Wolves 3-1 Saints - Match Thread

[The Cat]

3 hours ago, whelk said:

On the bright side lads think yourself lucky you don’t live in Wolverhampton 

I've been there before a few times but today we parked in a different place outside the ring road and it's an utter shithole. 

It's also a pain to get to, that A road that comes off the M5 goes on forever and has about 300 traffic lights. 

As for the game I thought we did ok, should have scored more than 1 and it would have been delicious if Perraud had put his header about 3cm lower at the end.

I thought Tella should have been hooked at half time. I was surprised KWP didn't play from the start to be honest as Tella was ineffective throughout and massively contributed to their first goal with a naive piece of play.

Wolves are well organised, very solid at the back and break well. They also have far more expensive players than us. Saying that we created as many clear cut chances as them though so in that respect we did a good job.

The second goal was pathetic. What the fuck Forster was doing I have no idea.

Was worth the trip to be in the ground to see the best free kick we'll ever see.

 

[The Cat]

3 hours ago, Convict Colony said:

Yeah Redmond adds nothing at the moment, we need to replace him, tella can improve but Redmond will not get better.

He's been good the past month or so. 

Not so sure he suits the second striker role though. He's far better as a number 10.

[Saints foreva]

44 minutes ago, The Cat said:

He's been good the past month or so. 

Not so sure he suits the second striker role though. He's far better as a number 10.

Still has a god awful goal return as a number 10. Championship standard player like most of our number 10s tbh. 

[The Cat]

3 minutes ago, Saints foreva said:

Still has a god awful goal return as a number 10. Championship standard player like most of our number 10s tbh. 

Oh yeah he doesn't score enough at all. Never has really. 

I'm fine with him in the squad though. It's just a shame that despite having a lot of options we only really have 1 proper decent number 10 in Armstrong and he's barely played recently. We really need another player in that position who can create and score a reasonable amount per season.

[Dr Who?]

Set-Piece Prowse! 💥 

[LGTL]

Strange game. Good day, but Wolverhampton is a proper hole. That FK was absolutely superb, privileged to see it in the flesh. 

[aintforever]

That was never a penalty let alone a clear and obvious error. The ball was behind the player when contact was made. Looked like we were unlucky today.

[Jimmy_D]

Just now, aintforever said:

That was never a penalty let alone a clear and obvious error. The ball was behind the player when contact was made. Looked like we were unlucky today.

We've played worse than that against better opposition and got better results.

At least we got that free kick out of the game. Gets better every time I see it.

[Saint_lambden]

Those 2nd and third goals were horrendous. Forster shouldn’t have come for the 2nd and then he assumes the first header is going in rather than anticipating a bounce off the post. 

Defence stops playing for the third. 
 

Didn’t really learn much new from that - they’re better in both boxes than us. 

[John Boy Saint]

Just watching MOTD - that free kick from JWP is absolutely stunning verging on insane.

[warsash saint]

Gotta say poor effort from Saints fans today - may have been cause we were  drowned out by the impressive Wolves fans at either end or having our fans strung out along the whole side of the stand BUT boy were we quiet  😒

[austsaint]

3 hours ago, The Cat said:

I've been there before a few times but today we parked in a different place outside the ring road and it's an utter shithole. 

It's also a pain to get to, that A road that comes off the M5 goes on forever and has about 300 traffic lights. 

As for the game I thought we did ok, should have scored more than 1 and it would have been delicious if Perraud had put his header about 3cm lower at the end.

I thought Tella should have been hooked at half time. I was surprised KWP didn't play from the start to be honest as Tella was ineffective throughout and massively contributed to their first goal with a naive piece of play.

Wolves are well organised, very solid at the back and break well. They also have far more expensive players than us. Saying that we created as many clear cut chances as them though so in that respect we did a good job.

The second goal was pathetic. What the fuck Forster was doing I have no idea.

Was worth the trip to be in the ground to see the best free kick we'll ever see.

