I thought we played some really nice football today much better than in recent performances but the final product just isn't quite there. If you're only going to score one goal per game it leaves no room for error and that was a massive defensive error for their goal. Bordering on unprofessional to concede like that. It was never a free kick though, Mason was his usual picky self.

Two points thrown away.

comment by Oldgoldilox - 1 Carl Ikeme (U17303)
posted 2 minutes ago
I thought we played some really nice football today much better than in recent performances but the final product just isn't quite there. If you're only going to score one goal per game it leaves no room for error and that was a massive defensive error for their goal. Bordering on unprofessional to concede like that. It was never a free kick though, Mason was his usual picky self.

Two points thrown away.
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Agree

I don't think it's been a bad start to the season, but certainly disappointing.

With Jonny clearly missing for a good part of this season it was clear that we needed a replacement - Marcal and Ait-Nouri were bought in. Unfortunately Marcal picked up an early injury and Saiss was asked to fill in. Now I'm guessing that Marcal is a wing-back and not a centre back, if so he has a lot to prove if he is ever going to be as good as Jonny who, let's face it has always been our 2nd best wing-back after Doherty. No-one, except I assume Nuno, has any idea if Ait-Nouri is, or ever will be, ready.

As I said earlier I have always quite liked Saiss but he was at best a 3rd choice midfielder before Dendoncker arrived. He then was pressed into service as a makeshift centre back after Bennett fell from grace. For me he is never a centre back and, not only that, with him in that position Boly had to move to the left where he is not quite so good. Thankfully Kilmann has stepped up to the plate and looks likely to remain in place.

To add to this problem good as Neto and Podence are (and hopefully both will improve) neither, in my opinion are as good as Jota, in terms of what we need as support for Jiminez. Perhaps Silva will be the answer but he must get some game time if we are to find out.

Until Jonny returns I don't really see us getting back to our previous best. Hope I'm wrong.

If you play for 1-0 wins, you always run the risk of being caught out. We should be looking at putting 2 or 3 past that Newcastle team, not relying on a clean sheet every week.

And of course I didn't even mention Traore who, after a good season last year has reverted a little to that impact sub of eighteen months ago.

Nuno guilty of not wanting to drop one of his favourites for this one in Saiss. He didn't want to drop Kilman which we can all understand but still wanted to get Saiss involved. I think with Aït-Nouri today we win that game.

And I love Saiss but c'mon, we can't be doing daft stuff like that, he isn't a wing back and shouldn't ever be playing there unless it's an emergency.

It's a stretch to say that with Ait-Nouri in the team we would have won today. We haven't even seen the guy play.
I agree that Saiss should not be playing as a wing back and with Kilman playing so well Saiss should be on the bench.
Nuno is stubborn and will not drop certain players as with Jota who played game after game with no end result. He must be more brutal and drop players when they are not performing.

We will never know Boston granted but Aït-Nouri is a very attacking pacy wing back and would surely have created problems for them. It was all too easy for them on that side.

So far this season is no different to our last two, leaving points on the table and going with a safety first approach when we should be braver. Allegedly the talk was of being more adventurous but I am yet to see it.

Spiers can talk some crap but i think he has this pretty spot on...

Spiers' assessment from Twitter:

"Defensive rigidity and steely organisation is *great*. Honestly, I'm really into it. But when you've got a stunningly clinical striker in Jimenez, one of EUROPE'S most explosive talents in Traore, the NASA-esque vision of Neves, then Neto, Podence, Semedo...why so safe Wolves?

"Yes they were a coherent defensive wall from being in 4th place right now. And christ they're hard to beat and can push for Europe again this season. I just want so much more from this team. They're too talented to be stunted like this."

Maybe, but risk taking is not Nuno’s style and for me he is still doing a great job, we should have beaten that lot but to be fair we had quite a few efforts on goal and they got blocks in,, Neves seemed to have more of the ball going forward and our strikers were pretty lively, a more expansive approach may come but it seems it will be gradual, Nuno must be fed up getting asked about our first half performances

We are well placed for another good season and are close to having a team that can make the next step upwards. There are signs Semedo could be an upgrade on Doherty and signs Kilman could be an upgrade on Saiss and Bennett.

