Wolves Fans' Verdict v Newcastle: Finally, a home win

Adam Virgo

Very good win, still some improvements needed but it is miles better than what we were accustomed to last season.

Hwang is the man! Him and Raul were exceptional all afternoon. Fantastic link-up play for both goals, Raul dropping in and causing problems, Hwang using his pace to run in behind and finishing exquisitely both times.

Saint-Maximin was Newcastle’s biggest threat all afternoon, whenever anything happened for them it was through him. Their goal was down to him running so far with the ball originally, however once Sa made the save from Joelinton we needed to clear the ball much better.

Lage needed to make some subs a lot earlier. The game was crying out for Adama by the 60th minute but for some reason we just kept the same XI on which on another day could have easily cost us. Bringing on Adama would have forced Newcastle back and allowed us to have more control.

The longer the game went on, we did slowly tire and the game sort of died out. Once we took the lead, neither team really threatened too much. Their defence looked very weak and we could have exploited it so much more if we had made earlier subs but we got the win and we move onto Villa after the international break.

Winning back-to-back games will surely breed confidence throughout the dressing room. We haven’t played Southampton or Newcastle off the park or dominated any of them but we’ve got the three points in both.

John Lalley

The only team who could have prevented Wolves from winning this game was indeed Wolves themselves.

A dismal Newcastle had little or no say in the final outcome. That Wolves contrived to make such a needless meandering meal of taking the points says much about our own shortcomings.

We started sluggishly conceding four dangerous free-kicks inside the opening three minutes before rousing ourselves buoyed by the realisation that the opposition was to put it at its most gentle, desperately mediocre. Once Hwang had delivered his first poised finish, the Geordies were there for the taking and had Trincao not butchered a glorious opportunity to give us some real security, Newcastle would likely have subsided.

Instead, we infuriatingly gifted them a lifeline they were unlikely to fashion for themselves. And regardless of the rights and wrongs of Jose Sa going to ground too easily, the fact is that Ruben Neves had ample opportunity to assuage the danger. He chose the unnecessary intricate route and paid the price. He was alarmingly erratic in his distribution all game, his concentration seemingly totally awry. To allow the Magpies to go in at the interval all square bordered on negligence and soon afterwards only a brilliant point-blank intervention from Sa prevented us from bizarrely falling into arrears.

The second outstanding link-up between Jimenez and Hwang mercifully restored some sanity to the proceedings; the Korean’s cool conversion making a mockery of much of our early season bungling in front of goal. Must eat a substantial helping of humble pie here; I thought the pre-injury Jimenez was consigned to history. Well, I was wrong – big time. Raul led the line superbly; his physicality returned, his work-rate was insatiable and his vision in creating the two goals for his partner absolutely top-class. He was a huge and magnificent handful and never have I been so pleased to have made an ass of myself with such an inaccurate appraisal.

I couldn’t understand though why Bruno didn’t put a faltering Trincao out of his misery and replace him with a fresh Adama Traore. Trincao’s game lapsed desperately after his glaring miss and his failure to track back ensured that an exposed Nelson Semedo endured a less than assured afternoon. In fact, the final few minutes were excruciating; our game management evaporated as we flailed hopelessly incapable at retaining a bare modicum of possession.

We were desperate for a home win of course, but why the panic? Newcastle, hapless to the end were obligingly incapable of taking advantage. Great result, good feeling but so much to improve upon!

Russ Evers

A well needed three points where for once we had fewer shots than the opposition and, if I remember correctly, no corners.

Two brilliantly made and superbly taken goals could have heralded the start of a partnership that could be something special and the scoreline really should have been more emphatic had Trincao side footed into an empty net rather than smashing a rocket off the bar.

The weather seemed to slightly dampen the atmosphere but we were just about worth the win with another woeful refereeing performance matching the Autumn rain but three points pushes us into mid table and things are starting to click.

Rob Cartwright

A chance for Wolves to build on last weeks away win, but Newcastle at home is always likely to be 1-1, right?

Enter Hwang Hee-chan who announced his arrival to Molineux in style.

Newcastle set themselves up as hard to beat, with 2 lines of four defending their box. We have struggled to break this formation in the past (whisper it, since Jota left) but we have found a player who has a turn of speed, skill and can use both feet. It’s a massive bonus to see how he is linking up so well with Jimenez.

