Wolves Fans' Verdict v Newcastle: A typical performance

Clive Smith

The first half was a typical Wolves game. We showed very little in the final third while giving very little away. Patricio made one outstanding save from Willock prior to an offside decision plus a few routine saves.

The improving Semedo is gradually playing further forward as the season moves on.

While Neto and Traore looked a threat Jose struggled more than ever to get into the game. I dread to think how many touches he had in the opening half, I'd be surprised if it reached double figures.

We looked fairly resolute at the back. As we saw at Molineux, Newcastle are very adept at the art of falling over and with a willing referee picked up several soft free kicks. We were undone by a corner though, with Jonny out of position, we were not sharp enough to win the eventual header. To be fair, we missed very few headers in our box but this one was costly.

The tiresome stat about conceding first got aired again. More impressively however is our constant response to going a goal behind. Neto and Traore looked the most likely to create a chance and so it proved.

Traore does look to have more confidence now than in the earlier part of the season.

At the death Saiss saved us a goal while Silva looked for all the world to have won it.

As usual though it ended 1-1.

There was no outstanding performance, just several good ones. Patricio and Saiss did well at the back. Jonny, who looked to be tiring either side of the break, finished the game strongly. Semedo and Neves were solid on the middle, while Neto and Traore caught the eye in attack. Of these, despite some loose passes, Neves deserves MOTM.

Sounding like a broken record, our final pass around the box, poor shooting and a cutting edge all need to improve - and quickly. You have to wonder where we would be had Jimenez stayed fit.

Defensively there is a worrying trend where we get sucked deep into our box leaving the edge of the box free for someone to have a pot shot on goal.

This looks a tough week with three away games in eight days. Sterner tests lie ahead I suspect, but in this game we did ok.

Adam Virgo

Frustrating performance again overall, we played well for around 20 minutes which isn’t good enough against a struggling Newcastle side without Callum Wilson whilst having Allan Saint-Maximin and Miguel Almiron forced off with injuries.

We started very slow just like the majority of our games this season. We should have been 2-0 down after 25 minutes but we got extremely lucky. We improved for the last 20 minutes, Adama was ripping them up on the left hand side, Neto causing some problems on the right also.

Terrible defending from us for Jamaal Lascelles’ header, Saint-Maximin originally got past three players with ease but then when the ball ended up on the right hand side and got crossed in, the positional awareness of our centre backs was terrible. Then for Dendoncker to just duck out of the way is nothing short of embarrassing, whether he’s naturally a central midfielder or not, he should be able to see the danger.

Thankfully we were able to provide some quality in the final third, great cross from Neto and an outstanding header from Neves. He’s loving these goals from inside the box and has now scored 5 in his last 9. He’s gone from a long shot scorer to the next Ilkay Gundogan.

After we equalised we sat back too much and didn’t put enough pressure on until very late on. Saint-Maximin was already off by this point so we shouldn’t have had too many worries, the game was there for us to win.

They had a huge chance through Joelinton after we made Jacob Murphy look like Lionel Messi, walking through our defence with ease. A ridiculous block from Romain Saiss and there’s been many times has he had a big moment this season to win us a game or to keep us in a game.

Fabio Silva came on for around 10 minutes, even though he should have came on a lot earlier, and all-round looked better than Willian José. People will criticise him for the missed header at the end but he’s getting into attacking positions that José wasn’t and in all fairness it was a brilliant save/stroke of luck from Martin Dubravka.

We move onto Tuesday against a Man City side who have won 20 consecutive games. I know as fans it’s always good to have faith but I’m pretty sure we are all expecting to lose at the Etihad. Zero shame at all in losing to them but I do hope we give it a good go on the counter attack because that’s where you can hurt them.

Rob Cartwright

A disappointing, if predictable, result.

I feel we lost the momentum of our recent run. This was a game for winning.

Wolves made a poor start to the game. Patricio kept us in it with good saves from half chances. Almiron also hit the post to give us an early warning. Wolves were sluggish and sloppy and did not impose themselves at all.

