Wolves-Albion verdict - Why are we so soft? Men against boys

[maws]

So the second penalty? One minute earlier Semedo was body checked by Bartley, Oliver said no foul. How did he them see the penalty in a much smaller contact? Pure joke by him

 

[sillytuna]

In fairness our attack was not the issue today. 3 awful goals and some unforgivable errors on top of that.

Love nuno but ffs change that midfield.

 

[WWFC_Melbourne]

Coady is not and has never been a CB in a back 4. He cannot and should not ever play in a back 4 again. He is not a central defender. He is a converted midfielder made to act as fulcrum of a back 3 - to use his ball playing abilities.

Back 3. He plays. Back 4 - well, I hope we don’t play it again for a long time.

It’s unbelievably concerning and arrogant that Nuno thinks he is a sufficient part of a CB pairing in the Premier League.

 

[tamwolf]

I think we are paying the price for not investing in centre backs and central midfielders in the last few years. With the decline of Moutinho and drop in form of players like Coady and Boly; we are arguably worse in those positions than we have been during our time in the Premier League.

We've gone soft through the middle of the park and forgotten how to win, with no real options to change anything.

 

[manchesterwolf17]

I didn't expect a top quality replacement, but at the very least a seasoned striker who could have stepped in as soon as the window was open. Not putting today down to Fabio, because that was his best showing so far.
We've definitely played worse than that and won, but to concede 3 against that lot at home???

I almost exempt Silva from the conversation because it's an utter disgrace the position he's been put in, and he's doing his best.

Like I said in an earlier post. It's effectively like Leicester bringing back Slimani and expecting him to replace a hypothetically injured Jamie Vardy. Laughable, it really is.

 

[Fifty Niner]

From the BBC's Sports website, this hurts: It was only the Baggies' second win of the season - and their first under new boss Sam Allardyce - and the first time they had scored three times away from home in the Premier League in almost seven years.

 

[MattH]

Back 3 or we're staring at a relegation battle. Agreed with subbing Coady, he'll never be a CB in a back 4. I think a new CB is more pressing than a new striker on recent evidence. Ideally one that can do basic defending against set pieces.

 

[Contrarian]

I think we are paying the price for not investing in centre backs and central midfielders in the last few years. With the decline of Moutinho and drop in form of players like Coady and Boly; we are arguably worse in those positions than we have been during our time in the Premier League.

We've gone soft through the middle of the park and forgotten how to win, with no real options to change anything.

Yes, I think we are now at pay back time for problems that started as small problems ages ago, but never got fixed.

 

[Alex Rae The Substitute]

I’ll (hypothetically) take you up on that mate.

Think this will be the catalyst to go back to a back three and be harder to beat.

They showed me nothing today which suggests they can pick up points regularly.

****ing hurts right now though.

I sincerely hope you’re right mate. And that was a hollow wager as I’m not a gambler. Tell you what, you pick a charity and I’ll dontate £10 to it come the end of the season?

 

[WV10Wolf]

Spineless we have totally lost our way.

I hope Fosun are our searching for Nunos replacement as we speak

No chance. This is a transitional season, remember. Pity they didn’t say that before the season started when they were selling shirts, memberships etc

 

[xbomber]

Need to man up, take it on the chin, get half of our team back from injury to our formation and style from the last 3 seasons and get back on with it. 3 points at the Hawthorns please.

No need for knee jerk emotional falling apart.

 

[Deleted member 11332]

Pathetic comments here; two individual mistakes and a poke in the eye!

I'll bite.

Why is our best player in the air not attacking long throws.

Why do we look like a bunch of under 5s every time another team comes forward.

Why do we have zero patterns of play, except for get the ball wide and cross.

 

[Super NES]

We don't have any clue how to manage a game at the moment. 3-1 vs Brighton and they were on the ropes - we let them back in. 2-1 up today- we concede 2 in 5 minutes. Its just not good enough and everybody needs to figure out why, and quick. We can talk about youngsters etc (which I agree with), but today it was only Neto and Silva who I would say come under that category from the starting 11. There's simply no excuses at all today - it was a performance which has been coming and highlights we simply cannot defend at the moment.

