Arsenal verdict

[oldgolded]

Massively disappoiting performace. We approached this game with far too much complacency. Nuno decided to tinker from the team that had won the last three games.
Just got to suck it up and move onto Sheff Utd.

 

[Darren M (Dazza)]

Back to the man shed to drown my sorrows

 

[clivewolves]

Disappointing. I don't remember us having a shot on target. Not many shots at all. We were better playing 3-4-3 but no players played anywhere near their best. Doherty probably the best of a bad bunch today. I guess we were due a poor performance.

Sheff Utd next. We seemed to be outfought in the last twenty minutes today. Even Boly was getting pushed off the ball. We need to put that right for the next game as half of Sheff Utd's gameplan is to out-compete the opposition.

Now is a great opportunity to put another run together for the rest of the season. Hopefully we will start with 3-4-3 more often. I always think we play better with it.

Fairplay to Arsenal. They deserved to win. They wanted it more and had that bit of quality in front of goal when it counted.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

I thought both teams were poor, they took their chances, we started to grow into the game the 2nd half after Jota came on. Terrible substitution after that though to take off Doc who was coming into the game. Traore was finally in his best position on the right, causing trouble then he takes him off and suddenly Arsenal are delighted as he's 20 yards away from their defence at right wing back and the last 20 mins he was pretty much as a regular full back. Baffling. He's tried that sub a few times and I don't think it's ever worked.

But these day's happen though, where we just never get going, it even happened in the championship, Nottingham Forest at home for example where we could play all day and not look a threat.

Doherty was having a stinker but he should have had Neto at RB or Vinagre on and moved Jonny over.

 

[Royal wolf]

Sadly when this excellent side does lose, Nuno's tactics are typically at the forefront. Traore as a centre forward should only ever be played when we're defending a lead and looking for a ball over the top. There was no chemistry between him and Raul, and our 5-3-2 (get them in 0-0 at HT tactic) failed, putting us off-kilter. Arsenal disappointingly outfought us as well. Reality check tonight, with the other results going against us. Should likely put Champions League talk to bed. Schooled by Arteta in many respects.

it’s failed more often than not this season. Just look how many time’s we’ve gone behind in the first half.

 

[TheAdmiral]

We were awful today and didn’t deserve to get anything from that against a bang average Arsenal side. We just didn’t seem at the races and I really don’t like Traore in a front two it negates his speed/power. Certainly couldn’t pick a MOTM they were all equally poor max 5 for all of them.

 

[Incognito]

Not good from the start. No intensity. Although...if Adama's chance in the 1st minute had gone in and the one early in the 2nd half then....But seriously we deserved nowt from that game. So many players off their game. Nuno subs wrong. Doherty always give us a good attacking option so should not have been taken off. Should have been Neto on for Adama and MGW earlier on for Mouts. Bound to have lost a game at some point in the run-in. Better get it out of the way now, me say. There will be many twists and turns in the run-in. We go again v The Blades.

 

[Deleted member 3518]

We weren't crap.....just not quite good enough.

Reality.

Still in it with a chance though.

Personally thought we were crap actually.

 

[waggys left foot]

We have a few players who were or are below par-Doc,Boly,Moutinho and Traore isn't a number 10.

Clearly Nuno was concerned at Jotas performances but prob needed to play Neto in that position ,not Traore - tho as finishers both are not top draw .

Whether he was right to start Donck shows Nuno is always going to be a tad too cautious

May need to win the next four imo.

 

[wwbug]

Didn't think we looked threatened until the first goal.
That was a well taken chance taken from a flukey deflection.
Liked watching our play. One defeat in eight. First defeat in Premiership since Liverpool in January.
Get perspective . That pattern of play normally works - today it didn't tomorrow it will.

 

[ZoeWolf]

We looked like a team going through the motions, nobody seemed to have any desire, crap from front to back, like my hair.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

it’s failed more often than not this season. Just look how many time’s we’ve gone behind in the first half.

As long as Nuno sticks to this small squad, no rotation idea, this will continue. He has us only playing half a game because we dont have the depth to actually play the schedule we have with the squad we have.

 

[Wolfman jack]

Putting AT at striker and then rwb was wrong. Thought we had learnt those lessons

 

[Bugsy911]

Awful performance and team selection top 4 is gone and Arsenal will chase us down now i fear...we simply can't afford to lose against the Blades.

