Manager Watch: Ange Postecoglou

[Ghost Hardware]

Love him but found his starting 11 surprisingly cautious. That defence and midfield didn’t sit right with me at all. I feel like he compromised far too much and it cost us. Fair enough if we had lost with likes of Phillips and Lo Celso starting. Or if they were so bad they had to be subbed. At least the proactive intention would have been there. There are no players that we have that are going to make up for the likes of Maddison and VDV but at least we can pick players that have similar mindsets even if they aren’t at the same technical level.

Picking that back line and midfield is going to only lead to one thing - sideways passing, a loss of control in key areas and a monumental lack of creative thinking. If Wolves were even semi competent in attacking areas we could have been owned convincingly. Very negative team selection for someone who seems so determined to attack. Hopefully he has learned from this and decides to take a more positive risk even if it ends with the same final score.

 

[knowlespurs]

For someone so brave think far too cautious today , could have blooded dorrington or Phillips and that midfield selection caught up with us in the end, could have picked kulu, glc, gill or even donley in the Maddison role , as it was little connectivity to the front 3 and in the end we got what we deserved
Ange compromised today and it cost us

 

[carpediem1906]

Dier, Davies and Hojberg shouldn't start again for us and Emerson shouldn't be starting at left back.

Play the youngsters as at least they have a chance of getting better.

I said the same myself but to be a bit more circumspect, I’ve since amended this to “I don’t want to watch Dier Davies n PEH start together ever again”

 

[SargeantMeatCurtains]

Mental that we thought we had navigated the choppy waters of a manager of the month curse when instead we’re getting 3 times the amount of manager of the month curse in one go.

 

[mil1lion]

I've said before but the more of the squad players we start the progressively worse we get. Today was like the cup game against Fulham even though we had a few more first teamers maybe this one. It seems to have a knock on affect throughout the team. You end up having players who play a lot worse as a result. Our midfield looks worse with the weaker defence behind them and look so much more assured with VdV and Romero behind. It was like it with Lloris too, it just filters that uncertainty around the team. That's how it feels with that defence but we really missed Maddison today. The better we keep the ball up the field the less pressure on the defence. I'm really concerned for Ange now with 2 first teamers out for a couple of months. We get Udogie back but Bissouma misses the next one. It's just a good job we got such a strong start because this 2 months are going to hit us hard. We need a big January for Ange too. For me it feels like we are where Arsenal were season before last, a good first team but poor squad. They had a good summer and strengthened the squad to challenge the following season.

 

[rossdapep]

Love Ange but he deserves criticism for today. He talks about being brave but stuck with Eric Dier who he himself knows is the opposite profile of defender required for his football to work.

He also deserves time to work through that and come up with a solution.

 

[ajspurs]

Love him but found his starting 11 surprisingly cautious. That defence and midfield didn’t sit right with me at all. I feel like he compromised far too much and it cost us. Fair enough if we had lost with likes of Phillips and Lo Celso starting. Or if they were so bad they had to be subbed. At least the proactive intention would have been there. There are no players that we have that are going to make up for the likes of Maddison and VDV but at least we can pick players that have similar mindsets even if they aren’t at the same technical level.

Picking that back line and midfield is going to only lead to one thing - sideways passing, a loss of control in key areas and a monumental lack of creative thinking. If Wolves were even semi competent in attacking areas we could have been owned convincingly. Very negative team selection for someone who seems so determined to attack. Hopefully he has learned from this and decides to take a more positive risk even if it ends with the same final score.

Lo Celso was the biggest one for me personally. Our defence is of course going to cause problems but I think we could have gotten away with it today had we had someone in that midfield who is more renowned for his forward and creative passes.

 

[-Afri-Coy-]

It's always been a bit of both mate

Just trying to lighten the mood so I don’t fall into a deep depression

 

[13VanDerBale13]

Really concerning post match quotes, if he’s happy with what he saw.

 

[rossdapep]

I’m not hanging dier and Davies out to dry , they were fine today , they showed some fight , I thought kulu , son , Sarr and bissouma were awful . Today was a fight and they didn’t show any I’m afraid . There was an element of Conte ball today but as a team we need to also be able to kill a game off and the fact we kept hurrying throw ins and goal kicks when we were 1 up showed total naievity and really poor game management. We nearly dropped points at Luton and palace very late on shows today was not a one off . Plenty of work to do and long and painful end to 2023 I’m afraid .

Deki absolutely wasn't awful.

Was absolutely busting a gut out there.

He made a couple of poor choices with the ball but showed great awareness for first goal and almost teed Lo Celso up for a winner

 

[Ghost Hardware]

Lo Celso was the biggest one for me personally. Our defence is of course going to cause problems but I think we could have gotten away with it today had we had someone in that midfield who is more renowned for his forward and creative passes.

Agree. Honestly don’t know why he went with PEH instead. Very negative choice.

 

[the shelf]

Really concerning post match quotes, if he’s happy with what he saw.

I suspect he knows he’s stuck with these players for a while, no point digging them out when we have at least two months of having to play them!

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Then he has to take risks as far as personnel are concerned. I'd have been far happier taking a loss whilst blooding youngsters who are the future of the club over players that been here too long and have no future here at all.

agree but I wonder if Ange will realise these guys aren’t up to it and use the youngsters from now on or is there just too big a gap right now and say we played Phillips against City with Dier or Davies and we get pumped big time that’s not a good start to the lads career with us

 

[jakuba]

I suspect he knows he’s stuck with these players for a while, no point digging them out when we have at least two months of having to play them!

Exactly - we’ve seen over an over again you can’t drag your players in public. Just have to hope he’s saying the right things behind closed doors. That and that he’s seen enough from the fringe players to know they don’t have a future here and that blooding the youngsters can’t be any worse performance-wise but there’s at least an upside of their development.

 

[Misfit]

It's time the club adapted and got a squad assembled which is good enough to compete over an entire season. Hardly asking the world of a *checks notes* professional football club.

If Ange (and I don't think he will for one second, nor should he) compromises and bends his entire footballing philosophy and system to accommodate the long-standing failings of the higher-ups then he's already finished here and the appointment was for nought.

As it is, he won't and it seems clear even to someone who has had issues with DL/ENIC down the years that they are willing to adapt and have already made moves to address delivering that squad finally. A little patience is needed RN. If not then we'll know soon enough.

 

[13VanDerBale13]

I suspect he knows he’s stuck with these players for a while, no point digging them out when we have at least two months of having to play them!

Let’s just hope when he watches the game back, he realises he needs to take a different approach.

 

[Pekoni]

I'd guess he doesn't really want to slag off the team, but some of them might be surprised to be on bench and replaced with youngsters next game.

 

[Trix]

I think people may be more accepting of the losses whilst playing youngsters now they've seen the alternative.

Anyone who didn't know what the alternative offered haven't been watching us for the last 3 years.

 

[cliff jones]

We lost the game because we had no control in possession or threat going forwards. That’s not on Dier, that’s on the whole team.

It’s more on Dier than you think. CBs get lots of touches and he just doesn’t progress the ball into the midfield. That’s in addition to his lumbering defending.

 

[thebenjamin]

Then he has to take risks as far as personnel are concerned. I'd have been far happier taking a loss whilst blooding youngsters who are the future of the club over players that been here too long and have no future here at all.

Yeah, but there's also the damage you can do to the kids if you think they're not ready and they cost us the game.