Coventry Verdict

[The Wolf In The North]

Coventry absolutely deserved their win. Stuck to a gameplan that was attacking and effective, no parking the bus or time wasting (aside from taking the sting out of the game in the first 10 minutes, which was intelligent). They grew into it, and didn't crumble when they went 2-1 down.

Blaming the handball goal is just hand-wringing, Semedo could have seen red, it evens out.

Ait-Nouri was excellent, Sa performed well, Semedo was great in the first half. But the majority of players shrank on the occasion. Love Gomes but he was as loose as a salmon in a pipe, rarely where he needed to be; Doyle was anonymous; Lemina was shocking, his worst performance in a Wolves shirt, but that's what you get when you play your best central midfielder on the left wing for no reason. Our midfield was made of pasta. And Kilman, well, ****ing hell. Leaf in the wind, caught staring at the ball in horror like it was a severed head time and again, just shrivelled and disappeared into himself, passive to the point of catatonia.

O'Neil got this horribly, hopelessly wrong, he experimented and fudged and second guessed at the worst possible time. Every manager or player who is there to take the plaudits when things go well must also be held up like dirty linen when it goes so spectacularly wrong, and it did today.

No team, of any level, should lose a game 3-2 when 2-1 ahead after 95 minutes, especially a PL team against a Championship team, especially in a knockout game. Leaves a bitter taste after what's been an excellent few months, and this will take a while to digest.

 

[loppers86]

Just got back. it’s all been said already. Sa kept us in the game. if you ignore the timing of the goals we were lucky to lose 3-2. 3-6 would have been a fairer score.

Our lack of threat and pace upfront meant they could just play their game plan and not really worry about us.

There little point Fosun investing all this money in the club and managing the situation so that when there is the rare chance of success we end up playing an attack that would struggle in league 2.

And i don’t know what GON was on playing lemina on the left, it was obvious it wasn’t working after 10 minutes.

 

[WickedWolfie]

Coventry absolutely deserved their win. Stuck to a gameplan that was attacking and effective, no parking the bus or time wasting (aside from taking the sting out of the game in the first 10 minutes, which was intelligent). They grew into it, and didn't crumble when they went 2-1 down.

Blaming the handball goal is just hand-wringing, Semedo could have seen red, it evens out.

Ait-Nouri was excellent, Sa performed well, Semedo was great in the first half. But the majority of players shrank on the occasion. Love Gomes but he was as loose as a salmon in a pipe, rarely where he needed to be; Doyle was anonymous; Lemina was shocking, his worst performance in a Wolves shirt, but that's what you get when you play your best central midfielder on the left wing for no reason. Our midfield was made of pasta. And Kilman, well, ****ing hell. Leaf in the wind, caught staring at the ball in horror like it was a severed head time and again, just shrivelled and disappeared into himself, passive to the point of catatonia.

O'Neil got this horribly, hopelessly wrong, he experimented and fudged and second guessed at the worst possible time. Every manager or player who is there to take the plaudits when things go well must also be held up like dirty linen when it goes so spectacularly wrong, and it did today.

No team, of any level, should lose a game 3-2 when 2-1 ahead after 95 minutes, especially a PL team against a Championship team, especially in a knockout game. Leaves a bitter taste after what's been an excellent few months, and this will take a while to digest.

That is a very good post.

 

[Dorbelflunk]

Knocked out of 2 cups by championship sides, not the best for a top half prem side

If we had gone out in round 3 to Coventry and be in the same league position now with more rested players, people would be saying "good job we can focus on the league".

Nobody is really talking about Ipswich now, and cup upsets don't really stick all that long. We give opposition fans enough stick for not being gracious in defeat

 

[rubyloo]

For all those who thought we were on some path to redemption from the Watford semifinal humiliation… did they ever conceive we would go on to do something EVEN MORE embarrassing?

Me: nothing will ever be as bad as the Watford semi final

Wolves: hold my beer

 

[Greeno]

Fair play to Coventry, they were the better team on the day.

Would that have been the case if our regular, front three starters were fit. Who knows?

Ultimately, our threadbare squad cost us.

Massively disappointing… but a game too far.

With more to think about, we'd have won today... not necessarily because Hwang, Neto and Cunha played... but because they played. He's ****, but if Simms had been up front for us today, we'd have won. I honestly believe that.

Someone to occupy defences, disorganise the oppositions shape and be a threat in the air. Something we don't have at all.

 

[Hsvwolf]

Lack of depth in naturally forward players come to haunt us when needed . ….. letting both back up strikers leave without a replacement wad always a big risk and we’ve gone from having strength in natural wide players to Just Neto who as we know will never compete a season …. We basically played with one attacker in Sarabia

 

[Big Mack]

No team, of any level, should lose a game 3-2 when 2-1 ahead after 95 minutes, especially a PL team against a Championship team, especially in a knockout game. Leaves a bitter taste after what's been an excellent few months, and this will take a while to digest.

I’m still trying to get my head around why RAN decided to shoot when it was so easy to waste time at the corner flag in injury time. The one time we didn’t move backwards.

