Wolves Fans' Verdict v Newcastle: A miserable trip
Our Wolves fans have their say on the defeat to Newcastle.
Clive Smith
Thankfully I don’t say this too often, but the day was pretty miserable from start to finish. It never is a great road trip. Seeing the line-up with no Cunha, Hwang or Gomes did not bode well.
By the break our fate had been sealed and the second half couldn’t really finish quickly enough. We started on the front foot and indeed bossed possession in that opening half. Shots on target were however zero by then, by us, whereas we conceded two scrappy goals and looked unlikely to turn it around.
On Wednesday we played really well without the ball, in this game, ironically this time around we were poor with the ball. On every turnover it looked likely we might concede. Dawson alongside Isak on halfway when we lost possession attack was likely to spell danger.
The two goals were highly avoidable and somewhat unlucky. A deflected shot ricocheted conveniently, for them, for their first while a Sa fumble might have fallen to Kilman instead of Gordon.
Despite the lack of goalscorers in our line-up we neatly played through the channels, Doyle, Sarabia and Lemina moving the ball well but passes to Bellegarde and Ait-Nouri, when they were facing our goal just slowed our attacks down.
Newcastle were quick to get 10 men behind the ball which meant we had few touches in their box.
Our ray of hope was Neto but he seemed subdued, only having one dashing run which ended when he failed to get a shot off. His non-appearance for the second half was a surprise however.
Fraser replaced Neto and he was responsible for our first shot on target – we had no lucky rebound to convert it into a goal.
The half was pretty uneventful – Newcastle were safe with their lead and we could offer little or no threat. Only Semedo was forward thinking as we looked a tired and weary side. Lemina ran out of steam, Sarabia was doing more defending than attacking and Bellegarde constantly struggled to be productive, despite him having one decent header on goal.
A third goal put the final exclamation mark on the miserable day. It perhaps flattered them, but we never looked like getting anything out of the game.
If left a nasty taste in the mouth, similar to the West Ham match which was the same score despite our three missing players today playing then.
When our first XI not available with a couple of exceptions, we are not as competitive as we need to be. A long absence from Hwang and Cunha suggests we will seriously struggle.
Semedo and Doyle were the pick of the bunch today with the former MOTM based on his attacking intent as much as anything else.
In these circumstances, talk of European football seems foolish. Imagine if we’d played an extra six (midweek) games by now with as many more still to come. Our squad depth would not cope and our League points & position would be compromised.
