City Verdict

[lobodelsur]

Don't get the criticism on here. We were beaten, but not humiliated, by probably the best team/squad in the world which was motivated and on form with one world-class player on fire. They have individual players who cost half of what our entire squad cost. This was not a level playing field, but we at least kept trying to respond to their domination. People are saying we should have man-marked De Bruyne, but conveniently forget that Bernardo or Foley or Gundogan could easily have stepped in and done a similar job of controlling the game. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. The only criticism I would make is that we should have set up with a more stable defense; Jonny, Boly, Coady, Marcal, RAN would probably have done a better job of limiting City's chances. I'm all for changing the negative way we've been playing this season but surely the time to experiment was weeks ago (Toon, Burnley, Brighton) not against such fearsomely strong opposition. Now there's nothing to play for lets see a response and a more attacking approach against Norwich.

 

[reanswolf]

Ouch.

Well done Chiquinho ... almost our only player with the athleticism and strength to get anywhere near them and rattle a few ankles.

We need a good summer otherwise next season might be difficult. Is that 11 defeats out of 16 now? What’s happened?

Agree.

The club have administered stagnation

 

[theweave]

Boly was absolutely awful last night. Looks a shadow of his former self

 

[Oldgoldilox]

A team like City will always expose your weaknesses but the concern is that we allowed them to move the ball around and behind us with ease, I havent seen that for a long time. I think they did their homework and knew exactly what balls to play to open us up and shift us out of shape, but I think there was a bit of a lack of intensity to our play with out the ball, after the first goal we should have sacrificed trying to stay in our shape and got in their faces more. It felt like we just let them play their game, at their tempo and didnt really lay a glove on them.

 

[Oldgoldilox]

I've read a lot about there being Citeh fans in home areas last night and there was an ugly incident in the row behind me in the north bank last night, just after Sterling's disallowed goal I heard one of the ladies that have been sitting behind behind us for years screaming at one of the guys a couple of seats along. Sounds like they had brought along a young 14 year old lad with them who was presumably a City fan and again I didnt see it but he must have celebrated the goal and the bloke sat next to him smacked him in the face. Loads of blood and a huge lump came up straight away.

The guy who threw the punch realised straight away what he'd done and was full of apologies. But a life changing moment of madness for him, I guess, a stadium ban and possible GBH charge. He went quietly away with the stewards, when they eventually reacted about 10 minutes later. To be fair the lad looked big for 14 but and I guess the guy that lamped him may have though he was older, not that that excuses his behaviour,

Hope the kid's alright too of course but hope also he's learned that its wise to keep your gob shut when your in among opposition fans, as your truly successfully did on Saturday. I was pretty chilled out from all the Guinness I'd drunk though to be fair.

 

[rubyloo]

First goal came from poor clearance by Sa - who generally seemed a bit nervous.

Don't remember Neves ever going missing to that extent - no idea why.

I thought RAN showed some bravery trying to bring the ball out and you wonder why chic has been on the bench for so long when we've been crying out for a bit of pace.

Enjoyed the equaliser - far too few of those moments at molineux this season.

3-4 hour round trip to end up feeling depressed is losing its appeal - season ticket renewal decision is getting very difficult.

 

[Wolowolf6]

City are fantastic, KDB especially, but so much of their game is based on being able to get away with being cynical without being upheld to the usual standards.

Quite how they didn’t end up with the best part of half their team on a booking was remarkable. Referee let them referee the game, from there on a difficult game became impossible.

A couple of early yellows would have completely changed the way they could play the game, Zinchenko couldn’t have been left 1v1 against Chiquinho, Laporte couldn’t have been the only cover ect.

Even our players gave up trying to draw a foul at times and played ‘safer’ which put us back towards our own goal.

Without seeing them back again it looked like two pretty clear pens and the handball shout seemed more of one that Mout’s too.

A different referee who’d have given a few blatant yellows, a pen to make it 3-2, a rocking Molineux and a City needing a win with Madrid in their minds who knows how it’d have panned out.

As for us Chiquinho looks a player, Neto’s getting back to himself, Raul looked like Raul for the first time in a while, RAN will be a fine player but still has a fair bit of learning to do. Boly isn’t the Boly of old unfortunately, Hwang couldn’t trap a bag of cement, Joao’s class is starting to struggle to shine through against top sides.

