I liked this one..........
On the whole, Cardiff marshalled the game better than us although a point wouldn't have been an unfair result. Their attacking line performed better than ours and Zohore in particular looked excellent with his pace, strength and shooting ability. Can't help but think he'll be onto greater things.
Wolves had spells of dominance but Cardiff looked very dangerous on every attack. It seemed that the team was not properly prepared for the physicality of Cardiff.
A note on the conduct of Cardiff. First and foremost, it was very effective. However, I am not convinced that it was permissible.
1) Cardiff players frequently feigned injury off the ball during counterattacking moments to slow momentum.
2) Some of the challenges were patently not for the ball but to cause damage.
3) there were numerous off the ball incidents, most notably the elbow/clothesline/karate chop on Saiss, which went completely unpunished but even if accidental, is a straight red given that he took a hit the throat and I could hear his scream from the BW.
4) time was frequently wasted during set pieces and goal kicks.
Some of these things are par for the course, sure, but the level of violence and unsportsmanlike conduct is a real shame. Actually, Cardiff looked a much better side in the second half when they eased off and stopped cheating.
Referee was absolutely pathetic. Completely bottled the game and had no control over conduct. Ditto linesman. Highlight for me was a Cardiff player going down with a bad leg in the first half, and the game getting stopped, compared to Jota getting kicked in the head in the 90th minute and the game continuing.
Pessimistic Wolf,
Yesterday at 7:00 PM