Irrespective of the manager, the questions that need answering

[JOSWolf]

There may be a case for Saiss, but Coady wanted off so that he could continue playing regularly (something that Wolves couldn't guarantee), and hopefully fulfill his ambition of representing England in the World Cup.

The Mix appeared to return a 50/50 split on whether we should have kept him (by playing him regularly) or move on and put our future in the likes Collins and Kilman, which persoanlly I think was the right decision.

To leave us so short of adequate cover in defence was the wrong decision though, in my opinion.

 

[sedgwolf1980]

The only questions that need answering are who ultimately decided to sack Nuno and why.

That’s by a million miles the main reason we are now where we are.

Sheer lunacy given the wider global situation we had been in.

Saying that, this is now the chance to make things right, please don’t mess this up Jeff.

 

[Golden Arrow]

To leave us so short of adequate cover in defence was the wrong decision though, in my opinion.

I take your point but would Coady have wanted to hang around, and in doing so lose his one and only opportunity to be part of a WC tournamement? And let's not forget, the club also allowed both Saiss and Boly to move on as well, and we did (allegedly) try to sign Dawson from West Ham but his club wouldn't release him.

Personally, I don't point the finger at CC and we do have Toti and Collins as competent defenders. Perhaps we should be looking at the rest of the squad and looking at who else could step up.

 

[JOSWolf]

I take your point but would Coady have wanted to hang around, and in doing so lose his one and only opportunity to be part of a WC tournamement? And let's not forget, the club also allowed both Saiss and Boly to move on as well, and we did (allegedly) try to sign Dawson from West Ham but his club wouldn't release him.

Personally, I don't point the finger at CC and we do have Toti and Collins as competent defenders. Perhaps we should be looking at the rest of the squad and looking at who else could step up.

We left the move for Dawson far too late. Coady had gone, Boly wanted out weeks before and Saiss had gone. They have left us far too weak in the defensive areas in my opinion. We have to hope and pray the likes of Bueno, Mosquera and Toti can come to the party if they play in the coming weeks.

 

[Northampton_wolf]

players were playing in wrong positions, if another manager comes in and cant get a tune out of nunes, guedes then i think you can fire,

But nunes showed class at sporting and guedes was a nuisance at valencia, scored goals in all manner of ways.

 

[theweave]

It will be interesting to see how it turns out. I'm hoping that what you say really is the case. However, part of me can't escape that Nuno aside, all of their manager appointments have been poor. Nuno saved the owners, basically. Did they strike lucky with a total fluke they'll never repeat?

Was all this "best years of the past 40 years" down to Fosun or Nuno? So far, we've done nothing of note under any manager other than Nuno and his coaching team.

Fosun employed Nuno and have the relationship with Mendes that brought him Neves, Boly, Jota etc. Would Nuno have been a success at Wolves without Fosun?

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

Fosun employed Nuno and have the relationship with Mendes that brought him Neves, Boly, Jota etc. Would Nuno have been a success at Wolves without Fosun?

Exactly this.

I mean this in no way dismissively but the players given to Nuno in the championship, he must have thought all his christmases had come at once. He probably had the best squad that division had ever seen.

 

[Contrarian]

Fosun employed Nuno and have the relationship with Mendes that brought him Neves, Boly, Jota etc. Would Nuno have been a success at Wolves without Fosun?

Would Neves and Jota have joined Wolves while Fosun were owners but Lambert (or Bruce/Curbishley etc) were managers? Almost certainly not. They (and Boly) knew Nuno well before and he sold them the project.

 

[Contrarian]

Exactly this.

I mean this in no way dismissively but the players given to Nuno in the championship, he must have thought all his christmases had come at once. He probably had the best squad that division had ever seen.

All those players given to Nuno knew him before. Boly turned us down when Jackett/Zenga were hanging around. Joined once we had Nuno. Similar after promotion. Regardless of Fosun and Mendez, I doubt Moutinho and Patricio would have joined if we had Steve Bruce or any other similar level manager in charge. They knew Nuno and trusted him.

Also, if Lage hasn't shown already that it doesn't matter how much is spent on players, a bad manager will mess it up. That "best squad the division had ever seen" would not have looked so good with Lambert picking the team! By Xmas, Neves and Jota would be looking a bit lost and demoralised. We'd have been arguing whether it was the lightweight Portugese players or the manager. Seen it so many times. This is how it goes when a manager isn't good enough. Nuno was more than good enough and as much as anything, it was us finally having a manager and his staff with experience managing at Europes highest levels and were on the up.

