Wolves Fans' Verdict v Norwich: "That's bouncebackability!"

Rob Cartwright

What's your verdict on the match? As away days go, this one is right up there.

Never mind the second 3am return home in a week. It was well worth it. We could fill a whole E&S supplement on “what we love about Nuno”.

For starters, I like the way he responds to a defeat. Sensible in post match interviews; raises the bar for his players; determination to put it right and uses his squad to good effect. Three times now we have bounced back with a fine away win, with three clean sheets. The man is a genius and his showing of appreciation to supporters at the end of games reinforces that we are all in this together.

The game started off as a cagey affair, but it was Wolves who stamped their authority after the initial exchanges. Looking at the match stats you would be fooled in thinking this was a close encounter with possession, shots, corners all fairly equal. For the reality, you only need to listen to the Norwich manager or fans. They were given a footballing lesson. 0-2 flattered them and they knew it; joining a long list of clubs to pronounce Wolves as ‘the best team we have played’.

Norwich did hit the post from a free kick, around 15 minutes in. That was the end of any real threat from them.

A welcome return for Willy Boly, who was unmarked for a Wolves corner and headed his first goal on 18 minutes. It’s hard to believe he had only played 6 games for us, until last night.

From then on, we were entertained by a mixture of fabulous passing and quick counter attacking. First Bonatini and then Jota both had good chances to increase the lead, before half time. Norwich defence were doing well blocking out our shots on goal.

We started the second half with a high tempo. N’Diaye could have scored two in the first 5 minutes. Norwich tried to match our formation, but failed miserably. Their manager appeared to change tactics a number of times during the second half. Full marks for trying though!

When Jota and Bonatini linked up it had goal written all over it, but Leo missed a sitter. We started to wonder if all these misses would haunt us. We needn’t have worried, as Bonatini did find the net, for his 9th of the season and goals now in the last 5 league games. We could have our 20 goals a season man here, already.

Who played well – and who didn't impress? Jota had to deal with some rough stuff from Norwich. I love how he keeps getting up and carries on (typical foreigner eh?). The strength of our squad means we can rest him for the final few minutes and replace with last years Player of the Season, Costa. That’s a great feeling.

Nuno was brave changing two of the central defenders and Boly and Bennett did him proud. Coady had another fine game.

Neves and N’Diaye completely controlled the middle of the park. Cavaleiro and Jota were full of running, making it easy for them to move the ball forward. Bonatini was excellent, as usual. Also, a good game for John Ruddy who bounced back from a couple of below par games and had safe hands throughout the night.

Doherty was excellent, and my man of the match. It was his power and determination to win a header that led to our second goal. Douglas provided the cross to Bonatini, but otherwise this wasn’t his best game. Vinagre is waiting patiently, on the sidelines.

We are top of the league. The games can’t come quick enough. Three whole days until the next one.

Russ Cockburn

What's your verdict on the match? What last night proved is that Wolves have the ‘bouncebackability’ so coveted in the world of football.

Smarting from an unexpected 2-1 win at Gollum’s QPR, a trip to an improving Norwich was the last thing we probably needed, especially considering Carrow Road hasn’t been the best hunting ground for us in recent years.

Like I’ve said before, this is a different Wolves. This is Nuno’s Wolves and the blue bin dippers can keep their hands off him.

You could sense the Portuguese supremo had issued a rallying call to his troops before kick-off, freshening things up with the inclusion of N’Diaye (forced through Saiss suspension), Bennett and the man mountain that is Willy Boly.

It wasn’t a ‘let’s be havin you’ moment. Nuno doesn’t operate like that. It was calm, measured and built on his football principles of shape, organisation, possession and fast flowing counter-attacking.

Apart from a header that hit the post, Norwich had little answer to the tide of gold and black confronting them and their attacking threat was as flat as one of Delia’s fancy pancakes.

Neves, so often the artisan architect, was again pulling the strings, ably assisted by the towering presence of N’Diaye. The Senegalese powerhouse offers a different type of game to Saiss, powering forward more and driving past players that creates space between the opposition’s midfield and defence.

Yes, some of it is a bit erratic, but when the game is stretched, it’s a valuable asset to have. Admittedly, most of us could have farted his one-on-one harder.

The new-look back three appeared like they had played together for 500 games. Moving Coady into that position gives us the best of both worlds; we now have someone who breaks play up wonderfully and, in the next second, can be setting us off on our next break away with a pinpoint pass to either wing.

This I feel is the biggest change in watching Wolves. We now have footballers that are comfortable in possession and able to instigate moves quickly...it’s no longer taking them three touches to get the ball out of their feet and a further eight to move it past the half-way line.

