Verdict Season: 21/22.

[wolfgar]

An odd one really. We played some decent stuff at times (but not often enough), and were pretty good at finding ways to win up until the final months of the season. Everyone would have taken 10th before things kicked off, but its hard not to feel disappointed with the way its ended. We found ourselves in an excellent position in Jan and we showed no intent whatsoever to build on that momentum. Infact we actually weakened our squad and made a bizarre decision to splash out £14 million on a player who isn't even able to trap a ball when we didn't need to? We of course then predictably get a few key injuries and all of a sudden the performances and the atmosphere within the clubs take a nosedive, and nobody really looked all that ***** lets be honest.

Such a strange season really. This is now a huge summer that we are going into (£4/5 million poorer than we should be). God knows if they'll keep Lage or whether they'll properly back him? God knows if the recruitment team have what it takes to sign the quality we need (we're all a little sceptical I'm sure)? God knows what our squad even looks like come August?

 

[kentish wolf]

So disappointed at our very poor efforts since February.
Is it Lage's tactics?
Is it the players attitude?
Is it Fosun's lack of investment in the transfer window ?
I don't expect us to be up there with the Billy big B*ll*cks clubs but the last 15 games or so have been Awful!!
To FOSUN......
Unless there is some decent investment in the summer then it will.be ,bottom 6/8
Or worse next season!

 

[Oliwolf44]

Got very difficult to defend Lage in the second half of the season, players not motivated, poor subs and selections. While talking in front of the camera (so always take with a pinch of salt) Coady said this manager was brilliant tactically and really enjoyed his coaching and was a breath of fresh air after Nuno. That seems to have dissipated fast.
I would still stick with him but if the board dont believe hes the man, then with the massive rebuild we need you have to put that in the hands of the manager who you think is the right choice. Is it possible though that if no investment or the next man in isnt a good choice it will be soon be the board who are under massive scrutiny? Could we get into a situation where Lage is the fall guy and the board shield taking all the criticism?

Wouldnt blame Lage for the very end of season though, the performance from Brighton onwards was clear the players had given up and there was no effort. Doesnt matter what formation or selection you make, if the players arent up for it and down tools then you will lose matches in the premier league.

Amazing to think we finished only 2 points over supposedly relegated at Christmas Newcastle. Really poor second half of the season.

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

Just for a bit of perspective, we did about as was expected overall, maybe slightly better. It's the last few months that killed me really.

17th - 13th- 10th - 7th. What do you expect for next year. What type of team are we ? Poll

Relegation, Survival , consistency, a top ten team , back in Europe. Top six ! Today -What type of team are we in your eyes . For me it’s becoming clearer as we get a week away. Probably 13th .

www.molineuxmix.co.uk

 

[Fifty Niner]

So disappointed at our very poor efforts since February.
Is it Lage's tactics?
Is it the players attitude?
Is it Fosun's lack of investment in the transfer window ?
I don't expect us to be up there with the Billy big B*ll*cks clubs but the last 15 games or so have been Awful!!
To FOSUN......
Unless there is some decent investment in the summer then it will.be ,bottom 6/8
Or worse next season!

17 points from our last 18 games, I think it is. No wins in our last 7. I worry Neves, Saiss and maybe one other will be sold and a couple of first team replacements will be bought, like for like. Any other additions will be ‘for the future’ types.

 

[Bryce]

Sa
Jonny Kilman Tito Ait Nouri
New Moutinho
Chiquinho New Neto
New

Sarkic
Coady
Dendoncker
Boly
Hwang
Yerson
Fabio
Hoever
Cundle
New MF


Thats just for starters. If we could upgrade one of the centre halves I would be happy to plus strengthen our attacking options. Rumours already around Guedes. I guess that means I would be ok with Saiss, Ruddy, Marcal, Traore, Podence, Gibbs- White, Neves (Reluctantly) Raul, Semedo all leaving to raise some money that we absolutely have to re-invest in the squad. The replacements must be ready to go. Its no good investing in potential.

Rumours online( google is your friend) still that Athletico Madrid want Semedo and Bayern Raul. Can see Gibbs White staying at Sheffield for say 10m? Coady could be a surprise target for Newcastle who desperately need a leader. Saiss, Ruddy, Marcal all free but Traore 10m, Podence 15m, Neves 40m, Raul 20m, Semedo 20m gives you a 105m kitty to re-build.

I have very little faith in our recruitment team to actually deliver what we need , but I hope to be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Clipboard]

17 points from our last 18 games, I think it is. No wins in our last 7. I worry Neves, Saiss and maybe one other will be sold and a couple of first team replacements will be bought, like for like. Any other additions will be ‘for the future’ types.

Lets hope they are going to be "like for like" - i do worry about the competence of those trying to make this happen!

 

[Black Country Wanderer]

Trying to be objective, we got 28 points in the first 19 games and 23 points in the last 19. So not a massive difference really. So what's that say 20% less? But it felt like the second half was much, much worse? And u can only out that down to the poor entertainment value; we're just awful to watch.

5 points from the last 9 games and most were winnable is why it was worse
Performances since that Leeds game have been abject,just a few 10 minute spells here and there to give any hope
Even the wins we got this season were mostly by the skin of our teeth,i think there were possibly 3/4 games where we absolutely deserved the points,ok there were a few defeats that were harsh too but not many
Is it the players, or the manager, or both? Idk possibly both to a degree i guess,but it needs a clear out now whatever that may bring

 

[Very Proud (AKA Still Proud)]

Came away from Anfield yesterday more relieved it's over, looking forward to the next couple of months of doing something else that doesn't have me checking the calendar to see if we have a game on at some weird time. Sunday away games have become a real chore in particular, given British Rail's insistence in making a 90 minute journey into 3 hours. Decided in the end to hang up my away game boots yesterday.

It's no disaster but having had such a gap over 9th place for so long to then throw away two places on the last day is inexcusable. We do the usual and can't beat Narwich and Burnley but these games have not been tempered by marauding wins over the top six with only a couple of exceptions.

The most damning thing about this and last season is we have lost momentum, which is really hard to get back once it's gone. Social Media sites for Mexico, Portugal and South Korea are fine but can't see a clamour from these country's to join the party given the fayre on offer.

Less of a drag than 19/21 but only just. Feels like we've hit a Lambert type crossroads and something big needs to happen in the summer or next season will see us start to lose home support and start to compete in the bottom half of the table

 

[Krispy Kreme]

Just lost all interest if I'm honest.

Spoke before about personal circumstances young son just born etc.

What used to be an escape felt like a chore.

The football has been boring, £33 per goal it has cost this year I'm told.

Fosun don't care about me.

Club has got much more commercial.

Cant stand Gemma Frith and all she stands for she is nothing to do with my club and shouldn't represent us.

Getting beaten to signings like Kamara by the Villa.

The buy to sell policy Marcal spoke of.

I will be down even less next season I imagine.

Fell out of love with modern football, I am not a customer I am a wolves fan.

 

[Fifty Niner]

Lets hope they are going to be "like for like" - i do worry about the competence of those trying to make this happen!

I think many of us are concerned about Moxey MkII Sellars and his self projected ‘bargain basement’ mentality.

 

[Contrarian]

Very much 20/21 Part 2: The Return of the Tedium.

I struggle to see the season in isolation. Previous seasons are connected, this was the inevitable result of what went before. No player refresh worth mentioning, the owners went for the cheap option - "New Manager Bounce". Which we did get, for a while. Though eventually, the players reverted to what they know best. I remember some newspaper used to give "Entertainment Ratings" for teams after matches, as well as "Player ratings". Would love to see what ours is this season. Overall, I think it would be slightly higher than last season. But not by very much.

We did play some good football at times. Never seemed to build on it, though. Which has been the story of the past 3 seasons. It never got as bad as the depths we plumbed in last seasons 0-0 v Chelsea, the 25 mins knocking the ball around our half way line against 9 man Arsenal, before nearly conceding at the end, the Chorley embarrasment, abysmal anti-football against 3 teams adrift at the bottom, and so on, just to remind those who may have (sensibly) blotted out the horrors of last season!

Though most had us down as struggling, finishing 10th on paper looks decent, the problem is that no issues have been addressed this season. Third season in a row of drifting on autopilot, some players not good enough, and others who are, doing "just enough" to keep us mid table. At least we did the double over Villa! That 3-2 will be the one thing I will remember this season for.

