Coventry Verdict

[derbyrameater]

done by blue and white stripes again.

bought back bad memories of the 60s against that lot with George Curtis..

A club I hated for many years.

 

[Hsvwolf]

Gutted ….. but on a positive note , we’d probably have drawn City and let’s be honest get beat and have yet another disappointing ( & expensive) trip back from Wembley

 

[Incognito]

Just plucked up the courage to watch the highlights. **** me that was a defensive horror show!

 

[Millsywolf22]

Something didn't feel right today at Molinuex. I think we was all nervous and just the same when we play the team lower than us in the league.
We were expected to win and this is where it goes wrong ! Oh for a striker and Dawson on the pitch today.
There were so many players out of position throughout the game we couldn't get going and just shows when it's probably the first time two left backs scored in a game !!!!

Thanks Jef....it's down to you I'm afraid. I said it a few weeks back 'flogging the players to death:

 

[Topcat]

The obvious thing is after this performance we’ve not got any strength in depth in particular the striker department

Well done Cov for exposing our weaknesses which hopefully will convince Fosun to give GON a war chest in the summer, failing that, Gary will be GONe!

 

[Cookyssweetleftfoot]

RAN - £50 million to Liverpool. Yes please. He was hopeless today apart from two things.

I can only assume you are trolling

 

[Adrian_Monk]

Just got home. You'd think we'd be used to this disappointment.....Aldershot, Torquay, Crystal Palace, Tottenham, Crystal Palace, Arsenal, Norwich, Albion, Watford, Seville.... with only one successful play-offs and the Asia Trophy to show for it, but I doubt we've had or will ever have bottled a better chance than today to reverse it.

The players in that setup didn't look up for it or suitably prepared from the beginning. We seemed to be all about slowing the game down and allowing Coventry to come onto us - that was evident by Lemina repeatedly gesturing to slow the game down after being called over by O'Neil early on, and by the pedestrian pace to much of our possession play - but with this having worked against Albion, it wasn't going to work against Coventry. Despite often playing through their press, we repeatedly ran into blind alleys down the left and found ourselves cutting back inside and attacks breaking down. Up front, Fraser offered nothing, and we were unable to get players around him to play off him in the way we were slightly more able to against Fulham.

Once again, same as against Newcastle, far too many passes ended up leaving the recipient having to check back. We could have easily gone in at the break three or four down but for some weak finishing and excellent goalkeeping.

The second half started even worse than the first half ended and Coventry were full value for their lead. Despite a brief period where we picked up the tempo, we still never really looked like scoring until Ait-Nouri moved into a more advanced position.

Our 2-1 lead against the odds was extremely fortuitous, but whilst passive defending and poor game management cost us those two late goals at the end, blaming that and the handball would be completely unfair on Coventry. They wanted it more than us, on the pitch, in the stands and in the boardroom. Their fans were louder, their players never gave up and their board backed Mark Robins in the summer - they could easily have pocketed the Gyökeres money, and you wouldn't have blamed them, but they were ambitious and backed their manager. Yes, they weren't facing a points deduction, but January was a knee-jerk, overly cautious response to almost ****ing everything up with catastrophic mismanagement and now we are paying for it.

We were lucky to get this far anyway given our depleted squad. Even so, still a huge disappointment - the players should have done better, O'Neil got his tactics wrong and should have probably put Lemina in the centre and Ait-Nouri further forward much sooner, but let's not kid ourselves that the blame lies with anyone but Jeff Shi.

MOTM Sa, good first half from Doyle and decent second half from Ait-Nouri and cameos from Chiwome and Hugo Bueno, but desperately disappointing from everyone else. A huge opportunity blown.

 

[molineux man]

Sa? Did his job and made a meal of his patted away saves.. did his job..until he didn’t.

Daft comment, he single handedly kept us in the game.

 

[yateleywolf]

I didn't understand what Lemina's position was in the first half and struggled to see how he lasted the whole game . To take off Doyle on top of that confused me I must admit.
Why isn't B Traore given a chance ? He's ideal when your trying to see out a game. Obviously O'Neil doesn't rate him but still just use him at times.

 

[wolfgar]

Neto, Hwang and Cunha fit and we probably run riot today. The dip without any of them is massive, and it’s unfortunate, but not totally the biggest shock. We’ve allowed that dip to become a chasm though by doing nothing in jan. If at least one of those doesn’t get properly fit soon we are likely going to see a rough end to the season most probably?

