And it Was All Going So Well
Today’s test of our upward mobility is Wolverhampton
Wanderers visiting St Mary’s. A month ago we would’ve been expecting nothing
but a battering in this game but a lot has changed in the last month. Put
simply, Wolves are not playing as well as they were earlier on in the season,
which is not a surprise given the amount of games that they have played and a
win for the mighty Southampton today will put us a level on points with them.
Regardless of points tallies, Wolves are one of the better sides of the division and will finish comfortably in the top half and it wouldn’t surprise me if they go very close to winning the Europa League. The whole “every player recruited through the same agent“ thing makes me feel a bit uneasy but if you forget all that and just look at what they have on the pitch, they are a very good side. They were a very good side last year though when they turned up at St Mary‘s and we beat them 3-1 and relatively comfortably so. Last year we put their defence under pressure and they couldn’t handle it and there is no way we are not going to do that today given the way we have played the last few weeks. The goalscorers from last year, Willy Boly is out with a broken leg and they picked up another injury in midweek when they not only got knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester United, they lost Adama Traore to an injury. I never wish injury on any player but I hope he is missing today.
The manager Nuno Espirito Santo is quite often linked with the bigger clubs though there are none have come calling as yet. If he carries on as he is doing so with Wolves then it is only a matter of time. Ralph’s press conference this week give us a clean bill of health so I am expecting the same 11 that started last week at Leicester.
The silly season in the transfer window is well underway and it is very very boring. The Che Adams to Leeds shite, which was never ever going to happen, didn’t happen which was a major shock considering “we had allegedly given Leeds encouragement“. Complete and utter shit. I recommend for your personal sanity that you block any social media accounts for any outlets who suggested there were any facts involved in this.
Cedric, my favourite boy band member, gave an interview to the Daily Echo where he basically tried to rectify his last interview where he said he was leaving no matter what. It looks to me like he may be getting his ducks in a row to change his mind in the hope of getting a new contract. It is interesting to note that Ralph gave an interview last week where he basically commented on how Cedric has improved, simply by being a more active defender. I guess he means actually putting tackles in and actually closing down the person who is about to cross the ball. The Cedric interview was quite a decent interview in the Daily Echo which is nice for them, rather than reporting on the ex-players passing away before they were actually dead. As I write, George O’Brien still very much alive.
Social media has recently given us daily reminders of the shambles that has been our recruitment for the last three years. Elyounoussi is now fit again to play for Celtic, Carrillo has scored a couple of goals for whatever third-rate team he’s playing for now and Mario Lemina is Instagram modelling what looks like a onesie designed for an eight-year-old girl. I really hope that Galatasaray are stupid enough to sign him permanently. These on -loan players make me think that we should give new one year contract to Shane Long and Maya Yoshida because at least you can trust those players. They might not be the best but they offer a damn site more than those clowns out on loan. Why only one year? Well in Shane’s case, he is 32 years old and has a game that relies solely on his pace. There is going to come to a point where he loses that pace so, in my opinion, you can only really risk it one year at a time. For Maya, we need to bump it on down the line a year so we can sort out what we are doing with Vestergaard, Hoedt and Danso.
Regardless of points tallies, Wolves are one of the better sides of the division and will finish comfortably in the top half and it wouldn’t surprise me if they go very close to winning the Europa League. The whole “every player recruited through the same agent“ thing makes me feel a bit uneasy but if you forget all that and just look at what they have on the pitch, they are a very good side. They were a very good side last year though when they turned up at St Mary‘s and we beat them 3-1 and relatively comfortably so. Last year we put their defence under pressure and they couldn’t handle it and there is no way we are not going to do that today given the way we have played the last few weeks. The goalscorers from last year, Willy Boly is out with a broken leg and they picked up another injury in midweek when they not only got knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester United, they lost Adama Traore to an injury. I never wish injury on any player but I hope he is missing today.
The manager Nuno Espirito Santo is quite often linked with the bigger clubs though there are none have come calling as yet. If he carries on as he is doing so with Wolves then it is only a matter of time. Ralph’s press conference this week give us a clean bill of health so I am expecting the same 11 that started last week at Leicester.
The silly season in the transfer window is well underway and it is very very boring. The Che Adams to Leeds shite, which was never ever going to happen, didn’t happen which was a major shock considering “we had allegedly given Leeds encouragement“. Complete and utter shit. I recommend for your personal sanity that you block any social media accounts for any outlets who suggested there were any facts involved in this.
