Wolves Fans' Verdict v Luton: A VAR scandal

Clive Smith

Time will tell how significant this result is, but it felt like a point gained at the final whistle. Having to play for the best part of an hour with 10 men obviously did not help.

Luton’s rise from non-League to the Premier League might make a romantic story but there was nothing romantic about the way they played having fully taken on board the dark arts. Constant physical contact, shirt pulling, off the ball blocking and falling like leaves all managed to be unseen by the referee and we struggled from the start to match them in that regard.

Too many stray passes from us contributed to the ball being played mainly in our half for 30 minutes before we started to get into the game. The red card however stopped us in our tracks.

Our attacks had been scarce but MOTM Neto had shown the most promise and he scored a quite magnificent goal when he not only looked second favourite to get to the Gomes pass but also had to create the angle to shoot. His celebration looked emotional. That provides the lasting memory of the game rather than the noise about the red card, the pen and the referee.

The red card obviously dictated the substitutions and the decision to introduce Doherty and Toti did help us defensively. Thankfully O’Neil chose not to sacrifice Neto while Cunha’s workrate was probably better, before Boubacar replaced him, than Kalajdzic’s would have been. By that time, maintaining a point was the priority.

Despite losing a man the way we worked against a physical team was commendable even if it was not that pretty to watch. Avoiding defeat was important.

Stephen Jackson

Wolves current points per game ratio is 0.6666667. At this rate, over 38 games, we will finish on 25 points. That’s a tough ask to stay up, but thankfully this is shaping up to be a rather competitive league down at the bottom.

Only the competition seems more like who can achieve the least amount of points or score the fewest goals! Seems a long time ago now we were in and around the top seven.

The game as a contest played out as I expected, Luton came out with a real intensity, which we failed to match. This was showcased perfectly by Morris giving Lemina the slip, much like Messi is doing to defenders over here in America, and then striking the post. Thankfully it remained 0-0 and we grew into the game. The red card altered Gary’s tactics, although at first glance, I thought we had made another tactical switch and un-earthed a new left-back! Ait-Nouri’s new look seemed to attract the ball to his head and we needed a few crucial interceptions from him to keep us 0-0.

We knew Neto was going to score sometime soon, his confidence has been flowing, and it was a wonderful goal, out-pacing and out-playing Lockyer to make some amends for the way he rolled around contributing to Bellegarde’s sending off. Let’s wrap Neto in cotton wool between matches, he is really getting back to some form.