West Ham Verdict

[Norway Wolves]

No point Fabio being on the pitch ??? What a pity you did not watch the game. He was our best player.

He ran around alot, but look at that occasion when he got on the end of a long kick from Sa. No pace whatsoever and just didn't have an idea of what to do in that situation.

 

[Jay Jay de Wolf]

I know Bruno wants 2 strong players for each position in the 11 starters. But he ain't got that luxury yet with our small squad has he?
Ok Nelson Semedo was injured had to change there. Imho that starting eleven was much weaker and gave us little chance of beating West Ham. Especially with a toothless attacking starting lineup as that was? One of lowest scorers in the PL we were never going to score this afternoon.

We have to start with our strongest 11 to compete for Europe.. We are no where near as Man City's squad yet that we can rotate the Wolves squad as we did today?

 

[Super NES]

That was another poor display - we just don't play with any urgency until we concede. And when we do, we still don't look like creating much.

Saiss hasn't looked the same since the African Nations Cup - went AWOL for the goal and seriously tempted to bring back Boly or Toti back into the fold.

Hoever simply isn't ready - maybe it's a confidence thing but poor with the ball, hesitant in decision making and just looks lightweight.

Dendoncker needs to take some responsibility on the ball. Everytime turned back, simple way out and just offered nothing. In addition was weak in possession and lost it in dangerous positions a few times - not good enough.

Trincao was normal Trincao. He needs to be coming off from the bench and playing behind the striker. He's a clever player, but not a winger and offers little in his current role.

Everyone else was workmanlike but nothing more. Fabio was the best of the bunch for me, plenty of effort and willingness but seemed to lose his way when Raul came on.

We have folded when it really mattered unfortunately with these 2 big defeats - watch us get back to winning ways next week when the pressure is off.

 

[Hot Fuss]

To be honest as soon as I saw the line up I knew we were ****ed.

 

[CelebrityWolf]

Pretty awful and highlights how poor our transfer work has been. Our squad outside of about 14 players is poor. Hwang and Trincao today were truly dreadful, 40 million for those two is terrible business and a million miles away from the days of Jota or a flying Neto which is a shame as we are supposed to be progressing, not regressing.

I said a few weeks back that if our defence begins to falter we won't be winning many and today we could and should have conceded a couple more, some keystone cops stuff. Kilman way off his game as well, he looked second rate a few times today. Perhaps he is distracted.

Marcal and Hoever as wing backs were awful as well, light years behind RAN and Semedo.

Silva, to his credit, at least wanted it and had a good second half.

 

[5150]

Not watched just followed on here... can someone explain 61% poss and 14 shots !

 

[Cousins78]

Where can you start and end with that,I thought west ham weren't particularly great but they were better than us. The goal was an embarrassment neves, coady, hoever and Kilman all standing still. Moving onto Hoever he just doesn't fill me with confidence he will be a future player for us, his positioning is awful, his crossing is dire and he was so lazy at times it was untrue. Over on the other side Marcal offered nothing but scares me everytime the opposition come forward. Moving onto midfield or lack of midfield, neves has had a pretty poor couple of games now not sure if the impending ban is playing on his mind but he had no aggression in his play, at least he had a shot on target though. donk was woeful today, did neither defensive duties or get forward, complete waste of space. Now my biggest concern, in fact I give up on him now - Trincao if we pay the money for him in the summer than the club should get rid of shi and sellers for all I care, he is useless. Silva tried hard but it's just not working for him and I could say the same about Jimenez when he came on. Neto looked sharp, has to start against palace even if we get 60 mins out of him. Overall 2 hugely damaging results but the performances are the concerning thing. Lage has been brilliant with what he has had but not sure his tactics have worked at all this week.

 

[Wolf in Kenilworth]

Trincao and Hwang today were 2 wasted places. Dendoncker **** and Hoever abysmal.

 

[Wolf316]

That was another poor display - we just don't play with any urgency until we concede. And when we do, we still don't look like creating much.

Saiss hasn't looked the same since the African Nations Cup - went AWOL for the goal and seriously tempted to bring back Boly or Toti back into the fold.

Hoever simply isn't ready - maybe it's a confidence thing but poor with the ball, hesitant in decision making and just looks lightweight.

Dendoncker needs to take some responsibility on the ball. Everytime turned back, simple way out and just offered nothing. In addition was weak in possession and lost it in dangerous positions a few times - not good enough.

Trincao was normal Trincao. He needs to be coming off from the bench and playing behind the striker. He's a clever player, but not a winger and offers little in his current role.

