Wolves Fans' Verdict v Brighton: A 10-minute capitulation

We arrived full of expectation, after such a good performance five days before.

Brighton are our “bogey team” but with Silva starting we felt this could be the day.

How wrong were we.

To be fair, the score does not reflect the game. We matched them in the first half and should have gone in 2-1 up at half time. Silva and Ait-Nouri both had good chances to score. Mitoma glided past four defenders to score a fantastic goal. Our build up play was good and we were creating chances. The same old issue prevails, we create but cannot score.

I don’t know what was said at half time or whether tactics were changed but we came back out a changed team; for the worse. In the next nine minutes, Brighton simply tore us apart. The defence collectively lost their heads and sense of position.

With Southgate watching, I don’t expect Kilman to get a call anytime soon. The same thing happened last time he came!

Dawson, Kilman and Semedo may as well have stayed in the dressing room for the good they did in this nine minutes. These were fairly basic through balls/long balls even, yet we didn’t even get close to dealing with them. March couldn’t believe his luck as he entered the box twice with time and space to receive the ball and score. Game over.

Wolves continued to huff and puff and created more chances. A hit bar and a couple more misses before Hwang headed in from a corner.

Nunes was my man of the match, but he also gets the Idiot Award.

The referee (who was excellent by the way) had already booked four players for obstructing play/time wasting when Nunes did the same on 76 minutes. He was fortunate to not get another card for a similar offence 10 minutes later. It would be sensible to sub him off at this point. He was showing frustration and in the 95th minute with a bit of push and shoving he was sent off.

He’s been in good form so to lose him for the Everton game is a big loss.

My only hope is that Guo Guangchang and Jeff Shi spend plenty of time talking with Paul Barber about how to run a success football club, because right now it looks like they have little idea.

Clive Smith

‘Brighton are a damn good side, better than half of the Big six....watching recordings of Brighton would also be a good learning experience. They have my respect and admiration.

Sa looked petrified everytime he had the ball, playing it short constantly made retaining possession a challenge, while going long never gave anyone a chance.’

Recognise that? Its a cut & paste from my last Brighton report!

The comments are just as applicable this time around as the Brighton press often left us struggling to progress. When we did though, the risk of a turnover left us vulnerable with their pace. Mitoma did a ‘knife through butter’ impersonation when any number of our players failed to make a significant challenge. They had further opportunities to score but we had opportunities too. Both Silva and Ait-Nouri got behind their defence but failed to beat the keeper.

While we hoped for better things after the interval all we got was a whirlwind to face. Many fans had not got back to their seats before it was 2-0 then ten minutes later it was 4-0. Ouch.

At that point it was a worry what might happen next. Brighton did not appear to deliberately ease up but, to be fair, Wolves showed plenty of character from then on. Hwang came on and put himself about while Cunha, again MOTM, continued to run himself into the ground. Hwang it was who got a goal which could have lifted spirits slightly but Nunes frustration got the better of him and he’ll have next weekend off. Had many of our players not insisted on taking an extra touch near goal maybe the final score might have been closer.

Lemina put in an incredible shift and looked very tired well before the end. The less experienced Gomes found the going much tougher than he had on Monday, but then again several others did to.

The next two home games are likely to be equally difficult – time to stay calm and keep the faith, hoping our away games can result in some points.

John Lalley

We have to hope and pray that Monday night wasn’t a Manchester mirage and that Wolves really can be competitive despite this painful trouncing. Brighton, as is their want simply outclassed us; they were the superior outfit from the start and all credit to them.

They have lost a host of key players in recent times but their organisation and competitive instinct ensures a seamless progression that makes them formidable opposition.

Well before Mitoma brilliantly sauntered past a flailing succession of hapless tacklers to open the scoring, we were struggling to reach any parity.

Their forward press left Jose Sa with few options to distribute the ball and the result was panic stations as we tried to build from the back. In contrast, Brighton remained easy and assured in possession, able to dominate in midfield and when they turned the screw immediately after the interval, Wolves capitulated which on a challenging afternoon was the biggest disappointment of all.

Wolves fashioned more decent chances, but again the standard of finishing was abysmal. In fact, despite being soundly second best, Wolves conceivably might have been ahead at half-time, but the dismal lack of composure in front of goal surprised nobody; it’s soul-destroying. Four down and in disarray, at least they stuck to the task but the outcome was inevitable.

The Nunes display of late and costly petulance was foolish but not unexpected; frustration at boiling-point. After Old Trafford, optimism was flourishing, but we all know that this club is sailing close to the wind, not least the executive themselves.

Just who has the leadership qualities to take this group by the scruff of the neck and inject a sense of purpose? No Billy Wright, no Mike Bailey, no Ally Robertson from the dim and distant and no Conor Coady from recently. Brighton, savvy, together, compact and tight as a drum; Wolves disparate and divergent. Need a boost and sharpish!

Fraser Bishop

Well, at least it wasn’t six like last time…

We may have come out of Old Trafford defiant in defeat, put the positives are harder to dissect after this one.

Within 60 seconds our half-time team talk went out the proverbial window, as three goals in nine minutes saw an unacceptable capitulation, which was a reminder it’s not just taking our chances that’s the issue.