We grew into the game as the half went on and finally created some opportunities. Traore & Neto had looked a threat, though Jose was mostly anonymous throughout. They linked well when Neto should have done better with his shot off target.

To go in level, at half time, was a positive and I was fully expecting us to carve out a victory, if we started the second half how we ended the first.

We did start the second half much better, only to fall behind, after seven minutes of domination!

It was another example of poor defending, though it was a great header by Lascelles. No one attacked the ball into the box, with Dendoncker too slow to react.

I felt Neves had been passing poorly all through the game. He was covering lots of ground, but was often giving the ball away with passes going astray.

Then on 73 minutes, a perfect cross from Neto found Neves in the box and unmarked.

Now, Neves in the opposition box is a surprise, but a Neves headed goal is extraordinary. It wasn’t a simple one either, with the cross behind him he had to stretch backwards to head the ball. I was in shock, but surely we could go on to win now, as we were dominating possession. Traore, in particular, was causing problems.

It didn’t quite go like that, with chances to score at both ends.

A Saiss block on 81 minutes was awesome. I’ve watched replays and still don’t know how he kept it out, with the ball landing on the roof of the net.

Silva replaced Jose on 83 minutes; this really should have been done on 60 minutes. Jose’s poorest game for us and he made no impact at all.

We finished the game on top, but a great save by Dubravka, in added time, from a Silva header meant the points were shared.

It was great to see Jonny get a full 90 minutes, even though he was replaced in added time. My man of the match was Traore who had a very good second half after a very quiet first half.

The draw was a fair result. A pretty sloppy performance from Wolves, though it was good to see us push right to the end to try and get the win.

We will need to be much better on Tuesday, against a Man City. Knowing Wolves we will be!

John Lalley

An irreplaceable delight of Molineux departed this week. The definitive Wolves’ man, the effortlessly charming Graham Hughes; there was little he didn’t know about Wolves and there was nobody who ever imparted such knowledge with the degree of passion and enthusiasm that Graham did.

He was the epitome of kindness a gentle engaging companion and it was a privilege to have known him and shared his company. Walking into reception at Molineux will never quite be the same again but pleasant memories of a real ‘Happy Wanderer’ won’t be fading very soon.

Graham would have only concentrated on the positives Wolves served up at Newcastle; pleased with the response after conceding first yet again and encouraged by the strong finish when we almost won the game.

It’s scant wonder that Wolves fall behind with such regularity when you start matches as we did at St. James’ Park. For the first half hour, we barely aspired above listless and were lucky to reach the break on level terms. Yet even as we laboured so ponderously, it was clearly evident that Newcastle couldn’t handle the pace of Adama Traore. Twice he was hacked down in full flow with the offenders happy to accept yellow cards to save their embarrassment. His influence increased still further during the second half and ultimately, he should have proved our match winner.

With Neto causing problems on the other flank, Newcastle found themselves stretched almost to breaking point. Fabio yet again failed to convert from close range almost at the death to add yet another bizarre entry into his expanding scrapbook of remarkable misses. It really is approaching quite freakish proportions, almost as if the poor lad is jinxed.

Conversely, Romain Saiss heroically cleared off our goal line with an admirable show of contortion after we allowed Jacob Murphy to waltz through a batch of weak tackles.

All season, Ruben Neves has threatened the pigeons in the rafters more than the net with his long- range shooting. So, by way of variety, he chipped in with his first headed goal for the club and a good one it was too! Believe me, Graham Hughes would have approved! You’ll be missed good buddy.

Russ Evers

Slow away, soon faded! An often quoted quip describing a less than successful greyhound. And other than the opening and closing periods of the second half, this could have summed up our efforts on Saturday evening.

Newcastle seemed to be bigger, stronger and more committed than us and reaching half time on level terms was more by good fortune that good defending. Indeed it was our defending that badly let us down when Newcastle took the lead courtesy of a free header with two centre halves doing their best to avoid making a challenge.

But then we stepped up a gear and played ten yards further forward. We started utilising Adama and Neto and equalised through a rare Neves header. We could-and should-have nicked it at then end.

The usual 1-1 against Newcastle and makes it fivr unbeaten with just the small matter of Man City on the horizon.