WOLVES FANS SHARE THEIR INITIAL REACTION FOLLOWING WOLVES 4-0 DEFEAT TO MANCHESTER CITY
CRAIG HICKEY
GEORGE LAKIN
Wonderful tributes to Diogo. Wolves did him proud today.
As far as the football goes- routine victory for City, and about as easy as an away win comes in this league.
Clearly we had a plan, but it was one VP had to conjure up purely due to our lack of quality and depth.
Looked a team set up for damage limitation from the off. We were never going to have enough to compete.
Even though we packed out midfield, and even though midfield is probably our strongest area, Reijnders still tore us to shreds. Different level.
Quadruple substitution had us looking a little sharper up front and there were some nice moments for Arias and Fer Lopez, but overall we just looked sloppy, disorganised and messy across the park- even in the press. Unlike a VP side.
Don’t think there’s a major issue with effort or application, we are just severely lacking quality and cohesion (and I think we are a bit naive).
Difficult to judge with it being City but I’m not sure this current crop truly believe in themselves. Tough ask for VP changing that.
On the full backs: left side, I’m not sure Wolfe is any better than Hugo Bueno; right side, Hoever didn’t stand out as particularly bad and Rodrigo Gomes just isn’t a wingback for me- missing too many key facets to fulfil that role effectively in PL.
The quality in these areas last season was so high, and many probably took that for granted. Vital positions in VP’s system and will probably stick out like a sore thumb all year. Centre backs shakey as ever won’t help but essentially there’s nowhere to hide anymore.
Strand Larsen on scraps but looked sharp in and around the box, give him the service and he’ll score goals.
For most, it was the start we expected, and one that may unearth a few heads from the sand.
On the bright side lesser challenges lie ahead, but we need points on the board quickly because I wouldn’t like to see this groups’ confidence shattered – looks fragile already.
LOUIE LEFEVRE
A tough result but Wolves can be hugely proud of the occasion overall. The tributes to Diogo and Andre plus the 10 minutes of non-stop chanting after the final whistle made for a beautiful moment that overshadowed everything else. Today I was proud to be part of the Wolves family. Massive thanks to the visiting support who were respectful and made sure not to sour the emotions in the stadium.
JOHN TARAS
KARL WHITEHOUSE
We started the game brightly, but our defensive frailties were exposed, especially with our zonal marking. We allowed the opposition to score because we didn’t pick up players—particularly down our right-hand side, where we’re having issues. I hope this gets sorted out soon. Our passing also let us down; we gave the ball away too often, which led to conceding another goal. This needs addressing as well. Vitor has to solve these problems quickly, or we risk being easy opponents for other teams in the league.
I didn’t want to say this, but what has happened to Agbadou? He seems to have lost his confidence, making mistakes we didn’t see from him last season. Is there an underlying issue? Hopefully, he can sort things out. The other two goals were also hard to watch, especially as they put the game out of reach. We need more “oven-ready” players—those who can step in and make a difference—to solve these problems. Our defending and passing must be more clinical, and our pressing intensity needs to improve. If we don’t step it up, we could become a team that concedes too many goals. Still, we keep the faith and believe we can overcome what we saw today, even though the result was disappointing.
Match Rating: 5
Player of the Match: Joao Gomes
A shoutout to Oldgoldpack—what a lovely tifo in memory of Diogo Jota before the game.
PAM WELLS
As expected for the first 20 minutes City totally dominated the game. Hoever couldn’t handle Doku at all . City were breaking through the midfield making us look vulnerable.
After 30 mins we came into the game more and Munetsi had the ball on the net only to be offside.
Just as it was looking like we were starting to play better City went down and Haaland scored Five minutes later they doubled the score after poor defending particularly by Agbadou
Strand Larssen and Munetsi kept trying without any luck do the half finished with us 2-0 down
We looked brighter at the start of the 2nd half but yet again City broke away and made it 3-0. Vitor made 4 subs and yet again we looked brighter but yet again City went down and scored to make the final score 4-0.
A very disappointing display overall and the defence which was so good last season was sadly lacking on a number of occasions.
Performance rating 5
Man of the match Joào Gomes