Teams can’t cope when we do that and our front free three last night were as keen as Colman’s mustard when breaking.

Jota and Leo appear to have a natural understanding and one that is going to deliver us 20 odd goals this season, whereas Cav was also full of running – mainly into the opposition, but happy to let him off with his form so far this year.

It’s no lie to say that this was an absolute away-day masterclass. From ten minutes on we controlled the game and could have easily won four or five nil.

Even their manager resulted to moaning about our time wasting and our ability to manage the game out...I thought to myself ‘Farke-ing hell’, if a German is impressed with our cynicism and efficiency, we must be doing well!

If only our journey back home was as simple. More closures than Dudley High Street, 20 mile diversions and every B road known to man in Norfolk and Warwickshire completed. Thankfully we had Barrett Nav in the back, although I’d love to see the heat map of my motor going home!

Who played well - and who didn't impress? Everyone was seven or above last night, but I’m going to focus on three players.

Firstly, Bennett made his sixth start and I believe in that time we have kept five clean sheets. He’s solid as a rock and even popped up in their box for a deft assist.

Then we have fans’ favourite Willy Boly...the cock of the Black Country, striding around the defensive areas with a casual arrogance that stops other foes getting anywhere near him. When he plays, we just look better.

Finally, our man from Brazil. Six league goals in five consecutive matches, this one coming from a fine angled volley into the corner of the net. Ten times harder than his earlier chance, but that shows the type of player he is.

Not fazed by missing, he continues to be in the right place at the right time and is fast becoming the signing of the season. His hold-up play is also crucial to the way we play, bringing in the many runners we have flying past him.

I’m so glad Jeff Shi didn’t find his Lamborghini in Saudi…

Clive Smith

What's your verdict on the match? Bouncebackability, tick. Away win, tick. Clean sheet, tick. Seamless squad rotation, tick.

Add in a ground we usually do nothing at and you have to think - what a good night out. And it was.

Only a greedy fan would come away thinking how wasteful we were in front of goal, and how the game should have been wrapped up long before it eventually was. Typical eh, always want more!

We started on the back foot - taking five minutes to get possession in their half. Once we did though there was good movement and passing which brought a string of corners and attempts. A Doherty screamer was headed away, a Neves effort likewise, then Boly attacked an old fashioned looking corner and nodded into the goal. A rare headed goal - our first in the league? (Batth and Dicko in the cup are the only two I can recall).

The ref sounded like he had two whistles on the night, and used them both against Wolves. By the 23rd minute they had been awarded eight free kicks. From one our post was shaved. Overall we conceded 24 in a stop-start game. When they were not taking free kicks Norwich were of little threat as we started to stop crosses coming in from wide and got bodies around when the ball was at the feet of their strikers.

On the counter we looked good, finding far more open space than we did at Loftus Road, Neves and N'Diaye seeing plenty of the ball. We deserved the lead at the break and from the tenth minutes of the second half should have been looking at a convincing score. Cav, N'Diaye twice and Jota all should have made more of good chances. Around goal we have started to over-pass. The reluctance to shoot is frustrating.

The second goal came with 20 minutes to go, a typical finish from Bonatini. Job done, he was promptly subbed within five minutes. Enobhakhare had already replaced Cav and he was also guilty of not shooting when perfectly placed.

The noise from Norfolk locals after was all about how good Wolves had looked, best team seen so far, deserved their win. Music to our ears, but the domination, specially in the final third, should have produced a score line as good or better than the game against Burton Albion.

One strange thing of note - the famous challenge by ex-Wolf Kevin Muscat on Craig Bellamy in 1998 (!) STILL gets referenced in the terrace banter.

Who played well - and who didn't impress? Ruddy - at his solid best. Dealt perfectly with all the high balls and distributed quickly when he could. Fashion watch - his orange tango QPR look was replaced by a ghostly white creation,

Douglas got outpaced a couple of times but then managed to get on top of that. Quite subdued as an attacking force until the latter part of the game.

Doherty - on this form he is excellent. Most wing backs try to be wingers and hug the touchline to get round the back. He also likes cutting in towards the box and frequently looks a goal threat when he does. His passing while in advanced positions is often far better than those around him as he laid on a couple of chances that should have brought more reward. Man of the match.

Boly, Coady and Bennett all did well. They looked dominant in the air and coped well on the ground by getting close enough to stop efforts being made on our goal. They were supported well by midfield when more bodies were required. It was not obvious at all that two of these had not been starting regularly.

N'Diaye, who replaced Saiss, was the known change prior to the match. He had a busy game, getting forward far more than Saiss, or Neves, ever do. Three times he was well placed to score and really should have on one. He tackled well and often won the ball back when the ref allowed him to.

