Express & Star

Wolves Fans' Verdict v Blues: Scrappy but deserved

Our fans are more than happy with a scrappy derby win at St Andrew's.

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Rob Cartwright

What's your verdict on the match? This was a very satisfying derby victory. Expectations had risen after five consecutive victories but it would be wrong to be critical here.

Blues were poor. None of the usual blood and thunder you expect at St Andrew's. You can see why there were 10,000 empty seats.

Wolves banked so much supremacy in the first half, I’m sure we would have won the game with just nine players in the second half.

A ‘bluenose’ friend described it as like watching Real Madrid v Bromsgrove Sporting. I disagree, Bromsgrove are better than that!

Diogo Jota got his usual rough treatment and responded in his usual way – kept getting up and produced another man of the match performance. What a class player he is.

Blues defender Roberts, the main culprit, should have received a yellow on five minutes and a straight red on 12 minutes, but we were privileged to have a Premier League referee (!).

The only problem with scoring so early is that we all knew Blues would not score, so the game was already won. So did the both sets of players.

Wolves treated the second half as a training ground exercise; Blues played their part by not getting a single shot on target. Few people would have noticed John Ruddy having a balti pie in the Gil Merrick Stand.

Other than that, just two moments worth comment. Costa should have scored just after coming on, but tried to showboat the ball into the net. Then N’Diaye ‘lost it’ after a fairly routine tackle and was lucky to get away with just a yellow after Kieftenbeld over reacted to ‘handbags’.

Overall, a fairly routine win. I’d take 1-0 away from home every time.

Some good catching practice for John Ruddy. A full game for N’Diaye and another 30 minutes for Costa.

Who played well – and who didn't impress? We played some lovely football, especially in the first half, with no one being at their best.

The back three of Boly, Coady and Bennett were all very solid and blocked out anything Blues could muster.

Our midfield were not quite firing on all cylinders and gave the ball away too often. Perhaps we missed Neves a little. It’s true that Saiss is a better player alongside him.

Bonatini led the line extremely well and was rightly rewarded with his goal. Man of the match – Jota; strong and resilient, he's class.

Russ Evers (Hatherton Wolves)

What's your verdict on the match? Without the midfield maestro Neves we still dominated the first half but had to be satisfied with a technology assisted goal courtesy of Leo Bonatini.

It was a case of men against boys for 45 minutes and the talk at half time was how many we would score.

The fact that nothing changed score wise after 8.45pm is a little bit of a doffed peaky blinder cap to Blues who matched us and went toe to toe second half.

Helder Costa came on and should have scored but in truth we were never really in trouble and Ruddy almost caught a cold due to inactivity.

In years gone by we would possibly have crumbled second half but this is a different beast.

Who played well – and who didn't impress? Man of the match? Willy Boly by a country mile – a colossus.

Chris Hughes

What's your verdict on the match? It was never going to be pretty. Trips to Small Heath rarely are. On an evening when we weren’t at our best without playmaker-in-chief Neves pulling the strings, we still had enough to see off the Peaky Blinders wannabes without them registering a single shot on target.

When Bonatini opened the scoring early you’d be forgiven for thinking the third rout in a fortnight was on the cards but, owing to some poor finishing and, at times, sloppy passing, we were unable to add to that tally.

Luckily the Blouse had decided to give Ruddy a night off in goal and he wasn’t troubled to make a single save all evening. It’s easy to see why Bonatini has more league goals than their entire squad so far this season.

Credit to Steve Cotterill for letting his team know that a Neves-less Wolves would rely on the real Jota to make things happen and painting a big target on his back for his players to aim at all night.

Straight after the goal came the first agricultural challenge on Diogo from Marc Roberts, who somehow escaped with only a yellow card for a scything challenge that was later than Network Rail.

Our tough little Portugeezer did what he’s done all season – and continued to do for the rest of the night – by getting back to his feet and continuing to lead their defence a merry dance for the remainder of the game.

As far as chances go the two most clear cut were squandered by Jota and Costa. The latter a case of trying to be too clever, copying his mate Cav’s style of rolling his foot over the ball to round Mannone and score at Reading, when sticking the ball away first time would have been the easier option.

Next up is Sunderland and another game that a big Molineux crowd will expect us to win. But then, don’t we expect to win every game lately?

