Are the current players stale?

[Mile End Wanderer]

I think they are and we need more than just a few changes to the playing squad this summer!!

Thoughts??

 

[Slothmonkey]

They are definitely something. Most are guaranteed to start and belive they have no competition for their place. Nuno has shown that he favours certain players and I am starting to believe that has led us to this point.

 

[JOSWolf]

100% yes in my opinion. I think the coaching staff are stale as well looking at the standard of football the first team produces each week and set pieces etc. Feels to me that some players have got it too easy here now and are coasting as Nuno never gives the younger lads a proper chance no matter what happens.

 

[Deleted member 11332]

Sure it was fergie who said you had to change it up every 3 years in order to be successful.

 

[JOSWolf]

Sure it was fergie who said you had to change it up every 3 years in order to be successful.

He was 100% correct there.

 

[Stourwolf]

Its either the players or management which needs changing in the summer.carry on like this next season and we,ll go down...we’ve been lucky this year with a few results we probably didn’t deserve

 

[whitnash wolf ex.dewsbury]

Sure it was fergie who said you had to change it up every 3 years in order to be successful.

that included some of the coaching staff

 

[Glow69]

Few players have served us fantastically over the last few years. But they do need freshening up and moving on, which I think is more the problem then the nuno debate.

 

[wwbug]

100% . The whole set up is stale . Put on hold. Sharks keep swimming .

 

[wwbug]

WWFC 2021 is stale , bored, not motivated and I don’t know why . But I know it needs sorting.
Anyone who puts it all down to Covid is burying their head in the sand.

 

[JOSWolf]

Its either the players or management which needs changing in the summer.carry on like this next season and we,ll go down...we’ve been lucky this year with a few results we probably didn’t deserve

My opinion however harsh it may sound is both need changing in the summer. Appreciate a few wont like seeing this but that is the feeling I am getting now.

 

[Tipton Wolves]

The starting xi needs changing every couple of years. Simply hasnt happened much. I think jaap stam was the highest profile casualty of this culture but it worked for united.

 

[Deleted member 11332]

that included some of the coaching staff

Yeah he used to do it with assistants I remember.

 

[Lycaon]

I’m no football manager and wouldn’t suggest to be one but exactly what do they work on in training?
Obviously not defence, obviously not moving the ball quicker and linking up play and thirdly no signs of creating chances up front!
Did we really have only two shots on target yesterday playing at home irrespective of a lack of a crowd? Good grief!

 

[Jay Jay de Wolf]

Not so much stale the Wolves team as the fact is there is NO competition for places in the starting eleven now it appears.
We had a small squad without all the injuries this season. Now everyone seems to know the first eleven with 2 to 3 subs.
Compare that to Man City who have two starting eleven's that are almost as good as each other.

 

[Lisas Husband]

We don’t need a new 11, we need about 3 new players IMO to inject something into the team. It’ll give them a lift anyway but they need to be guaranteed first teamers.

 

[WickedWolfie]

Not so much stale the Wolves team as the fact is there is NO competition for places in the starting eleven now it appears.
We had a small squad without all the injuries this season. Now everyone seems to know the first eleven with 2 to 3 subs.
Compare that to Man City who have two starting eleven's that are almost as good as each other.

I agree. The problem is that FFP and hence our budget means that we have a small high quality squad or more but lesser players. We don't currently have the resources to do anything approaching a Citeh.

 

[WickedWolfie]

We don’t need a new 11, we need about 3 new players IMO to inject something into the team. It’ll give them a lift anyway but they need to be guaranteed first teamers.

Do you mean competitive or guaranteed starters?

 

[Stoichkov]

you're hardly going to get a balanced poll given anyone vaguely positive/sane will avoid this place like the plague after yesterday!

(and since I'm positive, then I doubt my sanity)

 

[Lisas Husband]

Do you mean competitive or guaranteed starters?

Well I’d hope for competitive, but right now I don’t think there is any competition. The first team is nailed on unless there’s an injury.
On the subject of SAF, it was him who said about refreshing the team on a regular basis and he did just that, but I don’t think he ever made wholesale changes and kept the core together. Something I believe we would massively benefit from.

 

[Jay Jay de Wolf]

Do you mean competitive or guaranteed starters?

Starters as surely Nuno & Fosun learnt the lesson of buying Fabio Silva that wasn't ready to start this season after Raul unfortunate injury. Next time I'm sure they won't make this mistake again in the summer transfer window

 

[Minimalist]

Thing is the starting lineup v Burnley actually had 4 players you could say were fresh to last seasons first team.

 

[Lisas Husband]

you're hardly going to get a balanced poll given anyone vaguely positive/sane will avoid this place like the plague after yesterday!

(and since I'm positive, then I doubt my sanity)

I kept away too, the Fulham game (and too many pints) heralded a negative knee jerk reaction from me (which I regret) so I figured this time I should just hide.
like yourself, my sanity is also in question.

 

[Fenrir_]

It's a mix between yes and on the beach in my opinion. We've had a core of six or seven players for three years now, we have to be careful not to do what Spurs did. They kept their squad together for years, and when it got stale they decided a change of manager was the answer and sacked a manager who had done brilliantly for them as well as developed their younger players. 18 months later they're looking for another manager, haven't progressed at all and those promising youngsters have been sidelined

Quite a few of the players we had in that first PL season are disposable in my opinion, before they all get TOO comfortable

 

[Darvo]

I kept away too, the Fulham game (and too many pints) heralded a negative knee jerk reaction from me (which I regret) so I figured this time I should just hide.
like yourself, my sanity is also in question.

