Luton verdict

[Ruitonwolf]

Has he GON yet!!!

 

[Jefe]

Glad you're around anyway, hope things are going OK for you, even if Wolves are doing nothing to help any of our health and tempers.

Thanks, mate. I do feel a bit better now. Ironically, that Wolves are in disarray right now gives me something else to focus on in a weird way.

 

[chignalwolf]

How far we’ve sunk in such short time.

BBN

 

[Ned]

Annoyingly we were starting to get well on top when Bellegarde showed his naivety, even if it was a tad harsh. We weren’t exactly threatening but there were signs that things were falling in to place.

I’d say fair play to GON before the red card for changing the system and steadying the ship after a torrid first 20 where we had to dig in. He definitely deserves some credit for spotting that and changing things.

That said, I can’t fathom why we didn’t bring Sasa on for the last 20 at least. We needed to play in their half and not just hope that Neto could make lightening strike twice with another amazing goal from nothing. We gave up on winning the game to escape with a point which was very disappointing when Luton had no threat or pace on the break, we could have had more of a go for a little longer than we did.

Obviously the penalty was a joke and with an actual decent ref (rocking horse poo) we would have been walking away with 3 points.

Not sure how to feel all in all… we’ve got City next so 3 points would have been handy but we’ve also drawn having gone down to 10 and having a poor penalty given against us. I think I’m disappointed as we weren’t great with 11 and didn’t ever threaten the goal.

Lots of work to do. Lots of growing up to do for some of the players too.

Neto is back.

 

[Will Wolf]

Who was the lower league team?

Ha, good point.

 

[JaycogWolf]

Can we get Edwards in as manager

 

[Fenrir_]

Can we get Edwards in as manager

Just watching him give a very accurate summary of the match, would make a refreshing change, can't wait to hear O'Neil talk about how we controlled the game...

 

[DJW]

Cunha is utterly pointless. Surely Hobbs must be looking for GONs replacement as we speak. Hopefully someone might be looking for Hobbs replacement also.

 

[old wittonian]

Poor VAR, I'll accept, but where's the corruption, are Luton part of the Sky 6 conspiracy?

I think he means they keep getting it wrong against us. It's beyond a joke. It's as if the apology letters are post dated.

 

[Ches78]

At least we didn't lose. And Neto is playing well. Can't think of any other positives.

 

[Incognito]

GON continues with dumb ass in-game decision making. How on earth is he managing our club? Neto - superb goal. Bellegarde stupid to give the ref a sniff of a sending off, which as we know is all they need to send one of our players off. But I finish with GON. **** him off the jacksy ******* **** getting a job at Wolves.

 

[Kcrusader]

Shambles. Neto the shining star. We’re doomed at this rate.

 

[loppers86]

Pedro Neto is back though, baby!

until January.

 

[WickedWolfie]

The only positive is that we didn't lose. Outplayed by a ****e Luton team with zero points. An absolute disgrace. GON has turned us into an exact replica of his utterly crap Bournemouth team of last season in just over a month. Him and his ****ing useless bag-carriers can **** off now and take ****ing Hobbs (obviously an opinionated know-nothing) with him. They all go or we are relegation certainties.

 

[rubyloo]

For the sake of my blood pressure, I hope Jose Sa is dropped soon. The football intelligence of an octopus.

 

[O.W.E.I]

We were crap and we are getting worse under GO every game.
Citeh will only need to send a team of their bar staff to beat us.
O'Neill hasn't got a clue and is completly out of his depth.

Get rid of him NOW before it's too late.

GET GO GONE.

 

[Coshamwolves]

Thank **** for Neto that`s all

Ps. He will be gone in January

 

[The Clock]

Should be pleased with a point given the circumstances.
Should be very concerned with first half performance
I’ve an open mind regarding GON. He wouldn’t have been someone I would have appointed, but he’s here now.
However- I’m wondering about his tactical nouse.
As I predicted in the prediction thread Luton set up to expose our weak right hand side. It’s there, clear and obvious.
So why he deployed Neto on right , when he s better on the left, and the defensively stronger Hwang on the left mystifies me.
Sasa obviously isn’t fit enough, GON recognises Silva is a lightweight and knows Cunha isn’t a striker, so he’s stuck with that until January.
Hard game coming up on Tuesday. Expect us to lose but hope for Fraser to get a couple of goals and a new star to be born.
Even with an open mind and low expectations given the opening fixture list, I’m already wondering if he will be around 1st October

 

[hollo]

Cunha is utterly pointless. Surely Hobbs must be looking for GONs replacement as we speak. Hopefully someone might be looking for Hobbs replacement also.

