Building from the Back

[Sedgley Gold N Black]

I was going to post this as a response but possibly worthy of its own thread.

I know many feel we lack goals and/or that 20 goal a year striker and see that as an essential for promotion however...

Last season the two best defences went up automatically.

Fulham and Norwich were joint top scorers with Newcastle and finished 6th and 8th.

Along with the two mentioned above, 10th placed Brentford scored more goals than 2nd placed Brighton.

Huddersfield went up scoring just 56 goals, the second lowest scorers in the top 12 with even Forest scoring more.

The season before all three teams with the best defence went up, where as 2 of the 3 joint top scorers didn't, one finished 9th with again one of the sides going up scoring less goals than a team in the bottom 5.

Season before that the top 4 contained 4 of the best 5 defences.

I don't think this will have passed Nuno by and is probably what's behind his approach this summer.

 

[MysteriousWolf]

Great strikers win you games, Great defenders win you Championships.

 

[WolfLing]

I'll stick my neck out here.....

We have the best defence (on paper) in The Championship this season!!

 

[wolvesaywe]

I'll stick my neck out here.....

We have the best defence (on paper) in The Championship this season!!

Boro and Villa fans are laying claim to that title too.

I feel ours is perfectly suited to the style we want to play though so I wouldn't trade ours for either of their back lines.

 

[The Professional]

I think we will be a really solid unit this season- I am increasingly confident about that. My concerns are the amount of goals we have in the side. If it is not working out in the first few months of the season, I am sure they will look at it again in January.

 

[those were the days]

I was going to post this as a response but possibly worthy of its own thread.

I know many feel we lack goals and/or that 20 goal a year striker and see that as an essential for promotion however...

Last season the two best defences went up automatically.

Fulham and Norwich were joint top scorers with Newcastle and finished 6th and 8th.

Along with the two mentioned above, 10th placed Brentford scored more goals than 2nd placed Brighton.

Huddersfield went up scoring just 56 goals, the second lowest scorers in the top 12 with even Forest scoring more.

The season before all three teams with the best defence went up, where as 2 of the 3 joint top scorers didn't, one finished 9th with again one of the sides going up scoring less goals than a team in the bottom 5.

Season before that the top 4 contained 4 of the best 5 defences.

I don't think this will have passed Nuno by and is probably what's behind his approach this summer.

Good post and point. You rarely get promoted without a strong defence and Nuno seems to have prioritised getting the right type of defensive players in to play his preferred style of play.

It's also true you rarely get automatic without 15+ goalscorers. Hopefully there's still one signing to come there too!

 

[MotorWoden]

I'll stick my neck out here.....

We have the best defence (on paper) in The Championship this season!!

Well Boly and Miranda look good but are untested in the championship. The goalkeeper is possibly the most important element of the defence though and I'm not sure about ours.

 

[WolfLing]

Well Boly and Miranda look good but are untested in the championship. The goalkeeper is possibly the most important element of the defence though and I'm not sure about ours.

If we just played Boly with no one else and no 'keeper, we'd still have the best defence

 

[sillytuna]

My concern is Ruddy. He has looked awful pre season and that's being overlooked because of the defence.

Coady may also take some time to bed in but at least we have options there.

 

[Grendel74]

My concern is Ruddy. He has looked awful pre season and that's being overlooked because of the defence.

Coady may also take some time to bed in but at least we have options there.

You're right, he has made some bad mistakes... but he's done some good stuff too. He hasn't suddenly become bereft of all ability. There's still a good keeper in there who has just moved to pastures new following a long, settled stint at his former club. He has a good coaching team behind him so I think he'll come good. I also think Norris has real potential once he's found his feet with us.

 

[GoldenHorseshoe]

I'll stick my neck out here.....

We have the best defence (on paper) in The Championship this season!!

I think we have to see how Coady does over the season, but there is depth.
Looking good so far.

 

[Ewok vs Wolf]

I think we will be very solid at the back and win a lot of games 1-0

 

[Polish Wolf]

I too have reservations about Ruddy. He used to be a good keeper for Norwich once but hasn't he lost it? He sometimes looks as someone who is no longer interested in his career.

As for the others - we have landed a massive improvement compared to the last season. Boly and Miranda both look classy and way more than good enough for this league. Douglas so far has been a revelation. Coady looks good in his new position and we still have Hause, Ofosu-Ayeh and even Batth in the rotation.

As long as the new formation works well I think we won't be conceding too many.

Fair play for Nuno and the whole club for sorting it out so quickly.

 

[goldeneyed]

Good OP but the fact is we are way under strength on the striker front. Dicko - you have to worry about his injury record and he is not a prolific striker in any case; Bright, very raw and talented but as yet not a goalscorer; Leo - just arrived - does not know the league and will take time to get up to speed and is a complete unknown quantity; Mason not good enough and on the way out. We still have to score goals and 0-0 s won't win you the Championship. The defence does look a lot more solid but central midfield could still do with another option to help Neves and Saiss. If those two are unavailable the defence will come under a lot more pressure as we know only too well from the past when our central midfield options have been so pathetic. Get the right striker in and I think a lot of us will feel the balance of the squad is about right and we have a real chance next season.

 

[Deleted member 5242]

I am not entirely sure I agree with this.

The best form of defence is often attack (cliche I know).

For example the season we got promoted with Mick was not down to the defensive masterclasses of Stearman, Neil Collins, Ward and Kevin Foley. It was down to our free flowing attacking football played by the devastating Jarvis, Kightley, E-banks and others. I'd go as far as saying it was sometimes in spite of the defence with Collins hanging round the neck of his opponent on every other corner.