We’ve all been there ... it adds to the fun

 

[Black Country Wanderer]

Theres no doubt something is wrong,but its been wrong for a long time now
We havent looked the same since the first lockdown ended
Yes we have had a few moments when we have played something like for 30 minutes here and there,but by and large we have looked slow and disjointed for over a year,that cant be staleness
Its either complacency or attitude
We have too many players that dont give their all
Traore is a 10 minute player at best,Jose even worse,Podence has morphed into a prima donna,Boly has gone blind,Donk cant be ***** to even tackle and the youngsters all look too lightwieght
I dont have the answers,apart from getting new blood in and dropping these guys or moving them out,it really is that bad now

 

[Contrarian]

Well I’d hope for competitive, but right now I don’t think there is any competition. The first team is nailed on unless there’s an injury.
On the subject of SAF, it was him who said about refreshing the team on a regular basis and he did just that, but I don’t think he ever made wholesale changes and kept the core together. Something I believe we would massively benefit from.

In the early years, he didn't keep a core together, he made big changes every year. His worst finish was 13th, but they won the FA Cup. And then finished 6th, 2nd, 1st. At the point of improvement, he kept a core team together and gradually phased players in. Not the struggling team, in the first couple of seasons.

Keeping the core of an improving side (and capable of winning the FA Cup when it meant something) makes sense. As does one finishing top 4 or 5. But keeping the core of a declining side, when key players of the core have left already? Makes no sense to me.

 

[Mardenboroughs Shoulder]

Stale and probably on the beach. A big summer in the transfer market ahead.

 

[5150]

you're hardly going to get a balanced poll given anyone vaguely positive/sane will avoid this place like the plague after yesterday!

(and since I'm positive, then I doubt my sanity)

Ditto mate !!

 

[Contrarian]

I kept away too, the Fulham game (and too many pints) heralded a negative knee jerk reaction from me (which I regret) so I figured this time I should just hide.
like yourself, my sanity is also in question.

Knee-jerk reactions can be positive as well as negative! You missed a few after the Fulham win - apparently safety meant "the handbrake was off" and the players would regain their former world beating status in the run in, we would leave Villa and Leeds in our wake as well as battering the Albion on the way.

Just saying, it's as crazy as the "relegation is inevitable" posts after we lose.

 

[JOSWolf]

I’m no football manager and wouldn’t suggest to be one but exactly what do they work on in training?
Obviously not defence, obviously not moving the ball quicker and linking up play and thirdly no signs of creating chances up front!
Did we really have only two shots on target yesterday playing at home irrespective of a lack of a crowd? Good grief!

I said during the game on here yesterday just what are they doing in training? Had a full week on the training ground and the set pieces are beyond awful, as for the style of play. There is none. Its a fair question to ask when the team you watch has no identity anymore and cant take a free kick or corner properly.

 

[Contrarian]

I don't know if our players are stale - but I know who is. That Solbakken guy who manages Norway.

 

[DasWolf]

Some players on the beach. Some players complacent because no matter how **** they are they'll be played next week. Some players I think are ****ed off and seriously reconsidering their futures.

Fans from Nuno's previous jobs have commented he seems to have favourites, and that is something I completely agree with. I definitely remember in the first season back in the PL Costa would get game after game no matter how dire, but Cav would get 10 minutes in a game that was lost and be consigned to the scrap heap.

Which is identical to what's happening with some of our current players.

 

[Lycaon]

Just a very simple question to all out there!
How many players do we have under contract that have connections with Jorge Mendes/Gestifute, bearing in mind Fosun have at least a 15% stake in the latter?
However, it might be easier to name the one’s that don’t?!!

 

[JOSWolf]

We don’t need a new 11, we need about 3 new players IMO to inject something into the team. It’ll give them a lift anyway but they need to be guaranteed first teamers.

I'd argue we need a least 5 new first team ready signings this summer. I would also argue they will be pointless signings if Nuno persists with 5 at the back and 10 men behind the ball safety first all the time along with other questionable tactics this season and set pieces etc.

 

[JOSWolf]

Thing is the starting lineup v Burnley actually had 4 players you could say were fresh to last seasons first team.

Think the way the team is set up and tactics are a massive problem now.

 

[Lisas Husband]

In the early years, he didn't keep a core together, he made big changes every year. His worst finish was 13th, but they won the FA Cup. And then finished 6th, 2nd, 1st. At the point of improvement, he kept a core team together and gradually phased players in. Not the struggling team, in the first couple of seasons.

Keeping the core of an improving side (and capable of winning the FA Cup when it meant something) makes sense. As does one finishing top 4 or 5. But keeping the core of a declining side, when key players of the core have left already? Makes no sense to me.

Agreed.
The problem with wholesale changes is that we’ll be as disjointed as we are now if that’s possible.
im hoping 3 new signings lift the place if they’re for the first team.

 

[SA Wolf]

I don't agree that the players are 'on the beach'. That assumes they are suddenly playing with no impetus, no urgency and no energy since safety was secured. This is not a sudden thing. For large parts of games since 'project restart', we have been playing in a similar vein.
OK, yesterday was worse than most matches, but we're known for being a team that sits back, that doesn't press, that doesn't play a high-energy game. We've been playing turgid, stodgy football for ages now. It's not a sudden reaction to securing our future for next season. There's more to it than that.

 

[VancouverWolf]

Our players are not on the beach. That’s so lousy.
They don’t like to lose. They are not indifferent to what’s going on.

 

[binners]

Whilst I agree with most of what has been posted I feel with the long and pandemic convoluted season last year with a very small squad there is quite a lot of burn out. I’m not saying that is the only reason but it has a rather larger impact than anyone has imagined. We do however need to seriously look at the whole structure of the squad and if that means removing some, including Nuno, to get a really good balanced and depth of a squad that can create and deliver on a regular basis then so be it. How we would go about that I don’t know because I feel it will take 3 or 4 windows.