Wolves Fans' Verdict v Bournemouth: Bad referee but good point

Clive Smith

What's your verdict on the match?

If you like fouls, cards and penalties, this was the game for you, as everything was about the referee. It was a nice sunny day, however, and a deserved point was gained from a below-average performance.

Starting full of confidence, for twenty minutes we took the game to Bournemouth. We had good possession, looked likely to open them up down the wings while Jota and Jimenez were linking up well. Unfortunately, by then we were a goal down following a soft penalty – the only time they had been in our box with the ball.

We could have been level moments later but their defender only used one hand to juggle the ball in the box. Bournemouth played with width which meant Doherty and Otto were closely covered, forcing us to play up the centre. Jimenez and Jota began to get crowded out so our attempts on goal were limited. The remainder of the half was played very much between the boxes as both sets of defenders broke down attacks before the ball made it into the box.

The second half was still scrappy in the congested midfield. A couple of corners provided attempts on goal with Dendoncker having the best one with a well-directed header forcing the save. A succession of throw-ins, fouls and cards hardly helped the flow of the game. A particularly nasty challenge on Moutinho resulted in a lengthy amount of treatment. Bournemouth have been in the Premier League long enough to know all about the dark arts.

The introduction of Traore and Cavaleiro changed the focus and offered us a different option. The pace of the game increased as we pushed forward, leaving gaps behind our wing backs for Bournemouth to exploit. Our central defence dealt well with the crosses played in.

When the going gets tough though our favourite wing back again gets involved, first with a close-range header, then with a goal.

Doherty had already made a couple of diagonal runs off the ball towards the penalty spot after seeing little of the ball wide. When he made that run again the ball was played to him by Otto and another soft penalty was awarded. Jimenez brought us level.

A minute later and the referee intervened again. Cavaleiro is not someone you want to see challenge near our box, we remember added time at Cardiff away last season! He must be some lucky charm though, as this pen was also wasted.

Seeing the sprinkles come on a couple minutes before the final whistle was just something else for a very strange sort of game.

Who played well – and who didn't impress?

Again Patricio was disappointing with his distribution, but he did make one good save preventing us from going 2-0 down.

Otto got in plenty of advanced positions but, specially in the second half, our passing to him was poor.

Doherty's never say die attitude again brought it's reward. Even a relatively subdued performance still saw him contribute to us gaining a point.

Boly had a very solid game at the back and was the man of the match. Never seeming to break sweat he won lots of challenges and tried to push us forward by starting attacks.

Coady was second only to Boly. A captain's performance at the back, urging everyone on around him while making an excellent contribution with headers, tackles and interceptions.

Bennett took a no nonsense approach to win several important headers but was again loose with his passing.

Neves was generally neat and tidy with the ball, but his passing was all too safe. Lying deeper means he is less likely to hurt the opposition. Less eye catching, he is still working for the team.

Moutinho took some excellent set pieces but was not quite up to his usual high standard in the second half.

It might seem strange to say but Dendoncker was better without the ball. Then he was working hard and frequently helping us to win it back. With the ball, he usually just played it short to Neves or Moutinho rather than further forward.

Jimenez was up against a streetwise centre half who was adept at giving him a shove before the ball arrived. This meant he was not at his best trying to keep the ball. His usual outstanding work rate was there though.

Jota found it hard to influence the game and saw too little of the ball. He found space once at the edge of the box but his touch let him down.

From the bench, Cavaleiro came on first and helped with our attacking play. Traore followed, bringing his pace which was more controlled than in the past. Between them, they brought us back into the game and helped us have more attempts on goal.

Saiss came on briefly to secure our point and monitor the sprinklers.

Natalie Wood

What's your verdict on the match?

Just two words are needed to describe the Bournemouth game… Roger East!

It was without doubt one of the most incompetent refereeing displays I’ve seen in the premier league, he was a key character in every major talking point of the game which should never be the case in my opinion.

We started the game really well, the far better team. Within the first two minutes, we were getting the ball in the box and asking Bournemouth's defence plenty of questions. We looked like we had and potentially should have taken the lead through Jimenez. Jota battled well to win the ball back before teeing up Jimenez for an easy finish.

East blew for a foul against Jota, a foul that wouldn’t be a foul if it was anywhere else on the pitch. For me this was the defining moment of the game, if the goal had stood we obviously would have taken a deserved lead, instead, Bournemouth went straight up the other end and East made another game defining decision. Bournemouth stormed into our box, Moutinho made minimal (extremely minimal!!) contact and of course, King went flying. A soft penalty decision. You could see the anger in the players' faces, a couple had completely lost their heads. Coady did well to try to keep a lid on things.

