Wolverhampton Wanderers Player Ratings v Aston Villa
Wolverhampton Wanderers Player Ratings v Aston Villa.
An unusual game in that the two halves were just so different.
First half we were superb and could, no should, have been 2, 3, 4 or even 5 up!
Second half we were overrun but why?
Was it a tactical decision to hold what we had – in which case a bad one despite getting away with it. Were Villa transformed by their manager and subs – we don’t have a bench and so it is harder for our manager to respond – thanks Jeff! We were out on our feet after the effort of the 1st half? Do fitness issues remain in addition to the absence of a competent bench?
Sa – 7 Armchair ride in the first half, but made 2 crucial saves in the second half.
Semedo – 6 Solid performance
Doherty – 6 Clearly no longer mobile enough to play at this level, but strong in tackle and worked hard.
Emmanuel – 7 Led back line well and very strong throughout – best performance so far!
Toti – 7 Excellent return. Very strong and committed. As a 3rd or 4th option, he is more than adequate. As a 2nd option he is probably a stretch!
RAN – 6 Was solid defensively and was, as always, comfortable on the ball.
Andre – 7 Quietly very effective. A poor man’s Moutinho?
Bellegarde – 8 Astonished! A really good performance all round! Where did this come from and can he do it again? If he can he is a genuine option either in a CM 2 or 3. Hopefully he will be given Blackburn to prove he can do it again and then Vitor has to decide how we go forward. Maybe for the tougher games we go 3-5-2 with Bellegarde one of the central 3 – (please not pushed out wide as that clearly hasn’t worked!)
Sarabia – 6 I may be out of kilter with others here who saw more from him than I did. Good on the ball if given time and space, as he was in the first half, but not physically or mentally strong enough for the Premier league.
Guedes – 6 Hard to be harsh as he made the runs and read the game well enough to have 3 very good chances. But he missed all 3 and despite a nice touch and reasonable movement, he is lightweight and unable to hold the ball up at this level.
Cunha – 6 Tried too hard and often ran down blind alleys but made up for it with a magnificent goal far harder to score than the one he missed in the first half. Should have slid Hwang in but over hit a poor pass.
Subs:
Gomes R – 6 Works very hard and although a little lightweight looks like a competent option off the bench this year and hopefully a genuine first 11 option next?
Doyle – 5 Again I am less enamoured than some – lightweight and too slow to be a premier league DCM but not skilful enough to be an ACM at this level?
Hwang – 6 In a brief cameo, he both made one and would have possibly scored one with a better pass from Cunha. Should not be starting but is an option if chasing the game late on. Should someone still offer £20m this summer though, I would take both arms off!
Bueno – 6 Does what it says on the tin. A very limited, immobile, weak CB, but gives his all and is a disciplined performer – a solid 4th or 5th choice CB but no more! If he plays more than a few minutes next season something has gone wrong.
Vitor – 7 A win and a clean sheet. Qs re half time talk and subs, but he is playing with one hand tied behind his back due to Jeff’s incompetence.
Ref/VAR – 6 Can’t blame the ref for the overall game – 2nd half everything went their way but momentum was running fast in that direction so no surprise there. 3 major issues. The debacle over the subs – just gross incompetence by the VAR official- very worrying that even basic admin can’t be done correctly! The disallowed goal. A soft free kick and a well worked free kick routine.
I thought it was a goal and was shocked when the flag went up. But Morgan Rogers was offside and was interfering with play so the correct decision, albeit a very soft one and we were lucky to get it. My confidence in refs/VAR is so low that I view it as lucky that they got the correct decision! The penalty – again no blame on the ref as I thought Toti has messed up, lost control and thrown himself to the ground, but with VAR it is a clear penalty no question at all so unfathomable why not given?
It is the total lack of consistency that annoys you so much. Forest were quite correctly awarded a penalty for Lamtpey wrestling MGW to the floor in the box at a corner but as the pundit said at the time, if you give that you have to give 10 a game so why give that one? In the Wolves game, the defender kicked the ball through the back of Toti’s foot. Penalties are given for the exact same offence regularly so why was the decision made not to give this one?
Written by Thefutureisoldgold1 February 03 2025 11:51:40