Who played well – and who didn't impress? Coady was imperious at the back and was well supported by Bennett and Boly either side. Doherty was full of energy and running all night even though not everything came off for him in an attacking sense.

Ahead of them we were a lot sloppier than we have been recently and we didn’t always seem in sync up top, though Jota was unplayable at times, drawing a stream of fouls and, eventually, enticing one of the Blouse defenders to be silly enough to get himself sent off.

I was surprised to see N’Diaye struggling at times. Perhaps a lack of meaningful minutes has left him lacking a little sharpness but he didn’t quite seem at it at times and can count himself lucky to have only been booked for sticking his head in with Kieftenbeld and then shoving Gleeson. While neither was particularly dangerous, it’s always a risk to raise your hands in the modern game.

Russ Cockburn

What's your verdict on the match? Three points against Small Heath, no shots on target against us and 10 points clear of third...by order of the bloody Portuguese genius.

This season just keeps getting better and better. Villa thrashed and Blues tamed with the sort of ease you apply when you’re playing football against a child. It really was that easy.

John Ruddy could have got the deckchair out, as he was superbly protected by the trio of Coady, Boly and Bennett. The latter is looking like the buy of the season...solid as a rock, gets in the way of everything and adds a bit of steel to our undoubted flair.

Okay, second half we weren’t great, but by that stage we’d done enough to casually stroll into the sterile cesspit of St Andrews and escape with three points and no broken legs. Quite an achievement when you consider some of the challenges flying into Jota. The Roberts one, in particular, was a disgrace and designed to put a player out of the game.

Jota, to his immense credit, just laughed it off and continued to terrorise the Blues defence for the rest of the evening. That bit of the game sums up the difference between the two sides. One steeped in skill and technical ability playing the beautiful game, the other surviving off scraps and a non-league henchman.

Hopefully, we’ll be two leagues apart next year and the annual trip to Small Heath will be a thing of the past. Let’s face it nobody likes going there and the walk back from Digbeth had the usual Teletubbies giving it the big one by the Connaught bar. There seems to be an invisible line there as the Blues fans don’t seem to like to cross it, maybe that’s where the beer goes up to £4?

Who played well – and who didn't impress? Whilst not the most fluent of performances, there was a lot of good individual displays. The back three were all 8/10and I thought Saiss did well to match the physicality shown by the opposition.

And then we have the 12-goal man Leo Bonatini. What a shrewd bit of business this is turning out to be and not purely for his ability to put the ball in the net or just over the line in last night’s latest instalment.

Don’t you just hate it when goal line technology works? Well you certainly do if you’re grasping at straws like Steve Cotterill was.

Back to Leo. His hold-up play acts as a perfect foil for Jota, Cav and Costa’s movement and is crucial to the way we attack, especially away from home. I’d still like to see another striker signed in January, just to give him some support and the option to rest him if needed.

Adam Virgo

What's your verdict on the match? Not the best of performances but a sixth win in a row, 10 points clear of third and plenty of happy Wolves fans.

Considering we weren’t anywhere near our best in an attacking sense, we still created some very good chances and defensively we stopped them even getting a shot on target.

I think Blues’ forwards were having a competition with their fans as to who can be the most invisible. I’m not just talking about the empty seats either, the fans who actually turned up must have been taking part in a 90 minute silence with how quiet they were.

John Ruddy may as well have came into the away end and joined in with the atmosphere, don’t think he’ll have an easier game in his career.

When we win but don’t play well, opposition managers always try to criticise us but they must not realise you can’t play at your best every game. It’s a sign of a very good team when you don’t play great, still create some good chances and come out on top.

Obviously they’re just a bit jealous that we’re top of the league, always seems to be the ones who aren’t even challenging us at the top as well.

If we had got a second goal I think we would have gone up the gears and tore Blues apart. We had the chances but didn’t take them, in a derby game though, away from home, three points is the main objective. It’s not always easy to play how you want in those type of games and Nuno managed the game well.

Who played well – and who didn't impress? The back three were solid, as ever. None of them really put a foot wrong and to stop the opposition from having a shot on target speaks volumes about how good we are defensively.

The way Willy Boly feinted the Blues player in the first half as well and just eased past him was incredible, the guy just does what he wants, when he wants.

Jota caused problems for Birmingham by drawing fouls regularly. They didn’t half snap at him and Roberts could have easily seen red in the first half when he took Jota out from behind.

