Wolves To Win
Watford To Win
Draw
Perhaps, the win will kick-start our season in the Prem. Led by a confident, Coady, our defence all performed well although IMO, Patricio, Jonny and Traore were the pick of an improved Wolves side. That said, I fear there is still much to do if we hope to return to the dizzy heights of last season........
The result over the performance is all that matter's today. At 1-0 up, the second goal gave us breathing space, but i'm glad Patricio and Wolves weren't punished when he spilled the ball. He redeemed himself with the follow up.
The game wasn't a classic, Watford came at us at the start of the second half and we got deeper. I think the introduction of Gibbs-White helped us. He's not everyone's cup of tea, but Neto had run his course.
One thing that i thought was strange was there wasn't a lot of urgency in Watford's play, despite being 1-0 and then 2-0 down. The confidence in that side must be rock bottom. Contrast that to Traore, who i think is growing with it, his crosses might not always find a Wolves player, but Wolves fans get excited by a player running at the opposition.
Three points on board, and hopefully a few more wins to follow over the season.
The stats will show that Watford had more possession, and more shots on goal. What they don't show is that a lot of their possession was in their own half and most of their shots were from outside of the area. In truth we were by a long way the better side, although I expected more from Watford. Coady looked back to his best pinging long range passes with perfect accuracy and he was well supported by Saiss and Boly. The latter was imperious and never looked bothered at any stage of the game. His only problem was, along with several others, keeping his feet, on what I considered to be an overwatered pitch.
We could have taken the lead in the first few minutes when Jimenez chased a superb through ball and lashed it into the side netting. Last season it would have found the net. He, despite suffering a heavy knock to the kidney area, had his best game for some time. Trarore was causing all sorts of problems for their defenders and is slowly winning the 'knockers' round with his displays. I saw a stat this week where he is the fastest player in the Premier League.
Neto was busy and provided a superb cross for Doherty to tap in, although he took a heavy knock before he was replaced. He is certainly capable of playing at this level. Moutino was in total control of the middle of the park, however, Dendoncker seems to be going through a lack of confidence phrase. He wins some tackles, picks up plenty of loose balls but seems afraid to make the telling pass, often playing the football straight back to where it came from.
I have never been a manager, but have had plenty of experience with school teams. I do not understand, that when the opposition have a corner we pull everyone back, and when we clear the ball there is no outlet and it comes straight back. Why don't we position Trarore on the half way line, his mere presence there would force the opposition to leave at least three players back to mark him. We then have ten players, against there seven attackers.
Good football was the reason we scored the second, and had their player not headed into his own net, Johnny was right behind him and would surely have applied the finishing touch.
Watford huffed and puffed but never really looked like getting a foothold in the game despite forcing Patricio into a good save towards the end. As has been said a win today was important, and our league position looks a lot healthier this evening. A win in the Europa League in midweek will do more to restore confidence so I wish the lads good luck.
My 1st trip to Molineux this season and I have to say that you saw the game exactly as I did. I'm not surprised, as I've always read and respected your reports and avidly read them.
Having just seen a replay of the handball incident, i'm surprised it wasn't given, but it's been said on numerous threads since the introduction of VAR, that it seems to be only when a goal is scored and it hits a player, not always intentionally!
Brief highlights to enjoy!
I remember playing in a works league game years ago, the opposition had a corner which was swung in and one of their forwards hit it on the volley from around ten yards out. Our full back was were he was supposed to be, on the goal line just inside the post. The ball hit him full in the face, knocked him to his knees and settled in his out stretched hands. Everything stopped for a moment then the ref shouted "put it down, drop it" which he did, someone kicked it out for a throw in play continued as if nothing had happened.
Can you imagine the reaction now, even at an amateur level?
Those were the days!