A few minutes later came one of the most ridiculous handballs I’ve ever seen. We were seated well inside the Wolves half so a fair distance from the Bournemouth box and even with the distance and the positioning of the player we could see it was a handball…..he literally punched it out for a corner but somehow all we got out of it was a booking for Jota… bizarre. We continued to be on top for the rest of the first half.

Jota and Dendoncker really stood out for me, both causing plenty of problems and getting the ball forward well. We should have been level at the break with two very good chances, both created by Jota. Dendoncker was unlucky when the ball hit him a few yards out after Jota cut the ball back, then Jimenez was agonisingly close to getting on the end of a Jota cross. It did start to feel like it wasn’t going to be our day!

We started the second half again on the front foot, Moutinho was dictating the game and put in some great corners, however, the game then did flip. I hate to always go on about Patricio but for me, he is the one player I would replace, he is a superb shot-stopper but you don’t see him commanding the box like many other goalkeepers we have had in the past and his distribution is bordering atrocious at times. He very nearly cost us the game with a very poor clearance straight to a Bournemouth player (the kick didn’t even make the halfway line) to give them a chance to finish the game, he did redeem himself with a good save but it was an unnecessary extra bit of pressure. This flipped the game and the next 10/15 minutes were all Bournemouth.

They had some great chances and held the ball well, Wolves, on the other hand, were starting to run out of ideas and were struggling to get a foot on the game. The introduction of Cavaleiro started to turn the game more our way but we just couldn’t quite get back into our game. We were rushing passes and making silly mistakes – we were playing directly into Bournemouth's hands.

Roger East had been quiet for a few minutes so it was about time for him to reappear. Moutinho received a straight elbow to the mouth, watching it live it was a straight red all day. Watching the replays you can see the player did have his eye on the ball but I still don’t see why his elbow was at that angle….he did know Moutinho was there. Again you could see the players completely losing the plot and it did feel like the tension was going to bubble over.

We needed a change and this was the perfect game for Traore, we needed that extra foot of pace up front for a tiring but strong Bournemouth defence. He almost instantly had an impact with a great cross into the box but Doherty headed wide. We were getting more on top of the game, Traore and Cav were causing issues and getting the ball moved from the back very quickly. A goal felt like it could be imminent. We again got ourselves into a great position and just as Doherty was about to strike he was wiped out by Smith. Lots of pundits post game seemed to think it was a soft penalty… I can’t see it personally, Smith got nothing of the ball and completely took Doherty out! Jimenez stepped up and finished coolly. It felt like justice had been restored but of course, East wasn’t done yet… why give two penalties when you can give three?

Cav tripped Fraser, a very clumsy tackle but it was definitely outside the box. Again we were sat at the opposite end but we could see quite clearly it was outside of the box. Thankfully King shot wide, it would have felt very unjust to have gone behind again. The rest of the game turned into carnage, a real end to end finish with plenty of chances for both, the atmosphere was fantastic and did feel like one of the teams was going to nick it in the dying moments… and it really could have been either team. The sprinklers coming on at the end of the game just abut summed up an utterly ridiculous game.

Who played well – and who didn't impress?

It was actually a good team performance against a good Bournemouth team. A draw was a fair result in the end and a good point on the road. There were plenty of good performances for us but the stand out players for me would be Jota who continued his good run of form, he caused plenty of problems and was at the centre of most of our chances.

Dendoncker also had another great game, he is becoming a real key character in our game, winning the ball back in vital positions and influencing both up front and in defence. However, I would give the man of the match to Moutinho. He is just a class above most players, he plays with the right levels of class and aggression and just dictates the game – we are very lucky to see him play in a Wolves shirt.

I could write pages and pages on Roger East who as I said earlier had one of the worst refereeing displays I’d seen. You can forgive a referee for the odd wrong decision, it is such a tough job at times but his mistakes were consistent. Aside from giving penalties that shouldn’t have been given and missing clear cut penalties he also passed out cards for fun except for times when they really should be given.

Gosling was continually fouling and somehow got away from getting booked until well into the second half, Lerma was very lucky to only see a yellow and I won’t ever understand how Smith didn’t get a second yellow for wiping out Doherty for the penalty. He had the potential to completely ruin a game but this was a really entertaining game between two good sides. It was a great point and a good team performance and it sets us up very nicely for two quite winnable games in the next week… let's just hope we don’t see Mr East’s name on the team sheet!

Russ Evers

What's your verdict on the match?

We travelled 360 miles there and back to witness a pantomime referee in Roger East who was a few weeks early for Red Nose Day.