Cedric, my favourite boy band member, gave an interview to the Daily Echo where he basically tried to rectify his last interview where he said he was leaving no matter what. It looks to me like he may be getting his ducks in a row to change his mind in the hope of getting a new contract. It is interesting to note that Ralph gave an interview last week where he basically commented on how Cedric has improved, simply by being a more active defender. I guess he means actually putting tackles in and actually closing down the person who is about to cross the ball. The Cedric interview was quite a decent interview in the Daily Echo which is nice for them, rather than reporting on the ex-players passing away before they were actually dead. As I write, George O’Brien still very much alive.
Social media has recently given us daily reminders of the shambles that has been our recruitment for the last three years. Elyounoussi is now fit again to play for Celtic, Carrillo has scored a couple of goals for whatever third-rate team he’s playing for now and Mario Lemina is Instagram modelling what looks like a onesie designed for an eight-year-old girl. I really hope that Galatasaray are stupid enough to sign him permanently. These on -loan players make me think that we should give new one year contract to Shane Long and Maya Yoshida because at least you can trust those players. They might not be the best but they offer a damn site more than those clowns out on loan. Why only one year? Well in Shane’s case, he is 32 years old and has a game that relies solely on his pace. There is going to come to a point where he loses that pace so, in my opinion, you can only really risk it one year at a time. For Maya, we need to bump it on down the line a year so we can sort out what we are doing with Vestergaard, Hoedt and Danso.
Team news and we are indeed unchanged and rumours of Traore’s
demise were greatly exaggerated as he is in the Wolves line-up and has lined up
against Cedric on our right flank. He
looks like an American footballer with the pads sewn under his shirt and the
thought of him up against Harry Styles is a bit of a worry.
Away we go and it’s a bit of a nondescript ten minutes but
we haven’t really started fast but then we got a free-kick in what looked like a
pretty non-descript area of the pitch on the right-hand side. JWP swung it over
and it didn’t even look like a particularly good free-kick but everyone missed
it and there was Bednarek at the back post to hook it first time over Patricio
and into the far corner of the net. A bit bizarre I’m not sure how much
Bednarek meant it but 1-0 up and we will take it thank you very much.
Straight afterwards we break away down the left hand side with Redmond turning Neves inside and out 14 different times before eventually making a yard and getting the cross over which bounced in the middle of the penalty area and was met by diving Cedric at the back post but he put his header straight at Patricio and Wolves breathed again. On second viewing Cedric would probably be better off leaving it to Hojbjerg who was shaping up the volley but it would probably have ended up in Row Z anyway. Nice to see Redmond beat a player and get a good ball into the box off of his left foot.
We have a slight let off when we give the ball away on our left-hand side and Neto curls over a superb cross which is met by Jimenez on the stretch but he can only poke it wide.
And then came a moment which tells you that football is a very strange game at times with Cedric picking up the ball in midfield, knocking it to Stephens who fed Armstrong in on the right. He slid to keep it in play and knock down the line for Cedric who for once, put over an absolutely phenomenal cross which was met by Shane Long darting in between two players to plant a header into the net. Absolutely fucking brilliant goal. It’s a great cross and an absolutely brilliant bit of movement by Long who left Dendoncker behind and flicked the ball past Patricio who has absolutely no chance. I tell you what – it’s a shame we’ve given Liverpool such a start in the race for the title.
Half time, 2-0 up. Not sure it is 100% deserved but we’ll take it. Got to keep going and get the next goal and kill it off. As the teams comes out and line up, it looks like Wolves have struck Traore right up front through the middle. A big test to see if our center-backs keep on the front foot or if they start retreating.
The second half starts with Redmond lining up Dendonker on the left-hand side and he totally does him down the line before standing up a superb cross to the back post. Long has an unchallenged header and heads it down but it flicks off the outside of the post and goes wide. It’s not an easy chance but Shane will feel that he should have scored. Having got away with that one, Patricio then takes a massive chance by fannying around with the ball on the 6-yard line and Danny Ings comes sliding in and very nearly gets a tackle in. Unfortunately, the ball goes wide and with Hojbjerg having collapsed with no one near him, Wolves break. A long ball forward from Doherty and Jimenez knocked it off to Traore. It shouldn’t be a problem but for some reason, Bednarek tries to tackle him with his wrong foot and Traore skips away and feeds Neto who takes a touch and buries it for 2-1. We’ve been caught out horribly with too many players forward and Hojbjerg on the deck and our scramble defence is not good enough. As we used to do before we had this good run, we get bodies back there but don’t pick up the players and I’ll tell you one thing for nothing, unmarked space never scored a goal but an unmarked player quite often does.
