Wolves Fans' Verdict v Villa: A double derby delight

Clive Smith

How are your nerves? Over the Leeds game yet? How many times did you think of that game? By 5pm, all those feelings were done with. A well deserved win.

Hardly a normal day at the office, remember when it was always 0-0 at half time. Two goals again before the break and it could easily have been more. Our counter attack, and the ball over the top for Silva, was proving to be a solid approach. A third goal would have been nice.

Our risk and reward approach meant we built up from the back, often slowly, but inviting tackles and challenges. When it worked we were able to transfer the ball quickly and find players in space. It pulled Villa out of shape and we looked likely to score every time we attacked. That’s not something you can say often. The downside was that we often lost possession cheaply.

With no Neves available Bruno put his faith in Moutinho and Dendonker. Neither let him down. The former refused to be out muscled and helped us in transition. Other than a woeful shot on goal, Dendonker did a huge amount of the ‘dirty stuff’ and between them they picked up lots of second balls.

Defensively we were over worked at times and there were lots of headers, blocks and tackles to be done. Sa was called on to make two wonderful saves – both at a time when 2-1 would have shifted the momentum against us.

How vital our wing-backs are to our game plan was shown again as both goals came from those positions.

In attack MOTM Silva had his best Wolves game. He showed more strength than in the past and was better at finding space with his runs. A challenge on Mings where he won the ball and ran away from him was something new in his repertoire. He toiled away non-stop. Podence was lively but wasteful with his passing while Trincao started well but then began struggling to retain possession when we most needed him to keep hold of the ball.

One consistent theme with us is how the sum of all our parts is greater than any individual. We have demonstrated this many times and again, despite missing two key players in our starting XI, we were still particularly well organised in defence and carried a threat in attack. A job well done.

Russ Evers

Wolves 2 Villa 1. Looks great to complete the double but says little about the game.

Wolves 12 Villa 0 would have been a more apt summary.

We dominated from the start and the fact that it was only 2-0 at the break was down to missing a host of great chances.

Quite how the referee, who was pathetic all game, decided it was a penalty on 85 minutes is subject to debate but if this was reviewed by VAR then I am sorry the game has gone. What a farcical decision where we should have been awarded a free kick and Watkins booked for an assault on Jose Sa.

Luckily it counted for little and we deservedly won the three points and a West Midlands double, but VAR and the standard of refereeing must be thoroughly investigated as at present we as a nation are a laughing stock.

Rob Cartwright

This was a great team performance from Wolves.

It will have sent shivers down the spines of the the Premier League hierarchy. Yet another atrocious penalty decision by an abysmal referee, supported by VAR meant it wasn’t as comfortable as it should have been at the end.

When the chips are down the squad, led magnificently by Coady, gets stronger and the Molineux crowd creates the added impetus when expectations are lower.

With Neves, Jimenez, Semedo and Neto all not likely to feature it was thought Villa were playing us at the right time. Little did they know that Moutinho would play the game with the energy and legs of a man ten years younger!

He simply controlled the midfield, purring like a finely tuned Rolls Royce and supported so well by Dendoncker. Wolves continued playing the ball out from defence in the knowledge that Villa were unlikely to get the ball from us. In fact, the only time they gained possession was when we made a stray pass (we did this too often in the first half). Coutinho was completely anonymous and was substituted after 74 minutes having contributed nothing.

We scored right on track, as had taken control of the game by seven minutes. Shots by Podence and Silva were blocked with Jonny firing home the rebound. He’s a man on a mission to make up for lost time following injury.

Silva had a good chance to add to this when he skipped around Mings with the ball.

Bailey too had a very good shot saved by Sa.

We waited half an hour for the deserved second goal. It was a superb cross from Marcal and Ashley Young did so well to stoop low and get his header on target, under the challenge of Trincao.

Silva had a fine game. His strength and positional strength has improved significantly. He had another chance to score but was denied by a good save.

Watkins had Villa’s best two chances and should have done better when one-on-one with Sa.

Villa fans were leaving in high numbers before the penalty. I’ve spoken to no-one who didn’t consider it to be a foul on Sa, by Watkins. Wolves and Villa fans were alike on this one. Just the referee and VAR who saw it different then!!!

Didn’t Jimenez get a booking and then red card for a similar challenge?

The penalty meant it was a nervous finale and Cash had chance to grab a draw. This would have been a travesty in all honesty. It was the right result and keeps the season alive with seven games remaining.

Matt Cooper

Well you can’t really ask for much more. Three points over your rivals, in stunning fashion and on another day, it could’ve been five or six.

After a shaky first five minutes, I felt that Villa just didn’t know how to handle Wolves both in and out of possession. On many occasions Villa’s usually competent wing play was completely thwarted by Wolves’ shape which left massive gaps for Wolves to advance into and it caused Villa so many problems all game.

Moutinho rolled back the years and was the best player on the pitch, Trincao was more impressive and should’ve scored and Fabio Silva looks re-born at the age of 19! He showed real maturity leading the line and bullied the Villa defence all game.

Villa grew into the game in the second half and it got a little shaky towards the end when it really didn’t need to be. We must get better at managing games out and taking our chances, but apart from that, it was a wonderful performance.

