Line up for Watford

[Ponty]

As an aside , why the **** are we playing on Thursday?

We play Everton on Sunday . 2 days rest yet again. Same as when we played west ham after arsenal

Meanwhile Everton don’t even have a match midweek, and watford have 3 days rest following their fixture today

I think it is because you can’t play when the CL matches are on. Big clubs are obviously more important!

 

[WickedWolfie]

Sa

Jonny
Coady
Saiss
RAN

Neves
Moutinho
Dendoncker

Podence
Raul
Hwang

With that central defence Watford would score at least three. All the pace of a millipede with 999 broken legs.

 

[WickedWolfie]

Sa made an error and Ruddy is good back up like I said I’d ring the changes and send a clear message

But you put Raul in who frankly has been gash all season (for understandable reasons).

 

[Golden_Wolf]

Coady was at fault yesterday, west ham away, arsenal away, arsenal at home...and more importantly ,if we go to a back 4 , then Coady can't be in that back 4 cos he can't defend,and he has no pace

Coady was at fault for West Ham away? Arsenal away? Really?

If he was at fault there, would love to know your thoughts on Saiss

 

[Sketchead]

With that central defence Watford would score at least three. All the pace of a millipede with 999 broken legs.

I mean, what's the point in playing 5 at the back at the moment? All of our first-team centre halves are slow.

We're conceding very, very sloppy goals anyway the past four games. Time to try and outscore the other teams, rather than hope they don't score and see if we can nick a stuffy one.

 

[Sketchead]

Coady was at fault yesterday, west ham away, arsenal away, arsenal at home...and more importantly ,if we go to a back 4 , then Coady can't be in that back 4 cos he can't defend,and he has no pace

Crikey, did you watch any of those games you mentioned?

 

[Brixton Wanderer]

Chiquinho play right wing back?

Not against this with an extra man in the middle to cover when he gets further up.

 

[waveney wolf]

Crikey, did you watch any of those games you mentioned?

Yes..all of them . Did you watch Coady??

 

[waveney wolf]

Coady was at fault for West Ham away? Arsenal away? Really?

If he was at fault there, would love to know your thoughts on Saiss

Yes he was at fault, he's slow, gets turned easily,doesn't close the attacker down ( cos he knows he's to slow )
Against West ham he stood off Antonio, made no attempt to stop him,or the pass into the middle. By the time saiss had come across to cover the man Coady was meant to be marking,it was to late..yet you Wana Blame saiss
Coady is not a natural defender

 

[justanotherwolf]

Sa made an error and Ruddy is good back up like I said I’d ring the changes and send a clear message

The message that sends is we've lost the plot.

Sa wasn't blameless against Palace (hoofing it in the vague direction of Podence was baffling) but is the last player that needs changing.

One big problem now is having lost v Arsenal we made 5 changes for WHam, then lost, then made 3 changes against Palace, then lost, so any more changes are from a position of weakness.

(Going from one player as starting striker every game to 3 players in 3 games the most obvious - Bruno either goes for a fourth option or goes back to Raul/Fabio, who've just been dropped)

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

Yes he was at fault, he's slow, gets turned easily,doesn't close the attacker down ( cos he knows he's to slow )
Against West ham he stood off Antonio, made no attempt to stop him,or the pass into the middle. By the time saiss had come across to cover the man Coady was meant to be marking,it was to late..yet you Wana Blame saiss
Coady is not a natural defender

Sorry, I agree with some of this, at the game I thought Coady should have done better with Antonio (and he should have). However Saiss literally ran away from the scorer, it was bizarre.

 

[Dan G WWFC]

Not against this with an extra man in the middle to cover when he gets further up.

Donk would be perfect for the job. I'd imagine Watford would sit deep too.

 

[waveney wolf]

Donk would be perfect for the job. I'd imagine Watford would sit deep too.

Donk has been " trained " to run into the corners , either to press ( like the goal at spurs ) ,or get the ball and recycle it to podence or semedo or neves or mouthinio ( like the goal at Brentford) ,,and he does it very well

 

[Black Coffee]

Experimenting with a back for 4 now is just reactionary if we beat Watford Thursday we are still in the mix for European football (Europa League or Europa Conference) the season is no where near over.

In terms of personnel I'd drop Saiss or maybe Kilman for Toti and up top possibly change the front 3 although Raul for Neto (who looked very rusty a yard or 2 off the pace which is understandable) or Hwang is the obvious change . I'd be tempted to start Chiquinho but probably he'd be better coming off the bench and as for Trincao no ****ing chance I'd leave him out the squad.