To me we are just one position and one player short of making the next step and that is someone who can add to the threat Jimenez brings in the opponents penalty area. Many seemed happy that we sold Jota because he wasn’t scoring enough but to me he was a more likely scorer than Neto, Podence, Traore, Dendoncker, Neves or Moutinho. Liverpool have been playing him further forward as I always said we should have done, and he is scoring. The only player at the club who might fill that void is Silva and I hope as the season goes on we will see more of him.

Don’t think we need radical changes to the style of play. We came yesterday up against a team where we couldn’t play our normal counter attacking game and we had over 60% possession and 16 shots to their 5 so we were plenty offensive enough.

Don’t think after yesterday we will see Saiss as a wing back again and I thought Marcal got forward well in his time on the field to show he will be a much better option.

But for a poor effort in keeping that free kick out, I thought the team did ok overall. Not an exciting performance, but when teams like Newcastle come to Molineux, we do find it hard to break them down.

Our problem seems to be the lack of creativity coming from midfield and I am waiting to see if Vitinha can provide that and It may mean playing a 3-4-1-2 formation.

Traore seems to be going backwards for some reason, but I'm liking the effort both Neto and Podence are doing right now.

Silva is another one I'm looking forward to seeing, but Nuno will time it right when both he and Vitinha are unleashed. Maybe not together, but hopefully they'll show their worth before Xmas.

We don't have an ex forward or midfielder as a coach, we have an ex goalkeeper and it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that he's more defensive than some on here would want.

Our season has started reasonably well and is going to be a much tougher one than last season. Surprises are popping up every week, with the so called top six not doing as well as they expected, so hold tight for another rollacoaster ride.

Saiss probably kept his place as he did quite well against Leeds and had a goal disallowed. Plus Marcel is coming back from an injury. His contract is also up at the end of the season and it may well be that with our new additions, he'll drop down the order.

If some on here think we're not doing well, then ask the fans of United, City, Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea, who at the moment are all below us.

Time for some to change their diapers.

comment by wolfieintheSunshineState (U16306)
posted 10 minutes ago

Time for some to change their diapers.
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You are getting to that age Wolfie, but not sure you need to share that information with us.

He almost made it through two posts without the predictable line

HE got what he wanted too. There were fewer posts on the match thread during the game this week.

Unless we get injuries I just don't see the youngsters getting much of a look in. Kilman got his chance due to us having to move Saiss to cover a lack of wing backs otherwise he wouldn't be playing even now.

Same will apply to Silva, Vitinha and Co unless we have a horror run and Nuno gets desperate. Not even sure we will see much of Vitinha on the bench to be honest while everyone is fit.

Ruddy, Saiss, Aït-Nouri, Hoever, Moutinho, Silva, Traore.

Imagine that would be the bench but you could see Aït-Nouri not on the bench if Vitinha is. A far cry from last season at least when the bench was weak as pee.

Most new players have to wait 6 months to get a proper chance. Its the Nuno philosophy.

thought it was very noticeable yesterday how much we went on the defensive after scoring,

comment by Tamwolf (U17286)
posted 6 minutes ago
Most new players have to wait 6 months to get a proper chance. Its the Nuno philosophy.
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I fear you maybe right. If that is the case we will probably lose one or two of them next summer.

comment by Shame,shame,shame - shame on you. (U8869)
posted 3 minutes ago
thought it was very noticeable yesterday how much we went on the defensive after scoring,
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We always do. Hell we even do it to protect a draw sometimes

We try to win 1-0. We are happy to sit back once we have scored. If you do that, you will get burned from time to time.

We should be looking at putting 3 or more past that Newcastle side. They were really poor.

So for those of you that come up with the same criticisms week after week what do we conclude? That you think we should change manager? Not having a go, genuine question

That we will remain stationary in our current position until we start being more clinical rather than safety first in games like that.

I don't think anyone is wanting to change manager, That is just sensationalism.