Three penalties awarded, all of them wrongly on first view whilst the most blatant handball was somehow missed. He then gave a yellow card for an elbow to the face and continued to make mistake after mistake.

The only fair score with Mr East's comedy display to the fore was a draw, something we would probably have settled for at 7.30am on Saturday morning as the coaches began to roll.

Another battling display coming from 1-0 down again in a game littered with misplaced or over-hit passes.

Up to the sacred 40-point mark and all off to Huddersfield on Tuesday, ay we? Good luck to whoever ends up with Mr East next.

Adam Virgo

What's your verdict on the match? That refereeing performance from Roger East yesterday was absolutely atrocious, up there with Mike Jones’ for our game against Bournemouth in 2014 and Uriah Rennie’s for the Bolton game in 2004.

I know referees can make mistakes but the amount of poor decisions he gave yesterday were laughable. Three questionable penalties given but then misses a clear handball which was stonewall? Incompetence at its finest.

Anyway, onto the game. We started the game very well and had Bournemouth on the ropes up until their first penalty. Moutinho pulled out of the challenge and King went down far too easy. He probably shouldn’t have stuck his leg out but even so, he pulled it back straight away and it wasn’t a foul.

For the remainder of the first half it wasn’t as intense and composed as the first 10-15 minutes but we still had a couple of chances. Jimenez unlucky to not reach the ball after good work from Jota to hit it across goal.

Mepham’s handball was clear as daylight. He may as well have just caught the ball and thrown it out for a corner. Even our players’ reactions told it all because so many of them saw it and after that it just felt like every single thing was going to go against us.

Jefferson Lerma was lucky to not see red for an elbow on Joao Moutinho. I understand you can’t jump with your arms by your side but there was no need for his elbow to go into Moutinho’s face and was clumsy from the Colombian.

We had control of the second half for large parts but Bournemouth did cause problems on the counter. Boly should have scored from a corner as he had a free header and Doherty should have scored also after good work from Traore.

Our penalty arguably was the most clearest of the three if you had to pick one. Smith cleaned Doherty out and he had taken the shot already but he’s still been wiped out. At first viewing it never looked like a penalty but seeing it again you can understand why the ref sees it as a foul. Smith should have seen a second yellow for it also but Roger East is clearly stupid as well as blind.

Then he goes and gives Bournemouth a second penalty for a foul outside the box and Fraser cheating the foul also. Even Stevie Wonder would have seen it was outside the box and it wasn’t a foul either because Fraser kicked his leg out into Cavaleiro to buy the foul. Justice was served in the end though as Josh King hit the outside of the post.

Bournemouth’s players loved going down at every opportunity and trying to cheat their way to win and I didn’t expect anything else from them under Eddie Howe as it was the same when we played them in 2014. Their team is full of cheating rats and the way they behaved all game was pathetic.

It’s not a bad point in terms of the opposition we were against and it’s not an easy ground to go and win at, however with a referee who actually understands the rules of football, we could have won the game for sure.

His refereeing performance was so bad he’s literally became a meme with the wolves fans, so much mockery on twitter and it was fully deserved after his terrible decisions all afternoon.

Who played well – and who didn't impress? Joao Moutinho was our best player again yesterday. He was the midfielder that constantly wanted the ball and with Neves and Dendoncker both having poor games for their standards, he stepped up. Got a smack in the mouth from Lerma’s elbow as well but he carried on battling and getting on the ball.

Defensively we were fine again to be quite honest. There were a couple of instances in 1v1 situations at the back when they got the better of someone but collectively as a team we did well against two up top in King and Solanke.

Rui Patricio made a couple of good stops and I don’t understand why people are just banging on about his kicking again. Yes it’s a weakness for him but every goalkeeper has weaknesses and it’s not as if he’s making constant errors leading to goals plus if he kicks it to someone and they lose the header, why is that all his fault?

Doherty and Jonny both did well but I wish we could have got them in on the flanks more, however Bournemouth’s 4-4-2 formation made it a bit more difficult to do so. We just never really see Coady or Neves pinging it out wide as often like they have done in previous games.

Jota was quieter than normal but he might not be at 100 per cent. He did have a few good moments in the first 45 but in the second half he was quite anonymous.

Jimenez the same, he wasn’t involved as much as we normally see but when it came to the penalty he stayed calm, waited for Boruc to dive and then just rolled it the other side of him. Fantastic composure from the Mexican.

Now, two games coming up where we should be looking to get maximum points even though we did lose to both Huddersfield and Cardiff in the reverse fixtures. If we want to cement that 7th place then those are teams we need to be looking to beat and the run we’re currently on, I can’t see anything other than two wins but football is never always that easy.