Ball Boys (not Raul)

[Adrian_Monk]

Whilst this probably feels like yet another thing to complain about / another entity to blame, did anyone notice how poor our ball boys (the actual ball boys, not the bloke up front whose only notable contribution today was to keep running and collecting the ball for Meslier) were, not only in failing to return the ball into play quickly but also throwing the wrong ball on the pitch, not throwing a ball over when the Leeds fans held the ball (to the extent that Cunha had to jump into the Steve Bull stand) and letting the Leeds subs warming up just randomly kick the spare balls on the pitch to slow things down?!

Like I said, might seem a very minor thing to complain about and seems especially insignificant with such dire officiating, but it didn't half slow us down and played into Leeds' hands when they were trying to take the sting out of the game.

 

[WeAreTheWolvesII]

Yes, it's infuriating and has been the case for years.

It should be academy players. You need people who know the game in terms of when to give it back, slow it down etc. and more importantly who are physically capable of getting the ball back on the pitch when needed.

Postecoglou went in at Celtic and made them part of things, told them how big a role they have, important to setting the tempo etc. Watch Celtic once and you will see immediately the way it helps things.

 

[MikeH68]

Been on about this for a long time, but we are never able to keep any intensity up, the advertising boards on the sides of the pitch are too far away and the ball people sit the other side. Takes ages to take a throw in. Sounds petty but at other grounds see what happens, marginal gains etc all add up.

 

[Ned]

I’m not sure how much effect it has but it was really ****ing annoying me yesterday.

 

[Wolf in Kenilworth]

It should be academy players. You need people who know the game in terms of when to give it back, slow it down etc. and more importantly who are physically capable of getting the ball back on the pitch when needed.

.

That is an unbelievable point. Spot on.

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

Thought the lad behind the goal on the BW side of the NB did well first half. Other than that though yes. Maybe we need a thread for marks for them?

 

[Pagey]

Until we learn how to take a throw, I really don't think it makes to much difference.

No matter what the situation, we wait for the fullback and give everyone chance to get into position.

Was happy to see the ref called a foul throw yesterday mind, dunno why but happens several times in every match and never gets pulled up.

 

[Darvo]

I noticed just how quickly Newcastle got the ball back in play at St James’s recently. Us on the other hand ...

 

[Ned]

Does every other club have the two rows of advertising boards on the side facing the cameras or just us?

 

[old wittonian]

That is an unbelievable point. Spot on.

At my grandson's academy it is the ballboys.

 

[WolfLing]

There was a moment, I think towards the end of the first half, when Leeds had a throw in and were obviously trying their best to time waste again.

The new ball got thrown to one of the Leeds players, about to take the throw, when the old ball rolled back onto the pitch, giving them an opportunity to stop and point at the other ball to kill more time.

As you say, annoying.

 

[Olivergoldblack]

Does every other club have the two rows of advertising boards on the side facing the cameras or just us?

Just us, and loads of 90s Italian football clubs with athletics tracks around the pitch

 

[WasStefan]

Is this thread a joke

 

[Sammy Chungs Tracksuit]

Whilst this probably feels like yet another thing to complain about / another entity to blame, did anyone notice how poor our ball boys (the actual ball boys, not the bloke up front whose only notable contribution today was to keep running and collecting the ball for Meslier) were, not only in failing to return the ball into play quickly but also throwing the wrong ball on the pitch, not throwing a ball over when the Leeds fans held the ball (to the extent that Cunha had to jump into the Steve Bull stand) and letting the Leeds subs warming up just randomly kick the spare balls on the pitch to slow things down?!

Like I said, might seem a very minor thing to complain about and seems especially insignificant with such dire officiating, but it didn't half slow us down and played into Leeds' hands when they were trying to take the sting out of the game.

I actually thought our ball boys were much improved yesterday. The 2 lads down the Billy Wright / South Bank end second half were the most clued up I have seen from us for a long time. The one down the North Bank end who put an end to Mesliers time wasting in the first half also made a point. Steve Bull side of the pitch are a nightmare though with those double hoardings.

 

[Carl Corts Flick Ons]

Does every other club have the two rows of advertising boards on the side facing the cameras or just us?

Every ground does so that the advertisement looks twice as high on the tv due to the angles

 

[Jay Jay de Wolf]

Whilst this probably feels like yet another thing to complain about / another entity to blame, did anyone notice how poor our ball boys (the actual ball boys, not the bloke up front whose only notable contribution today was to keep running and collecting the ball for Meslier) were, not only in failing to return the ball into play quickly but also throwing the wrong ball on the pitch, not throwing a ball over when the Leeds fans held the ball (to the extent that Cunha had to jump into the Steve Bull stand) and letting the Leeds subs warming up just randomly kick the spare balls on the pitch to slow things down?!

