Match Thread: Wolves v West Ham United 6.4.24 KO 3pm
RAN if you can!
By Ivybridge Wolves
April 5 2024
Including the Cup quarter final, Wolves host West Ham on Saturday having gone three games without a win, the last being versus Fulham on 9th March. Additionally, due to the most unlikely Chelsea comeback on Thursday, we have tumbled out of the top half of the table. A fair reflection of the depth of our squad? Quire possibly. Gary O’Neil will certainly want to arrest the winless run and get us back on track, his influence on the side remains key, it is of note this current team, regardless of selection or match situation, refuse to give up and always offer a fight and that’s not just because of the players, this attitude comes from the top. David Moyes praised GON during his Friday morning press conference, quite right too.
An entertaining draw at Burnley at least got the points total ticking along, and perhaps a better result given Burnley’s 10 man draw at Stamford Bridge last week. Ait Nouri again was a standout player, however he will be disappointed with his failure to convert his one on one situation. Nevertheless, a remarkable effort and quite a reaction to the additional responsibility given to him by the manager. ‘RAN’ is most definitely not ‘just’ a left wing back, he offers great all-round play, is positive, attacking and now he’s scored three in his past four appearances (all competitions). Incredibly, he only managed 4 in his first 100 plus matches for us!! A special note also on Tuesday to Jose Sa who provided a solid last line of defence because it absolutely was needed!
Back to the West Ham game, Wolves fans will remember the tepid 3-0 defeat at the London Stadium in December and so will perhaps draw upon more happier memories, recalling we have beaten them twice in a row at Molineux, once under Lopetegui and one under Lage. West Ham have plenty of dangerous and good players, Antonio, Bowen, Ward Prowse, Paqueta, Soucek and the odd unsavoury type, Zouma the cat kicker. Apparently, Areola is injured so Fabianski will play in goal. They make a good side and they remain in the prime seat for another European adventure next season. Some, mainly media to be honest, are looking to make this match a sort of ‘do or don’t’ in terms of European qualification for both sides. Frankly, from a Wolves perspective, I think that’s hype and a distraction, we just need to approach the match positively. The incentive is to get out on the pitch and try to win it, the major prize of the day is that 3 Wolves points means we will overtake them in the league. That for now is surely more than enough?!
O’Neil certainly made some surprise selections to start at Turf Moor, so what’s the situation for this match? It will be highly dependant of fitness and availability once again, so look out to see if Cunha gets a starting berth and also whether Dawson is fit enough to play. Cunha certainly provided more drive when he came off the bench last Tuesday but how many minutes can he tolerate? At Fridays press conference GON said that both Hwang and Dawson trained with the team earlier in the day and that “they'll be reviewed after the session” to assess their involvement in the squad. Dawson’s mere presence provides an extra dimension in defence, and I really hope he’s available. Hwang would be a bit more of a surprise but welcome, nonetheless. How will GON play RAN? Will H. Bueno start? What about the Doc? Will it be Fraser of Chiwome or neither?!! Whatever the line up, with Cunha and the guile of the rest, I think we have more than enough to achieve a positive result.
Some stats for you all! Firstly, we are now on 42 points, that’s 1 more than the whole of last season and worthy of a small celebration! I mentioned we’ve beat West Ham in our last two Molineux fixtures; indeed, we’ve won 4 from 7 in the premier league against the Hammers at home but beware as they’ve won 5 of the last 7 league matches versus us, a remarkable statistical turnaround of fortunes! Generally West Ham games involve goals (their last 20 away matches have provided at least 2 goals) however they’ve only won twice in 2024. Swings and roundabouts, certainly winnable for Wolves.
I will be there and looking forward to hopefully a good performance. Please leave your thoughts, before, during and after the match in the usual manner and however you follow our fortunes, enjoy the game!
UTW!!
11pm 5/4/24
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024:04:25:07:26:47 by Cheshire wolf.
Still no sign of Hwang
Most certainly think we
Will have our work cut out to achieve anything today. Cunha is clearly only considered fit for an also -ran role, and there is a possibility we may see Dawson have a run-our which is likely to be encouraging, but I’m afraid I don’t see Serabia, Lenin’s and Doherty in the same attacking league as their strikers, and we can’t always rely upon Ait-Nouri to produce!
Now Semedo chases down an almost impossible ball and keeps it in & passes to Pablo who has moved into a good position but the ball is smothered by Fabianski
Wolves 1 West Ham 0
Half Time: Wolves 1 Hammers 0
Kudus is more involved so far this half and needs to be watched. Kudus puts the ball on to Emerson’s head and he converts. Play called back he trod on Pablo’s heel - reviewed by VAR and goal
Is denied
Penalty given for hand ball against Max Kilman. No debate about it - it was a poor and unnecessary pass to Toti which caused the problem. Paqueta whips it into side netting giving Jose no chance.
Wolves 1 West Ham 1
Floats a corner over from our right side which evades everyone including Jose Sa and Ito the corner to give West Ham the lead - no real surprise this half it must be said. Talk of ten added minutes
Delighted - we played so well in the first half. After a really tight start, we grew into the first half and by the end we had dominated with not just a deserved lead but with some stylist play, crisp and accurate passing, high energy , fantastic movement and some great individual performances. RAN was terrific as was Sarabia, Doyle, Doherty, Lemina, Gomes, Semedo. Our defence were in control and comfortable. The only issue for me was the slim 1-0 lead.
Gutted 1 - In stark contrast, what a poor, polar opposite performance in the second half. Languid, disjoint, lack of energy, poor ball retention, poor positional play, lack of fight, no attacking intent, sometimes chaotic at the back. We invited pressure and created our own problems, albeit under far more pressure from West Ham, superbly led by Antonio who had come on at half time. An inexplicable turnaround! The events leading up to the penalty were a complete joke of a defensive effort, giving the ball away for fun. Added to that, a wonderful, but heartbreaking once in a blue moon event - a goal direct from a corner. Fluke and wind assisted, maybe, but you can’t deny the quality of Ward-Prowse’s right boot.
Gutted 2 - the disallowed Kilman goal. When all was lost, we equalised, a bullet header from 5-6 yards, the keeper no chance. Joyous!! The ugly spectre of VAR, already overused in the match, raised its head again. I remain firmly of the opinion that whilst Chirewa was in an offside position, he was not interfering with play nor influencing the capability of Fabianski to react to the header. The ball was in the back of the net but any of could blink, never lone the West Ham keeper. Utterly gutted.
Let’s say the journey home could have been better.
. Still on we go, do you know what board member has predicted what score pre kick off BTWQuote:An angry wolf
I noticed the 1-2 prediction and assumed on the percentages it was unlikely to be you Cheshire - how disappointing
No Angry I have no advantage over anyone else in knowing who has forecast what. I can however tell you that I was unable to make my forecast yesterday, and unfortunately unable to do a page for the game as I am in Hospital. Ivybridge on the other hand was at the Grand National. I can only apologise that between us we were unable to provide our usual service.
Quote:Cheshire wolfQuote:An angry wolf
I noticed the 1-2 prediction and assumed on the percentages it was unlikely to be you Cheshire - how disappointing
No Angry I have no advantage over anyone else in knowing who has forecast what. I can however tell you that I was unable to make my forecast yesterday, and unfortunately unable to do a page for the game as I am in Hospital. Ivybridge on the other hand was at the Grand National. I can only apologise that between us we were unable to provide our usual service.
Sorry to hear that Cheshire. Look after yourself
The FA are conducting an investigation 