Poor game management overall though but that one stuck out

 

[JohnB]

Me: nothing will ever be as bad as the Watford semi final

Wolves: hold my beer

Watford was worse. Cov deserved this. Watford didn’t. Hung on against Watford and Cup Final. Hung on against Cov and Semi-final against City, United/Liverpool or Chelsea beckoned.

Pelters for GO’N? No. Bench was threadbare. No options and played hand as well as could being proactive.

 

[S G Wolves]

I’m still trying to get my head around why RAN decided to shoot when it was so easy to waste time at the corner flag in injury time. The one time we didn’t move backwards.

Poor game management overall though but that one stuck out

Game management. Was thinking the same at the time.

 

[KnowNuttin]

Congratulations to Coventry.. Easily the better side. Would have been daylight robbery if we'd have got away with the 2-1 victory that fleetingly looked likely.
We are not a team that dictates games and when we are expected to, we falter with painful predictability.

Lemina had one of if not his worst games in a Wolves shirt and the decision to remove Doyle and leave him on was bordering on criminal.

And don't start me on those ****ing bags!!

 

[Stourwolf]

All this talk of VAR screwing us over due to this handball costing us the game, let's not forget VAR could of quite easily got Semedo sent off for us which it didn't imagine us with 10 in that game?

Correct. VAR didn’t screw us.We screwed ourselves and got what we deserved !! We were lucky they didn’t score more.

 

[Big Saft Kid]

The better team won, simple as that. I turned to my neighbour at 2-1 and said 'it'll be the biggest daylight robbery ever if we win this'. We can blame it on injuries but some players looked totally lost and clueless as to what to do with the ball, bar get rid of it at the first opportunity, usually sidewards or backwards or to a team mate who was closely marked. Some of them had energy levels that made them look as if they had been on the **** last night. We also had the headless chicken syndrome once we were chasing the game and then the let's needlessly complicate clearing the ball syndrome that resulted directly in Coventry's 2nd goal (thanks Lemina) and then the writing was on the wall. We never seem to learn. May be it's a blessing in disguise. If we had won I don't see that we would have gone any further. So let's have a rest, get everybody fit and really go for it in the PL.

 

[DJW]

We lost a lot of players before the season started and were rightly favourites to go down. Since then we've lost 4 players, our entire strike force!
Some perspective is needed as the players, some of them at least, are running on empty.
If the season peters out from here then it' will still have exceeded my wildest expectations.

 

[Wignall 3-0]

I thought we played some very good football all game. The result reflects the fact we have 4 attackers out injured. Mistakes led to the goals. Great game of football and sometimes you lose.

 

[WeAreTheWolvesII]

The better team and better players won.

It's a lot easier to accept when it's like that.

It was a travesty that we equalised and then went ahead. They missed so many great opportunities to go 0-2.

If you take out the 'Premier League' and 'Championship' tags, this was two sides with nothing much between them overall, but Coventry had far, far, far superior attacking players, which is why they deservedly won.

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

O neill has moaned about conceding from a throw twice this season.

And it still happens, again.

So strange

 

[John Wolves Fan]

We have some massive matches to look forward to and we can’t let one unusual defeat derail our momentum.

I expect us to click into gear now and claim a European place which will be well deserved with GON at the wheel.

 

[Aimless Balls]

We won a bottling contest with a championship side. They couldn’t handle our bottling.

 

[Perton Wolf]

Watford was worse. Cov deserved this. Watford didn’t. Hung on against Watford and Cup Final. Hung on against Cov and Semi-final against City, United/Liverpool or Chelsea beckoned.

Pelters for GO’N? No. Bench was threadbare. No options and played hand as well as could being proactive.

5 atb, Lemina left wing means he deserves some stick. Set the tone.

 

[The Wolf In The North]

I’m still trying to get my head around why RAN decided to shoot when it was so easy to waste time at the corner flag in injury time. The one time we didn’t move backwards.

Poor game management overall though but that one stuck out

I wonder if it's because they thought "Oh **** me, we just won this! Ha ha!" after our second went in. It's one thing for the fans to be bouncing and singing Que Sera Sera, but there was something about the players that suggested it was job done. But there ended up being 15 minutes still to go. Coventry didn't fold, they kept playing their game. Players didn't hold their positions. We were physically and mentally knackered.

Ah well. Learning experience, for players and manager, and maybe in time we'll be better for it. Sickening, though.

 

[Golden Oldie]

Sad, very sad. Coventry were busy from the start and our lads looked to be strolling until the proverbial hit the fan. Even then we almost got out of jail but fate wouldn't be cheated. We've been less than useful for a few games but this was damned humiliating, a dreadful performance, with no excuses.

 

[WolfLing]

If Cov don’t go up, I hope we’re all over that Haji Wright. Did very well today and the winner was his 15th of the season.

 

[WeAreTheWolvesII]

Haha. A post that discusses the reason we lost today is locked.

 

[Perton Wolf]

I wonder if it's because they thought "Oh **** me, we just won this! Ha ha!" after our second went in. It's one thing for the fans to be bouncing and singing Que Sera Sera, but there was something about the players that suggested it was job done. But there ended up being 15 minutes still to go. Coventry didn't fold, they kept playing their game. Players didn't hold their positions. We were physically and mentally knackered.

