Wolves (a) 3pm Saturday 20th November (not on TV)

Fortuneseeker

Yeold, the gamble is not having a proper back up for Antonio. That needs to be addressed in January otherwise it could prove to be an expensive error as it has been left unresolved for a few transfer windows.

Expat_Hammer

Isn't this the third time we've lost the game after the international borefest money maker for FIFA

Hamstew

Our other losses came after Europa games?

Expat_Hammer

I will take the blame though, I have never seen us win on a stream this season.

I promise never to watch them again

yoyo

Seems like a good game to have missed, glad I watched the rugby

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

Fortuneseeker said:

Yeold, the gamble is not having a proper back up for Antonio. That needs to be addressed in January otherwise it could prove to be an expensive error as it has been left unresolved for a few transfer windows.

This isn't why we lost today. Almost every player had a nightmare. A back-up striker would have made very little difference - it wasn't like Antonio was missing sitters all game.

Whitehorsehammer

I think the international break had a lot to do with that poor performance, lots of players away, Fornals only just back from Spain with his partner having a baby. The sharpness was not there, they tried but were off the pace.

thornburyiron

It was an odd game. We were comfortable and probably on top for 20 minutes and then Wolves seemed to wake up and think we can win this if we give it a go and we had no answer at all.
You can’t say the international break took its toll because I think only Antonio and Benrhama of the starters today actually played in two matches.
Our unbeaten away run was always going to end but I didn’t expect it in this fashion.

EXETERHAMMER

Our distribution from the back was poor today. Missing Oggy down the left.
I would like to see Diop play.

claretandbluesky

I think it's a few things, some players flat from the break, Antonio most notably, Oggi missed in defence and Zouma didn't look as assured without him. We must however give praise to Wolves, if you were a fan you would be heaping praise on them and remarking about how they completely nullified our game and dominated possession for large periods.

Other results went well and if Liverpool win we still be assured to be fourth even after the City match next week.

Fortuneseeker

Jorderz, I agree there were probably many reasons why we didn't play very well today but IF we had a decent replacement for Antonio we wouldn't have had to play him after he had just returned from International duty.

MrsGrey

thornburyiron said:

It was an odd game. We were comfortable and probably on top for 20 minutes and then Wolves seemed to wake up and think we can win this if we give it a go and we had no answer at all.
You can’t say the international break took its toll because I think only Antonio and Benrhama of the starters today actually played in two matches.
Our unbeaten away run was always going to end but I didn’t expect it in this fashion.

The playing is only part of it. There was training with the national team, plus travelling... Maybe not sleeping well, jet lag, disruption to routine ...lots of factors can play a ( damaging) part.

ASLEFshrugged

Expat_Hammer said:

Isn't this the third time we've lost the game after the international borefest money maker for FIFA

Hamstew said:

Our other losses came after Europa games?

Drew with Saints after the international break
Lost to Man U after Dinamo Zagreb
Lost to Brentford after Rapid Wein
Beat Everton after the international break
Beat Spurs after Genk

I had a good run...

thornburyiron

Mrs G I agree to a degree but my point was very few of our starters were actually involved in the international breaks but still seemed to be jet lagged and as most of the internationals were within Europe travelling would have been minimal.
I think they went into it with the wrong mindset and couldn’t get out of it when pressured.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Worst qe played this season against a good outfit

Bad performance, we move on

alderz

thornburyiron said:

Mrs G I agree to a degree but my point was very few of our starters were actually involved in the international breaks but still seemed to be jet lagged and as most of the internationals were within Europe travelling would have been minimal.
I think they went into it with the wrong mindset and couldn’t get out of it when pressured.

I think the biggest affect of the break was the disruption in our flow. Bowen I think said how the players are enjoying playing every three days and just going game to game, so a little break probably had an impact on the momentum.

Lukerz

Another goal conceded today where neither Rice or Soucek sniff the danger, both marking nobody.

BubblesNeverDies

Expat_Hammer said:

puddleglumhammers said:

Anyone got a good stream ?

No, we're losing on mine

Quite possibly the best post in the world

BubblesNeverDies

yoyo said:

Seems like a good game to have missed, glad I watched the rugby

I found out that the app I have on my firestick let me watch a split screen showing us v wolves and the rugby, so I called it a draw.

The rugby though was immense.

ASLEFshrugged

Reasons to be cheerful...

