Thought the changes today all ended up weakening us. Not too upset today, the minute we saw that defence we knew it was gonna be tough. Thought we were much the better team first half.

Good to see Forest right up there ruffling feathers

Doherty had been alright in recent weeks but thought he was terrible today. Probably missed having Semedo outside of him and Bueno was having to cover both sides with RAN struggling.

Doherty and RAN let the ball bounce and lost headers so many times in the middle of the pitch today. Definitely need to be brining in two centre backs this window now if we are going to play a back three.

Shame we lost Mosquera. He and Agbouda would be great together I think. Potential to have a very good season next year if we survive this one, which I think we will.

Yeah I genuinely don't think we'll go down. There's enough there without additions to give us hope

I don't think we will go down, but there is a good chance we don't pick up a point in January looking at the fixtures.

The mistake which leaves it closer than it need be was continuing with GON for those 3-4 extra games when it was obviously over.

Latest GON should have been sacked is after the Everton game. Ridiculous that we conceded 4 to them.

You showed more than enough tonight that you are too good to go down.
It’s hard to believe that you lost 4-0 at Everton, they are awful and didn’t really lay a glove on us, where as you caused us a whole bunch of headaches, with some more clinical finishing, or worse goalkeeping from Sels, you’d probably have won that game.
I’ve thought all season that you are in a false position, and the effort alone you showed tonight only reinforces my thoughts.
I’m pretty sure you’ll be safe.

Think we knew how this game was going to turn out as soon as the team sheet was released. No Cunha, Semedo, Andre with Ait Nouri filling in as a centre back. Yet we did well first half and could easily have scored a couple through Larsen and Joao Gomes. But the second Forest goal just before the break ended the contest.

Thought Larsen, Guedes, Doherty, Bueno and Joao did ok.and really encouraging game from Rodrigo Gomes. Tommy Doyle had a poor game, and I’d take £2m for Hwang let alone £20m. All the subs made us worse not better. Lemina and Bellegarde particularly poor.

We’ll do a lot better with Cunha, Andre and Semedo available plus hopefully a new face or two.

Thought we played alright first half, JsL could've had 2 or 3 on another day and a different keeper, some nice balls in to the box from Gomes, Lima and Guedes.

Did think though that it wasn't the game to have the wing backs that high up the field though, in fact they weren't really wing backs, R Gomes and Lima were wingers and we played a back three pretty much. Every time we lost possession we were immediately exposed.

Second half we hardly laid a glove on them, they were too compact and we lacked the bravery to take on players around the box. Changes off the bench had no impact either, Lemina especially looked really rusty. VP needs to learn from this with the games we have coming up, new signings or not.

comment by Tamwolf (U17286)
posted 10 hours, 22 minutes ago
comment by Bunk (U20074)
posted less than a minute ago
comment by Tamwolf (U17286)
posted 14 minutes ago
Forest are boring to watch aren't they? Helps understand why all opposition fans called us boring when Nuno was here.
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I wasn't bored, but each to their own 👍

In recent games we have been to Brentford and Everton and I would say you hurt us more than either, luck plays a big part and it wasn't your day but wish you well for the rest of the season
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You won't be as you are winning. We had the same here. All teams will call you boring but you won't care as you're getting results and the countering is exciting when it's effective.

It's when teams nullify the counter (which will come at some point as it did for us) and Nuno continues to play the same way that you'll realise how boring the snuffing the life out games can be. I think we went on a huge run of games where we didn't score a first half goal at one point and became famous for it.

Enjoy the run you are on. We certainly enjoyed our run under Nuno. He is a great manager for teams at our level and a hero around Wolves.
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Boring???

Are you having a laugh?

Try experiencing what we had didn’t he last 23 years before you even utter the word boring

Even under Steve Cooper who gave us one of the best seasons ever on 2022 in the Championship, didn’t have a clue how tackle the Premier League - his football was turgid, low block and ineffective, even when we won (which wasn’t often) we did it with 18% possession

NOW THAT WAS BORING

This, what we’re experiencing now, under Nuno, is anything but, but thanks for the insight 🤣👍🏼

You are aware that we did experience what you did for years in the Championship and League One? We also experienced what you are currently experiencing with Nuno.

You need to prepare yourself to be called boring by most teams you play. Particularly as teams start playing to nullify your counter, so it becomes a game of attrition. You're going to spend a lot of time upset if it triggers you this much.

comment by Tamwolf (U17286)
posted 2 hours, 3 minutes ago
You are aware that we did experience what you did for years in the Championship and League One? We also experienced what you are currently experiencing with Nuno.

You need to prepare yourself to be called boring by most teams you play. Particularly as teams start playing to nullify your counter, so it becomes a game of attrition. You're going to spend a lot of time upset if it triggers you this much.
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Do you think we play the exact same way?

Did you also switch from 4 to 5 at the back when winning?

Did you have the same quality throughout? Or was it 3-4 decent players and team spirit?

Genuinely interested. Not a WUM.

Nuno (imo) seems very adaptable these days, whereas previously (in your experience), he was one dimensional.

Do you think he could have improved? After all, if we were just Wolves 2.0, surely that would have been figured out by now.

I didn't notice much difference overall. When he was here we would be comfortable without possession and happy to sit without the ball setting traps to win it back. When we won the ball, we would get it forward quickly and break with the pace of Diogo Jota, Jimenez and Adama Traore. It was very similar. We also had Neves and Moutinho in midfield, so I'd argue our midfield was better, but Forest's central defence is better than ours was at that point (Boly, Coady and Bennett/Saiss). We did have Rui Patricio in goal though so had the quality there.

