Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Watford FC - 20/10/2018

We could borrow a bizarre permutation from that Wolves forum in their post-match thread:

https://www.molineuxmix.co.uk/index.php?threads/watford-verdict.207204/page-3

 

E Herts is generally a mystery to me.

Who knows what wunderkinds loiter over there.

 

I always admired June Whitfield.

 

It’s kind of mental to be able to sit and think after a performance like that that we are statistically basically guaranteed to be going into a 5th straight season in the Prem, with one of our goalscorers having just come back from an international break in which he played and scored for the Argentinian national team.

It’s still slightly surreal to be in that position, when, as nobody needs reminding, we have been described as ‘an hour away from administration’ this same decade. That was reinforced yesterday by the respective performances; Wolves have come up with some very good players, having spent serious money and being widely (and slightly ludicrously) touted. But this is what the Premier League is really about, and as several match reports have alluded to in the wake of our victory, newly promoted teams can never expect to just come up and swagger around, regardless of money spent and strength of promotion success in the division below; there’s always a multi-ton roadblock waiting just round the corner in the shape of a team who have been there a while, had the chance to fully build a squad capable of manoeuvring the demands of the league with savvy and guile as well as physicality and skill, and will punish any optimistic ‘are we the best promoted side ever!?’ naiveté.

That’s not to say Wolves aren’t a decent team, and I don’t think anyone’s questioning their ability to stay up, which at this point is a victory in itself, but I quite enjoy it as a counter to those (mostly big club) fans who drool out comments about how there’s barely any difference between the top half of the Championship and the Prem teams outside the top 6. The fact that it’s now us who are that seasoned, versatile, talented all-round team, who can not only field a player of the likes of Pereyra or Deulofeu, but allow them to function as part of a fluid team collective rather than requiring one of them to be a one-man match-winner every time they go out there, is amazing. As ever, we mustn’t get complacent, but it’s a very nice situation to find ourselves in, and to boot I feel like we’ve scored more ‘spectacular’ goals this season so far than in all our previous Prem seasons collectively.

Also, for me, Success is our best all round striker. He is the best hold-up player and aerial threat by a mile, and it really exposes how much Troy isn’t really that kind of player, despite his physicality and relative size. He’s also capable of playing the lone striker role, which is a godsend. This in itself seems surreal, given his really rather recent Baileys-driven proclivities, but it’s also great. He still needs time and experience to improve his decision making and finishing, as he is still weirdly young, but the fact that he looks in a position to do that is miraculous enough.

 

After his 5 in a bed ordeal, matching up against 2 centre backs must seem child's play.

 

Whoops I got it wrong one point better off 16 v 15!

 

If outsiders want to think that about our midfield, then let them. They're in for a surprise. If an opposition coach wants to think that then that's another win for us. As long as refs don't go looking for stuff that isn't there (Deeney keep your mouth shut) then fine. The Wolves forum was mostly fair-minded, I thought; but they definitely expected a rough-house until the match unfolded in front of them.

 

?
Ah - do you mean Schrodinger?

 

I take your point about viewing figures but what about the national broadcaster's obligation to educate as well as emtertain, and do things the commercial outfits can't? MOTD could be more informative without turning into one of Reids' coaching sessions

 

Goal of the season so far us, and yes I include his volley against Brighton.

 

Not to mention two Serie A titles with Juventus.

 

A very professional overall performance, managed the game excellently in the second half.

We were so, so dominant in the first half and killed the game dead in the space of one minute.

Capoue outstanding, as were Doucoure and Hughes - this was possibly the latters best game in a yellow shirt, really thought he was great.

Huddersfield played very well and should’ve got a point off Liverpool last night, so it won’t be a cakewalk, but it’s an excellent opportunity for more points on the board.

 

Always assumed Reids was Danny Murphy.

 

I like it. It's almost poetic.

 

If Chalobah and Cleverley were fully fit to join all our other excellent midfielders in the squad, would people prefer that Gracia stuck with a ‘first choice’ team or would you like to see a rotation policy similar to what Man City do?

 

Who knew there were so many high-quality twigs in Wolverhampton?

 

Good point. Cleverley, Chalobah, Capoue, Pereyra, Deulofeu, Doucoure and Hughes are all too good not to play and we’ve got the likes of Quina and Wilmott showing they are more than good enough to be around the first team squad.

It’s a ridiculously good midfield seeing it written down like that. You have to rotate if all are fit. But in the real world you do get injuries, so this problem is always reduced because of that.