Everyone else was workmanlike but nothing more. Fabio was the best of the bunch for me, plenty of effort and willingness but seemed to lose his way when Raul came on.

We have folded when it really mattered unfortunately with these 2 big defeats - watch us get back to winning ways next week when the pressure is off.

He needs to be on the next plane back to Barcelona.

 

[Wagstaffe Was Magic]

We probably lost it on the selection.

West Ham were on a relatively poor run so to put out a weaker side against a team perhaps short in confidence is poor psychology on Bruno’s part.

Having said that, we’re nowhere near good enough for European qualification and have just punched above our weight lately.

Have we had even one convincing win this season?? All seemed almost stolen while clinging on for dear life, time wasting and begging for the final whistle

 

[woop woop barmy army]

Trincao and Hwang today were 2 wasted places. Dendoncker **** and Hoever abysmal.

Thought hwang started well then just faded.

 

[Tring Wolf]

Not watched just followed on here... can someone explain 61% poss and 14 shots !

Vast majority backwards. We had a throw-in right by their corner flag at one point and 4 passes later it was back with Sa. Infuriating!

Lots of speculative attempts from ridiculous positions but didn’t create a chance of note.

 

[Metal Wolf89]

Playing five at the back means our WB's have to offer something going forward. However Marcal and Hoever offer nothing, limiting our ability to be a threat.

Hoever, Marcal, Trincao, and Dendoncker need moving on, not good enough for the premier league.

 

[drewsie]

We looked slow and lethargic. Far too slow on the ball and the amount of times we allowed West Ham to nip in and take the ball off us was infuriating.

Don’t get me started on the faffing around at the back.

Apart from Fabio and Sá, none of the starting eleven can say they don’t deserve the Criticism for that performance.

I don’t often knock them to be fair and always try and see through some of the negative stuff in here and Twitter. But, today….good grief!

 

[steve vena]

Well basically it feels like we have thrown that game.

As soon as we saw the line up with so many physically weak players that was it, and it turned out exactly how we expected.

No point ever Fabio or Trincao being on the pitch again.

This one is on Bruno though.

Fabio did rally well tbh.

 

[Stee]

Only tried to attack after conceding, same old ****ing story.

I am sick to death of our negative nancy approach. I know it's getting us the points but we won't be able to win so many points on so few goals every season.

I don't enjoy watching us play and I hate feeling this way. Would rather we went back to how we looked opening 3 games and threw more caution to the wind.

Meh.

 

[Sutton Wolf]

A game too far for Kilman.
I didn't realize that Hwang was on the pitch in the second half until he was substituted.
Apart from Neves, we were useless.
Lage treated West Ham like world beaters. FFS.

I think his mind was elsewhere with family in Russia and Ukraine

 

[Supadavewolf]

I have seen some godawful performances in a Wolves shirt, and today Hoever's was up (or down) there with them.

Can't tackle, can't pass, can't read opposition movement, positionally all over the place.

A not-match-fit Jonny has to be a better bet.

 

[Monketron]

Not watched just followed on here... can someone explain 61% poss and 14 shots !

Most of the possession was in our own half or nowhere near the West Ham end. All but 1 of the shots had very low xG value, either too far out or too many West Ham players blocking the line to goal. That's been our problem all season, carving out high xG chances, something we seem to struggle to do because we rarely overload teams in attack.

 

[drewsie]

Fabio did rally well tbh.

The only positive to be fair.

Don’t want to say this too loudly, but I think we are finally starting to see a glimmer from the lad.

 

[Bacon Sandwich]

Sa - did well, still mad so that's OK
Hoever - Championship defender. Liverpool had our trousers down
Max - not great but obvious excuse right now
Coady - **** me, they're making another series of the Antonio Bullies Coady Show
Saiss - Love him for the Battle of the Riverside but not good enough for where we're going
Marcal - as ugly as my next door neighbour. Wont be wearing #5 next year thank God
Neves - **** me, Ruben, you dictate the tempo of our play and it is TOO ****ING SLOW
Donk - others will say it for me
Hwang - £14m?? You could find better, younger players in the Championship
Fabio - worth nowhere near £35m but did emerge with some credit
Trincao - two things which cannot exist in the same sentence: "Trincao" and "50/50 ball"

 

[wallace]

Needed that extra man in midfield again today.
Sa eccentric as ever 7
Hoever worked hard 6
Kilman a steady game 7
Coady average 6
Saiss as above 6
Marcal solid 6
Dendonker in and out of the game 6
Neves tried to make things work 7
Hwang ran all over without having much of a chance were we want him 6
Silva had a decent performance for a young man asked to lead the line 7
Trincao who? 5
Neto more exciting in his 15 mins than from any other 7
Jimenez on to late to get into it 6
Podence again to late for him to come on and make is mark 6
That lack of getting 3 extra players at the start of the season is leaving us short again as in the previous season.

