Wolves (A) | PL | Post-Match Thread

Vital three points - attacking tempo was good in the first half but seemed to stutter in the second half with the changes.

Made good use of underlapping opportunities. Any team now adopting the 541/532 defensive shape against us are going to be incredibly hard to break down, especially as we're still not completely up to speed with attacking play & players adapting to new roles.

One note is Wolves would look to force play wide and collapse on the ball in numbers. Particularly a clear doubling up on the winger. Gomes overdid this on the Gvardiol goal (basically created a two man wall against Doku) and left him the space to shift the ball for a shot - worth keeping an eye on if we can exploit this more often.


We really, really need to stop conceding cheap goals. It's going to hurt us and has been a common theme from the start of last season. Rico never got back in goal side of Larsen and the goal stems back to a stupid header from Dias, he had an age to bring the ball down. It's simply not sustainable to keep going behind or win games 2-1 & 3-2 etc.

I sometimes feel with the run of success that turning up to these games fully on it must be difficult, but it remains hugely frustrating all the same.


Brilliant use of the higher bar for contact with the goalkeeper on the corner to pin him to the goal line. This is one of the fundamentals behind Arsenal's corner success, if you can pin the keeper into the goal line, then a ball along the six yard line is simple to convert.

It's more nuanced in terms of screening defenders etc, but pinning the keeper is key. We tried this last season by putting the ball closer to the goal (Ake away at Spurs in the FA Cup), but the six yard line definitely works best.
 
Victorinodennistua said:
I think this is why I’d experiment with josko playing the rodders role when ake comes back. He’s got a good shot on him which is what we need from outside the box. We are missing KDB to mix up our play to be fair. Those daisy cutting passes like the one wolves scored from have been missed.
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That is the confusion with leaving Foden out, he can be that playmaker, a midfield three of Bernardo Kovacic and Gundog isn't littered with creativity.

oldius said:
He has found a way, and it's why we have broken all records.
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Well a lot of records broken have been playing a better, more exiting way some would argue. Us winning on Sunday will be us finding a way, I would argue it was poor we needed to score in the 95th minute against the worst team in the league currently. Interestingly it was from a corner and a different approach in the sense of ball in and on someones head. Points on the board is all that matters currently, but I would say falling behind more often than not and scraping single goal wins isn't sustainable.
 
shemnel said:
yes i know you cant be offside from a corner, thanks though. I was replying to someone who suggested Bernie was offside once the ball was further away from the goal than him, in the air. which can't be right.
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Not offside. In an offside position.
 
Matt Diablo said:
The linesman was an idiot as your can't be offside from a corner! It's all alot of BS
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Was he the upgraded 4th official as the original liner wasn't fit to run the line?

I always assumed the 4th official was at referee standards so should know the rules anyway.....makes you wonder.
 
thismeansfour said:
That is the confusion with leaving Foden out, he can be that playmaker, a midfield three of Bernardo Kovacic and Gundog isn't littered with creativity.


Well a lot of records broken have been playing a better, more exiting way some would argue. Us winning on Sunday will be us finding a way, I would argue it was poor we needed to score in the 95th minute against the worst team in the league currently. Interestingly it was from a corner and a different approach in the sense of ball in and on someones head. Points on the board is all that matters currently, but I would say falling behind more often than not and scraping single goal wins isn't sustainable.
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I think it is far too early to say. In fact, in several seasons at this point, this forum has been littered with complaints about form. At the moment, the loss of Rodri, DeBruyne, and Bobb has to be factored in. Each has a big impact on the creativity of the team: two world-class internationals, and a prospect who was on fire pre-season. When you add in two international breaks and the injury and illness of Foden, we are in a good position.
 
mcfcbill91 said:
We really, really need to stop conceding cheap goals. It's going to hurt us and has been a common theme from the start of last season. Rico never got back in goal side of Larsen and the goal stems back to a stupid header from Dias, he had an age to bring the ball down. It's simply not sustainable to keep going behind or win games 2-1 & 3-2 etc.
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Just got round to seeing the Wolves goal (yeah, I know, forgive me, kind of 100 years late onto the scene). Watched it several times, freezing it at different points. Several things about that goal.
First things first. Render unto Caesar. Semedo's (?) ball in is brilliant. It truly made me feel nostalgic for De Bruyne, when he used to do that regularly (he can still do it, but it's from time to time now). You've got to give credit where it's due. You'd think a team at the bottom of the league would not produce a ball like that. Just shows.
But. But here's the thing. When the move gets going, Gvardiol's reaction is particularly striking. He knows he's not going to be able to get right over to block it, right from the start. I think that's fair enough. There's just too much distance. The best he can do is move towards Semedo, hopefully to put him off and force him into making a short pass back and inside. But as he makes his way towards the winger, he glances over to his left, to see how the line behind him is set up, and my distinct impression is that he can already see that there is a problem. Johnny — sorry Eccles — but he is not covering anyone in particular: he is caught in no man's land between two Wolves players, not bringing pressure to bear on either of them, but making it look as though he might be able to cover Larsen, which possibly deceives Rico. Now this is not to exculpate Rico completely. Rico dawdles in setting off after Larsen, right at the start, and never manages to make up the ground. He does not have Kyle's speed, and sorry, he never will have (not that Kyle has Kyle's speed, these days). Love the lad, he's got tons of other abilities, but he simply does not have that rapidity. Usually, he gets away with it, because his anticipatory reading of the game is so good that he rarely leaves himself high and dry. But here's the interesting thing: freeze it, and you'll see that at the very start of the action, Rico is actually looking over into midfield, at a deeper lying Wolves player moving forward behind the first line of his attacking team mates, clearly wondering whether he should go to cover him, because nobody else seems to have clocked the danger there at all. He's not even looking at Larsen's back initially. I suppose what I'm saying is that I suspect Rico's thinking like a midfielder (which he actually is) while also trying to think like a right back. I think, finally, that it's a bit unfair on the lad. It certainly isn't Kyle's problem, and it never has been! I think if anyone impresses me in that back line at that point it's Josko. The guy's awareness is just brilliant. He can't actually do anything about it at that point, but he sees what's coming — if the ball in is good. Which, unfortunately for us, it is. I've been hugely impressed with Gvardiol since the end of last season. A big player, for years to come.
I think, in a general sense, the defence is not quite as cohesive as it should be. It's not just about Rod not being there.

Anyhow, three points, reasonably happy days. The result's good anyway. Onwards…
 
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thismeansfour said:
Teams sit back because we are relatively easy to defend against. We allow their team to get back the occasional time they venture forwards and lose the ball. Our slow and boring build up is on us, not on how teams set up and I am surprised, especially with our current wingers, how we don't break, quickly, directly and with a purpose. That second half was an example of a team with zero ideas on how to break down a side happy to defend. You would think we would be working different ways and styles out rather than pass it to death sideways hoping to find the smallest gap to create something. If teas get joy from defending then it is on us to combat that, we just about muddle through but I hope the best manager in the world finds a better way than the same rinse and repeat.
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Wow
 
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