Wolves 0 Man City 3 Verdict

[Ercall Wolves]

I don’t think we played that badly
Man City ate a different class
I thought individually all but 2/3 players we were quite good
Same old story though can’t score, no natural centre forward being the main reason
However my concerns and disappointments today was
1 The starting line up, I really thought Semedo should have started
2 Podence cannot play in the middle of a front 3, Guedes and Podence should have been swapped around
3 The substitutions, Neto should have come off earlier
Neves as centre half when Mousquera got warmed up and took his top off to come on
All the above was down to Bruno who now doesn’t seem to know what to do

 

[Longford Wolf]

How do you come out with that?
How do you pin a defeat against possibly the best team in Europe,when we had 10 men , on the manager???
Was it his fault Jony didn't get in front of grealish for the first goal?
Was it his fault Collins was chasing the ball instead of marking Harland for the second goal?
Was it his fault Collins then reduced the team to 10 ??
Was it his fault Jony let debruyne just jog past him to cross for the 3 rd goal??
Individual mistakes by the players NOT the manager.
Go smell some coffee

How do you explain 2 wins in 16, 3 goals in 7 matches, players out of position, poor substitutions, no intensity, no aggression, poor corners and FK’s, no entertainment, boring football.
Go smell some coffee yourself

 

[Sammy Chungs Tracksuit]

I don't see how you can start calling for the manager's head based on a 3-0 defeat to one of the best sides in the world when we were down to 10 men.

Of course we came up short at times. First half, we were loose defensively and left too many spaces, although we did show some attacking intent. Second half we showed some real spirit and kept trying to play football.

Judge us when Costa and/or Jimenez are back into the team and we're playing anybody other than City

Fair initial comment but its not based on a 3-0 defeat is it? We actually have the core of a decent team but the manager is clueless. I said early in the season that he would be sacked in the World Cup break and I stand by what I say.

 

[Eastyorksyeltz]

I think this is a tactic a few teams are employing this year. The aim is to draw the press deeper into the penalty area so there will be space in behind. It did work a few times, but against CIty it is high risk, and Sa nearly ****ed it up big time on one occasion

The theory is that there is more chance of progressing the ball up the pitch this way than if teams simply lump it long

We have been doing something similar for some time. I don't recall seeing it work yet and it usually seems to end up with a panicky hoof up field as the two or three defenders get penned into less and less space and have less and less options to "progress" the ball.

 

[sc91]

How do you come out with that?
How do you pin a defeat against possibly the best team in Europe,when we had 10 men , on the manager???
Was it his fault Jony didn't get in front of grealish for the first goal?
Was it his fault Collins was chasing the ball instead of marking Harland for the second goal?
Was it his fault Collins then reduced the team to 10 ??
Was it his fault Jony let debruyne just jog past him to cross for the 3 rd goal??
Individual mistakes by the players NOT the manager.
Go smell some coffee

Yes.

Hes the manager.

 

[Wolf316]

How do you come out with that?
How do you pin a defeat against possibly the best team in Europe,when we had 10 men , on the manager???
Was it his fault Jony didn't get in front of grealish for the first goal?
Was it his fault Collins was chasing the ball instead of marking Harland for the second goal?
Was it his fault Collins then reduced the team to 10 ??
Was it his fault Jony let debruyne just jog past him to cross for the 3 rd goal??
Individual mistakes by the players NOT the manager.
Go smell some coffee

https://twitter.com/x/status/1571128111047249924

 

[Wolf316]

Anyone know what happened in the South bank at around 29 minutes? Seemed to be loads of stewards and security piling in.

 

[SA Wolf]

I think teams often play based on the personality of the manager.
Remember the in-your-face, snarling aggression of players like Keane, Ince, Rooney and Robson in SAF's team. The suave, sophistication of players like Bergkamp, Pires and Henry of Arsene's Arsenal and the cool, flowing, educated play of Pep's Man City.
Wolves seem to mimic the boring, harmless, lack of personality of Lage at the moment.

 

[SA Wolf]

Anyone know what happened in the South bank at around 29 minutes? Seemed to be loads of stewards and security piling in.

I think they were trying to stop the fans leaving and forcing them to endure what we all had to.

 

[Wolf316]

I think they were trying to stop the fans leaving and forcing them to endure what we all had to.

Thanks mate that’s genuinely made me laugh after a **** afternoon!

 

[Woburn Wolf]

Fair initial comment but its not based on a 3-0 defeat is it? We actually have the core of a decent team but the manager is clueless. I said early in the season that he would be sacked in the World Cup break and I stand by what I say.