 

[jrpb-3]

Not watched just followed on here... can someone explain 61% poss and 14 shots !

Nunoesque like performance from west Ham second half quite happy to let us have the ball and hit us on the break as all we did was pass it around in front of them which was easy for them to defend, No pass or width from us meaning never any space for the front players to play in. Started to stretch them a bit more once Podence, and Neto came on

 

[Royal wolf]

The only positive to be fair.

Don’t want to say this too loudly, but I think we are finally starting to see a glimmer from the lad.

Fabio would score a few in a better team

 

[Contrarian]

Honestly, it's time some on here accept the fact that we've been frequently off the pace since the turn of the year.

Which year? Todays performance was a repeat of so many since the return from lockdown in 2020. Sometimes we snatch a point, sometimes even 3, but the pattern of play always the same. "Slow. Slow. Quick. err.. Misplaced-pass lets try again even slower". Could easily reel off a list of matches where the same thing happened. No urgency, created nothing..

Return of Hwang, Neto, Mosquera, Boly, Jonny, won't make up for consecutive failed transfer windows and the glaring weaknesses within our squad which continue to go unaddressed.

Results have been papering over the cracks, we've been riding our luck and it's caught up with us the past two games.

And yes, I am aware of our league position.

It showed how much we rely on our best XI being 100% on it. Including Raul, Moutinho, Semedo. Neto looked bright and has looked more likely to threaten to create something than any of the others.

Of course, Saiss will get the blame due to the microscopic analysis of the goal we conceded, never mind that West Ham had chances for score more and "Nil" actually flattered us, so pathetic was our attack. I suppose we can see why West Ham kept the cat kicker in, despite the outcry. He had Fabio (well, all of our forwards TBH) in his pocket for the whole match. For all Fabio's effort, the end result was he looked a league lower than this - same for Hoever and Trincao (only without even the effort).

 

[Wolfyyy]

Lage has done a great job for us since the start. But him setting up the team to play overly cautious with the frequent back passes drives me up the wall. That, and his preference at times to just try to see a game out with just a one goal lead very early in the game, along with the time wasting antics. In the PL, we can easily get punished for that, as it has been apparent for a couple of times now.

Hwang is effective only when someone plays close to him. I think if we go 352, he should go up front along with Jimenez. Other then that, he doesn't, and can't do much when being isolated up front. Appreciate Fabio's effort, but he still a far cry from peak Jimenez and Kevin doyle, who were so good at holding the ball up front and the bring the rest of the attack together. We sorely missed that. The Jimenez now is really a ghost of himself. He loses the ball so much more often these days, and doesn't look as pacey as he used to be before. That, coupled with his head injury. I think its evident to us all that his aerial prowess is no longer there this season. Dendoncker as much as he is capable in the defensive side of things, can be really slow in his reactions quite often. Trincao is good with his feet, but his pace and body strength are simply not there for him to be able to thrive in the PL. Podence is only only in form player up front. He can't do things alone. Neto looks promising. I hope he starts to getting into first time starting line up whenever we go 3 up front.

Neves could really use another reliable partner beside him, when Moutinho is no longer around.

I honestly hope the team tries to get into Europa at least. If not, retaining our top players as well as attracting the next tier of talent are going to be increasingly uphill tasks for the next coming season.

 

[Fenrir_]

Third game in a row we have been awful. I am starting to think that our good defensive record was not because we can defend, but due to other teams not taking advantage of mistakes.

Careful, both me and @jwolfie91 have been hammered in recent weeks for suggesting our defense - despite its record - wasn't actually the second best in the league

 

[Ian C]

When do ANY of our players ever get the ball at their feet and take on an opponent in the final third heading goalward? Never, that’s when. It’s a complete ****ing snooze festival.

 

[fleck1]

I won't bother reading through as I'm sure there will be plenty of OTT rubbish. Disappointing today, for me this one is on Bruno. Selection set the tone for the result and performance, wing backs provide our width and pace out wide and no Semedo was a big loss, but to then leave RAN on the bench is baffling. Dendonker in a 3 yes, in a 2 not a chance he creates nothing all the opposition has to do is shut down Neves and we are creating nothing. Has to be one of the slowest starting lineups the Premier League had ever seen, I don't like to call players out and I know he's only a kid and been in and out of the squad but Hoever was absolutely dreadful for 90 mins. The only player that can come off that pitch with the head up is Fabio, who put himself about while spending 90 mins totally isolated. We seem to have put ourselves in a position to compete for European places with exciting wins and performances away at Utd & Spurs but now everyone is talking about we look to scared to lose to actually try and win...

