read the thoughts of wolves fans following defeat at Molineux to arsenal
George lakin
Tough one to take, but don’t think we quite did enough to turn the screw when we had the numerical advantage. Which wasn’t the end of the world until Joao Gomes’ sending off. If that doesn’t happen we were probably due a big last 15 minutes having worn Arsenal down, and it may well have told.
All if, buts and maybes again though. Even so, it’s hard to be overly critical. No complains personally about Gomes’ second booking, just unlucky, which is absolutely typical when the chips are down.
Only concern would be the way we reacted after that, you could just sense the belief dissipate, yet there was no real need for that. We went toe to toe with Arsenal and contained them well 11v11 in the first half.
Fragile mindset, but I think we saw far more fight, organisation and determination today than we have in recent weeks. It’s given me a little bit more confidence that when the fixtures turn, we can go and get those 4/5 wins we so desperately need.
Injuries and suspensions now beginning the come in to play, and while Agbadou looks a player, Guo will hopefully realise after watching today that more reinforcements are an absolute necessity.
BLACKPOOL WOLF
I know fans will be upset if they read my thoughts, but I honestly think they are true.
The blame for this match has to be pointed at Vitor Pereira. Not only did he not make any changes, which was bizarre, he made the substitutions too late, and the ones he made were poor.
When Larsen went off injured, he brought Hwang on, which wouldn’t have been my choice. I didn’t kick up a fuss too much, even though he has been dreadful for 12 months. The only reason I didn’t complain was that Guedes is also out of form and he was our only other option up top.
Then Arsenal went down to 10 men, and I really thought we had a chance until Joao picked up his first yellow. Knowing Joao’s game, you need to think about bringing him off, not only because there is a good chance of a second yellow but if you ask him not to be as energetic and committed, you won’t be getting the best out of him. I can’t completely blame Pereira for not taking him off, because if you did that every time he gets booked, he would hardly play. However, the way the second half was going in the first 10-15 minutes, we were giving away a lot of free kicks because Arsenal were in control, so I would have brought him off in this game.
In the second half, even though we had one more player than Arsenal, they were all over us while we created very little. We needed to make a change around the 55-60 minute mark. Vitor waited until Joao got sent off and for Arsenal to take the lead, and the substitute that came on should not be anywhere near the team. Bellegarde is not our answer; he’s just not up to the standards we need. But like O’Neil, Vitor Pereira thinks he’s the solution. Even after all that, he made three substitutions with two minutes of normal time to go—subs that should have come on at least around the 60-70 minute mark at the latest.
The fact is, Vitor Pereira is better than Gary O’Neil and he does need backing, but he also needs to be more reactive and more creative.
Rodrigo Gomes, Doyle, and Lima need more minutes on the pitch, while Sarabia, Hwang, and Bellegarde need less. I’m so frustrated that the club I love is in such a state at the moment.
POPPY LANG
Another week, another loss.
It was an exciting game, to say the least. Considering it was Arsenal, losing 1-0 isn’t awful, but it was a pretty bad goal to give away. When Arsenal went one man down, we should’ve stepped up a bit more than we did. We should’ve taken that chance to get the ball in the back of the net, but it just seemed like there was no confidence in them. We need to get that confidence back by winning a few games.
Then Gomes got sent off, and our chance of scoring was low once again. I definitely think we need to buy another player as awake and aware as Cunha. He is always running his socks off and seems to be the only passionate player at the moment.
I thought Semedo was the player of the match today. He was definitely more aware and helped out a lot more.
As long as the teams below us, like Ipswich, keep losing, we might be okay, at least until we have easier games. But first, we have a few tough matches that we need to win. It’s going to be tough, given the way we are playing at the moment. Vitor Pereira needs to switch things up. He started off great, but he is just using similar tactics as O’Neil, which isn’t going to end well.
PAM WELLS
I am so fed up and disappointed after that game, a game that was there for the taking, and we let it slip away from us. I was surprised when I saw the starting line-up with no changes, as I thought if nothing else, Rodrigo Gomes should have started. As expected, Arsenal came at us all guns blazing for the first 35 minutes, but we defended really well, even against the corners and free kicks. Yet again, we didn’t really offer anything going forward. Then Larsen got injured, and Hwang was brought on. João Gomes got a yellow card for kicking the ball away and showing dissent.