While I absolutely agree they should have picked up a few bookings (Zinchencko on Chiquinho), I’m not sure I concur with our players giving up on drawing fouls.

Raul spent much of the game diving about to the extent I was becoming embarrassed, and Neto’s been spending too much time studying the Adama Traore ‘sit on the ground and fling your arms in the air’ handbook.

Agree about Chiquinho though - he’s got that natural dynamism we’ve been so sorely lacking in the second half of this season.

 

[Pessimistic Wolf]

Honestly thought we were so much worse against Brighton.

We were beaten by a much, much better side. And whilst that can't be ignored, there were some real deficiencies.

Sa didn't have a great night. Clearances were inaccurate and troublesome for us.
Coady was so slow on his man, and clever runs do seem to outwit him.
Boly was ponderous and looked nervous with the ball at his feet.
Felt sorry for Jonny, who was massively out of position. But I do have some sympathy for the idea of utilising his ball playing ability to bring it out from the back.
RAN showed desire and impetus.
Chiquinho - my god, he's going to be some player I think! energy, dynamism, great runs in behind. He took his chance really well.
Neves - anonymous for much of the game, ditto Moutinho.
Neto looked unfit but made the assist well.
Jimenez tried harder than I've seen in the past, and actually had a few moments when he looked like the Jiminez of old, driving forward.

 

[Brixton Wanderer]

Unfortunately, I think a few are playing like they know they won’t be here next season.

City were unreal though, credit to them.

 

[Contrarian]

He would at least have offered something different and has troubled Citeh in the past.

There are no goals or points for troubling opponents. Also seen him achieve absolutely nothing against many teams in many matches. He is unstoppable on his day. Those days are the exception. And the end product doesn't match the "troubling" he causes, he is too inconsistent.

Absolutely not. But until tonight we have at least been competitive. They thrashed us with a couple of gears to spare.

They really wanted to improve their goal difference. They were still going for it at 5-1. I disagree that they were coasting in lower gears. Also, seem to remember them beating us quite easily on at least a couple of recent occasions, when they did knock 3 and 4 past us without getting into top gear.

We always played them with a 9 man defence, with the aim of hanging on and snatching something. Fine, but there has been so much criticism from people saying they are fed up with that rope a dope football. Understandably so. Thing is, when you play more open, you get results like last night. Instead of the 1-0 defeat in the first match, or similar in the defeat to Liverpool. Last night we created far more than in those matches combined.

What I don't get is if we play more open against City, then go back to staying deep and knocking the ball around the back 3 for 70 minutes against Norwich. Play like last night against Norwich and we may at least get a result. Though more likely 3-3 than a 1-0 win!

Actually, the way we played last night reminded me of how a team like Norwich plays against City in recent seasons. They throw a few forward, have a go, put a few good moves together - and lose 5-1. The neutrals and pundits love it. They even credit you with "having a go". Even Pep would be happy that you playerd "proper football". The alternative is how we used to do it. Negative, the pundits don't like it as they prefer to see KDB given room to "put on a show". They hate it even more when their favourites struggle to beat a bunch of virtually unknown upstarts. Anti-football. But for us, it's got the results.

 

[Black Coffee]

Citeh are on another planet but what the **** is it with Bruno and his half positions playing Dendoncker as a RW/CM and Johnny last night as a RCB/RWB is ****ing baffling.

We were far too open and disjointed yes it was Man Citeh but the naivety of Bruno 'tactics' is embarrassing.

I would not trust Lage with his own tools TBH we can say we need an overhaul but not with Lage in control

 

[AndyY]

Those getting on at assists with Traore/Chiquinho are daft.

Yes, Chiquinho has three but two are for pretty simple passes that saw Neves (Watford) and Trincao (Chelsea) score worldies, with one excellent assist for Coady. It's why the stat is so misleading, when you look at some of the sitters that people have missed from Traore over the years.

To be fair Chiquinho's performances just highlight even further how bad it was to let Traore go.

He's the only one with pace and a direct threat and it transforms the team in an attacking sense. I got so much stick on here after Arsenal away when I said we had no players to stretch the game and take players on but unfortunately I was right that it cost us.

