Wolves Fans' Verdict v Leicester: Off the pace

Matt Cooper (Talking Wolves)

Wolves seemed to revert back to type against Leicester after two encouraging performances against Palace and Newcastle. From the off, Wolves never looked like competing, never mind winning the game as Leicester simply passed around them. These types of performances aren’t acceptable for a side who’s apparently chasing European football and Leicester weren’t fantastic but they didn’t need to be.

The decision to award a penalty was quite frankly embarrassing. To not watch the replay back in normal speed yet still award a penalty is laughable and we're stuck with mediocre level officiating in the best league in the world.

Don’t let that VAR decision mask what was a terrible Wolves performance though. Wolves have to improve and that starts with Nuno. Take the handbrake off, please.

Clive Smith

We did not deserve to concede the penalty for handball but equally we did not deserve anything out of the game. Eight games into the season and we are still playing like it is pre-season. Things happen when the ball is in the box but we fail to get anywhere near enough crosses there, so is it any wonder we have so few goal attempts or penalties? When you think some teams have had as many penalties as we have goals it is a damning statistic.

The eight day rest did nothing for our energy levels as time and time again we were left trailing a Leicester player. Neves, Dendoncker and Semedo were all caught out. You can't fault the work-rate of Jimenez and Podence when we have lost possession, but you can when we have the ball. They needed to show themselves more and be in space to help a teammate find a pass.

Patricio has to be MOTM as he kept us in the game with his penalty save. The only other highlight was the Neves shot. Boly looked more like his usual self. Although Neto and Podence are less likely to be a game-changing substitute, it does appear Traore needs more than thirty minutes to make a significant impact.

We have always needed patience watching Nuno's Wolves and with our next eight fixtures including five against the big six it is likely to be tested even more. We were outstanding at Spurs, but that was 18 league games ago. Knowing we are capable of playing so well just contributes to the disappointment in our performances so far this season. Is that being harsh?

Adam Virgo

Another game where we decide to start playing 45 minutes too late. Regardless of the poor VAR call, we were awful in the first half. No intensity in any of the pressing, constantly giving the ball away and we had Patricio to thank for the game not being over by half time.

Leicester looked light years ahead of us in the first half, playing how I want us to play. I don’t understand why we went back to playing a conservative style for the first half again, zero chance of scoring and relying on us not conceding by half time.

Our best chance came from the Neves strike outside the box, which was a fantastic save from Kasper Schmeichel. We had a couple of other opportunities but we didn’t punish Leicester in those situations.

Jimenez was anonymous all game again but Nuno leaves him on all game and takes Neto off, who was our best attacker, for Fabio Silva. Ait-Nouri had an absolute shocker and should have been taken off earlier, he is still very young and has a lot to learn so games like that will happen at times for him.

The VAR call for the handball was idiotic, no idea what Kilman is meant to do as he was in a running motion. Not going to blame that as to why we lost because we didn’t do enough to get anything out of the game.

We have some very tough fixtures coming up and if we play the same style then we’re going to get punished again. We’re on more points than we were this time last season but I think we’re playing worse. The Palace game is the only one where we’ve actually looked like a good side. I really do hope we take the game to some of these upcoming opponents because we certainly have the players to do so.

Rob Cartwright

A poor game, with both teams below their best, had a 0-0 written all over it.

Of course, we can’t play at Leicester without VAR revealing its ugly head can we?

It hasn’t got any better. It’s killing football by a thousand cuts.

How can the officials continually make poor and often wrong decisions is beyond me. Anyone with average intelligence would see Kilman’s handball was unavoidable and not deliberate. The ball was hit, at speed, from less than two yards. He didn’t raise his arm which remained down by his side.

What makes this one worse is that the ref, rightly, went to the monitors to watch the replay. However, he did not watch at normal speed, as per FA rules. He watched it slowed down; not appropriate in handball situations like this one. His decision was ridiculous.

Many football fans are losing interest and I can quite understand why. With fans not allowed to attend, it would be quite easy to simply stop watching this pantomime.

The decision appeared to have a big impact on Wolves. We were awful in the first half. Completely inept. It’s a common problem for us and I don’t know why it hasn’t been sorted yet. The gap between the midfield and forwards was too big. Why is Dendoncker not filling that void? Why didn’t Moutinho come on to play in the gap?

In the second half, Wolves were much the better team, but still Jimenez was having to come deep to get the ball. For all the possession, we were not creating chances, with the best effort on goal from Neves, from outside the box.

The game was there for the taking, but we were not brave enough to break an over cautious Leicester. Boring to watch, but they are getting results. I don’t think Vardy touched the ball in our box, other than to take penalties. Their game plan was to hold on to 1-0 and put as many players behind the ball on every passage of play. They are an ugly team, appealing voraciously for every decision, putting pressure on the referee. In this game, they even claimed “head injury” when Evans had hurt his back. Anything to break up play. It’s little wonder they issue fans with clappers!

It’s difficult to pick a stand out player. Patricio had nothing to do, other than the penalties. The wing-backs did not get involved enough going forward. Neves and Dendoncker didn’t do enough for me. The front three were dealing with scraps. Traore had a good impact for half an hour.

My man of the match comes from the back three who all did well. I’ll pick Kilman for the way he responded to the ridiculous penalty decision against him.

Having no fans in stadiums is having a detrimental impact on games. Results are now unpredictable, with defences generally lacking concentration. Football has changed; not for the better.

John Lalley

The outcome of this trip is depressingly predictable. If Wolves played Leicester and none of their players turned up for the match, VAR would still manufacture some technical obscurity to ensure Wolves didn’t win the game.

I didn’t care much for the Wolves’ performance in the first half, but only goals scored are of any consequence and the decision against Kilman was numbingly harsh and ultimately settled the game. During that first period, Wolves seemed intent on proving Nuno spot-on when he stated pre-match that despite good results, the team had been struggling to perform particularly well.

Leicester were more energised, sharper and quicker to just about every loose ball and every contested challenge. Their passing and ball-retention was a whole lot better than ours too. Aimless, hopeful long balls were never going cause Leicester a moment of panic. Our sole aim was to erect a defensive barrier and it made for painful viewing.

Of course, it may have been worse; after his debut heroics against Palace, Ait-Nouri endured a tough afternoon and showed his inexperience in conceding the second penalty but he’ll learn and quickly I reckon. Otherwise, despite offering virtually nothing going forward, we contained Leicester without much strain.

We had no alternative but to up the ante after the interval and at least we did play some football and on balance may have nicked a point that would have not been completely undeserved. That said, we didn’t create much; Neves was denied by a flying Schmeichel and Dendoncker finished poorly when well placed. Ultimately this game was decided by that wretched early goal; Leicester free from the necessity to push forward were able to load numbers behind the ball and contain us as comfortably as we had contained them. From our perspective an utterly frustrating and unsatisfying afternoon with yet another whiff of injustice against these opponents.

Russ Evers

A much-improved second half showing and to these eyes it is clear that we are a far better team when we move the ball faster (as was proved against Crystal Palace) but we left it too late after a slow-motion first half. And even then it was the extremely harsh award of a penalty that increased our woeful run of results at Leicester in almost half a century.

The record books will show that we only lost to a disputed penalty against a team who then became the league leaders but those first 45 minutes killed us with so many players just not turning up until half time. Neither keeper had much to do other than a penalty save by Rui and a world class effort from Schmeichel to deny Neves later on.

If we are to equal or better our successive seventh-place finishes we must start games stronger and put our opponents on the back foot from the start. It worked against both Sheffield United and Palace and I dare say Nuno will get them working on a faster start.