As said, Wolves made a tactical switch at half-time and now the American Footballer is playing right up the middle and sadly, the ghost of Michael Antonio has come back to haunt us as he bulldozes through the midfield and knocks the ball of to Moutinho who tries to slide in Johnny who goes in between Cedric and Stephens and hit the deck. The referee gives a corner and for a second I think we’ve got away with it but no, Wolves quickly surround the referee to make sure that this goes to VAR if it wasn’t already going to do so. In the four minutes that elapse, the Wolves fans are chanting “fuck VAR“ at the top of their voices and when the performance is all over and the VAR goons have decided that it is a clear and obvious penalty and an error by the referee, the same Wolves fans all cheer. Up steps Jimenez and rolls into the net as easy as you like to bring the scores level.
Straight afterwards we break away down the left hand side with Redmond turning Neves inside and out 14 different times before eventually making a yard and getting the cross over which bounced in the middle of the penalty area and was met by diving Cedric at the back post but he put his header straight at Patricio and Wolves breathed again. On second viewing Cedric would probably be better off leaving it to Hojbjerg who was shaping up the volley but it would probably have ended up in Row Z anyway. Nice to see Redmond beat a player and get a good ball into the box off of his left foot.
We have a slight let off when we give the ball away on our left-hand side and Neto curls over a superb cross which is met by Jimenez on the stretch but he can only poke it wide.
And then came a moment which tells you that football is a very strange game at times with Cedric picking up the ball in midfield, knocking it to Stephens who fed Armstrong in on the right. He slid to keep it in play and knock down the line for Cedric who for once, put over an absolutely phenomenal cross which was met by Shane Long darting in between two players to plant a header into the net. Absolutely fucking brilliant goal. It’s a great cross and an absolutely brilliant bit of movement by Long who left Dendoncker behind and flicked the ball past Patricio who has absolutely no chance. I tell you what – it’s a shame we’ve given Liverpool such a start in the race for the title.
Half time, 2-0 up. Not sure it is 100% deserved but we’ll take it. Got to keep going and get the next goal and kill it off. As the teams comes out and line up, it looks like Wolves have struck Traore right up front through the middle. A big test to see if our center-backs keep on the front foot or if they start retreating.
The second half starts with Redmond lining up Dendonker on the left-hand side and he totally does him down the line before standing up a superb cross to the back post. Long has an unchallenged header and heads it down but it flicks off the outside of the post and goes wide. It’s not an easy chance but Shane will feel that he should have scored. Having got away with that one, Patricio then takes a massive chance by fannying around with the ball on the 6-yard line and Danny Ings comes sliding in and very nearly gets a tackle in. Unfortunately, the ball goes wide and with Hojbjerg having collapsed with no one near him, Wolves break. A long ball forward from Doherty and Jimenez knocked it off to Traore. It shouldn’t be a problem but for some reason, Bednarek tries to tackle him with his wrong foot and Traore skips away and feeds Neto who takes a touch and buries it for 2-1. We’ve been caught out horribly with too many players forward and Hojbjerg on the deck and our scramble defence is not good enough. As we used to do before we had this good run, we get bodies back there but don’t pick up the players and I’ll tell you one thing for nothing, unmarked space never scored a goal but an unmarked player quite often does.
As said, Wolves made a tactical switch at half-time and now the American Footballer is playing right up the middle and sadly, the ghost of Michael Antonio has come back to haunt us as he bulldozes through the midfield and knocks the ball of to Moutinho who tries to slide in Johnny who goes in between Cedric and Stephens and hit the deck. The referee gives a corner and for a second I think we’ve got away with it but no, Wolves quickly surround the referee to make sure that this goes to VAR if it wasn’t already going to do so. In the four minutes that elapse, the Wolves fans are chanting “fuck VAR“ at the top of their voices and when the performance is all over and the VAR goons have decided that it is a clear and obvious penalty and an error by the referee, the same Wolves fans all cheer. Up steps Jimenez and rolls into the net as easy as you like to bring the scores level.