*more cunha or neto though I’d say, hwang needs one of those to play off

 

[WickedWolfie]

Neto, Hwang and Cunha fit and we probably run riot today. The dip without any of them is massive, and it’s unfortunate, but not totally the biggest shock. We’ve made that dip a chasm though by doing in jan. If at least one of those doesn’t get properly fit soon we are likely going to see a rough end to the season probably?

Two of the three have poor injury records and we, due to no squad depth, worked them harder than ever.... What could possibly go wrong with that?

 

[Mugwump]

I get the forward line out would hamper us, but the set up tactically by the manager was extremely bad. We had enough to control the game even if we didn't score and we couldn't do that. Abysmal display.

 

[wolvesjoe]

A truly heartbreaking game.

In terms of a game too far, that was probably already the Fulham game last week, out of which Wolves somehow
conjured a win. Today we always looked like losing as Coventry often had spare men in the box, and missed several
good chances. We often looked slick and smooth, but rarely offered a goal threat as Nathan struggled with the pace
of the game, and didnt look like he was going to be able to meet a cross or a pass.

Where was the problem? Hard to say really: some fatigue as players have had to play without rotation over the past few
weeks/Lemina, our talisman, playing too far forward and having one of those days where he lost possession far too often/the
/tactically getting sucked into a basketball game which we could not control. Oneil certainly felt that and we tried
consciously to slow things down on occasion with some success, but Coventry did their best to open up the game.

And yet we managed to be ahead going into time added on, miraculously. Inspired play, esp. by 'Rayan, seemed to buy
the ticket to Wembley, only for the team to blow it by failing to adjust to defensive lines. Partly Oneil's , , as with the
ManUtd game where Oneil failed to respond quickly enough to the tactical situation. Boubacar needed to come on to
break things up, with lemina and Gomes sitting deep. Instead we seemed wide open and undermanned. Hopefully he
and the players will learn from this calamity.

Ultimately, this, of course, all down to terrible decision-making by Fosun, and we are yet to discover just how high the cost
will be of that failure.

Players:
Sa: Kept us in the game, although looked a little shaky at times: 7
Semedo: Some great runs, one of the players who looked tired at the end: 7
Rayan: OUtstanding performance, dragged us back into the game. On the edge of greatness: 9 MOM
Kilman: Seemed a bit immobile today, not his usual commanding self: 6
Santi: Most of the time, looks very good and strong, but positionally absent on crucial occasions: 6
Toti: Same as the others, some absent periods, lacked his usual prowess: 6
Doyle: Looked a class above most of the time, pinging the ball about. But lack of a proper CF meant a lot of his work was irrelevant: 7
Gomes: Again looked class, and did everything to turn the game around to no avail: 7
Lemina: Poor game from Mario, was unsure of his role and gave the ball away too often. Another player who needs a break: 5
Sarabia: Some nice work, but little consequence. Almost got on the end of Rayan's sublime pass. Corners not normal standard: 6
Fraser: Very difficult game for a real trier. Not ready at all for this level. Unfair on him, and unfair on Oneil to be forced to make
this kind of decision. 4

Subs:
Doherty: a bit of a 'mare, defensively. Worked well at trying to free up the left side, where our main threat was coming from, however: 6
Bueno: Looked good, great fun and finish for goal. But our defensive structure had broken down, so out of position too often: 6
Chiwemo: Offered more than Fraser, much quicker, better movement. But still a youth player being forced into a game he
would struggle with: 6


Oneil: Juggled his cards well to get us ahead, although we rode our luck. But then became paralysed and didnt use subs,
or defensive reorganisation to see out the game. The players looked flat out, but he didnt help with last minute passivity.

 

[wolfgar]

I get the forward line out would hamper us, but the set up tactically by the manager was extremely bad. We had enough to control the game even if we didn't score and we couldn't do that. Abysmal display.

Should have just tried to be solid first and foremost today. I have no idea what we were trying? I don’t care to see it again

 

[WickedWolfie]

A truly heartbreaking game.

In terms of a game too far, that was probably already the Fulham game last week, out of which Wolves somehow
conjured a win. Today we always looked like losing as Coventry often had spare men in the box, and missed several
good chances. We often looked slick and smooth, but rarely offered a goal threat as Nathan struggled with the pace
of the game, and didnt look like he was going to be able to meet a cross or a pass.

Where was the problem? Hard to say really: some fatigue as players have had to play without rotation over the past few
weeks/Lemina, our talisman, playing too far forward and having one of those days where he lost possession far too often/the
/tactically getting sucked into a basketball game which we could not control. Oneil certainly felt that and we tried
consciously to slow things down on occasion with some success, but Coventry did their best to open up the game.

