Wolves Fans' Verdict v Leeds: A terrible refereeing decision and a defensive capitulation

Clive Smith

The game should have been all about Trincao. His goal, his assist and his rasping shot that hit the woodwork. Instead, it was all about Jimenez and the referee. The view on the pitch, on the TV and from the ‘terraces’ can judge an incident in different ways. Whatever way you view the red card for Jimenez it was the significant moment in the game.

Two well worked goals had Wolves in total command despite the worrying loss of Neves to an injury. The ref’s interpretation of which fouls were severe and which ones were not seemed very inconsistent. Boly and Jimenez received early bookings while several late Leeds challenges were not punished in a similar fashion.

The game was played at a frantic pace which led to a series of errors. Wolves’ passing in particular was well below its usual standard. Within twenty minutes it could easily have been 2-2. By the interval through Wolves should have been well clear. Two efforts from Jimenez and one from Podence were very wasteful. 2-0 looked comfortable and there was no hint of what lay ahead.

However, Jimenez saw red. From then on Wolves looked totally outnumbered all over the pitch. It’s not something you say very often but defensively we started to panic. By then Leeds had nothing to lose and, whereas we are usually very competent at clearing our lines, this was not the case this time around. Ait-Nouri, Saiss and surprisingly Sa could all have done better in the final thirty minutes.

Despite our poor defending we still had chances to score the winner before Leeds with Trincao and Hwang.

At the final whistle it was very hard to be subjective about what had happened. The emotions from the game left a very unpleasant feeling. Annoyed that Jimenez, for the second time this season, had cost the game by getting two yellow cards. Angry at the way the referee had interpreted many challenges. Bitterness about how the game had swung against us and how we had let in three goals for the first time this season. Two weeks stewing on this disappointment feels quite depressing now.

The positives from the performances of MOTM Boly, Jonny and Trincao should not be forgotten.

Rob Cartwright

What a nightmare. This was certainly a game of two, vastly different, halves.

At half-time, we were 2-0 up and looking certain of victory. In the “infamous” words of Mick McCarthy – in rather second half, we witnessed a ‘complete capitulation’.

Leeds started the strongest, and losing Neves to injury after 25 minutes was a massive blow. However, this coincided with us getting a foothold in the game with Trincao having an immediate impact. He made the assist for Jonny’s opening goal from the games best move. Wolves were on top for the rest of the half and had chances to add a second. Trincao hit the inside of the post, with the ball bouncing across the six yard box. He did score in added time, and I think everyone inside Molineux, including Leeds fans, thought it was game over, as by this stage Wolves were well on top.

Little did we know what was about to unfold…..

Jimenez had already been rightly booked for a silly and needless challenge. Then on 53 minutes, he chased a long ball with their keeper running out of his box at speed. There was a collision with both players going for the ball. There was no foul but both players were injured. Kevin Friend saw fit to produce another yellow. The expectation was this would be for the keeper, but no Jimenez was sent off. A scandalous decision!

We coped well for ten minutes, but then had a ridiculously terrible five minutes where Leeds sensed blood and scored twice, thanks in part to shambolic defending by Wolves. We were all over the place. The game management was poor in the extreme.

We did steady things and again looked the more likely to score, but as we entered 8 minutes of added time we shot ourselves in the foot again with the defence looking like they’ve never played together before.

This made me feel sick and brought back memories of the Wembley semi-final.

Walking away from the stadium, it was difficult to understand what had just happened.

The red card was the turning point, but with a two goal cushion we should have organised well enough to still get a result. Fair play to Leeds who coped well with their own injuries and capitalised on our misfortune. Moutinho and Jonny were our stand out players but the three central defenders fell well short of what is needed.

Jimenez misses two games, probably. An even bigger concern is the possibility of Neves not being fit for the Villa game in two weeks time.

John Lalley

This really does take some stomaching; grievous self-inflicted wounds allied to a desperately unfortunate reduction in numbers and the outcome is just about the most sickening result of the entire season.

If I believed that Jimenez was culpable, I’d say so. He appeared to be in a strange state of mind all first half; careering and cavorting, spending too much time off his feet and continuing to struggle, unable to hold possession or link up to decent effect. He’s had a dire season, but that said unlike his utter stupidity to be dismissed at Manchester City, this time around he has every right to feel hard done by.

At City, the team responded heroically and were abysmally treated when a truly appalling penalty award lost us the game. This time around, the response was the polar opposite. The discipline, calmness, organisation and sheer determination so evident at The Etihad, disintegrated into blind panic and a game in our pocket at the interval simply evaporated.