The back 3 was pretty set most of the time. The adjustments would come in midfield and forwards rather than the defence when winning/losing.

What happened with us over time was that it would be very effective against the big clubs; as they would play into our hands and press high. We would also have a better away record as teams tend to attack more at home. Bottom half teams would start to come to Molineux and just sit in, nullifying our counter and leading to some tough to watch draws / defeats. I think when teams started doing that we gained a reputation for not scoring first half goals. I think this is also why he struggled at Spurs too, as from the start teams were happy to sit off and they were expected to control the game.

I guess it remains to be seen how adaptable and how much further Nuno can go now. I personally expect Forest to drop off at some point and finish 6th or 7th (which is still a tremendous season). Nuno tends to go more defensive when things get a bit challenging so it will be interesting to see if that is still the same when the current run comes to an end.

Don't get me wrong, Nuno is an excellent manager and as a fan you will really enjoy the highs he will give you. He is also a top bloke who endeared himself to the fans here. It is interesting watching how we used to play from the other side now though.

First defeat for the new coach and some pretty poor performances from half the team, especially in the second half.

How we didn't go in front at half time is beyond me. Much better side in the first half and glaring misses by Larsen, who I'm still not sure about. Rodrigo Gomes, who I thought was our best player, was very unlucky with that fierce volley.

Where on earth were our midfield for their first goal and whether you like MGW or not, he's become a far better player since he left us.

We did miss a few players, but that's no excuse and our performance in the second half was very poor.

Ait-Nouri is not a defender and certainly could never be described, as one certain poster put, a makeshift CB.

Just because we play 3 at the back doesn't mean they're all CB's. Last night we had one CB and two other defenders. When we play four at the back we have two centre backs, a left back and a right back.

This club made a huge mistake in my opinion when we let a very talented LB go out on loan. I believe Hugo Bueno would have been a first choice left back had he stayed.

A big gap is opening up in the table and we are becoming detached from the rest. I think it's going to be a huge task for Vitor to heal us to safety and with though games coming up I'm beginning to fear the worst and although the club are offering Cunha a lucrative contract, I'm not that confident he'll accept it, with us being so far down the table.

A 3 game ban for Cunha was considered for his recent misdemeanours but it was reduced to 2 because he had written an apology to the Ipswich security guy and bought him a new pair of glasses.

Reims centre-back Emmanuel Agbadou completed his Wolves medical yesterday and they are now waiting on his visa getting sorted.

Once that is done he will fly to England. Deal expected to be done fairly soon and hopeful he could be available for the FA Cup at the weekend

comment by wolfieinFL (U16306)
posted 45 minutes ago

We did miss a few players, but that's no excuse and our performance in the second half was very poor.

Ait-Nouri is not a defender and certainly could never be described, as one certain poster put, a makeshift CB.

Just because we play 3 at the back doesn't mean they're all CB's. Last night we had one CB and two other defenders. When we play four at the back we have two centre backs, a left back and a right back.
——————
Of course missing key players is a valid excuse. I’ve seen Man City recently and they have clearly missed Rodri and de Bruyne. Similarly Arsenal have missed Saka. If clubs like that are going to miss key players then obviously Wolves were never going to be as effective without Cunha, Andre and Semedo. Especially as most of our cover is made up of inexperienced youngsters.

Pereira has said he doesn’t want three centre backs in a back 3, he wants three defenders who can play flexibly. It’s been noticeable in the Utd and Spurs games how Doherty and Semedo have interchanged positions to cover the spaces behind them. He wants to replicate that kind of set up on the left.

comment by Spangles (U17289)
posted 13 minutes ago
A 3 game ban for Cunha was considered for his recent misdemeanours but it was reduced to 2 because he had written an apology to the Ipswich security guy and bought him a new pair of glasses.
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Same way that I avoided detention at school after throwing a tennis ball through the sky light of a bed and breakfast by the PE block.

Write a letter of apology and offer to replace the ornament it smashed.

When MGW was celebrating in front of the Wolves fans last night, maybe a south banker would have been forgiven for punching him on the nose if he then wrote a letter of apology and bought him a pair of ear plugs

Pretty sure we will never see that back line again. I don't think a single person thought RAN would excel in that position last night. Despite how fragile our back line was last night I thought Forest rarely put it under much pressure at all, whenever they did we struggled.

A lot of people are hopeful we sign two CBs this window but I think that is unlikely personally.

We are now being linked with the Chelsea defender Renato Veiga who can play left back and left sided centre back. And he’s Portuguese

I don’t think RAN played too badly last night but clearly he was only there as 4th choice with Mosquera, Toti and Dawson all injured. He’ll be back as left wing back next game

Interesting hearing last night that Forest have 31 pts from 33 against the bottom half of the table. A complete reversal of how Nuno coped with those teams at Wolves

vs. Everton (average possession 40%), they conceded 64% possession and won 2-0
vs. Leicester (average possession 46%), they conceded 65% possession and won 3-1
vs. Ipswich (average possession 40%), they conceded 56% possession and won 1-0


Effective while it works but as always, it isn't a sustainable system. Hopefully it does but I don't think Forest will have back to back great seasons in the top seven and wouldn't be surprised if they don't even finish top seven this season when all is said and done.

“A big gap is opening up in the table and we are becoming detached from the rest”

I’ve always believed it’s any three from five and looks like I’m correct again. Genuinely don’t see any of the current bottom five putting any daylight between themselves and relegation, so it’s going to the wire.

Squeaky bum time…..