Verdict - Norwich

[goldeneyed]

Pathetic. That's all. Worst team in the Premier League, playing at home and nothing. How Bruno thought an attack of the rookie Silva and Podence was going to add up to many goals only he can know. They did nothing at Brentford as a duo and only Podence offered an individual threat. Pathetic bench options today except a presumably exhausted Jiminez. No Adama to bring on for a cavalry charge. Chiqo will need time. Well done Jeff and co in January.

Neto and Hwang can't come back soon enough but another season of a wasted opportunity in the Cup even with a great draw. Disappointed doesn't even begin to describe it. The squad has needed strengthening for 18 months and the failure to do so is the underlying reason why we couldn't even turn over a pathetic Norwich team. Aim low as a club and this is what happens.

 

[JadeWolf]

Blown a massive opportunity. We won’t play a worse side all season than Norwich they’re absolutely ****. We were so so so so so poor though. I really wanted us to do well in the cup. Feel empty and numb. Going for a few drinks to sort my head. What a waste of a game that was.

 

[Joshwolf218]

Poor tactics, poor performance

We move on

 

[old wittonian]

The need for an oven ready back striker to Raul had never been more obvious.

 

[WeAreTheWolvesII]

Jeff Shi’s fault.

Squad is not good or big enough. Which we all knew.

 

[colincameron]

Can podence be relied up on to be the main man? That’s what were hoping for (especially with traore going), but I don’t think he has the strength of character.

Chic looks like a straight out winger who crosses the ball- jarvis-esque.

Jimi I’m convinced is now afraid (somewhere deep in his mind, and understandably so) to head the ball.

Squad is paper thin, which is a genuine shame.

 

[thommo1984]

A shambles from the manager down.

Setup all wrong, tactics wrong, subs wrong and the performance to match.

Really, really annoyed by that, what a waste.

 

[KBWWFC]

That's on Fosun, Jeff, and Sellars.

People on here justified the **** poor transfer window by using the FA cup as an excuse - "we're more likely to qualify for Europe via the cup than being competitive in the league".

There's no justification for the state of our squad.

One dimensional.
No game changers.

4 seasons in a row where we struggle to break down teams that sit back and let us have the ball in midfield because Neves, Donck and Moutinho are all to ponderous and don't probe.

 

[Jamwolf]

Agreed. We needed three up front today.

We deserve to be out, if only for that pathetic first 45 minutes.

 

[reanswolf]

Jeff Shi’s fault.

Squad is not good or big enough. Which we all knew.

Not all.

Some think we are strong enough for top 4 still.

 

[Jack Russell]

The Wolves team of the early 70s would shred this lot!

 

[Bugsy911]

Blown a massive opportunity. We won’t play a worse side all season than Norwich they’re absolutely ****. We were so so so so so poor though. I really wanted us to do well in the cup. Feel empty and numb. Going for a few drinks to sort my head. What a waste of a game that was.

Worryingly they've done a job on us twice now and they'll probably get something when they return in the league as the squad depth is just embarrassing we simply have no options up top.

 

[OLDGOLD]

Poor. Podence at his most petulant and silly today. Fabio....I still,think he has something, I'm just no longer sure what. One dimensional midfield. Semedo, RAN and Chiqo only real outlets today, and none of them in the middle of the pitch.

 

[Perton Wolf]

A sign of things to come under FOSUN as they continue to strip our squad and adequately replace who they have sold. Bruno can only do so much, any manager would struggle having to play Dendoncker at CAM as per the first half. Cheers Jeff.

 

[Vtrpres]

Watching the commentary from 3000 miles away in Cape Verde. Was it as bad as the sky text sounded?

 

[WV10Wolf]

It was crap. It’s a culmination of various things.

Them believing their own press. An awful January window leaving us with next to no options to switch things up. Our forwards inability to get a shot on target. John Ruddy’s inability to track a ball in flight.

I can’t recall many worse first half performances than that.

 

[OLDGOLD]

The Wolves team of the early 70s would shred this lot!

Still, and some of them are dead.

 

[Guzeppi]

My verdict:

1. It is dumb to pay 35million for a clumsy kid who can't head the ball for peanuts.
2. Jimenez is still broken.
3. Back flicks are ridiculous when they don't work.
4. A full house treated with disdain.
5. You wait and you wait for your club to return to playing, and nobody really gives a ****.

 

[freezin]

I'd like to see the Fabio apologists excuse that one.

It was ****ing horrific.
The lad is dog****, dreadfully bad dog ****.

 

[marrs-guitar]

The first half was almost laughable in how lackadaisically we approached the match.

How many years have we had the full week of "we want to progress, the cup is important" and then strolled on to the field with our reserve keeper, already sending out the signal of this isn't really that important.

And so Lage becomes the 19th consecutive Wolves manager that to date has not bought a major trophy to the club, indeed even led the club out on to the field in a major final.

 

[Locks Heath Wolf]

Not sure why but didn’t think we’d win this one. Curse of MOTM..!!

 

[Tring Wolf]

Really poor performance. 5-3-2 hasn’t worked for us since the Raul/Jota season. The lack of pace in the side going forward was really apparent.

Semedo MoM and Chiquinho looked ok. Dendoncker, Moutinho, Podence and Fabio poor.

Paid the price for not having Traore and/or Trincao available.

Ruddy 6
Kilman 6
Coady 6
Toti 6
Semedo 7
Moutinho 5
Neves 6
Dendoncker 5
RAN 6
Podence 5
Fabio 5

Raul 5
Chiquinho 6

Disappointing to lose out on our last chance of silverware this year. Even more so given we didn’t give ourselves the best chance of winning.

Ah well…focus on the league…

 

[Rhoswolf]

Dreadful, await the excuses.

 

[KBWWFC]

Watching the commentary from 3000 miles away in Cape Verde. Was it as bad as the sky text sounded?

I'd rather shove sharps down my Japs eye than watch that again.

 

[Oh Robbie Robie]

Norwich the better side first half, we were better second.
I see some idiots are claiming that Norwich are the worst side in the Prem despite them now winning 4 of their last 5.
This is football, this is what happens. Our own fault as we simply don't get enough men forward and in the penalty area when needed.
Case in point, the cross at the end from Chiquinho was fantastic... no-one there. We're a work in progress... we move on.
Well done Norwich, rode your luck but got your break and then held on. Twice we have now failed to score against them this season.

 

[Parkfieldswolf]

Crap 1st half and only a slightly better second half. We just have nothing going forward. It’s clear Silva is nowhere near ready for top league football and I think it is stunting his progress that we didn’t look to loan him out in the window. My take on it is we just do not create enough from the flanks. I know Semedo has his fan club on here and he does do some good stuff but watch him in a forward position every time he needs back up because he cannot take a man on and get past him. Similarly RAN on the other side only every now and then decides to take his man on and rarely does it result in him getting a ball into the forwards. ****ed off tonight I wanted us to go on a cup run.

 

[WV10Wolf]

The need for an oven ready back striker to Raul had never been more obvious.

A back up to raul? He’s scored 4 league goals, at least 2 of which were penalties. It’s now February.

 

[Hoganstolemywife]

We were rubbish today. Still should probably have won which ways it all about Norwich.

Semedo good. Toti good. Otherwise a **** poor game. Happy Birthday me!

The panic crossing in the second half worried me.

Also - coote is perhaps the worst ref in the league on that showing.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

Fabio was the best player for us today, actually made a few runs and created a bit. Raul might have been tired but he's played like that for 80% of the season so not really sure that's an excuse. Podence, Moutinho, Kilman absolutely awful. Neves did some nice stuff at times but he and Joao just get pressed and can't handle it.

 

[Timberwolf]

Jeff Shi’s fault.

Squad is not good or big enough. Which we all knew.

what a first class load of ****e! That team today should be able to beat Norwich. Sometimes, players and the manager need to own a **** performance.

 

[Ian]

Talk of top 4 and FA Cup final one week, dumped out of the cup by Norwich the next.......
Oh well , always next season.
Silva is as far from being a " generational talent" as I am.
If only we had a transfer window to buy a striker huh....

 

[crash2772]

Can’t win if you don’t score….

Podence was very ineffective. Fabio not ready to lead the line alone up top. Raul wasn’t particularly dangerous after coming on either. In total all 3 were sub par.

Do we have to give Norwich credit for that, an off day for all 3, or simply not good enough?

Probably a combination of things, but there’s no doubt another first team quality striker would have helped.

 

[VancouverWolf]

A very Nunoesque type performance from last season.……relentlessly passing back or sideways and lousy passing at times.
No magic, fight, confidence, urgency or team drive.
The serious lack of goals was always going to catch up with us, so no real surprise.
Definitely not a top 6 performance.

I have wondered if after the summer, and some good new players in, will Bruno be able to make us an attacking side?

 

[Polish Wolf]

It wasn't that bad. In my opinion it wasn't worse that some of the performances in PL where we won (Southampton away for example) and certainly better than the league game at their place, that we managed to draw.

Their goal could have been avoided. I think Ruddy could have done better with his positioning but he made some good saves afterwards, so no way I'm blaming him for the defeat.

We simply lacked the cutting edge. In the last 15 minutes there were multiple good balls played across their box but we had no one at the end of them. We've been talking about our midfield to be too one-paced for ages but we've actually done OK in this area for the whole season. It is the misfiring striker's department where we lack aggression and power, that is hurting us most. Poor planning by the club in the last two transfer windows as it could have been expected that Raul would not be back to his best any time soon.

On the positive side, Toti Gomes again looked really good and Chiquinho had an encouraging debut - he was very direct and his two crosses were superb.

 

[Abbobrom]

Kilman gives away a free kick about two metres in from the corner flag right in front of me. The referee puts the chalk line at least three metres further away from the goal line, totally changing the angle of delivery. It cost us in the end.

 

[Michellis]

Poor.
Most worryingly Jimenez.
And Silva of course.
Never mind.
It’s the FA Cup. A largely irrelevant competition these days.

 

[Ewok vs Wolf]

Jeff Shi’s fault.

Squad is not good or big enough. Which we all knew.

Yawn

 

[Polish Wolf]

Kilman gives away a free kick about two metres in from the corner flag right in front of me. The referee puts the chalk line at least three metres further away from the goal line, totally changing the angle of delivery. It cost us in the end.

I also noticed it! Not too mention that this free kick was very soft, Kilman barely touched the guy in his shoulder.

 

[Rhoswolf]

Fabio was the best player for us today, actually made a few runs and created a bit. Raul might have been tired but he's played like that for 80% of the season so not really sure that's an excuse. Podence, Moutinho, Kilman absolutely awful. Neves did some nice stuff at times but he and Joao just get pressed and can't handle it.

Thought he was ****, but each to their own.

 

[Ches78]

The need for an oven ready back striker to Raul had never been more obvious.

Yep, we've only been crying out for one for the last 2 - 3 years... (same with another central midfield option)