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

All those players given to Nuno knew him before. Boly turned us down when Jackett/Zenga were hanging around. Joined once we had Nuno. Similar after promotion. Regardless of Fosun and Mendez, I doubt Moutinho and Patricio would have joined if we had Steve Bruce or any other similar level manager in charge. They knew Nuno and trusted him.

Also, if Lage hasn't shown already that it doesn't matter how much is spent on players, a bad manager will mess it up. That "best squad the division had ever seen" would not have looked so good with Lambert picking the team! By Xmas, Neves and Jota would be looking a bit lost and demoralised. We'd have been arguing whether it was the lightweight Portugese players or the manager. Seen it so many times. This is how it goes when a manager isn't good enough. Nuno was more than good enough and as much as anything, it was us finally having a manager and his staff with experience managing at Europes highest levels and were on the up.

I’m not saying Nuno wasn’t great merely pointing out (factually) he was given a fantastic squad for a tier 2 team. He did a fantastic job here but let’s not kid ourselves that a) he had much of a hand as to who was brought in (that was Mendes) or b) there’s managers at every level that would have got that team promoted, there were times especially later in the season where it was almost embarrassing to watch how much more quality our players were compared to the opposition.

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

The only questions that need answering are who ultimately decided to sack Nuno and why.

That’s by a million miles the main reason we are now where we are.

Sheer lunacy given the wider global situation we had been in.

Saying that, this is now the chance to make things right, please don’t mess this up Jeff.

Move on

It was correct to sack nuno. We were AWFUL

 

[Polish Wolf]

Something has burnt out between Nuno and Wolves and I believe it was beyond repair. However, the point is that with all the good players he got in the Championship, his main strength was that he immediately united players around his vision of the team. There was no "adaptation" period. We hit the ground running. This is what usually happens with good managers.

Do you remember how this forum reacted to his first interview? I do, because I shared the feelings of the majority. There was a man who clearly knows what he wants but comes across as a good leader: with vision, tools to implement it, including man management and a certain aura of a man who will be followed. This was never the case with Bruno Lage.

I don't want Nuno, it would be a disaster, but I want a similar appointment. Someone who will quickly galvanize the team, win their heads and their hearts, and instill the same pack mentality that is crucial in our situation.

As much as I don't trust Scott Sellars, or I don't believe he's very good in his role, I think that Shi is actually quite clever and clever people learn from their mistakes, hence he will make a good decision this time.

 

[theweave]

Would Neves and Jota have joined Wolves while Fosun were owners but Lambert (or Bruce/Curbishley etc) were managers? Almost certainly not. They (and Boly) knew Nuno well before and he sold them the project.

You assume Lambert would still have been in charge. They had Lopetegui lined up but it fell through so had to rush. If Lopetegui had been in charge then yes those players would have come, if not we don't know who they could have gotten in instead.

 

[Contrarian]

You assume Lambert would still have been in charge. They had Lopetegui lined up but it fell through so had to rush. If Lopetegui had been in charge then yes those players would have come, if not we don't know who they could have gotten in instead.

Yes, agreed and that's my point. That a managers reputation influences the standard of player who will join a club. That Nuno's reputation was good enough to attract those players who would never have joined with a lesser manager in charge. Yes, they would have come for Lopetegui who would also have got us promoted, 99% sure on that. Not sure Lambert (or any other number of bog-standard Championship managers) could have, let alone build on that to make us just about the most succesful newly promoted team this century. If there was a way of wrecking that squad, Lambert (or Zenga or A.N.Other) would have found it!

If managers don't make a difference, why bother? Just get A.N. Other in on the cheap and spend £100M on players...oh, wait....

 

[theweave]

Yes, agreed and that's my point. That a managers reputation influences the standard of player who will join a club. That Nuno's reputation was good enough to attract those players who would never have joined with a lesser manager in charge. Yes, they would have come for Lopetegui who would also have got us promoted, 99% sure on that. Not sure Lambert (or any other number of bog-standard Championship managers) could have, let alone build on that to make us just about the most succesful newly promoted team this century. If there was a way of wrecking that squad, Lambert (or Zenga or A.N.Other) would have found it!

If managers don't make a difference, why bother? Just get A.N. Other in on the cheap and spend £100M on players...oh, wait....

Of course they matter but it also works the other way. Not many other championship clubs could've attracted Nuno or a smilar profile manager, that was down to Fosun (through Mendes relationship)

 

[Corporate Wolf]

I’d add, what’s going on with the medical team?! Noticeable increase in the amount of injuries and fitness struggles since the head guy left, (I can’t remember his name sorry!)

Matt Perry - see this article.
Dr Kai Win is also the one that many on here seem to make reference to.

 

[rg4352]

Matt Perry - see this article.
Dr Kai Win is also the one that many on here seem to make reference to.

