Hod did Marti get it wrong?

[topperharley]

Aside from another poor goal from a set piece, I think the writing was on the wall the minute they scored. They knew they did not have the quality to risk playing openly in the second half, they also gambled we di not have the quality to open them up. The second half was so poor to watch, we had nothing.

Marti got it wrong by playing Sinclair solo upfront. Stoke had his number and he did not have the skill, patience or nouse to overcome man larking by himself. We were restricted to payling the ball amongst each other waiting for someone to do something, then resorting to hopeful long balls. For a team with now, a good quality midfield it was really poor.

We also got Smyth doing what he does, looking dangerous and getting in behind teams, but against fresh legs, he's not that good or dangerous, he's an impact sub. Our best chances came when Stoke were opened up and the best of them fell to Smyth, the other to Sinclair. Both lacked the quality to finish it.

We should have;
A) Started with Lyndon or Frey with Sinclair, at the expense of Smyth
B) Started with Willock or Andersen instead of Smyth and given Frey a run up front alone, he looked ok when he came on
C) What do you think?

I'm not sure he got it all that wrong last night, we just started with the wrong 11 and the wrong plan, had we not conceded i think we had goals in us even with that plan, Stoke defended hard against a team that don't know how to open up 11 men behind the ball. Had we taken some attacking risks with team selection, we would have done it i think, Stoke were very beatable.

[FurtiveFox]

On paper looked good but as Brian Clough once pointed out football is played on grass. Hodge in a more advanced central role, Chair and Smyth and with Armstrong's pace and strength up front. On paper we should cause all kinds of nightmares for their defence. On grass we had one shot on target in around the first minute ...

However as you say Armstrong lacks the quality and guile at present to be an only striker. We rarely look threatening with one up top. The supposedly more attacking players do not gel, we do not create anything like enough chances and it makes it relatively comfortable for the opposition. We can't control the middle part of the park and seem to have an addiction to switching off at set pieces. Hence we are in deep trouble.

Not to mention that we seem to have ingrained into this side (and not just this season) a bottle it mentality when it comes to key games. Yes we win some but more often than not we don't. So yet again we are in the situation of needing a reaction in the next game as we have farked up. Likely we will be much improved against Bristol City but will still lose narrowly or perhaps nick a draw. Luckily for us Millwall got spanked so one right set of results and we are back in touching distance albeit a wrong set of results would see us worryingly adrift.

Just my view but regardless of what we look like on paper we look far better with two up top and we now have three first team strikers so no excuse not to play that way regardless of who has to be dropped to make way. I was concerned as soon as I saw Armstrong alone up top.

Frustrating thing for me (one of many) is when you look at our lack of injuries we now have a relatively strong first eleven and bench and still look carp. We have strengths and weaknesses like all clubs but if we were starting the season with this lot I would be hoping for decent mid table and some good football. The mentality and balance just aren't there though. If we are going to survive we need to find some backs to the walls grit, be tightly organised and take some risks going forwards. I accept it was a bad day at the office but we are a cat now just about on it's ninth life this season. We cannot afford any more bad days.

[shaggy24]

Tbh topper MC could and should of started two upfront if he'd gone 4312 with chair in the 10 and frey occupied a cb it could of helped sinclair we were miles away from him

2nd half why he only left 1 upfront was just wrong take a defender off go 3 at the back they had no interest in a 2nd as knew we were no threat anda point suited them even if we scored

all in all a bad performance and some bad decisions made by MC especially leaving the diabolical Paal on. I'm far from saying he's a bad manager I just think key games and really important ones Stoke, Huddersfield weds Plymouth we've both not turned up and made some poor options from the off and that will be our downfall if we can't do it now are we good enough to do it when it matters the most I don't think we will against better sides to come

[topperharley]

Willock and Chair, Austin and Dykes are the only combos at the top of the park i've seen combine well over tha last few years, you're right, nothing seems to gel up there at the moment.

Something the Stoke commentators pointed out was how bloody short the 3 behins Sinclair are, Chair, Smyth and Hodge. I got hodge and Chair mixed up quite a bit. Not sure if that makes a difference or is even an advantage, but we looked like a bunch of midgets in that area of the park.

[72bus]

Not to play 2 up front against Stoke , who had lost there last 4 is criminal.
Show some damn intent to go and win the game.
I've seen enough of Sinclair to know he's all brute force but lacks finesse , touch and football nouse .
If u play him , put him with another striker .
Frey scored Saturday but was on the bench last night , that's poor management .
Marti needs to stop setting up defensively and have the belief to go out and take it to teams.

[daveshads]

Another awful watch. I think Marti is taking a long time to understand this league. That might take us down but we really should have wnough to avoid that.

Needs to see that SA has much promise, but starting with him is leading us nowhere, as the big strong Championship defenders can generally deal with him fairly comfortably. Isn't Frey capable of playing 90 minutes?? Should have removed SA much earlier than he did last night. It was obvious.