 

[Pessimistic Wolf]

Arteta had Nuno's number today. The late energy injected by arsenal's late subs absolutely killed our game plan of soaking up pressure and attacking with direct players.

Fair bit of experimentation from Nuno, which didn't work. Traore receiving the ball short and without support means he is very easily crowded out by the entire arsenal defence.

Doherty's long throws are new, and not effective. Compounded by Boly having a real off day.

Haven't seen us psychologically beaten in a long time. Defence crumbled and passing was panicky from 65 minutes. Haven't actually seen as defend so poorly since Chelsea at home. Really flat footed and didn't look like a side that had had a week off.

Hate to say it but Neves and Mountinho continue to look pretty average. Neves slightly more energetic and accurate in his passing. At this stage, I wouldn't really advocate chopping and changing, but it highlights a big Alfred N'Dyiae/Franck Kessié shaped hole in the midfield.

Credit to arsenal for picking up the game plan and blocking it perfectly.

 

[Deleted member 4436]

What was Nuno doing?

You can’t show that sort of team that much respect. Thrown the points away tonight.

 

[jrpb-3]

first half could have gone either way, can see why we went 3-5-2 but it didn't really work with Traore in the front 2 today not hist bast game, but some credit to Arsenal for managing to keep him quiet. We started the second half well and looked like a goal was coming but when the chance came it was just over from Traore (think the keeper may have got a touch to push it a bit higher) Arsenal defended well and we seemed to fade as the game went on, not sure if it was tiredness or not, but Arsenal finished the stronger. With hindsight maybe we should have gone for Jota or Neto to start instead of Traore and bought Traore on second half. That said if Traores chance had gone in I think we have been favourites for the win. Not a great performance but not as bad as some on here seem to think, feels worse due to the way other results went today

 

[Deleted member 5276]

A great chance to effectively kill off Arsenal's chances of catching us and we blow it. Strange team selection from Nuno to start the game and Traore really didn't do a thing but give the ball away and miss a really good chance to level it up.

Second goal was really poor and until then I still hoped we'd get a point. Sheff Utd is going to be a hard task now. We know it will be physical and we're going to have to move the ball faster and smarter than we did today.

Rui - good save in the first half to keep it o-o and then no chance with either goal. 7
Boly - looked complacent again and we should have conceded a third goal from his tomfoolery. He needs a rollocking because he is nowhere near the standard he is capable of. 5.5
Coady - A statue for the second game killing goal. Not his usual performance and his distribution was not so good today. 5.5
Saiss - Another needless and stupid booking but at least he doesn't let his man get away from him. 6
Doherty - Poor touch and lost some confidence. 6
Dendoncker - Not really sure what he was doing today. Tried to get around the pitch but a non entity really. 5.5
Neves - positionally very good. Some nice first touches but never really controlled the game. 6
Moutinho - same as Neves really.
Jonny - poor. Didn't really do anything of note. 5.5
Traore - capable of so much. Delivered nothing. This game demonstrates why he is better coming on from the bench. 5
Jimenez. - Another who did nothing. 5
Neto / MGW - ran a bit. Achieved nothing. 5.5

So very disappointing and been a long time since I can say that about a Wolves performance. We move on but we seriously need to step it up if we are going to get top 6. Time to stop being so defensive and actually look to create more.

 

[kentish wolf]

Very disappointing but it's gone, so it's on to Sheffield and 3 points.
too much respect shown to our oppo! Imo
We will learn from this I hope!

 

[northnorfolkwolf]

I think Nuno will now realise if we go for 2 up top it has to be Jiminez and Jota. I'd like to start with 3 up top with Traore and go for it from the start, not start playing 2nd half. They were there for the taking after ht but we just did not get into top gear. Bringing the 4th forward on was a mistake as no one then seemed to know what they were doing. Big lesson learnt hopefully and we can take it out on Sheffield on Wednesday.

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

We weren't crap.....just not quite good enough.

Reality.

Still in it with a chance though.

Adama scores and it's a different game. We were deservedly beaten but to suggest we were **** is kind of silly.

Best team on the day won.

 

[tamwolf]

Terrible performance. First time I have been annoyed at a Wolves performance for a long time.

Ruined my weekend.

 

[WW1963]

Arsenal's game management was far better than ours. They deserved their win about as much as we deserved to beat West Ham, Villa and Bournemouth.

