Arsenal 2 Wolves 0 - Liam Keen and Nathan Judah analysis
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Hello I'm Nathan Judo, I'm here with Wolves bodies, Mr Liam Keighley has finished Arsehole 2 Wolves 0. Interesting game, what did you make of it overall?
00:18Yeah, Wolves were a little bit all over the place in the first half, particularly defensively. Now, they actually had a lot of possession early on, the first 10 minutes of the game.
00:26And once they had to start playing from the back, because they had that possession, they had the opportunities, they were playing from the guys XR, pivoted off Mario Lamina out wide.
00:35Some of them worked on a lot in training, some of them watched a lot in pre-season, and they were making mistakes.
00:40Totti Gomez, who I'm a massive fan of, I think he's an excellent footballer, and potentially is worth giving a Wolves shirt in that first half.
00:47Much better in the second half, but a lot of mistakes in that first half, really, really poor for a player who's a bit more experienced now and Wolves need to step up.
00:54So, disappointed from him, but the team didn't particularly play well at all as a cohesive unit in that first half.
01:01However, they create one massive chance, of course they go 1-0 down, pretty poor defending, really, to go 1-0 down.
01:08And they create one massive chance, Wang whips it in for Larson, and it's a fantastic header.
01:14Unfortunately for Wolves, it's an equally as fantastic save from David Reier, and Wolves were unable to get themselves back into back level before the break.
01:24Second half, a lot better, a lot better, a lot of momentum, a lot of dominating the ball, looking after him, a lot better, finding space out wide, creating chances.
01:32But you don't take the chances, and a team like Arsenal will punish you, and they get the second in a disappointing fashion for Wolves.
01:39It's a shame really, isn't it, because we said before the game, just get through that first half an hour, there were nerves there.
01:45Especially when you've got a new back four, when you've got, obviously, Matt Doherty, who by the way I thought was absolutely excellent today.
01:49Even though he lost 2-0, he was absolutely excellent today.
01:52But, to get Totti, to get Joost Muschera through that first half an hour, and they didn't quite get there, did they?
01:58Disappointing goal to give away. In fact, both goals were preventable, really.
02:01Yeah, yeah, exactly. The first one, I think Lamina could come out to Saka, better close him down, better let him get the cross in.
02:07Sarr comes to claim it when he probably doesn't need to, obviously doesn't get there.
02:12And Havertz makes the run on Muschera, comes in out of nowhere, Muschera's not really aware of him, wins the header and it's a goal.
02:19And the second one, again, Saka involved, comes in off the right-hand side, onto his left foot.
02:24We all know, as good as he is, we all know what Mikhail Saka wants to do, and that is find his left foot.
02:28And Ryan Aitkenory gives him a yard, first of all, but shows him onto his left foot as well, and that's a big error.
02:33Shows him onto his left foot, the shot is good, but Sarr, again, beaten at his near post.
02:37So, from both Aitkenory and Sarr's perspective, in that second goal, I think they're both really disappointed.
02:42And another bad time to give the goal away, to give the second in, because Cunha's on the pitch, they're looking more threatening, aren't they?
02:46And they're creating chances, probably having their best period of play, those 15, 20 minutes beforehand, and then they give away too little, and then it's game over, really.
02:52Yeah, that second goal killed the game, because Wolves were looking strong to try and get back into the game.
02:57They were really creating chances, they were fine, as I say, finding space out wide, putting Arsenal under a lot of pressure.
03:02Arsenal giving the ball away, then Saliba gives it away, and Cunha has an opportunity.
03:05But they don't take advantage of that opportunity, and a team like Arsenal, as I say, who are very, very good going forward,
03:10are going to punish you eventually if you don't take those opportunities.
03:13Wolves didn't, and were punished, and Arsenal walk away deservedly winners of the game.
03:17Three Premier League debutants today, will they be better for it, playing in this kind of an atmosphere, in this kind of stadium, against this kind of quality opposition?
03:23Yeah, and I don't think any of them necessarily shirks your responsibility, either.
03:28I don't think it's particularly bad performances, and it means that you've hopefully got a platform to build from,
03:34because, look, Wolves were never expected to win this game.
03:37Arsenal are a very good team, and it was always going to be tough.
03:40You now build from this to a Chelsea home game, which, by the way, Wolves should be,
03:45I won't go as far as saying favourites, but should be hoping to get something from that.
03:48I think Wolves are dangerous, particularly at home, against a Chelsea team that, at the moment, as we record this, are a little bit of unknown.
