Wolves Fans' Verdict v Spurs: Another capital victory

Whether it be White Hart Lane, Wembley or the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Wolves regardless of the venue, never appear in the slightest bit fazed at taking a tilt at Spurs in London.

This was the perfect response to the inexplicable lapse suffered against Brentford. Possession statistics barely carry any relevance in football these days. Spurs enjoyed – if that is the right expression – more than 70 per cent of game-time on the ball. Which counted for virtually nothing as Wolves created the better chances and only our own profligate finishing prevented a final scoreline of comfortable proportions.

Ultimately, the injured Matheus Cunha wasn’t missed; just the same, given the acres of space Wolves were creating, the Brazilian had he been around might have filled his boots in similar fashion to his exploits at Stamford Bridge.

Having conceded horribly from corners in recent games, it was deeply satisfying to find ourselves cashing in this time around. Joao Gomes might have been the smallest player lurking in the penalty area, but leaving him unchallenged proved an outrageous error. Diminutive in stature he may be but the dynamic header he powered home would have done full credit to Derek Dougan. Andy Gray wouldn’t have turned his nose up either.

He really is a pocket dynamo is Gomes; fiercely competitive, maturing almost with every game and increasingly influential in just about everything Wolves are trying to achieve. His energy levels are boundless; over an hour gone on the clock, he’s been defending for his life, makes another interception in his own penalty area, feeds the rampaging Neto and gallops eighty yards to take the return pass. The finish is decisive; cool and concise with ruinous consequences for the opposition.

Wolves should have added to their tally and the wastefulness could have spelt utter frustration had Ben Davies not missed a glorious late opportunity to equalise. Conceding such a scrappy goal mere seconds after the interval threatened to undo all the previous good work. The players must have been absolutely deflated. But to stand firm, resist capitulating, defend solidly and ultimately regain the initiative says much about the character of this squad.

This against a top six team, at their own grandiose arena with Champions’ League aspirations on their agenda. Wolves have overcome some mountainous odds starting before a ball was kicked in pre-season; the wheels were supposed to come flying off. Well, they haven’t and frankly, it’s a remarkable effort all round.

Clive Smith

I’ll be honest – I didn’t really fancy us at kick-off. No Cunha, a depressing result last week with a tired-looking squad against a quick attacking side.

What do I know! Instead we put in an excellent team performance with a terrific energy level – you could see that as some players collapsed exhausted at the final whistle.

Despite having far less possession we’ve rarely created as many good clear chances. Hwang, Neto, Sarabia twice and Bellegarde could have prevented a tense final 15 minutes.

Gary O’Neil deserves credit for the way he set the team up. Not so much the team selection, that picked itself, but the way he got them to exploit the space Spurs gave then defending diligently in and around our box. The ‘whole package’ worked a treat. Gomes, all 5ft 9 inches of him, scoring with a header from a corner might not have been in the script but it was a welcome reward for our first half endeavour.

Spurs had a high defensive line which allowed forward passes wide to Neto and Sarabia in particular and they were ably supported by Ait-Nouri and Semedo.

1-0 did not flatter us, which made the equaliser inside the first minute after the break, all the more frustrating. It was a silly, highly preventable goal that Dawson and Sa should have done better with. The momentum swung, a frustrated Spurs had suddenly got their mojo and it looked like Son might spoil our day.

Thankfully that situation lasted barely 15 minutes. The team showed great bouncebackability and an excellent break saw Neto cross for that man Gomes to get his second.

It looked like backs to the wall for half an hour, but actually it wasn’t. We continued to look the most likely to score and indeed it was disappointing we did not because our chances were good.

Defensively our tackling was good and well timed – dribbles in our box saw Toti, Semedo, Dawson and Kilman all make timely interventions to protect our goal.

Gomes deserves MOTM for his non-stop tackling as well as his excellent finishes. It been a puzzle why, after scoring on his debut, its taken until now (his 33rd game) for him to get on the scoresheet again. Honourable mention should be made of Semedo, again our best defender, and Sarabia who worked harder out of possession than in any other game he’s played for us.

