Wolves Fans' Verdict v Huddersfield: We got what we deserved

Rob Cartwright

What's your verdict on the match?

Well, that didn't go quite to plan did it?

A 10-hour round trip. A poor performance with a dismal result. Too many players were below par and Wolves got just what they deserved from this.

Despite the Nuno Revolution, it’s heart-warming to know that we are still Wolves.

You can always rely on us to break any other team's sequence of games without a win. This time it was 15 matches, since Huddersfield beat (uhm?) Wolves.

Fair play to Huddersfield. They made 8 changes and their players were really up for it. They were relentless in chasing for every ball and allowing Wolves no time in possession. Wolves countered this with some quick and slick passing in the first half. Defences were on top and chances were very limited at both ends.

Our midfield was having no impact on the game. I thought Dendoncker and Neves were poor, leaving Moutinho with far to much ground to cover. He did his best, but we were creating little with Jimenez hardly seeing the ball. The only dangerous attack’s came from either Otto or Doherty with Jota making the runs to provide an outlet.

The best chance for a goal fell to Doherty early on, who shot first time when he had time to control the ball first. Jimenez also had a glancing header from a free kick. Both went wide.

I expected things to change in the second half. We needed to use our subs to enable this and was disappointed they did not come sooner. I cannot understand why Traore was not used. This was the game where his pace could catch them on the counter-attack as they pushed forward.

Gibbs-White and Cavaleiro did add a little urgency but didn’t change the game plan. Costa was a strange decision. He had no impact at all, though only had 15 minutes.

It was a very frustrating second half and I cannot recall their keeper needing to make a save. Huddersfield kept coming forward and spurred on from a very supportive home crowd they got what they deserved.

The goal was a bit of a shambles, as we entered added time, Neves gave away possession and they rushed forward in numbers. Boly ‘crossed it’ to an unmarked man in the box. His shot was saved by Patricio, but the rebound was fumbled in by a player on the floor. Typical!

Who played well – and who didn't impress?

The only ones to come out of this with any credit were Otto, Moutinho and Jota. Coady was decent too, but could not clear the ball off the line, for the goal this time.

Jimenez looked tired and was not involved enough. If ever there was a case for an early change to Traore, this was it!

Neves and Dendoncker were both very disappointing. How did they stay on when so ineffective? Doherty was not at his usual standard. Boly should have done better with their goal too.

So, Huddersfield have earned 6 of their 14 points from Wolves, this season. As well as we’ve done across the whole season, we haven’t done well against teams in the bottom three.

Thankfully, Cardiff remain in 17th place, as we look towards the weekend.

Chris Hughes

What's your verdict on the match?

The bogey team continues to bogey. There will be many Wolves fans glad to see the back of Huddersfield if, as looks likely, their Premier League stay ends in May.

Since beating us at Molineux in November the Terriers have been on a barren run yielding only 6 goals and a solitary point and it felt like some of our players were expecting an easy ride at the John Smith’s Stadium.

If they’d have spoken to a few of us in the crowd before the game they may have understood why that was never going to happen, as our run of form from 10 previous visits read 2 wins and 8 defeats.

That record didn’t look like it was going to get any better at any point during this game as bright spots were few and far between. Huddersfield outfought us from the start and reminded us that, as good as we have been at times this season, we aren’t good enough to win games purely on our technical ability and that hard work & determination are pre-requisites for gaining points.

It’s hard to recall any meaningful efforts on goal from us during the game and, the longer the game went on, you felt a sucker punch was coming. Very much like the Wolves of old and a reminder of how many a midweek away trip used to feel!

On a positive note this kind of performance is the exception rather than the rule and, hopefully, will serve as the proverbial kick up the backside to shake us up ready for the run in.

Who played well – and who didn't impress?

Hard to pick anyone out who had a reasonable game as the majority looked sluggish off the ball and ponderous on it.

The back three were nowhere near as cohesive a unit as they usually are and were pulled around often, Doherty looked like he was still carrying a knock and Neves appeared to still be on the beach in Marbella (or maybe Bournemouth).

Marks for effort can be given to Jonny and Dendoncker for their pressing and harrying (though both were very sloppy in possession) and to Jota and Cavaleiro for at least trying to run with the ball and make something happen, even if most of those runs headed down blind alleys.

Clive Smith

What's your verdict on the match?

We turned in a very disappointing performance, letting Huddersfield dominate a large portion of the game. We started on the back foot and barely got out of our half for twenty minutes.

When we did finally create something, it was Jota who found Doherty at the far post, but his attempt went tamely wide. Our time was spent trying to compete in midfield and protecting our box. We channelled their attacks wide and worked hard without the ball. It was not pretty to watch but you had to applaud our effort without the ball.

The second half was more of the same - full of effort with little end product - but with Huddersfield looking the more threatening in the final third.

With twenty-five minutes left Cavaleiro and Gibbs-White came on and our huffing and puffing briefly looked more promising without creating any good chances. We did not look like we were going to score. Nil-nil would have just about been OK, but added time meant we did not even get a point. A scrappy goal in a scrappy game finally went into our net after a ricochet, a couple of blocks and a tap in.

I don't recall us having an attempt on target during the whole game. At least it looks like it will be a while before we meet this bogey team again.

Who played well – and who didn't impress?

Patricio made a couple of punches early on, but had very little else to do.

Otto was full of running from start to finish. His attitude was first rate and was man of the match. Constantly probing and looking to get forward and involve others.

Doherty had a real off day. His energy level looked low and he was often caught out not getting goalside. He was on the end of very few passes in the final third.