 

Yes, they only really want goals and incidents, because that is what they think the 12-year-old from Crewe, the knackered-mother-of-two-toddlers in Oswaldtwistle and the retired postman-back-from -the-pub in Clacton want to watch. And they probably think they have a duty to show it and they are probably right.
It's still true to say that the edited 'highlights' gave absolutely no indication of how the match actually went. The comments were fair, I thought, but limited by time, of course.

 

I’d say rotate based on opposition. Capoue, Doucs, Hughes and Bobby P are near undroppable at the moment, but the later can still have the odd quiet game.

 

Hear, hear.

 

It seems fairly obvious to me. Play a 1-3-7 formation.

 

I was a bit pessimistic about this one , but great performance and very satisfying to outplay pundits pick wolves. Really hope we can follow this up with a decent performance vs Huddersfield .

By the way what did Garth Crookes day about us on final score ?

 

Didn't see it but the gist was we're anti football and he doesn't need lubing up or a reach around from Nuno Espirito Santo, the raw penetration from him is glorious enough and he doesn't want a wafer thin mint as he's stuffed.

 

As with any player we have though, if he didn't have the odd brainless moment/poor performance in him then he would likely be at a bigger club. The fact is he's about as good a centre back as we are likely to get at our current level.

 

Carragher is a big reason I will never renew my sky sports subscription.

 

Why, did he spit at you as well?

 

I quite like MOTD. I don't care about analysing football too much. I have a pair of eyes and am able to understand what has just happened in a match. If they decide to analyse a player or 2 in slow motion after a match fair enough but doesn't bother me.

 

While "nothing" is a clear use of hyperbole (obviously they're not making a show if it garners 0 viewers), their concerns are not anywhere close to same context that paid stations deal with. It's not all about viewing figures, because some things are deemed to be items of public interest, etc.

By contrast, the only thing that matters for advertisement funded stations is the money earned by advertising exposure.

There's a reason ITV doesn't bother to bid against the BBC for rights at the moment: it doesn't make financial sense for a non-publicly funded station to pay what the BBC is paying. If ITV could make money at what the rights currently go for, they'd be willing to bid more. They fact they don't speaks volumes.

Fact is if MOTD was a brilliant show they'd pull in far more viewers than they do through taking the easy road and merely pandering to the largest clubs, and it wouldn't cost them more in rights to do it, just take a risk to break away from the formulaic pap they currently serve up.

They already can if the station they're syndicating to has the right to show highlights. More to the point, it should be apparent by now that everything in football is for sale. If a program was good enough to attract international interest, the rights issues would be worked out because not to do so would to leave money on the table. If there is one thing the Premier League doesn't like to do, it's leave money on the table.

I agree on the latter point about Lineker, Murphy et. al. They're hardly riveting with the actual highlights on show and, like Clive said above, scarcely do anything to justify their bloated incomes. The notion that Lineker's role on MOTD is somehow worth a million a year is ludicrous.

 

I quite enjoy MOTD. The celebs are overpaid, I'm sure, but I quite like the format. But the one thing that annoys me is the lack of research the pundits do. They have all week to prepare for it and nine other games, and yet they offer opinions that are obviously based on little, or no effort in research, or rely on comments that just seem to be based on old info or preconceived opinion. And then they have six hours to watch some football before the game starts. What the flipping heck do they get paid for?

I think we should be higher up the running order usually, but we are suffering from years of being known as a small, unfashionable club. Our football has been pretty turgid over the past few years and there have been several occasions when I wish we hadn't been in the running order at all.

 

The funny thing is, the BBC have a very smart, analytical and articulate football presenter - Mark Chapman - but they shove him off on MOTD2 which is even worse a format than MOTD. I'm not sure the army of ex-Liverpool player "pundits" like him, as he asks questions which cannot be answered with brainless, grating cliches.

They should have a MOTD extra time or something on IPlayer/ the red button at a similar time to MOTD, hosted by Mark, which spends about ten additional minutes talking about tactics, star performances etc. Something that gives you a good sense of how each team has approached the game and how they're playing.

 

Thinking mans Babbs Windsor.

 

"We move on, regroup, and come again"

We need to start a campaign to enter this phrase into the common vernacular, like Soccer AM did with Bouncebackability.

 

Liked for ‘fluid team collective’.

I’m going to use that when people accuse us of being ‘direct, ‘long ball’ and ‘physical’.

Edit: That’s two campaigns.

 

I was contemplating having a year dead for tax purposes,post AFC Howe trauma.The match was bad enough but Howe's nauseating condescension sent me into a fortnight of Classic FM and FAT*
I did find a rather pleasing twig whilst cleaning the car this morning,but nothing could replace Stephen.

Yes,must have been blending the two matches in a frenzy of "wolf",as Gravy rather charmingly named them,flashbacks!
* Football Avoidance Techniques.