Football News: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Manchester United Players Review

Tough one to take! Probably deserved a point and obviously a hugely improved performance, but this one was a free hit and so whilst disappointed, let's not get too depressed.
After a brief 5 minute period early in the game when Wolverhampton Wanderers defended like traffic cones, we were reasonably solid in the first half and although with minimal threat going forwards, we were "in the game".

In the second half, the game became more open and with a bit of luck, we could easily have had a point. However, we didn't get any luck or help from a referee who, as usual was weak. I don't think he was as bad as many others are saying, but weak.

Casemerio (sp) and Fred broke up play by whatever means required and the ref was far too lenient in allowing them to do so. Casemiro in particular would, if "reffed" properly, have had to change his ways or leave on a 2nd yellow, but no, ref is going to go against Manchester United (MU) for Wolves, so unfair as that is, we just have to suck it up and move on.

Ratings:
Sa 8 - Made a number of excellent saves and was unlucky with the goal.

Semedo 6 - Played very well going forwards and defended ok, but oh my what a bad back pass! Still a huge difference / improvement from his pre Julen Lopetegui (JL) self!

Bueno 5 - Needs to make more of the space he was given, but better than against Everton defensively.

Collins 7 - Again some very good stuff both defensively and particularly coming forwards, but perhaps needs to judge when to play and when to move it on better.

Kilman 7 - Strong performance. The partnership with Collins looks like it could be back to the levels shown in the first few weeks of the season. Another gold star for JL!

Moutinho 6 - Worked hard defensively, but couldn't find the magic to open up United this time.

Nunes 7 - Might have been his best performance for Wolves. As with Moutinho suffered from the absence of a credible threat in front of him.

Neves 7 - Deserved to score from a great free kick and certainly kept Wolves ticking going forwards whilst working hard defensively. It is essential that we keep him and build the team around him.

Podence 6 - Tried really hard but didn't quite get there this week - the best of our front three nevertheless!

Costa 5 - There were sad glimpses of his former self, but is just two yards off the pace. It isn't coming back! Shouldn't play again!

Hwang 4 - Was basically a passenger. After a couple of decent touches in the first ten he was anonymous offensively and although he tries hard defensively is just not good enough for the Prem.

Subs:
Traore 6 - This isn't going to be popular with some posters but as the commentators said if we had a CF - Costa, Hwang, Jose, Fabio and post injury, Jimenez don't count - he would make hay with the chances Traore creates. Needs to start and we need to build a system to get him the ball early to run at his man/men - maybe we could revert to Nuno's?

Otto 4 - For the second week in a row our FB was feeble under a challenge and it cost a goal. Not at all sure Otto is coming back so even if you believe Semedo is reinvented and won't be a "catastrophe in waiting" defensively every week we need a new RB. Aaron Wan-Bissaka of MU looked v good in comparison!

Toti 5 - Doesn't cover himself in glory on the goal and far from certain he was what we needed thereafter when chasing the game.

Rayan Ait-Nouri (RAN) 6 - Got forward well and probably gives us more going forward than Bueno. One of the few nice problems to have!

Jimenez 5 - Very unlucky not to score with a good header from RAN's corner but surely Cunha will lead the line from now on unless JL wants to play Cunha off a front man in which case maybe Jimenez could start ahead of Costa or Hwang, neither of whom should probably play again?

Disappointing not to get a point but at least we were competitive / organised / committed so different from the shambles previously. Bring in Cunha and either Traore or Jimenez depending on the formation we want to play for Hwang and Costa and we should be ok, but the next two, Villa and West Ham are huge!

Written by Thefutureisoldgold December 31 2022 20:54:23