Yes that was his name Matt Perry! Thank you, that’s been bugging me for an age!

 

[Wolf 82]

Nah. It's just Bruno is cack. People want to set the whole club on fire, when really we've got the best squad we've ever had and a useless motivator/tactician. I am looking forward to the Chelsea game now after dreading each game since March last year.

I was starting to think I was the only one.. so was glad to read this.

 

[Oldwolf]

I’d add, what’s going on with the medical team?! Noticeable increase in the amount of injuries and fitness struggles since the head guy left, (I can’t remember his name sorry!)

I think Matt Perry was the guy you were thinking of. There does appear to be more injuries since, is it bad luck or bad preparation. It seems crazy that it appeared that Neto was ordered to try and run his injury off, when it was pretty clear he would be unable to continue.

 

[Tarcisio Mifsud]

Regret to think that it wpuld be difficult for who ever turns up as the new Wolves manager. I normally wait until we play the first 10 matches (a bit more than 25% of the season) to think how we shall end up in the table at the end of the season. I feel it would be very difficult to move up away from the relegation zone, playing catching up is always difficult, we may be able to escape relegation with a place or two. The situation as I see it:-

SA is no longer that reliable and this is even effecting the other members of the defence. surely he was 50% at fault on West Ham second goal. He should been watching that corner where Bowen scored.
Johnnie is also not playing that well, last Saturday he was very poor.
Semedo has yet to produce the form he was in last season.
Ait Nouri is also not that reliable and the West Ham second goal was 50% his fault
Collins and Kilman are OK, but the former will not feature in the next 2 matches which would make our situation even worse.
Neves is our important play maker, but there is a limit on his capabilities alone. He will not be available next Saturday.
Mothineo has grown another year and this seems to be effecting him heavily.
Our injured forwards - Jimenes, Neto, and Hwang continue to add to our difficulties
Podence is doing his best and last Saturday he was unlucky not to score.
Adama should be involved in our team, last Saturday he showed that even though he was not on the field from the start, he could do much better than our other forwards.
Costa is not a young chap, but he should be able to provide the team with some momentum in the opposition penalty area.
Cannot understand how our medical team were not able to see the deficiency of the new arrival from Austria. OMG how did he got injured within 30 minutes of his first game for us. Unbievable.

With such a situation, it would be very difficult to survive. The fight would be among these teams - Forest/Wolves/Southampton/B'mouth/Leeds/Aston Villa. I think Leicester/West Ham/Everton and Cristal Palace will be able to move up in the table, and will not be involved in relegation battles.

 

[so-called fan]

Wolves can confirm that experienced coaches Steve Davis and James Collins will prepare the team this week for the trip to Chelsea.

This is the way round everybody is putting it. Collins as U21 coach should be senior to Davis as U18 coach though. It seems odd that Wolves have put it this way round, unless somebody has decided to put the U18 coach in charge above the U21 coach.

 

[Bogota Wolf]

Steve Davis because he has more experience of managing first teams?

 

[so-called fan]

Steve Davis because he has more experience of managing first teams?

That's a very good point: I had no idea he'd managed Leyton Orient, Crewe, Nantwich, and Northwich Victoria. Is there some backstory to how he comes to be in charge of our U18s? Decent experience there anyway.

 

[Darvo]

Something has burnt out between Nuno and Wolves and I believe it was beyond repair. However, the point is that with all the good players he got in the Championship, his main strength was that he immediately united players around his vision of the team. There was no "adaptation" period. We hit the ground running. This is what usually happens with good managers.

Do you remember how this forum reacted to his first interview? I do, because I shared the feelings of the majority. There was a man who clearly knows what he wants but comes across as a good leader: with vision, tools to implement it, including man management and a certain aura of a man who will be followed. This was never the case with Bruno Lage.

I don't want Nuno, it would be a disaster, but I want a similar appointment. Someone who will quickly galvanize the team, win their heads and their hearts, and instill the same pack mentality that is crucial in our situation.

As much as I don't trust Scott Sellars, or I don't believe he's very good in his role, I think that Shi is actually quite clever and clever people learn from their mistakes, hence he will make a good decision this time.

Good post.

I think we need a big personality. Someone akin to Costa. To lift the players, the fans and the whole club.

 

[NottsWolves]

That's a very good point: I had no idea he'd managed Leyton Orient, Crewe, Nantwich, and Northwich Victoria. Is there some backstory to how he comes to be in charge of our U18s? Decent experience there anyway.

Isn’t he a wolves fan?

Perhaps a chance to work for the club. Not too mention some coaches prefer to just coach and bring the youth through.

 

[Madmalc]

I think we need to stop selling our good players who can score for peanuts and buying over rated players who can't score.

