Wolves 3 West Ham 1 - Liam Keen and Nathan Judah analysis
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00:00Hello, I'm Nathan Judah. I'm here with World Report. It is Mr. Liam Keane from the Everbank
00:13Stadium in Jacksonville. It has just gone midnight. As you can tell by seeing this image,
00:19it is very hot. It is very humid. I might have to clean it, but you might be able to
00:23see it. You might definitely be able to hear us. All the Hampstead Wanderers 3, West Ham
00:27United 1. That's not a bad start to the Stateside Cup, baby. I mean, they've got one hand on
00:32the trophy, haven't they? Yeah, Wolves, well, he's got to go in and clean it straight away.
00:36This is the problem. It is so humid out here. As you can probably tell by my flushed face.
00:42Yes, really good first half, I thought, from Wolves. Well, or maybe first half of the first
00:47half, rather. Mateus Kunja pulling the strings completely. Dominant. Dominant. Excellent
00:52performance. A little bit deeper. A little bit deeper in that 10-roll behind Larson,
00:55but he does drift over to the left flank or that left-sore pocket, which is where he obviously
01:00played a lot last season and had a lot of success. So it's a position now that is really
01:03suiting him. Even more so, I think, than last season from what we've seen so far. A brilliant
01:08goal, great contribution, and then goes off with injury after 30 minutes. You've obviously
01:13spoken to Gary. A pain behind his knee. They're going to obviously find out a bit more once
01:18it's settled down, but not the best of news. He's certainly not going to play until it's
01:22right. And that's right. They've got to be very cautious, don't they, on this? Yes. His
01:26participation in the US now, at the very least, is certainly in doubt. Certainly in doubt.
01:33But Wolves went through the motions a little bit after he came off. Kudus with an equalising
01:39goal just before half-time. Ain't Norrie maybe slightly too easily lets him out the outside,
01:45but then Dan Bennett's still a lot better. And he'll know that. He's an experienced goalkeeper.
01:48High post, low shot. He should be saving it. And it's 1-1. You need to see how Wolves can
01:55recover from that. And to be honest, neither team really recovered in the first half of
01:59the second half. It was very much a pre-season feel. Going through the motions, both teams
02:02struggling for any impact. Wolves make nine changes and find some impetus, find some momentum.
02:09Bellegarde, I thought, was excellent in that second half when he came on. Pedro Lima, brilliant.
02:19Obviously he gets the assist as well. Brilliant cross for Rodrigo Gomez in the second half.
02:23And then the man himself, Rodrigo Gomez, getting two goals. Two different goals. Arriving late
02:31at the far post. He could have had a third when he arrived on the edge of the box and
02:34it was blocked. Brilliant from him. And having interviewed him, we know how nice of a guy
02:39he is. We want him to do well. So we're really pleased that he's gone and scored those goals.
02:42Amazing start. Like you said, two very different goals for him. There was a bit of added impetus
02:46when these players came on the pitch. And look, you've got to applaud all the players
02:49who played tonight because when we got to the stadium at seven o'clock, or five o'clock
02:53even, I mean it was biblical. It was insane. Two torrential downpours to get a game of
02:59football in is great. And a lot of positives in that Wolves display tonight. And from a
03:03tactical point of view, a very rigid back four and one that Gary Neal said that he's
03:07looking to play for the majority of this season hopefully. Yeah, which is a pretty significant
03:13development. Now we've seen against Como a little bit of a hybrid, albeit a back four
03:17for maybe the majority. We then go into training and we see fairly rigid back fours. And you
03:24see it again tonight and it worked really well, I thought. And it's just allowing Wolves
03:29to have an extra attacking player on the pitch. And that play in Cunha in that ten has really
03:34worked. Wang played there when he replaced Cunha for the rest of that game and so obviously
03:39he came off as well. Wolves have got good options and they've got players to come back
03:42yet. It's a really good start. They deserve the win. As Lopetegui said this press conference,
03:45Wolves deserve to win. And he's right. What was that, they're not good enough? Well, exactly.
03:51And it's a great start. It really is a good start. As you say, considering the issues
03:55with the weather, on gobsmacked the game went on. Great for the fans though. Great for the
04:00fans. Because the fans have travelled, spent a lot of money and there's obviously a lot
04:03of logistical reasons why they needed the game to go on as well. But we saw that pitch
04:07and what it was like on gobsmacked that it went on. But it drained really well and actually
04:12the pitch held up pretty well. A couple dodgy areas but for the most part it held up. One
04:17hand on the Stateside Cup? There you go. Bring it home baby. Asia Trophy, Stateside Cup,
04:22why not? Or Run Cup? We'll take anything. Anyone else? I'll take anything. Wolves are
04:26winning it all. Happy days. It's going to be a trophy parade before Rey of Alicano back
04:29at Bologna. Wolves 3, West Ham United, Julian Lopetegui is West Ham United 1. For all the
04:34post-match reaction make sure you log on to Express and Star. I can't do it because
04:37it's the first game of the season. One second, let me just clean this. One second, it's ok.
04:41Look, it's been great. They've been so hospitable. I can't do it. Don't come!