Wolves Fans' Verdict v Bournemouth: A bad day at the office

James Pugh

“Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day....Out out brief candle”.

Find above a little Shakespeare quote from Bill the Bard to describe this latest tragedy – (A bit strong considering the real tragedies going on in the world at the moment but allow me a bit of poetic latitude after losing to a side in the bottom three).

Wolves huffed and puffed but didn’t blow the house down during the first half with a pirouetting Adama our best option for creating something positive, having been given his first league start under our new manager.

But Wolves still struggle to break down teams who come with the main purpose to defend the point they came with from the game. I still have nightmares over the word “Huddersfield”.

Make no mistake Wolves were the dominant side in the first half but could not make the dominance pay. 0-0 at half-time and inspiration required. Suddenly, shock horror, Bournemouth score.

The goal we felt would eventually arrive suddenly doubled in importance. Panic set in, our rhythm and control disappeared and Bournemouth became horrible to play against with time wasting, last ditch tackles and someone always in the way of goal-bound shots.

The substitutes arrived this time to no avail. Should Cunha play alongside a number nine? Why was Adama our most dangerous player taken off? A Costa header, a Neves shot but nothing more.

Extra time beckoned, surely a World Cup-esgue 12 mins, nope only six.

A hugely disappointing loss against a hard-working but moderate Bournemouth side. Three points are three points, no matter which team they come from. However three points from a team below you in a relegation battle have more importance especially as they were there for taking.

Fraser Bishop

Well, that was disappointing, wasn’t it?

After successive wins this was perhaps a reminder that there is a long way to go, and we are far from safe yet, because I certainly didn’t see it coming.

In my opinion, this was the worst Premier League game I’ve seen in terms of quality all round. Both sides were poor, to the extent that I cannot recall either goalkeeper even making a save.

I feel as though nine times out of 10 that game ends 0-0 and it was maybe one of those where you say ‘if we can’t win, don’t lose it’ but unfortunately, we did just that and probably still would not have scored if we were playing now.

The goal was unfortunate and not really anything more. Once they took the lead they managed the game well and stopped us gaining any momentum as we looked for an equaliser.

As much as their time wasting wasn’t pretty it’s up to us to find the answer and break them down, because we still have to play bottom half teams at Molineux who will probably demonstrate a similar game plan and be organised.

Just under 70 per cent possession and a flurry of corners throughout the game, but no clear-cut chances created. Lopetegui rolled the dice by throwing on the likes of Raul and Costa and going two up front, but neither were able to get into the game.

It’s probably important to offer some perspective, you can’t too carried away when we win and you cannot get too deflated when we lose as that’s football, but not withstanding that it was a very flat performance. Hopefully, this goes down as a bad day at the office and we bounce back against Fulham.

Rob Cartwright

Dear oh dear Wolves. After the exhilaration of our last two games, it’s just like Wolves to bring us back down with a bump. Lopetegui needs to look in the mirror, for the first time, over this result.

I think the starting line-up was all wrong and the subs did not have the impact we have come to expect either.

Neves was playing far too defensively. Nunes was out of sorts and this nullified the most positive thing about recent weeks with Neves playing further forward. We certainly missed Lemina, although 68 per cent possession proves getting hold of the ball was not the issue.

We could not break through Bournemouth who got all ten men behind the ball whenever we had possession.

Bournemouth came for a point and took all three, against the run of play. They started time wasting after six minutes and this got to a ridiculous level after they scored. The referee did not impose himself to curtail this despite numerous warnings.

I’m mystified why we would bring on Costa and Jimenez and then withdraw Traore. Surely they have to play together. The first subs were made after an hour; I’d have changed things at half-time.

For all the possession we hardly created any shooting opportunities. I can only recall one from Sarabia in the first half and one from Neves towards the end of the game.

Traore was my man of the match, as he was the only one getting balls into the box. Not his fault we had no-one in their to receive.

In a weird way, this was not a major surprise. We have tougher games coming up now and I fully expect us to get some wins.

We wouldn’t have it any other way!

Clive Smith

We know games are not won on paper and most of us have watched many a game like this one before. That does not stop you thinking, no, not again. The best way to avoid them of course is to score first – well we tried.

