Newcastle verdict

[NewarkWolf]

Neves, Neto, Semedo and a back to form Jiminez would have made all the difference.

Exactly, the group backing them up is miles off their standard hence our inconsistencies through a season. It really is as simple as that isn't it? Our first 11 of 6-8th, when 2-4 changes are made its a 9th - 12th

By the way given our last 20 years sitting nicely around midtable in the Premier league is still a huge achievement really

 

[JohnB]

Poor all round. Moutinho couldn’t pass (wind) - compared to being fantastic vs Villa. Various other players either couldn’t pass or trap the ball. No plan B or real change at HT. Deserved to lose (but to Wood and a bought penalty again…).

I know we were missing 4 key players but…..

….PS - please don’t sign Saint-Max….poor man’s Traore tonight - couldn’t complete a dribble and shooting way off.

On the positive…(?)?

 

[Nige]

Neves, Neto, Semedo and a back to form Jiminez would have made all the difference.

I think the point is to step up to the top 6 we need players good enough to step in when these guys are out.. Cant defend Jimeinez he has let us down badly twice this year with RED cards

 

[Coshamwolves]

We bottled that against a poor team.

 

[marrs-guitar]

From seeing the line-up I knew it would be a repeat of the West Ham farce. And much like that day, we simply gift-wrapped 3 points for a very limited opponent. I would have liked to have thought that Lage would have learned some lessons from that day, but he just did the same trick again.

The amount of average players we have brought to the club in the last 2 years is really concerning, particularly as more of the crop of 2018 will probably depart in the summer.

Unlike the last Friday night fiasco, I'd decided from seeing the line-up that I wouldn't let the game ruin my weekend. I am firmly resigned no European football now, which is actually a shame as we did have periods this year where it seemed quite feasible, but the tendency to always fail to make the leap as a club, management board, team and coach is becoming somewhat predictable.

 

[JOSWolf]

Just dreadful by Lage tonight. Too late with his subs. Tactics, if there were any, were utter ****e. Campell over Chiquinho, seemingly terrified to sacrifice a centre back even when 1-0 down with 15 mins to go at a crap Newcastle. Absolute crap.

 

[jonesy]

He really did. I suspected he would, he seems to come out with it every time we do anything but control the game - he said the same after we lost away to Arsenal as well.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1512548172991799296

Keep off the vino Bruno

 

[RMNottm]

Annoyed as i am i guess my verdict is Newcastle deserve the win as we conceded it.

 

[The Wolf In The North]

No disguising an insipid performance, but crucial minutes and experience for some younger players. Cundle is a good year away from being ready for this level, but he'll have learned more from tonight than five minute cameos here and there. A run in the team is only going to be ultimately beneficial for Silva too. Neto's return is painfully, frustratingly gradual, but that was always going to be the case. Defeat hurts, and our unwillingness to attack during that first half was incomprehensible, but the truth is we're honestly not a top six team, so it's tough to manage the expectations. Win some, lose some.

Hwang, though. Christ. A purchase that's every bit as thick as ironing your own trousers while wearing them. When you set your strategy as Fosun have done, where every £1m counts and the mantra is seeking value, this is a ****ing horror show of money down the drain that far eclipses the investment in Silva. There were times when Hwang actually made Trincao look energetic and effective by comparison.

I can accept young players learning their craft and split-second goalkeeping miscalculations, I can accept experienced players hitting their ceiling and having off-days. But Hwang's sheer inability to control the ball and his disinclination to try and amend whenever he made an error? And his sheer and absolute lack of any quality whatsoever? Infuriating.

If this is Fosun's idea of value and shrewd investment, maybe we're actually better off not having anything to spend in the summer, to be honest.

 

[TFWanderers]

Looked on the beach and we should be far from it.

Absolute shower.

 

[Mr Sizzle]

Keep off the vino Bruno

Hes just saying words there .any words

 

[Deleted member (smith)]

I don’t think anyone doubts that wolves wasted their 60% possession and made no effort to attack…I think the midfield were awful without Neves , Dendonker and podence.

 

[AlexWolvesHD]

Marcal, Cundle, Hwang, Trincao & Silva were all passengers today. Most of the team gave the ball away a lot and the sheer panic under any pressure today was dreadful. Terrible performance and really shows how important some serious recruitment in the summer is because the quality of our squad depth is a shambles

 

[Fan in Vogelsang]

No doubt another MOM performance tomorrow from MGW!