Like I said, might seem a very minor thing to complain about and seems especially insignificant with such dire officiating, but it didn't half slow us down and played into Leeds' hands when they were trying to take the sting out of the game.

It's not trivial to say this @Adrian_Monk as I myself was shouting this out yesterday at the game after that incident happened when Cunha jumped over the advertising hoardings to retrieve the ball off the Leeds fans that were holding onto the ball. The ball-boys on that SB side of the pitch were useless and lazy by not putting the other balls back on the on plastic holders or throwing the ball quickly back to the players. As they were doing on the BW side of the pitch? As I was seated in upper NB and could see clearly the difference with attitude and urgency of the ball-boys each side.
I noticed this at last match of last season against Norwich I had seats in the SB lower and could see then the ball boys lazy attitude especially nearest corner of South Bank / SJH Stand the ball boy at the corner of stands wouldn't get of his *** to throw or kick the ball back to the keeper for a goal kick.

It's all added seconds that are not added on by the ref and officials of which are not added on after 90 minutes

 

[TooMutchBull]

Leeds scored in the 7 added minutes... and we got ourselves a red card. Ideally the match wouldn't have lasted that long, we should have wasted the time and earned ourselves a much deserved 3-2 loss against 19th place Leeds.

I agree though, ball boys and girls need to earn their tracksuits! It was only spitting and the sun came out for 20 minutes so no excuses. The Steve Bull side definitely should have hurdled the lower tier to wrestle the ball back from the Leeds fans.

 

[MikeH68]

Leeds scored in the 7 added minutes... and we got ourselves a red card. Ideally the match wouldn't have lasted that long, we should have wasted the time and earned ourselves a much deserved 3-2 loss against 19th place Leeds.

I agree though, ball boys and girls need to earn their tracksuits! It was only spitting and the sun came out for 20 minutes so no excuses. The Steve Bull side definitely should have hurdled the lower tier to wrestle the ball back from the Leeds fans.

Not specifically talking about Saturday, been to enough games home and away to know that Molineux can be a disadvantage in terms of the wide open spaces in front of the Steve Bull & Billy Wright. We can never restart a game quickly enough, never able to keep up the intensity be it us taking to long over the throws, the wide open spaces or the ball boys/girls (not having a go at them). Solution without having to rebuild the stands! More ball boys/girls, someone else suggested academy players, seems a good idea. Obviously there are a lot more pressing issues, however the thread was started and is something I have noticed for years. Slow on the pitch, slow off the pitch just means we can’t maintain any pressure.

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

Not specifically talking about Saturday, been to enough games home and away to know that Molineux can be a disadvantage in terms of the wide open spaces in front of the Steve Bull & Billy Wright. We can never restart a game quickly enough, never able to keep up the intensity be it us taking to long over the throws, the wide open spaces or the ball boys/girls (not having a go at them). Solution without having to rebuild the stands! More ball boys/girls, someone else suggested academy players, seems a good idea. Obviously there are a lot more pressing issues, however the thread was started and is something I have noticed for years. Slow on the pitch, slow off the pitch just means we can’t maintain any pressure.

This was the case in single ball games, but it mystifies me why Cunha is jumping 2 sets of advertising and leaning over the wall into the away fans retrieving a ball when there's one on a cone 20 yards from where it went out of play. Some of Leeds antics such as Meslier's desire to use the ball that has just gone into the crowd rather than the one offered by the ball boy didn't help! (Oh and the ref ignoring his time wasting until 5pm)

 

[Sussex Wolf]

This was the case in single ball games, but it mystifies me why Cunha is jumping 2 sets of advertising and leaning over the wall into the away fans retrieving a ball when there's one on a cone 20 yards from where it went out of play. Some of Leeds antics such as Meslier's desire to use the ball that has just gone into the crowd rather than the one offered by the ball boy didn't help! (Oh and the ref ignoring his time wasting until 5pm)

Had he used the spare ball, then the typical response of away fans in that situation would be to then throw the original ball back on the pitch to force play to stop for two balls. Even better if it came as Wolves had or were about to score.

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

Had he used the spare ball, then the typical response of away fans in that situation would be to then throw the original ball back on the pitch to force play to stop for two balls. Even better if it came as Wolves had or were about to score.

Plenty of stewards there, and if Leeds have someone who can throw the ball onto the pitch from the Steve Bull then we should sign him up as a Greg Halford replacement!

 

[Yamalroite]

The ball boys? hahaha. They are just kids. We can't blame them surely. hahahha. One of them's probably the grand kid of Arthur who got made redundant when goodyears closed, eyes should on the millionaires kicking the ball I reckon ay.

