Wolves fans dissect defensive horror show after defeat to Derby

Chris Hughes

What's your verdict on the match? It's getting very tempting to copy and paste my post match verdict from one game to the next such are the repeating nature of our performances.

Our habit of conceding early continued with us falling behind after five minutes. As a bonus for Derby, the league's lowest scorers, our defence gifted them a second through a combination of Iorfa's error in the build up and Batth giving Bent the freedom of Wolverhampton to pick his spot with a rasping volley.

For the rest of the first half our defensive line was penetrated far too frequently and we were fortunate to go in at half time having conceded only twice.

Our performance was so poor that Rob Edwards even made the early decision to withdraw Teixeira after only half an hour and the South Bank turned on Batth for a five-to-10 minute period where his every touch was booed. People who read this verdict regularly will be aware of my negative opinion of Batth's effectiveness as both a defender and captain but even I draw a line at booing one of our own players during a game.

After half time a combination of us upping our game and Derby taking their foot off the gas brought us back into it before the referee took centre stage with a handful of decision that enraged the fans.

To say the contact on Ince was minimal for the penalty that was awarded would be an overstatement. I've seen bigger collisions in the half-time beer queues.

For the ref to award that one and then turn down two appeals from us for almost identical incidents summed up how poor he was but blaming his decisions for the defeat would seriously overlook just how poor we were. If this had been part of an 'audition' for Edwards to stake his claim for the head coach job permanently then I definitely think it would have been a no from Shi

Who played well - and who didn't impress? Not a lot of candidates for the former, especially in the first half. Edwards became a key contributor in the final 30 minutes and provided hope with his late goal. Costa was pretty lively throughout but his final ball always seemed to be a let down.

The South Bank made their feelings pretty clear about how bad Batth was. For all of the rotation among the back four he has been the one constant presence and continues to make costly errors. At some point, he needs to be taken out of the side.

Borthwick-Jackson also struggled to keep tabs on Ince throughout the game and was well beaten by him on more than one occasion.

Heather Large

What's your verdict on the match? If Paul Lambert was unsure about what exactly the challenge of being Wolves' new head coach involved, it should now be crystal clear after that first half.

Derby must have thought they were unlucky not to be 4-0 or 5-0 up as we all sighed with relief that it was only 2-0 at the break.

From a Wolves point of view, it was simply dreadful. Probably the worst I've seen us play all season. We forgot how to defend, gave them acres of space and failed to string more than two passes together. It all made for a dismal 45 minutes.

When the second half got under way, I was fearing more of the the same and plotting an early escape.

But thankfully I was to be proven wrong. Gone was the side that spent the first half looking so lethargic and downhearted, now we had a team that was prepared to fight.

And while it wasn't quite enough to get anything out of it, especially with a dubious penalty thrown in, it was about five times better than the first half performance.

As a result Costa and Cavaleiro were suddenly back in the game, threatening the Derby defence.

It's a shame we couldn't have played like that from the start.

Lambert needs to tackle the defensive errors and our obsession with hoofing the ball up to Bodvarsson or Dicko that just sets them up to fail. He also needs to find a way to boost morale - and quickly - because the events of the last few weeks seem to have taken their toll.

This certainly wasn't helped by a small number of our fans who felt the need to boo Danny Batth every time he touched the ball after Derby's second goal, which he definitely didn't deserve.

Considering how passionate he is about the club, he's probably beating himself up after every defeat because he knows he's not playing his best, so he doesn't need those supporters turning on him too. While I believe he needs to be more vocal in his role as captain, he doesn't deserve that treatment from his own fans.

Who played well - and who didn't impress? I thought Edwards was excellent again. He showed the most control and ran his socks off. Lonergan made some great saves to keep us in it.

Rob Cartwright

What's your verdict on the match? I don't think Paul Lambert was at Molineux, which is a shame. If he had been, he would have known the size of his task in the weeks ahead. Clear direction and urgency is required.

I had no problem with the team selected. Personally I'd have kept Saiss on and left Batth out, but hey ho, I was chilled about that.

