Wolves' Fans Verdict v Leicester City: Disappointing result but positives to take

Russ Evers

What's your verdict on the match?

Another cup run thwarted by another penalty shoot out disaster. On the plus side it was a much needed run out for many and great to see Cavaleiro back where he left off. Also considering it was almost Leicester's first team against just two who started in the Old Trafford massacre - one of whom changed their starting position - 0-0 draw is highly commendable and you feel that with a full team we may have won. A good crowd too with a rock concert like start, I was almost expecting the mighty Nazareth to walk out! Oh well we can concentrate on the league now until the proper cup run starts in January.

Rob Cartwright

What's your verdict on the match?

I’m feeling very disappointed. I like the Cups and this was a good opportunity to progress, in my opinion. After the Sheffield Wednesday performance I was expecting us to do more but felt that, although we did reasonably well, we never really “went for it”.

To their credit, the nine players who came into the team tried to play football the right way. The Nuno way. It was a big positive to see Cavaleiro for the first time this season and also game time for some of our younger players.

It was quickly clear that we were missing our midfield duo of Neves and Moutinho. We have got used to being first to any loose ball and pinpoint passes. Too often last night we were second to the ball and also guilty of giving away possession.

Leicester play a more basic type of football. Getting the ball forward quickly for Vardy to run onto. This created more shots on goal but Hause and Dendoncker with Coady did well to contain them. Ruddy was called upon a couple of times to make good saves.

The first half was a cagey affair. Leicester started well with Wolves getting more into it as the game went on. The second half was more open, with play going end to end. Wolves were on top and finished the game stronger. We didn’t create many clear cut scoring opportunities and a stale mate was looking likely.

The penalties were awful, with the exception of Ashley-Seal’s effort.

It had a very predictable feel and we exited the League Cup without conceding a goal for the second season running.

Who played well - and who didn't impress?

Ruddy did well when called upon to make a save. I thought Hause and Dendoncker both did well, without being spectacular, against a very experienced forward line.

Gibbs-White was seeking the ball and has good control and touches. He needs to make a bigger impact on games of this nature, by taking more initiative. Saiss was okay, but not spectacular either. Vinagre looked very good and Otto did well without getting his usual supply of balls from midfield or defence.

Cavaleiro looked quick and hungry and will be a welcome addition to league match days. Bonatini and Traore disappointed and did not make any claim on a league start soon.

Jota came on for 33 minutes and looked our most dangerous player going forward. He’s my Man of the Match which says just as much about the others! The game was there for the taking, but we had no-one capable of grabbing it.

A frustrating end to the evening. You can add penalties to the shooting practice in training.

Chris Hughes

What's your verdict on the match?

A good work out”, “good for some players to get 90 minutes in the bank”, “an opportunity for others to show what they can do” are some of the quotes I’ve seen/heard from various managers and coaches following League Cup games this season. A cup that has been relegated to something of a second-string competition in its early rounds for several years gave our fringe players the opportunity to benefit from all of the three quotes above but several really didn’t grasp the opportunity to impress.

Perhaps the biggest positive of the evening was seeing Cavaleiro return to the side. He was obviously rusty but did show a few moments of quality in his 55 minutes or so and it was great to see another of our attacking weapons is on track for a return to the squad.

Cav’s inclusion meant that Gibbs-White, having started in the front three at Sheffield Wednesday in the previous round, was slotted into the central midfield area alongside Saiss. It was here where we looked most lacking. While the pair were fairly neat and tidy the difference in composure in comparison to our usual pair of Neves & Moutinho was striking.

We had much of the ball but did little with it. Bonatini was infuriatingly good with his link up play but awful at getting into dangerous positions in the Leicester penalty area. You get the feeling that he needs to be told that sometimes he can work too hard for the team and needs to be more selfish/ruthless.

After a game that wasn’t littered with chances, two fine saves from Ruddy aside, we were knocked out on penalties for the second successive year. I thought our spot kicks at the Etihad last year were poor but last night’s surpassed them as Saiss, Jota & Adama all saw poor efforts easily saved. Only young Ashley-Seal struck his with any conviction to get our only goal of the shoot out. Our woes in front of goal aren’t restricted to open play it would appear.

Who played well and who failed to impress?