He could have had a goal on another day, just like Cavaleiro who also had a good game once again. Cav is definitely hitting some consistency with his performances at the moment, something he certainly struggled with last season.

I do feel like we missed Neves to an extent just to keep things simple and to keep the ball a bit better. N’Diaye did what he needed to do and his presence helped us in the middle but his short passing was a bit astray at times.

He did however play a few nice pings across the pitch, some even Neves would have enjoyed. N’Diaye was a bit lucky to escape a red too but considering Roberts should have had one in the first half, it kind of evened itself out.

Natalie Wood

What's your verdict on the match? A bad performance had to happen at some point – just a shame it had to happen on TV and in a local derby but even with some absolute disastrous second half displays we still managed (somehow) to walk away with three points.

In the first half we were in control, looked confident and relaxed. We moved the ball well and always looked a threat going forward. Boly was again solid at the back...a pure brick wall and Cav again danced around defenders for fun. Birmingham looked really poor and other than giving Jota his birthday beats they offered little else!

However in the second half we were a different team we looked complacent, could hardly complete a pass for most the half and to be honest looked very, very lazy. In the first 10 minutes we had a few great chances which in any other game we would have absolutely buried but after that we let Birmingham in and the more they pressed the more we lost the ball.

It really showed how important Neves has become, without him we were struggling to get any width and it all looked very one dimensional.

It was a disappointing second half which made us look a completely different team to the past few weeks but ultimately three points in the bag and onto the weekend!

Clive Smith

What's your verdict on the match? Three points and a clean sheet. Deserved, but it was hardly a thing of beauty.

Given the relative league positions you suspected the first goal would set the tone of the game.

We got that early on, but failing to get a second meant there was nervousness at the end when there should not have been.

Full of confidence, we started on the front foot and bossed virtually all of the first half. For a 20 minute spell we looked at our best. Crisp accurate passing had Blues chasing shadows and every move in and around the box looked likely to create a chance.

Sadly we failed to maintain that level and we became careless and sloppy. Too often our passing was poor and we were forced to spend more time working hard to regain possession.

Thankfully Blues did not offer a goal threat of their own, with the damning stat of not having a single shot on target throughout the whole 90 minutes. We deserve credit defensively for that. Without the ball we did a good job.

It felt disappointing at half time that we had not won the game by then and that feeling carried on until the final whistle.

Blues made a switch at the break and managed more possession from then on but the clear chances all fell to Wolves.

Jota over played one chance and shot into the side netting with another opening. Costa, who had replaced Cav, tried to repeat Cav's trick of rolling the ball with his studs (Reading goal) but wasted that chance.

While at 1-0 Blues still had hope, hence the continuation of their physical approach. That had started in the opening minutes with a through the back challenge on Jota. As it continued N'Diaye reacted to a challenge and collected a yellow. More pushing and shoving later on led to a red for Blues.

Against 10 men for 10 minutes we failed to capitalise by scoring again, but it did make running the clock down easier.

Who played well – and who didn't impress? Ruddy was involved in collecting crosses but had no shot-stopping to do.

Douglas and Doherty played the first half as wingers and constantly contributed with passes.

The second half saw them playing as defenders and protecting our box.

Boly, Coady and Bennett – not such a routine game as they would have hoped. Too often Bennett looked to be fouling his man and his distribution was wasteful.

As with Boly and Coady however anything in the air was dealt with well. Boly looked off the pace at times, making things harder for himself.

Saiss and N'Diaye were controlling the flow of the ball initially but had their work cut out later on. On another day N'Diaye could have seen red – he does run on a short fuse at times.

Chumbawamba Jota again kept getting knocked down but he keeps getting up and runs at the defence. He should have put the game safe but worked hard off the ball as well as on it. MOTM.

Cavaleiro started looking sharp and on his game before fading. It made sense to take him off after an hour.

Bonatini – another workmanlike game. Surrounded by defenders he still makes runs to help the man with the ball. One example was when Doherty tried to break from defence and looked boxed in by four Blues players. Bonatini came short from half way, was available for a pass, and Wolves maintained possession.

Costa had half an hour but was poor. He fell to ground time and time again and missed the best chance of the half.

Price and Enobhakare were brought on to help keep the ball and be goalside.

By our standards it was no better than 7/10 but we continue to be better than two points a game and that makes the league table a pleasing sight.