He needs to go in this international break not the World Cup break. There are some excellent managers available now if Fosun can persuade them to come.

 

[Wolf316]

He needs to go in this international break not the World Cup break. There are some excellent managers available now if Fosun can persuade them to come.

Seeing as the chequebook is open get Pouch on the phone now.

 

[Sketchead]

Expected to lose but the manner of it is demoralising, as it was when we played them at home a few months back.

Only player that didn’t look **** scared on the ball was Nunes. Even Ruben and Max we’re giving their usual persona of being relaxed on the ball but they kept panicking into rubbish decisions. Neves much better at cb, when he stopped being pressured.

Started with a front three that are all luxury players at the moment. You might get away with one fancy forward that can’t keep the ball, but unless you’re a much better side than us, starting with three is suicide.

Thought everyone was crap / bottled it apart from Nunes.

I likely would’ve sacked him the Sunday night that we lost to Arsenal and West Ham away back in Feb. I certainly would’ve sacked him in the summer.

How he’s still here is mind blowing. Our performances no longer match up to the starting 11. Excuses have gone, just boring, dull, uninspiring, rubbish.

A few years ago I’d fancy us against anyone. Went into today knowing what was coming. What’s the point?

Bruno is miles off his predecessor, and it is not good enough. It should be three or four years until your team start playing crap, truth is it took five months for him, as we’ve been rubbish since January.

He’s dull as dishwater in his interviews and his team of very good footballers is reflecting exactly that.

 

[JOSWolf]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1571128111047249924

Absolute shambles and disgrace.

 

[Black Country Wanderer]

Didnt play as bad as some are saying,but pretty toothless in midfield and up front
The back line didnt seem to know what to do until we lost Collins when they looked better organised
Plusses Guedes Neves Neto played well,Traore looks decent Nunes better when central
Negatives Neto should be playing on the left,Mouts did nothing,RAN useless first half but improved,Sa should have done better with their second and gives me a heart attack when passing out from the back
Main negative Lage,looked totally lost then took it out his clipboard lol,im afraid its time to change him

 

[JOSWolf]

You look at Spurs with Nuno last season. It clearly was never going to work and their team looked clueless and had no intensity. I see similar with us now. We desperately need a new head coach. Spurs got their's with Conte and the same players and they were much better. We need the same to happen here.

 

[Bostin]

KDB still the highest scoring Prem player at Molineux this year. It’s September FFS.

We’ve completely lost our effectiveness against top 6 teams. We offer nothing on the break any more.

I thought we actually had more possession than City before the sending off but we did absolutely nothing with it.

I’d love to know what Lage works on in the week, because every game I have no idea what our game plan is.

 

[WolfLing]

Concerning that we lose one of our central defenders and we don’t replace him with another one.

What’s concerning is that after losing a man, dropping Neves back and going from 3 central midfielders to 2, we looked a better side.

 

[DPE]

The first half was strange we caught off guard for the first. Colin’s was really trying to lift the heads of the players after the goal.

The sending off was right and Colin’s was completely gutty when he walked off.

Interesting Semedo was having a gel pack or something for his right shoulder before he came on. Might be the reason he has not been starting.

Podence was MOTM and got to speak to him after the game. He was confident that we will get better and said they are close. He said most teams would of lost that 6-0.

RAN did well and has amazing quality, frustrating he always plays it back.

Neves was truly outstanding again as stated on to applaud the fans along with Mouts.

Team performance was decent but we need that person in the box and we need to be pushing up more as a team.

Didn’t see Costa anywhere.

 

[Wolf in Kenilworth]

Zero pressing, playing it out from the back, lack of attacking intent, no drive forward, lumping long balls to Podence against Diaz in the air, failure to drive theough the middle past 20 yards out, short corners. Bruno Lage.

All the things that were wrong with us today.

Never been to a game before where we had lost after the first minute.

I won’t lay it on any players for fear of having an agenda accusations but some of that team need to be on the bench.

City are a great side yes but so much wrong with us today of our own making. And that’s on the ‘coach’.

He is what’s wrong with this team, another manager gets this group of players in the top ten or above.

 

[Northampton_wolf]

Nunes and neves look two players who are to good for us, they both won't be here next summer at this rate.


Nun w and ran shining lights of second half, still remain a toothless side and just poor from Neto guedes.


Tricky wingers but no product or striker

 

[Northampton_wolf]

The first half was strange we caught off guard for the first. Colin’s was really trying to lift the heads of the players after the goal.

The sending off was right and Colin’s was completely gutty when he walked off.

Interesting Semedo was having a gel pack or something for his right shoulder before he came on. Might be the reason he has not been starting.

Podence was MOTM and got to speak to him after the game. He was confident that we will get better and said they are close. He said most teams would of lost that 6-0.

RAN did well and has amazing quality, frustrating he always plays it back.

Neves was truly outstanding again as stated on to applaud the fans along with Mouts.

Team performance was decent but we need that person in the box and we need to be pushing up more as a team.

Didn’t see Costa anywhere.

In the box was costa

 

[WickedWolfie]

With Nuno the team was greater than the sum of the parts. With Lage that is far from the case. We have a team of internationals who play like they've barely met each other.

 

[DPE]

With Nuno the team was greater than the sum of the parts. With Lage that is far from the case. We have a team of internationals who play like they've barely met each other.

You can see the quality of the individuals, we have some amazing top quality players. Your right though we don’t play as a team.

 

[DJW]

Why would you let Boly leave when you have two CHs that your not prepared to play when one of your CHs is sent off. I'm baffled. Still it was against City so maybe not the time for Knee Jerk decisions. No CF is a real problem, so hope Raul will be back soon.
Personally I'd have started with a back 5. The problem with a manager who has little job security is that he can't appear negative when he was brought in for the opposite reason.

 

[Oldvic161]

We invite pressure on to us
We don’t press
We’re lazy in midfield hence nobody in the box
We’re too soft
We don’t create and we must have the lowest shots on target in the whole football pyramid
Yet we have quality players, they look, rushed, uncomposed, selfish, clueless near goal
Not just against city but everyone we play apart from 30 mins v spurs A.
If we are bottom 3 after 3 more games there has to be a change, it’s dreadful to watch, I can understand a lack of confidence but we’ve got little attacking intent and no grit, B Traore has to replace moutinho, semedo needs to come in and we need to pray Costa can inspire the rest.

 

[ewarwoowar]

Anyone know what happened in the South bank at around 29 minutes? Seemed to be loads of stewards and security piling in.

2 city fans ejected

 

[Minimalist]

With Nuno the team was greater than the sum of the parts. With Lage that is far from the case. We have a team of internationals who play like they've barely met each other.

I do agree.
I suppose the caveat is that Nuno built his team during a full pre season and developed it through a championship campaign, Lage has only just got his team together and today was up against Man City!

Personally I still rate Nuno ahead of Lage, but one does need to be fair about it.

 

[Banks's Mild]

Just got home and still pretty ****ed off. North Bank upper turnstiles wouldn't work so still loads of us outside at ko and missed the 1st goal (and yes I know it was against us but not the point) and as for the game the only upgrade on last season is Nunes. Collins is looking like a good player is in there at times but currently a liability and Guedes just reminds me of Trincao. There appears no real leadership on the pitch anymore and we don't test any goalkeepers anymore, most teams could start giving there reserve keepers a runout against us we are so poor in front of goal.
We desperately need Costa to come good and help us, oh and can we have a new manager please.

 

[WickedWolfie]

I do agree.
I suppose the caveat is that Nuno built his team during a full pre season and developed it through a championship campaign, Lage has only just got his team together and today was up against Man City!

Personally I still rate Nuno ahead of Lage, but one does need to be fair about it.

Fair comment

 

[WickedWolfie]

Just got home and still pretty ****ed off. North Bank upper turnstiles wouldn't work so still loads of us outside at ko and missed the 1st goal (and yes I know it was against us but not the point) and as for the game the only upgrade on last season is Nunes. Collins is looking like a good player is in there at times but currently a liability and Guedes just reminds me of Trincao. There appears no real leadership on the pitch anymore and we don't test any goalkeepers anymore, most teams could start giving there reserve keepers a runout against us we are so poor in front of goal.
We desperately need Costa to come good and help us, oh and can we have a new manager please.

Funny that you say that....

I sent this to a friend:

So much for the fans mattering by the way.... There were massive problems with the turnstile card readers in (at least) the North Bank (not sure if other stands were affected). The queues went well down Waterloo Road on one side and were just as long towards Asda on the other - and this was at 1200 (and got worse) not people arriving late. Did they, with the game on TV, delay the start? Like **** they did....

 

[dewolfman]

Just a car crash of a game, it sucks ass supporting us at the moment.

 

[S G Wolves]

Was always going to be difficult, gifting them a goal after 1m and then getting a red.

Nothing really to add apart from decent spirit in the 2nd half.

