Not really sure where we go from here. An excellent start in the first ten minutes resulted in a goal, which resulted in Wolves taking every bit of pressure off Leeds. Are we content after scoring a goal to sit back for 80 minutes? In a relegation six-pointer at home? The worst part of it is I don’t even feel as though Wolves played THAT badly to get trounced by Leeds at home. They do a good job controlling the game, and then just have 30 second periods each week where one or two players’ minds go completely blank, and the other team capitalizes every time it happens.
Written by Brandon Rogers
Vitor Pereira – 2
The newly resigned man starts off his contract with an absolute nightmare at home. I liked the starting lineup and was extremely optimistic after the first goal. But why are we sitting back after we score ONE goal? Why is the entire second half being spent with Agbadou (arguably our worst passer) sending blind crosses into the box over and over again without fail? In fact, why is Agbadou even on the pitch after looking like a deer in the headlights for the last three weeks? Why do we continue to play backwards, no matter what the score is? I thought starting a season with 0 points through four games was an odd time to re-sign a manager, but after zero through five it is absolute lunacy.
Jose Sa – 5
Not much to say for Sa. I’m sure other fans will be critical, but I won’t. Free header six feet from the goal, absolute belter of a free kick, and an assist not even Messi could give by Agbadou…again.
Toti Gomes (off at 73’) – 6
I thought Toti was the best of our defenders today. He was very strong defensively and did a good job progressing the ball forward as well.
Yerson Mosquera (off at 73’)- 5
Again, I really just don’t feel like he made any mistakes (fantastic that this is the bare minimum now for a Premier League side). He needs to be better in the air, all of our defenders do. But he did a good job on the ball and did his defensive duties for the first part.
Emmanuel Agbadou – 3
Have to start asking questions about how much longer he stays hammered into our lineup. To say he looks like a shell of himself would be an understatement. He plays a ball on a platter to Leeds, and instead of going to make up for his mistake, he cries for a non-existent handball.
Rodrigo Gomes (off at 45’) – 6
I genuinely love watching Gomes play. He seems to put everything he has into every minute he’s on the pitch, and I just don’t agree with him being pulled off as early as he was. I suppose we needed more defence on the pitch down 3-1.
Jackson Tchatchoua – 6
Another defender who I thought didn’t have a bad game at all. He is so exciting to watch going forward, and does his duties defensively. He can definitely improve his crosses, but I thought he was solid overall.
Ladislav Krejci – 7
An early debut home goal for Krejci was spoiled by the rest of the half. He took his forward runs extremely well, and I thought he did a strong job running the midfield. I look forward to seeing what else he has to offer.
Joao Gomes – 6
He did what Joao Gomes does. Ran around the midfield, made his pivoting passes, and won his tackles. Nothing much to say about him, although I love his consistency in what he does.
Fer Lopez (off at 45’) – 7
A bright spot early on for a lackluster Wolves attack, I was very happy he was started, and much less so when he was taken off at halftime. He looked great on the ball, had an absolute beauty of an assist, and looked to create some more chances outside of the assist. What a wand of a left foot, absolutely think he can catch fire if he gets more consistent minutes.
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde (off at 45’) – 5
As it often feels is the case with Bellegarde, he was kind of just…there. There were a couple of times where he made a good move that resulted in the ball just being pulled back and passed around, and other times where he lost the ball mostly inconsequentially.
Tolu Arokodare – 5
An underwhelming home debut for the Nigerian. I don’t think he’s at fault for most of it (as I think it was mostly by design), but he was nearly invisible for most of the match, outside of attempting to head in a couple of crosses, and, unironically, being our best defender on corners.
SUBS:
Jorgen Strand Larsen (45’) – 4
Again, I just think the way we played made our strikers completely invisible. Larsen is extremely clinical on the ball, but had eight touches, four of which were in the box.
Marshall Munetsi (45’) – 5
He gave us our best chances of the second half, but again just can’t finish them. He is so good at finding the positions to be in, to get the ball in a perfect spot, but just not get that final touch or finish.
Hugo Bueno (45’) – 6
Played some really dangerous balls into the box and defended well on the other end. Also made some good runs.
Andre (73’) – N/A
Similar to Joao, he kind of just does what Andre does. Good job pivoting the ball, good job winning the ball in the midfield, but not much other than that.
Jhon Arias (73’) – N/A
Why is he playing like this in our system? I don’t understand it at all. We bought an absolute star at the Club World Cup, known for creating chances out of nothing, shooting from deep, and who I thought was meant to be a Cunha replacement. Instead, Vitor uses him to just float around and play pivot passes, which, in my opinion, is the exact opposite of what you are supposed to do when losing 3-1.
