I am very proud to be a Wolves fan. That doesn't mean we are beyond criticism. It is a high risk strategy to try and contain for most of a game, if the opposition score we are up against it as we have seen plenty of times this season.

I'm not sure what more you want from our side. If we were more aggressive, we may well have left ourselves open in the midfield and defense and as such may well have lost more games.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but to be where we are now, especially considering the size of our squad (of which I'm very happy with by the way), is a credit to both Nuno and the players. He alone knows the capability of our squad and I'll take 5th spot for now.

Compliments and credit, not criticism, should be the order of the day in my book.

Think you need to read my comments again Wolfie, hardly scathing criticism. I am quite happy with our side and our results. That doesn't mean I like watching pretty dire first halves every week

I never said it was scathing criticism cinci, but I think you need to realize that we seem to contain teams more in the first half and do better in the second. A bit like a jockey holding back the reins and then unleashing the horse in the latter stages.

Remember, we are the best team by far, for gaining points from a losing position (20 I think) and score nearly 70% of our goals in the second half. We rarely have more possession than other teams too, but that's just the way we play. We've allowed most of the top teams to dominate possession, but then we hit them on the counter.

It's the Nuno way and I'm loving' it.

What a thread

Halfy Nuno and the boys deliver yet again

comment by wolfieintheSunshineState (U16306)
posted about 7 hours ago
I never said it was scathing criticism cinci, but I think you need to realize that we seem to contain teams more in the first half and do better in the second. A bit like a jockey holding back the reins and then unleashing the horse in the latter stages.

Remember, we are the best team by far, for gaining points from a losing position (20 I think) and score nearly 70% of our goals in the second half. We rarely have more possession than other teams too, but that's just the way we play. We've allowed most of the top teams to dominate possession, but then we hit them on the counter.

It's the Nuno way and I'm loving' it.
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agree

Asking cinci to not moan is like asking a lion if he would be kind enough not to eat you. It’s going to happen, just accept it

comment by wolfieintheSunshineState (U16306)
posted about 10 hours ago
I never said it was scathing criticism cinci, but I think you need to realize that we seem to contain teams more in the first half and do better in the second. A bit like a jockey holding back the reins and then unleashing the horse in the latter stages.

Remember, we are the best team by far, for gaining points from a losing position (20 I think) and score nearly 70% of our goals in the second half. We rarely have more possession than other teams too, but that's just the way we play. We've allowed most of the top teams to dominate possession, but then we hit them on the counter.

It's the Nuno way and I'm loving' it.
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It isn't like i don't understand the tactics Wolfie, they are feckin obvious and we carry them out brilliantly, it is impressive in its own way but yet we all bemoan any team that comes to Molineux and play that way.

Your second point supports my view anyway, being the best team by far from losing positions tells me we are better and more entertaining when chasing a game and creating chances.

And like i have said, i am happy as a pig in shat and love each and every one of our players but that doesn't have to mean i wouldn't prefer to see us play a more entertaining style.

You may mean more risk taking perhaps Cinci? I know where you are coming from and I also feel uncomfortable when we are 1-0 up for a large part of the game particularly against “lesser” opposition, and yes there have been points dropped with draws against these teams eg my last live game v Brighton , but our style of play is widely regarded as sophisticated and entertaining and our manager and his staff are performing to a very high standard, let alone the players, with fantastic results, and if part of the success is because they don’t like taking too many risks or perhaps being too “adventurous” we can’t argue with that

And it may be the approach was influenced by the 2-5 thumping by Chelsea last year, we are sure as hell now a team that is not going to lose very often let alone get thumped

comment by herecomesthelight (U17321)
posted 2 hours, 13 minutes ago
You may mean more risk taking perhaps Cinci? I know where you are coming from and I also feel uncomfortable when we are 1-0 up for a large part of the game particularly against “lesser” opposition, and yes there have been points dropped with draws against these teams eg my last live game v Brighton , but our style of play is widely regarded as sophisticated and entertaining and our manager and his staff are performing to a very high standard, let alone the players, with fantastic results, and if part of the success is because they don’t like taking too many risks or perhaps being too “adventurous” we can’t argue with that
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What the hell gives you the right to post logical, common sense stuff like that? I think you are on the wrong forum HCTL

Nuno's working with the tools that he's got and absolutely getting the most out of them. These are the best collection of players I've ever seen in wolves shirts but we're still short of the quality and strength in depth that Liverpool, City, Chelsea, United and arguably Leicester have available. I'd argue spurs and arsenal have more quality than us man for man but Nuno's getting much more out of our players than they are.