What I don't understand is we knew they would put in long throws, which 99% of the time will hit a certain area. Why not keep Boly, Donk, Saiss all in that area to deal with it? The 2 pens are just sloppiness- Boly loses concentration and Coady gets exposed as someone who can't deal an attacker one on one. Same when he almost got done again a few minutes later.

The substitution of Coady is very telling - I think Nuno is really scratching is head and thinking what to do next to get out of this hole. I'm not sure he knows anymore either given the injuries and loss of form. I think the time has come to go back to basics, as we need points and quickly before this escalates out of control.

 

[Surrey Wolf]

**** poor defending from back to front

 

[Wolf316]

Wouldn't surprise me one bit if Fosun sell up.

Nobody at the club seem bothered.

Boly joking with Sam at the end was an absolute disgrace.

 

[Riffardwolf]

I blame Fosun more than Nuno. Tough to make chicken salad out of chicken **** when your bosses only provide you with teenagers window after window. What even is the project anymore?

This. Everyone said that the team he picked was the best one available and saiss at left back was a canny move due to the oppo’s style. The fact that we have no midfielder that can carry the ball and no back up striker ain’t Nuno’s fault

 

[WKFWolf]

i feel sick

Rui - his save percentage is so low this season, granted two penalties today but never feel like hes going to save anything. - 6
Nelson - not terrible, some good moments going forward and slightly better defensively. however no passion or desire - 5
Boly - needless dive in for the first penalty - 6
Coady - useless recently, whether in a 4 or 5 im fed up of excusing the guy. such a poor defender and every team has figured out to get him 1 on 1. needs to be replaced - 2
Saiss - not a LWB, similar to Coady his form has tailed off massively. another player who should only be an option rather than a starter - 5
Joao - done, set pieces are ****, doesnt pass over 5 yards/backwards. bullied today by the imperious duo of Livermore and Sawyers - 3
Neves - didnt affect the game at all. looks like he came off with a knock but if he was still ok **** knows why he got took off before JM
Donk - runs a lot but zero technical ability. gets into better positions than most in the league but finishes like Jake Cassidy. if he could finish he would have 20 goals a season - 5
Neto - one of our better players, but didnt have his best game. - 6
Traore - in fairness people go on about his stats but i saw somewhere hes created 20+ chances this season, not his fault no ****er can finish - 6
Silva - glad he got his goal, generally did ok but poor poor dive, cut that out mate - 6 (deducted a point due to diving)

MGW - not good enough, championship is his level. cant make a five yard pass and never knows where to be on the pitch. - 4
Cutrone - "get him back, pizza pasta etc" - useless. imagine thinking hes good enough to play PL when he cant get into Fiorentinas side ffs and theyve only scored 18 all season. missed an absolute sitter that if Fabio had missed youd have people calling for him to be sold - 2
Ait Nouri - couple of ok runs, didnt do much wrong - 6

Nuno - same excuses every week. fair that hes tried to find a plan B but hes got no idea how to implement it. - 4

 

[reanswolf]

WBA first goal - no penalty - definitely outside box
WBA 2nd goal - elbow on Neves?
WBA 3rd goal - questionable penalty?

3 questionable decisions.

But that aside, they looked capable on the ball (I said they were).

 

[kennyB]

I've been saying for some time (even last season) that I'm not Nuno's biggest fan but have been pilloried for it by some. So now what do you people think of him? As I recently said, despite the injuries which I acknowledge, poor team selections, poor substitutions, can't think outside the box, stubborn and has lost the plot. Hope we get rid (I don't care if you don't agree with me), any half decent manager, having been given the resources and backing he has would have done a better job. People quote 7th 2 seasons in a row, big deal, that was about average over so many Cullis years. I'm used to seeing better than the rubbish we're playing at present. Rant over, carry on.

 

[Deleted member 5276]

Sometimes you just don't get the breaks and sometimes things go against you.