 

Yep, the experiment with Tella playing RWB fell flat today and I kept willing Ralph to replace him with KWP who could have either matched that role in the same formation or played as RB in a revamped system.   Some will disagree but apart from raw pace I don't see a Prem player in Tella.   Another poster likened A.A. to Shane Long recently but I see the worst of Long in Nathan Tella - he was kept on the pitch too long today.   Likewise Redmond was ineffectual both as a striking/AM partner to Broja and then as a left sided wing role -  it meant for much of the game we were relying on Perraud for creativity and width with contributions from Romeu (Saints best today) and JWP to provide anything much for Broja and Adams.

Having said all that, it wasn't a bad Saint's performance.  The headers from Salisu and Perraud could so easily have provided at least a point.   In the end the difference was probably the goal keepers - theirs was almost flawless; ours reverted to type in crucial moments.

Marvellous strike from Ward-Prowse.

[austsaint]

8 hours ago, Chez said:

one day one of his crosses will go near a Saints player. Ignore me. Annoyed at that defeat. He worked hard and got forward well.

 

You're right though, on both counts.  Perraud did work hard and got forward well (unlucky with the late header too) - but his crosses are very average.

[Verbal Kint]

3 hours ago, austsaint said:

You're right though, on both counts.  Perraud did work hard and got forward well (unlucky with the late header too) - but his crosses are very average.

He just is very average. The 11 million on him and the 15 million on Armstrong just looks worse and worse by the game

[austsaint]

7 minutes ago, Verbal Kint said:

He just is very average. The 11 million on him and the 15 million on Armstrong just looks worse and worse by the game

I don't know.  Perraud's doing a job - he just hasn't got that precision and class that Shaw, Bertrand (at his best) or even a wrong sided KWP have.  That's why I think the likelihood is Thierry Small could get his opportunity soon.   Perraud's a solid addition, he's just not a stand out first choice LB.   Not with you either re Armstrong.     Give him time; things will fall into place for him.   Keep in mind the Club paid 12m for Shane Long!!!   Armstrong's a much better player.

[AlexLaw76]

1 hour ago, austsaint said:

  Keep in mind the Club paid 12m for Shane Long!!!   Armstrong's a much better player.

is he?

[AlexLaw76]

12 hours ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

I'd assume KWP wasn't fit enough to play a big part after covid, it really does take a while to recover from

If he is not fit, why would he on the bench?

[Saint Garrett]

We played really well yesterday I thought. A dodgy pen, a few missed chances, and a bit of a howler from Forster, put us 2-0 down. The third was just stupid, not sure why Lyanco was having a go at someone instead of tracking Traore, but last min…

A disappointing result, but performance was decent I thought. On another day we win that game. They’re a decent side too, despite all their theatrics, very irritating and verging on cheating. 

[Crab Lungs]

14 hours ago, trousers said:

I prefered your more cheerful posts after the Brentford game  

Ive watched all of The Ashes for no good reason so I think my mood has taken a bit of a hammering 😭

[Ex Lion Tamer]

17 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

If he is not fit, why would he on the bench?

We changed shape at half time and he may not have been fit enough for a full 45.

Maybe Ralph wanted to get 10 minutes in his legs at the end but then there were other priorities.

I'm speculating a bit but these are more plausible reasons than that Ralph would leave one of our best players on the bench because he is insane

[The Cat]

6 hours ago, austsaint said:

You're right though, on both counts.  Perraud did work hard and got forward well (unlucky with the late header too) - but his crosses are very average.

Agree with this although he should have scored the header. Incidentally it came from a delicious cross, the best we put in all game. Strangely the player who made it was Bednarek.

[Sheaf Saint]

38 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

We played really well yesterday I thought. A dodgy pen, a few missed chances, and a bit of a howler from Forster, put us 2-0 down. The third was just stupid, not sure why Lyanco was having a go at someone instead of tracking Traore, but last min…

A disappointing result, but performance was decent I thought. On another day we win that game. They’re a decent side too, despite all their theatrics, very irritating and verging on cheating. 

He pulled up injured and needed treatment, otherwise he would have dealt with the ball to Traore comfortably. 

Edited 16 January, 2022 by Sheaf Saint

[woodsaint1]

On another day we could have won the game with the chances we had, but also we didnt deserve anything with the sloppy defending and conceding three goals.