 

[KnowNuttin]

When we're bad we are ****ing atrocius. It's up there with the worst performances since Fosun took over. Probably into refunding the fans that travelled territory.

I wish I knew what was said to the team before the game. Were they told to to sit back and make no attempt to score a goal. Or did the players just see the teamsheet and lose all belief? Ether way, it's unacceptable.

I'm not going to dig out individual players. It was a collective **** show and we know that they are much better than that display. But something was fundamentally wrong tonight and that always has to come down to Bruno Lage.

 

[NewarkWolf]

No doubt another MOM performance tomorrow from MGW!

In the second tier..... Against distinctly average opposition......

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

Exactly, the group backing them up is miles off their standard hence our inconsistencies through a season. It really is as simple as that isn't it? Our first 11 of 6-8th, when 2-4 changes are made its a 9th - 12th

By the way given our last 20 years sitting nicely around midtable in the Premier league is still a huge achievement really

Yeah, the same for a lot of the league. We've actually been fairly fortunate with injuries this season in the main.

 

[JOSWolf]

Why no Chiquinho tonight and he brings on Campbell? Then subs on RAN with 8 mins to go and leaves us still with 5 at the back and losing at a ****e Newcastle. Just dreadful by Lage tonight on so many levels.

 

[dewolfman]

****test I’ve ever seen us play, but i dont think any other tram selection would have helped.

 

[Wagstaffe Was Magic]

I can say pretty confidently that's the end of our European aspirations. Could be 5 points off 7th, once games in hand are sorted: then half of our 6 games left are against City, Liverpool and Chelsea...

You’re way behind the pace with that conclusion!!
Europe ended a long time ago!

 

[AlexWolvesHD]

I don't get what Bruno thinks Marcal offers that Ait-Nouri doesn't to warrant him starting ahead of him. He offers nothing going forward and is a liability defensively as he is always out of position and recklessly lunges in at players because he is too slow to keep up with them.

 

[arctic rime]

We missed half of our first team tonight and it showed

 

[JOSWolf]

Bruno - ‘1st half we controlled the game’. Wtf

He has lost the plot if he thinks that.

 

[Big Saft Kid]

It's no coincidence that we so regularly screw things up when facing poor opposition and, at the same time, there's a golden chance to stake our claim to the next level. 6th was there for the taking tonight, even if only temporarily, and what do we do? Bottle it with a completely gutless performance.

Yes, we were missing key players, but the attitude of some of those on the pitch looked fearful and cowardly. Nobody took responsibility. Why? Is Bruno overthinking things ? He seems to get enraged when things go wrong but unable to bring himself to change them until it's too late. As under Nuno, we approach games against poor teams timorously, as if they are world beaters, yet when there is little expectation of a win against tough opponents, we do the business. Sport is all in the mind, and Bruno seems to regularly tie himself in knots psychologically against average teams. I think this nervousness communicates itself to the team. We seem on edge and risk averse. I guarantee we will take points off City and Chelsea simply because there is no expectation we will. Liverpool may be a bridge too far, but you never know...

 

[AndyY]

Someone who can run with the ball too whilst we’re asking

MGW?

 

[CologneWolf]

When we're bad we are ****ing atrocius. It's up there with the worst performances since Fosun took over

It’s not really though is it. Off the top of my head I can think of 4 worse league performances this season. Brentford, palace twice. West ham away.... We were worse against Aston Villa for 80 minutes in the first game but somehow came out unscathed. Then there was the cup defeat to norwich. Burnley last season 4-0. The 2 Huddersfield defeats in our first season back. You get my point.

 

[Wonder Boyo]

I'm home because I live locally and I feel so sorry for the poor sods who have a long journey back to Wolverhampton after watching that inept performance. Most frustrating thing about it is that, although Newcastle deserved to win, they were terrible too. There for the taking.

Where to start? Our squad can't cope with that many key players out (Neves, Raul, Donk and Podence, and Neto not fully fit.). We were so lightweight, so powderpuff, so blunt, so lacking in any pace. If every a game needed Traore to get us up the pitch it was this one. I miss him on nights like this. That first 45 minutes was absolutely abject. The second half wasn't much better. Trincao and Hwang awful, Fabio too lightweight, Cundle not quite ready. The only players to come out of it with any credit were Boly, Coady and possibly Jonny. At least Fabio took a shot too.