Was this a reality check? I’m not so sure we need one given our expectations are pretty low anyway. Although, perhaps we did read a lot into the United game, and whilst we were right to be encouraged, there’s still so much to do.

The first half was actually pretty even, with Fabio having squandered a one-on-one to draw us level. We looked OK and were well in the game, which made those 10 minutes of mayhem all the more frustrating.

It was nice at the very least to get off the mark for the season, goals wise anyway. Fair play to Hwang who came off the bench and headed home, and perhaps earned himself a start next week in the process?

The day was perhaps summed up by Nunes’ late stupidity which saw him get sent off got a second yellow. You can call it frustration, but it was very unnecessary and we don’t want to see any ill-discipline creeping in like last season.

That being said, it’s two games into the season, we have a manager who has been here for less than two weeks and played two fixtures that, without sounding defeatist, we’d be expected to get nothing.

Hopefully, we can get up and running at Everton next time. Not sure you can call it a six pointer this early on but it definitely feels like a big game. Fingers crossed it’s third time lucky and we get a point or three on the board, but it’ll be a good gage of where we’re at either way.

Adam Virgo

A really disappointing result and capitulation in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

The first half I felt there were some really good attacking plays, a couple where we could have been a bit sharper with the final pass and limited Brighton in terms of shots on goal. However, there were times when Kaoru Mitoma and Pervis Estupinan were causing us problems down our right hand side.

Their first goal was brilliant play by Mitoma but we should have brought him down. Semedo did try pulling him which slightly slowed him and then no midfielders were there to help him out. Once that had happened, Dawson and Kilman couldn’t get close to him.

Going into half time we should have been drawing with the chances we had. Fabio Silva missing a clear one-on-one, was great positioning from Jason Steele but Silva should have done much better. Ait-Nouri having another big chance, if he hit the target he probably would have scored but he blazed it into the North Bank trying to give someone a souvenir.

An absolute capitulation from minute 46 to 55, every goal was easily avoidable and Brighton were slicing us open like a hot knife through butter. Our body language coming out for the second half looked very questionable too, if that had anything to do with it then that absolutely cannot happen again.

At 4-0, we did give it a go in trying to score but it was way too little too late at that point. Hwang to be fair to him, did well when he came on and should have got an assist to pair with his goal, but Ait-Nouri decided to try and walk it in rather than shoot first time. One final note on Matheus Nunes too, absolutely idiotic from him to get a second yellow. The game was 4-1 in the 94th minute, it was already over and he loses his head and now gets himself banned for Everton.

Huge game next at Everton, a game we really need to be looking to get three points out of. Obviously not having Matheus Nunes is going to hinder us because his performances have been really good in the two opening games.

Stephen Jackson

Gary Neville said last week that was the best he has seen Wolves play. Well, the first 10 minutes of the second half must have been the worst he has seen Wolves play. What happened in that dressing room? I thought we were in the match, created enough chances of our own, and only went in 1-0 down thanks to the brilliance of Mitoma with an absolute blinder. The boy reminds me of Jota, cutting in from the left, free flowing, a real joy to watch.

Reality came crashing into focus within six minutes of the restart. A reality we must hope Jeff Shi is keenly aware of. If he didn’t know how difficult of a season we are in for, he surely knows now. We need reinforcements at centre-back, with Dawson exposed by Brighton’s movement. I’m not sure who is the answer up front, but I do know we can’t keep throwing the same ideas at it hoping for different results. Early signs are Everton, Luton, Sheffield United are going to be our friends at the bottom of the league; and we travel to Goodison next week. The fact that Everton away is already a huge match highlights just how precarious our position is.

I felt for Gary midway through the second half, his face after the fourth goal went in was as pink as Sa’s kit, and the optimism from last week had vanished. Truth is, Brighton demonstrated just how superior they are in all departments, and I’m afraid more afternoons like this one are ahead at Molineux.

Chris Ward

After the great performance against United it was easy to get carried away, but Brighton most certainly bought us back down to earth with a bump. Were we fantastic in the first game or were United that terrible? Terrible seems to have been the narrative but even after the defeat to Brighton I think it's far too early to tell where we are.

Kudos to O’Neil for giving it a go however Brighton’s style of play can really punish teams and with Wolves playing such a high line we were put to the sword in the second half. Wolves had chances again and its only time until we start taking them which ultimately will take some of the pressure from the defence. There has been a lot of emphasis on Wolves lack of goals for some time now however conceding four at home is what has lost us the game. It was a game to forget for Craig Dawson who was run ragged all afternoon until his withdrawal.

Make no bones about it Brighton are a fantastic team and even with the loss of so many key players they continue to impress and impose such a lovely flowing style. Wolves matched them the first half and if Wolves were 2-1 up at half time nobody would have questioned them, however, the manner of the performance in the second half is what is so disappointing and how they capitulated so quickly.

Plenty of positives to take from the game and now onto Everton which seems like a huge game so early into the new season. The moment of madness for Nunes will be a huge loss this coming weekend especially with him being our stand-out player in the first two games.