Sorry but I think its a penalty all day, not sure why it took them so long. Really clumsy from Bednarek, tries to poke it away for a corner and ends up digging his toe into the pitch and clatters into the Wolves player. If we had been on the receiving end we would be screaming for a penalty. Bednarek has summed his saints career up in 7 days - own goal, goal, concedes a penalty. Just so inconsistent and cant seem to eradicate the errors from his game. He shoudnt be any better than our third choice CB and why we need a better partner for Salisu.

The high free kick line has threatened to undo us before and it did today for Woves second. Although I dont know what Forster was thinking - was in no mans land. If he stays on his line he deals with it no bother.

Chasing the game when we conceded the third, but Lyanco is too busy complaining about a hand to the face instead of getting back on Traore. Just play to the whistle fs.

JWP take a bow. What a strike. He has been phenomenal the past two months. Madness when people were questioning whether he should be playing or not.

With a bit more luck we could have snatched a point, although we probably used most of that luck up for the point we gained against Spurs. Onwards.

[Chez]

13 hours ago, derry said:

I felt a bit sorry for Forster re the second goal. It is our tactic to hold the line and let opponents fall into the offside trap. Two or three Wolves players were offside including one who ended up in the net. Forster was hung out to dry as he was caught in two minds but coming out was the wrong decision.

You feIt sorry for him? When you have assessed McCarthy's errors were you as generous and mild in your criticism? 

For what its worth, I didn't feel sorry for him, although it was the non existent effort by Che to challenge Kilman for the header that exposed his error. Che does his job, Forster gets away with it. 

It was a poor decision and demonstrates why his Saints career has been spent glued to his line. He doesn't know what he is doing when coming off it. Why he chose to yesterday, I will never know. 

And Forster's decision to come had absolutely nothing to do with the Wolves players getting the benefit of  poor VAR offside decision. He came because he thought he could get it not because he saw Kilman had got a fraction head start and was thus not going to win the header. VAR should have escaped his blushes.

 

[Chez]

7 hours ago, austsaint said:

You're right though, on both counts.  Perraud did work hard and got forward well (unlucky with the late header too) - but his crosses are very average.

I love the effort. He may lack star quality, but he certainly works his socks off. To be fair to him yesterday, the Wolves box tended to be packed with defenders. 

One thing I noticed was that he was willing to shoot with his right foot. Not a bad effort in the first half. Didn't know he had a right peg. Encouraging. Maybe he is a better player than I have given him credit for. 

Edited 16 January, 2022 by Chez

[austsaint]

4 minutes ago, Chez said:

I love the effort. He may lack star quality, but he certainly works his socks off. To be fair to him yesterday, the Wolves box tended to be packed with defenders. 

Apparently Wolves are right up there among the Prem's stingiest defences.

[bazza]

8 hours ago, warsash saint said:

Gotta say poor effort from Saints fans today - may have been cause we were  drowned out by the impressive Wolves fans at either end or having our fans strung out along the whole side of the stand BUT boy were we quiet  😒

Worst away support from us I’ve ever experienced. My first time at Wolves though & that long narrow layout really doesn’t help. But sure, as long as we can make some noise by the kiosks at half time that’s the main thing. 🙄

[david in sweden]

1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

If he is not fit, why would he on the bench?

MANAGERS RULE BOOK 

Rule No. 1      Never change a winning side.     ( a no brainer - especially if you've just won 4-1 )  

( If we win - you did the right thing,   If we lose - the fans demand to know why you changed a winning formation).

[Chez]

A couple of words about Lyanco's performance. His control of the football and passing was absolutely outstanding yesterday. Very silky and top quality stuff. With the ball he is very impressive at times. 

However, I stand by my statement that he is not a great defender. Check out how he gets done by Silva prior to Traore blazing over the bar or the pointless foul he gives away for the free kick they score from. 

I guess I'm probably looking for things to bash him with, as I've said I don't think he's a good defender, but its not hard to find examples of poor defensive play.

All players make mistakes though and Fonte used to make those in the early days and Salisu does too. What concerns me more, possibly, is his inability to dominate in the air. He is lightweight in that area. 

