Wolves Fans' Verdict v Burnley: Embarrassing and unacceptable

Clive Smith

On a positive note, there is one less game to go in this dreadfully depressing season.

You don't need me to say how disappointing the game was. Against a very average side, playing a very predictable style, we made them look like Super League candidates.

Ait-Nouri did well enough but, without exception, every other player was well below par. We seem to have lost much of our identity at the moment. Resolute, hard to break down, organised, good without the ball... there was none of that.

We can pass better, we can tackle better, win more second balls, and use our pace more – we just failed to show it.

We have to learn from this. In fact, the whole season has presented us with a lot of opportunities to identify our weaknesses.

The challenge will be to eliminate them moving forward. Nuno has shown patience with a few players (true, alternatives have not always been there), but there must surely be a realisation that some who played here can not play regularly at the level required to help Wolves progress.

Adam Virgo

Absolutely dreadful and spineless performance all-round from everyone involved.

Losing to anyone at home 4-0 is bad enough, but this was against a Burnley side who were just above the relegation zone and had only scored 13 away goals in the league before this game.

A lack of effort and ambition combined with the wrong set-up and many errors defensively and in possession played a huge part in this performance and result. Burnley ran six kilometres more than us which is staggering and unacceptable from our point of view.

I honestly have no idea what our plan is when we go into a game of football. So many other teams in the league you know what they’re going to give you, but with us there’s nothing. We had that identity in the last few seasons but it’s disappeared and it’s felt like that for the majority of the season.

Not going to point out individuals for their mistakes because there was so many and everyone was terrible. Semedo and Neves were the only two players that looked like they were trying to make an impact. The defending was absolutely diabolical and has been all season.

The only way the fans will be able to even somewhat forgive this is if we beat West Brom next week and in a positive manner too. I’m not confident whatsoever and wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up doing the double over us.

If Nuno sets up with a similar team again then fans will rightly be asking serious questions. The likes of Kilman, Vitinha, Fabio Silva have to start, along with a couple of others potentially. I’d go with a back four because clearly a back five stops us showing any attacking intent and we can’t defend anyway.

If we lose to Albion then I cannot see how Nuno stays in charge. Most fans are understandably not happy with the current situation but the one thing he has got is the fact we’ve finished 7th in both seasons we’ve had fans so the owners may look at that as a reason to stick.

Of course key injuries have played some part but then it’s always been Nuno’s decision to want a small squad so we can’t exactly use that as the only reason as to why we’re struggling.

Our squad should still be good enough to perform better than we have. I desperately want Nuno to turn it around but I don’t see that happening unless he is properly backed in the summer transfer window.

Rob Cartwright

This was a capitulation, right out of the Mick McCarthy era.

Of course, Chris Wood always does well against us, so we would be marking him tightly – wouldn’t we?

It was a fairly open start to the game with little to suggest what was about to unfold.

I was concerned about the number of crosses getting into our box though. It was dangerous playing this way; right into the hands one of Burnley’s main strengths.

Boly had a minute of madness, which was a sign of things to come.

The first one he recovered from with a timely last-gasp tackle, a minute later he ducked and set up Wood nicely to score. It would get worse, with more shambolic defending. Traore somehow passed to the advancing McNeil in our box, who crossed to Wood for his second.

Wolves were punch drunk with a defence who looked as though they had never played together before.

We had handbags on 37 minutes, after a theatrical dive by Podence. Traore can consider himself lucky not to see red after stupidly pushing the Burnley player away in anger.

Wood helped himself to his hat-trick with a header from a corner, a minute before half time. This was set piece defending at its very worst.

So half time, 0-3 down and I cannot recall Dendoncker, Jose or Saiss touching the ball. Podence is clearly not fit, he wasn’t last week and he still isn’t.

It was an embarrassing 45 minutes.

The second half started in the same vein. Vydra nearly scored on 49 minutes, though was rightly judged offside by VAR.

The first sub was on 57 minutes. Positive as in Silva replacing Semedo, but why this wasn’t done at half-time I’ll never know. How Dendoncker stayed on the field too – I’ll never know. He’s not improving; in fact he’s going backwards!

Podence too should have been replaced before 70 minutes.

The only surprise of the second half was that Burnley didn’t score their fourth until 85 minutes.

We’ve seen some bad games, but this one is surely the worst performance of the season. I think the whole spine of our team needs upgrading this summer.

I find it impossible to pick a Wolves man of the match. Either Ait-Nouri or Semedo with a four out of 10 says it all.

Burnley will not have had it easier in the Premier League, ever!

John Lalley

Burnley absolutely outstanding; let’s concede this fact from the outset.

A performance to be proud of; dominant, massively energised and monumentally comprehensive. For Wolves this abject, thumping embarrassment if nothing else should offer a salutary message that must be heeded.

No gain in trolling out the excuses; the Jimenez factor, the loss of Neto, the departures of Jota and Doherty, the extended season and fatigue, safety assured and nothing to play for and Molineux empty of fans.

To hide behind any of this is to disregard the overwhelming evidence that has uncomfortably unfolded during recent months. Our decline in standard is alarming; this hapless surrender proves beyond reasonable doubt that a proportion of this squad now have little or nothing to offer us in the long term.

If Wolves wish to avoid a new season of being reduced to toiling to avoid a relegation scrap, an injection of quality is desperately needed. Players who fit the bill as Premier League competitors not youngsters at varying levels of development who may, or indeed may not become prime footballers in the future.

We need an influx of players who are immediate first eleven starters. Players who will challenge what has become a cosy meal-ticket for too many of our guys assured of selection on a weekly basis regardless of their repeated mediocrity. This would mean shipping out some players who have served Wolves splendidly since Nuno’s arrival.

But that’s football; the alternative in our case is not standing still because we have already degenerated well past that static point, but Premier League oblivion unless this unpleasant nettle is grasped.

There’s no point saying this squad can do so much better; right now, it’s hard to see how much further we can lower our standards. And surely, Nuno and staff must seriously reappraise a staid and negative outlook which has seen us become such a timid outfit, seemingly cowering in our own shadow.

We’ve managed to plug the gaps this season but this is a fading project right now in dire need of some innovation and inspiration.

Russ Evers

Defeat is part of being a football fan. We expect it and the lows are compounded by the highs when we win.

But to turn up with no heart, no desire and seemingly no clue simply does not cut it. A shambles of a show from start to finish with players seemingly stealing a wage all over the pitch.

Embarrassing and unacceptable.