 

[wwbug]

The only questions that need answering are who ultimately decided to sack Nuno and why.

That’s by a million miles the main reason we are now where we are.

Sheer lunacy given the wider global situation we had been in.

Saying that, this is now the chance to make things right, please don’t mess this up Jeff.

Remember that fully televised last season ? it was awful to watch.

 

[Bogota Wolf]

That's a very good point: I had no idea he'd managed Leyton Orient, Crewe, Nantwich, and Northwich Victoria. Is there some backstory to how he comes to be in charge of our U18s? Decent experience there anyway.

Dunno mate. Cannot add anything although have met him once and he came across as a sensible and good pro.

 

[BlahBlah]

True, we were doing really well with a threadbare squad, until we ran them into the ground. Coincidence?

but they were managed very very well.....we could predict the substitutions ourselves because you got to know when players performances would drop when they started tiring, and when they start tiring injuries start happening.
Covid and the economic/political uncertainty causing the Fosun cash switch-off ruined a lot of things for us....it was prime time to expand and step up a level and we had to choose financial prudence and basically went into hibernation for 2 years.
Nuno's last season was terrible and he'd lost interest....the problem with footballers is that they cannot stand still, they get older every day and you have to keep freshening up and rotating. The transition to Lage takes time, but the players don't stop aging.

Basically sitting back for 2 years has cost us more than just the time lost, it's also given us different problems, not least of which the stop/start approach and loss of momentum, then the Fosun cash "switch-on" happened very late in the transfer window and caused a lot of turmoil right at the start of the season. It rarely ends well....we were not adding a piece to the jigsaw but changing the game and playing style entirely with no time left to bed it in or correct any mistakes before we started needing points on the board quickly.

 

[sedgwolf1980]

Remember that fully televised last season ? it was awful to watch.

Yeh it was horrible. So was the world in general though tbf.

Either way, water under the bridge now, but doesn’t change the fact is was a ridiculous decision at the time and appears even more so now. Let’s hope Jeff redeems himself with this one.

 

[WickedWolfie]

If everyone is fit, and if we bring back everyone on loan we have the following squad...

Strikers
Raul
Kalazdic
Costa
Fabio
Hwang and Guedes

Wide attackers/wingers
Hwang and guedes
Neto
Traore
Podence
Chiquinho

Central Midfielders

Neves
Nunes
Moutinho
Boubacar traore

Full backs
Semedo
Jonny
Ait-Nouri

Centre backs
Collins
Kilman
Mosquera
Toti

Gk
Sa + backup.

Centre half lacks experience. Other than that there really isn't much that needs adding.

No Campana?

 

[SmiffyWolf]

Actions speak louder than words . Our forwards needs to sort their **** out and start creating and scoring or grass hoppers here they come .

The other thing for me is the set pieces no dithering get it in the box .

Will give the manager time whoever it is but if they play players out of position unless injuries or a sending off then I will be very critical no matter if 1 month in the job or 6 months . You don't get a taxi driver to fly a jumbo jet . So don't stick out best cm in ****ing cd

 

[WickedWolfie]

Saiss, Coady. I could accept them going but we have been left with hardly any leaders or experience at centre back as we signed Collins and no one else.

Even if those two were let go where the hell was the sense in also flogging Donk who could cover both defence and midfield?

 

[WickedWolfie]

Actions speak louder than words . Our forwards needs to sort their **** out and start creating and scoring or grass hoppers here they come .

The other thing for me is the set pieces no dithering get it in the box .

Will give the manager time whoever it is but if they play players out of position unless injuries or a sending off then I will be very critical no matter if 1 month in the job or 6 months . You don't get a taxi driver to fly a jumbo jet . So don't stick out best cm in ****ing cd

We won't, whatever you may hope, be going hoofball

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

That's a very good point: I had no idea he'd managed Leyton Orient, Crewe, Nantwich, and Northwich Victoria. Is there some backstory to how he comes to be in charge of our U18s? Decent experience there anyway.

He’s got a hybrid role at wolves he manages the under 18s but is also “head of pathway development” which includes recommending players to join the 1st team squad from the u21s so he’s actually Collins boss and further up the organisation

 

[so-called fan]

He’s got a hybrid role at wolves he manages the under 18s but is also “head of pathway development” which includes recommending players to join the 1st team squad from the u21s so he’s actually Collins boss and further up the organisation

Awesome, thank you for explaining that. I'm starting to like him more and more.

 

[SteveBullsKnee]

Awesome, thank you for explaining that. I'm starting to like him more and more.

I don’t think for a second he’ll the get the job, but he’s most definitely a steady pair of hands in the interim. I imagine he’ll only be in the role for Chelsea.