[Chez]

4 minutes ago, david in sweden said:

MANAGERS RULE BOOK 

Rule No. 1      Never change a winning side.     ( a no brainer - especially if you've just won 4-1 )  

( If we win - you did the right thing,   If we lose - the fans demand to know why you changed a winning formation).

very fair point. KWP to come back in next game?

[Teddeer]

9 minutes ago, david in sweden said:

MANAGERS RULE BOOK 

Rule No. 1      Never change a winning side.     ( a no brainer - especially if you've just won 4-1 )  

( If we win - you did the right thing,   If we lose - the fans demand to know why you changed a winning formation).

But why not swap KWP for a struggling Tella at half time?

Like others I am not seeing any signs that Tella is going to be good enough at this level but hope he proves me wrong.

[Teddeer]

8 minutes ago, Chez said:

A couple of words about Lyanco's performance. His control of the football and passing was absolutely outstanding yesterday. Very silky and top quality stuff. With the ball he is very impressive at times. 

However, I stand by my statement that he is not a great defender. Check out how he gets done by Silva prior to Traore blazing over the bar or the pointless foul he gives away for the free kick they score from. 

I guess I'm probably looking for things to bash him with, as I've said I don't think he's a good defender, but its not hard to find examples of poor defensive play.

All players make mistakes though and Fonte used to make those in the early days and Salisu does too. What concerns me more, possibly, is his inability to dominate in the air. He is lightweight in that area. 

Agree and this was my concern when we signed him. Maybe he can be coached to improve his defensive duties because he is certainly excellent on the ball and can pick a good pass.

[East Kent Saint]

A very dubious penalty I thought , VAR is still making the situation worse for the game . If it takes that long to raise an issue with the Ref then it's obviously not a clear and obvious error .

Saints made plenty of chances and could have got some points , disappointment at the result has been erazed by watching JWP's free kick endlessly 😄

Fraser still slow to react for second goal , by the time he made his mind up to move to deal with the loose ball / possible shot at goal it was already a goal !

[Tank]

14 hours ago, derry said:

I was surprised that KWP wasn't at full back. Tella was an emergency selection against Brentford and did ok but not that well. The goals all came with him having no involvement so I see no good reason to keep him in. Against Brentford he was slow to try and pick up the goalscorer, today he had loads of time dithered just outside our penalty area and lost the ball which led to the penalty.

I thought we were slow to build up with too many passes and played into Wolves hands allowing their consolidating defensive tactics  to work. Too many short going nowhere passes and not enough quick back to front passes when we blocked Wolves attacks. Broja is a threat but not with 59% possession most of it sideways and backwards.

I felt a bit sorry for Forster re the second goal. It is our tactic to hold the line and let opponents fall into the offside trap. Two or three Wolves players were offside including one who ended up in the net. Forster was hung out to dry as he was caught in two minds but coming out was the wrong decision.

That's what happened, but having come out he just seemed to freeze for the 6 - 8 seconds it took for Wolves to score. He's a huge fella he should have ploughed through our boys and got to that ball. We was unlucky to come away with nothing.

[JRM]

11 hours ago, The Cat said:

I've been there before a few times but today we parked in a different place outside the ring road and it's an utter shithole. 

It's also a pain to get to, that A road that comes off the M5 goes on forever and has about 300 traffic lights. 

As for the game I thought we did ok, should have scored more than 1 and it would have been delicious if Perraud had put his header about 3cm lower at the end.

I thought Tella should have been hooked at half time. I was surprised KWP didn't play from the start to be honest as Tella was ineffective throughout and massively contributed to their first goal with a naive piece of play.

Wolves are well organised, very solid at the back and break well. They also have far more expensive players than us. Saying that we created as many clear cut chances as them though so in that respect we did a good job.

The second goal was pathetic. What the fuck Forster was doing I have no idea.

Was worth the trip to be in the ground to see the best free kick we'll ever see.

 

Agree with all that mate, walking through Wolverhampton at 11.15 pubs already had bouncers on , really unwelcoming place "home fans only lads" , for some reason they wouldn't believe we weren't there for football and were just visiting Wolverhampton for a day out. 