 

[daniel corfield]

Where to start with that absolute horror show.

Collins reckless
Kilman for England? Don't make me laugh
RAN is a disgrace for his first half performance he's an absolute donkey
Jonny is slow, lethargic and pathetic
Moutinho is past it and offers nothing to the team, slows down every single passage of play
Neto, you remember at school when you had the school scav who wouldn't pass the ball to anybody? Yep, that's him

Tactically inept, no style of passion, no cohesion, no chemistry, no pressing, no through balls, no one two's, no give and go's

Absolutely pathetic.

Positives.
Nunes demanded the ball
Podence and Guedes at least TRIED to make things happen.
Semedo is our best full back no idea why he ain't starting
Traore looked better than Moutinho has all season in 20 minutes.

 

[Adrian_Monk]

You ask the question what could he have done?

Just my opinion... but for me, it's play three centre backs and deny the space in the middle. The most obvious danger area. However, even doing that is simply going to be a game of defending for the majority of the game when you don't have an outlet upfront. We found ways to get at City but practically each time the ball was held and not delivered. I understand that to some extent as we really don't have people in the box.

You look at City's opening goal and in the first minute they had an overload just outside the 6 yard area. That came because Guedes failed to track DeBruyne and then our two central defenders allowed Grealish the space to get in. We just don't commit players in that way and that 's why they score goals and we don't.

Well, I agree which is why I said I would have done that the moment it became apparent the plan wasn't working. My point was more that there was a multitude of things that could have been done to try and change the course of the game (including things I couldn't have suggested that may be apparent to others) but Lage didn't change anything and the players didn't do anything differently either, like a paralysis.

Our pressing isn't just lacking commitment, there's no nuance to it either. De Bruyne and Haaland kept pressing the right areas, pressing players into danger so they have to take risks, leaving Grealish and Bernardo all the time in the world. We occasionally press, albeit not especially committed like you say, but there's no preparation, no thought behind the press. Almost pressing for pressing sake.

 

[Ponty]

Anyone taking any comfort in us looking better with ten men is deluded. City knew that if they kept their shape the game was as good as won. They were in total control, more in neutral than a low gear.

 

[Contrarian]

Might get pelters for this but watching our team is becoming a real chore. Same old poor set pieces, same old giving the ball away easily, same old no goals scored. Football is meant to be fun but I dont really see much fun in watching this team, dont see a style of play. Doesnt matter who your opponents are. I watched todays game and the way we played and we would struggle to score against most sides in this league the way we play. To me Lage seems a rabbit in the headlights and there isnt much fun factor at the club now when you look what it was like a couple of years back.

Watching bits and pieces of other matches in this league, this season there have been some really good entertaining matches. Forest v Fulham last night, for example. No interest in either team, but appreciate that each was having a go. Chances, it felt like a goal could be scored at either end any minute. In contrast, ours today looked like a friendly - apart from the kung-fu kick! (though we had 2 sent off in a real friendly, so means little by itself). City rarely got out of second gear. And we haven't had anything higher than second gear for a couple of years now. Goals feel few and far between, unless we are playing Man City, of course. I feel for the season ticket holders as it could be into 2023 before they see 3 more goals.

The same teams crop up repeatedly in the pattern as the boring ones to avoid, uneventful, low scoring matches. Us, Villa, Everton. Perhaps West Ham, too.

 

[Adrian_Monk]

The first half was strange we caught off guard for the first. Colin’s was really trying to lift the heads of the players after the goal.

The sending off was right and Colin’s was completely gutty when he walked off.

Interesting Semedo was having a gel pack or something for his right shoulder before he came on. Might be the reason he has not been starting.

Podence was MOTM and got to speak to him after the game. He was confident that we will get better and said they are close. He said most teams would of lost that 6-0.

RAN did well and has amazing quality, frustrating he always plays it back.

Neves was truly outstanding again as stated on to applaud the fans along with Mouts.

Team performance was decent but we need that person in the box and we need to be pushing up more as a team.

Didn’t see Costa anywhere.

Thanks for summary and the snippet from Podence.

Costa was having photos with fans outside the Billy Wright before the game and was in one of the boxes during the game

 

[Contrarian]

We used to be a counter-attacking team. Now we have transformed into a counter-defending team. Instead of containing opponents then bombing forward to trouble them on the break, we contain ourselves with pointless possession, before losing the ball and bombing backwards to defend as the opponents cut through us.

 

[John Richards 1974]

One Shot on Target all game, City in total control.

Question: Is Lage team a reincarnation of Hoddle's ?