They carved through the defence, like the proverbial knife through butter, not once but twice, to create two fabulous and almost identical goals. Jimenez worked hard to create the openings and Hwang made the difficult angle look quite easy scoring with poise.

This can be an explosive combination for us, as I can see it undoing many teams and gives a very different approach to the Podence or Traore combination.

It should have been a routine win, after the first goal, but a poor decision by Sa let Newcastle back in. He was caught by Joelinton, but you don’t stay down in that situation, relying on a referee to blow up, even more so when he had been mainly hopeless all game.

It was their subs first touch of the game to score from outside the box into an almost empty net.

Of course, Wolves should have gone 2-0 up just before this. A shocking miss by Trincao, who was a shadow of himself from then on and should have been replaced.

I take great confidence in how Wolves dealt with this blow and came back at Newcastle for the whole of the second half. Still showing signs of lacking confidence, both on and off the pitch. Lage should have bought both Dendoncker and Traore on much earlier.

That said, it was fairly comfortable with Sa being called upon just the once, to make amends for his earlier lapse.

Our defence did well. Kilman was excellent again, Saiss had a fine game throughout and Marcal did very well in the second half.

My man of the match is between Jimenez and Hwang. Jimenez is back to his best winning the ball all over the pitch. I will award it to Hwang for being in the right place, making the right runs and his composure in front of goal.

Let’s hope this is the beginning of something great.

It’s hard to understand how we are not back at Molineux for 4 weeks. How can those in charge of the fixtures manage to come up with this?

All in all, a vital win and a good week for Wolves.

Clive Smith

Happy days are here again. For the first time, in what seems ages, we witness a Molineux win. There had to be a nervy ending of course but thankfully it all ended well and we have two weeks to enjoy it. Also, OG is no longer our top scorer.

Having spent the first four minutes in our own half and giving four fouls away the game struggled to flow with there being constant interruptions.

Semedo and Marcal utilised the free space down the wings so Hwang and Trincao played closer to Jimenez and we saw the front three linking up more effectively than in our previous games. Their teamwork led to our best two moments of the opening half. Jimenez had an assist for Hwang to finish clinically then he let the ball run for Trincao, who should have made it 2-0.

It was good to see Jimenez looking like the old Jimenez and we found a way of getting him on the ball more by frequently playing it to his feet in midfield and allowing moves to develop from that position.

With little having gone on around our penalty area it was deflating to let in such a scrappy goal before the break. 1-1 and it seemed to be following the usual pattern against this opposition.

Thankfully the Jimenez / Hwang combo worked again with yet another excellent finish. There was a danger we might get carried away as we played some decent stuff while being competitive in midfield and looking solid in defence. The quick releases and long kicks from Sa meant we always had a counter attack option.

Hwang was obviously MOTM (it is rare to use the term clinical with a Wolves player. Twice!) but a shout out to the defence also. Saint-Maximin was well marshalled and his threat was stifled quite successfully. Although all the defence did well, the unsung hero was Saiss who headed and tackled well while always being strong and physical.

It was unusual that we never won a single corner, but given the standard of out set pieces that was perhaps a blessing. Meanwhile it was interesting to see, while defending corners, we left either two or three players up in attacking positions.

It was a disappointing day for Trincao. He started well, was making lots of runs off the ball, without success, and linking up well with his teammates. Once he hit the bar with his golden chance his confidence seemed to wane. Lage showed faith in him however and only replaced him near the end. Surprisingly Traore did not get more minutes instead.

Matt Cooper

Similarly to the Southampton game, the result masked the performance but I’m certainly not complaining.

Wolves struggled to get a foothold of the game in the opening stages but grew into the game once they’d weathered the storm – restricting Newcastle to only a few shots at goal, with one of them finding the net.

Jimenez linked up play well and looked back to somewhere near his former self, gaining two assists. But it was the link up play with Hwang that excites me the most. I can see why people draw similarities between him and Jota. The way Hwang plays is admirable and he looks a real threat in front of goal. His two goals proved that.

My only real gripe was the wing backs. I just expect more from them. It’s way too passive, side to side simple passing. I get there isn’t a need to always force it but their lack of intent going forward or to take risks really does slow things down for us.