Wolves Fans' Verdict v Leicester: Another positive step

Clive Smith

If only. Neves and Traore in the first half. Moutinho and Silva in the second. Four golden chances, no goals and sadly that sums up where we are at the moment. We limited the opposition, an in-form attack minded team, to only a few chances but failed to score our winner.

MOTM Traore deserves some sympathy. Whenever he gets up to full speed he is either fouled tactically or crosses the ball into an area with only one or two attackers rather than four or five. Ironically he was outshone by Neto in the first half but still contributed enough in the final third.

Hoever replaced Jonny at half time and that stemmed the flow of possession down that flank with Neto. A fully fit Jonny will be a welcome sight. Hoever looked a little nervy late on and was caught out a couple of times.

Defensively we did a good job. Dendoncker filled in at the back and did well enough. Semedo had the difficult task of keeping Barnes quiet. He had a couple of issues but generally continues to improve in all aspects of his game. Coady looked more comfortable than he has done in some games lately.

Jose is another one who deserves sympathy, he did nothing wrong but we were unable to get the ball to him often enough. It's good to see both him and Neto coming deep to get involved, seeking possession.

Getting the balance right between attack and defence continues to be a tricky one. With injuries affecting both areas we have been more successful addressing the defence. Hopefully we will soon have our attack sorted.

Rob Cartwright

I thought this was a fairly entertaining game for a 0-0.

Although both teams had chances to win it, I think it was a fair result. It was a pleasing Wolves performance and I think we can see improvements all over the pitch now with each game.

More bad news on the injury front, but it was great to see Jonny return from his lengthy lay-off. I think he did well and reminded us just what we have missed. He is a big component of the Wolves way and will give us much more stability.

I also thought Semedo played well again and this could be the wing-back partnership to set us back on our way.

Leicester had lots of the ball, but in reality did very little with it. Passing sideways and backwards they could find no way into our box. Both teams were creating half chances, mostly shots from long range and free-kicks just outside the box.

Leicester were intent on putting the foot in at every opportunity and they should have been punished more than the three bookings. Maddison was very lucky to escape a yellow for the foul on Moutinho in the first half. This would have meant a red card for his booking in the second half.

Evans received yellow for a horrible challenge on Jose after half an hour. His studs were up, the ref wasn’t far away and yet there was little or no VAR intervention. This was a straight red for me.

Wolves were a lot more adventurous in the second half. We enjoyed the lion's share of possession and created the best two chances on goal. Not really sure how either Neto or Silva missed what would have been a winner. Leicester fans will think the same about the Vardy header right at the end. This the only time Leicester had threatened in the second half. The corner count of 8-2 tells the story of who was attacking the most.

Traore had the beating of the full-back and was consistently fouled; akin to the Tottenham game.

I wish Traore would be quicker and more positive with the ball. He slows things down, often to walking pace which is so frustrating.

Neto, on the other hand, is a live wire and didn’t stop running and getting past his man with trickery and skill. He was my Man of the Match by a long way.

Neves and Moutinho were very solid again and are proving many (myself included) wrong about them playing together in central midfield.

Kilman was excellent and will more than cover for the absent Boly. This leaves the forwards with most to do. Jose had little of the ball and needs to speak to Jimenez about the need to come looking for it more. I thought Silva did well for his half hour, but needs to find his shooting boots.

Overall, I think this was another step forward. An important week ahead now with two games against Southampton. Both important, but for different reasons.

Come on Wolves, it’s time to get on a winning run.

John Lalley

Prior to the kick-off, this final outcome would have been deemed as perfectly acceptable given the pedigree of the opposition.

But such was the measure of improvement on recent performances and given the chances we squandered, it’s a real disappointment not to have won the game.

Wolves let slip two very inviting opportunities inside the opening quarter of an hour and after the break Moutinho and the hapless Fabio really should have seen us nosing in front. The ruthless streak in the final third continues to elude us and this timidity cost us dearly once again.

This was Jimenez territory for sure; how we have missed his predatory instincts! That said, Wolves regained a shape and a disciplined organisation both of which have recently gone haywire.

Above all, we were competitive, determined not to be bullied and matched Leicester for work-rate; no mean achievement against one of the busiest and fittest outfits in this league.

This was a Wolves team once again making themselves hard to defeat; Leicester did finish the stronger and Kilman rescued us with one outstanding intervention late on but Patricio was rarely troubled and the clean sheet was thoroughly deserved.

Neto and Traore gave the highly rated Leicester full-backs more trouble than they could handle until Neto gave into exhaustion. The visitors applied the rota-system of systematically sharing fouling duties when Traore stretched his legs which gradually reduced his effectiveness and blunted our attacking options.

In the face of the powerful midfield triumvirate of Barnes, Maddison and Tielemans, Wolves held firm, were never overrun and generally matched their input losing nothing in comparison.

This ensured that Wolves were never swamped defensively and thankfully leaving aside one late scare, Vardy’s introduction caused us little discomfort. What a pleasure too to see a cameo from Jonny and a glimpse of what we have been missing. Real character; a genuine step in the right direction; reminiscent of the last two seasons.

Russ Evers

A more than decent point against a team who could have gone second with a win. Both teams failed to take the one great chance that came their way although Silva was denied by a great save for our effort and our best other chances fell mainly to the midfield pairing of Neves and Moutinho, neither of whom had their shooting boots on.

At the back we looked solid and the three centre-halves all did well enough for us not to miss Boly too much. And that makes it three clean sheets and only two goals conceded in the last five games, so much more like the Wolves of recent seasons.

Now it's all eyes on the Cup. Que sera and all that.