And yet we managed to be ahead going into time added on, miraculously. Inspired play, esp. by 'Rayan, seemed to buy
the ticket to Wembley, only for the team to blow it by failing to adjust to defensive lines. Partly Oneil's , , as with the
ManUtd game where Oneil failed to respond quickly enough to the tactical situation. Boubacar needed to come on to
break things up, with lemina and Gomes sitting deep. Instead we seemed wide open and undermanned. Hopefully he
and the players will learn from this calamity.

Ultimately, this, of course, all down to terrible decision-making by Fosun, and we are yet to discover just how high the cost
will be of that failure.

Players:
Sa: Kept us in the game, although looked a little shaky at times: 7
Semedo: Some great runs, one of the players who looked tired at the end: 7
Rayan: OUtstanding performance, dragged us back into the game. On the edge of greatness: 9 MOM
Kilman: Seemed a bit immobile today, not his usual commanding self: 6
Santi: Most of the time, looks very good and strong, but positionally absent on crucial occasions: 6
Toti: Same as the others, some absent periods, lacked his usual prowess: 6
Doyle: Looked a class above most of the time, pinging the ball about. But lack of a proper CF meant a lot of his work was irrelevant: 7
Gomes: Again looked class, and did everything to turn the game around to no avail: 7
Lemina: Poor game from Mario, was unsure of his role and gave the ball away too often. Another player who needs a break: 5
Sarabia: Some nice work, but little consequence. Almost got on the end of Rayan's sublime pass. Corners not normal standard: 6
Fraser: Very difficult game for a real trier. Not ready at all for this level. Unfair on him, and unfair on Oneil to be forced to make
this kind of decision. 4

Subs:
Doherty: a bit of a 'mare, defensively. Worked well at trying to free up the left side, where our main threat was coming from, however: 6
Bueno: Looked good, great fun and finish for goal. But our defensive structure had broken down, so out of position too often: 6
Chiwemo: Offered more than Fraser, much quicker, better movement. But still a youth player being forced into a game he
would struggle with: 6


Oneil: Juggled his cards well to get us ahead, although we rode our luck. But then became paralysed and didnt use subs,
or defensive reorganisation to see out the game. The players looked flat out, but he didnt help with last minute passivity.

An interesting assessment but some very generous scores.

 

[Timberrrr]

Thanks a lot wolves...only you....only you

 

[Novawolf1]

Hugely frustrating after clawing our way into the lead. Some interesting points made here but the things that stood out for me were the fact we didn’t prevent their wide players on both sides from overloading us to get crosses in, and in those last ten minutes we could have done with Traore snapping into everybody like he did (I think) in the Brighton game. Oh, and the lack of accuracy in our forward play hindered us badly and in those circumstances a kid like Fraser has no chance. We clearly missed Toti’s back post defending at the end but I have to say in the time he was on that was the least effective I’ve seen him. I do hope everyone can dust themselves down and stick with the lads until the season ends. UTW…

 

[lobodelsur]

Team was wrong from the start and looked like shoehorning our best players into the starting 11 in preference of balance.

Not sure he had many options in terms of personnel, but as others have said today was a day to flood and control the midfield. Our 2nd goal, and some 1st half moments, showed that we could play through them.

 

[lostwolf]

Awful. After our first team is out we're reduced to nobody's. And Cov played them off the park.

I'm on the train back to Sheffield, the trains have been a joke today.

I'm sorry but I'm gutted. Had a chance at Wembley and blew it because our squad is paper thin. That's not GON's fault.

 

[Rednal Wolf]

Kilman needs ****ing off, sick of his passive and cowardly displays.

Hobbs said we'd probably need to sell one or two of our top players . Let's hope Kilman is one of them .....lost without Dawson and never captain material .

 

[JOSWolf]

If noha is on the bench why not use him, Hugo should have come on before doc but hey I see the idea

But we want pace and an option in attack use the rapid winger? Surely

I was very disappointed that we saw nothing of Noha today.

