Wolves Fans' Verdict v Norwich: Fortunate three points

Matt Cooper (Talking Wolves)

Reaction to the Result

I refuse to believe that Wolves fielded the same side against Spurs as they did here. The first half performance lacked any urgency, shape, understanding and solidity. Norwich completely nullified how Wolves play and only man of the moment Adama Traore showed any real positivity. A string of poor set pieces from the usually pin-point Moutinho just summed it up. No matter how badly Wolves were playing, at 1-0, you still fancied us. As soon as that equaliser went in, Norwich heads dropped and Wolves grew into the game. It wasn’t pretty at all but it doesn’t matter. A huge three points.

Man of the Match

It could’ve been either Adama or Patricio, but because Patricio’s world class shot-stopping kept us in the game, it has to be him. If it wasn’t for the Portuguese keeper then it could’ve been 4-0 at half time.

Something to Improve

That first half was pathetic. Error after error after error. The usually dependant Jonny falling over for the goal just summed up that half of football. We have to steer clear of those kind of performances as better teams will hurt us.

Clive Smith

Reaction to the Result

I thought the first half was our worst half of the season. Jimenez, Jota and Neves just did not turn up. We couldn't get the ball, keep the ball and if it were not for Patricio we could easily have been three down. Thankfully things improved after the break, gradually. We had to work hard to grind out a win with four yellow cards again on the debit side. Last week we played great and got beat, this week we were well below that standard, but managed to win. Merry Christmas everyone.

Man of the Match

Patricio made some saves to keep us in the game, but Traore put on another first-rate performance. In attack obviously, but also defending late on when we needed players to be goalside, he gets MOTM.

Something to Improve

We need to improve if we are going to catch Sheff U lol. It took us a long time to settle into the game and we were second best in midfield for too much of the game.

Adam Virgo

Reaction to the Result

The first half was absolutely dreadful and probably the worst I’ve seen us play all season. It was very worrying that we should have been 4-0 down by half time, some poor finishing on their behalf along with Patricio being alert, the only player who even deserves credit for the first half. Last week we deserved to win and lost, this weekend we deserved to lose and we won, football is a funny game at times. Second half was a major improvement and once we equalised, you could see us pushing for a winner. The team deserve a lot of credit for coming back and playing how they did after what happened in the first 45, was a massive win as well considering we have City and Liverpool in our next two.

Man of the Match

If anyone says another player instead of Rui Patricio then they are either lying or they didn’t watch the game. He made so many important saves throughout to keep us in it, especially the Tettey strike when he got a fingertip to tip it onto the post and all the Pukki one on ones. The Finnish striker probably should have done better but Patricio is superb in those situations in how he closes the angles etc, that’s one of his biggest strong points for a goalkeeper. No one else played that well, there were glimpses from the likes of Traore, Jota and Moutinho at times but no one was consistent throughout, too sloppy in possession and poor decision-making in the final third too often.

Something to Improve

A lot to improve on in terms of the performance. Defensively for a start, Norwich were getting in behind way too easily which is becoming a problem, it happened at Brighton and it did again yesterday, thankfully Norwich didn’t punish us more. I can’t remember a time yesterday when we won a second ball, we gave the ball away far too much when the passes on were easy and some of the decision making on set pieces and in the final third were terrible. I don’t know how we won but we did and playing bad but winning is a fantastic thing, however these next two games we must play better or we’ll have no chance of getting anything out of them.

Rob Cartwright

Reaction to the Result

Delighted with the win, to top off a really good day in Norwich. One of the nicest football grounds to visit in the Premier League. I don’t think anyone was expecting how poor we were in the first half, after the exhilarating performance for the whole Tottenham game last week. We were lethargic, wasteful and second best, especially in midfield; yet going in only 1-0 down at half-time I was super confident of a Wolves victory! The win came in style, as we dominated the second half and after getting the lead managed the game out superbly well.

