Wolves Match Thread.

[king canary 7,578]

Just now, Ward 3 said:

Pukki is crap lets sell him

Yes that is exactly what I'm saying...

The fact I've just had 4 notifications of you 'interacting' with my posts suggests you've got a bit of a thing for me though. Very flattering.

[ron obvious 1,498]

Strength, power, athleticism.

We don't have them.

 

[Ward 3 371]

13 hours ago, king canary said:

Yes that is exactly what I'm saying...

The fact I've just had 4 notifications of you 'interacting' with my posts suggests you've got a bit of a thing for me though. Very flattering.

Interacting with your posts and you're spouting so much sh!t as usual. People get flattered very easily these days over online posts 😂

[king canary 7,578]

12 hours ago, ron obvious said:

Strength, power, athleticism.

We don't have them.

 

Dean Ashton was on a podcast with Michael Bailey earlier this season and made the point that the differences between top-end Championship and lower-level Premier League teams aren't mainly based on technical quality, instead, it is that you're stepping up against better athletes. 

[king canary 7,578]

12 minutes ago, Ward 3 said:

Interacting with your posts and you're spouting so much sh!t as usual. People get flattered very easily these days over online posts 😂

Well I'm glad I keep you entertained my friend. 

[wcorkcanary 4,329]

7 minutes ago, king canary said:

Dean Ashton was on a podcast with Michael Bailey earlier this season and made the point that the differences between top-end Championship and lower-level Premier League teams aren't mainly based on technical quality, instead, it is that you're stepping up against better athletes. 

That much has been clear to anyone who can take a non biased evaluation of a game since the season started, said as much myself several times on various threads. Take Mario for example, with the physicality of say...McTominay, would be a Player sought by top clubs, we may not even have got a sniff of signing him at all. Same with Pukki, if he was a more 'complete' striker, then he wouldnt be here. 

[king canary 7,578]

5 minutes ago, wcorkcanary said:

That much has been clear to anyone who can take a non biased evaluation of a game since the season started, said as much myself several times on various threads. Take Mario for example, with the physicality of say...McTominay, would be a Player sought by top clubs, we may not even have got a sniff of signing him at all. Same with Pukki, if he was a more 'complete' striker, then he wouldnt be here. 

Yep.

I think though we've gone a bit too far in prioritising technique over physicality. Take Amadou for example. He apparently couldn't get in the team as he just wasn't comfortable enough on the ball. However he generally seemed a player who could have brought a level of athleticism and physical play to the table that we couldn't get elsewhere.

[Alex Moss 2,165]

6 minutes ago, king canary said:

Yep.

I think though we've gone a bit too far in prioritising technique over physicality. Take Amadou for example. He apparently couldn't get in the team as he just wasn't comfortable enough on the ball. However he generally seemed a player who could have brought a level of athleticism and physical play to the table that we couldn't get elsewhere.

Agreed, @wcorkcanarytoo. It strikes me that many of our players are no doubt very skilful and have wonderful technique, and are certainly Premier League in that sense, but yet you could name on only one hand those in the squad that have the necessary physicality needed for this league. West Ham game and Burnley away (league) were great example’s where I felt we could play them off the park in terms of technical football, yet in this case we needed brawn and ultimately we just got blown away by them unfortunately. That said, Burnley away in the cup showed that ability can overcome brawn if the players are on it.

[wcorkcanary 4,329]

3 minutes ago, Alex Moss said:

Agreed, @wcorkcanarytoo. It strikes me that many of our players are no doubt very skilful and have wonderful technique, and are certainly Premier League in that sense, but yet you could name on only one hand those in the squad that have the necessary physicality needed for this league. West Ham game and Burnley away (league) were great example’s where I felt we could play them off the park in terms of technical football, yet in this case we needed brawn and ultimately we just got blown away by them unfortunately. That said, Burnley away in the cup showed that ability can overcome brawn if the players are on it.

Agree, we are so close and yet so far. If its one or the other, give me technically superior players over the robust  athletes all day long. I would imagine that we will be aiming to recruit players in the future that offer a similar level of skill allied to greater physical attributes. This will take time, of course. 

[king canary 7,578]

 

 

 

1

1 minute ago, wcorkcanary said:

Agree, we are so close and yet so far. If its one or the other, give me technically superior players over the robust  athletes all day long. 

I agree with this to a certain extent- but a balance needs to be struck. Trybull is probably our best defensive midfielder on the ball but he's so limited physically that he just can't play at this level. 

[Indy 3,283]

Absolutely agree with the above posts, to show just how valid this is our best midfielder has been Tettey, we needed to get a solid core there to break up play and help our defence at set pieces.

Said in the summer a CB would have been nice but we needed stronger central midfielders to allow our front four the freedom to play, that didn’t happen now we’re paying for it.

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

I did post somewhere else that my Scouse mate said he thought Cantwell was a gifted player but should stay on his feet a bit longer. And that is us in a nutshell. So many clever, gifted players who can only play one way. That style is very pleasing on the eye but is getting overrun in this division. In the EPL, our gifts outweigh the physicality.

[Mason 47 1,373]

When we beat City, we did so against a set of the top athletes and technically gifted players in the world, let alone the league. How we did this was with a dollop of good fortune, and because they opened up and attacked us hoping to land a few knockout blows fairly easily. We flippity-flopped them and the rest is history.

Every team at this level basically starts with a base built on defensive discipline, hoping to allow their attackers to do the damage when the other team flinches. The better players you have for those defensive duties make a difference, but as proven against Manchester City even lesser-apt players can be drilled into a successful defensive strategy.

Our main problem is that at the start of games, other teams come out with their guards up and invite us to go get them- which of course we do, but often at the cost of sure footing and as soon as we're lured into chasing them we become far second best.

I've been highly critical of Ben Godfrey and his Russell-Martin-itis yesterday but the one thing that really stood out was that without the ball, Pukki, Cantwell, Duda, for the majority Rupp and as the game wore on McLean became irrelevant and Wolves only really needed to bypass Tettey to get a clear run at the defence. We could have Sergio Ramos, van Dijk, Maldini and Iron Man as our back 4 but give a PL team 10-15 clear shots at them and they will concede at some point- that's just football.

 

[Jim Smith 2,314]

I don't understand why Trybull is being ignored. yes he has the occasional game where he's not on it but generally he's been pretty good and Trybull next to Tettey for me gives us a much better platform to play, especially in away games.

Obviously can same the same about how we miss Vrancic and his creativity. Our most fluid performance of late was in the Cup with him playing.

I also think we badly miss some pace out wide. 

Rupp is being hung out to dry by Farke here because he's not done anything that bad and is tidy enough but fans will turn on him soon if he keeps getting picked ahead of Emi or Vrancic. The fact is though that with Duda, Rupp and Todd we are one paced and do not carry enough threat to worry premier league defenders. I would be tempted to play Emi in the Duda role (where I think he always should have been given a go because there is less defensive responsibility) and play Onel wide on Friday. I would also play Vrancic next to Tettey. We have to win. A draw doesn't really do anything for us. 

More than anything I don't want to keep p**sing off players who will be with us next season and who we will need by playing Duda ahead of them when he is not delivering anything and just strolls about.