 

[Cookyssweetleftfoot]

I think most of us knew it would be tough with the lack of any options or pace up top.
Aside from the usual suspects secure in their positions thanks to FFP, most teams would struggle without their two best forwards and also their two back ups.
Really felt for Fraser who despite all his effort just seemed lost. Sarabia’s usual movement was almost wasted with no-one to slide in. Wasn’t his best game today, but he was the only one constantly moving to provide an option. Semedo and RAN provided the threat and both got into good positions in the first half. Even then Cov should have been ahead at the half.
Second half started poorly and they could have been four up before they scored.
It became evident that we had to find a way to get RAN into an advanced position and with the Doc change not really working, the Bueno change saw him playing through the middle which somehow saw us go 2-1 up after a goal and then a direct run and assist.
While we really didn’t deserve it, we looked quite comfortable until
Lemina, Gomes and Chiwome for some reason contrived to lose possession in our own half when there were plenty of chances to play it forward and in a heartbeat it was 2-2. Switching off at a throw in again and the game was gone.
The game at Albion was won with an individual moment from Neto, a neat run and finish from Cunha and Dawson winning everything that came into our box. We had none of those available today sadly.
Really feel for the team who looked devastated at the end and especially Sa and RAN who didn’t deserve to be on a losing side.
Good luck to Cov.

 

[JOSWolf]

Two of the three have poor injury records and we, due to no squad depth, worked them harder than ever.... What could possibly go wrong with that?

Exactly. We knew what may be coming after the dismal January window and injury wise it has happened and we have virtually nothing in reserve.

 

[Bryce]

Ok

If we are losing Neto and RAN a quick shopping trip for Simms and Palmer would be in order. If they don’t go up !

I thought Coventry were brilliant today. I would love them to beat the baggies in the play offs!

 

[Northampton_wolf]

Happy going after Simms if they don't go up not palmer

 

[Wagstaffe Was Magic]

Well if it spares me of another Wembley semi final defeat, I’ll settle for that.
I’m still getting over the Watford semi …. Never felt as low in my life!!

Our team are exhausted and we have nothing up front in the absence of our three main strikers. I wish it could be otherwise but Fosun, for their own reasons, think it’s ok.

I’m not attaching any blame today, Coventry were the better side throughout. We didn’t have goals in us, not of the clinical, see you later type!!

It is what it is and there’s no point in railing against the moon. We were expecting our midfield not only to get up and down the pitch but to be our goal source as well.

Sort it out Fosun, it’s the elephant in the room, and has been for three years now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[NE14ABJ]

From my view in the BW lower just to the left of the away dugout , I can say without doubt the ballboy in question was waiting for bidwell to see him to throw him the ball… bidwell was busy talking to a teammate, Robins then gestured to the boy to give us the ball back but still Bidwell was facing away, then the young lad just gave up and released the ball. So **** off Robins with your sly caveat.

Feel better now

 

[MrwulfAndrew]

Really ****ed off with the squad situation. The bench has been a disgrace for weeks and today topped the lot. Even a free agent in Jan would have been better than we have now. So many people said we were pant wetters on here when we pointed out the striker situation. It's absurd, the club should have addressed it when Raul got injured.

I don't think we expected or even wanted 20m signings or even 10 but we needed some bodies at least. I don't want any FFP bull**** in the summer, we sold over 100m pounds worth of players and deleted loads off the wage bill. We get tv money every year so we should be able to sign a ****ing centre forward at least. I suppose our season tickets will go up again so thanks Jeff.

O'Neil has got a tune from these players and the togetherness and the team spirit has won loads of points but today we were very poor.

The squad has been flogged to death but I was hoping we could have mustered a better effort today. Sa was good and Ait-Nouri was outstanding but the rest were disappointing.

Fraser didn't land a glove but he shouldnt be expected to do much. The team didn't use him in the first half but he didn't really create much movement.

The first goal was handball, clear as day and we sit behind the goal in the northbank. The ref was awful all game but Coventry deserved it so not going to make excuses.

Doc is finished, the guy is completely unfit for a footballer now and he was one of the many passengers in our team today. Sarabia was the 1 naturally attacking player in the team but he did nothing really.

O'Neil didn't have good choices but he was poor value. No idea why he didn't make any subs after 2 1 to waste some time. Boobs would have been tailor made for the situation.

I think we will be on the beach now as we have **** all players. Proper disappointing effort today but the self harm in January made everything harder.

Jeff - Get somebody else to have a go. He's made consistently poor decisions since summer 2020 and we need better.

 

[Bryce]

A number of players looked and played like they were knackered.
The premier league is the hardest league in the world . A small squad cost us today as we had no back up even though our defensive ineptitude didn’t help.

Still gutted. Utterly distraught. It’s a horrible feeling. We haven’t been stuffed by a big six we have been bested by a championship side on our own patch .

 

[Jawwfc]

I was very disappointed that we saw nothing of Noha today.

I don't think we will see much of him if anything at all for a while yet, remember he struggled at an Italian serie b side I think he only made 1 appearance before joining us.