2021/22

P 12 W7 D2 L3 GF 23 GA 14
4th (20th Nov)
Playing Man C in the League Cup QF

1985/86

P 12 W4 D5 L3 GF 19 GA 15
11th (12th Oct)
Knocked out by Man U in the League Cup 3rd Rnd

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Still 4th and will be by the end of the weekend

Wasn't great but today all of Arsenal United and Brighton who were around us before this round have all lost this weekend, and they all got battered (less so Brighton)

Lukerz

And all but guaranteed fourth going into the home game with Brighton in December

thornburyiron

To put yesterday’s game into perspective Wolves form over the last 8 PL games had been better than ours and about second only to Chelsea’s so it was never going to be easy.

Lukerz

I think what yesterday showed is Benrahma needs to play on the left more often than not & Fornals in the middle to help Rice & Soucek. Wolves had a really crowded area in the middle with the 3 CBs & 2 CMs, plus the two No.10s & congested the middle & we sort of got pulled apart when they used the wing backs to get wide. It seemed Rice & Soucek had acres of grass around them all the time. Moyes could have switched at HT to a back 3 which I felt would have helped us (we also played a back 3 there last season) but chose to let it run for 15 minutes.

No massive complaints from me but maybe a more proactive tactical tweak would have helped us get a point from the game. Instead he left it as it was & just swapped like for like with the three behind Antonio being replaced. As a result, nothing really changed in terms of the pattern of the game.

I also think Diop should play with Zouma if we go with a back four. I like Dawson & he didn’t really do anything wrong yesterday, but I felt he limited us in building possession from the back whereas Ogbonna has a really nice passing ability on that left foot.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

Tbf Moyes was acting quite proactively for him, Lanzini was already on the touchline waiting to come on around the 56/57 minute mark, only a minute before they scored

And we swapped from a 4231 to a 433 which helped gain possession in the middle with Lanzini playing deeper than Fornals/Bennie

Think Moyes wanted to see if the boys could turn it around themselves the first 10/15 mins then decide to make the change once he realised Wolves were still on top

Lanzini gave us much better control so was the right move

Sadly Vlasic and Yarmolenko didn't have the same impact

Am starting to worry Vlasic was a panic buy, will give him time but he cost us approx. £25mil rising to £32mil which is a LOT after COVID and he looks lost

Fornals and Benrahma were the same but need him to be a bit more present right now as those two were showing glimpses even at the start but Vlasic I haven't seen much

Lukerz

Yeah I think swapping like for like is not overly proactive. I agree he was making the sub quite early but the first half we weren’t in it after a good start. The system was not matching theirs & they were finding gaps in our formation.

Lanzini for Fornals is the sort of thing you do on FIFA when you are losing. Just replace the three least effective players with 3 in the exact same positions off the bench & hope for something different. I felt the performance was more down to tactics than player performance. I think they would have played better in a different system.

IronHerb

Fortuneseeker said:

Yeold, the gamble is not having a proper back up replacement for Antonio. That needs to be addressed in January otherwise it could prove to be an expensive error as it has been left unresolved for a few transfer windows.

Fixed it for ya.

IronHerb

Poor performance against a good Wolves team. A bit like the Brentford game where they imposed their game plan on us and we couldn't react. Bowen and Fab had decent games and Manu had an impact as sub but the rest struggled.

Bring on Vienna and City.

COYI

jay_in_cpt

IronHerb said:

Poor performance against a good Wolves team. A bit like the Brentford game where they imposed their game plan on us and we couldn't react. Bowen and Fab had decent games and Manu had an impact as sub but the rest struggled.

Bring on Vienna and City.

COYI

Personally thought Cresswell was more than good, alongside Fab, the rest, below par IMO....
No complaints from me...I would have been well happy before season with this after 12 matches in, and to shut Klopp up and make him lose his rag the week before, well that was better than winning yesterday for me.....

Pengeman

Other than Fabianski, most players were mediocre. Johnson seemed to struggle defensively and allowed too many crosses to come in. Cresswell was AWOL for the Wolves goal and there was no cover from Fornals and Benrahma. Benrhama is so inconsistent. He has one good game nd then three mediocre ones. Soucek and Rice were not picking up their man either. Zouma probably had his worse game so far. His pairing with Dawson did not work. Dawson seemed slow and was beaten too often. Antonio was sluggish. Did not see much from Vlasic and Yarmolenko is not a super-sub. Moyes also lost the tactical battle. His 4-3-3 was outsmarted by the Wolves 3-5-2 and quick passing.
Hopefully, it is all behind us as the next game looms.