Adams is on for Long and I bet there was a massive sigh of relief from the Wolves players. With Armstrong coming off for Djenepo I'm wondering if Romeu might be more useful here. JWP has been hampered by the early booking he got and Hojbjerg looks tired. Still, you can't accuse Ralph of not being positive.
Back come Saints and Redmond picks up a Patricio rushed clearance and cuts in from the left-wing, skipping past a couple of players before unleashing a rasping drive which pings of the crossbar on its way over. A bit unlucky that.
Saints are trying to win it and Cedric sprays a great ball out of the left-wing to Redmond who tries to play, a 1-2 with Adams but Adams just passes it straight to Wolves player. It’s cleared and we have left ourselves 2v2 at the back which looks like fucking madness. Traore bundles his way forward down the right-wing before getting his head up and rolls it back on the ground to Jimenez who scores easily to complete the comeback. Fuck sake…. this has been on the cards ever since they got the first goal. Oh hang on, we’re going to VAR again to check for a possible handball. Our own fans chanting for VAR will never fail to boil my piss. For the idiots chanting that, it’s a small consolation when the goal is eventually given.
Redmond is off to be replaced by Boufal and it’s to the Moroccan that our last chance falls as a corner from JWP is missed by everybody and there is Sofiane at the back post and the man with the best technique at the club lashes it hopelessly over the bar from about 8 yards out.
Well fuck it. It has to be said that was a bit of a capitulation in the second half. In the second half Wolves did to us what we did to them in the first half when we hassled them out of their stride. The whole game turned on the fact that we didn’t score the third goal. We had Long header that the hit the post and we had Ings charging down the goalkeeper when the ball really could’ve rebound it into the net. Wolves breakaway thanks largely to Hojbjerg being injured in the middle of the field , 2-1, different game.
Where we were solid and compact in the first half, we were strung out and all over the fucking show in the second with our central defenders being troubled greatly by a quick muscular striker… again. When the teams lined up I was terrified at the prospect of Cedric tried to keep Traore quiet but he did a decent job and then they switched him out to the other wing and again he was ineffective. In the second half, they played him through the middle and our central defenders did exactly the same as they did against Michael Antonio of West Ham and basically shat themselves.
After last week’s game I said that we have to keep our feet on the ground and today certainly planted our feet firmly back on the ground. None of our defenders are perfect and if they were, they wouldn’t be playing for us and today they got showed up again in that they can be completely bullied out of it if they are faced with physical strikers. I feel that Ralph made a mistake in the second half and we could really have done with Romeo being out on the pitch. I thought the same at the time and this was especially proved with hindsight as neither Djenepo, Boufal or Adams added anything at all. Adams, in particular, looked very half-arsed and the pressing game at the front notably dropped away with him on. Needless to say, the level of goal threat didn't increase either. Ralph has dug out the substitutes before for not adding anything when they came on and today was another example.
Back come Saints and Redmond picks up a Patricio rushed clearance and cuts in from the left-wing, skipping past a couple of players before unleashing a rasping drive which pings of the crossbar on its way over. A bit unlucky that.
Saints are trying to win it and Cedric sprays a great ball out of the left-wing to Redmond who tries to play, a 1-2 with Adams but Adams just passes it straight to Wolves player. It’s cleared and we have left ourselves 2v2 at the back which looks like fucking madness. Traore bundles his way forward down the right-wing before getting his head up and rolls it back on the ground to Jimenez who scores easily to complete the comeback. Fuck sake…. this has been on the cards ever since they got the first goal. Oh hang on, we’re going to VAR again to check for a possible handball. Our own fans chanting for VAR will never fail to boil my piss. For the idiots chanting that, it’s a small consolation when the goal is eventually given.
Redmond is off to be replaced by Boufal and it’s to the Moroccan that our last chance falls as a corner from JWP is missed by everybody and there is Sofiane at the back post and the man with the best technique at the club lashes it hopelessly over the bar from about 8 yards out.
Well fuck it. It has to be said that was a bit of a capitulation in the second half. In the second half Wolves did to us what we did to them in the first half when we hassled them out of their stride. The whole game turned on the fact that we didn’t score the third goal. We had Long header that the hit the post and we had Ings charging down the goalkeeper when the ball really could’ve rebound it into the net. Wolves breakaway thanks largely to Hojbjerg being injured in the middle of the field , 2-1, different game.
