After a hugely disappopinting week which saw their team lose twice at home to Brentford and Spurs, Wolves fans today see their team travel to St Mary's Stadium in search of a positive result to drag them away from the bottom of the table.
Coach Bruno Lage will surely be feeling the pressure now for his team to start scoring goals in Premier League matches after another failure at Molineux last Saturday, whilst his forward line will also be wondering how to secure their places when they cannot convert the number of chances they are creating. Some fans are saying Raul Jiminez needs to be rested, but it is also fair to say that Adam Traore and Francisco Trincao are failing to deliver so far with goals despite promising play. Should Daniel Podence get a starting place after his goal on Wednesday and should Hwang Hee Chan lead the attack?
Sadly Yerson Mosquera will be out for approximately two months with his hamstring injury, whilst Rayan Ait Nouri will be out for a mandatory 7 days following his concussion episode against Spurs. The scorer of last season's wonder-goal winner Pedro Neto also sadly remains on the sidelines. After a good peformance on Wednesday night Willy Boly may retain his place today at the expense of Romain Saiss who was hooked at half time last Saturday after a poor first half.
Southampton will also be keen to win today having only accrued one more point than Wolves so far this season, and will be looking to maintain their performance which earned them a draw at Man City last.
Today's game will be refereed by Andy Madley with Paul Tierney on VAR duty.
The match will be screened as part of Sky TV's Super Sunday programme kicking off at 2pm.
This board will endeavour to provide regular updates on the prgress of the match, and board members are encouraged to post their own observations for the benefit of those unable to watch it otherwise.
Bruno Lage's selection doesn't fill me with confidence this afternoon. Why he hasn't put Kilma on the left side to replace Saiss and put Boly on the right defeats me!! Kilman being a left footed defender gave Toney the edge over him on the right side last week Three changes with Denoncker, Chan and Podence replacing Neves, Trincoa and Traore. Line-up:
Strange team selection in my opinion but I guess we do not know the fitness/injury level of those left out of the starting eleven. Bruno must be looking over his shoulder wondering how much longer he has got if he doesn’t manage to get the team to deliver his attacking philosophy.Southampton are no mugs and have a player who is quicker than Traore so Coady will need to be very aware this afternoon. Saiss and Marcal will surely draw at least one yellow card if not more and that would add to Bruno s problems both today and for future fixtures. Would ordinarily be optimistic of a win but my early season optimism is beginning to evaporate.
Fingers and toes crossed— and hopefully a decent stream.
Saints thinking nothing of committing professional fouls to stop our attacks presumably as they know they won’t get booked!! DP is lively but some poor control & passing from him so far. Joao loses possession in midfield & Saints launch an attack but offside. Good break by Wolves but DP’s cross goes straight McCarthy.
Redmond - who I always think poses danger puts a perfect ball into our box but nobody there. Poor control in Saints box gives us possible chances but Saints survive. Throw in next to corner flag for us & it goes back to the half way line. Is Nuno still in charge??
Romeu lucky to get a free kick after losing the ball to Chan. Marcal’s passing continues to be pi55 poor and he loses is possession so often - such a shame RAN is unavailable
Good block by CC to block Adams. Redmond puts the ball in the net but clearly offside spotted by the linesman. Stupid risky play by Sa nearly gets him in trouble.
Missed the first 33 minutes then watched Podence give it away 3 times in 2 minutes!
Surprising selections which according to the 5 Live commentary and now with my own eyes don’t seem to be paying off ….. at least yet.
Redmond with a lovely finish rightly sees the flag go up. No debate there.
Pathetic Marcal corner!
It’s not a classic but we am still in it at HT.
Ring the changes I think. Get Neves abs Adama on. We do better in the second half at St Mary’s anyway!
One added minute before half time. Raul earns a free kick which is wasted by Joao with a short pass.
A poor first half from both teams but particularly some of the passing from our team has been dire. As usual we’ve defended well but playing out through midfield is lacking vision or ideas. Raul is at least playing in the centre but he’s not really getting any good service due to poor passing. I think Traore will make an appearance before too long as DP has been very ineffective.
Saints 0 Wolves 0
Have a decent stream but commentary is out of sync which makes for interesting viewing.
Not much between the teams at present, if we could tidy up our passing and decisions things could improve. Saints not presenting much the a threat so far and our defenders seem to be alert to most of their efforts. Could be a game for Traore to shine as Saints defenders look vulnerable to a bit of pace.
Jimenez’s finish oozed the class we all know he has!!
Saints applying pressure a reminder we still have plenty to do.
Southampton corner. Comes to nothing
Free kick outside our area for JWP to take easily collected by Sa. Here comes Adama on for DP rightly. Looks like he’s going to play down the right side.
Saints bringing on Shane Long - their final sub. Walker-Peters follows through on NS before being replaced!! Corner to Wolves after a good ball in by Marcal!! Cleared and Sa needs to come out smartly to stop a Saints break.
Into final ten minutes & Wolves are holding out well at the back whilst still launching their own attacks. Good attacking chance by Saints goes for a corner cleared by Raul. Romeu steps in to stop Adama abruptly! Neves being prepared to hopefully bring some control to midfield
Neves on for Semedo & Hoever on for Hwang who has put a lot of effort in & been effective at times. Djenepo attacks down our right but eventually runs it out
6 minutes added to the fury of Saints fans. Others might have complained about the Bees last week but this is Wolves gamesmanship in full flow as Marcal falls to the floor
Marcal down again with cramp.
That’s it and another 3 points thanks to a top goal by Raul Jimenez. Not a classic game by any means, but a better 2nd half for us. Still a lot of work to be done but another clean sheet to help our goal difference.
Saints 0 Wolves 1
Just one piece of class separated the two sides.
Not a great performance to be honest but the result is everything at this stage.
A hat trick of St Mary’s wins, a happy hunting ground for us it seems!
I don’t mind admitting, it was all a bit emotional here when Raul scored!
UTW 🐺🐺
Thanks for the commentary chaps. Obviously a good win and made up for Raul. Can't say much else as for the third match running I haven't seen a bl00dy thing. Still, am I pi55ed off? Yes I am.
A difficult watch as we never seemed to be in full control of the game and Saints tested our defence far more than we tested theirs, needed that bit of magic from Raul to wrestle something from the match. So pleased for him.
Three points was a necessity so job done but far greater tests to come.
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