No idea how Albion won that to be honest. The first wasn't a pen, the second was a flick header that found the far post and then the second pen was very debatable.

Then Gibbs basically catches the ball and no pen is given, Boly is having his shirt pulled at virtually every corner and Cutrone blazes over from point blank range.

11 corners to 0 and the vast majority of play and yet for the second time in a week we are masters of our own destiny because we concede stupid set piece goals and we fail to take our opportunities.

Patricio - Again we have to comment about his ability to command his area. Do things change if he comes for more balls? 6
Semedo - Better game going forward as had little to do at the back but the last minute showed what a liability he can be. 6
Boly - Not a pen for the first, redeemed himself but you're not sure what he is going to do and he doesn't inspire confidence still. 7
Coady - Unusually poor game and Nuno was 100% correct to take him off. The second pen is debateable for me as yet again we get done by a slight touch on the boot but when it's our guys in the box, they all come out and say "it's not enough for a pen." 5
Saiss - Steady and no real criticism again. 7
Dendonker - Ugh! I'm just not liking his contribution at the moment. Useless in front of goal, gives needless free kicks away and just looks so cumbersome. 5
Neves - Off his game after a really good game midweek. Perhaps Albion closing him down quickly was the issue? 5
Mountinho - Blind alleys and offering little of a creative nature. Again, suffered because Albion closed him down. 6
Traore - Good game and always a threat. Shame we have no-one to finish his runs. 7.5
Neto -Decent game and always looks lively. 7
Silva - Got his Hindmarsh moment and took it well. Pleased for him but he's very raw. 6.5

Ait-Nouri - Shows promise but didn't really affect the game. 6
Gibbs -White - Mostly sloppy with his passing. 5
Cutrone - Set up to become a hero and failed. Nuff said. 5

Nuno - got to feel a bit for him today. Tried some things but when players don't defend set pieces and when your opponent gets two pens like that, there's not much you can do. He tried to change the game from the bench but the reality is, we don't have that quality. The news we aren't signing anyone in January is concerning.

Overall, I'm still not worried about relegation because we have the quality. We aren't getting the breaks at the moment and we must remain patient as a lot of players are being given the chance to show what they can do. We were unlucky today IMO. We played OK but that three points would have eased a lot of our concerns.

Albion - I would honestly like to say they earned their win but they didn't. They just got the breaks and sometimes that's what you need. They had a couple of other chances but in reality, they didn't play any football and it was typical Big Sam tactics of trying to anul your opponent while hoping to get a result from one or two chances.

Oliver - Thought he let the game flow quite well and couldn't argue too much with his decisions apart from the first pen being nonsense, the second very arguable and then he booked Dendonker for a dangerous foot when he did nothing wrong. Oliver fell for the screams of pain on that one. He missed the pulls on Boly from the corners but other than that, it was a decent game.

 

[Erick1011]

we play the right way

Which way is that? Sideways and backwards?

 

[Finch3d]

I don’t think Nuno knows how much this meant to us, and the players clearly didn’t know either. Sad times.

They think we only care about playing top 6... always have.

 

[Royal wolf]

Some fans never learn. Begging for Albion to come up so we can ‘stuff’ them. When do we ever?

 

[thommo1984]

Please stop saying "things aren't going our way", we're bringing this all on ourselves! Stupid decision after stupid decision after stupid decision.

 

[Deleted member 5910]

Nuno: "We are all disappointed, we are aware it's a bad moment. We have to react to it and work hard for the next one. The (formation) change we think is better for us, we feel it suits the players we have. It's time to analyse and see the next step forward."

**** off Nuno. Broken record. We keep conceding **** poor, soft goals. What are you even analyzing?

I'm surprised he didn't say "We need to find solutions from inside the squad", which is the new "We shot ourselves in the foot" from the days of Hoddle.

 

[thommo1984]

So the second penalty? One minute earlier Semedo was body checked by Bartley, Oliver said no foul. How did he them see the penalty in a much smaller contact? Pure joke by him

Semedo was jumping before the contact, was an obvious dive ffs

 

[Fifty Niner]

Not his fault Coady always bottles big games, Boly is a liability, our midfield lacks mobility, we have nothing going forward, Nuno has gave up and Fosun haven't got a clue what's happening this season.