 

[wallace]

FInished 10th due to tbe team Nuno assembled and trained into good habits but that is breaking up now for a new era of playing staff. I fail to see Bruno being a top manager more a good assistant. Fosun seem reluctant to build on our previous seasons with a few limited signings rather than bringing in 1st team quality more in the mould of Southampton and Leeds with limited ambition to invest. Being top 6 is a dream but we are a midtable club with an average size stadium and support so above halfway is success for us as a club.

 

[David Hill]

I think that I have watched/attended every game this season. My overall memory of the whole season is that we are far too often playing too deep and defensive. This is due at least in part to the overall energy levels in the squad, we need 5 at the back to cover off the gaps that can be created in our central defence, the midfield of Neves, Moutinho and Dendonker have little or no pace to inject momentum going forwards which often means we are playing sideways or backwards around the half way line or deeper. I find it harder to judge the forward line as a consequence as they are often lacking any significant support but no one has stood out like Jiminez, Jota or Neto have previously done and so we have often struggled to create many scoring chances in a game. There has been some outstanding contributions perhaps most notably Kilman and Sa and the wing-backs RAN and Semedo both showing some promise but overall I think our position of 10th is still somewhat flattering on the performances I have seen.

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

What’s your overall verdict on this season?

Meh,

At the very beginning, performance was great with no end product.

Performance then suffered as results improved aided by a well drilled defence and a magnificent Jose Sa.

Injuries and squad unrest on top of dwindling performances halted our chances of Europe.

Had the season happened in reverse we'd rightly be excited for next season, however most are concerned for the future.

 

[Ironfistedmonk]

A season of 2 halves, first half was better than I expected and we looked quite solid and picked up a few results, second half a bit of a shambles with some really poor performances and a panicky defence, the recent performances are very worrying

 

[HowfenWolf]

One to forget - team lacking in quality & no end product.

 

[thommo1984]

I (could but) won't repeat what many have said. While you can find both (some) positives and (many more) negatives, the second half of the season hasn't been anywhere near good enough and personally I think Bruno is way, way out of his depth. The fact he's the cheapest manager in the league speaks absolute volumes.

Most worrying thing for me though is that we feel like an absolute shell of the club (not just team) that got promoted. No idea what happened or where we go from here, but it's a real shame and I don't trust the people with the power right now to turn the momentum around. Huge summer, but we should never have allowed it to get to this point so all my expectations have gone.

 

[Golden Oldie]

A season of wildly differing performances ended with a nightmarish run of seven games without a win,
and for those who saw the games live it seems we got what we deserved.
Instead of looking forward to another season in the Premier League it is with no little trepidation I look
to the arrival of season 22/23, with the word relegation sitting ominously close the forefront of my mind.

 

[Berlin Wolf]

Daily Mail Verdict - Grade C.
Mentions the riot chant!

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS

Final position: 10th

Wolves' season is essentially ending in mutiny, with fans chanting 'you'll have a riot on your hands' at their last home game against Norwich if they sell Ruben Neves.

The Portuguese star could bring in £70million and manager Bruno Lage has already said he wants to overhaul his squad in the summer. But it shows how high expectations have become at Molineux.

A comfortable top half finish, just missing out on a return to Europe, in Lage's first season looks great on the surface of it. They came a lowly 13th last season.

Whether £70m-rated Ruben Neves stays or leaves looks set to dominate the summer at Wolves.
But not everything is sweetness and light, with plenty hinging on how Lage plans to go about this revamp in the summer.

Their home record over the last two seasons has been terrible - 17 defeats at Molineux since September 2020. The difference being that the fans have had to watch it this time around.

A disappointing conclusion to the campaign, with losses to Newcastle, Burnley and Brighton in the final weeks, has also cast a pall over encouraging displays earlier on.

There has been forward progress under Bruno Lage but now he wants to revamp the squad.
Europe's elite clubs are sniffing around Neves and Wolves' fans may have to surrender to the inevitable. They'll hope the transfer fee is reinvested cleverly.

There have been enough signs of progress under Lage, however, to look forward to next season with some optimism.

Grade: C

Source - Part Two of Sportsmail's Premier League end-of-term report cards