Glaring individual errors making for crass defending ensured that Leeds needed to do little bar keep plugging away safe in the knowledge that Wolves would dig their own grave and generously implode.

Regardless of the numerical handicap which inevitably made life difficult, the nature of our hapless capitulation is inexplicable. It’s pointless naming names; the culprits have all on occasions this season taken their turn in performing magnificently.

Like the rest of us, they will be wild with regret right now and sick to the core. The result aside, the mega-disappointment centres on Francisco Trincao. A few jaws dropped when he had to replace the in-form Neves but at last, belatedly, about time too and what took you so long, the guy finally decided to give us a glimpse of a sublime talent he has kept virtually hidden since he arrived at Molineux.

Immediately he set up Jonny for the opening goal. So many players in that flank position blindly hit a defender with a kick and hope cross. Trincao instead looked up and precisely found his colleague with an exquisite pass.

He was on a mission; why he chose this occasion, who knows but within moments he had blasted a tremendous drive against the upright before beautifully threading a perfect finish for what should have been the matchwinner. So up for it he was that he even won a couple of sharp tackles displaying a determination many of us didn’t realise he possessed.

Leeds couldn’t contain him and he must have been salivating at the thought of turning up the heat even more after half-time. Instead, we’re down to ten men and Trincao is starved of any meaningful possession. Massive frustration; but if this lousy night offered us any hint of inspiration, Trincao provided it. Too little, too late? Maybe, but he showed just what he is capable of and the onus rests with him now to contribute constructively in the future.

His input surprised me but it was that kind of night; utterly bizarre. Enough injuries to fill a casualty ward, massive amounts of added time, our kamikaze defending, their excruciating comeback with their substitutes throwing etiquette aside to storm the pitch to celebrate long before the game was over before swaggering back to the bench where a bust-up was brewing and the match-defining red card that shouldn’t have been.

All this should have been enough to chew over but this desperate evening did provide one glorious piece of added absurdity to savour. Just about the most unlikely looking football hooligan ever transgressed onto the playing area intent on sharing an articulate conversation with Jose Sa. It appeared an unlikely contest from the outset and when the less than imposing intruder caught sight of our keeper’s ginger whiskers, his courage failed him and the sight of him spreadeagled by four burly stewards with the interloper assuming the shape of a human coffin lid as he was carried off into judicial custody was hilarious. Hope they weren’t too hard on him; truly more to be pitied than scolded! Slapstick at its funniest.

Had the Molineux public address summoned up a rendition of Laurel and Hardy’s cuckoo song, the humiliation of this blockhead would have been complete. One imagined that many a shaven-headed, multi-tattooed knuckle-dragging hooligan out of the top draw of football delinquents would have been choking on their extra-strong lager at the sight of this inconsequential wimp denigrating their noble calling! Clutching at straws I know but there was little else to enjoy. Ah well, let’s regroup and go again!

Adam Virgo

Such an emotionally draining game, going from the hugely positive mood at half time to disbelief at full time was something we haven’t experienced too often in recent years. Normally we’re so good from winning positions in every department so to see us capitulate like we did was a weird one.

The red card obviously played a huge part, although it was shocking refereeing, but we still should have defended far better for all three goals and we know we’re capable of much better.

I don’t understand what else Raul is meant to do in that situation, he slows down drastically and barely even puts in a challenge. It’s a coming together as soon as Meslier clears the ball, it ruined the game and swung everything in Leeds’ favour.

The switch with Trincao coming on for Neves in the first half made a huge difference in terms of going forward. Trincao had his best game of the season and was ripping Leeds apart, no fault of Neves but it was more the fact having three forwards on.

Unlucky to not be more than 2-0 up by half time but everyone was buzzing, it seemed near impossible for Wolves to bottle it and top six really looked like it was back on the cards.

After the red card, I felt comfortable until they scored because they weren’t threatening too much and we were getting some good counter-attacking opportunities.

Brentford and Arsenal both managed to see the game out with 10 men against us from 2-0 and 1-0 up respectively. We absolutely bottled it. Defended like clowns, the shape was terrible and we were constantly panicking.

The second goal was the worst out of the lot, too focused on the Leeds player that was down injured so we weren’t fully switched on.

After James hit the post and Sa got something on the rebound, Saiss had all the time in the world but proceeded to panic and ended up slicing it which allowed them to quickly press us. Sa then ran out like a maniac and Boly was casually walking around as if he was having a stroll in the park. Absolutely baffling and at that point it was always going to be difficult to get a third goal and win it.