 

[hollo]

Not watched just followed on here... can someone explain 61% poss and 14 shots !

A lot of hopeful long range shots that rebounded back off the leg of a west ham player or sailed way over the bar. Lots of fancy flicks in the penalty area that were intercepted.

 

[northnorfolkwolf]

We looked slow and lethargic. Far too slow on the ball and the amount of times we allowed West Ham to nip in and take the ball off us was infuriating.

Don’t get me started on the faffing around at the back.

Apart from Fabio and Sá, none of the starting eleven can say they don’t deserve the Criticism for that performance.

I don’t often knock them to be fair and always try and see through some of the negative stuff in here and Twitter. But, today….good grief!

So much wrong with today but I have to highlight the playing around at the back. Even towards the end, 1-0 down with 4 forwards on the pitch Kilman was pushing the ball to Coady, then back again, then to Saiss. WTF????

 

[Royal wolf]

Christ Lage doesn’t half waffle on does he

 

[Aimless Balls]

Not watched just followed on here... can someone explain 61% poss and 14 shots !

The possession was in our half and I’d guess 11 of the shots were blocked and one on target.

 

[Ian C]

He ran around alot, but look at that occasion when he got on the end of a long kick from Sa. No pace whatsoever and just didn't have an idea of what to do in that situation.

He’s plenty pace, he’s just got no support. It’s exactly the same with Raul up top, they’re not up top. It’s criminal to watch, Neves and Dendonker about 100 miles away and no movement anywhere.

 

[Deleted member 9202LYK]

I’m sick of seeing us spend the first half retreating from the edge of the opponents box back to our keeper and then spending the second half trying ridiculous back heels like we are the Haarlem Globetrotters.

We may be quite high in the premier league (a shop window for our player trading is all that fosun seem to want) but I don’t enjoy watching this garbage every week.

It makes it worse when you know we’re going to sell Neves and Neto in the summer and Europe was pretty much our last chance of keeping them.

I don’t usually slag off players but there a few who deserve a special mention today because I don’t think they were trying (Dendoncker, Trincao, Hwang) and one who deserves a special mention for being terrible (Hoever).

We missed Semedo from the moment he went off at Arsenal and we only looked half as good in defence without him today.

Fabio is starting to look a handful and Zuma knew he had been in a game.

 

[Super NES]

He needs to be on the next plane back to Barcelona.

I don't disagree he has looked poor most of the time he has played and I think he lacks the mental toughness for this league.

But put him behind a striker and I think he will be much more effective than what he is atm (which isn't too difficult granted!!)

 

[rubyloo]

Our season ended on Thursday night.

 

[Super NES]

I know Bruno wants 2 strong players for each position in the 11 starters. But he ain't got that luxury yet with our small squad has he?
Ok Nelson Semedo was injured had to change there. Imho that starting eleven was much weaker and gave us little chance of beating West Ham. Especially with a toothless attacking starting lineup as that was? One of lowest scorers in the PL we were never going to score this afternoon.

We have to start with our strongest 11 to compete for Europe.. We are no where near as Man City's squad yet that we can rotate the Wolves squad as we did today?

Johnny obviously isn't ready for a full 90 mims so Hoever was the only other option to replace Semedo to keep playing the same system.

RAN has been struggling to complete 90 mins, so after a game on Thursday I can see the reasoning to bring in Marcal to shore things up, especially with no Semedo on the other side.

Moutinho would have been done at half time if he played today after the turnaround time from Arsenal, and bringing Donk in on paper was the right move (regardless to how he actually played today!!)

Raul was poor on Thursday and needed a reminder he's not an automatic pick - so again can see the logic.

Trincao for Podence is the one which I think perhaps wasn't needed but maybe he was struggling after Thursday - we don't know.

The issue isn't the changes so to speak, it's the fact the Hoever, Donk and Trincao didn't take their opportunity, along with the rest of the team looking lethargic.

 

[Contrarian]

So many things I don't understand about our current play.


3) Back heels. How many back heels went to the opposition today? Not one opened up the defence. It's not working lad so stop doing it.

This * 100! Been driving me mad for ages! In one week, Leicester Arsenal and West Ham have opened up our defence many many times , with not one back heel in sight. The worst though, the one that should be a weeks wages fine - backheeling inside our own half, and giving it to an opponent. Several times in all those matches. Awful.

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

Can we give Trincao back?