KARL WHITEHOUSE REPORTS ON LUTON 1 WOLVES 1
Gameweek 6 of the Premier League season sees Wolves visit Luton Town for the first time in a league game since the 3rd March 2007 when Wolves won 3-2.
Wolves have made no changes to the starting XI from the game against Liverpool with Gary O’Neil keeping faith with the same side that lost last weekend.
Wolves side:(4-2-3-1) Sa, Semedo, Kilman, Dawson, Ait Nouri, Bellegarde, Gomes, Lemina, Neto, Hwang, Cunha.
Subs: Bentley, Doherty, Traore, Silva, H Bueno, Kalajdzic, Doyle, Sarabia, Toti.
Luton have made 2 changes from the game against Fulham with Andersen and Chong dropped to the bench with Ogbene and Doughty coming into their side.
Luton Side:(3-4-3) Kaminski, Kabore, Burke, Lockyer, Bell, Lokonga, Nakamba, Doughty, Brown, Morris, Ogbene.
Subs: Krul, Andersen, Berry, Woodrow, Adebayo, Chong, Mengi, Mpanzu, Giles.
FIRST HALF
Luton Kick Off the game with plenty of possession and keeping the ball with Wolves not getting many touches of the ball. The first 5 mins of the game has been all Luton with iWolves struggling to get the ball.
It took Wolves until the 8th Minute of the game to finally get the ball, Bellegarde started an attack but ended up with Hwang offside.
Luton go up to the other end and Morris hits the post a huge let off for Wolves and could have easily been 1-0 down.
Wolves have now started to get the ball more after 25 minutes with a tweak to the system getting.
In the 39th minute things gets worse for Wolves when Bellegarde gets sent off with an off the ball incident for showing studs on Lockyer. Wolves are down to 10 men and this could be a 3-match suspension for the new signing meaning he misses some big games for Wolves which are coming up and now gives an advantage to Luton.
A careless back pass by Dawson with Sa out of his goal with ball heading towards goal but Kilman clears.
Half time comes with Luton dominating the game and this has to be one of the worse performances we have seen Wolves play for a long time and Gary O’Neil has got to do a team talk and get the team playing or we could lose this.
Half Time: Luton Town 0 Wolves 0
SECOND HALF
Second half kicks off with two substitutions with Hwang and Ait Nouri taken off to be replaced by Doherty and Toti.
Morris has another Luton chance straight at goalkeeper Sa two minutes into the second half of the game and it has started the same as the first half with more Luton possession.
Then on the 50th Minute Joao Gomes then clipped a a ball around the corner to Pedro Neto who won a race with Lockyer went around the Luton defence with his quick feet and his shot went into the back of the net to make it Wolves 1-0 with the first shot and target in the match.
Wolves have another chance with a free kick from Pedro Neto crossed into the box with with Lemina hitting the post and then followed up by Kilman who couldn’t get the loose ball in the box over the line for a chance for Wolves to make it 2-0.
Luton react to going behind bringing on a double substitution with Lokonga taken off and Mpanzu coming on.
Then in the 65th Minute of the game a moment of controversy: the ball looked to have hit Gomes knee and bounced on to his hand and the ref blows for a penalty. VAT check it and agreed with referee and then Morris steps up to the penalty spot and sends Sa the wrong way to make the game 1-1.
Wolves make their third change of the game bringing off Matheus Cunha and bringing on Boubacar Traore for the final 20mins plus injury time.
Luton soon after bringing on another two substitutes in the game with the former Wolves player Ryan Giles coming on along with Cauley Woodrow with Alfie Doughty and Jacob Brown coming off.
Hugo Bueno came on for Nelson Semedo late in the came to try and sure up the defence.
Luton then make a late change themselves too with Issa Kabore coming off and Elijah Adebayo coming on for a tactical change to try and win the game for Luton.
With the game petering out Wolves made a late substitution with Joao Gomes withdrawn from the game with Tommy Doyle coming on for the 6 minutes of added on time.
Luton had the ball in the back of the net only for it to be flagged offside a lucky escape for Wolves not to be behind.
With the game edging towards the end Cauley Woodrow had a shot blocked for Luton
Is this a point gained or two points dropped? I think it is 2 points dropped against a side we should have beaten.
Full Time: Luton Town 1 Wolves 1
IN CONCLUSION
This was a game Wolves should have won and we have dropped points against a bottom half side again and these mistakes are going to hurt us.
Pedro Neto is the player who is on form at the moment for the club with 5 goal involvements in 6 games and he is showing the other players what to do.
This has got to be one of our worst displays in the Premier League.
The decision of the penalty is nuts as the PL announced this season that body to hand will not be a penalty. This was a terrible decision by the on-field referee and VAR and I bet this will be an apology from the head of refereeing again.
We are at the moment 2 points worse off from last season, scored 3 goals more, conceded 5 goals more and we are 1 place better off as that so there is room improvement.
ARTICLE BY KARL WHITEHOUSE
I am a Wolves fan been for over 30 years. I have supported them both home and away games in the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s and now like looking into wolves games the stats behind the games they play in the premier league and also look other stats if asked by someone else in the podcast. I have also done the 92 football league grounds and shortly be doing a ebook about peoples favourite match they went to along with a match report and if possible stats from game.