WOLVES FANS REACT TO AN ABYSMAL MOLINEUX PERFORMANCE AGAINST BOURNEMOUTH
PAM WELLS
Well, what a dreadful performance. We went 1 down after just 1 minute due to a silly tackle from Toti. We equalised just 2 minutes later with a great cross from Bellegarde, which Larsen put away with a brilliant header.
Perhaps the game would settle down… how wrong was I. Just 5 minutes later, Bournemouth scored again. Only 8 minutes had gone, and it felt like a comedy of errors. The chaos continued when, at 15 minutes, Sa gave away a dreadful penalty.
We lasted until half-time when Dawson came on for Toti and Forbs replaced Bellegarde. We started the second half a bit brighter, and on 69 minutes, Larsen got his second after a great pass from Guedes. Was this the comeback? It certainly wasn’t; they went straight down, and Sa gave away another penalty almost identical to the first.
We kept trying to go forward but always seemed second best. That marked the end of our winning streak and Sa’s great run. Bournemouth didn’t need any help; we gave them 3 silly penalties. Yet, every time a Wolves player got near them, they went down like dying ducks, and the referee fell for it, giving us nothing.
A dreadful day all round. So much hope after last week. The fans looked shell-shocked. My man of the match for his 2 goals was Larssen. Performance rating: a 5. We need a good sort out before we meet Everton, now back in the bottom 3.
BLACKPOOL WOLF
Shocking, not for the first time this season. I’ve been saying all week the Fulham game wasn’t as comfortable as the scoreline suggested. There were plenty of reasons for concern. This week, it showed absolutely terribly. Schoolboy defending, lack of intensity and no communication.
Fingers should and probably will point to Gary O’Neil for keeping Lemina at centre-back in a back four and for taking Rodrigo Gomes off at half-time, who I thought could have caused Bournemouth all kinds of problems. But that’s where the blame stops this week; it has to be pointed at the players.
Lemina and Rayan Air Nouri worry me every time the ball comes to them. They both think they have all the time in the world and almost look like they don’t care at times, which may be harsh, but that’s the way it appears. The simple things you learn when you’re about six years old are: don’t wait for the ball, meet the ball, and don’t take too many touches—control it, get your head up, and pass it. Rayan looked okay going forward but terrible at defending and getting back. I say it every week about Bellegarde: what does he actually do other than get himself marked or pass backwards? (He will probably be let off this week because he got an assist.) We’re all talking about Andre’s quality, but in most games I watch him, he’s pretty quiet and offers us nothing. He’s playing a completely different role to the one Neves used to play. Semedo’s got a silly yellow card, which means he misses the Everton game on Wednesday. I thought Cunha had one of his quieter games, but that’s expected from time to time; he can’t always be the star player.
Not sure what happened with Sa and the fan, but Sa was shocking today. The fans are paying his wages. He’s a big boy; he shouldn’t throw a tantrum because he’s had a bad game and someone’s telling him he’s had a bad game. (I might be wrong about the Sa incident because I don’t 100% know what went on; I’m just guessing.)
Even after being unbeaten for four games, I said Gary O’Neil is not the man for the job. It’s just a matter of time. I think anything less than three points against Everton means the club has to react. The points tally just isn’t good enough.
The last time I felt like this was during the Salty Bacon and Saunders era. We need to act and give a new manager time to look at the squad for the January window.
GEORGE LAKIN
We let the cat out of the bag last week. That second half performance at Fulham proved there’s more than enough quality in this squad to compete, and that there’s absolutely no excuses for performances that look as disjointed and devoid of quality as today. This explains the chorus of boos at half-time and full-time today at Molineux.
On the game itself, you can’t give away three penalties and expect to get anything out of any game. But besides the penalties, how can it be that Bournemouth looked so much fitter than us, so much more aware of where their team-mates were on the pitch, so much sharper, more fluid, so much better at playing in tight spaces, so much more effective in the press compared to us? Those are the questions that need answering.
The penalties were simply the result of mistakes, individual errors. However, the mistakes that led to the penalties were far from the only mistakes made in a game absolutely littered with them on our behalf. Obviously when there is such an abundance, inevitably some will cost dearly. The question here is why are they happening so unbelievably frequently?
There was a lack of cohesion and understanding between our players in all aspects of our game. Attack and defence, in and out of possession. It is bizarre how we can go so quickly from one extreme to the other (after everything seemed to finally click against Fulham last week). Ultimately, it is the manager’s job to ensure that, yes, when we click, we are devastatingly good, but also to ensure that when things aren’t running so smoothly, there is a baseline level that we do not sink below, a ‘damage limitation’ policy if you will. This is something we don’t yet have. Without it, we will struggle to ever find a sense of balance, harmony or identity that we can fall back on. It’s this buffer that is the true measure of any team, and this is what will be the determining factor for staying in the Premier League, or not.
