8 KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM WOLVES 1 WEST HAM 2

1. Apathy to the game not the club

In my Wolves supporting life, I thought I had been through all the emotions. The joy, the pain, the anger, the disappointment, the obsessed and the apathy. It has always however been something that I have cared enough about to want to talk about, to want to give an opinion. It is the reason I write the odd article for this website. Even apathy was interesting to a point, the club not being interesting enough to be interested in is interesting. Today though is different. I find myself not wanting to write this article, I find myself not wanting to look through video’s and socials. The difference is, it’s not the club I am finding it difficult to care about, its the game itself. There is a level, that if you sink beneath, it is really difficult to return from. VAR has created a bar which we have been straddling for most of the season, but it feels like we have arrived at a  place now where we have dropped so low, that football feels distant and removed from what it once was. The real problem here is that this isn’t a one off incident that would provoke a long lasting emotive response, it’s the last of a thousand cuts which has drained the supporters of enough energy to mount a response. This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but with a whimper.

2. It’s a goal.

There is no real point in going through it. Everyone knows the goal was fine. Let’s just end the conversation there. 

3. Put the passports away

There are some easier home games to come which should see Wolves reach a hugely respectable points tally of around 50 points. It’s going to be just short of what is needed unless there are some huge upsets in the games against the teams fighting for the title. Even a small proportion of the points stolen by dreadful officiating would have been enough to keep the ambition alive, but it feels a bridge too far now. 

4. A game of two halves.

Oh what a cliché, but this is the best example you will ever see. Wolves were as excellent in the first half as West Ham were rancid. Second half was a total role reversal, although West Ham really had to be little better than average to overturn the deficit. There was a feeling at Half Time that Wolves total domination needed to bring more than a one goal lead as the second half surely couldn’t follow the same pattern. Credit to West Ham changes and their ability to be able to make some, but Wolves second half looked like a team full of negativity and nervousness. They couldn’t get up the pitch and when the only mechanism for doing so was taken off injured, the issues compounded. Wolves stopped looking for forward passes and elected for safety first football, which ultimately proved to be far more hazardous. 

5. The corner kick.

Controversial opinion. I don’t think it is Sa’s fault. I realise that the amount of blame that anyone will attach to Sa is probably dependent on the view held on the often divisive goalkeeper before this incident. I also have some tolerance to the argument that no premier league goalkeeper should be beaten directly by a corner, and as such, regardless of anything else, it must be Sa’s fault. I think the reality is slightly more complicated. Sa cannot stand at the back post waiting for this ball. His positioning is right for the overwhelming majority of corners that he has and will face. Would he change anything for the next corner he faces? I doubt it. Could you argue that he should have allowed for the wind? maybe, but to do so would leave the goal extremely vulnerable for a much more probable type of corner.  Sa can’t reach the ball. It swings, it dips, its freakish. Its not the first time that the James Ward-Prouse has scored a goal at Molineux that on paper must point to Sa being at fault, and I don’t think its the first time that the reality doesn’t match. 

6. RAN = Baller 

Another £10m on the value. Offers above £60m only please.

7. Cunha = Rusty.

Doherty will take the heat and for his role in the penalty, rightly so. Cunha however delivered one of the worst performances you could ever see. His over enthusiasm made him a problem. His desire to do well saw him get involved where he shouldn’t have been and repeatedly give the ball away in really dangerous areas. He was everywhere we didn’t want or need him to be. The minutes for Cunha were needed and Wolves need him, just a calmer more disciplined version. 

8. Final position remains important

The season may be all but over in terms of European ambition, but Wolves must keep going. Not only are the financials important in terms of prize money, but the team deserves better than to limp home with anything less than 50 points. A top half finish would remain an incredible achievement given the way in which the season started, and even more impressive considering the injuries sustained over the last couple of months. We have seen previously the importance of finishing a season with momentum. Lage’s final months as Wolves manager was anchored by a terrible end to the previous season. VAR is killing the game, but the club, the team and the supporters need to find a way of getting through. There remains the nucleus of something potentially very special at the club and the efforts given this year deserve more than the violent and sustained assault delivered by VAR and the PGMOL