Where we were solid and compact in the first half, we were strung out and all over the fucking show in the second with our central defenders being troubled greatly by a quick muscular striker… again. When the teams lined up I was terrified at the prospect of Cedric tried to keep Traore quiet but he did a decent job and then they switched him out to the other wing and again he was ineffective. In the second half, they played him through the middle and our central defenders did exactly the same as they did against Michael Antonio of West Ham and basically shat themselves.
After last week’s game I said that we have to keep our feet on the ground and today certainly planted our feet firmly back on the ground. None of our defenders are perfect and if they were, they wouldn’t be playing for us and today they got showed up again in that they can be completely bullied out of it if they are faced with physical strikers. I feel that Ralph made a mistake in the second half and we could really have done with Romeo being out on the pitch. I thought the same at the time and this was especially proved with hindsight as neither Djenepo, Boufal or Adams added anything at all. Adams, in particular, looked very half-arsed and the pressing game at the front notably dropped away with him on. Needless to say, the level of goal threat didn't increase either. Ralph has dug out the substitutes before for not adding anything when they came on and today was another example.
"I'm in One Direction and VAR is fucking shite Ref"
I have to talk about VAR as all three of Wolves goals were only given after a VAR check. The penalty decision for the second goal took a ridiculous amount of time. The referee was looking straight at the incident with a clear uninterrupted view and didn’t give the penalty. VAR then took about four minutes to decide that it was a penalty so there must’ve been a massive element of doubt about the whole thing. There shouldn't have been because from one look on Match of the Day in the evening you can see it's a penalty. I've heard some say that Johnny was on his way down before Cedric fouled him. Don't see that myself but surely if there is an element of doubt then the on-field decision should not be changed. Four minutes to give that is complete bullshit.
For the third goal there was a handball in the build-up but I’m
hearing that it was too far back in the move to be given and the goal disallowed.
The whole move started because of a handball so how the fuck can that be deemed
not relevant. I'm also hearing that there were two passes following the handball so it's deemed as ok. Again, complete bullshit. I am in favour of VAR but I am not in
favour of the absolute bullshit way which the FA is managing it. No one has a fucking clue how it's supposed to work. It’s a fucking
joke and it needs to change. For starters, they need to go with the on-field referees decision unless he has totally fucked up
and even then, the referee needs to go to the pitch side and have a look at the
reply for himself and not have the decision given by some fucking wanker sat
miles away.
It’s a bit difficult to talk about the players individually as most of them were really good in the first half and then pretty poor and the second Cedric was especially good in the first half as was Shane Long and it was a bit of a surreal moment seeing Cedric put either a brilliant cross and Shane score with a really good header. Ryan Bertrand struggled throughout the game and virtually all of the others went down to his level in the second half when we were steamrollered.
There isn’t much time to dwell on this as we have another game on Tuesday night and it’ll be another tough one against Crystal Palace. Maybe the exertions of the Christmas period of taking their toll a little bit on some of our players and it wouldn’t surprise me if there are a couple of changes for Tuesday night as some of our guys seem to be running on empty in that second half. Everyone has to keep some perspective as it is only one defeat. Anyone who says that they wouldn’t have taken 28 points at this stage of the season is either an idiot or a liar. We will be back and bring on Selhurst on Tuesday.
It’s a bit difficult to talk about the players individually as most of them were really good in the first half and then pretty poor and the second Cedric was especially good in the first half as was Shane Long and it was a bit of a surreal moment seeing Cedric put either a brilliant cross and Shane score with a really good header. Ryan Bertrand struggled throughout the game and virtually all of the others went down to his level in the second half when we were steamrollered.
There isn’t much time to dwell on this as we have another game on Tuesday night and it’ll be another tough one against Crystal Palace. Maybe the exertions of the Christmas period of taking their toll a little bit on some of our players and it wouldn’t surprise me if there are a couple of changes for Tuesday night as some of our guys seem to be running on empty in that second half. Everyone has to keep some perspective as it is only one defeat. Anyone who says that they wouldn’t have taken 28 points at this stage of the season is either an idiot or a liar. We will be back and bring on Selhurst on Tuesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment