind is beyond me and why GON didn't change it then is also unfathomable?

The fact we got back into the game shows the belief these players have but they need to learn some really hard lessons from that. All credit to United for winning it though. Tough to take but the right result based on how many opportunities they created and should have buried.

We will need to be better defensively on Saturday.

 

[Boozad]

I agree it was cold but shouldn’t have been nothing will ever match Wigan on Boxing Day 2010 or Burton at home in 2018.

Preston Boxing Day 2000 was fucking cold as well. That could have been the hangover though.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Doc looked so far out of his depth today it was untrue. To then bottle taking him off at HT was baffling. Ait Nouri might have had strapping on but he played over 45 minutes at a high standard, didn’t exactly look to be holding him back.

Bellegarde was totally out of his depth too. The fact we can’t sign any striker in the entire world that might be slightly better than that is embarrassing

Yeah RAN looked good, we can be in no doubt that the injury had a part to play in RAN not starting though.

 

[PuntsWolf]

Yeah RAN looked good, we can be in no doubt that the injury had a part to play in RAN not starting though.

And it was the wrong decision which had a massive bearing on the result

 

[jd1981]

Just annoys me that the mood hoover has done the double, double on us.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

And it was the wrong decision which had a massive bearing on the result

Not if a physio has said he only has 45 mins in him or he's at a far greater risk of an injury!?!

Doc isn't the reason we lost the game either, the general sloppiness by several players in that first half was.

 

[PuntsWolf]

Not if a physio has said he only has 45 mins in him or he's at a far greater risk of an injury!?!

Doc isn't the reason we lost the game either, the general sloppiness by several players in that first half was.

If it was that type of injury he wouldn’t have played at all.

 

[Dire Wolf]

Hard to know what to make of that to be honest. Great game for the neutral but for both sets of fans, the ultimate highs and lows this game has to deliver.

The game plan seemed to be to go toe to toe with United but all it did was expose our defence. How we didn't go into half time even more behind is beyond me and why GON didn't change it then is also unfathomable?

The fact we got back into the game shows the belief these players have but they need to learn some really hard lessons from that. All credit to United for winning it though. Tough to take but the right result based on how many opportunities they created and should have buried.

We will need to be better defensively on Saturday.

I think we'll be fine defensively on Saturday...

 

[Tony Towner]

Just got back because the A38 was closed again because of an aborted train line, so posting without seeing highlights.

I know people get upset when someone says Utd are crap, so I'll contextualise, they are an upper mid table PL side so they aren't crap, but within the prism of being Manchester United they are poor.

We lost today as much because of our own failings as anything they did positively. I will give credit to 3 good finishes, but boy their goals... The first nobody puts any pressure on the ball letting Rashford pick his spot. The second where Lemina completely ignores Shaw's run and chooses to double up on Rashford instead, 5 minutes after a very similar run and nobody picking that up either. The third I don't know who was supposed to be picking him up, but it's shocking. The fourth, really angry at Kilman just let him waltz past him.

Other thoughts, Sa made a couple of very good saves in the 2nd half and didn't look to be at fault for any of the goals, although the second was difficult to see where I was sitting.

Bellegarde, more an observation than a criticism wherever the ball went he went the other way. He can't play that role, but let's not relitigate the number 9 discussion again.

Sarabia too many poor touches at a point when we were looking to get something from the game. I expect better from him.

Cunha our biggest threat, but he needs to watch himself. There were shades of Podence today, needless flicks, dives, petulance, having a go at team mates.

Lemina, the first was as poor a half as he's had for us

RAN and Gomes should have started, but not sure that would have made too much difference to our first half no show. Let's pick our best side, not the one that won the last game if we have obviously better players to bring in.

 

[Lupo]

What a sickener!

Equalising 5 minutes into injury time only for them to go and get a winner 2 minutes later. Tbf United were all over us first half and 0-2 flattered us, they had 2 disallowed.

Second half we looked better when we replaced Doherty with Ait-Nouri and managed to get back into the game with the ecstasy of an injury time equaliser before the agony of an injury time sucker punch.

I don't care that we perhaps didn't deserve anything, fuck it, these wankers have taken enough points from us that they didn't deserve so this would have been so fucking sweet if we had.

Almost kicked off around us when 2 United fans were spotted and some were hurling abuse at them, the stewards arrived and several pointed them out whilst telling them to fuck off.

Ah well, good and spirited fightback, on to Chelsea on Sunday

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

I agree it was cold but shouldn’t have been nothing will ever match Wigan on Boxing Day 2010 or Burton at home in 2018.

Oldham away. Want to say the 97 game where Bull got sent off but think it was a few years before that and closer to Christmas. Or Blackpool away when Fingle got stuck on the fence

 

[Mel Evo]

Soooo frustrating to see that first half performance play out as feared. I don’t care that plenty of others were sub-par, the anger of watching Doherty trundle about in front of me has basically obscured whatever critical perception I might have had. I never, ever, ever want to see him again. I don’t care that loads of other managers do the exact same thing, fck off picking obviously inferior players just because they were lucky to be in a winning team against an irrelevant opponent the match before. Even IF RAN was banjaxed (looked fine to me) you could be playing Toti or Bueno out there. It’s not even close in terms of quality of athleticism.

No one knows, but I would guess we’d have been better in that first half with the right players on the pitch. The improvement in the second half when changes were made was really striking.

On the plus side… I found a good slow charger for our EV in a car park at last, so didn’t have to stop on the way home. In fact, so cock-a-hoop was I with my excess charge, I was able to waste a little energy on a (perfectly safe and legal) manoeuvre that pissed off the driver of a Man Utd supporters’ coach to ‘toot’ levels. That cheered my kids up, though ITV commentators will doubtless see it as another echo of the dark days of the 1970s.

 

[Tredman]

Soooo frustrating to see that first half performance play out as feared. I don’t care that plenty of others were sub-par, the anger of watching Doherty trundle about in front of me has basically obscured whatever critical perception I might have had. I never, ever, ever want to see him again. I don’t care that loads of other managers do the exact same thing, fck off picking obviously inferior players just because they were lucky to be in a winning team against an irrelevant opponent the match before. Even IF RAN was banjaxed (looked fine to me) you could be playing Toti or Bueno out there. It’s not even close in terms of quality of athleticism.

No one knows, but I would guess we’d have been better in that first half with the right players on the pitch. The improvement in the second half when changes were made was really striking.

On the plus side… I found a good slow charger for our EV in a car park at last, so didn’t have to stop on the way home. In fact, so cock-a-hoop was I with my excess charge, I was able to waste a little energy on a (perfectly safe and legal) manoeuvre that pissed off the driver of a Man Utd supporters’ coach to ‘toot’ levels. That cheered my kids up, though ITV commentators will doubtless see it as another echo of the dark days of the 1970s.

Sitting in the BW I’ve had the pleasure of watching Doc shamble back for many years. There was one point yesterday, as Utd flooded down our left and he watched from the D of their penalty area, that I screamed so loud he actually looked round.

It’s maddening, the fact that a professional footballer just can’t be arsed. There were several times where Cunha found himself covering at LB and our hero stood with his hands on his hips. RAN comes on and is, instantly, better going forward but also (even with EP’s strap-on) managed to get back and help Toti.

I never, ever, want to see his stupid face ever again. The fact that I’ve been part-paying his wages for probably 10 years makes me want to scream.

 

[Shotbybothsides]

Very poor night all round, disappointed with the incredibly sluggish start, but you just cannot have experimental, weak components at this level, Bellegarde was incredibly ineffective as a front man. Midfield was just too weak, Lemina looked at half pace and Doyle though technically good, needed the bite of Gomes alongside. That 3-man midfield would have sured things up. Defensively we were all over the place, just when I was beginning to have great faith in our defence they turn in a performance like that. Doc got scathed for a few miss passes but Ait Nouri should have started. None come out with more than a 4 (out of 10). Our 2 flair players were snuffed out all to easily and it was patently clear that the formation was totally wrong. Staggered that we didn't make changes at half time as it was possibly the worst first half performance I've seen in a number of years. It was totally unbalanced and disjointed and Gary O'Neil should have rectified it after 20 minutes.

2nd half much better simply due to a simple change in system. Gutting to lose like that but deserved to lose 3-7 and getting a point would have been a travesty though great. Maybe Thursday night in the cold, but it was equally disappointing.

Very poor atmosphere I thought overall, thought it would be much better after beating the shit. Everything was just horrible about the game.

Everyone at Wolves had an off-night, not sure what else one can say. Looked like United didn't quite sell out their tickets, about 100 left at the South Bank end. But I'd be amazed.

ALso very disappointed that the club again failed to get a striker in, its incredibly poor and amateurish on our part to have let Fabio and the German lad go with no striker at all apart from one away in Asia. Its actually bordering on criminal negligence in footballing terms.

 

[sycophantia]

I wonder if there was an element of over confidence from GON last night and maybe the players, we've been on a good run, Utd not at their best this season.
Felt a bit sorry for Bellegarde, he's been set up to fail last few games. Not sure if he'll ever be good enough but playing him like we have is gunna do nothing but such the confidence out of him.
I also thought Pedro was very poor first half, a bit half arsed at times.
We probably all thought last night was likely to happen at some point and maybe in the future, inexperienced coach, thin squad.
I realise Fraser needs to go out on loan but thought he did ok when he came on.

 

[Trips]

There was absolutely no reason to pick Doherty last night. I understand why we kept him in for the Albion game, RAN had only been back a couple of days so fair enough but you have to pick your strongest available players. Doc doesn't fit into that ever.

Bellegarde playing as a 9 doesn't work either, we need to stop with it. I'd rather start Fraser there

 

[Dire Wolf]

I'm not sure it was overconfidence from GON. I think Utd set up and played very differently to how they played against us last time, and were bolstered by the return of some important players for them. They also had Rashford with a point to prove after what had gone on this week with him. Hell, they even looked like a team that had some unity and confidence, which they haven't had for some time. It was a bit of a perfect storm where a lot of factors helped them and we didn't adapt quickly enough to the changes in them.