Wolves

[HeroesAndVillans]

Unai didn't even need to lift a finger to give their manager a lesson in coaching expertise, makes you appreciate how for ahead of 95% of the managers in this division he is

[VillaChris]

1 hour ago, useless said:

Wolves took eight points from their last eleven games last season, we took thirteen, also bearing in that mind we effectively threw the last game against Crystal Palace, and we also had Europe to contend with, so their form in that period wasn't really comparable to ours, besides Wolves fans aren't judging him on that period alone, but for most of the year when they've been poor, one win in fifteen, one win in sixteen in all competitions, seven losses and no wins in their last eight, knocked out of the FA Cup by Coventry, the worst form in the league for 2024, if you look at their games this season at halftime they were beating us and Newcastle, and drawing with Chelsea, that's seven points thrown away

 

 

 

I just think they regressed back to what they really were. They showed some incredible form last season from late September right up to early March. Beat Man. City, Chelsea and Spurs home and away, were dishing out 3-0s and 4-1s to Everton and Brentford respectively, it was never going to last and so levelled out end of last season.

This year it's only five games and they've played four teams who'll very likely finish top six.

@villa4europe has it right. They rode the momentum for a few years when Uncle Jorge basically gift wrapped them all of Moutinho, Neves and Diogo Jota and they made Europe and were competitive in top half for four seasons but now that's long since gone and they're relying on development signings which could go either way.

Will go down at some point in next three years as that's what usually happens to prem sides that stagnate as we saw in the 2010s. Sacking O'Neil will only be a sticky plaster move as he's not some Gerrard type basically self sabotaging a Uefa qualifying potential line up.

[HeroesAndVillans]

Yeah, they will go and are already going the way of Leicester, Southampton etc who all did the sell to buy "model". Eventually the supply runs out, you have a bad window or whatever else. Brighton may end up doing the same, who knows?

[useless]

It's not just about the start of this season for Wolves fans, they've won one in sixteen, and they had plenty of winnable games in that run, they've had winnable games this season, of the seventeen teams that have been in the Premier League for the whole of this year they've picked up the fewest points, nineteen from twenty-two games

Also if they've reverted back to what they were, presuming that means before Fosun era, then that in itself reflects badly on O'Neill, because their squad is way better than that, should be midtable at least, looking to finish top half, it's in no way comparable to our squad that was in relegation battles, or previous Wolves squads that have been in relegation battles, so saying they won't be relegated doesn't mean much in the context of O'Neill's future

Can guarantee if we had their squad and he was our manager doing the same job, the majority would want him sacked, and if Wolves don't improve then it's only a matter of time before they sack him, and would be the same at any club, even clubs with a much worse squad than he has now, one win and nine points from their last fifteen games, Luton took six points from the same period and playd four games less, Burnley took eleven points and played five games less

Next four games are Liverpool and Manchester City and Brentford and Brighton, probably needs to find a win, or at least a couple of points from those, and then they have what in theory should be some easier fixtures in November and December, maybe he can turn it around, but undertandable that he's under pressure now

[VillaChris]

Is their squad really way better than Everton? Pickford/Johnstone. Johnstone the steadier of the two but Pickford more likely to produce match winning saves at key points of the season.

Dawson is their best CB by a long way but he's no different to Tarkowski in that style. Upfront Cunha's a good player but Ndiaye has had a good start at Everton. Strand Larsen a bit slow so would say Calvert Lewin has more with his movement and they'll both produce similar goal output.

Would give Wolves midfield the edge but both are pretty uncreative and not huge goal threat.

I would personally say with the business Forest and Fulham have done this summer they both have much better starting 11s than Wolves. Funnily enough Gibbs White is exactly the type they miss so shows the limitations of their transfer strategy that he couldn't get a game there (under Nuno) and had to move on while they quickly sold their best players in midfield.

We've seen many times lose a couple of key players like Neto and Kilman and sign unproven players to replace them and you can quickly drop down the league from relative comfort.

Edited 1 hour ago by VillaChris