Match Day Thread Vs Wolves (A)

[saintanton]

Put this in the wrong thread somehow.

Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo to BBC Sport: "Rui Patricio is OK. He's conscious, he's aware. He remembers what happened. The assessment is positive - he's going to be OK.

That's good at least.

 

[InBiscanWeTrust]

I think we improved a bit and wolves dropped off a bit.

Wasnt a great affair but we had 4 proper chances, albeit one offside in the end and clearly so.

They had less clear cut stuff, mostly as they failed to get a good shot but they were in the game.

Yes wolves midfield passed it a lot better than our lot but in the end a vital 3 points.

10 behind leicester. Imo that who we have to over haul. Yes its 5 behind chelsea but I cant see chelsea losing many given what touches has done.

If we apply pressure (difficult) I think leicester will crack. They really have no excuse from here but we will see.

Really really tough game after internationals now. A Luiz red card would be nice

Chelseas final month looks horrible. Fulham, city, arsenal, Leicester, villa.

TT has done well so far agreed, but you’d think at some point they’ll lose w game. How do they react after that is big question and if they go into those final 4 games with a small lead the pressure could be huge.

 

[InBiscanWeTrust]

TBH it was expected that we would win tonight. Not because we are on our top game again, mostly because wolves have a mediocre front line and without Jimenez have lost their cutting edge. Once we scored then there was little risk of them coming back despite them having several chances.

Wolves recent results aren’t too shabby though to be fair. as you say though don’t score many goals but 1 defeat in 7 before tonight. Was clear first goal was vital though

draw 0-0 away villa
lost 4-1 away city
Drew 1-1 away newcastle
Best Leeds 1-0 home
Beat saints 2-1 away
Drew 0-0 home Leicester
Beat arsenal 2-1 home

 

[Bumps]

You thought that was a red? Both slid in 50/50 and caught each other ffs

And Tbf he kicked the floor first and sort of bounced into the player if it the one my mate sent me clip of should have been yellow imho

 

[Zanjinho]

True about Alisson, can't be easy, certainly not something you can just shrug off.

If I look at the game as a whole I'm the usual happy boy, it's just niggles really;

thiago hasn't been great, but his passing was absolutely gash tonight.

I thought coming toward the end fabinho started to look panicky launching the ball forward when there was no need.

Mane looking really bright but descion making at times was ridiculous.

Robertson although very good defensively was poor going forward, i can make allowance that he was concentrating on trade.

Just odd things that you wouldn't expect really.

He was but by that point he had Milner, Keita & The Ox around him, booting it was probably wise.

 

[THE FOOL]

He was but by that point he had Milner, Keita & The Ox around him, booting it was probably wise.

I thought ox did well when he came on, keira did his usual run about not quite getting near the ball.

I'm sure I saw milner closing down there keeper at one point, all I could think was what the **** are you doing all the way up there.

Maybe your right.

 

[Zanjinho]

I thought ox did well when he came on, keira did his usual run about not quite getting near the ball.

I'm sure I saw milner closing down there keeper at one point, all I could think was what the **** are you doing all the way up there.

Maybe your right.

I was joking. Should have put a tbf

Ox and Milner did well, Keita was a bit of a passenger but I'll let him off since he'd been alright recently.

 

[moreinjuredthanowen]

All we really need from these subs is to run hard and put the shift in for 20mins.

We have the 11 now for the rest of the season as I cant see Henderson back and klopp has ruled out vvd.

Firmino should be the sub up top but you.know klopp. He will drop jota for him the minute he is fit.

If we have Milner, firmino and keita to come on and backed up by jones and origi and Williams it's not awful is it.

It's about confidence and get up and go now.

 

[Solid Air]

Am very impressed with the progress in the the CB partnership in just a few games . Now they will never be a top partnership and Wolves are almost as toothless as us but they now at least appear competent and clearly are playing to a plan .

 

[wishiwasinliverpool]

It's a win, so I'm having it. Kabak was good, too, last night.

 

[InBiscanWeTrust]

Thought the two CBs were solid again last night. As others said, wolves aren’t huge goal scorers but they have threatening players but seemed to cope with everything well. Carra pointed out that they both made very small individual mistakes but the good thing is that when one of them did, the other covered well.

Phillips is never going to be a top level CB but he’ll be a decent lower prem one. Someone who is gonna stand there and head away anything that comes near him. Salah mane Jota will get credit for the goal for the nice link up, but it was Phillips who came through and won that initial header to set up the attack which was nice.

Kabak showed some decent pace last night sweeping up a couple of times as well. New to the league, 20 years old, no established partner next to him, I think he’s been pretty good given the circumstances. He def has the potential to be a player for us and next to vvd can only make him a better player if we were to sign him.

as a 3rd/4th choice behind vvd Gomez Matip that’s not too bad.