 

[Roswolf]

I noticed just how quickly Newcastle got the ball back in play at St James’s recently. Us on the other hand ...

Did you also notice that when Newcastle went 2-1 up all the ball boys disappeared! Obviously well drilled.

 

[Oakhamwolf]

Every ground does so that the advertisement looks twice as high on the tv due to the angles

Don’t thinks that’s right, i think it’s only us and Man City

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

Did you also notice that when Newcastle went 2-1 up all the ball boys disappeared! Obviously well drilled.

Absolute disgrace, at one point Sa was looking round desperately for a ball when the two either side behind the goal line mysteriously vanished.

Also btw didn't see it mentioned, but how come our medical team were the ones looking after the guy in the crowd?

 

[JadeWolf]

This was the case in single ball games, but it mystifies me why Cunha is jumping 2 sets of advertising and leaning over the wall into the away fans retrieving a ball when there's one on a cone 20 yards from where it went out of play. Some of Leeds antics such as Meslier's desire to use the ball that has just gone into the crowd rather than the one offered by the ball boy didn't help! (Oh and the ref ignoring his time wasting until 5pm)

I’ve heard that Meslier copped it from our players after the game.

 

[Adrian_Monk]

This thread wasn't so much blame for the ball boys, more a point that it's pretty clear that they aren't given any specific instructions to augment our approach to the game. The better teams in this league use every available resource to improve their chances of success - just like the Newcastle ball boys that disappeared when they went 2-1 up. It's such a typical Eddie Howe move to ensure they play their part and are drilled to follow the script depending on the situation.

From Wolves perspective, I just get the sense there's huge complacency. We had an upturn in form, and now nobody talks about games being cup finals any more. We've taken our foot off the gas again.

 

[jackdusty]

At least one lucky kid will get a chance to do the job. Anyone else see the lad on the SB side South Bank end in the first half throw the ball to the Leeds player with a bit of force that the player let go past him, the lad was approached by a lady in hi Vis who led him away and he was replaced!

 

[Sussex Wolf]

This thread wasn't so much blame for the ball boys, more a point that it's pretty clear that they aren't given any specific instructions to augment our approach to the game. The better teams in this league use every available resource to improve their chances of success - just like the Newcastle ball boys that disappeared when they went 2-1 up. It's such a typical Eddie Howe move to ensure they play their part and are drilled to follow the script depending on the situation.

From Wolves perspective, I just get the sense there's huge complacency. We had an upturn in form, and now nobody talks about games being cup finals any more. We've taken our foot off the gas again.

100%.

Frankly, if the club truly believe the officials are stacking the cards against us, then we should be making better use of anything we can control, including training the ball boys to aid our tactics. I don’t like it personally, but then neither do I like biased officiating, and it seems we’re unable to fix that.

 

[thetwistedsock]

Which game (other club) was it with the ball bloke lying on the ball, Swansea? Must be about ten years ago.

 

[ombyman]

Is this thread a joke

Nope, it looks like the mob has moved on from refs to children now.

While the real perpetrators of all the woe rake in tens of thousands a week in cash.

 

[Sussex Wolf]

Plenty of stewards there, and if Leeds have someone who can throw the ball onto the pitch from the Steve Bull then we should sign him up as a Greg Halford replacement!

My point is that it’s been done by fans at other grounds in order to disrupt the game at a key moment.

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[Ian]

Nope, it looks like the mob has moved on from refs to children now.

While the real perpetrators of all the woe rake in tens of thousands a week in cash.

It’s not blaming the ‘ children’ it’s pointing out the lack of attention to detail …. It’s small things that can give you an advantage.
We just seem to go through the motions, throw ins are the worst area but all our set pieces are usually deplorable.
For example I thought Sarabia was meant to be a bit of a dead ball specialist? Are we using his talents in the best way ?

 

[Nivada]

Similar situation to the referees. Needs to stop moaning about that injury and get on with it.

 

[Macman]

I’ve heard that Meslier copped it from our players after the game.

Any more info on this Jade? Knowing his time wasting only contributed a pathetic 2 mins stoppage time in the first half, he was definitely going to carry on this charade in the second half.

im not defending our bunch of underperformers here, but would love to know what happened.

 

[JadeWolf]

Any more info on this Jade? Knowing his time wasting only contributed a pathetic 2 mins stoppage time in the first half, he was definitely going to carry on this charade in the second half.

im not defending our bunch of underperformers here, but would love to know what happened.

All I was told is that it got a bit chaotic in the tunnel at full time, and a couple of our players singled out Meslier and went for him

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

Just by the by I was as flabbergasted as anyone by the 2 mins first half. However I noticed on the stadium clock he played more and the BBC timeline has half time at 45+4, so not quite sure what went on there.