Wolves Fans' Verdict v Chelsea: Rock-solid defence

Clive Smith

New manager bounce? Not on our watch! Talking of watching, its still a nightmare on TV. The constant repetitive stats and waffle.

The game was hardly a classic from an attacking perspective but there was a nice warm glow inside when the final whistle went and our clean sheet was safe.

For most of the the season you would have picked Saiss to be in our strongest central defence, but here our centre halves were excellent. Boly and Coady's form had gone up a level while MOTM Kilman was even better, with one of, if not his best-ever performance. The wing-backs collectively did well enough, under pressure at times but they made it hard for Chelsea to get many good quality crosses in. Behind them Patricio looked confident and assured.

Between them, those back six represented the bus that we parked.

Despite our lack of possession there was still a couple of half chances. As usual Dendoncker had the opportunity to be our goal scoring hero. A header in the first half and a chance late on, created by a brilliant pass from Neto.

Neto continues to improve. It was him who also had a great chance to win it as he reacted quickly and got a shot off. He is full of confidence, ability and is so strong and powerful given the way he floored Jorginho with barely a touch. He single-handedly was our attack.

Traore was just too passive throughout while poor old Podence demonstrated how physical this League is. Hacked from behind, fouled from the side and then blatantly checked in the head by a shoulder. Silva and Jose take note - this can be what it is like and don't expect any sympathy or protection from the ref.

It was a great point. No unhappy, unjust Old Trafford ending this time thankfully. Hopefully we can string some good results and better performances together. Goalscoring is still the key of course and we need to improve our passing. Getting more from Traore would help and hopefully Jose will give us more potency in the box.

Adam Virgo

A point and a clean sheet at Stamford Bridge is a good result and it was a brilliant defensive display from Wolves.

Considering we were shipping goals left, right and centre in the league, a clean sheet was very much needed and hopefully that can give the players a huge boost going into future games.

There were many times we were careless in possession. Tuchel’s sides are built on a high press and winning the ball back quickly but it wasn’t just that which caused us to turn the ball over so much.

Considering how little of the ball we had, we actually created the best chance through Neto who was very unlucky with his chipped effort. Dendoncker also needs to improve in an attacking sense as he’s wasted far too many opportunities this season.

Coady, Boly and Kilman were exceptional all evening. All of them making blocks, tackles, clearances and headers at crucial times. Semedo had a very good game also, however Ait Nouri struggled against Callum Hudson-Odoi.

We need to go and beat Crystal Palace on Saturday, especially if we’re looking to build on this clean sheet. We obviously need to have a lot more of the ball and hopefully Jose will get his first start.

Rob Cartwright

Back to our defensive best and that was good to see. It’s been a while.

This was the Wolves of old, well organised, determined and solid throughout.

This wasn’t Frank Lampard's Chelsea; it was Tuchel’s team and if you believed the BT hype they were about to astonish us all with silky skills and goals galore. Thankfully, our players were not watching their pre-match broadcast as I’m sure they would have been back on the bus home!

What we got was a passing masterclass, for sure, but with little end product or threat.

Coady, Boly and Kilman were all superb, individually and as a unit. Kilman is quickly justifying his “English Willy Boly” tag which will surely gain momentum now?

A big shout out to Neves and Dendoncker in midfield too. They had to run their socks off and never gave the Chelsea “big guns” an easy way through. They were assisted very well by Ait-Nouri and Semedo along with the impressive Hoever, in the second half.

Yes, we would have liked to see more attacking intent, especially in the last quarter, but Wolves had the best three chances of the night and were close to stealing a victory. Neto hitting the top of the bar and the chance falling to Dendoncker our closest attempts.

Chelsea posed little threat, until the very last minute, when our new goal machine was there to block the last ditch shot. I can see why Nuno likes Jose. We only saw 20 minutes, but he is comfortable with the ball, strong and not afraid to defend and get in where it hurts. A promising cameo from him.

Further forward, it was great to see Podence return though he looked increasingly frustrated with a few fouls on him. Traore was the biggest disappointment as we only saw rare glimpses of his ability to take on players. He appeared in a daze for long periods of the game. Neto looked our most dangerous player and a live wire throughout.

My man of the match was Boly; closely followed by the English Boly who were both excellent and ensured we came home with a good point.

The team is already starting to look much stronger. Look at the bench last night.

I’m expecting a big upturn in our results will quickly follow, if we stick with this formation and defence/midfield combination. The goals will come.

Russ Evers

A magnificent battling defensive display proving that we are far better with three central defensive players all of whom looked very assured and solid.

But the main difference for me was the stopping of crosses getting into our box and for me Semedo was our man of the match as he was only beat once or twice, both times when he had switched to an unfamiliar left-back role.

Everyone else "put a shift in" and Jose gives us so much more of a focus when playing the ball out to the forwards.

A really good effort all round so the fight and desire is still there and now WITH a bit of luck added to that effort we may see the tide turn. A great evening.