Wolves travel to Burnley today in the hope of getting back into the top half of the table and establishing themselves there, before another two testing matches over the Christmas period.
Having struggled for the initial part of the season, Burnley still find themselves in the bottom three on goal difference, although they are unbeaten in their last two matches. Wolves should be in a very positive mindset after their defeat of Chelsea last Tuesday however they have not won at Turf Moor since 2010, and last season succumbed to a very dubious penalty awarded against Matt Doherty by Mike Dean in the 96th minute.
Coach Nuno Espirito Santo is admitting that he has some injury issues but is tightlipped as to who is involved or how big a doubt they are, but Sky believe that both Leander Dendoncker and Willy Boly are doubts for the game following injuries sustained last week. Owen Otasowie did well when he replaced Dendoncker at half time and may be in line for his first start. Of course Raul Jiminez - who scored a superb reaction goal at Turf Moor last season - and Jonny will still be missing.
Tonight's game will be screened by Sky TV, kicking off at 17:30 hrs and will be refereed by Lee Mason, who last officiated our team in the home game against Newcastle, giving a very soft free kick against Connor Coady which led to a late equaliser.
This board will endeavour to provide regular updates, rather than a commentary, as most fans appear to be able to access the games online. Members are however encouraged to post their observations and opinions.
Match Thread: Burnley FC vs Wolves
Posted by: Wolves (IP Logged)
Date: 21/12/2020 16:18
What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021:01:01:22:14:10 by Cheshire wolf.
Four changes to tonight's starting Xl and Dendoncker doesn't make the squad at all. Owen Otasowie does indeed get his first start in a return to a three man midfield. Fabio Silva, Marcal and Adama Traore drop to the bench. Line-up:
Good to see RAN in the starting lineup again, Nuno probably looking for good support/threat from our wingbacks tonight instead of three up front.
We have the beating of Burnley and hopefully we can get up a head of steam and get a few goals to help our goal difference.
Have predicted 3-0 for Wolves.
Thank me later.
We are supposed to have a small squad but when you see Boly, Marcal, Silva and Vithinha (with of course Adama) on the bench and it shows we are moving along. Hope this is the 'breakthrough' where we do well and get a really positive result.
It will certainly be interesting tonight as there will be no point firing crosses over from the wings with the size of our front two!! Hoping our midfield will come good and perhaps come up with a goal.
I hope Max Kilman will be able to cope against Barnes who was a thug when he came on at Villa, but possibly better for us than facing Rodriguez
Not long finished work and can’t decide whether I’m looking forward to this or not? Trepidation perhaps based on a mixture of form and that we have really struggled v Burnley of late. We used to beat them for fun!!
Anybody know what’s up with Donk? Injured?
Interesting line up for sure - good luck to Otasowie, and the rest of them for that matter
Feel very sorry fro Ben Mee, right back. Gone down again. Originally Got a right clock on the leg from Semedo in a situation where in days of old, the linesman should have put his flag up way before the tackle took place.
Burnley getting into the game now & get a cheap free kick on the edge of our area we’ll dealt with by Semedo
Burnley break & Barnes scores a scruffy goal
B’ley 1 Wolves 0
Their goal, absolutely nobody near the Burnley lad when he made his run and swept passed Kilman, then two on Barnes for the header. Give Barnes the credit for a good finish but dear oh dear .......
Otasowie booked for his latest foul. He’s trying hard but often just to slow. Our threat has subsided considerably as the half has progressed. 2 added minutes played & half time whistle blows
B’ley 1 Wolves 0
Definitely not the worst half of football by us but we did fade as the half went on. Pope has been neat and tidy with a couple of efforts but in general, no Wolves clear cut chances when (once again) we’ve been in good advanced positions.
I thought Otasowie has done okay, got a yellow which maybe was a bit harsh but at 19 he’s promising.
Another match where the commentators will point to our second half stats, presumably.
Who’s going to take this match by the scruff for Wolves? Will Nuno change things at half time? Plenty of early examples in this match to look at for encouragement but have to get on the front foot. Burnley will defend for their lives to retain 3 points.
We need to gain the initiative again as Burnley have a bit of wind in their sails. Fairly even so far and we have good options on the bench to change formation if necessary.
Podence and Neto only threatening from wide areas and no target man.
Air shot by Neves gives Brownhill a chance but he hits the bar. Under the cosh so far
Dreadful defending & Wood smashes in the second
B’ley 2 Wolves 0 VAR check but not offside
All over and our poor performances and lack of goals at Turf Moor continue. A typical Burnley show and they took their chances when they occurred. We are still lacking a striker clearly and the youngsters in our team were outwitted by some of B’ley’s play tonight. Good to see Fabio get his first goal and our first penalty of the season, but too little too late.
