Luton v Wolves: Comms Thread.

[Eastern Wolf]

Keep playing like that and we will be relegated. If we can’t impose ourselves on Luton then who can we?
Read an interesting stat on TV that Luton had 31 touches in our box while we had 11. That was during the second half so for the whole match it would have been much higher for Luton than for us.
They were much better than us for most of the game. Yes, we were a man down but they were much better even before the red card.
How do we improve? Where to we go from here. I don’t think we have bad players. But it’s obvious that on top of all our other problems there is a lack of leadership on the pitch. Over to you Gary.

 

[old wittonian]

The players themselves must know GON is substandard and wonder what the hell is going on.
I recall a game at Watford under Solbaken when Roger Johnson had a heated in game touchline row with him over tactics. RJ won and the tactics were changed.

 

[Brixton Wanderer]

The players themselves must know GON is substandard and wonder what the hell is going on.
I recall a game at Watford under Solbaken when Roger Johnson had a heated in game touchline row with him over tactics. RJ won and the tactics were changed.

I think we’ll see the players down tools within a month to be honest.

 

[SevernWolf]

He got dropped for refusing a contract not because of form.

He was their captain at the time

Players refuse contracts all the time. They clearly weren’t too worried about dropping him.

 

[wolfslair]

Players refuse contracts all the time. They clearly weren’t too worried about dropping him.

They wanted to strong arm him by seeing if dropping him meant he would re-sign.

Was a total mess!

Became a stand off that neither would back down from.

 

[Raymont]

I genuinely think Howard Webb has said that they're still giving handballs after deflections if it's above shoulder height.

Or I've just made it up.....

I read the 23/24 IFAB Laws, and there is no deflection language pertaining to handball, only "if the arm position makes the player unnaturally bigger". Curiosity forced me to read back, and the last lawbook to have the deflection language specifically pertaining to the ball coming off the player's own body was IFAB's 20/21 version.

I hate that I know this now.

 

[tamworthwolf]

Another pretty drab performance. Not sure how long this can go on. No plan or discipline again and the signs are not good at all.

The only quality on show was Neto and he saved us again but it is still embarrassing and not good enough. Bad decisions in the games from players and the management are unforgiveable for me.

Man City and Villa next worries me. Not sure we can compete with either if they turn up. If the league table doesn't look good and the performances don't improve, we might be talking about new managers over the international break. Maybe not but I think it needs to happen if we are going to achieve anything this season unfortunately.

It feels like we are fighting for our lives already. That shouldn't be happening to a club like ours after six games. I'm afraid Gary O'Neil is out of his depth - there might still be three teams worse than us but why are we even having this conversation.

 

[SevernWolf]

They wanted to strong arm him by seeing if dropping him meant he would re-sign.

Was a total mess!

Became a stand off that neither would back down from.

That may be true, but if he was significantly better than O’Leary they wouldn’t have risked dropping him.

I work in Bristol and the City fans have mixed opinions of him. He’s undoubtedly a good Championship goalkeeper but it’s not at all clear that he’s PL quality.

 

[Scallywolf]

VAR is the biggest problem. Video replay should get the rules perfect. But they don't.

A ref making a bad call happens. They're human and it's fast. Video replay can literally slow everything down to the frame. They should never be wrong. Ever.

By the rules. It's a penalty. But by the rules a deflection should never be taken into account but they are all the time.

By the rules it isn’t a penalty, though, is it.

Apparently the rules state if a ball is deflected to the hand after hitting the foot AND the ball is not heading towards the goal it is not a penalty.

Mike Dean of all people commented on Sky that an almost exact same incident happened last week between Newcastle and Brentford and no penalty was given.

I’m just fed up with football atm. It’s as if there is an agenda against us nearly every week.

Let’s see if PGMOL have anything to say, shall we.

 

[wolfslair]

That may be true, but if he was significantly better than O’Leary they wouldn’t have risked dropping him.

I work in Bristol and the City fans have mixed opinions of him. He’s undoubtedly a good Championship goalkeeper but it’s not at all clear that he’s PL quality.

I agree mate, we should have upgraded in the summer!

King is a league two keeper and god knows how we signed him! He is atrocious! Terrible footwork and his positioning……

I had the “pleasure” of reviewing him once when a club I worked for thought about signing him…… my report wasn’t exactly complimentary. I suggested promoting one of our academy players over “wasting precious funds on a technically weak player who adds little to no value to the squad”

 

[Gedwolf]

Keep playing like that and we will be relegated. If we can’t impose ourselves on Luton then who can we?
Read an interesting stat on TV that Luton had 31 touches in our box while we had 11. That was during the second half so for the whole match it would have been much higher for Luton than for us.
They were much better than us for most of the game. Yes, we were a man down but they were much better even before the red card.
How do we improve? Where to we go from here. I don’t think we have bad players. But it’s obvious that on top of all our other problems there is a lack of leadership on the pitch. Over to you Gary.

