Thanks for stopping by Wolves fan.
I think Nuno has done a decent job for Wolves in overall since taking over, reaching the quarters of EL is never easy and of course, you can’t go further on the conditions that you mentioned (thin squad, tiredness etc.) - but that’s already a nice achievement for you guys.
What I honestly think is that, not only Wolves, but even other similar teams in EPL should prioritize technicality (vision, passes, team-play etc.) rather than physicality a.k.a. pass the ball to Traore and hope that something happens. It might have its sparks, but it’s never good for long term. You can never reach a higher level as a team without technicality and proper team work. Atalanta is relying heavily on team work and is providing very useful for them, they are not very physical or fast, but they play together as a team and not afraid of opponents tougher than them, as could be seen last night as well vs. PSG - that’s a team to admire.
Wolves vs. Sevilla looked like a typical Greece of 2004 team only without the luck. Defending for 90 mins and hoping for some sparks will never get you far, especially in today’s football. If it would still work, Mourinho would still have been a relevant manager, he’s not using such tactics with Tottenham as I could see in some of their matches. The days of Otto Rehagel have ended and cattenacio has died, at least I don’t favor such tactics and for the sake of football, you as fans should not favor them as well. Thankfully a lot of you guys in your forums have despised the strategy of sitting back for the whole game, and Nuno needs to think much better if he wants to step it up with Wolves in the future, otherwise, no one will remember your team.
Sevilla would have never achieved the status it has today, the 5 Europa Leagues (3 ex. UEFA Cup’s) and other glories (cups, supercups etc.) had it played super-defensive football with counters, had it realied only on physicality and pace and had it not been a technical and attacking-minded team. I would personally not have become a fan otherwise, and by knowing some of the guys here, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have become fans either. The ‘exotic’ play of Sevilla is what lured us in and made us love this club and stay with it in better or worse, not defending and hoofing or counters with sparks.
As for Adama Traore, I think his shoulder problems, beside the pushes and pulls that occur in football matches, training etc. - he most likely (logically) aggravated the shoulder injury from the gym by lifting heavy weights to form that physique. So my advise for him as a neutral fan, admirer of pure football is that he should focus more on being a footballer rather than being a bodybuilder for the sake of his career. You can’t have all that muscle and rely on pace only, without proper shooting skills, technique, short passing and long passing vision, decent crosses, headers, smart tackles etc. Otherwise, the likes of Usain Bolt or Tyson Gay would’ve been the best at football, but it doesn’t work like that. He should aspire to reach say Lucas Ocampos’s level or similar, who is an all-rounder and has pace and physicality but doesn’t rely on that only. There is a reason Adama is not called for Spain senior NT mind you.
As for Sunday’s match vs. Man Utd, I know they are infamous for getting penalty kicks and they pressure a lot offensively, but they are beatable and we have a chance against them. We have held Barca to a draw in Camp Nou, we haven’t lost to Atletico in both league matches (1-1 and 2-2 draws), so I’m pretty sure we can eliminate them, considering our current form as well.
However, even if we don’t - I’m still pleased with the season in overall. 4th place in La Liga (should’ve been 3rd as we are better than Atletico on aggregate but they beat us by 4 in goals difference) and semi finals of EL, especially after all this pandemic crap, considering the new manager, new players and stuff, it’s still remarkable.
I’m a bit worried how the team will respond to the next season in terms of physical fitness, will they run out of gas by the second half of the season, will that affect CL performance and such, everything is still unknown while we can only wait and see what happens.
As for Lopetegui, as I said it is still a remarkable achievement this season considering the circumstances, however, I am not 100% convinced by him and he will need to prove himself in the next season as well. I think we played good (especially after the pandemic pause), but relied on luck many times in the first half of the season - where Lope made a lot of managerial mistakes. We have a contract with him for 2 more seasons and if he does decently the next one, then we should definitely extend his contract. The 4-3-3 that he plays requires very decent players to perform and this will also depend on the summer transfer window. I think the 2020-21 season will be key in forming a complete opinion for Lopetegui.
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