It’s not going to get any easier in our next two games that’s for sure!!
Burnley 2 Wolves 1
Happy Christmas Everyone
A lively enough first 15 mins or so but two bad goals to give away, Podence trying to be too clever and a good attack breaks up. Two good saves by Patricio or it could have been a bigger score whereas Pope only had a long range Neves shot to deal with before the penalty. We never looked close to scoring.
At least Fabio struck the penalty well.
Disappointing result. Pleased that Silva has his first goal, showed no nerves which augers well for the future. Generally our passing was very poor leading to breakdown of attacking moves and handing Burnley attacking opportunities. Traore is so frustrating, becoming a bit of a one trick pony and he must start to add to our attacking threat, can’t remember when he last scored or made an assist. I used to get excited when he came on but now resign myself to watching him put over the occasional cross which may or may not be effective, generally the former. Why he doesn’t drive into the penalty area more often is beyond me.
Vintinha is looking more assured each time I see him and Otasowie did well. RAN did ok but I would like to see him given some license to drive forward as he does seem to have the pace and skill.
Hopefully Coady not a long term injury.
Not to be tonight, onwards and upwards.
Shame about the football. Very lightweight up front tonight, despite an encouraging open 20 minutes. The old adage still applies, need to score when on top. The last 70 minutes were poor. Plenty not to be impressed by up front and inexplicably sixes and sevens at the back far too often.
I’m pleased Silva got his goal, neatly and confidently finished but we have to strengthen up front. Someone to hold it up, keep the ball, muscle the opposition ...... and shoot!!
Wonder how long we’ll continue with these short corners as well? Anything to do with me, bin them now.
1 step forward and 2 back. January window is looking even more important.
Spurs and Manchester United next up. We probably have two blinders!!
Absolute dross all over the pitch, only Patricio comes out of it with any credit for keeping the score down. Burnley wanted it more than us which is very disappointing. I love NUNO but I think he got the starting line-up wrong tonight. With raul out the kid fabio has to start the game for me. We desperately need a decent striker in January who put the chances away Neto and podence create. I think it's going to get worse before it gets better and we have to take it on the chin. I see NUNO has had a go at the ref mason after the game. Although he was poor sadly we can't blame him for such a poor performance. I've got faith in NUNO to put things right but we are so inconsistent I can't see us challenging the European places this season hope I'm wrong. Happy Christmas everyone let's hope we put in a better showing against spurs.
Spends a proportion being highly critical of Lee Mason. And he was agitated, certainly not the norm. I couldn’t say the ref tonight was any worse than what we have seen in other matches e.g Mike Dean.
Yes, we played well below par with a poor result in this topsy turvey (performance wise) season thus far, but I’ve not seen him like that before. Our efforts won’t be helping one bit, but started thinking if anything else has precipitated his reaction? Truly hacked off with the ref, players peeing him off, pressure from above, exasperated with Covid-19, potential difficulty in the transfer market, who knows.
Nuno may or may not be right but it's no good blaming the referee. He wasn't the reason we played so badly. They can't do anything about the referee, they should be concentrating on what they can improve on, which last night was most of it.
I'm more concerned about what's happened to Neves than the referee. Apart from the odd match (Chelsea for instance) he's a shadow of the player he can be.
Andy Fincher
I'm more concerned about what's happened to Neves than the referee. Apart from the odd match (Chelsea for instance) he's a shadow of the player he can be.
I have to agree Andy. I love him generally but he was very poor again tonight - Rui had to come to his rescue after an airshot in the area, and his free kicks just don't trouble anybody any more. I suspect that Vitinha is coming close to keeping him out of the side for a while.
Difficult to disagree with either of you there. As for Nuno’s comments on the ref, baffling really and for the first time for the manager I love too, I’ve sat and listened and shaken my head in annoyance. We need to concentrate on our own stuff ...... we were poor and the ref did not influence the match at all.
Also, another little moan, I’ve been reading a lot the last 24 hours. Quite a few comments from some Wolves fans (not any I’ve read on here I might add) being highly critical of the Burnley style of play. ‘Cloggers’, style of football etc. It takes me back to Magic Merlins days in in the prem particularly when he was using the the players and budget at his disposal to do the best he could for Wolves and despite a rotten end, he kept us up for 2 seasons with some notable and fantastic wins. We were called cloggers and similar back then by some fans ...... we’ve come a long way, it’s been utterly terrific but a bit of humility and memory from some of our fans wouldn’t go amiss. Additionally, recognition that we were cr@p last night, that Burnley were the better side (attacked us at will at times, particularly in the crucial period after half time) and might be more appropriate way to react to our pre-Christmas horror show!!
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment.
We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals.
We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards.
If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing
abuse@sportnetwork.net