Bruno has to take some of the blame. The amount of times we failed to take any risk or opportunity to play the ball forward was unbelievable. Passing back to the halfway line all the time and just pass pass pass for no reason at all. There were a number of occasions we were in the final third of Newcastle's half and the ball ended up back with Sa without us losing possession. Why did Bruno take so long to make changes? Even after we conceded he waited a good 10 minutes.

That was painful and frustrating. Safe journey home to all those still on the road.

Edit - I also saw a lot of trouble on roads leading up to the stadium. Four Wolves fans getting beaten up and chased by a gang of about 30-40 Newcastle fans. By the time they took a beating only one police officer turned up and couldn't do much to protect them right at the end. They seemed to be standing but battered and bruised. Hope they are all okay.

 

[peter&thewolf]

We learned tonight that those who played up front are simply not good enough

 

[AndyY]

In the second tier..... Against distinctly average opposition......

Well,Newcastle are not exactly world beaters are they, and until tonight might have ended up in the second tier!

 

[WeAreTheWolvesII]

7 defeats in 12 since Adama was given to Barcelona.

Whilst we call on Chem Campbell to get us a point in a game we need to win to try and get Europe.

Tonight was awful and Lage made mistakes but the only people to blame are those above the manager.

 

[AndyY]

We learned tonight that those who played up front are simply not good enough

We learned tonight that we need a stronger midfield who are capable of preventing the opposition high press and are capable of passing forwards to feed our forwards.. a midfield 3?

 

[KnowNuttin]

It’s not really though is it. Off the top of my head I can think of 4 worse league performances this season. Brentford, palace twice. West ham away.... We were worse against Aston Villa for 80 minutes in the first game but somehow came out unscathed. Then there was the cup defeat to norwich. Burnley last season 4-0. The 2 Huddersfield defeats in our first season back. You get my point.

It's up there with pretty much all of those. The only one I'll give you is the Burnley 0-4 where we were a defensive shambles as well.

So no, I don't really get your point..

 

[sedgwolf1980]

Feel weirdly at ease with that defeat. We are where we deserve to be.

Woeful recruitment back last summer is the key reason for me. Disappointing.

 

[NewarkWolf]

Well,Newcastle are not exactly world beaters are they, and until tonight might have ended up in the second tier!

They were safe well before tonight really

 

[CelebrityWolf]

Our problems are obvious, I don't see the debate. We have 3 midfielders for the squad that are anywhere near ready, we lose one we have an issue, we lose two we have no chance. You can thank our brilliant recruitment strategy of recent years of ignoring our glaring weaknesses.

 

[Wonder Boyo]

Feel weirdly at ease with that defeat. We are where we deserve to be.

Woeful recruitment back last summer is the key reason for me. Disappointing.

Kind of feel the same. It's the hope that kills you and now pretty much all hope of Europe is over I feel I've accepted it'll be 8th place and that's not too bad overall. A great opportunity missed but at least it's more or less done and dusted now and the struggle is pretty much over. Can sort of relax and try to enjoy the end of the season.

 

[whitnash wolf ex.dewsbury]

Our problems are obvious, I don't see the debate. We have 3 midfielders for the squad that are anywhere near ready, we lose one we have an issue, we lose two we have no chance. You can thank our brilliant recruitment strategy of recent years of ignoring our glaring weaknesses.

Not even hindsight,everybody knew the risks we were taking

 

[Ned Stark]

Feel weirdly at ease with that defeat. We are where we deserve to be.

Woeful recruitment back last summer is the key reason for me. Disappointing.

I agree with your first line: we are not really European contenders and likewise we are not relegation fodder - we are somewhere between, the exact level being dependent on numerous factors, some within our control and some not. We are building a future but the future is not now, personally I don't think it's any more complicated than that.

 

[JOSWolf]

Do Shi and Sellars really think we did enough in the January window after tonight? Yes Bruno has made mistakes but I keep hearing Sellars spin about Luke Cundle not getting a chance if we signed a 28 year old. What if the 28 year old was really good like when we signed Raul eh Scott? Also Scott where was Adama's replacement Chiquinho tonight? Great January transfer window lads.

 

[WeAreTheWolvesII]

The awful decision to not call Morgan Gibbs-White back also deserves a mention.

Would've started, miles better than Cundle even in CM.