 

[Royal wolf]

I think Nuno will now realise if we go for 2 up top it has to be Jiminez and Jota. I'd like to start with 3 up top with Traore and go for it from the start, not start playing 2nd half. They were there for the taking after ht but we just did not get into top gear. Bringing the 4th forward on was a mistake as no one then seemed to know what they were doing. Big lesson learnt hopefully and we can take it out on Sheffield on Wednesday.

He should’ve realised the last 2 or 3 times Adama has started in a front 2

 

[Deleted member 4436]

You can give whatever reviews you want to the players. It isn’t the stage of the season to **** around with new partnerships to see whether they work. Not sure what he was thinking.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

Ratings for me:
Patricio 6.
Nothing to do aside from picking ball out of net.
Jonny 6
Defensively not threatened but didn’t link that well going forward. Best outfield player though probably.
Saiss 5
Exposed by movement of Arsenal front 3. Being booked meant he just had to let cross come in for 2nd goal couldn’t compete it.
Coady 5
Same as above, poor positioning for 2nd goal.
Boly 4
Stinker from the big man unfortunately. Positioning wrong and at fault for first goal. Shrugged off the ball a few times and beaten a couple of times.
Doherty 4
Dire in possession, gave the ball away constantly. Turned down a golden chance to cross ball in first half, was way to tight to Boly for first goal.
Neves 6
Pretty ineffectual, bonus point for goal line clearance.
Moutinho 4
Didn’t happen for him today, gave ball away a criminal amount and set pieces terrible.
Dendoncker 5
Put a shift in but didn’t get onto ball at all, we missed him covering in second half though particularly Right back.
Adama 5
Created most of our chances but missed a big one (although I am convinced keeper actually saved it). Not usable as a forward, I thought it was worth a gamble so can’t critique Nuno there.
Raul 4
He looked borderline disinterested first half and was absolutely man handled. Showed a few more flashes in 2nd but still was very poor.
Neto 5
A nice run or two, gave ball away a lot though.
Jota 5
Same as above, a couple of runs but should have shot earlier when he had the chance after a good run.

 

[Ches78]

Bad day at the office all around. Need to be back at it do the next match against the Blades, which comes around quickly...

Saying that, 9 points from 4 games, in top 6, still in Europa. Regardless of how this season pans out, let's just enjoy it, we've never had it so good (well, for as long as I can remember).

 

[Oliwolf44]

Arrogance of last 3 results!! It may work in Portugal but this is the premier league. Any time we step off, were not as good. A team that were there for the taking we didnt lay a glove on. Why not attack!! Everyone could see it

 

[jrpb-3]

Think the problem today was Nuno wanted to go 3-5-2 wanted to start Traore for his pace but with Aresenals threat up front didn't want to play him as wingback, so other option is to play him in the front two, today it didn't really work, 3-5-2 with Neto or Jota with Traore as sub may have been a better option

 

[Matt]

I thought it was clear right from the off that it wasn’t going to be our day. Our passing was off, our energy was low and we were far too deep. I know we tend to give teams the ball but to surrender 70%+ possession in the first half was a joke really. It’s Arsenal not Man City. Nobody played well, and if that happens you ain’t gonna earn many points. Big game on Wednesday now, I’ve been saying since the restart I’d snap your hand off for 6th and I still would.

 

[Eddie's Eagle]

Arsenal were definitely the better team, but that's not saying much as I thought we were both poor. Usually we pick up our game in the last 30 minutes but our play became even more abject.

If we play any more games like that, then we'll be looking over our shoulders at those pushing for a Europa League place.

Hopefully, Nuno will not experiment with starting Traore in a front two again. We let them off the hook when we should have played three up front and put pressure on their dodgy defence. When you make Luiz look like Van Dijk then there is a problem.

 

[Sketchead]

Too much respect shown to a team with a dreadful defence. As soon as I saw a front 2 with Adama up top I was concerned. How many times does he have to play there before nuno realises he isn’t a striker

How many times has Adama actually played up front? About two starts and three substitute appearances? It's a problem when Adama has been our main attacking threat since the restart but we need to fit Dendoncker in the middle... hindsight is always 20/20 but before the game it was the right lineup. We know Jota and Jimenez are the best pair if we play two up front but Jota has been non-existent since the restart. Coming off the bench, he played well for five mins before the drinks break came and we seemingly lost any momentum.

On the whole, Wolves are a team that usually works harder than the opposition which means we always have a chance, even when not playing well. Today we didn't work hard, every time we made some sort of combination it felt like an accident, we were just completely off. I think Arsenal will know they didn't even have to play well to win that game. Both teams there for the taking, we didn't seem to fancy it. Nobody seemed up for it. It's not as if we can see the opposition completely did a number on us. It was just a bit odd, and they took their chances well.

