Wolves Fans' Verdict v Liverpool: We gave a good account of ourselves

Russ Evers

If. A small word but a big meaning. If Neto had not been injured. If his replacement had been anyone other than Hwang.

If the fouls on Boly and Hwang had resulted in penalties. If we had shown the same commitment and belief from half time in the Leeds game until the end of the season.

If we could keep Ruben Neves who was that much better on the Anfield pitch for either side it was frightening. If.

John Lalley

I feared the worst at the start of this season; the fabulous expedition under Nuno had hit the rocks with a resounding bang, the choice of his replacement hardly set the pulses racing with anticipation and above all, a faltering squad of players who finished the season bereft of enthusiasm, determination and confidence were trusted to go again without meaningful additions to share the burden.

This failure to recruit significantly during pre-season simply added to the sense of trepidation. The harrowing type of season that Everton has just endured appeared a likely nightmare for Wolves.

Back in August, tenth place would have been not just acceptable but a bonus beyond belief. But in May, expectations adjusted, the final placing spells major disappointment and the rank odour of underachievement lingers around Molineux.

Since we achieved Premier status, Wolves have never been in any danger of surrendering their place in this elite company and all credit is due on that score. But I’m confused right now as to what the priorities of our owners appear to be.

If there is any serious intention of making even a dent in the upper echelons of this League, some creative recruitment and a genuine policy of expansion is essential. Or are they satisfied with retaining our relatively comfortable position and shelving any notion of taking a thrust at ambitious advancement?

The same sense of drift, all too evident at the end of last season pervades the club once again. So much good work was allowed to go to waste with a finale that was little short of catastrophic; a place in Europe was there for the taking and the way we squandered numerous opportunities to achieve that goal was pitiful.

One anaemic display simply morphed into another; ultimately, we were safe and comfortably so but so uninspiring, desperately hard to watch and worryingly like Nuno before him, Bruno Lage seemed at a loss as to how the demise could be rectified.

The coach finds himself on uncertain, shifting turf with the fans split regarding his future. His detractors believe that for him to continue, Wolves are rewarding failure with incumbency. Others believe that Lage has not been allowed to shape the squad to his satisfaction because of limited recruitment.

Whether our executive chose to back him financially remains to be seen; the alternative is the status quo and more of the same which will likely see Bruno departing sooner rather than later.

Before the season hit the buffers, although our home form remained infuriatingly patchy, there were a number of notable away wins against the likes of Villa, Spurs, Manchester United, which was a particular delight, Brighton, Brentford and Southampton when the team was often outstanding making the later fall from grace all the more inexplicable.

The shortage of goals bedevilled us all season; we started the campaign wasting opportunities and carried on unabated finishing up by fluffing our lines at Liverpool.

Equally disappointing as the season unravelled was the deterioration of our excellent defensive organisation. As our confidence drained so too did the strangle on our opponents that initially made us so difficult to beat.

Back in December, reduced to ten men against the Champions to be in Manchester, our organisation, iron discipline and fabulous commitment bewildered and frustrated the best team in the country until an absurd VAR calamity cheated us.

In the return at Molineux this month, we gave City more room than Moses indulged himself in crossing The Red Sea and we were drowned without trace. The contrast in the level of performance in the two games seems to define the best and the worst aspects of our season.

Bruno Lage was dealt a difficult hand and for a good proportion of the season, he over-achieved in spectacular fashion. Talk of a Champions League spot was always patent nonsense but even the notion of it shows just what an impact he was having at one stage.

It unravelled all so quickly and the final outcome is massively frustrating. An important summer for the club is a tired old cliché but just the same when it ends, we will all have a clearer picture of just what our owners’ intentions are.

Clive Smith

We saw it a couple of weeks ago, and again at Anfield. The pace of the top two is unbelievable. It is no wonder they are streets ahead of everyone else.

A fully committed performance by Wolves, had we played at that level over the last ten games I think we would all have been feeling a lot happier.

Defensively we worked so hard chasing, blocking, tackling with MOTM Boly in particular playing at a level we have not seen from him in a long while. Coady and Gomes, too, were impressive just behind the Neves, Moutinho and Dendonker shield.

Bruno had a game plan that worked well. Going more direct than usual and playing the ball behind the full-backs. Neto looked on fire, scoring, setting up Dendonker and chasing everything. He might well have been our match winner had he not been forced off injured just after twenty minutes. Two minutes later, in a flash, the game was level.

The same tactic could still have brought us success. We unlocked their defence but Hwang lacked the quality Neto had. Our final ball when we had three breakaways after the interval should have been more accurate. If only, eh.

In the end we ran out of steam. Having used two subs early our options for fresh legs were limited. Defensively we can hold our own in most games for most of the time. The drop off in our attack along with the quality of our replacements is something we have seen all season and has to be addressed next season. We need to find twenty more goals from somewhere.

The potential departure of Neves over the summer adds to the melancholy feeling as the season ends. Hopefully out of darkness cometh light.

I’ve been fortunate to attend every Wolves game this season, witnessing the highs and lows first hand. A far cry from the destroyed Covid season last time around. You finish the season where you deserve, with fine margins dictating the final positions, as fine margins often dictate single game results.

You can count the number of times Wolves have finished in the top ten on the fingers of one hand over the fifty plus years I have been going. Seventy two teams are behind us, so you be the judge of whether we are a success or not.

The open mouthed OMG Neves goal, the delight of an Old Trafford win, the closing drama at Villa Park and the anger and bitterness of the Leeds game are just some of the memories filed away from the 21-22 season.

Have a good summer and thanks for reading all season.

Adam Virgo

Final game of the season and we gave a really good account of ourselves, if we took the big chances we created, we would have won but that’s the story of our season and a key reason as to why we’ve finished 10th.

We started quick out of the blocks, brilliant goal kick from Sa but also clever from Raul and Neto scoring so early was giving me flashbacks to Stearman scoring so early at Anfield in the FA Cup.

Dendoncker is very good at arriving in the box as a second runner and does all the right things off the ball in that sense, he ends up having a lot of chances but his finishing is not good enough for that type of player. He should have scored without question and it’s why we need a midfielder who can make the same type of runs and arrive in the box like he does but actually put them away more often.

A bit of quality from Thiago to send Mane away for the equaliser but Coady let him go far too easily. They have one chance in on goal and it’s in, complete opposite to us.

Neto going off injured was a tough one, he was playing class and he had a good partnership with Raul. No idea why Bruno decided to go with Hwang over Podence. Hwang was awful apart from one moment early in the second half when he drew a foul from Matip, resulting in a booking. Off the ball he does make some good runs but his touch a lot of the time is not good enough.

We should have been leading at half time but Hwang squandered a 1v1, tight angle of course but a good attacker would have finished it.

Second half was a lot tougher but naturally it was going to be, especially with Man City losing at the time. We did have a couple of big counter attacks which we didn’t score from, shock.

In the end, those missed chances came back to bite us because once Liverpool have a good chance, they aren’t missing and that’s what happened with Salah and Robertson. The right type of pass and finish from them is why they’re so good and you can’t afford to let big chances go amiss against the better teams.

At least Man City won the league anyway, it would have been unbearable if we had to finish the game seeing Liverpool win it. Class game to watch though and so many emotions from everyone throughout for different reasons.

Finishing 10th is disappointing considering where we were in February but the last few months haven’t been good enough from us. Huge summer is needed for us and we need to get it right if we want to be finishing higher next season because there are a lot of other teams with the same ambitions as us.