Neves had one of those games where he was quickly moving the ball around. Endless short accurate passes were complimented by longer ones that switched the play and made Norwich work hard to get close to the ball. Nice to see him have some efforts on goal too. Booked (one of our four) for persistent fouling. I mean, you are joking - only this ref!

For all of our possession in the final third it was our front three who should have done much better. Cavaleiro got in several good positions with the ball but his poor decision making wasted those chances.

Jota kept coming towards midfield to play the ball with his back to goal. He is far more effective heading the other way - when he did that he looked a goal threat all the time.

Bonatini had a very typical sort of game. Recycling the ball well enough but seemingly just on the fringe of our attacks. But also, misses a good chance, then puts one away with a neat finish in the box. Typical of a top scorer. While others around him tend to overplay, I like his non nonsense style.

Enobakhare deserves some game time - just needs a goal! Costa - although he was on for less than 10 minutes you have to question his warm up. He made one run with the ball, but after that looked knackered. Doherty wanted to play him in behind but he was just motionless. I hope it is just a physical thing, but mentally he was just not there last night.

Price replaced Bonatini to see out the game just after we had scored our second.

Adam Virgo

What's your verdict on the match? Norwich isn’t the most enjoyable of away trips, especially on a Tuesday night, but when you have Nuno as your manager and the players we have it doesn’t half make it a lot better.

A lot of credit to Wolves and Laurie Dalrymple especially for putting on free coach travel as well, we have transformed as a club in so many positive ways this season.

Some of the football we played last night was outstanding. Norwich like to play football themselves but I think that played into our hands considering we have the better players to do so.

Apart from them hitting the post early on I don’t think they troubled Ruddy much, we had to rely on some good blocks from our defenders but that was about it.

First half we were in control once we took the lead and it was nice to see us take a good corner as too many fail to beat the first man or get overhit. No idea where their defence was though, it was like our defending from set pieces earlier on in the season.

Second half we should have scored at least three which was the only bad thing to say about yesterday’s game from our point of view. We created a lot of chances on the counter which I expected but for Bonatini’s goal, it was a class finish, great determination from Doherty and an inventive ball from Bennett to round up a great night.

Oh, apart from the journey back of course with the road closures but considering we won it wasn’t too painful on the way back.

We thoroughly deserved the win and Norwich, like Derby, sides we’ve struggled against away from home in recent years, we’ve gone and beaten them with a clean sheet too.

The fresh changes helped as well I think which will certainly give Nuno a lot to think about for Friday night’s game.

Who played well - and who didn't impress? Man of the match is a tough one but for me Boly and N’Diaye coming into the side fresh made a huge difference. Willy Boly just oozes class and he was the calmest guy in Norwich last night.

We missed him at QPR because we panicked in a lot of situations and he just brings complete calmness to the defence and team as a whole.

His goal was easy considering no one was marking him but still good to see him on the scoresheet, especially in his first game back from injury.

The physicality he possesses is frightening, just like Alfred N’Diaye. Imagine the pair as a double team, they could take on anyone. The strength in depth we have in the squad is incredible compared to previous seasons, Saiss banned and N’Diaye able to come in shows the fantastic options we have.

N’Diaye was brilliant yesterday, won every battle which was no surprise let’s be honest. On the ball he was superb, him and Neves ran the midfield. He should have had a goal to add to his impressive performance but he has certainly given Nuno something to think about for Friday’s game against Fulham.

Neves was back to his best again yesterday, unlucky not to get on the scoresheet too with his effort in the first half. He made some beautiful passes at times, the ball just caresses off his boot and goes exactly where he wants it. Got stuck in when he needed to as well, who said these Portuguese players can’t handle the physical side in the Championship.

Bonatini was a fantastic outlet up top. Should have scored another when Jota played him in but the finish was harder than it looked considering their keeper rushed out straight away.

Fantastic finish for his goal though, probably our best one in October. A lot of work was down to Doherty and Bennett for keeping the ball alive too. Thirteen goals he’s been involved in now which just shows how pivotal he is to us going forward.

Bennett and Ruddy going back to their old club - which isn’t always an easy task - both did well. Ruddy claimed a lot of crosses and punched clear to relieve pressure, a far more convincing performance from him than on Saturday.

As for Bennett, he’s not featured much this season but when he has he’s done well and it was the same last night. Calm in possession and defended well when needed. We have great strength in depth defensively as well which is also key.

Another big game on Friday, Fulham are struggling at the moment but they’re a lot better away than they are at home. They like to play football as well which could potentially play into our hands but winning and staying top of the league will be great going into the international break.