Now, I have no problem with Rob Edwards - he's a likeable guy who has done well for Wolves since returning - we all love Rob Edwards. But (and it's a big but) this team was not "game ready". Wolves failed to show up in the first half, right through the team.

We were abysmal. Why weren't the players trying to impress their new manager?

We'd hardly touched the ball when Derby went ahead. This was an awful goal to concede; so typical of our season so far.

Batth was at fault, again, to let Bent score. Yes, a good goal, but look at how much room we gave him in our box. Time and again, we allowed them space to get shots on goal.

Our midfield was non-existent again. How often have we said that during the first half this season?

Teixeira was subbed after half an hour which was the right decision. That is until you see Saville ready to come on. My expectations of Saville are pretty low. He lived up to them beautifully! I'd be surprised if he ever plays 10 consecutive games during his whole career. Please don't let things get so bad that Saville is the answer!

The second half was nondescript until Cavaleiro's shot was cleared from the line. I then felt the pendulum swinging in our favour. A good move and link up between Bodvarsson and Costa resulting in a goal. Game on.

Enter the referee. I've watched replays of both penalty incidents - Derby should not have had one, Wolves should have. Game changer.

We continued to press and deservedly scored again, after another good move. All a bit too little too late though.

Who played well - and who didn't impress? Most players were below the required standard. Highlight for me was Cavaleiro. Also hats off to Lonergan who kept us in the game with some fine saves.

Bodvarsson did well but was too isolated for majority of the game. Coady also did okay.

Nightmares from Batth, Iorfa and Saville and probably a few others too.

Keeping things in perspective, I've known things a whole lot worse than this, and when we do "play" for small sections of the game we have the makings of an exciting attacking team.

Message to Paul - you start at the back. Stears for Batth and make Coady captain, for now. Come January - priority is a centre back, plus a centre forward who can score goals regularly. But I'm sure you know that!

Russ Evers (Hatherton Wolves)

What's your verdict on the match? I have had to take the emotion out of this and try and make sense of the cold hard fact that in so many areas we are simply not good enough.

Batth, Iorfa and Borthwick-Jackson at the back makes three either poor, out-of-form or simply not good enough players out of a four-man defence. That leaves Matt Doherty who seems to inspire our attacks from midfield rather than right back.

In midfield Dangerous Dave has risen from the pantomime villain to captain in everything but the armband and is so far ahead of his colleagues in terms of application and effort it scares me.

The farcical booing of our captain was plain wrong but also sums up where we currently are.

At half time, having more by luck than judgement kept the score to just 2-0, a few of us had a bet on Wolves to win at 33/1 and it looked on the cards when we launched a half decent comeback, only to be spoilt by the latest in a long line of appallingly inept referees.

Paul Lambert has a big job on his hands but at least he knows where to start - buy the dummies' guide to defending. At least we can't lose next week!

Who played well - and who didn't impress? Bodvarsson was man of the match for us by a mile. The Viking battles like a modern day Bully but no one creates chances for him.

Russ Cockburn

What's your verdict on the match? I've witnessed some shocking performances watching Wolves all over the country, but the first 45 minute was as bad as I've seen.

Defensively we looked like the entire back four had been out in the Dog and Doublet until 3am. The midfield was non-existent and Bodvarsson was as effective as Jeremy Corbyn in a general election.

We are now in the middle of a relegation battle...not the Chinese revolution Jeff was expecting when he took the reins.

The one bit of redemption is a new manager and the first thing he needs to do is smash up the cosy environment. Wolves are too nice, we need to get nasty.

Day one should be spent thinking how he's going to sort the defence out and that should involve taking Batth and "Bambi on Ice" out of the firing line.

Oh and you can send "Kid n Play" back to United...what a joke of a footballer he is. Every attack came down his side and I spent most of the afternoon wondering whether we loaned him from FC United rather than Man United.

On a positive note and most of you won't believe this, but I thought Edwards had a good second half. His attitude, determination and ability to attack the front post paid off and he was the pick of the players today.

