Wolves Fans' Verdict v Southampton: Raul Jimenez deserved that!

Russ Evers

A much needed three points with the defenders-surprisingly minus Willy Boly-dealt well with nearly everything thrown at them. Coady had his best game of the season so far and mistakes were few and far between.

Sa looked solid behind them and we did just about enough to warrant the win. Semedo really must start to convert some of the chances he has and Raul should have done better when Traore was free at the far post late on.

A long way to go especially considering the Sunday lunchtime kick-off and the TV coverage but it was all worth it in the end. Nuno anyone ??

John Lalley

Quality certainly didn’t abound in this game, in fact some of the distribution from both sides was deplorable but what an exceptional and much needed result for us which on balance was just about deserved.

Southampton were reassuringly ordinary and although Wolves never appeared fully at ease in defence, Saints very much like ourselves were restricted to meagre pickings in front of goal.

Wolves didn’t inspire much confidence in trying to play from the back; Max Kilman miscued a horrendous square ball early in the piece and from then on, we frequently created unnecessary problems for ourselves. Jose Sa came within a whisker of embarrassment on one heart-stopping occasion and the irony is that his long, hopeful punt into the distance was the assist for the glorious goal from Jimenez. Mind you, Sa was a rock of dependability all game; brave, reliable and splendidly dominant allowing nothing to faze him.

As for Jimenez, you can only be delighted for him; he is still miles away from his previous heights but he can bask in the pleasure of being a match-winner once more. Raw power to win possession and brush the defender aside, a classy sidestep to create the chance and a cool finish to clinch the points. Si Senor!

Maybe he should have found a way to play in Traore for a simple stoppage-time second but ultimately no damage was done. It came as a surprise that Traore didn’t start the game giving Podence an opportunity. He frequently slipped his marker and made space cleverly but the erratic distribution malaise of this game affected Podence more than most. So often he worked himself into promising areas but he simply could not find a killer pass.

This kind of breakdown ensured that Wolves created very little and despite the three points this is still a real concern. Apart from the winning goal and the special significance for its scorer, this tepid game won’t live much in the memory. But for Wolves after a dismal performance against Brentford, the result is priceless.

All the evidence thus far suggests that this is likely to be a challenging and very trying season for the club. Bruno Lage is shuffling a pack that he didn’t deal and he understandably may reason that he should have been dealt a much stronger hand. Wolves won’t find winning games to be anything other than difficult. Let’s savour it when we come up trumps.

Clive Smith

Ok, so it wasn't classic, and it was a hard watch at times, but our talisman scored and it was the winner. That's the takeaway and we sure needed the three points. As we hoped after Watford, maybe this provides the spark to inspire a run of positive results.

A scrappy first half had as many poor things as good things. Most of our attacks went down the right and saw Semedo with possession in the final third. It never looked like he knew what to do for the best though. He had a great chance in the first minute but shot straight at the keeper, from then on though he was reluctant to either take his man on or put over a cross.

On the other flank we offered even less penetration, the overall result was, we hardly never had possession in their box.

Defensively we looked better, forming two lines of a five and a four which got tackles and blocks in consistently. The greatest danger was our casual passing that looked more likely to play ourselves into trouble. In the second half we cleared our lines repeatedly with interceptions and headers plus some saves from Sa.

Just after the hour though we had the moment we fans have been waiting for since the start of the season. A long ball from Sa was the assist for Jimenez to turn the clock back and score. Cue manic celebrations on and off the pitch.

We played out time well, protecting our box while having a great chance to double the score from the same Sa, Jimenez combination deep in added time. For MOTM the heart says Jimenez but the head says Sa.

There is still plenty of room for improvement in all areas of the field, in particular our passing needs to be more accurate.

Rob Cartwright

The pressure was on Lage to find a winning formula, so I expected changes to the starting XI; especially after Wednesday's cup game. The only surprise was Neves being omitted, as I thought he was playing really well.

The game was a tale of two halves. The first half was dire. Two teams playing with no confidence and not prepared to take risks. Wolves were far too slow in possession and even with Jimenez, Podence and Hwang upfront we played too many sideways or backward balls. The ghost of Nuno had returned! Apart from Semedo’s chance in the first minute I cannot recall another scoring opportunity.

The second half was so much better. Southampton took the initiative from the restart and this played into our hands. They looked pretty toothless without Ings and we looked dangerous on the counter attack. That said, we have Sa to thank for some fine saves and a great double save with the game at 0-0. He also provided the assist for our goal on the hour mark, showing great vision to pick out Jimenez with while most Southampton players were still around our box.

This was no easy goal. Jimenez had three defenders around him, with Podence as support. He shrugged off the defender's challenge and controlled the ball, he squeezed through the gap into the box and then dummied a shot to leave the defender floundering on the floor. He remained calm to place the ball carefully out of reach of the keeper.

Never has a goal been celebrated so well. We all wanted Jimenez to score.

This was a good day for Jimenez. I’d already got him pencilled in for man of the match. He was hungry to be involved and was impacting the game in both boxes. Finding space and laying the ball off to start attacks; it was like the Jimenez of pre-injury.

Shout out to Coady too. He’s been getting some flack lately, but was clearly our best defender in this game. Marcal was poor and his position must now be under threat too. Kilman made some unusual errors. Dendoncker had a positive impact without getting much of the ball.

It was a fairly comfortable last half hour. Southampton look poor and can expect a relegation fight. I’m still very positive about our season and think we will spend most of it in the top half. Wouldn’t it be great for Jimenez to go on a run of regular goal scoring now? Hwang also looks very dangerous.

Traore came on, eventually, having waited ten minutes. He got just twenty minutes and helped see the game out without getting too involved. Jimenez almost got a second in added time, but the angle was too tight and he had no clear pass to the waiting Traore who was also well placed to score.

All in all, a very satisfying day in the South coast sunshine.

Matt Cooper

A sloppy performance but a win is a win, and my word did we need it.

A sloppy first half had me thinking it would be the same old story and all in fairness the second half didn’t improve a great deal but one moment of brilliance changed it.

The story of this game is the return of Raul Jimenez getting on the scoresheet. You could see the relief ooze out of him once he’d scored and his performance on the whole was a bit better.

On another note, Jose Sa was fantastic too. He kept Wolves in the game and even got himself an assist. Top stuff.

They say don’t fix something that isn’t broken but I’d be making changes for Newcastle on Saturday. Ait-Nouri and Trincao to come in for Podence and Marcal.

Adam Virgo

Much needed three points, consecutive away clean sheets, however a poor performance overall but we’ve lost a few times when playing well this season so I’ll definitely take it!

So happy to see Jimenez score a competitive goal again and what a goal it was. That’s the Raul we’ve been used to watching, the way he spun Bednarek, then to sit him down with the little fake was beautiful to watch and the finish was very composed.

Fantastic ball from Jose Sa too, he was incredible in the second half. Had a dodgy moment in the first half but improved massively from then. Made some excellent saves and his distribution was fabulous.

The defence dealt with everything that came at them, however Marcal had a game to forget. He looked all over the place which was a shame because he started the season well. Won’t be long until Ait-Nouri comes in if the Brazilian’s performances don’t improve soon.

Hwang and Moutinho put in very good shifts, Dendoncker may as well have been in the stands because he watched the game for 90 mins. Semedo needs to take more risks in attack too, constantly going backwards and it’s all too safe at times. He definitely has the ability to beat his man and cause problems.

Neither side played well but the magic from Raul was the difference. Hopefully he will gain huge confidence from that and start banging them in regularly now.