WOLVES FANS SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS FOLLOWING WOLVES CUP EXIT IN 3-2 DEFEAT TO BRIGHTON
JOHN TARAS
Loads of positives tonight! For the whole 90 minutes, we were on the front foot. Our first goal was a great move finished off by Gueddes.
Negatives were sadly preventable but cost us all three goals. The first two were repeats of one of the goals from Saturday, allowing the player to cut inside and have a free shot.
After dominating the second half, they scored from a breakaway. Sa pushed his save straight into their path, and it was a tap-in.
Our second goal came from high pressing on their defence, great work from Larsen, and a fantastic finish from Doyle!
We had chances in the second half to score more, but we lost 3-2.
If we play as well on Saturday against Villa and cut out the first goal mistake, we have a chance of a result. I’m optimistic things are improving.
KARL WHITEHOUSE
First Half
We started brightly in the game with plenty of possession. Then Sa kicked the ball out to a Brighton player, and we conceded another long-range goal. That’s now three goals in a row we’ve let in like this. Wolves are clearly struggling, and we seem all over the place. This highlights our current luck. Gary has created issues with this side playing 4 at the back. Brighton exposed our weaknesses in this system, running at us and scoring a fourth long-range goal. What is going on with our team? We are clearly lacking confidence. Gary, you need to sort this out; it’s not pleasant to see.
Guedes then got us a goal back after being supplied by Doherty, making it 2-1 for his third goal of the season, all in cup competitions. Half-time arrives, and we are 2-1 down. Gary will need to make some changes soon to get back into the game.
Second Half
Wolves started brightly from the kick-off, trying to get the equaliser. We had a good chance to do it, which would have been a great start. I hope it continues. Wolves played a much better press than in the first half, causing Brighton problems. We need to exploit the width of their side to get back into the game.
Gary made three substitutions to try and help the team find an equaliser. We played well in this second half, creating chances, but are we going to rue these missed opportunities for the equaliser?
Brighton got a goal late on to make it 3-1, and those chances have now been wasted. What an issue we have in our side. Doyle showed he was the man of the match for us with a good goal, making the game interesting.
Brighton beat us 3-2, and we exit the league cup. Now we focus on the Premier League and the FA Cup.
Overall, we made mistakes in the first half by allowing Brighton two long-range efforts on goal that could have been kept out, if we had the right players available. However, we gave them a fright by getting a late goal in the first half. In the second half, we dominated with many chances but conceded a late goal from Brighton. We did make it a grandstand finish in injury time to make it 3-2, but Wolves fans are now questioning Gary about this team, especially with 10 changes made. This back four is going to be a problem again. I keep saying we need to ditch it and return to a system that works. We’ll have to wait and see.
Scott drame
Another poor result hits the team. O’Neil’s defensive tactics fell short once more, highlighting persistent issues. Notably, Goncalo Guedes and Rodrigo Gomes showed their skills on the pitch, providing some of the few positives in an otherwise disappointing performance. Their standout play was a glimpse of what the side can achieve when things go right.
BLACKPOOL WOLF
Once again, mixed feelings from the game. We were poor defensively, mainly in the first half, trying to pass out from the back and allowing players to cut inside while standing off. On the other hand, there were some positive signs going forward and good performances from some of our fringe players. Guedes was by far the standout player for me. He looked to get in behind Brighton’s defence, made all kinds of runs pulling out to the sides, and had a few chances, which resulted in him scoring a goal. I definitely wasn’t a fan of Guedes when we signed him, maybe because of the fee, and he looked half the player he is now. But my mind has changed about him, and I really think he can push Strand Larsen for a starting role in the Premier League or perhaps get a chance out wide, not that Larsen has done anything wrong.