However, to call his performance superb is an absolute joke; if we want to progress as a club we need someone like Will Hughes in the middle of the park. Now that was a superb performance.

Thankfully we don't need to consider the prospect of Rob Edwards managing the team again. Never has two games done so much damage to a CV...he'd be lucky to manage Sedgley White Lions on a Sunday.

The decision to take off Bodvarsson when we were on top and the ball was sticking was one of the worst I've seen and, as predicted, Derby grew back into the game and it removed any chance of us taking a share of the spoils.

So we go into the break 19th and no win in seven, confidence low and Mr Lambert with lots of thing to do. Reality is, I don't think it can get any worse.

Who played well - and who didn't impress? Like I said above, Edwards was the pick of the team again, but that says more about our quality than anything else.

Doherty had a much improved second half and Costa again offered most of the genuine threat we posed.

The two centre backs were dreadful. I'm 5ft 3in and I've never had the ball bounce over me as many times as Batth and Iorfa did yesterday. They need resting and quick.

Peter Abbott (London Wolves)

What's your verdict on the match? Oh dear, worst display of the season and the expected rollercoaster season has already hit the bottom. Hopefully we won't see even close to this non-performance under the new manager.

His first task must surely be to look at, and change, the defensive structure. The tactic of the full backs pushing on from the start clearly didn't work and left Batth and Iorfa even more stretched than usual.

Thus, the catastrophic first half defending left Wolves playing catch up and when we did look like making a fist of it in the second half and upsetting Derby's slow hand tactics, a soft challenge on Ince (when none was necessary as Cavaleiro just needed to be goal side) gave them the killer blow penalty.

However, the real killer blow for me was the amount of individual mistakes made throughout the side, far too high a count for this level.

A break in play close to half time outlined the story of our first half display. The whole team, Lonergan excepted, clearly looking shamefully red-faced, and only Edwards daring to go near the bench as we waited for Christie to get back up.

With Teixeira replaced by Savile, Costa and Cavaleiro again looked our most likely saviours, and not even Bodvarrson or his replacement Dicko were able to find their true form.

It was indeed a big surprise when Bodvarrson intercepted a play near to Carson, in their goal, from which he set up Costa to score and, who else, but Edwards to squeeze in another. Sorry lads but it is amazing to think we nicked two goals in such a poor performance.

Who played well - and who didn't impress? My man of the match is Andy Lonergan, quite simply for keeping us in the game during an awful first half.

Steve Plant

What's your verdict on the match? Blame the ref, the poor crowd or even the South Bank for booing one of their own...nothing should detract from the fact that we were abysmal yesterday in the first half.

I like Rob Edwards and agree he's got a big future in management, but only if he learns from the most basic and blatant mistakes made yesterday.

He got the team set out wrong right from the start in my opinion. es Saiss was poor last time out but boy did we miss him yesterday! Taking Bod off was another but can the manager be blamed for the worst defending seen in many a year at Molineux? Unfair to pick out individual players because they were all like rabbits caught in the headlights.

I will hold my hands up and admit I spent the last five minutes of the first half and the entire second in WV1 bar watching on TVs through a pint of Guinness.

Yes the ref should have given us a penalty and the one given against us was harsh, but at times first half we looked like we were playing in the walking league and confidence went out the window long before Zenga did.

Couple of bright spots - the enigma that is Dave Edwards once again proved his doubters wrong. He's now played under seven different managers at Wolves and every single one have picked him when fit.

Yes he is not Pele and his passing is not always the best but yesterday, not for the first time, he was head and shoulders above the rest for commitment and desire to win. The other bright spot I had Derby to win 3-2 at 40/1 so Preston away is paid for!

Who played well - and who didn't impress? Lot of contenders for worst player yesterday but I will give it to the player I believe started the rot and was mainly to blame for the first goal - Andy Lonergan. No wonder his defenders lacked confidence with kicking that bad.

The young lad who delivers my free papers got better distribution and he dumps half of them behind the pub.

Yes he made some great saves but watching the replays time and time again only confirmed what I thought at the time.