Try and forget the defensive side of it if you can (very hard I know), but we've played Chelsea and City and we've scored three goals but we probably should've had another at Stamford Bridge and we could've had 2/3 tonight. So, in an attacking sense, look at how Chiquinho has transformed us and it's all because of one thing - pace. You need a player like that in this league.

I'm one of Traore's biggest fans but I'm fine with him going if they think Chiquinho is ready to play regularly next season because we need a player of that ilk.

Once again, fair play to the lad, absolutely destroyed Zinchenko when you think about it. Beat him most times, should've won a penalty and kept nicking the ball from him. Could be an important player moving forward, credit to the scouts as well who have done a lot of bad recently but deserve praise here.

Would quite like too see Chinquino AND Traore playing in a game like that.
Defend in depth, man mark DeB and route one when necessary. No point in tryi g to “out possess and out pass them” from the back.

 

[Contrarian]

Would quite like too see Chinquino AND Traore playing in a game like that.
Defend in depth, man mark DeB and route one when necessary. No point in tryi g to “out possess and out pass them” from the back.

Does the scoreboard go up to "10"?

 

[ewarwoowar]

Gutless,spineless performance and no one showed any nous in following their runners,yes i know they are well honed and i think that is part of the problem.Genuine question,do you think we are well coached? Or are we not capable of following instructions? The last couple of months have been poor to say the least but almost every player,regardless who is chosen seems to have lost any confidence,even Jose Sa who has been excellent for most of the campaign looks a bag of nerves and other sides pick up on this,and no i am not singling out Jose they all need to question themselves.On last nights effort only Chiquinho really comes out with much credit

 

[Nivada]

Two years ago we deservedly beat city in both league games by an aggregate score of 5-2. They were champions then too. This season we lost both games by aggregate 1-6, and let's face it, it could have been 1-10. Quite a turn around. From that team of two years ago we have lost Traore, Jota, Doc, and (in effect through injury) Raul. We have replaced them with inferior players. There are some bright sparks (Chiq and RAN and Neto) but we are a poorer team as a whole. If you don't move forward in this league you first stagnate and then you get relegated. FOSUN are far too complacent. A rude shock awaits if they don't get their act together.

City were brilliant of course, but we were poor, and not a patch on the team that got to the Europa QF and nearly to the Cup Final. Plenty of effort, just not good enough.

We forget that the City we beat 2-0 at the Etihad were having a minor injury crisis at the time, De Bruyne abscent being the main one, and it seems to have been airbrushed from history that City were down to 10 men for 80 minutes of that 3-2 win.

 

[FJRWolf]

Thought Sa had his worst game for us but overall this season been quality.
We looked decent in attack but.......man we were all over the place at the back, Jonny is no CB and was poor, RAN struggled to compete all game, Coady poor. I'm afraid Willy is done, the injuries have caught up with him, his best feature was always his recovery but his pace and athleticism have just gone. For the first time this season Moutinho looked every day of his age, don't think Neves is properly fit.
Mitigating circumstances of course, its City, but there seemed little planning defensively.
Chiquinho our best player by some distance but even he was pulled all over the place at WB, poor management imo to throw the lad in there.
The rumours persist about unrest in the dressing room and in the training pitch and the demeanor would seem to show that. No idea how true it is but heard yesterday that Jonny was being put in the shop window weeks ago.
All starting to feel like the end of an era.
If we're looking at replacing Boly, Saiss, Neves, Moutinho and upgrading Raul, that's the whole spine of the team... won't be easy and will probably see us regressing for a bit.

 

[Willie Wolf]

Wo1ve5.... don't hurt as much as the last time it happened

 

[Big Saft Kid]

We forget that the City we beat 2-0 at the Etihad were having a minor injury crisis at the time, De Bruyne abscent being the main one, and it seems to have been airbrushed from history that City were down to 10 men for 80 minutes of that 3-2 win.

'We forget'. Who is 'we'? Certainly not me. The City we played last night are also in the middle of an injury crisis, with half a dozen of the 1st team squad unavailable for selection. Down to 10 men in the 3-2? But we beat them from 0-2 down and with only half an hour left. If City had gone down to 10 at any point in the game last night they would still have strolled it, such is the current chasm in quality between us and them. We weren't getting beaten 5-1 by anybody 2 years ago. There has been a massive regression.