Ruddy was impressive in his command of the area and made a couple of really good saves. The back three were solid and dealt with the threat of Vardy and, later, Iheanacho well. Traore had a few bright runs but didn’t do much in the final third.

Gibbs-White was a mixed bag in the centre. The lad has ability but you feel he’s not quite suited to that deep-lying role our CMs play. His best moments last night were when he was around the Leicester box, either driving with the ball trying to beat defenders or bursting beyond the striker to try and get on to through balls. As a CM he gives the ball away a little more often than we’d like.

Gulraj Kular

What's your verdict on the match?

Would it be odd if I described it as refreshing to be able to pick a couple of holes in a performance? It can get a bit old and tiresome talking of how excellent we are and how if only we could finish more chances but this week provides me with the opportunity to delve a little deeper.

To caveat anything I say from now on, if you make 9 changes to a team of 11, you will nearly always see a drop-off in performance, especially when in opposition to a group of seasoned Premier League pros. No matter how much you train into a system, how often and hard you do so, until you have an opposition who have A) watched you and created a plan to thwart/attack you and B) are actively trying to overcome you, you will not be match sharp. And so it proved.

We were sluggish to start with, late to the press, uninvolved and largely spectating as Leicester passed the ball about with the kind of panache that we've become accustomed to ourselves. We simply couldn't get out and our front three weren't allowing the ball to stick. What we did do, as is usual, was restrict Leicester to shots from distance, although Coady did need to clear one off the line.

We began to grow into the game though, as you would expect and the key was to stay in the game, which we managed while we had a rocky first 20. Slowly we began to assert the authority our system craves and we looked much more at home in the second half.

Whilst we dominated possession though, it still didn't result in many clear-cut openings. There was some poor decision making up front and a lack of understanding between the front three would probably be the reason for this, but we do miss Raul Jimenez's athleticism and penalty box presence.

It looked like a stalemate was in the offing one Jonny was withdrawn and so it came to pass. The less said about the penalties the better.

Who played well and who failed to impress?

The performances were still largely positive. Romain Saiss and Kortney Hause always seem to need a run of games to get fully up to speed. Hause was solid as you would expect defensively, but made some poor decisions in possession in the first half, but simplified his game thereafter. Leander Dendoncker was as assured as anything I've seen in a Wolves shirt recently and displayed his ability to step out with the ball on occasion It can only be the excellent performances of Ryan Bennett keeping him out of the team.

Morgan Gibbs-White seemed a bit too eager to impress in the first half, but was another who took the simpler option and looked better for it after half time. He regained the confidence he oozes whenever he plays and brought out some party tricks.

Jonny looked as assured as ever on the opposite flank and Ruben Vinagre is just a lovely, lovely footballer. He seems even more athletic now and was more than capable of coping with the dangerous Ricardo Pereira.

The front three were a mixed bag. Leo Bonatini is never going to spin in behind defences, he's not going to be able to fight off hulking centre backs like Wes Morgan so you need to be precise with the way you use him. For a start, Ivan Cavaleiro and Adama Traore aren't the most precise footballers. Cavaleiro, for what it's worth, slipped pretty seamlessly into his pre-injury groove but he was rather individual with his work.

Adama Adama'd his way through the game. He will always go past players - the fact it's almost a given is pretty astonishing given he calibre of player we're talking about - but that isn't going to be enough. His decision-making was as erratic as ever and nothing really came off for him. He proved exactly why Nuno hasn't started him in the league yet.

Clive Smith

What's your verdict on the match?

Good job we don't play Leicester every week eh! Same formation for us, only the names had changed, well nine had. No surprise to us, and no surprise to them either. It looked like we had been well and truly sussed out. A high press on us meant we could not keep the ball while crosses to the far post saw us lose the header. For nearly twenty minutes we were just not at the races and quite lucky to survive. The long ball to Vardy caused us problems and the game was played almost exclusively in our half. A high Leicester defensive line gave us little room to play in.

Thankfully our passing improved and a couple of 'old heads' - Saiss and Otto - help the game become more of an even contest. The enthusiasm of Vinagre is infectious, even if the end product usually disappoints.

We also tried the far post with a couple of crosses but Cavaleiro was unable to convert.

Although much of the second half was played from box to box, both teams looked most likely to score on the counter attack.

Wolves had several promising chances but MGW, Traore and latterly Jota lacked the finish.