As everyone knows, I’m a fan of Pedro Lima, but today probably wasn’t one of his best performances. In the first half, when he got forward, he looked to cross the ball too early, maybe trying to emulate his assist from the Burnley game. In the second half, I think he performed well defensively, and I was surprised he was substituted off. Tommy Doyle is a strange player for me; I love watching him. He switches play brilliantly and pushes us forward. He also scored a brilliant goal, but I’m just not sure he can get into the starting eleven ahead of Joao Gomes, Mario Lemina, and now Andre. I just can’t pin down why, though, because he impresses me every time I see him. I think he will definitely be our most used substitute this season.
Forbs has a bit of pace about him. Flashback to the Adama Traore days when he ran back to win a ball he wasn’t favoured for late in the game. He needs more game time to gel with the lads, but early signs are positive. R. Gomes had a decent game and didn’t stop running without creating too much—another player who is positive but maybe lacking some game time. I don’t want to be a fan that’s critical every week of one player, but unfortunately, Hwang is getting on my nerves. If anyone can show me just one piece of play where Hwang has done something good this season or even since he got back from the Asia Cup early last season, I’d be surprised. He just doesn’t seem interested. Maybe the Marseille bid has disappointed him so much that his head is not in the game. When other players are pressing as a unit, he always seems to be the last to press and the first to back off, doing a lot of pointing to other players as if he’s commanding, but he’s actually doing very little. He also seems to pull off to the side towards the ball, drawing more Brighton defenders across when it’s unnecessary instead of pulling off to the side when they are on the counter, like Guedes, Strand Larsen, and Cunha do in previous games. So we end up playing the ball back to our defenders rather than trying to give us another option in the box or at the edge of the box. I think he should be dropped from the matchday squad for a couple of weeks so he can fight for his place back because there’s definitely a player inside him we are just not seeing at the moment.
I’m still not convinced about the formation. There are positives going forward, but defensively we struggle, and I can’t see where a clean sheet will come from in the Premier League. Gary O’Neil still has my backing, but unfortunately, time is running out, and his stubbornness must give in. We don’t have the players to play four at the back; we may need another two transfer windows to make that happen. I really hope I’m wrong and Gary gets it right and all of a sudden we start winning, otherwise I can’t see him lasting that long if we don’t get the results. Villa (Away), Liverpool (Home), Brentford (Away), Man City (Home), Brighton (Away) are our next five fixtures—a tough road ahead. We desperately need that one win to kick-start our season.
I think I have turned into a moaning idiot, but frustration has gotten the better of me, and my passion shines through.
Guedes Man of the Match
George Lakin
Can’t help but feel we were destined to fail with that defence. Yes rotate but do it in a strategic way.
Back four with Andre sitting in front had promise against Newcastle and we looked more solid for large periods of that game.
Play them again (maybe with one change such as Lima for Semedo) to actually use this ‘free-hit’ for something- in this case, a chance for a settled back four and Andre to build even more of an understanding going into Villa.
We can all see there’s strength in depth up top and Tommy Doyle is more than capable of stepping into midfield- so I’ve no issues with the rotation there at all.
But it feels like the 10 changes were somewhat for the sake of it- without any real consideration or thought beyond ‘him for him, him for him’ etc.
So what have we even learnt from that game really? We attacked well in spells and looked dangerous, but that’s to be expected, it’s already a strength of this side.
The real development would’ve come from using this game to build up our defensive unit, give them another game together, get it under their belts, familiarise themselves with each other and the new system further. None of this was allowed to happen.
The ‘rest players’ argument is irrelevant in my view, playing 3/4 first choice defenders, one first choice midfielder (which we did anyway with J. Gomes) and your first team GK while rotating the rest of the MF and forwards would leave the squad more than fresh enough for the weekend..
And what’s more, you likely wouldn’t have needed to throw on all the first team attackers to chase the game had we not conceded two sloppy goals early doors. Decent strikes yes, but could equally be put down to a defence that were thrown together and had no idea how to play together for the first 45.
Shame really, because what can we really take from that game in order to improve going forward?
I can live with getting dumped out the cup early if it genuinely looks like we’ve used the game to build on something. But this just feels like it was prepared for as a ‘run out.’ 90 mins, and the outside chance of a nice little cup run, totally wasted.