Still worst away end in the league for, smug home fans in the boxes behind us trying to wind up the saints fans as much as they could. Left early so even missed the free kick ffs. 

[Chez]

5 minutes ago, Teddeer said:

Agree and this was my concern when we signed him. Maybe he can be coached to improve his defensive duties because he is certainly excellent on the ball and can pick a good pass.

maybe we coach out the `gambling' (I doubt it), but not sure we ever make him really strong in the air. He hides a bit.

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, JRM said:

Agree with all that mate, walking through Wolverhampton at 11.15 pubs already had bouncers on , really unwelcoming place "home fans only lads" , for some reason they wouldn't believe we weren't there for football and were just visiting Wolverhampton for a day out. 

Still worst away end in the league for, smug home fans in the boxes behind us trying to wind up the saints fans as much as they could. Left early so even missed the free kick ffs. 

given we are in an era of 'can never be too careful', I am amazed fans are not kettle'd every game!

[JRM]

1 minute ago, East Kent Saint said:

A very dubious penalty I thought , VAR is still making the situation worse for the game . If it takes that long to raise an issue with the Ref then it's obviously not a clear and obvious error .

Saints made plenty of chances and could have got some points , disappointment at the result has been erazed by watching JWP's free kick endlessly 😄

Fraser still slow to react for second goal , by the time he made his mind up to move to deal with the loose ball / possible shot at goal it was already a goal !

Yes! Wolves fan on the train back banging on about it being a clear pen, how can it be if ref didn't give it and then needed to watch in slow mo from multiple angles? Supposed to be used for clear and obvious errors isn't it?! 

[Tank]

1 minute ago, JRM said:

Agree with all that mate, walking through Wolverhampton at 11.15 pubs already had bouncers on , really unwelcoming place "home fans only lads" , for some reason they wouldn't believe we weren't there for football and were just visiting Wolverhampton for a day out. 

Still worst away end in the league for, smug home fans in the boxes behind us trying to wind up the saints fans as much as they could. Left early so even missed the free kick ffs. 

I've always been a Prowsyite ... an Ingsy JWP partnership would have beaten Italy

[Lee On Solent Saint]

15 minutes ago, Teddeer said:

Agree and this was my concern when we signed him. Maybe he can be coached to improve his defensive duties because he is certainly excellent on the ball and can pick a good pass.

Agreed. Think we were looking at him for all the wrong reasons. Trying to replace Vestergaard who is comfortable on the ball and pick a pass with the same, when we should have been concentrating on someone who can actually defend.

[david in sweden]

Prowsey's best ever free-kick?  .....   from that distance - certainly.   Absolutely superb. 

Just minutes before I said to someone that I was worried that his FK placements were getting to be predictable....

(top left every time) , but what a revelation that one was.  

Agree with Chez (above)   Perraud  hasn't had a run of games to date, but in the last two outings he's looked a totally different entity.

He was very unlucky not to score in the previous game, and this header had the Wolves defence totally baffled.

We had enough clear chances to have won, but their goalie made a couple of miraculous saves that made the difference to the scoreline.

 

To be fair, (on their second goal)  Forster looked ready to collect a routine incoming kick. but the ball just dropped like a stone to the 

Wolves player and FF was stuck in no-mans-land.  (watch the highlights and see) .

Broja  looked sadly ineffective.   Just 1 of his 5 Prem. goals have been in away games, he just doesn't present the same threat away from SMS.

Tella - gets full marks for effort, and ends up "in the wars " in every game.    In time, a  goal will settle his nerves and encourage him. 

 

Refereeing decisions:  Ralph commented positively that Ref. let the game flow, (agreed)  but why didn't we get a review of our penalty shout?.

VAR has the right to intervene on something the ref. may have missed (as we know (historically) to our cost).

Prior to the breakaway for their third goal -  Lyanco  is seen standing on halfway line - holding his throat in pain.  The closest player to him...

- is the eventual Wolves scorer.  Was Lynaco struck in an off-the-ball incident?.  The more one looks at the highlights, the more suspicious it becomes.

Lyanco then, sinks to his knees and the medics. run onto the field - after goal has been scored. . 