Ben wrigglesworth would replace Hobbs as they tend to keep it in house.

 

[Jeru360]

Hobbs tried to be the smartest guy in the room by hiring someone absolutely no one would have guessed banking that he would be the most underrated managerial signing of the season. What a genius! This is what happens when you try to get cute.

 

[NewarkWolf]

I’ve been more surprised that Sasa hasn’t been brought on in either of the last two games to offer a different approach when our play it through the opposition style just isn’t producing.

Certainly against Liverpool putting a more like for like silva on for Cunha over Sasa was worrying. Not seeing him at all today when we were reduced to having to play a more longer game and deeper line due to the sending off is also strange

 

[JadeWolf]

Never a penalty but that probably papers over the fact we were awful.

 

[Aimless Balls]

Bouba did quite well off the bench I thought.

 

[Wonder Boyo]

Been giving GON the benefit of the doubt but can't fool myself any longer. He's obviously out of his depth with regards to tactics, motivation and how he handles himself as a spokesman for the club. He's also put together an uninspiring bunch of journeyman coaches who appear to miles away in expertise in comparison to Nuno's and Lopetegui's backroom staff. It's all super uninspiring.

This is his post match quote. It's all about aiming low and struggling on. It's also nonsense. Can't blame him so much but you can blame Shi and Hobbs.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1705622874109657105

 

[cannockwolves]

Been out all day, so only just caught the highlights. I don't understand the penalty. It took a massive deflection off his leg, really harsh.

Great goal by Neto.

By reading the verdict threads O'Neil is getting pelters again. Has he been here a month or so? And lost £130m of talent?

You have to look at this from Luton's point of view. They must win 8 - 10 games at home to have any chance of staying up. This would have been one of those games, they didn't and against 10 men for 50mins and they were gifted a harsh pen.

I think it's a much worse result for them

Statistically we have the 3rd hardest start to the season, and that improves to the 6th hardest after 10 games.

I would have loved a win, but we regroup and go again.

 

[sillytuna]

I've said previously that managers tend to speak nonsense (because what are they really supposed to say?). I must admit though, O'Neil's post match chats take the biscuit.

 

[sillytuna]

By reading the verdict threads O'Neil is getting pelters again. Has he been here a month or so? And lost £130m of talent?

It was the performance right from the off. We had 3 shots - one a wonder goal from nothing and 2 from the same move, a Neto set piece cross. We had no shots at all and not a sniff in the first half.

 

[Fifty Niner]

I think GON will see it as two points lost because of the referee and VAR or a point gained after a silly red card.

The performance itself was meh.

 

[Bradstonian]

Having scored a hatful of goals against Luton only very recently, under JuLop, in the preseason friendly, I expected us to get more than just the solitary one in this game, although I do understand that the sending-off made things difficult.

 

[bigbluewolf]

Just watched three minutes of highlights on Sky Sports. We made Luton look like Man City.

God help us next week against the real thing.

 

[Wolowolf6]

Four players stood out for me - and not all for the right reasons.

Neto was the standout and without him, I believe we would’ve lost that game. Dawson seemed to a least be trying to marshal the defence in the second half.

I thought both Sa and Semedo were Stevie Wonder bad.

 

[wallace]

Eye of the tiger manager. We have a rubbish coach and his tactics, , a pathetic decision on the penalty, a stupid reaction by ******* getting sent off and a good quality championship squad.
A wonder goal from a superb Neto at least gave us the old glow for a few minutes.

 

[Dingle Chris]

Please please please sack GON now. We were genuinely worse with 11 men. A Pedro Neto wondergoal has saved him today.

How can he have Sasa, Sarabia and Fabio on the bench and not use a single one of them?

I hate GON's Wolves- we have gone from 1.34 points a game under Lopetegui to 0.66 points a game under GON and with Man City up next that will be down to 0.5 points a game.

19 points isn't going to keep us up!

Agreed, he has to go. An absolutely awful appointment. I’m not sure what the powers that be thought when they gave him a three year contract.