 

[Jimmy Squarefoot]

I shouldn't be complaining because we desperately needed 3 points but I was underwhelmed by the performance. I know RBL played into our hands which suited us perfectly but I did think there were enough positives to suggest that our style of play was back and we could go back to dominating teams. But it wasn't the case.

We had such a lack of control in midfield. Gini offering nothing and Thiago giving the ball away every 2 seconds. The defence did as well as expected - big shout outs to Trent and Kabak, who were excellent. Phillips is good at heading the ball but his overall positioning and reading of the game isn't great but thankfully Kabak was on hand to bail him out a couple of times.

Let's kick on!

 

[jaffaSlot]

Thought we were decent first half and a bit poor second. Luckily it wasn't continuously sustained pressure by wolves.

Phillips and Kabak did well, even if they aren't world beaters, consistency in playing together should help

 

[Jimmy Squarefoot]

Oh, and I love Jota. Brings such a directness, intensity and players instinctively - which is something our lads used to do but haven't done recently. He gets into the box, and always looks to shoot quick and early. The build up for the first goal was brilliant.

 

[Solid Air]

Oh, and I love Jota. Brings such a directness, intensity and players instinctively - which is something our lads used to do but haven't done recently. He gets into the box, and always looks to shoot quick and early. The build up for the first goal was brilliant.

i think his injury really cost us as he was probably our best forward at the time and kept the others on their toes and fresh(er) by allowing rotation .

 

[saintanton]

i think his injury really cost us as he was probably our best forward at the time and kept the others on their toes and fresh(er) by allowing rotation .

Yes. Whilst the focus has been quite rightly on the defensive injuries and having to play midfielders there, Jota's absence has been a significant factor too.
MFS have been phenomenal for a few years, but even the best can falter, and Jota was just the right kind of fresh blood to sharpen up a blunt attack.

 

[Jimmy Squarefoot]

I could be wrong but I think Jota is only one of our attack who is performing better than his xG - the rest are massively below. We need to kick this underperformance out of the team.

 

[moreinjuredthanowen]

I could be wrong but I think Jota is only one of our attack who is performing better than his xG - the rest are massively below. We need to kick this underperformance out of the team.

if salah actually got a chance or two it'd be nice. He was supplying mane most of the night last night. Finished the one real chance he got but was offisde.

a stat of 2% conversion of changes was shown last night prior to jota's goal.

thats really stealing a living level of incompetance.

 

[Jimmy Squarefoot]

if salah actually got a chance or two it'd be nice. He was supplying mane most of the night last night. Finished the one real chance he got but was offisde.

a stat of 2% conversion of changes was shown last night prior to jota's goal.

thats really stealing a living level of incompetance.

There are two parts of that banter stat:

1) We've had a lot of shots and a poor conversion but how many of shots are actual clear cut chances? We have struggled massively over the past 1-2 months with creating high volume of good shooting opportunities

2) and the most obvious part which is the strikers are underperforming. Mane and Salah (and Jota) should be targeting the 20% mark. That's the elite level and it's the level that Mane / Salah have been consistently achieving since joining.

And you're right about Salah - I really want him to more central because that where he makes the difference. Unfortunately, I dont think we will see him there until Hendo is back covering that side in midfield, which then allows Trent to bomb forward and occupy the wing which then allows Salah to drift centrally.

 

[moreinjuredthanowen]

There are two parts of that banter stat:

1) We've had a lot of shots and a poor conversion but how many of shots are actual clear cut chances? We have struggled massively over the past 1-2 months with creating high volume of good shooting opportunities

2) and the most obvious part which is the strikers are underperforming. Mane and Salah (and Jota) should be targeting the 20% mark. That's the elite level and it's the level that Mane / Salah have been consistently achieving since joining.

And you're right about Salah - I really want him to more central because that where he makes the difference. Unfortunately, I dont think we will see him there until Hendo is back covering that side in midfield, which then allows Trent to bomb forward and occupy the wing which then allows Salah to drift centrally.

XG is purely a subjective stat. it decides by no particualr means what is a "real" chance.

You are right about the levels, 20% or so from all chances is good. however the difference between elite and us is that we are missing really bloody easy chances.

I don't mind a snap shot off a cross or whatever. I am still talking about mane in on goal and he could and should hit that shot first time as the near post is open. he doesn't even get a shot off. Thats a huge chance. firmino did it v fulham i think. right through and passes.

We have the wrong guy out wide right glued to the side line as we got him in once (but offside) and he finishes. He finishes far more than he misses.

If you look at son and kane, spurs have imploded quite a bit but put either one through and its going on target and they pass it home almost

I would take 20% all day long. If we had taken the chances v leipzig that would have been about 6-0.