Our midfield has always been pedestrian but because we relied so much on wing backs and Coady's raking balls out to the flanks, and because our defence were mostly in good form last season and the one before that, it didn't really matter. But there were many Mixers who questioned what would happen if Raul got injured and that we don't create and score enough from midfield. This season we have found out.

 

[Leamwolf]

It's time to go.

Can we all note they had more injuries than us today.... and didn’t have their best keeper who has most saves in the division.

we had a much better squad even with a few missing....

Nuno ****ed it, it shows he has lost the magic and it is time to go......

being out coached by big Sam and making us look like the relegation fodder is the final straw.

 

[RosehillWolf]

Spineless. For once it’s probably good no one was there. As usual we would have been watching 3000 of them while the rest was turning into a toxic atmosphere
Nuno has lost the plot. Lose at Chorley and he has to go
To basically gift a win is inexcusable and both the Manager ( for the tactics) and FOSUN ( where the **** is jeff Shi ?) need to be held to account
Make no mistake , we are not heading for a relegation battle , we are already in one
****ing useless all round. Just **** off

 

[Jonzy54]

No need to panic
We are only 10 points off third.

From bottom ?

 

[Hoganstolemywife]

I'm surprised he didn't say "We need to find solutions from inside the squad", which is the new "We shot ourselves in the foot" from the days of Hoddle.

He genuinely did say that as well.

 

[Fifty Niner]

Some fans never learn. Begging for Albion to come up so we can ‘stuff’ them. When do we ever?

And what was all that about 'Mind the gap'...?

 

[SquaddieWolf]

WBA first goal - no penalty - definitely outside box
WBA 2nd goal - elbow on Neves?
WBA 3rd goal - questionable penalty?

3 questionable decisions.

But that aside, they looked capable on the ball (I said they were).

What about Gibbs practically catching the ball in his box?

 

[moseleyite]

Oh dear.

Sigh.

We looked as defensively soft as Vienetta (but without the yummy, crunchy chocolate bits holding the whole thing together) and utterly non-existent in midfield. Up front, we looked disjointed but still created chances.

But... the thing that really stands out is that the Albion seemed to really understand what the match means to the fans, they just seemed to want it more. Much more.

Perhaps I’m over thinking it because it’s them? I suppose we’ll find out the true meaning of this match in the Baggies’ next match... is this a genuine corner-turning moment for them or are we just that ****?

MOTM: nobody.

 

[jeb01]

Nino looks shattered. Something behind the scenes

 

[Fifty Niner]

Good to hear Nuno saying they need to work hard. Two things can happen at this point. Either they jack it all in or they roll their sleeves up and change it all for the better. I am hoping it is the latter and this is a water shed moment for us, after which we start to turn it around.

 

[Deleted member 5910]

Pathetic comments here; two individual mistakes and a poke in the eye!

Just stop. This reductionist comment doesn't sum up how much more desire Albion had than us.

Everyone just breathe. Take the emotion out of it and we were shafted by two awful penalty decisions. Doesn't take away from the fact we were garbage when it went 3-2, created nothing. But this isn't a time for rash decisions.

I admire your optimism, but the performance was abysmal at 0-1 as well. The goals we scored largely came out of the blue, then we proceeded to be shocking afterwards as well.

 

[Ian C]

Nuno talking **** in the interview on BT Sport. He just looks a broken man now.

 

[Finch3d]

Nuno looked not bothered, where's the passion...

 

[Hawkguy]

9 straight games we've conceded first.

Same tireless rotation of players when we have in-form youth on the bench itching for a chance.

We play the hell out of MGW, who just returned from injury, instead of playing someone young and hungry with match fitness.

People bitched at me for saying Nuno needs to adapt but the manager is one who has the ability to shake things up if the players aren't performing. And he hasn't.

I really, really hope we don't have to sell Neto.