Then we got a lifeline when their left-back brought down Doherty and received a straight red. A lifeline for us, 11 to 10. Did we make it pay? Did we heck. Surely they would tire in the second half, and we would take advantage. I expected some substitutes at half-time, but he didn’t make any, and Arsenal came out of the blocks so fast we were never in it. It never looked like they were down to 10. After 65 minutes, João Gomes made another tackle and got a second yellow and a red. 10 to each side. What were we going to do now? We were down to 10 when we couldn’t get past them with 11.
We got the answer not long after when Sarabia lost his man and he scored. Would you believe it? After all that time, they scored as soon as we went down to 10.
For the last 10 to 15 minutes, we actually started to play but still couldn’t find a way through a strong Arsenal defence.
So the match ended in defeat in a game we should have taken at least one point. I thought Pereira’s team selection and late subs were questionable today. I don’t think our defence was to blame today, but we certainly need another midfielder and striker. My man of the match was Agbadou, who was immense in the back three. Performance rating: 4.
Thank goodness Ipswich lost. Letting points get away from us, I think we could be in a relegation dogfight with Ipswich and Leicester. Villa are next up. Bring them on. Keep the faith, although it’s getting hard.
KARL WHITEHOUSE
We started the game well, having plenty of the ball early on, but then Arsenal took control and dominated as they usually do against teams in the Premier League.
Arsenal caused us issues in defence, trying to take the lead, with Jose Sa keeping us in the game, along with Agbadou, who improves every match.
We did not test the Arsenal goalkeeper at all in the first half, with no shots on target. It felt like an away team was coming to Molineux and taking control of the game, making you wonder who the home team was.
The game changed when Arsenal were reduced to 10 men, and Wolves had to take control of the situation.
The second half was important for us to capitalise on the one-man advantage. We needed to be clinical in taking our chances.
However, despite the momentum we had against Arsenal with 10 men, we still didn’t manage to score. We did not test their goalkeeper for the opening goal, but we were still in the game.
With all this going on, we went down to 10 men as well, losing part of our engine room. This levelled the game, and Arsenal capitalised on this, taking their chance to score and maintain their scoring record against us. That was a real blow.
Vitor Pereira should have reacted sooner, making the necessary substitutions after Arsenal scored. It was a case of too little, too late, not giving the players enough time to adjust to the game.
Arsenal did their usual thing of slowing the game down to run down the clock and secure their victory, and we did not show the fight needed to come back into the game.
Wolves are in a mess at the moment, still above the relegation zone only on goal difference. We can’t rely on teams below us for results. This was a missed opportunity to take three points against a side down to 10 men, and the gap above us is starting to widen, which needs to be addressed.
Pereira now needs to add players in this transfer window. There has been talk of a defender, midfielder, and possibly a striker, as we lost one to injury today. This leaves us short for a while, and these players need to be ready to step in. It’s frustrating to see where we are as fans.
John taras
The scoreline should have been the other way around. For the second game in a row, Wolves have managed to throw away points. At half-time against Chelsea, it was all square, and on top, they let Chelsea dictate the second half and score two soft goals without any reply.
Today, against second in the table Arsenal, expecting to be put to the sword by a slick Arsenal team, Wolves weathered the storm until the 40th minute when Arsenal went down to 10 men.
I expected Vitor Pereira to instruct the players to bombard Arsenal using the extra man. Instead, the players sat back for over 20 minutes, letting Arsenal dictate play. Joao Gomes had been booked in the first half; logic would have suggested substituting him early in the second half. Pereira didn’t make any substitutions and then went ballistic on the touchline when Gomes received a second yellow card for a mistimed lunge. We had wasted 20 minutes of goal-scoring potential to put the game to bed. Arsenal now had the upper hand and duly scored four minutes later.
Pereira’s team selection raised eyebrows when he made no changes from the defeat at Chelsea. There was no place for Rodrigo Gomes, Doyle, or Guedes.
Today was a golden chance to get three points. Everton won again, and the gap at the bottom is wider. Next up is a difficult game against Villa, followed by Liverpool, then Bournemouth and Fulham.
Watching and hoping for a miracle during the game seems to be beyond Wolves. When they have a chance to get something from a game, they manage to throw it away.
I don’t know what will happen over the next few months, but I still hope we can survive and avoid relegation.