Man of the Match

Quite a few players were well below par in first half, but bounced back well in second. The pick across the whole game were Patricio, Saiss, Moutinho & Doherty. Jonny had a torrid first half, continually giving possession away including teeing up their goal when in no apparent danger! Jota was 100% in effort, but made little impact. Nuno showed his nous, once more, in replacing him with Neto for the last 13 minutes. Neto provided the extra impetus we needed for victory. He is coming on very nicely and will be a fine player. Man of the Match has to be Patricio, who kept us in the game with 3 or 4 super saves in the first half. The game could have easily gone by half time without these.

Something to Improve

Just keep going the way we are. Small improvements one step at a time. We have improved significantly as a team, even in the first 5 months of this season. This is why the first 11 almost picks itself now. We have good players on the bench, as Neto showed yesterday. We also have Boly to return from injury. How well we have overcome his loss has been nothing short of amazing. Merry Christmas to all Wolves fans. The away fans, in particular, are the best there are. We have a couple of juicy games to look forward to before New Year. Do your stuff Nuno.

Richard Hobbs

Reaction to the Result

The most surprising drop off in performance was from Joao Moutinho who didn’t live up to his own high standards before the break. However class is permanent and he delivered a wonderful cross for the equaliser. He’s unassuming but it is fascinating how integral Jonny Otto is for Wolves. Defensively he is very solid and there aren’t major lapses in concentration and he is constantly linking up play to bring Wolves forward. It might be because he isn’t marauding down the wing and whipping in crosses, but he rarely seems to get the praise from outside the club one how much the contributes. Norwich can be frustrated about their missed chances, Jimenez’s finish to win the game showed that level of quality which makes Wolves a cut above a lot of teams in this division. With Manchester City and Liverpool in the next week, Saturday's win keeps them in good stead.

Man of the Match

The fact Wolves kept it down to only one goal was largely down to Rui Patricio. The Portuguese shot-stopper was not particularly helped during the opening half with his centre-halves all struggling to cope with Norwich’s movement but showed his undeniable quality to keep us in the contest. If it wasn’t for a certain right winger, surely Patricio would be Wolves' player of the season.

Something to Improve

Similar to when Wolves played fellow recently-promoted side Sheffield United, Norwich came out firing at the start of the game. For the first 45 minutes, Wolves looked shell-shocked and unable to compete across all areas of the pitch.

John Lalley

Reaction to the Result

Once we finally roused ourselves and capitalised on the opponent’s profligacy we always appeared likely winners. The confidence visibly drained from Norwich as they sensed that they had squandered a glorious opportunity to bury us. The winning goal may not have been out of the Jimenez textbook of classic strikes but he really will benefit from this boost to his confidence. He hadn’t been on target for a while and he was enduring not only an unproductive spell in front of goal but a drop in standard overall. He is a terrific player and an absolutely essential component in any success we might achieve; a significant strike in more ways than one. The fact that we were able to transform a shabby away performance into a winning hand is another forward step in our continued upward progression. Losing last week after performing superbly was hard to stomach: this feels a whole lot better!

Man of the Match

Rui Patricio made at least three significant saves and his contribution alongside some indeterminate finishing ensured that we kept in touch despite our wretched performance in the first half.

Something to Improve

If we were tempted to get above ourselves, the first half of this game was a grizzly example of how we can plummet to the depths if we are in any way smug or complacent. The horrible first forty five minutes at Carrow Road were harrowingly reminiscent of the occasions last season when we laboured hopelessly against struggling opposition. The difference this time was that instead of getting progressively worse, we refocused and imposed ourselves and ended the game comfortably in control.

Russ Evers (Hatherton Wolves)

Reaction to the Result

Probably the worst first half of Nuno’s reign where we could have been out of it by half time. As it was, one goal with the attacking portent of this side was easily overturned as we pressed higher and got tighter to the Norwich side.

Man of the Match

No-one first half other than Patricio who again did his job well second half whilst Traore just continues to frighten teams to death.

Something to Improve

Many things but whilst we got out of jail perhaps here, it may correct the result from last week.