19/20 he scored 4 (2 in 1 game) and provided 9 assists. Not too bad.

In the other 71 league games he's played for us he's scored 3 and provided 3 assists. Hardly dangerous.

Even if you judge Traore on those bare stats he has a better record than Podence.

Today Traore hit the underside of the bar and produced a perfect cross for Jimenez who headed wide from 5 yards. Could easily have added a goal and assist to his stats then, and in the last year I read he created 27 clear chances for team mates that were missed. Instead of focusing on what’s wrong with Traore’s game, focus on the stats of all our other forwards which in every case are worse, and I think we’d be even more toothless without him.

Incidentally I noticed that when Jimenez missed that sitter he threw away his headband and didn’t wear it for the rest of the game

Do think Lage must use the Spurs game to look at his alternative selections. Be disappointing if Boly, Mosquera, Ait Nouri, Dendoncker, Hwang, Podence and Silva don’t get a start.

comment by Spangles (U17289)
posted 5 minutes ago
Even if you judge Traore on those bare stats he has a better record than Podence.

Today Traore hit the underside of the bar and produced a perfect cross for Jimenez who headed wide from 5 yards. Could easily have added a goal and assist to his stats then, and in the last year I read he created 27 clear chances for team mates that were missed. Instead of focusing on what’s wrong with Traore’s game, focus on the stats of all our other forwards which in every case are worse, and I think we’d be even more toothless without him.

Incidentally I noticed that when Jimenez missed that sitter he threw away his headband and didn’t wear it for the rest of the game
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You're wasting your time DJ. It's much easier to look up stats than deal in facts. Stats say Traore is rubbish. The reality is that he is wasting his time stripping defences and providing crosses for players who haven't made a run into the box or fluff it when they get the ball. Traore won't sign another contract wit h Wolves and will move on next year. If he finds the perfect team to make use of his skills they will benefit massively whilst we will rue what might have been.

I suspect that’s the way it will work out gem

After winning 5-1 away in the Champions League midweek, Ajax today won 9-0 at home in the Dutch league. Not that I’m jealous

Hang on, I thought the stats said Traore was a world beater, most successful dribbles in Europe, most crosses etc etc. I don't deny that he's a unique talent and he's exciting to watch but he's just so frustrating and for me his talent is wasted by a lack of composure at the vital moment. And if we're comparing his stats with Podence, his per game record in the Premier league is better than Traore's by some distance admittedly over a smaller number of games. But that's not the point, which is we don't currently have enough quality up front, none of them are doing their jobs to the quality required.

comment by Spangles (U17289)
posted about an hour ago
Even if you judge Traore on those bare stats he has a better record than Podence.

Today Traore hit the underside of the bar and produced a perfect cross for Jimenez who headed wide from 5 yards. Could easily have added a goal and assist to his stats then, and in the last year I read he created 27 clear chances for team mates that were missed. Instead of focusing on what’s wrong with Traore’s game, focus on the stats of all our other forwards which in every case are worse, and I think we’d be even more toothless without him.

Incidentally I noticed that when Jimenez missed that sitter he threw away his headband and didn’t wear it for the rest of the game
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Isn't true at all is it. Last season in literally half the time Podence scored and assisted more and of course that is already the case this season as well.

comment by GeminMallorca (U18318)
posted about an hour ago
comment by Spangles (U17289)
posted 5 minutes ago
Even if you judge Traore on those bare stats he has a better record than Podence.

Today Traore hit the underside of the bar and produced a perfect cross for Jimenez who headed wide from 5 yards. Could easily have added a goal and assist to his stats then, and in the last year I read he created 27 clear chances for team mates that were missed. Instead of focusing on what’s wrong with Traore’s game, focus on the stats of all our other forwards which in every case are worse, and I think we’d be even more toothless without him.

Incidentally I noticed that when Jimenez missed that sitter he threw away his headband and didn’t wear it for the rest of the game
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You're wasting your time DJ. It's much easier to look up stats than deal in facts. Stats say Traore is rubbish. The reality is that he is wasting his time stripping defences and providing crosses for players who haven't made a run into the box or fluff it when they get the ball. Traore won't sign another contract wit h Wolves and will move on next year. If he finds the perfect team to make use of his skills they will benefit massively whilst we will rue what might have been.
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Traore will be a bench player at any top six side and I think that is where he thinks he is going.

comment by Oldgoldilox (U17303)
posted 34 minutes ago
Hang on, I thought the stats said Traore was a world beater, most successful dribbles in Europe, most crosses etc etc. I don't deny that he's a unique talent and he's exciting to watch but he's just so frustrating and for me his talent is wasted by a lack of composure at the vital moment. And if we're comparing his stats with Podence, his per game record in the Premier league is better than Traore's by some distance admittedly over a smaller number of games. But that's not the point, which is we don't currently have enough quality up front, none of them are doing their jobs to the quality required.
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Oldgold, the stats I'm referring to are the goals and assists stats. In reality dribbling, passing success rate, distance covered, etc, etc mean nothing unless they lead to goals and points on the board. The point I'm trying to make is that Traore's assists figure are scewd because no-one is getting on the end of his crossses. His goal scoring stats ar down to his complete lack of composure in front of goal, for that I make no excuse.

Thing is oldgold I do think we have a group of talented forwards but the problem, as I have been saying since the start of last season, is that we only have one guy that scores regularly and that’s Jimenez. And of course we haven’t had the real Jimenez since last November.

We had 6 forwards on the field at the end of the game today but it was difficult to have confidence that any of them would score, and of course they didn’t.