Ruddy made two very good saves and along with the Coady goal line clearance in the first half the Nuno Carabao Cup clean sheet in open play was preserved.

The less said about the penalties the better. They certainly lacked the sparkle the evening had started with. A light show being a prelude to the now accustomed fireworks.

Who played well and who failed to impress?

Ruddy looked as dependable as he was last season. He must be so disappointed ni t starting games.

Otto played very well, somehow robbing Vardy of the ball when a goal looked a certainty.

Vinagre is never dull to watch. He has a knack of seeming to be tackled but then runs off with the ball. He did get caught out once or twice though and it left us exposed and out of position.

Dendonker looked better than at Sheff Wed with more composure on the ball and more competent overall.

Coady lost out on a couple of long balls early on before getting into his steady routine. He gets round the language barrier by waving his arms to instruct his fellow defenders to move forward and stay in line.

Hause too looked steady and competent. One surging forward run was from the Lescott / Dean Richards playbook.

Saiss is very different to our first eleven midfield but got the job done, doing what is usually referred to as, the dirty stuff. He was the catalyst for winning possession back and putting tackles in. In the first half particularly his experience meant he looked in control more than anyone else. MOTM.

Gibbs-White had a patchy game. He seemed nervous early on and lost the ball frequently as the game passed him by. He improved though and started playing some neat passes and recycled the ball better. His tendency to naturally turn away from goal prevents him having the chance of playing many killer forward passes as it give the opposition time to cover. When played in, his goal effort was lacking.

Bonatini drifted through the game without ever looking likely to score.

Traore had many spells when he just didn't seem to be in the game or involved. Although he was instrumental in some half chances he failed to influence the games as much as he should have. At the moment he does seem best suited to a 20-30 minute cameo.

Cavaleiro used the game primarily to get match fit. He clearly lacked the sharpness he needs to be most effective.

From the bench Jota got into excellent positions more than once but held onto the ball too long. This time last year he would have made a bee line for the goal - and invariably score. Now his hesitation proved costly.

Bennett came on at right wing back and very nearly hit the winner in the last minute from a MGW free kick.

Ashley-Seal had a few minutes - and scored our only penalty.

Adam Virgo

What's your verdict on the match?

Losing on penalties is something I’ve always been used to with Wolves and England, but if we had won I don’t think it would have been deserved. Leicester were the better side over the 90 minutes and had the better chances.

Getting a clean sheet was a positive to take out of the game though, mainly thanks to some top drawer saves from John Ruddy who more than kept us in it at times. Not conceding a goal in the Carabao Cup under Nuno is some pretty good going though.

We were very sloppy in possession in the first half and we didn’t trouble Ben Hamer enough in either half. Gibbs-White had our best chance which was straight at Hamer and if only the rebound fell kindly for Jota, we could have stolen a 1-0 win.

We grew into the game more in the second half, we just lacked any sort of composure in the final third. The introduction of Jota definitely helped but Cavaleiro did well considering it was his first game back since Pre-Season.

Leicester played a strong team too and a number of their players have played some part in a few of their Premier League games. To say we made nine changes from Saturday, on paper we had a good team and it shows how far we have came over the past few years and our strength in depth will only keep improving over time.

A good cup run would have been nice, especially as it gave us a chance to rotate the team around, but it’s not the end of the world that we’re out, it just means we can solely focus on the league until the FA Cup comes around.

Who played well and who failed to impress?

Morgan Gibbs-White was a lot better in the second half than the first and grew into the game more as it went on. Everyone was careless in possession in the first half but in the last 10-15 minutes, he looked well up for it. He should have done better with his chance and shooting is one area he needs to work on but for his age he’s a huge talent.

Ruben Vinagre once again showing his ability. Up and down that left wing constantly, played some good one-twos with Jota in the second half too. He’s proved that he’s good enough to play against Premier League opposition on a number of occasions and if Doherty/Jonny ever got injured, him coming in wouldn’t hinder us at all.

Leander Dendoncker was comfortable, except for when he was running because he runs with his back always straight. Defensively he didn’t do much wrong and he was calm in possession. He won’t get in the first team yet but I think eventually over time he will.

John Ruddy had a very good game and without him making some stunning saves, we’d have lost before it went to penalties. Even in the shootout he saved one and was unlucky with another. They missed two penalties and we still managed to lose which tells you how bad we are in shootouts and our record speaks for itself.