 

[Northbank cigarette]

I've read a lot about there being Citeh fans in home areas last night and there was an ugly incident in the row behind me in the north bank last night, just after Sterling's disallowed goal I heard one of the ladies that have been sitting behind behind us for years screaming at one of the guys a couple of seats along. Sounds like they had brought along a young 14 year old lad with them who was presumably a City fan and again I didnt see it but he must have celebrated the goal and the bloke sat next to him smacked him in the face. Loads of blood and a huge lump came up straight away.

The guy who threw the punch realised straight away what he'd done and was full of apologies. But a life changing moment of madness for him, I guess, a stadium ban and possible GBH charge. He went quietly away with the stewards, when they eventually reacted about 10 minutes later. To be fair the lad looked big for 14 but and I guess the guy that lamped him may have though he was older, not that that excuses his behaviour,

Hope the kid's alright too of course but hope also he's learned that its wise to keep your gob shut when your in among opposition fans, as your truly successfully did on Saturday. I was pretty chilled out from all the Guinness I'd drunk though to be fair.

There were definitely a few Citeh fans in the Quadrant last night - thankfully most of them kept their mouths shut. Sorry to hear about this experience Oldgoldilox. Given the position in the Quadrant I can only assume that some Members are selling their tickets for a small profit when the 'big boys' come to town.

I also saw what you would call "tourists" I guess. Half/half scarves, waiting back at the end to get their photos by pitchside, etc obviously drawn by the chance to see Citeh of course so I guess you could call them fans too I s'pose.

i was also disappointed that the vast majority of the Wolves players couldn't even be bothered to clap the supporters who stayed to the bitter end last night. Was only really Coady, Neves and I think Neto (in sub's jacket) who gave some appreciation.

 

[KBWWFC]

Competitive you say

We were even more competitive the last time we played them under Nuno.

 

[Oldgold Wolfcub]

Thought Raul ran his *******s off…

Unfortunately De Bruyne found them very early in the match which accounts for his performance.

 

[reanswolf]

Honestly thought we were so much worse against Brighton.

We were beaten by a much, much better side. And whilst that can't be ignored, there were some real deficiencies.

Sa didn't have a great night. Clearances were inaccurate and troublesome for us.
Coady was so slow on his man, and clever runs do seem to outwit him.
Boly was ponderous and looked nervous with the ball at his feet.
Felt sorry for Jonny, who was massively out of position. But I do have some sympathy for the idea of utilising his ball playing ability to bring it out from the back.
RAN showed desire and impetus.
Chiquinho - my god, he's going to be some player I think! energy, dynamism, great runs in behind. He took his chance really well.
Neves - anonymous for much of the game, ditto Moutinho.
Neto looked unfit but made the assist well.
Jimenez tried harder than I've seen in the past, and actually had a few moments when he looked like the Jiminez of old, driving forward.

Very good assessment IMO

 

[clivewolves]

What's good about Man City is that it's simple football executed to a high standard. It's two simple mantras that are taught early on -

1. Pass and move
2. When not in possession get in position.

Now I'm sure there's a lot more to it, and a billion quid helps, but it is football played as it's most simple.

 

[WickedWolfie]

I'm going to put that display down to a manager trying to prove a point to the owners. You've brought me here to play a more attractive and attacking style of football, so we need more players that can do that.
It's the only thing that makes sense.
Liverpool, 2nd in the league, played pragmatic football against City a couple weeks ago.
Wolves played pragmatic football against City a few months ago, suddenly now with so many first team players missing, we think we can go toe-to-toe with a country like Man City.
My verdict is this has to be a statement match to the owners, it can't be anything else?

It could be a statement. It could be that Lage doesn't have a clue.

 

[WickedWolfie]

Don't get the criticism on here. We were beaten, but not humiliated, by probably the best team/squad in the world which was motivated and on form with one world-class player on fire. They have individual players who cost half of what our entire squad cost. This was not a level playing field, but we at least kept trying to respond to their domination. People are saying we should have man-marked De Bruyne, but conveniently forget that Bernardo or Foley or Gundogan could easily have stepped in and done a similar job of controlling the game. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. The only criticism I would make is that we should have set up with a more stable defense; Jonny, Boly, Coady, Marcal, RAN would probably have done a better job of limiting City's chances. I'm all for changing the negative way we've been playing this season but surely the time to experiment was weeks ago (Toon, Burnley, Brighton) not against such fearsomely strong opposition. Now there's nothing to play for lets see a response and a more attacking approach against Norwich.