The Smyth enigma is a strange one. Start/not start. For the second time recently MC took him off and brought on someone who would have benefitted most from his crossing. MC needs to be learning faster than this.

The static nature of our players is indeed a big problem. I think the lack of confidence that they have in each other, doesn't help. Whilst not comparing us to Arsenal, anyone who saw them beat West Ham can't fail to have been impressed by their movement. It was dazzling. Our players are at the other end of that spectrum.

[topperharley]

The static nature of our players is indeed a big problem. I think the lack of confidence that they have in each other, doesn't help. Whilst not comparing us to Arsenal, anyone who saw them beat West Ham can't fail to have been impressed by their movement. It was dazzling. Our players are at the other end of that spectrum.

Finding ways to get them moving off the ball would make such a bloody difference, if Marti wants to play possession football.

[Acton Stations]

Not to play 2 up front against Stoke , who had lost there last 4 is criminal.
Show some damn intent to go and win the game...

Marti needs to stop setting up defensively and have the belief to go out and take it to teams.

Agreed, as we have nothing to defend except our relegation position in the table ...

[Mem]

When the teams were announced, the reaction on Twitter etc was very positive.

Even the subs made zero impact.

Players were subdued for whatever reason.

Very upset and disappointed with that performance

As fans, we are packing our HQ and have a great away following.

We deserve better and the players need to react in the right way with heart and soul! Last night they looked like they didn’t care.

[topperharley]

When the teams were announced, the reaction on Twitter etc was very positive.

Even the subs made zero impact.

Players were subdued for whatever reason.

Very upset and disappointed with that performance

As fans, we are packing our HQ and have a great away following.

We deserve better and the players need to react in the right way with heart and soul! Last night they looked like they didn’t care.

While not saying more effort can be given, i thought the players put a shift in last night. Sinclair's hissy fits at not being able to run or out muscle defenders causing him to stand still and flap everytime it didnt go his way was annoying. But I thought in general the effort was equal to the game plan, and they were certainly trying in the second half, they just weren't good enough to a man.

[Martinmalta]

Major problem for me is that this team do not know how to break teams that defends in numbers. It explain why we always struggle against the lower league teams. On the contrary, the team looks comfortable playing against the more offensive teams and it explains why sometimes we manage good results when least expected. Points dropped against lower table teams may be the cause of us getting relegated. We lost so many points against the bottom teams and if we managed half the points we played for, the situation would have been much much better. We could always take some surprise points when least expected, as we did last season. To be fair to MC, if the players do not turn up its their fault and nothing to do with tactics. I assume they are afraid of the lower teams and it should not be like that. Time to wake up and fight for our lives.

[FurtiveFox]

Statistics only tell part of the story but our recent managers' records:

MC 5-7-7
GA 5-4-19
NC 1-5-6
MB 9-5-8
MW 56-35-59

The above suggests Marti has steadied the ship after our collapse last season and don't forget the similar collapse the season before. Aside from under MB (save last handful of games) we have been possibly the worst team in this division for over two years now. So we have progressed from awful to fairly poor! Combined under GA and NC we had 41 games and if you annualise their record to 46 games it would work out at 30 points.

Not defending last night and am gutted we blew it yet again when we had the chance to move out of bottom three but would not write off Marti. Still think longer term could be good for us regardless of outcome of this season. Not an easy job at all to come into.

[Abseits]

Our shots on target per game stat is pretty ropey under Marti. It's a bit of a blunt/crude stat, a rubbishy speculative toe-poke that has no chance whatsover of going in can count as a shot on target. But, it's a decent indicator about general "intent".

But, as the minutes tick by, and we are just not threatening, I don't understand why a manager doesn't change things? I don't mean just subs, I mean formations and tactics.

Basically, I just cannot understand how a manager can stand by for two hours watching HIS team be so effing docile, lightweight and ineffectual.

I accept that we lack quality and would not carp about getting bossed and nullified by top-half teams, BUT, too many times we've been timid, cautious and one-dimensional against opposition that are as duff as we are. Stoke are appallingly bad but we meekly surrender them a SIX point cushion - it's pisspoor by Marti in my view. He needs to do better.

[topperharley]

last comments from Abseits and Martin outline something we've struggled with since Warbs, which is palying against difficult teams. If the opposition play open footbal we tend to do ok as our players don't need to work so hard for space.

Side note, how do I edit a title? Or can a mod edit it? the typo is doing my head in

[Isleworth116]

Wolves wear sunlight glasses before night games.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/25467574/gary-oneil-wolves-daylight-glasses/amp/&ved=2ahUKEwjp2LSD662EAxWW_rsIHTK4DrUQFnoECBgQAQ&sqi=2&usg=AOvVaw3p6EDrGjgVI8OIby2f4r5L

Increased alertness.