The first half was a real full-on performance from us, our running stats must have been off the scale. Sadly that old chestnut – not clinical enough in front of goal – raised its head and refuses to go away. The January transfer window was good, but two cracking wins did not mean everything was going to work ok all of the time

It was very obvious what our Plan A was, attack down the right and the energy level of MOTM Semedo and Traore was outstanding. Opportunities were created but that highlighted our weakness too. Being a tall side Bournemouth were able to dominate in the air in defence and also had the knack of getting to the second ball first more often than not. Much of our good work resulted in a corner but we were unable to convert them and take the lead.

We did a lot of good things, gaining turnovers with a high press at times, switching play with pace, playing long balls through the channels but shots on target were still too scarce. Traore showed outstanding control at one point, but ironically it was Bueno whose crosses looked the most dangerous.

Even as the half time whistle went you could imagine 30,000 fans mouthing ‘missed opportunity’. Things would surely get better – but no. Instead, out of nothing, a deflected cross into our box ended up being the only goal of the game.

Lopetegui’s substitutions have swung games in our favour but not this one. Only Costa really showed much, with Gomes getting booked almost at once and Podence having one good run but failing to get a shot away.

With all the options available it is still difficult to select the most effective front six players. Nunes has now been involved in 24 games but looks no more likely to score. Cunha and Sarabia have played less but neither have looked convincing near goal.

The second half dragged following their goal but Bournemouth suddenly looked the better team and frankly just as likely to score as we were. The all too familiar tactics of feigning injury and delaying play, that referees seem powerless to eliminate, set a gloomy tone.

A lot like the feeling you get driving home when everyone drives at 25mph and all the traffic lights are red.

John Lalley

A few of us might just have allowed ourselves to get over-excited. I don’t for a moment believe that Julen Lopetegui was or is likely to get even a touch above himself and for those who might have indulged themselves, this unpleasant jolt comes as a salutary and painful brush with reality.

No excuses, no extenuating circumstances and no hard luck stories; Wolves were atrocious, excruciating, devoid of imagination with no sense of direction or purpose and wholly inadequate from start to finish.

We had a glut of possession but not the vaguest notion of how to best deploy it. Bournemouth subdued us with an ease that was embarrassing; they deserved to win regardless of their cynicism honed and mentored to perfection during Eddie Howe’s stint on the south coast.

He would have been proud of them; not that they needed to revert to type, because Wolves could have played until the cock crowed first thing Sunday morning and they still wouldn’t have fashioned even the semblance of a chance.

Even so, the least we should have done was accept our shortcomings on the day and ensure that we secured a draw. Instead, we committed the cardinal sin of gifting the game on a platter. And not once did we threaten to retrieve the self-inflicted mess; the inevitability of it all desperately depressing.

Truly, it was an abysmal afternoon. Adama Traore created a flutter or two on the right and his substitution was baffling, other than that no Wolves player remotely distinguished themselves.

Lopetegui has utilised the bench boldly and adroitly since he arrived, but in this match surely the introduction of either Costa or Jimenez was delayed far too long. Matheus Cunha was simultaneously both fish out of water and square peg in round hole such was his ineffectiveness and his isolation as a focal point of our attack.

That hideous piece of buttock-clenching jargon, ‘false number nine’ which has crept into the lexicon of the pundit intelligentsia of late sprang to mind. He is being asked to fill a role to which he is palpably unsuited and his waning confidence and increasing frustration were both glaringly evident.

Physically, he was outnumbered and brushed aside by a heavyweight Bournemouth defence and in consequence, we carried no threat to their goal. And to be fair, his colleagues offered very little by way of meaningful support.

Every corner and set-piece was repelled with the minimum of alarm for the visitors and given their lamentable recent record, Bournemouth must have been astonished how easily they resisted a seemingly resurgent Wolves outfit intent on building on their recent revival.

Their sprinkling of fans tucked away at the top of the Cullis stand indulged in that derisory chant that really does sting. You know the one, along the lines of how bad are Wolves if Bournemouth are visiting and winning the battle.

Expressed in more graphic and profane terms, but the gist of its meaning undeniable in this case. This was a harrowing reincarnation of the final hapless dregs of the Bruno Lage regime. And that is a cause for concern.