Even in defeat, that's a better outcome than I'd anticipated. With the quality Wolves have, and the performances we've produced thus far, I was very worried about getting a right pasting. To have only lost to a late scrappy goal, is in isolation not a terrible result, considering the opposition.
But looking at things in more detail, there are issues.
Aside from a brief spell once Cannon and Ayew had come on, we never really showed a serious intent to win the game, rather just a desire to not lose it.
We were always going to run out of steam in midfield, especially with Arblaster and Phillips starting, and the subs we made didn't give us the best chance of exploiting tired legs in the Wolves defence.
Had we brought on Donovan instead of Ayew, we would have had a more mobile option to carry the ball forward, and pose a threat to their backline. Instead we were relying on a fatigued midfield being able to find pinpoint passes in behind, versus a team that faced that sort of thing last season from teams far better than ourselves. Add to that, the fact that Trippier is only just back from injury, and Donovan could really have had a go at him down that side.
The goal coming so late is tough to take, but we should have conceded a pen for the McGuinness handball anyway. Had we finished 0-0, we would have really gotten away with one for that.
Last point, is once again our dire record at shot-taking. Sky Sports lists us as having 6 shots all game - 1 shot every 15 minutes. Combined with our 37% possession, it suggests that the limited time we had the ball was not used particularly well.
One memorable instance in the 2nd half saw us win the ball in our box, then proceed to play a Hamza-Tanganga-McGuinness passing triangle, before it was given to Cooper to hoof away under pressure. The lack of urgency upon regaining the ball has shown itself in other games this season, and it is a big issue.
We do not have the ability in the squad to pass through/around teams, and we seem quite reluctant to truly commit to playing on the break. Instead we are employing a "worst of both worlds" approach, where we sometimes break away quickly, but only as far as the final third, then the rest of the time there is a lot of plodding aimless passing, which often sees us give the balm away cheaply and end up on the back foot again.
I think defensively we've done okay today. They had a lot more shots than us, but they didn't really have a clear cut chance until the goal. We absolutely need to review how we play offensively though, as we're currently pretty predictable. If we don't find a way to mix things up more, we'll be seeing a lot more games go the same way as today.
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