 

A typical game at Molyneaux, which we might have drawn - with better luck.   Now move on, with City next weekend.     Is De Bruyne  covid free?

[Saint Billy]

I've only seen the highlights on Motd, but unless they were being very kind to us (which they aren't usually) we played well and were very unlucky not to get a result.

3-1 looks a very misleading scoreline so I don't feel that downbeat. The next few fixtures look shitty though so Ralph needs to get his motivation hat on big time. 

[Chez]

1 minute ago, Saint Billy said:

I've only seen the highlights on Motd, but unless they were being very kind to us (which they aren't usually) we played well and were very unlucky not to get a result.

3-1 looks a very misleading scoreline so I don't feel that downbeat. The next few fixtures look shitty though so Ralph needs to get his motivation hat on big time. 

played well first half, less so second. No need to feel downbeat. On another day we'd get something from the game.  Some tough games coming up, but we're playing OK.

[Singapore Saint]

1 hour ago, Chez said:

I love the effort. He may lack star quality, but he certainly works his socks off. To be fair to him yesterday, the Wolves box tended to be packed with defenders. 

One thing I noticed was that he was willing to shoot with his right foot. Not a bad effort in the first half. Didn't know he had a right peg. Encouraging. Maybe he is a better player than I have given him credit for. 

Perraud hasn't been playing much, he lacks match fitness and sharpness, but he's getting there. Improving by the match I would say.

Edited 16 January, 2022 by Singapore Saint

[Sheaf Saint]

29 minutes ago, david in sweden said:

Prior to the breakaway for their third goal -  Lyanco  is seen standing on halfway line - holding his throat in pain.  The closest player to him...

- is the eventual Wolves scorer.  Was Lynaco struck in an off-the-ball incident?.  The more one looks at the highlights, the more suspicious it becomes.

Lyanco then, sinks to his knees and the medics. run onto the field - after goal has been scored. 

Watching it back on MOTD, it looked like he took a ball full in the face moments before and he was trying to signal that he needed treatment when Traore ran past him.

Can't blame Traore really. He's been on a massive goal drought so he's not going to let a minor thing like a head injury to the player marking him stop him from running through and scoring. Perhaps the ref should have spotted it and stopped the game though?

[Convict Colony]

random one but what is the best stats website that is free for games/players etc both this season and historical.

 

[Professor]

12 hours ago, aintforever said:

That was never a penalty let alone a clear and obvious error. The ball was behind the player when contact was made. Looked like we were unlucky today.

Agree. The game could easily have been a draw, or even gone our way.  No excuse for the Forster error, dithering while then play passed him by, but no cause overall for complaints about the performance.  The penalty was given incorrectly, giving Wolves only 2 legitimate goals.  Our shot that hit the post could easily have given us 2 goals but luck also played a great part in keeping Saints from scoring more goals.  Luck often decides a game, so the better team doesn't always win.  In my opinion, this was one such. 

[Whitey Grandad]

12 minutes ago, Professor said:

Agree. The game could easily have been a draw, or even gone our way.  No excuse for the Forster error, dithering while then play passed him by, but no cause overall for complaints about the performance.  The penalty was given incorrectly, giving Wolves only 2 legitimate goals.  Our shot that hit the post could easily have given us 2 goals but luck also played a great part in keeping Saints from scoring more goals.  Luck often decides a game, so the better team doesn't always win.  In my opinion, this was one such. 

Agreed. 

[Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd]

Saw the starting 11 with KWP on the bench and thought, Ralph's got this wrong. 

Maybe he's not 100% so that influenced his decision? I'd have started KWP and SA for that fixture. 

 

 

[millsy]

prior to the breakaway for their third goal -  Lyanco  is seen standing on halfway line - holding his throat in pain.  The closest player to him...

- is the eventual Wolves scorer.  Was Lynaco struck in an off-the-ball incident?.  The more one looks at the highlights, the more suspicious it becomes.

Lyanco then, sinks to his knees and the medics. run onto the field - after goal has been scored. 

 

Looks like he took an elbow in the throat going for the clearance. Didn't notice it during the match, but I don't have VAR at home. Strange it wasn't looked at, as they only seemed to check the possible offside.