The haphazard utter chaos has to be eradicated. Whether it results in more goals or not. Yes, we’ve scored two goals again in a week when O’Neil has suggested that he has sorted out our goalscoring problems. But on today’s performance, absolutely all of the credit has to go to Strand-Larsen and how utterly clinical he was. He had two chances and scored two goals. Apart from these, I can’t remember us making any other good opportunities. The ‘2’ may have flattered us a little bit today, and fact we didn’t create much again just points to how much we struggled to build up play. In complete contract to Bournemouth, we struggled to get players into the areas that they needed to be. We struggled to give it to players with space to run into. Kluivert on the other hand looked an absolute machine with acres to drive into every single time. How?
Credit to Bournemouth though, I thought they played well, but it just feel like Iraola has completely done a job on us today. Literally sussed us out to an absolute tee. That can’t be allowed to happen so glaringly obviously. It was just too easy.
So it’s back to the drawing board (again) for O’Neil. Rightly or wrongly, I think he will get the chance to go again, but it is becoming increasing concerning just how much chopping and changing of players and systems we are seeing. And even more concerning is the clear fact that he still doesn’t know his absolute strongest side.
Everton is now massive, and I’m not sure the added pressure will help us. Unfortunately, we look back to being tetchy and on the brink again..
Tyler price
Wow, a 4-2 loss to the Cherries through pure chaos… Three penalties conceded and scored against. My thoughts are brief after that. It’s 50/50 blame on the players and Gary O’Neil due to major individual mistakes, especially with the penalties. It also falls on the manager for playing the captain in that position. It worked last week due to individual excellence from players, but moving forward, it’s just not the right choice. There’s no excuse for not signing a centre-back in the summer.
The only bright spot was our number nine, Jorgen Strand Larsen, who showed fight, grit, and determination on the pitch today. The other ten players looked slow and lacklustre, and our star, Matheus Cunha, really struggled to get involved. Patience with Gary O’Neil is running thin. The failure to beat Everton midweek could be fatal in the club’s battle to stay an established Premier League side and could end Gary O’Neil’s tenure as manager.
KARL WHITEHOUSE
What a difference a week makes in football. We saw our team play at their best and win convincingly, then come crashing down with a performance full of issues.
It started poorly, with Wolves conceding three goals in the first 18 minutes. Two of those goals were gifts from Jose Sa, who fouled the same player, Evanilson, twice. He has an issue to address about keeping him in the side.
We did get a goal from Strand Larsen amidst the chaos of the opening part of the game, but this was not the start we wanted, especially at home.
We tried to get back into the game in the first half, but the damage was done. Once again, we gave away the opening goal. Gary has a problem to solve and needs to make changes for the second half to get back on track.
The second half started with just one change, bringing on Dawson. He should have made more changes; we needed an attacking boost to gain a foothold in the game.
We had plenty of possession but no goals to show for it. Gary made attacking changes too late. These should have been made at the start of the second half. It didn’t create the impact we needed. We managed to score another goal, giving us a chance of drawing, but once again, Evanilson of Bournemouth got fouled by Jose Sa. Guess what? Another penalty, which put the game out of reach.
It’s frustrating being a Wolves fan. One game we feel happy, and the next, we’re back to our usual ways. Is this a management issue at the club? Gary’s unbeaten run is over at four, and we need to bounce back. Mistakes must be addressed, but fans will again wonder if we need a change in direction.
We were told this would be a tough test against a Bournemouth side that has beaten the likes of Man City and Arsenal this season. This shows how far they have come with a good manager in charge.
One player stands out for the player of the match: Jorgen Strand Larsen, with his two goals and a match rating of five.
SCOTT DRAME
What a disaster! No clean sheet yet again. O’Neil’s tactics completely fell apart. Playing Lemina at centre-back was a poor decision; he looked out of position throughout. The midfield was chaotic, offering no real structure or control. To make things worse, VAR got two out of the three penalty calls wrong, sparking frustration all around. Still, Larsen put in a standout performance, showing composure and skill when it mattered most.
john taras
Gary O’Neil quote from pre-match media briefing: “the group is in a fantastic spot.”
Well, if today’s performance is anything to go by, Wolves are heading for the Championship. There aren’t enough adjectives to describe today’s pitiful display.
Bournemouth didn’t change their style of play. High press, fast attacks, slick passing, team support. Wolves just couldn’t handle it. You wouldn’t believe it was the same eleven from last week.
Larsen must have thought he finally got his goalscoring touch back with two well-taken goals. But it didn’t matter because Wolves seemed intent on setting a new record for penalties conceded! Schoolboy errors and underhit passes led to two reckless challenges from Sa. He was easily beaten by Kluivert for the penalties.
Miraculously, Wolves pulled it back to 3-2 for five minutes before conceding the third penalty, with the final score being 4-2. All the huffing and puffing failed to threaten Bournemouth’s goal again.
Wolves were never in the game today. Bournemouth spoiled their performance with the theatrics every time a Wolves player tackled. They went down, clutching various parts of their heads. The referee bought it every time and penalised Wolves. They beat us easily and didn’t need to resort to those tactics.
Back into the bottom three we go. A massive game away to Everton on Wednesday night, followed by West Ham away the next Monday. Four points are essential.
Team rating today: 4
Sa rating: 2
Frustrated, saddened, bewildered lifelong fan.