Holy crap, we do like to make life hard for ourselves, don’t we!
Congrats to Wolves on scoring 3 goals today. Sad that our second goal wasn’t credited to Gabi J.
Honestly we were poor af, no urgency…you’d think that they would be after that Villa game.
That said I’m glad Jesus is back, he’s still in sync with the team. In comparison, Gyokeres definitely needs the time, he’s still not quite in tuned with the rest of the team. The injury hampered the progress on that. I didn’t expect him to make that much of an impact this season anyways.
Wolves actually did well with their game plan, and I honestly feel bad for them. I’ve watched their games, while poor they sometimes do play to their game plan but lose on absolute poor luck.
Gyökeres actually had a decent second half, but he’s clearly not adapted to the league and us and we’ve not adapted to him.
It’s easier for Jesus as he is the blueprint our attack was designed around. Don’t get me wrong, it’s evolved in his absence, but the blueprint is still the blueprint.
Regarding the rest. Honestly, MLS changed the whole game for us. He deserved MOTM for me, followed by Rice. That TNT Sports gave it to Saka was baffling. He had a couple good moments, but was ultimately marked out of the game, despite our best efforts to play through him. It wasn’t until MLS gave them something to think about on the left that he got some space to work.
MLS had some really good defending, I’m just hoping our full backline is back soon though. I do think Hincapie works better with Mosquera from the few moments I’ve seen them together and obviously Gabi XL and Wilo are like a bonded pair. It’s a shame about Ben White, he was actually doing so well coming back, but I think the fitness level still isn’t up there yet and thus the hammy. Sigh…
An inform Ben White is such a problem. Timber is fantastic, been the best right back in Europe this season, but the way Benjamin finds those little spaces to get into scoring positions… ooh la la. Hopefully he’s not out for too too long. We’re a much better squad with him available.
I feel like that scoreline is an accurate reflection of the match. Not least because Wolves scored all three, haha. We had a lot of possession and created some good chances, and I think we deserved a win. But we just weren’t really connecting up front. So a narrow win from a scoreline perspective seems fair.
We grew into the game, which was good to see. Some very poor finishing in the first half, but the second half was more down to defending from Wolves. Good to see Big Willy and Trossard back. And there were some nice plays by all the lads. But we are still clearly running in 2nd gear compared to where we were a few weeks ago. Except for Saka, who was fantastic yet again.
I feel bad for Johnstone on that og. He was very unlucky with that first goal, although it’s also partly on him for missing Saka’s cross/corner. Credit to Wolves for their 90th minute equalizer - that was a great finish from a very strong ball in. Great to see we managed to squeak out the winner.
We really need Big Gabi back ASAP. Or at the very lease Mosquera. Honcapie did okay. But he’s not Big Gabi.
But hey, a win is a win. On to the next one, and hopefully more clinical finishing.
I get that this is Hincapie’s first season, but watching him makes me anxious. He’s far too physical. Literally every tackle he wins could be a yellow to the opposition because he spends the whole time tussling. I can totally see Oliver punishing him for one of those.