-------------Sa--------------
Kilman-----Coady-----Gomes
Johnny-Moutinho-Neves-Ait Nouri
Podence ---Raul-----Hwang

 

[Glass ankles]

Try something new?

Sa

Jonny—Boly—Gomes—Ait-Nouri

Neves—Moutinho
Chiquino———————Neto

Silva—Raul​

Like the look of that!

 

[Marvellous007]

Gomes not good enough struggled with Reading's under 23s

 

[theweave]

Sa
Boly, Coady, Saiss
Jonny, Neves, Dendonker, Moutinho, RAN
Jimenez, Hwang

 

[WeAreTheWolvesII]

Sa
Jonny, Coady, Boly, Ait-Nouri
Neves, Dendoncker
Chiquinho, Podence, Hwang
Jimenez

Watford are full of big powerful players so this is a real sorry for me and why I’d start Donk.

They’re clearly weak defensively though so let’s try and give them something to worry about.

 

[Golden_Wolf]

Yes he was at fault, he's slow, gets turned easily,doesn't close the attacker down ( cos he knows he's to slow )
Against West ham he stood off Antonio, made no attempt to stop him,or the pass into the middle. By the time saiss had come across to cover the man Coady was meant to be marking,it was to late..yet you Wana Blame saiss
Coady is not a natural defender

What are you talking about? Saiss had come across to cover the man Coady was marking? But you wanted Coady to press Antonio so how is this other player meant to be marked by Coady too?

Coady should have tried to stop the pass from Antonio but if Saiss doesn't run into no mans land (that other player was being marked/covered by another player anyway - I think Neves) we don't concede from that.

 

[Superted]

I have the same feeling now as after the palace game in our first season back when our 3-4-3 had gotten found out and we switched to 3-5-2 and we all know how that turned out.

I think we need a bit of a re-set/rethink but I'm not sure that full-scale panic is necessary just yet.

I would like to see a back four tried out at some point with considerable minutes for players who need them (Cundle, Fabio, Chiquinho etc.). We're not getting relegated from here so I would like to see some experimentation and some investment in different ways of playing.

We're so inflexible and if plan A isn't working we go to Plan A plus or minus a bit. We don't seem to have a plan B or C.

It is quite frustrating.

 

[Black Coffee]

Gomes not good enough struggled with Reading's under 23s

Yet did well against Brentford and Southampton.

I would not hold a poor performance against a U21 team on wet Monday night against him.

 

[Bostin]

**** it, we need to play 2 up front. Sick of seeing nobody in the box when we get into the final third.

 

[Manic88]

Line up schmine up

Formation is irrelevant if the attitude isn’t there

 

[those were the days]

After that dreadful showing against Palace will be interesting to see what people think we should do for this one...

We really need to change the way we go forward as we are not creating anywhere near enough in games and something has to change! I don't think Bruno Lage will move away from the five at the back but I've been saying for a few weeks now I'd like to see both Jimenez and Silva start a few games together and see if we can get better link up play and more of a threat in the box!

What i'd go with:

-------------------------Sa-----------------------
------------Kilman----Coady-----Boly------------
-Jonny-----------------------------------Ait-Nouri-
-------------Neves----------Moutinho-------------
--------------------Podence-----------------------
------------Jimenez----------Silva-----------------

Subs: Ruddy, Gomes, Saiss, Marcal, Cundle, Dendoncker, Chiquinho, Hwang, Neto,

I'd largely go along with this. Time to bring back Boly I reckon. I'd probably go with Podence and Jimenez up front and bring Dendoncker back into midfield too. Jonny is clearly the best option at RWB but my head says I'd have him on the bench as Wolves still need to be very careful with him (ditto Neto). Who we play there though, I don't know...

Bruno bemoaned losing the duels against Palace which is true but he also needs to take responsibility himself for not playing Boly, Dendoncker, Jimenez and Ait-Nouri over the likes of Saiss, Hwang, Podence and Marcal.

 

[Super Ted]

Sa

Jonny
Kilman
Saiss
Marcal

Dendonker
Neves
Moutinho

Podence

Silva
Raul


Neto on for last 30mins for one of the front three.

 

[Sedgley Gold N Black]

Starting with our best players would be nice to see.

 

[Ned]

We need to go to 3-5-2 and go back to basics.

I don't really mind what we do personnel-wise as long as we have Raul and/or Fabio up front.

 

[Matt]

I like 352, I just don't think we have the personnel to play it properly.

Our most creative players are wingers (Neto, Podence) who, yes, can play second striker, but it's not really their position. They're both more effective out wide. To play it properly we'd have to go with Raul and Fabio/Hwang (imo) and leave out two of our best players.