We miss the old Jimenez, Neto, Jota and even Doherty. Neves has lost his goal touch too. What we have in the forward line now are a group who are quick and can create chances but they aren't natural goalscorers.

It’s ironic that we have a manager who has come in with the plan of us being more attack minded and playing more on the front foot. Yet in 4 out of 5 league matches we haven’t scored

Can't say the six forwards on the pitch thing impressed. Seemed a little foolish.

Wolves have now lost 9 league matches at home in 2021, more than any other team in the Premier League

comment by Cinciwolf----Wolves poster of the millennium (U11551)
posted 10 hours, 25 minutes ago
Can't say the six forwards on the pitch thing impressed. Seemed a little foolish.
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No I thought at the time that it was a bit of a desperate move and would only make the penalty area even more congested. As my lad said, oh my god we've gone 2-2-6.

It was a bizarre set up at the end but with Brentford down to 10 men and having no interest in attacking, why not

Very impressed with Ivan Toney yesterday. No question the scoreline would have been reversed with him on our side. Held the ball up well, won everything in the air, and was a constant threat in our area. Make such a difference to us to get Jimenez back to his best

First time for a while I've been to the first 3 home fixtures, and the the first time for an even longer period I've witnessed 3 consecutive losses and no goals scored.

Whereas the Spurs and United games were entertaining and we definitely deserved points from both, yesterday's game was hugely frustrating and we got what we deserved - nothing!

At times I couldn't believe what I was seeing - not a case of missing chances but really of not creating them. Full credit to Brentford they gave us a lesson in playing the opposition. They were fully ready for us, we totally underestimated them.

Strangely, I don't think that any of the Wolves' players were that bad but, undoubtedly, Bruno got it all very wrong. This was epitomised by the last half hour when we were playing against 10 men and Bruno decided to play 2-2-6.

I can't help thinking, retrospectively, that we didn't need to see Fabio, and I would have introduced Ait-Nouri for Marcal, and removed Trincao for Dendoncker. An outfield of Coady, Kilman, Semedo, Ait-Nouri, Neves, Moutinho, Dendoncker, Hwang, Podence and Traore looks on paper more balanced. And, yes, I would have taken Jimenez off.

All, ifs, buts and maybes, I guess, but I do think Bruno was made to look a bit amateur at the end.

Bruno is getting to realize what the Premier League is all about. Like all foreign coaches, unless you have a world class squad when you take over, it's going to take time for his methods and tactics to come together.

We have the players who can secure at a top ten finish this season and it's going to take a while for these players to adapt from Nuno's tactics.

Our performances up until yesterday have impressed me and we have been near the top of the bunch in attempts at goal. Unfortunately we have a CF who is way off form and like I kept on stating, may never get back to his best. Fabio was getting better and Hwang has looked good in his cameo starts. It's time to give at least on e of them the role up front. According to the BBC stats, Jimenez has had more attempts on goal than any other CF this season, so let's not confuse the issue with his stats from previous seasons. That also applies to Traore, who is impressive on the ball, but his end product leaves a lot to be desired. It's also what he only comes on as a sub for his country.

Goals will come and Bruno has the ability to get us up the table. This side is too good to be considered a relegation contender. Yesterday was an eye opener for him and changes would have been made anyway for the upcoming cup game, but they also need to be made for our next league match.

There is no room for sentiment imo. This is the toughest league in the world and we are more than capable of competing with the best. We have no excuse now for not rotating. as our bench is much stronger than last season.

I do agree with others on here in that playing with so many forwards was probably not the best way to play against 10 men. It could have been the perfect time to have played Dendonker.

Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing.

COYW

It’s true to say we had 6 forwards on the field at the end but not sure the set up was really 226. Trincao was playing left wing back, Traore wide on the right and Podence behind the strikers.

I understand that the team you suggest wulfrun would have been more disciplined, but to be fair to Bruno with Brentford being down to ten and far more focused on time wasting than attacking, I’m not sure we needed 4 at the back and 3 in midfield. I can’t recall any moment when our attackers were getting in each other’s way.
And although Jimenez didn’t play well he came closest to scoring for us in the second half with one header that should have gone in, being inches away from another Traore cross that flashed across the goal, and in a position to have an open goal from another Traore cross only for the cross to scrape the bar as it came down and deflect away.

Just watched the extended highlights that reiterated my view that all our most dangerous moments came through Traore.

Agree with most of that and would only say that Bruno has been left short of viable options.
Sadly I also agree about Jimmy who was never the most mobile player but new how to put the ball in the net.
Traore is an enigma and is a puzzle that needs solving if possible. As I have said before he does not have a football brain and does not do the right things at the right time. His crossing still needs to be improved as he usually blasts the ball anywhere without much control. When he doers get it right he is let down by other players.
I think some on here are being unfair to Bruno as he is still finding his feet. I'm sur that he can get it right but will need time.
What we need at the next window is a big strong Striker ( Antonio, Wood, Toney, Bowen type who will bully defenders) and a Centre back and a midfielder in the same mould.
Get the money and targets sorted.

There won’t be any money available for potential targets. With Fosun’s share price collapsing nearly 23% year to date, together with the risk of contagion from Evergrande’s default threatening to send shockwaves through the Chinese financial markets, there is more chance of Traore getting a shot on target than Wolves spending any money in the transfer market.

Reading that Wolves have missed 12 clear cut chances in the Premier League this season, more than any other club. So it’s not that we aren’t creating openings, we just can’t put them away

Exactly why we should give another CF a chance and it's time for you to stop pretending Jimenez is as good as he was before his injury.