Whilst you do need to keep a tight ship, sometimes too much is made of a defence and their clean sheets which is more often than not brought about by the fact the attacking players are attacking with such pace and skill that the defence hardly has anything to do. In addition if you win your midfield battles and control possession (It's been a while hasn't it!!!) this will also pen back the opposition and leave attacking opposition isolated and much much easier to mark.

Defend from the front by harassing defenders and dominating the midfield battle, the clean-sheets will come, hence the reason we need Leo to be a star, and could most likely do with another striker.

 

[Guzeppi]

The God of football, on one of his brighter days, realised that Wolves' supporters have suffered enough.
He discussed it with his think tank, who in turn passed God's wishes on to the selection decision board. The latter took time out from deciding who goes to heaven and who to hell and decided that Wolves have served enough time in purgatory and deserved better days.
The final decision came down...

Willy Boly joined Wolves.

 

[MonkeySpanner]

Our defense has been rubbish for years.
Now with a manager finally giving it his top priority I expect us to have a much better season.

 

[WonderWolf]

Having a secure defence can do you no harm at all, ever!

What can do you harm is an insecure one. Like last season with Zenga when not being sharp enough up front time and again in games we were done by the ineptitude shown at the back.

Attack can also be the best form of defence. With this for us it can work real well, against us with our attacking players and ball playing ability right through the team it can be suicide.

The secret as always is to get that first goal, we do that and I feel games will more often than not work out for us with the quality we now possess.

 

[Mr E]

My concern is Ruddy. He has looked awful pre season and that's being overlooked because of the defence.

Coady may also take some time to bed in but at least we have options there.

I think this is being blown out of all proportion by many and smacks of the old 'let's sort a scapegoat out' routine that we usually go through.

He flapped at Jamie Vardy and made a bit of a **** up in Austria if I recall but he's hardly faced any shots. We've not really given too much away in open play. Should also be noted that the guy has hardly played! Norris and Burgoyne have been given a fair amount of game time meaning less time on the pitch for Ruddy with 3 new defenders in front of him.

Let's not go into the season unnecessarily and unfairly labelling our new keeper as a weak link before we've even managed to get through a competitive game.

 

[Mark Rankines Lovechild]

Boro and Villa fans are laying claim to that title too.

I feel ours is perfectly suited to the style we want to play though so I wouldn't trade ours for either of their back lines.

Whilst undoubtedly a great player, I wonder how Terry will stand up against anyone with pace in this league that plays a passing game. Direct football, headers away etc will be meat and drink for Terry but passes past him and one on one races with forward players could well highlight his weakness.

Chelsea have let him go for a reason.

 

[Mark Rankines Lovechild]

I think this is being blown out of all proportion by many and smacks of the old 'let's sort a scapegoat out' routine that we usually go through.

He flapped at Jamie Vardy and made a bit of a **** up in Austria if I recall but he's hardly faced any shots. We've not really given too much away in open play. Should also be noted that the guy has hardly played! Norris and Burgoyne have been given a fair amount of game time meaning less time on the pitch for Ruddy with 3 new defenders in front of him.

Let's not go into the season unnecessarily and unfairly labelling our new keeper as a weak link before we've even managed to get through a competitive game.

The fact that he has faced relatively few shots / any great test does also leave me a tad uneasy. When called upon in the Shrewsbury game and Leicester he looked a bit "off the pace". It could be ring rustiness, the fact that Nuno has also given the other keepers considerable chances, does make me wonder if he is automatic first choice although I expect him to start the first few games.

Fingers crossed, he has the pedigree that cant be denied.

 

[Deleted member 5242]

Whilst undoubtedly a great player, I wonder how Terry will stand up against anyone with pace in this league that plays a passing game. Direct football, headers away etc will be meat and drink for Terry but passes past him and one on one races with forward players could well highlight his weakness.

Chelsea have let him go for a reason.

A 54 year old John Terry would cope better than 98% of the defenders in this league. There's no comparison for me. Similar things were said about all of the true great players who dropped down to the championship and they orchestrated things wonderfully; Ince and Irwin our own examples.

 

[Greeno]

A 54 year old John Terry would cope better than 98% of the defenders in this league. There's no comparison for me. Similar things were said about all of the true great players who dropped down to the championship and they orchestrated things wonderfully; Ince and Irwin our own examples.

I have to agree, bashing JT because he's not one of ours is probably silly at this point. Sure, Chelsea let him go. They've ambitions of winning the PL again and the CL, no doubt. That's hardly the Championship is it? He's a massive fish in this division, but can he do it all himself? I doubt it, personally.

Hopefully over the course of a long season, he shows his age - but in a one-off game, he'll be head and shoulders the best CB in the division I'm sure. (...and I hate the bloke)

 

[ShropshireLad]

↑
I'll stick my neck out here.....

We have the best defence (on paper) in The Championship this season!!
Boro and Villa fans are laying claim to that title too.

I feel ours is perfectly suited to the style we want to play though so I wouldn't trade ours for either of their back lines.

Looks like 0-0 then.

 

[Essex Wolf]

If you have a dependable defence that doesn't concede then the team doesn't lose so starting from the back is essential if you want to have solid base to work with.

 

[oldgolded]

Let's hope our defence is as good as we think it is going to be. My main concern like others on here is Ruddy. Why did Norwich release him if he was any good?
Hopefully he will settle and find his feet. It always takes time for a new defence to gel and get used to each other.

 

[Deleted member 5242]

Let's hope our defence is as good as we think it is going to be. My main concern like others on here is Ruddy. Why did Norwich release him if he was any good?
Hopefully he will settle and find his feet. It always takes time for a new defence to gel and get used to each other.

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