Wolves v Brentford verdict

[Deleted member 8123]

Recruited a new manager but not the players needed to implement what he wants.
Not sure what happened today compared to recent weeks.
Defaulted to slow build up and sloppy defending far too quickly.

 

[Contrarian]

A severe lack of energy, intensity and urgency to our play from start to finish, when you don't apply yourself to the max you are prone to errors - we made two of them and were punished accordingly.

I am interested to hear what Bruno has to say, that's our first "flat" performance under him (although first half last week had similar signs) - unless the trainers have them going through a heavy workload at training this was a very worrying performance, most of the squad looked like they had ran a marathon before the match this morning.

Yes, we seemed second to almost everything. Sometimes it looked like every bounce went Brentfords way, every 50/50. COuld be luck, but sometimes it is down to just wanting it more. Brentford very much have that "momentum of novelty", like Sheff U had.

But yes, the lack of pace is a curious one. Raul looked far slower than I ever remember. Like someone totally unfit slow who just shouldn't be out there. Trincao has no pace, we know that, that is why his good play amounts to nothing. He beats a player..then they catch him back up, so he can never get real space. Semedo has pace but seemed to be holding back, covering Traore, not making the Doc type lung busting late runs into the box. Marcal..well, no pace there.

So, similar to last season, we stopped our attacks ourselves, by slowing down and letting the opponents get back.

 

[Matt]

I thought today would be pivotal to how our season will pan out. Win and we can kick on and look up the table, but that has left me in no doubt whatsoever that we are in a relegation battle this season. We could have played all weekend and wouldn’t have tested their keeper, it was a complete and utter shambles.

I was saying after the 0-1’s where we played well that I didn’t particularly think that was a good sign. What happens when we play badly if when we play well we lose? Today happens.

It’s going to be a long, long season. We’re an “attacking team” who can’t score goals. Extremely worrying and I fear that if we lose the next couple, Bruno could be gone too.

 

[Incognito]

Terrible really. Brentford sucked the oxygen out of it right from the start and who can blame them. I thought football was meant to be entertainment. I’ve loved Marcal so far but from today don’t mind if he never wears the shirt again. He knew he was a marked man so that rugby tackle – crazy. Trincao awful. As per usual only spark going forward was Adama – interestingly Moore would have lapped up 3 or 4 of his crosses today. Moutinho awful. Hope Bruno makes it up with Dendoncker. Killman schoolboy error. If you play 343 you’ve got to have your wing-backs pushing right up and and fluidity across your front 3 but a shambles today. And then in desperation throw on all your forwards and forget about shape. Bruno-ball love-in well and truly over for me. Going home to watch Season 7 of Bosch to hopefully drown out the bad noise.

Bosch is good.

 

[Hoganstolemywife]

I thought today would be pivotal to how our season will pan out. Win and we can kick on and look up the table, but that has left me in no doubt whatsoever that we are in a relegation battle this season. We could have played all weekend and wouldn’t have tested their keeper, it was a complete and utter shambles.

I was saying after the 0-1’s where we played well that I didn’t particularly think that was a good sign. What happens when we play badly if when we play well we lose? Today happens.

It’s going to be a long, long season. We’re an “attacking team” who can’t score goals. Extremely worrying and I fear that if we lose the next couple, Bruno could be gone too.

Couldn't agree more on all fronts. Sadly.

 

[Shergar]

All the millions of Wolves’ worldwide esport fans seeing Wolves NIL thinking it means we lost no lives or tanks.

 

[Contrarian]

Had we actually signed a professional, competent centre back, we wouldn't have put that performance in 100%

But we still wouldn't score, would we? The argument that "better centre backs mean we get forward more", surely has no weight from what we've seen? We get forward lots already this season...but it's no use having the quantity when you don't have the quality. We had half a team of forwards on for 20 minutes and what did they create? Nothing. We never really got Brentford on the back foot, other than just a very few minutes when they were down to 10. It's not good enough going forward. We had enough possession to win, it broke down because we so pedestrian, wayward and uncomposed. Brentford the opposite and that's because their forwards were way better than ours.

A 0-0 would be better than a defeat. Because that's all the best centre half is going to add to this team. Even then, there would still be complaints about "not beating Brentford" if it had been 0-0.

HAd we signed a decent finisher, say Ings or Edouard, we also wouldn't have put in that performance. Might have let in a goal, but would have scored 2.

 

[Pagey]

If anyone still by Molineux, can you ask Toney to check his pockets before their coach leaves, give us our defence back?

 

[Denmark Wolf]

Worst performance since Burnley. No shots on target against a newly promoted side with 10 men for the last half hour is unacceptable. We simply cannot defend against strong target men. Coady is a paper captain: great talker until the going gets tough. Toney destroyed him and he hid away when we needed him most. Saiss gives us his periodic reminder that he is not good enough, and must be dropped for Boly.

The utter failure that was the Summer transfer window coming into focus again. Just to think we could've had Botman at the back for us today.

Really thought Marcal was soo poor. Kept losing the ball, connected badæy, made poor decisions, and the foul of the penalty came after the ref had warned him directly. Soo poor…

 

[WolfInSheep'sClothing]

Didn't work hard enough. Simple as.
Raul was the worst offender. Can't play like that and keep your place I'm afraid.

 

[Denmark Wolf]

So all you bright tactical geniuses might be able to help me out here.
Our only threat going forward is Traore. Sad but true.
So he beats his man and crosses the ball.
Six out of ten it sails over the heads of everyone.
We never have anyone far post. Why is that?
With Whang on the field surely there should be an understanding - Whang front post Raul back?
But no one ever ventures into that space.
So - why is that exactly???

I sincerely hope that when we get to the end of the season all mixers aren't unified in saying the same thing:
"Hated Nuno ball, but he clearly knew their limitations and did what was required"

Agree. Had same wonderment…why don’t intelligent footballers see where the ball ends up the first 5 times…and react.

 

[Guzeppi]

Writing off Bruno after 4 good performances and 1 bad one. You have to laugh

I was hoping someone would show some optimism. I needed the cheering up. Now that I've laughed a bit, I can watch some real football.

 

[Jack Russell]

Absolutely infuriating. Actually started the game with good intent but a moment of absolute lunacy from Marcal completely changed the dynamic. We lost our heads and Brentford, lead by the brilliant Ivan Toney, put the game out of sight.

Unfortunately, today exposed the areas we all knew hadn’t been addressed properly in the transfer window.

Back three were collectively a shambles (in contrast to Ajer, Janssen and Pinnock who were great). Neves and Moutinho uncharacteristically sloppy and the front three shown up by Toney and Mwembo

Adama our only consistent threat and his delivery was erratic (yet still miles better than Raul’s and Trincao’s). Still hit the bar and should have had two assists from Raul’s header and nobody gambling when he dinked the ball over the keeper. Others simply have to step up to the plate and produce something. Thought Podence and Hwang looked bright and must be pushing for starts.

Sa 5
Kilman 5
Coady 4
Saiss 4
Semedo 5
Neves 5
Moutinho 5
Marcal 4
Traore 6
Raul 5
Trincao 5

Hwang 6
Podence 6
Silva N/A

Having said all that, it is our first poor performance out of five so we don’t need to overreact and change everything.

Next league game, I’d bring in Ait-Nouri for Marcal, Boly for Saiss and Dendoncker for Moutinho.

Sa
Kilman, Coady, Boly
Semedo, Dendoncker, Neves, Ait-Nouri
Trincao, Raul, Traore

What a ****ty start to the weekend.

I wouldn't have Raul anywhere near the starting line up!

 

[Willywolf]

Out thought
Out fought.

Is there a single Wolves fan who would not have played Boly against Toney today? (and that's not hindsight, it's called knowing the opposition)

Not just knowing the opposition, but recognising our own weaknesses, which were royally highlighted again today by fairly modest/limited opponents IMO. What that makes us though is open to interpretation atm.

 

[WISAW]

Bosch is good.

Great show, looking forward to the spinoff.

 

[djmikeydickens]

Be interesting to see what side gets put out for the caravan cup. I wouldn't mind seeing a back four. Yerson and Boly. Probably starts for Hwang, Podence and Dendonker too.

 

[Starsky]

Definitely file under one of those games.Every single player was absolutely dreadful.

First bad performance of the season, but do badly in the next 2 and there will be some pressure.

I am sick of seeing Coady and Saiss being bullied. They made him look like Ivan Van Basten. Utter ****e and both need binning.

 

[Pagey]

I think everyone who starts on Wednesday in the cup, is playing for a start next weekend

 

[Jefe]

Writing off Bruno after 4 good performances and 1 bad one. You have to laugh

Performances don't keep you in the league. Four defeats out of five, and only two scored (one of which was a comedy own goal). We used to get goals from different areas of the pitch but we gradually stripped them away, and combined with Raul's struggles to return to his former greatness, I really do not know where the goals are going to come from consistently.

 

[The Clock]

I think everyone who starts on Wednesday in the cup, is playing for a start next weekend

Do you think Bosch will start?

 

[Andy]

Best team won at the football, hope we do ok at computer games later.

 

[Wolf316]

Be interesting to see what side gets put out for the caravan cup. I wouldn't mind seeing a back four. Yerson and Boly. Probably starts for Hwang, Podence and Dendonker too.

Yep I’d be dropping Trincao and Raul and starting Hwang and Podence.
Thought Trincao was terrible today lightweight and zero confidence to take anyone on.

 

[Henry Palfrey]

Brentfords record going back to last season was good, i do think people underestimated them, it was always going to be a tricky game. Looked as though Bruno and the players went into the game expecting to dominate them.
Coady struggles against powerful forwards, really the whole defence was rattled. Realy frustrating we didn't do more in the window to strengthen at the back.
Our first really poor performance of the season so lets not go overboard.
Jimenez looked off the pace again, its becoming a problem but might be trying too hard more than anything.

To be honest it really is the time to go overboard and call out this performance for what it was

 

[WalsallWolf]

Probably nothing that can be added that hasn't been said already

We cannot see another performance like that. We simply cannot and neither can Bruno or else he will be chopped and the Fosun/Jeff cycle of guess and hope until we find another Nuno who can make it work will begin. I am worried right now for the future.

 

[Wonder Boyo]

One of the most frustrating games I've ever been to. Toothless upfront, shambolic at the back. Add to that one of the most inept referees I've ever seen and a Brentford team doing the worst time wasting and playacting I've ever seen. Thing is, if they had carried on playing their game they would have probably beaten us by more.

Some credit to Traore for at least trying and Hwang for being enthusiastic. First bad performance of the season. Was a weird game in which nothing went right and everything went wrong. They come along now and again, so hopefully just a blip and we'll continue the good performances next week. Very worrying that we can't score though. No shots on target today, seems more than just being unlucky.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

But we still wouldn't score, would we? The argument that "better centre backs mean we get forward more", surely has no weight from what we've seen? We get forward lots already this season...but it's no use having the quantity when you don't have the quality. We had half a team of forwards on for 20 minutes and what did they create? Nothing. We never really got Brentford on the back foot, other than just a very few minutes when they were down to 10. It's not good enough going forward. We had enough possession to win, it broke down because we so pedestrian, wayward and uncomposed. Brentford the opposite and that's because their forwards were way better than ours.

A 0-0 would be better than a defeat. Because that's all the best centre half is going to add to this team. Even then, there would still be complaints about "not beating Brentford" if it had been 0-0.

HAd we signed a decent finisher, say Ings or Edouard, we also wouldn't have put in that performance. Might have let in a goal, but would have scored 2.

Our midfield was dismal because of Joao. That's the key area we needed to upgrade.

 

[old wittonian]

Yep I’d be dropping Trincao and Raul and starting Hwang and Podence.
Thought Trincao was terrible today lightweight and zero confidence to take anyone on.

Trincao seems seems to be playing at La Liga pace.
Why was Marcal marking the seemingly much tall Toney in the first place. It was a ridiculous foul to do.

 

[Jonzy54]

Jeff Shi has ****ed it.

Bruno hasn't been backed.
Still the same **** poor back line.

Penalty and ensuing madness aside, Brentford didn't do anything all game.

We just don't have the players to cope with these sort of physical matches, and that's been the same story for the past 4 years.

Sort the ****ing recruitment out.

They actually put the ball in the net 4 times .What the heck did we create ?

 

[Matt]

Sa - 6 - I don’t trust him tbh but not to blame
Kilman - 5 - The pick of our CB’s
Coady - 3 - Couldn’t cope with Toney at all
Saiss - 3 - Shambles
Semedo - 4 - Offered pretty much nothing going forward
Marcal - 2 - I know he got a couple of assists last week, but I just don’t rate him. He is awful going forward and absolutely brain dead for the penalty
Neves - 5 - Quiet
Moutinho - 4 - Even quieter
Adama - 3 - Back to his static worst, poor delivery
Trincao - 4 - Some nice touches, but again didn’t really do anything
Raul - 3 - Anonymous. Drifting out wide too much

Subs just didn’t work at all.

Ref, I’m not sure who he was, but the way he let (even helped) them time waste was ridiculous.

All in all, a very poor day at the office that leaves me concerned about the rest of the season. Personally I can’t see us starting to bang in goals all of a sudden so am anticipating a struggle.

 

[Vtrpres]

But we still wouldn't score, would we? The argument that "better centre backs mean we get forward more", surely has no weight from what we've seen? We get forward lots already this season...but it's no use having the quantity when you don't have the quality. We had half a team of forwards on for 20 minutes and what did they create? Nothing. We never really got Brentford on the back foot, other than just a very few minutes when they were down to 10. It's not good enough going forward. We had enough possession to win, it broke down because we so pedestrian, wayward and uncomposed. Brentford the opposite and that's because their forwards were way better than ours.

A 0-0 would be better than a defeat. Because that's all the best centre half is going to add to this team. Even then, there would still be complaints about "not beating Brentford" if it had been 0-0.

HAd we signed a decent finisher, say Ings or Edouard, we also wouldn't have put in that performance. Might have let in a goal, but would have scored 2.

They laughed at me when I said on here it’s the likes of Inges we should be after not might be boy wonders.

 

[Shergar]

Do you think Bosch will start?

Absolutely! Brilliant spark plugs.

 

[Contrarian]

They laughed at me when I said on here it’s the likes of Inges we should be after not might be boy wonders.

I didn't laugh. They laughed at the possibility of someone like Edouard, too. There was talk of getting Ivan Toney in back in the winter window..they laughed at that. It seems for most, we are allowed one striker only. And his name must be Raul. Anything else is simply not possible.

 

[Oldvic161]

Lots of things need to change, attitude to start with, too many lolloping about like it’s a friendly.
mosquera and boly need to come in, kilman too nice, saiss utter garbage, no point having a wing back in an attacking team who can’t cross especially when he turns into a rugby player at corners. Traore takes that long to get a cross in, the opposition are all back waiting for it, although they may as well wait by the opposite touch line for another overshot cross, trincao whilst a talent needs benching for podence or hwang.
only positives I could see was Hwang‘s work rate.

 

[A3wolf]

Trincao seems seems to be playing at La Liga pace.
Why was Marcal marking the seemingly much tall Toney in the first place. It was a ridiculous foul to do.

I do wonder how much of the wrestling that resulted in the penalty is instructed by the coaching team.

I saw it mentioned that Marcal was doing exactly the same last week. If so, it was the coaching team's responsibility to address this - I fail to believe they did and he ignored their instructions.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

I didn't laugh. They laughed at the possibility of someone like Edouard, too. There was talk of getting Ivan Toney in back in the winter window..they laughed at that. It seems for most, we are allowed one striker only. And his name must be Raul.

Absolutely 0 chance we'd have gotten Toney

 

[Contrarian]

Absolutely 0 chance we'd have gotten Toney

Yep, as I said, there's *always* a reason why we can't get any other strikers. Ah well, best sign another centre half to go with the 15 we already have. And Defensive midfielders? You can never have enough those, lets's get a few more in.

 

[Bankswolf The Third]

Not since Tammy has one striker destroyed us
Shocking despite Bruno miracles we are still no better than last year
Coady, Saiss Kilman, Marcal, Adama should be nowhere near the squad
Feel for Bruno blame for me lies at Jeff

 

[Jefe]

Not since Tammy has one striker destroyed us

Chris Wood?

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

Yep, as I said, there's *always* a reason why we can't get any other strikers. Ah well, best sign another centre half to go with the 15 we already have. And Defensive midfielders? You can never have enough those, lets's get a few more in.

Well Brentford weren't going to sell the top scorer in the country whilst they were top of the league. Use your head for one, or you can use that condescending smiley face

 

[MattH]

Felt like one of those games under Nuno against supposedly "lesser" opposition where the players just didn't seem *****. At least it gives Bruno an excuse to get Saiss and Coady out of the team. Hwang must surely be a starter next time out.