 

[Fifty Niner]

Been giving GON the benefit of the doubt but can't fool myself any longer. He's obviously out of his depth with regards to tactics, motivation and how he handles himself as a spokesman for the club. He's also put together an uninspiring bunch of journeyman coaches who appear to miles away in expertise in comparison to Nuno's and Lopetegui's backroom staff. It's all super uninspiring.

This is his post match quote. It's all about aiming low and struggling on. It's also nonsense. Can't blame him so much but you can blame Shi and Hobbs.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1705622874109657105

That’s very depressing

 

[Monketron]

I understand it takes time for a new manager to get his vision across and set the team up to play how he wants the team to play. But we're 6 games in now and I honestly couldn't tell you what we're trying to do? I don't even think O'Neil knows what he's trying to do.

Our midfield is chock-full of good runners and blockers but we've got no one like Neves or Moutinho who can put their foot on the ball and actually control the pace of the game or keep possession under pressure. All the talk of needing a striker but a ball-playing midfielder is probably needed just as much.

 

[Ned]

Been giving GON the benefit of the doubt but can't fool myself any longer. He's obviously out of his depth with regards to tactics, motivation and how he handles himself as a spokesman for the club. He's also put together an uninspiring bunch of journeyman coaches who appear to miles away in expertise in comparison to Nuno's and Lopetegui's backroom staff. It's all super uninspiring.

This is his post match quote. It's all about aiming low and struggling on. It's also nonsense. Can't blame him so much but you can blame Shi and Hobbs.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1705622874109657105

The backroom staff is what had me worried more than GON himself. I thought that if he could get some good and respected people around him then it might be ok - as it stands I’m getting Lage and Lage backroom vibes from all of this.

Going back to the summer, I just ****ing knew that we would be scrambling around at the end of the summer for a new manager and backroom staff… it was as clear as day and an outcome that was always going to happen. Why we didn’t react a month or so earlier I will never know.

Anyway. Let’s hope something clicks and all works out alright.

 

[John Wolves Fan]

A point away at a tough ground where we had 10 men for most of it,

There are reasons to be proud of the performance today.

 

[Andywolf74]

I predicted 1-1 earlier on here in the week. Thought it was definitely ball to hand and not the other way round but in fairness Luton deserved a point.
A wonder goal from Neto and I thought Bouba was pretty good when he came on. Sa seems to drop a major clanger most games now and I think Doherty should start ahead of Semedo. Silly red from Bellegarde too.
What concerns me most was we couldn’t manage any sustained pressure when it was 11 v 11.
Realistically, I see nothing other than a loss at home to Man City, so may as well put a full strength side out at Ipswich, which will be a tough game.

 

[Bradstonian]

I’m probably the only person on this forum not surprised that Luton have a bit of spirit about them and are capable of giving other sides a game. In fact, it’s cringeworthy to hear some fans talking as if they expected us to just turn up and win easily. They only conceded one at Fulham, and though they lost at home to West Ham, it was just by the odd goal. Let’s have some perspective.

 

[Westbakejazz]

Horrible watch with the most worrying spell being the first 25 mins when we had 11 v 11 and we’re thoroughly outplayed, outthought and outfought by a very limited Luton. No shot in the first half. And that’s not even no shot on target. No shot of any description.

Only positives were Neto who ran himself into ground with no support and scored an absolute worldie. And RAN defended well in the first half (can only assume his removal at half-time was due to an injury).

Thought the move to 3 at the back was correct (as I said in the Comms thread, exactly how I’d have gone) but the Cunha sub took away any element of attacking intent and just invited pressure back onto us. I wanted Traore on but for Gomes who was clearly flagging and then Sasa for Cunha with Neto able to play off him.

Instead, we ended up with Sa repeatedly launching goal-kicks off the floor to Neto who was up against 3 centre-backs and repeatedly giving them the ball back. At the very least, aim for Doherty like we used to do under Nuno.

Ref was awful but doesn’t excuse our performance.

Sa 5
Semedo 5
Dawson 6
Kilman 6
RAN 7
Gomes 6
Lemina 6
Hwang 5
Cunha 5
Neto 8

Toti 6
Doherty 6
Traore 6

Said on the other thread, as much as I hate to say it, I’d already be looking at alternatives. Otherwise I can see us sitting on 10-12 points after 15 games again. But without a JL to save us.

What a mess we’ve made of this Summer.

Semedo a 5 . Good god did you watch it.