They weren't really any better than us , just more focused, committed, determined and organised

 

[Edmund Dantes]

The players themselves must know GON is substandard and wonder what the hell is going on.
I recall a game at Watford under Solbaken when Roger Johnson had a heated in game touchline row with him over tactics. RJ won and the tactics were changed.

This is it. The modern game demands a lot of different skills and managing high profile players is probably at the top of the list. GoN lacks this completely I imagine.

Honestly, how much did Loptegui want to spend on new players? Compare that amount to having to lose our TV money plus GON's payout when we sack him. And possibly selling mismanaged players at a loss. I'm not sure if this is how the maths are done but I'm curious where these business decisions have got us.

 

[waveney wolf]

Wonder if we'll see Bentley next week: that's consecutive games Sa's cost us with stupid passes when we're at a decent scoreline.

I bloody hope so

 

[Zico]

True though isn’t it

We didn’t we got out played by luton

Your initial comment made no sense.

 

[Mile End Wanderer]

Your initial comment made no sense.

We got out played by luton and the corrupt ref and var officials

Time for us to go down and escape these corrupt people ruining the fair game

 

[derbyrameater]

The game bought back a horrible memory when we played down there, Wolves were farcial, the standout was a free kick just outside the box, Hibbett is setting himself up with Carr I think along side him, instead of shooting a side pass to Carr who is asleep and Luton pitch the ball a few seconds later Goal! IIRC we lost 5-1 but could be dead wrong on the score.

As for today on 5 mins I think it was Lemina, was not being very complimantary to Samedo.

The man is a fraud IMO.

Luton have certainly mastered the dark arts

Many years ago I saw Dalglish have possibly the worst game of his life at that ground.

 

[Hawkguy]

By the rules it isn’t a penalty, though, is it.

Apparently the rules state if a ball is deflected to the hand after hitting the foot AND the ball is not heading towards the goal it is not a penalty.

Mike Dean of all people commented on Sky that an almost exact same incident happened last week between Newcastle and Brentford and no penalty was given.

I’m just fed up with football atm. It’s as if there is an agenda against us nearly every week.

Let’s see if PGMOL have anything to say, shall we.

I dunno, I just went off the rules someone posted in the thread. I couldn't find official premier league rules online.

 

[Raymont]

By the rules it isn’t a penalty, though, is it.

Apparently the rules state if a ball is deflected to the hand after hitting the foot AND the ball is not heading towards the goal it is not a penalty.

Mike Dean of all people commented on Sky that an almost exact same incident happened last week between Newcastle and Brentford and no penalty was given.

I’m just fed up with football atm. It’s as if there is an agenda against us nearly every week.

Let’s see if PGMOL have anything to say, shall we.

The IFAB handball rules removed the deflection language ahead of the 21/22 season in order to just focus on the whether the player's arm position made them "unnaturally bigger" regardless of everything else.

The deflection language that is no longer in the lawbook spoke to specific exceptions of when the player whose hand touched the ball:

• directly from the player’s own head or body (including the foot)
• directly from the head or body (including the foot) of another player who is close

that no offence would be called.

It is clear, however, that some refs are still using a deflection of the ball in their reasoning whether to whistle for an offence, as pointed out by Mike Dean himself. If it's the letter of the law, the question is why.

 

[Kebab Warrior]

We’ve got a really good winger.

We’ve got a complete unit who can get his head on anything.

We’ve got a very talented forward who’d likely play well off a big man.

Why is this equation so hard to solve ffs.

 

[lobodelsur]

Honestly, how much did Loptegui want to spend on new players? Compare that amount to having to lose our TV money plus GON's payout when we sack him. And possibly selling mismanaged players at a loss. I'm not sure if this is how the maths are done but I'm curious where these business decisions have got us.

Add to that the cost of paying off Lopetegui and his entire backroom staff (of 9 ?)

 

[Brixton Wanderer]

I think we’ll see the players down tools within a month to be honest.

Has he already lost them?

 

[WickedWolfie]

Has he already lost them?

Did he ever have them?

 

[Brixton Wanderer]

Did he ever have them?

Good point. Who knows…