Wolves Fans' Verdict v Gillingham: January is a big month for the club

John Lalley

Fresh impetus brings with it renewed optimism and hopefully a sense of direction and purpose that have both drastically deserted this club for long enough.

Confusion has reigned; Wolves without due diligence, sacrificed the defensive stability that had been the bedrock of their success intent on increasing their attacking potency.

The policy has backfired to such an extent that all aspects of the team are now disjointed; players who knew, understood and appreciated exactly what their specific roles entailed are now in discord, desperate to avoid the next error. Our deplorable scoring record and increasing miscalculations in midfield and defence statistically identify us as the weakest outfit in the Premier League.

Only Forest sport a worse goal difference tally; damning evidence that this experimental mayhem of ours has been spectacularly unsuccessful. Like it or not, this is exactly the scenario Julen Lopetegui has inherited.

No doubt, he will already have calculated those players he considers capable of hauling us out of this mess and others who are surplus to requirements. He will be desperately keen to reinforce his squad in the transfer window but sealing deals at this time of the season is invariably fraught with frustration.

What’s more, any newcomer won’t have the luxury of a settling in transitional period. Impact has to be immediate; results need fixing right now otherwise Wolves will gradually be cast adrift.

He has to reinvigorate a failing group who have increasingly become immune to winning; a group for whom coming up short and losing has become an inevitability, a scourge that ensnares them entrenched in failure. No doubt he has wasted no time in stamping his imprint on exactly how he expects his players to perform.

All too often this season, when games have depended on determination, a battle of wills or sheer bloody-mindedness, Wolves have wavered and then disintegrated. The new coach will surely be demanding greater levels of urgency, fitness and discipline with all of his players shouldering absolute responsibility especially when the chips are down.

We have tolerated too many anonymous cop-outs thus far; Lopetegui is unlikely to be so patient as there are simply no hiding places anymore for any player inclined to busk it by going through the motions. The limitations were illustrated by the difficulties we encountered in taking so long to penetrate the defences of a spirited but ultimately weak Gillingham side.

The reasons for our lamentable scoring record were again all plainly evident. We avoided any embarrassment but this game offers few if any pointers as to how we will adapt when the real business begins on Boxing Day.

The five fixtures following the Everton game look daunting for a team in our position; it’s a massive challenge for Lopetegui which no doubt he appreciates more than anybody.

Clive Smith

Well, it was not like watching Brazil. Or Argentina or France, but it was our team and that's what matters most. We'd missed them. With a new coach in situ, the cloud of relegation unaffected by this game there was an optimistic feel-good sense of occasion.

Lets start by saying Gillingham had very little to offer besides a couple of corners and long throws. We totally dominated possession with our two centre halves frequently stations several yards ahead of halfway. The tempo of the game in the early stages was quicker than usual as we started on the front foot.

It seemed compulsory that Bueno and Podence had to be involved in every move as wave upon wave of attacks went down that left flank.

A new coach, but the same players and our inability to play the right ball at the right time, and to score, continues to haunt us. No-one is in any doubt that we need to fix that and fast.

Two Neves free-kicks were the closest we came to taking the lead before the interval. After that we shuffled the pack and, as patience started to wane, eventually won the game with two late goals from two substitutions.

Grinding out wins, clean sheets, they are on my Santa's wish list.

Tactically, especially against this type of opposition I wanted to see us get to the byline and put crosses in, I wanted us to leave two players (Podence and Guedes / Podence and Traore) on halfway when defending corners and I wanted to see more players in the box when crosses were played in. Only with a more attacking intent will we score more goals.

Rob Cartwright

Well, we may not have seen Messi or Mbappe on the pitch last night, but this was the game I’d most looked forward to during the whole of the World Cup!

Julen Lopetegui got off to a winning start though it was an underwhelming affair.

It was attack against defence for the vast majority of the game. Wolves struggled to break through Gillingham’s two lines of defence. With them being ranked 92nd this does not pose well for the return of the Premier League.

There are a few positives to take away.

- The pace from Wolves was quicker than we’ve seen this season.

- Costa looked sharper (against League Two defenders).

- Neves controlled play, as though he’d not been away for a month.

- Jimenez coming on and scoring was great to see.

- Have we found the illusive attacking midfielder in Ait-Nouri?

The substitutions made quite a difference too with Hwang, Nunes and Ait-Nouri all making an impact late in the game.

Though we left it late to seal victory, it was job done and we await the quarter final draw. Don’t be surprised to find eight Premier League teams featuring in the draw!

It’s clear for all to see the team needs new energy and life instilled. Let’s hope Cunha is the first of many additions in the next couple of weeks.

Let our surge up the league table commence!

James Pugh

Job done. I know it’s Gillingham but it’s always good to see a win for the boys in gold, especially this season.

There is still a LOT of work to be done but there are plenty of positives to take away. Raul is back on the score sheet and should be straight back on the team sheet in my opinion. Costa was absent for most of the game and Podence just doesn’t have that killer instinct he used to have.

Also, Julen likes to make subs! Something that we have lacked as wolves fans since promotion. Bueno and Ait-Nouri have cemented their places on the left hand side and Hodge put in a shift before being subbed off for the 100mph grease machine.

Nunes also looked lively when he came on in his more natural position. Some downsides is Guedes really doesn’t look with it at all. Maybe a month sat on the sofa and watching all his pals in Qatar is a confidence knock, especially after joining a team in an unexpected relegation fight and putting in little to no effort. Hwang put in a solid shift when he came on and I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts over him.

Hopefully Cuhna (and whoever else Julen has been chatting to) is the missing piece of the puzzle that really gets Wolves firing. With some winnable games around the corner, hopefully wolves can put that first 77 minutes behind them and start turning chances into goals.

Adam Virgo

Good to be back at Molineux again for Lopetegui’s first game in charge. Main thing is we got the job done and we’re into the quarter finals.

Possession-wise we were very dominant as expected and with Gillingham putting everyone behind the ball it was always going to be that way. I think we could have done more in certain attacking situations, I felt like on some occasions there were openings and we took the easy option but maybe that was part of the plan to tire them out.

None of the midfield three we started with aren’t ever going to commit regularly into the box and in a game like that, you definitely need it. I think in the first half we could have done more had we started with Nunes or an extra attacker but in all fairness Lopetegui changed it at half time having probably realised.

We looked better when Nunes, Hwang and Raul came on. Guedes, Semedo and Podence were very poor. Adama did offer us a lot more than Guedes, put some great balls in at times but we couldn’t get anything from them.

Hwang genuinely looked so much more confident since his positive stint at the World Cup, I know it was Gillingham but if you compare how direct and confident he was compared to Guedes, it was a vast difference.

It’s a difficult game to judge because we rarely have games where we have 80 per cent possession and in the Premier League we aren’t going to have games like that.

The real test is Everton on Boxing Day which will give us a much better indication of where we’re really at. January transfer window is going to be huge for us too, we definitely need some additions in.