I think some of the upcoming games will be different, certainly Arsenal, Everton and Chelsea. Playing the patient game against 17th, 18th & 19th is fine because you know chances will come eventually, against teams who will want to set the pace and tempo themselves it will be different and we'll revert back to another style of play that we're very very good at, keeping it tight and breaking quickly and creating chances that way.

All of Traore, Jota, Neto and I suspect Podence are better players in space than they would be if we adopted a more attacking pressing game. Also in Neves and Coady we have two of the best long pass players in the league. It would be crazy not to play to those strengths.

comment by herecomesthelight (U17321)
posted about 9 hours ago
You may mean more risk taking perhaps Cinci? I know where you are coming from and I also feel uncomfortable when we are 1-0 up for a large part of the game particularly against “lesser” opposition, and yes there have been points dropped with draws against these teams eg my last live game v Brighton , but our style of play is widely regarded as sophisticated and entertaining and our manager and his staff are performing to a very high standard, let alone the players, with fantastic results, and if part of the success is because they don’t like taking too many risks or perhaps being too “adventurous” we can’t argue with that
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Yeah very hard to be critical given the results in general that is for sure. But yeah it is games like Brighton where we let ourselves down with our caution first approach, protecting a point rather than going for three and that has happened several times this season and i find it very frustrating at times. I truly believe we should be six or seven points better off right now.

I agree Cinci, just a little more ambition and we could be third.
I'm not complaining, just wanting the best from and for my team.

COYW

I think the slightly more cautious approach has been dictated by the volume of games we've had to play with the small squad we have to hand.

I doubt we'd be fifth in the league and last 16 of the Europa if we'd gone for a more high intensity tactical approach.

I don't believe that we have been cautious, I think we have played the style that suits the players we have. There seems to be this naïve view that if you attack more you will score more, but not concede any more.

Before the game on Saturday the vast majority were suggesting a team that didn't include Dendoncker. And during the game I read many comments on the net suggesting that when the score was 0-0 we should be making changes with Dendoncker a popular choice to be withdrawn. As it happened he scored the winner and along with Jonny was the best player on the pitch

Despite the high level of expertise on the internet, I believe this manager is getting the best out of his squad.

We have definitely been cautious. We have a manager who has a caution first approach. Quite ridiculous to suggest otherwise.

Whether you agree that we could be a little less cautious at times so a different matter.

comment by Oldgoldilox - 1 Carl Ikeme (U17303)
posted about 3 hours ago
I think the slightly more cautious approach has been dictated by the volume of games we've had to play with the small squad we have to hand.

I doubt we'd be fifth in the league and last 16 of the Europa if we'd gone for a more high intensity tactical approach.
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Agree that the volume of games and small squad does play a part in our game management style. Also do think the slowish pace in the last three has been in part due to three games in a short spell after a long lay off.

Also I am not saying we should be going balls out for 90 mins every game either, just that in some games we haven't upped a gear at all and have seemed happy to play out the point.

We don't really have many periods of sustained pressure, like you see most top teams have.

At least we aren't conceding early at the moment. We have gone from always going 1 down to keeping clean sheets.

The commentator at the Villa game said we have only lost one game that Boly has started.

Yeah Boly is immense. We look rock solid at the moment, seven clean sheets in the last eight league games

comment by Cinciwolf----JA606 NFL Fantasy Champion 2019--... (U11551)
posted 22 minutes ago
Yeah Boly is immense. We look rock solid at the moment, seven clean sheets in the last eight league games
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And the one that wasn't a clean sheet was when we stuffed Spurs.

There is nothing ridiculous about having the opinion we are not cautious. We have sell out crowds and a 10,000 waiting list and regularly see away supporters commenting online that we have the loudest support in the league

That isn’t because the people of Wolverhampton have a penchant for slow, cautious, negative football, it’s because the vast majority thoroughly enjoy watching us play

And no we don’t have long periods of sustained pressure because that’s not a game that would suit the players we have. Traore, Jota, Neto, Doherty, Jonny, Neves are all better suited to attacking from deep. In fact the times this team struggles is when the opposition are pinned back with 8 or 9 behind the ball

Personally I love to watch Nuno’s team play, and I love looking at the league table