Adam Virgo

No Neves, no Raul, no problem? Absolutely huge win considering we were missing two key players, everyone stepped up and put a brilliant performance in.

The scoreline flattered Villa if anything, too. It was great to see us punish the opposition after we won the ball high up for the opening goal.

Podence got a lucky break from Konsa slipping but we made the most of it. Cracking finish from Jonny too, the technique was sublime. We were very comfortable at half time, could have had an even bigger lead too with some chances near the end of the half.

Second half we continued to cause problems and should have killed the game off with the Hwang chance. Villa really struggled in trying to break us down and when we won the ball we were ferocious on the break.

Dendoncker and Moutinho did a quality job in midfield to win the ball back consistently, we made sure we pressed Coutinho quickly and didn’t give him the space to hurt us.

The penalty decision was a poor one having seen it back, if anything Watkins goes into Sa and it’s another decision going against us. Marcal had one of his better games so deserves a lot of credit for that. Looked a lot better going forward and his cross for the second goals was class.

Fabio Silva is a baller too, he was fantastic. Showed loads of aggression, created his own chances as well as ones for others and put himself about well. Defensively I thought we looked solid for the most part, Kilman did fantastic on the left while his counterpart on the Villa side was the complete opposite.

John Lalley

This was excellent therapy; the hangover from the Leeds game has festered incessantly given the desperate circumstances of that defeat.

Easy to be critical and hard to be impartial, but after the officiating in that game and the erratic eccentricities of Darren England in this encounter, patience is strained to breaking point. England was determined to let the game flow and that in itself is an admirable approach, but his leniency and inconsistency simply incensed both teams who were both pitched to boiling point with perceived injustices.

Inevitably, he surrendered control and a game that was never approaching any real measures of bad temper ended with an unseemly brawl. Premier League referees really are a grossly overrated species, convinced of their own infallibility, insufferably smug and worst of all, frequently incompetent. Truly a breed apart.

However, fear not; one semblance of succour emerged from a quiet Premier free week. That ham-actor, the thespian supreme, The Wirral’s very own antithesis to Sir Laurence Olivier, Mike ‘Nelly’ Dean has wiped the greasepaint off his whistle and with the dramatic tragicomedy reserved for RADA’s finest announced his retirement from refereeing.

No doubt with the intention of spending more time with himself to bolster his skyscraper of an ego. Narcissism never recruited a more committed, self-obsessed devotee; the brandishing of brightly coloured cards will never be administered with such theatrical aplomb ever again. Give yourself a red one Nelly! Exit stage left and please keep walking to the nearest diva’s dressing-room. Much overdue relief from a constant thorn in our side; extricated at long, long last. Sheer bliss! Heaven grant that Wolves avoid his final curtain call!

With or without Darren England, Wolves should have been out of sight before half-time and all credit to Bruno Lage for his attacking intentions given that we had significant absentees.

With Villa floundering as Wolves tore gaping holes in their defence, we squandered any number of gilt-edged opportunities. We almost wasted Jonny’s opener through being too elaborate and the second goal was pure comedy. Visions of Dave Wagstaffe’s left flank crosses sprang to mind as Marcal overlapped and Ashley Young did a quite splendid tribute act to Derek Dougan by leaving Martinez motionless with an exquisitely placed header into the top corner.

The Doog even though he would have insisted otherwise, couldn’t have bettered such a finish!

We should then have proceeded to bury the Villa but we almost paid a heavy price for our profligacy. With the always available, play it to me, Joao Moutinho outclassing the much-vaunted Coutinho and Leander Dendoncker effectively locking midfield, Wolves were on easy street.

Now Fabio Silva is no great finisher but he held the ball up front to great effect. Raul Jimenez has found this vital aspect progressively more elusive as the season has worn on and so often this has resulted in Wolves being squeezed. He’s physically more powerful than Fabio and a much likelier scorer but Fabio contributed on Saturday and Tyrone Mings found himself frequently hustled by the youngster. What a couple of goals would do for his confidence!

Jose Sa had made one brilliant save in the first half and even though we effectively managed most of the second period, Sa still excelled when called upon. He cleverly foxed Ollie Watkins into spurning Villa’s best opportunities and was understandably miffed about the penalty awarded against him and the resultant unnecessary tense finale to a comfortable win.

We expect so much of our players. On one isolated occasion in that second half, Sa totally unnecessarily chose to hopefully fist away a cross ball rather than collect it faultlessly as he had done all game. Like most of the Wolves’ support, I found myself shrieking like an absolute clot at our keeper before sanity prevailed and I came to my senses. This guy has been sensational all season, staggeringly good and there I am bellyaching over one slightly questionable approach.

Sa like every other keeper will make a mistake infrequently, but the bloke is inspirational. Alisson, de Gea, Ederson, you can keep them for me. I wouldn’t swap our guy for any of them.

Boly, Coady and Kilman all defended with real purpose and determination as the demons of Leeds were expunged. Knowing the giant behind you between the sticks is someone like Sa must boost your confidence before a ball is even kicked.

The final whistle was a relief, just about Darren England’s best call all afternoon, but we deserved this win and satisfyingly, there was not a single Wolves player who had not contributed fully.

Not for the first time with this group, kick in the teeth despondency has been answered positively. Still sore about Leeds but with Villa seen off home and away the healing process accelerates!