Then the midfield, we only have three of them so it picks itself. Neves/Moutinho/Donck... very minimal attacking threat there.

Then the wing-backs... we really need them to offer a threat going forward in a 352. RAN and Semedo can do that, Jonny and Marcal can't.

It's a tough one. The squad has been built to play a particular way - 343.

 

[Minimalist]

Sa
Killman Coady Saiss
Marcal Neves Moutinho RAN
Podence Jimenez Neto​

 

[Bacon Sandwich]

Sa
Killman Coady Saiss
Marcal Neves Moutinho RAN
Podence Jimenez Neto​

Marcal at RWB...
Guessing you started the pints with vodka chasers just after breakfast?

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

Line up schmine up

Formation is irrelevant if the attitude isn’t there

I rarely go for attitude as it is a pretty easy criticism and a bit lazy however it is indisputable at this point since lockdown we have had too many displays where players look like they don't want to be there. Not that they aren't trying but just seems a malaise. Obviously we had it occasionally since we got promoted, happens to every team but feels like it happens a lot more recently.

The club should have transitioned out a few more players probably over last few years and replaced them. Feels like we just went a season too long for a few of them

 

[Mile End Wanderer]

But you put Raul in who frankly has been gash all season (for understandable reasons).

I said he was finished ages ago he has his moments we have nobody better. I can’t wait for a clear out, hit 40 pts and that’s it beach time it’s not good enough.

 

[waveney wolf]

Marcal at RWB...
Guessing you started the pints with vodka chasers just after breakfast?

I'd start RAN at right back, he's a good left footed shot on him..and Marcel ( or gomes ) at left back

 

[waveney wolf]

What are you talking about? Saiss had come across to cover the man Coady was marking? But you wanted Coady to press Antonio so how is this other player meant to be marked by Coady too?

Coady should have tried to stop the pass from Antonio but if Saiss doesn't run into no mans land (that other player was being marked/covered by another player anyway - I think Neves) we don't concede from that.

If Coady doesn't Wana mark Antonio closely ,then he ( as the organiser ) has to call kilman back to get goalside of Antonio.
As soon as he doesn't,and the ball goes to Antonio,Coady has to be on him in a flash..NOT just stand looking at him!!
IF kilman has to go out wide, the rest of the defence ( all of it ) has to shuffle over to cut out danger and mark players

 

[Golden_Wolf]

If Coady doesn't Wana mark Antonio closely ,then he ( as the organiser ) has to call kilman back to get goalside of Antonio.
As soon as he doesn't,and the ball goes to Antonio,Coady has to be on him in a flash..NOT just stand looking at him!!
IF kilman has to go out wide, the rest of the defence ( all of it ) has to shuffle over to cut out danger and mark players

And Saiss has absolutely no reason, regardless of what Coady is/isn't doing, to vacate his space like he did.

Did exactly the same against Brentford.

 

[sc91]

I said he was finished ages ago he has his moments we have nobody better. I can’t wait for a clear out, hit 40 pts and that’s it beach time it’s not good enough.

Id be looking at cashing in Raul to the MLS. They'll pay top cash for him.

 

[Rhyl Wolf]

Worth noting. Saka pushed out wide against Watford to great effect. They are very physical, so Donk may be our only option in the mid. Dunno really. This manager lark seems easy from an armchair.

 

[thommo1984]

Watching MOTD2 from last night and this really stood out to me...



That's Arsenal's 2 centrebacks and their defensive midfield player. And again for their second goal...



Can anyone remember even our midfielders having possession that high up the middle of the pitch?! And that's their defenders! The difference is kind of remarkable and really highlights why we offer such little threat going forward. It always feels like we're playing on a pitch twice the size of everyone else, with huge chasms of space between all of our players / lines.

As a few have said, it doesn't really matter who plays when the negative approach is so deeply entrenched.

 

[lobodelsur]

anyone who advocates us playing 5 at the back against one of the worst teams in the league needs to reevaluate IMO. we need to move away from this formation, its restrictive and has been worked out

On the one hand you're right.
On the other we switched to 4 at the back at WHU (when Marcal went off) and against Palace (when Kilman was subbed) and we still failed to create any clear-cut scoring opportunities in either match. Reminiscent of the first 3 games of the season when we had loads of possession and loads of shots, most of which were off target. We have a serious problem...

 

[Mile End Wanderer]

Id be looking at cashing in Raul to the MLS. They'll pay top cash for him.

Maybe someone can take Silva as well there’s a reason Lage dropped him the weekend. His dig was at the younger players rather worrying