Not seen us that passive since Chelsea at home towards the beginning of the season when we got battered. Suppose we were due one.

 

[WeAreTheWolvesII]

The pitch was awful as well.

What the **** is that about? Was it a plan? If so, why? If not, it's disgraceful. The ball wasn't rolling properly, Fratton Park was miles better ffs!!

 

[Jonzy54]

We got what we deserved but we need to look outside the box .Generally Nuno gets things right but occasionally his selections and set up are a tad bemusing .
We are a team who are set up to stay in games and hope to nick them .Yes we do come from behind after such a slow start but sometimes it doesn’t work .You can’t always just hang in there because on some days you don’t get the chance if they score first .Watford at home last season was a classic example .
Arsenal didn’t just sit in ,more a case of the front two being too far apart and the longer the first half went on we were thankful we were still in it until they scored .
Only scoring 12 first half goals in 33 games isn’t good enough .I want to see us actually grab some games from the off because as we saw today other than sporadic efforts we were never going to grab the initiative from the off.
Yes I know it is the Nuno way and far be it for me to criticise but equally some times he has to hold his hands up .

 

[Yout85]

Poor performance by our very high standards, but nowhere near as bad as people are making out.

Yes, delivery from set pieces was poor.... Joao has earned the right to have an off day.

Yes, the team selection and tactics weren't spot on.... Nuno has earned the right to make an occasional error of judgement.

But people literally saying "wtf is Nuno thinking?"... you can't always get things right, but I know he has thought everything through and worked on a plan - it just didn't come off this time.

This manager, these players, and these almost exact tactics, have gotten us to the Europa Leauge after 1 season, and in a place to challenge for the Champions League with 5 games to go in our 2nd. I think he knows where Adama's (for example) strengths are... but maybe, just maybe he also had a reason for playing him up front.

Maybe, just maybe.... it wasn't "laziness in preparation" which, btw, is a seriously ****ty thing to say about a man who has changed so much at our club.

Ps.... we outpossesed, outpassed and outshot Arsenal in this game.... only getting one shot out of ten on target isn't down to the manager or tactics.

In Nuno I still trust. On to the next game.

 

[Contrarian]

Thing is I don’t think our defenders can cope with us going for teams.
They need the shape to contain as Doherty is too slow to get back and all 3 CBs struggle 1v1 to a degree (Boly less so than other two).
Doesn’t help we lack a proper athlete in middle of park. Lots to improve upon, but still well in command of a top 6 place.

It's been there right from the start. The team is built around avoiding the lack of pace at the back being found out. Arsenals forwards outpaced all of our back 3 at some point today. Doherty seems to have lost a yard of pace from last season. Given how almost ruthless the manager has been at moving players on once peaked, I can see him being a surprise departure when the season ends.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

It's been there right from the start. The team is built around avoiding the lack of pace at the back being found out. Arsenals forwards outpaced all of our back 3 at some point today. Doherty seems to have lost a yard of pace from last season. Given how almost ruthless the manager has been at moving players on once peaked, I can see him being a surprise departure when the season ends.

RWB and CB would be positions I’d look at. That Corona chap could be the Doherty replacement.

 

[tamwolf]

Arsenal were definitely the better team, but that's not saying much as I thought we were both poor. Usually we pick up our game in the last 30 minutes but our play became even more abject.

If we play any more games like that, then we'll be looking over our shoulders at those pushing for a Europa League place.

Hopefully, Nuno will not experiment with starting Traore in a front two again. We let them off the hook when we should have played three up front and put pressure on their dodgy defence. When you make Luiz look like Van Dijk then there is a problem.

I think we are already looking over our shoulder. If Sheff United win tomorrow, they are 2 points behind us going into our game against them mid-week. Arsenal are now only 3 points off us.

I think we can forget about the Champions League places now. I dont think we play with enough intensity or try to affect the game enough to win the majority of our games and I don't think those above us will drop enough points. Nice dream to have, but think it will remain just that and we need to concentrate on holding on to top six at the moment.

 

[Tony]

Never got going. Dull and lifeless.

 

[Yout85]

What was Nuno doing?

You can’t show that sort of team that much respect. Thrown the points away tonight.

He was standing on the sidelines whilst our players put 90% of their shots off target.