Ah well. Learning experience, for players and manager, and maybe in time we'll be better for it. Sickening, though.

Our fans have always been a bit premature in that regard, certainly one way to rile up the opposition.

 

[Dingle Chris]

Id have started Hugo at Lb with RAN in front of him.

 

[Mighty Thor]

Just really disappointed. I think the players are going to feel really low (rightly) and it will be hard to come back from that quickly. They let themselves down today in such a big match and we ultimately got exactly what we deserved.

The defending for all the goals and the 6-7 other great chances that should have been goals was horrific, and shows just how much Dawson can make Kilman look a better player than he is. A very poor performance from him and a very poor captains performance when we needed a leader towards the end.

I guess we will learn from it?! But will we. We never seem to. And it’s another big “what if”. My kids crying in the stands at the end bought back memories of my youth at similar games…arsenal in the semi at villa park, Bolton and palace and Norwich in the playoffs. Maybe it’s football. Maybe it’s part of being a wolves fan. But right now it feels ****. Just gonna lock myself away for the rest of the weekend as can’t muster up any conversation with anyone.

 

[jonesy]

We are at the point where we all knew we would get to eventually. Not gaz nor players fault for Jeff spunking 85 mill on Guedes silva and sasa along with all the rest of the **** down through the years. No decent dept in the squad and young Noah sitting on the bench again seems daft

 

[arooooo]

Que sera, sir; awww.....

 

[jonesy]

Gonna say it again as well

How the **** is Kilman our captain???

Agreed

 

[rubyloo]

I’m still trying to get my head around why RAN decided to shoot when it was so easy to waste time at the corner flag in injury time. The one time we didn’t move backwards.

Poor game management overall though but that one stuck out

I was talking about this on the way home- shocking lack of football intelligence.

 

[Fifty Niner]

Just heard a snippet of GON’s post match presser. He changed the structure second half (as it wasn’t working first half) but that didn’t give us structure in defence. He then had a very thinly disguised swipe at the club’s lack of investment leaving him with few options.

 

[WeAreTheWolvesII]

But if Kilman wasn't our captain, most (including me, probably) would give it Lemina.

He was arguably worse and culpable in stoppage time.

Santi Bueno was abysmal today. They targeted him and bullied him.

 

[A3wolf]

Biggest consequential issue for me is game management just like Man U and that’s not related to lack of strikers.

Can’t be a coincidence we threw both those results away deep into injury time.

Beyond poor that in such an important match ahead in the 97th minute against a mid/ table championship side we can contrive to lose it. We have the kick off after their equaliser and should be able to see it out will keep ball for 3 mins.

 

[NewarkWolf]

Just heard a snippet of GON’s post match presser. He changed the structure second half (as it wasn’t working first half) but that didn’t give us structure in defence. He then had a very thinly disguised swipe at the club’s lack of investment leaving him with few options.

Options are mainly thin through key players being out at the same time. When all are fit have a good squad imo. Any club would suffer with quality to replace 4 attacking players out.

I’m surprised Noah wasn’t thrown on.

 

[WickedWolfie]

Just heard a snippet of GON’s post match presser. He changed the structure second half (as it wasn’t working first half) but that didn’t give us structure in defence. He then had a very thinly disguised swipe at the club’s lack of investment leaving him with few options.

Re your last sentence that didn't end well for Nuno, Lage, JL.....

 

[Scallywolf]

Sad, very sad. Coventry were busy from the start and our lads looked to be strolling until the proverbial hit the fan. Even then we almost got out of jail but fate wouldn't be cheated. We've been less than useful for a few games but this was damned humiliating, a dreadful performance, with no excuses.

There are excuses GO and it’s obvious what the main one was (no strike force).
Having said that, our defence and midfield were really poor. Kilman and Lemina were bloody awful.

I just hope the powers that be at the club learn from this defeat and realise the disappointment of the fans in what is a missed opportunity.

 

[JaycogWolf]

Some things in life happen! Congratulations to Coventry more fight and desire can't complain with that

 

[Incognito]

Well done Coventry. We were ****, especially Kilman and S.Bueno. Also Lemina picked the wrong game to have a bad un. Positives - great to see RAN and H. Bueno score. I do think the latter has been unlucky not to feature in more games. But congrats to Cov. They deserved that win. No doubt about that.

 

[Olivergoldblack]

Coventry were brilliant. I didn't like our intent up to when we let the first in, seemed similar to the Sheffield united game. I'm kinda glad we went a goal down because we right to top gear until we took the lead. Then unwisely tried to see the game out and backfired. Sa's gamesmanship was embarrassing when we were leading. Fraser absolutely rubbish I'm afraid. The new kid we bought on late had so much more about him. Also a positive in that ait nouri has turned into the player he always had the potential for, in the last couple of games. Will be interesting when we have hwang, neto and cunha all fit again and ait nouri's recent emergence combined.
Must have been great for the neutrals today, well played Coventry.