I agree much of that except the "not humiliated". They hit the post three times in the second half alone. It could easily have been double figures.

 

[Gasman]

Totally agree with your comments on Atkinson. City's tactic of choice was a wrist pull. They did it about 10 to 15 times througout the game whenever our players were getting past them and they never once got penalised for it. Should have been several yellows. Stopping the game for a non head injury when we were in an attacking position is another disgrace. Atkinson was sickingly deferential to City all night. All of their subbed players were shaking his hand on the way off and I'm not surprised.

I'm not complaing at the scoreline but I am absolutely sick of Premier League reffing. The constant unchallenged bias is a disgrace IMO. We were comfortably beaten and the 1-5 scoreline flattered us but even though we were played off the park I still like to see a fair game and 99% of the time when we are playing the top 6 we never see it. TBH I'm getting to the point where I think **** it I cant be bothered this constant one sided PGMOL *******s.

Maybe it needs a demonstration. Turning backs on the game if the refs are so **** possibly. We need to make it known. Watched motd this morning and they showed the penalty incidents but not one mention about whether it was correct decision or not. If it was a City penalty not given you can guarantee they would of spoke about it!

 

[Gasman]

First goal came from poor clearance by Sa - who generally seemed a bit nervous.

Don't remember Neves ever going missing to that extent - no idea why.

I thought RAN showed some bravery trying to bring the ball out and you wonder why chic has been on the bench for so long when we've been crying out for a bit of pace.

Enjoyed the equaliser - far too few of those moments at molineux this season.

3-4 hour round trip to end up feeling depressed is losing its appeal - season ticket renewal decision is getting very difficult.

He seemed to clap all 4 sides last night unlike the rest of the team. Maybe he is off!

 

[Norway Wolves]

I agree much of that except the "not humiliated". They hit the post three times in the second half alone. It could easily have been double figures.

Agree. We were humiliated and there is no denying it.

The players did try their best but the tactics of playing out from the back were suicidal, they didn't have a chance.

 

[Norwegian Wolf]

A team like City will always expose your weaknesses but the concern is that we allowed them to move the ball around and behind us with ease, I havent seen that for a long time. I think they did their homework and knew exactly what balls to play to open us up and shift us out of shape, but I think there was a bit of a lack of intensity to our play with out the ball, after the first goal we should have sacrificed trying to stay in our shape and got in their faces more. It felt like we just let them play their game, at their tempo and didnt really lay a glove on them.

City did their homework and we clearly didn't do ours. We have played City 10 ten times since Pep took over and they have played the same way in pretty much every game - short passes, dominating possession, high press, high defensive line etc. In return, we have dropped the wing backs deep to deny them space, chased down every loose ball like our lives depended on it and used pace on the break to catch them out (and have had more success against them than most teams in that period).,

Last night's formation looked like our coaching team had never seen City before. Players out of position, defensive lines all over the place and the pacy players like Neto, Ait Nouri and Chiquinho all sat too deep. We may have a coach who is good on the training ground, however I would prefer one who can anticipate what will happen on the pitch and do something about it.

 

[lobodelsur]

I’ve said City were brilliant but you can see how they rely upon tactical/cynical fouling as part of their game when it comes to defending and they are very good at it (we are terrible at it btw).

De Bruyne's booking being a classic example.

 

[WeAreTheWolvesII]

I’ve said City were brilliant but you can see how they rely upon tactical/cynical fouling as part of their game when it comes to defending and they are very good at it (we are terrible at it btw).

There were times we got the wrong side of them and could (imv should) have had more rewards for doing so. A couple of players walking a yellow card tight rope and going 3-2 instead of 4-1 could well have made it a different game, I think there were enough opportunities for the referee to have given those couple yellows and a pen.

And two years ago Mourinho was praising us for it and criticising his Spurs team for not being like it!

Yet last night we get absolutely battered and commit 4 fouls. Shameful stuff.

 

[Sedgley Gold N Black]

And two years ago Mourinho was praising us for it and criticising his Spurs team for not being like it!

Yet last night we get absolutely battered and commit 4 fouls. Shameful stuff.