03:54Yeah, on the way back tonight, 2-0 defeat, it won't be heads down, will it?
03:57It'll be looking forward to next Saturday. There were definitely positives there.
04:00I'm sure Gary Neal will weigh it up in his head, see what changes there are.
04:03Daniel Perdence, of course, came on as well. Gonzalo Guedes is training.
04:06He didn't come on today, but Pedro Lima did make the squad, Boubacar Traoré.
04:10There's a lot of strength and depth here, but what they do need to do is they need to make signings.
04:13They need to make a couple of signings, and also they need to know whether the likes of Guedes, the likes of Daniel Perdence, are going to be staying in this club.
04:19They need to know that sooner rather than later, because if they are, and they still need to make two with these two guys here,
04:24it might be multiple signings. They've only got until next Thursday.
04:27Yeah, exactly. I think next Friday.
04:30I think particularly on those two players, Guedes and Perdence, for the players' perspective, as well as the club, they need a definitive answer,
04:37because this limbo the Wolves are in...
04:40There's a big change there.
04:42Exactly, exactly.
04:43This limbo the Wolves are in.
04:45As great as it is to have those two players as options, and being in the squad today, obviously with Perdence coming on, as you say,
04:50you need a definitive answer, because if Wolves lose them late in the window and don't have an answer for that,
04:55all of a sudden the squad looks a lot shorter, a lot smaller.
04:58So, yeah, I think it's really important to have an answer one way or the other on that, first of all, which at the moment we're a little bit up in the air.
05:04But Perdence did relatively well when he came on.
05:06His delivery was superb.
05:07Floating around.
05:08If you're Gary Neal, the Australian player, do you want to be here this season? Do you want to be fighting for a place?
05:12And he says, yes, for me, you're keeping up 100%.
05:14I agree, I think you have to.
05:15Out of the three guys, I mean, obviously Fabio Silva's not going to kick a ball again in a Wolves shirt,
05:18but Gonzalo Guedes and Daniel Perdence.
05:20Perdence would be my preferable choice out of those three to stay and to battle it out this season.
05:24No, I agree.
05:25Look, he's got Premier League experience.
05:27We know on his day he's a very good Premier League top flight footballer as well.
05:31So I think I completely agree.
05:32If he's happy to be here and happy to be around it and committed to playing for Wolves,
05:36then I see no reason why Wolves should not keep hold of him.
05:38Lots of ifs there, though, isn't there?
05:39There's lots of decisions to make on that.
05:41I think the final point I'll make on the forwards, actually, is Mateus Cunha.
05:44Very good when he came on.
05:45My slight concern for Wolves is they're a little bit over-reliant on him at the moment, aren't they?
05:50Because without him, he looks a little bit disjointed.
05:52Albeit, I thought Fang did quite well, actually, today.
05:55But with him on the pitch, Wolves look a different beast and look a different animal.
05:58Obviously, he's back from his injury, and we hope that he's lasted his injury issues.
06:01But there's no guarantees.
06:03And that, for me, is a small concern, that they are a little bit over-reliant on Mateus Cunha.
06:07Jose Saba disappointed with both goals today, would you feel?
06:09I think so.
06:10His contribution as well, not great.
06:13Yeah, I think, hopefully, just a little bit rusty.
06:16He hasn't, obviously, played a lot.
06:17So, I would like to think that that will be ironed out fairly quickly.
06:21Yeah, in terms of Chelsea, you're not going to probably get anyone over the line who's going to be starting against Chelsea.
06:26Do you feel that these players, minus probably, you think Cunha's probably going to slot in for Bellegarde.
06:31But apart from that, would you expect to see the same XI against Chelsea?
06:34Or do you think there'll be changes there?
06:35I do expect to see the same XI.
06:36I do expect to see the same XI.
06:37I don't think you throw the baby out with the bathwater after one loss.
06:41I don't think you get rid of this system.
06:42First baby out of the bathwater for the season.
06:43There you go, there you go.
06:44I don't think you get rid of the system.
06:46I don't think you lose faith in a Totti and a Gerson back to straight away.
06:50There are questions if it continues like that first half.
06:53However, the second half was a lot better, I think it's important to say.
06:55If it continues like that first half for a long period of time, then the questions start to come.
06:59But we'll still need a centre-back signing as well.
07:01Obviously, Dawson coming on was interesting as well.
07:05Wolves just need a couple of different options.
07:08But I do expect, with Koenig coming in, to probably be the only change for that game.
07:11That's all the time we've got.
07:12For the full post-match reaction, make sure you log on to expressandstyle.com.