Doing the double over Chelsea and now Spurs is no mean feat.

Rob Cartwright

This was the perfect counter-attacking display to produce a deserved away win in London. We had chances to score more goals with seven shots on target and gave away a sloppy goal to make the game more uncomfortable than it should have been.

It’s hard to understand these are the same players who were unable to score last season, though we have one vital addition with Neto back from injury and back to his best.

It was a fairy open first half with both teams creating opportunities. Wolves certainly had the best chances and with Sarabia, Hwang and Semedo missing good ones we began to feel this would prove costly.

However, late in the half we scored with a Gomes header from a corner. What a great time to score. We were ahead at the break.

Lemina and Gomes were bossing the midfield winning loose balls and making tackles to win possession. Semedo too was having a good game.

Unfortunately, we were asleep at the start of the second half. A sloppy goal that I expected Dawson to deal with, though this was not without controversy that was not picked up by TV.

The goal came from a throw in straight from the restart.

Why allow the throw in to be taken 10 yards away from where the ball went out of play. The linesman was standing right by where it went out, but the player walked back up the line, thus improving their angle and leading to the goal.

Nevertheless, Dawson should have dealt with it. They were level after 32 seconds!

Had the pendulum swung into Tottenham’s favour?

It had not. Just like Chelsea away two weeks ago the team stuck to the game plan which was clearly to win the game. This appeared to be another tactical masterclass from Gary O’Neil.

Though Spurs had most possession, we looked the most dangerous.

Another common feature produced our winning goal. Like West Brom away this came from an opposition corner. This must be a tactic prepared on the training ground.

When Gomes won the loose ball on the edge of our box, Neto was already making moves forward and in space. Gomes played to him and he went off like a rocket towards goal. The fear was that no one would get into the box, but Gomes took charge and entered the box just as Neto was about to pull back his cross. He hit it first time to score his second.

We haven’t seen celebrations like this since …………..Chelsea away, in fact!

There was still half an hour to play and we didn’t let Spurs get a foothold. I can only recall one save by Sa.

It did become tense towards the end, but it didn’t feel like we were holding on.

A well-deserved three points on the road. I love the celebrations at the end, both on the pitch and in the changing room.

Of course, to make this count, we must beat Sheffield at home next week.

At home and against the bottom team, this will be a very different game and will require a different game plan. Let’s hope we’ve learned from the Brentford game.

Stephen Jackson

Confessions of a stateside Wolves fan!

Confession #1: I truly did not see this result coming. I fully expected us to lose 2-0 or 3-1 or something like that, especially with Maddison back in the Spurs team and Son returning from Asia Cup duties. Throw in there that Cunha is out for some time and all I could see was a routine Spurs home win. But, wow, was I mistaken. Once again Gary O’Neil proved the mindset masterclass he has developed amongst the squad, shrugging off the loss to Brentford and applying a brilliant game plan from start to finish! I should have paid attention to the fact that Spurs had replacement full backs in the side and that Neto would relish going up against Royal and co. Never been so thrilled to be wrong about a result!

Confession #2: I don’t fancy the red kits at all, when we played Everton it looked like a Merseyside derby! However, we have turned out some decent results in the red kits of late! Enough of them to prod me to consider some early Christmas shopping from the club shop!

Confession #3: I had resigned myself to losing Neto next summer, however after Saturday’s match I’ve changed my mind. Neto is truly back to playing some of his best football and watching his body language after he set up Gomes for the second goal I just have this calm feeling that he will stay with Wolves for a few more seasons. Something is truly building under GON and Neto is a key piece to that right now. He brings a leadership out wide that is rare for wide players and seems so hungry to push Wolves further and further. I am quietly optimistic that we will build an even more formidable front line over the next few seasons and Neto will enjoy his football even more.

What a run of away performances we are on, quite different than the Nuno days, and with an FA Cup match v Brighton at home to come, it is gearing up for a really exciting run in!