We’ve never been great the tactical fouling aspect apart from Joao (although last night he couldn’t get close enough) and Dendoncker is beyond ****ing useless at it.

 

[Darvo]

Agree.

The club have administered stagnation

It’s gonna depend on how much Fosun want to protect their investment and how much Jeff Shi has learned in last few years

 

[reanswolf]

I actually felt sorry for Boly and still think he is quality, there were just absolutely no midfield runners / options so the defenders had no one to pass to at all at times. City's attack and midfield was pouncing on our defenders as soon as the ball was rolled out to them.

The chasm in quality was immense and it was like a kick-around for City. Their mobility and speed is just superb.

We have stagnated massively and honestly we wouldn't be as bad now if after Seville we had spent wisely on upgrading midfield and brought some mobility in. Everything else is potentially ok, even Raul looked back up to it last 2 games, but sorry again, midfield was embarrassing. All 3 of them I am sorry to say.

Not sure what to make of Bruno, he could be a football mastermind or a total cuckoo clock.

 

[JimB]

I say don’t be too hard on the team, as Citeh are a class act. Tactically wise it was a brave call to have a go at them because we all know how good a certain Belgium is, and how they will punish teams.
But it really highlighted our defensive frailties and lack of quality.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but was it secret that KDB was going to tear us a new one if we give him time and space?
Here’s a thought, ask Cundle to follow KDB everywhere and close him down, if he goes for a pee- I think we know the rest!

 

[Contrarian]

'We forget'. Who is 'we'? Certainly not me. The City we played last night are also in the middle of an injury crisis, with half a dozen of the 1st team squad unavailable for selection. Down to 10 men in the 3-2? But we beat them from 0-2 down and with only half an hour left. If City had gone down to 10 at any point in the game last night they would still have strolled it, such is the current chasm in quality between us and them. We weren't getting beaten 5-1 by anybody 2 years ago. There has been a massive regression.

We recently beat Watford 4-0. We weren't beating anybody by 4-0 two years ago, either. Last season we could barely outplay Chorley. And struggled against 3 of the worst teams the Premier League has ever seen. We have never been that consistently bad this season. Covid? Well that was the same for the opponents, too.

 

[theweave]

I actually felt sorry for Boly and still think he is quality, there were just absolutely no midfield runners / options so the defenders had no one to pass to at all at times. City's attack and midfield was pouncing on our defenders as soon as the ball was rolled out to them.

The chasm in quality was immense and it was like a kick-around for City. Their mobility and speed is just superb.

We have stagnated massively and honestly we wouldn't be as bad now if after Seville we had spent wisely on upgrading midfield and brought some mobility in. Everything else is potentially ok, even Raul looked back up to it last 2 games, but sorry again, midfield was embarrassing. All 3 of them I am sorry to say.

Not sure what to make of Bruno, he could be a football mastermind or a total cuckoo clock.

Sterling was winning headers against Boly, that shouldnt happen

 

[Contrarian]

View attachment 27899

We were even more competitive the last time we played them under Nuno.

Yes, but <Insert Excuse Here>. The only answer is to sack Bruno and appoint <Insert Unrealistic Manager Name Here> .

 

[WickedWolfie]

We recently beat Watford 4-0. We weren't beating anybody by 4-0 two years ago, either. Last season we could barely outplay Chorley. And struggled against 3 of the worst teams the Premier League has ever seen. We have never been that consistently bad this season. Covid? Well that was the same for the opponents, too.

In the PL you are correct that we didn't beat anyone 4-0 in 19/20. In the Europa League though.....

COVID was the same for everyone but most teams had a pre-season which we really didn't and others didn't have the horror Raul injury.

 

[marrs-guitar]

We recently beat Watford 4-0. We weren't beating anybody by 4-0 two years ago, either. Last season we could barely outplay Chorley. And struggled against 3 of the worst teams the Premier League has ever seen. We have never been that consistently bad this season. Covid? Well that was the same for the opponents, too.

Watford are among the worst teams the Premier League has ever seen so beating them 4-0 isn't really much of a marker.

The hopes for the season were surely that under Lage we would have an effective plan to score several times against most teams, not one famous 4-0 win on a balmy night thanks to a Ben Foster comedy performance before all the blanks against Burnley (twice) and Norwich (twice).