Boly headed over from a corner but was defending mostly. As with his two companions he deserved a clean sheet.

Coady did well defending but had little chance to start any forward moves. Bennett got headers and blocks in, but did seem stretched too often. A lazy trip brought him another needless yellow card.

It was not a Neves sort of game. Hardly a good long pass to be seen and he again struggled to be a catalyst in any prolonged possession across halfway.

A couple of decent set pieces from Moutinho might have brought us a goal, but he spent too much time defending and trying to win the ball back.

Dendoncker worked extremely hard and put in a good shift. I am sure he could offer more if he took a leaf out of the Otto playbook and either ran forward or looked to pass forward more. Playing the easy ball all the time just allows the opposition more time to get organised.

Jimenez played very much like he did in the opening few games of the season. Putting in his usual effort but he just needed extra time and space to control the ball. Nothing much of what he did seemed to come off. One glancing header was a poor end product.

Jota drifted in and out of the game. A couple of nice runs, but like Jimenez, he was easily crowded out and his touch was not good enough.

From the bench Cavaleiro and Gibbs-White gave us ten minutes encouragement but that soon faded. Costa had just a few minutes game time, which was more than Saiss or Traore.

Adam Virgo

What's your verdict on the match?

Absolutely shocking performance and my views would still be the same even if we had drew 0-0. The late goal was just an extra kick in the teeth.

I understand we’re still in a very good position but everyone knows Wolves are capable of so much better. Not registering a single shot on target against bottom of the league is unacceptable.

We couldn’t string more than three passes together all evening and the amount of times we gave the ball away for absolutely no reason in poor positions was just laughable.

Nuno got it completely wrong as well with some of the changes. I don’t really understand Costa coming on but Traore being left on the bench, especially as in recent games the Spaniard has made an impact whenever he’s came on. Gibbs-White shouldn’t have been introduced before Adama either.

There are genuinely zero positives to take from yesterday’s performance and result. Moutinho and Jonny were the only two players who can come out with some kind of credit and why Moutinho and Jota were taken off so early I’ll never know, they were the only two really offering anything going forward. Jonny too in some aspects whereas Doherty just never seemed to break forward like usual.

It’s so frustrating that we can beat or get results off the top 6 but then play like that against teams near the bottom and drop points constantly. It’s ridiculous how I’m feeling more confident for Chelsea away next week than I am for Cardiff at home this Saturday.

Huddersfield deserved the win in the end, I’m not taking credit away from them because they did well but with the players we have and how good we have been for the majority of this season, it’s not good enough to lose in the manner we did.

Doherty should have done so much better with his first half chance, at minimum he needed to hit the target. In the second half we did get into some good positions in the box a couple of times but then we decided to float crosses straight into Jonas Lossl’s hands.

The players need to respond and react on Saturday with a win to put that Huddersfield performance and result to bed. I’m not holding my breath though as we’ve seen Wolves struggle to perform well against most of the bottom 5 so far this season and in the Premier League if you play poorly you will more than likely get punished at some point.

Who played well – and who didn't impress?

Moutinho and Jonny are the only players who were above average and two players performing out of 11 isn’t good enough and you leave yourselves with very little chance of getting anything out of the game when it’s like that.

Jota to be fair did try and was the only other one who looked like creating anything and as soon as he and Moutinho were taken off, we lost all the creativity at the time.

Morgan Gibbs-White isn’t as good as what he was hyped up to be after the Spurs and Chelsea home games. People can bang on about his age but there’s plenty of English players and players from abroad who are around the same age performing to a much better standard.

You can’t live off hype forever and he needs to be offering so much more than he has been if he wants to progress to the next level. He does have the potential we all know that but ever since those two good performances he hasn’t shown anything.

Neves was awful and I don’t understand what’s happened to him recently. Against Bournemouth he was poor and again yesterday every aspect of his game was off the pace. In most teams he would be getting dropped after playing so bad but we only have 18 first team players and I can’t see Nuno dropping him for Saiss but then it’s a case of Neves knowing he’s almost undroppable.

Dendoncker wasn’t great again but off the ball, in the second half especially, he did ok in all honesty. It was just on the ball he didn’t seem to know what to do. There was a time when he won the ball back a few times in quick succession but then we just lost the ball even though they were good opportunities to counter.

Defensively it wasn’t like we played badly but Bennett and Neves were both at fault for their goal. Coady didn’t spray passes like usual but Doherty was terrible yesterday, one for how poor his miss was and two he just never seemed to be up and down like usual.

I know they made eight changes so people might say their team was more fresh but that’s not an excuse. We have a squad like every other team in world football so if fitness was an issue for some players then we could have rotated, maybe bar Jimenez because we are reliant on him but he looked fatigued but I’m hoping it was just a one off. Without him or if he doesn’t play well, we look a completely different side going forward.

Russ Evers

What's your verdict on the match?

Another half day off work, stuck in traffic on a three and a half hour trip and ended up watching a re-run of last season's final game against Sunderland where we simply failed to turn up.

The unbeaten run had to end at some point and for regular watchers, it comes as no great surprise that Huddersfield would be the ones that did it. Huddersfield simply wanted it more, won all the first and second balls and cut off the supply to our wing backs.

They won every midfield battle and refused us even one shot. Even the substitutions were wrong as we needed power and pace but Traore was not chosen and Cav decided to try finesse rather than speed and it was the wrong type of game for the other subs.

We didn't roll over and die but did nothing to warrant gaining anything. Oh well, it may be another wake-up call to all - still a great season with the final furlong now in sight. Man of the match? Only Jota did himself justice.