He one for 2/3 years time

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

You know it’s bad when Sarabia is your most passionate player

 

[Bryce]

I can only assume you are trolling

Or Stevie Wonder

 

[Scallywolf]

Daft comment, he single handedly kept us in the game.

He did have to use both his hands a lot as well, unfortunately!

 

[Hazza]

What annoyed me was we’d won the game (how I’m not sure) then we had the ball both before the equaliser (twice) and the 3rd. We didn’t ‘manage’ the game at that pin t and that cost us

 

[Scallywolf]

Happy going after Simms if they don't go up not palmer

Absolutely no way.

We made him look ok today, but Simms is just a big lump who couldn’t trap a bag of cement! That awful miss in the first half sums him up.

Hadji Wright is the player to go for.

 

[Wolfman jack]

If we had sneaked the win today, this forum would have been full of praise about how we battled to a win. With our star players out, and a small knackered squad, it just didnt work out. Get some perspective

 

[Polish Wolf]

GON usually is spot on with his selections but for some reason he doesn't rate Bueno. Surely it would have been better to play Bueno at the left, move RAN forward and slot Lemina in the middle.

Lemina on the left did not work, and even it was a poor performance by his standards, we were much better when he played in the middle.

 

[Mighty Thor]

If we had sneaked the win today, this forum would have been full of praise about how we battled to a win. With our star players out, and a small knackered squad, it just didnt work out. Get some perspective

And if my aunt had a dick she would be my uncle

(Although these days I’m not even sure if that is true)

 

[BlahBlah]

A number of players looked and played like they were knackered.
The premier league is the hardest league in the world . A small squad cost us today as we had no back up even though our defensive ineptitude didn’t help.

Still gutted. Utterly distraught. It’s a horrible feeling. We haven’t been stuffed by a big six we have been bested by a championship side on our own patch .

This is the pay-off after a season of over-performance and praying for no injuries, it rarely lasts a whole season and we're past the point of being able to rotate because we've got multiple hamstrings gone and have nobody left to bring in except kids and players who don't even appear on the website. That's just too much quality to cover off with spares of spares, so thank god we're on 41 points which was the only target this season. We might not get a lot more because we have nothing left to play for except pride and sorting out what we need to trade for next season.
Lets face it, the recent games against Sheff Utd, Brighton and Fulham were hardly inspiring single goal victories, with a spanking at Newcastle in the middle.
Instead of some people criticising O'Neills tactics over obvious frustrations, perhaps he shoud be credited for getting some tight single-goal victories from games we ought not have won? If we'd have won today, the tactics would have worked even though the performance was poor, and 2 injury time goals showed us the sticky plaster approach has caught up with us.

I think i said last week that the last thing we'd want with a scratch team is to play a Championship match and none of the injured players came back and the rest looked lethargic, so was it really that much of a shock?
Without the players we've recently lost injured, we'd probably be in the bottom five anyway. Coventry are making a run for the play-offs, they won away last week and the previous match scored 5, and they had nothing to lose. If the situations were reversed we'd have been relishing coming here today, it was well worth a punt at the bookies.

 

[MickHolmesFanClub]

The absence of Cunha, Hwang and Neto was a major factor today. They have been fundamental to the way we have played this season and without them we have to adapt to a style of play that doesn't really suit the personnel we have in the team and we become ponderous in possession.
Plenty of times today, particularly in the first half, we beat their press but the slowed it down, with very little options up front, and played backwards again.

The better team won today, no question, and they were physically stronger and fitter than we were, Ellis Simms bullied Santi Bueno the whole game in a way he would not have been allowed to do had Dawson been fit and, once more, we were exposed playing a back 4.

The shortage of forward options meant Lemina played much of the game out of position and we suffered as a result (until he moved centrally after Doyle went off and we improved a little). He has been another key player this year and when he is poor, like today, the team really suffers,

Semedo played well first half but went missing in the second, whilst RAN was excellent in the second having been poor in the first. Sa, undoubtedly, kept us in it for much of the game and would be my MOTM which sums it up really. Gomes never gave up and epitomises this team. Whatever we may criticise them for in terms of playing ability, this bunch of players certainly never give up. They dragged themselves back into a game they should have been well out of and, whilst we may be scathing about the defending for the two late goals, I would never accuse them of not giving their all for the shirt.

We now have to make the most of the last 10 games and aim as high as we can in the league and hope that this can prove a similar catalyst to the one we saw spark a surge in the league following the semi-final loss 5 years ago