Wolves Fans' Verdict v Chelsea: A capitulation at Molineux

The final third of the previous season offered graphic evidence that this Wolves squad carried some glaring deficiencies that urgently needed addressing.

These inadequacies have not been remedied; to suggest otherwise is delusional.

This catastrophic capitulation to opposition who themselves are far from flawless, is the culmination of a policy of standing still and hoping fortune smiles on us without the necessity of proactive action to foster progress and improvement.

The portents of this retrogressive inertia are blindingly obvious. The chaotic defending, both team-wise and individually spread like wildfire; in the end Chelsea might have reached double figures such were the acres of space we gifted to them.

Tackles and challenges degenerated into half-hearted apologies until ultimately our vulnerability was absolutely total.

Confidence and morale shot to bits; somehow, there has to be a positive and defiant response and a wholly more professional hard edge.

During the first-half, despite conceding two horrendous goals, Wolves exposed Chelsea’s soft underbelly and maybe were a shade unfortunate to score only twice. But what followed was an outrageous orgy of self-destruction with much of the mayhem bordering on the inexplicable.

The executive, the head coach and his staff and the players need some harsh self-appraisal in the wake of this fiasco; self-inflicted wounds that need to be healed, and quickly.

Adam Virgo

An absolutely disgraceful second half performance, especially defensively.

This has to open the eyes of everyone at the club that we definitely need signings as soon as possible.

We’re on a horrific run at the moment if you take the end of last season’s results into account and something needs to change and improve because if we lose to Forest then we could be in serious trouble with our fixtures after that.

Defensively we were all over the shop. We’ve got Jose Sa’s poor passing, along with our defence looking like they hadn’t met each other before, let alone played together.

The only positives I can take from this game are that we looked pretty good in an attacking sense and the link up between Cunha and Strand Larsen was looking very promising.

Ait Nouri was good going forward but absolutely terrible defensively, Madueke was running rings around him.

We definitely need signings in this week, no excuses whatsoever. A new starting centre back and a goalkeeper is a must for me whether we continue with a back four or revert to a back five because there’s no way we can just accept what we have currently when it’s nowhere near good enough.

Clive Smith

OMG - where to start? Had the final whistle been at half time, we’d have, kind of, taken the rough with the smooth and accepted a point. With the ball, attacking, we appeared good, with Larsen and Cunha looking like they had played together for ages. Without the ball it was a very different story.

As for the second half, it was horrific.

Gary O’Neil now has his hardest week as Wolves boss ahead of him. The Cup game is a mere distraction. It has finally come to decision time for any transfers in and out. Anyone want to invest a spare billion pounds?

Meanwhile he has the repercussions of this game to digest. Big panic or mild panic. All of our weaknesses were exposed for all to see. Nuno and Lage failed to ‘move us forward’ by playing four at the back, does GON kick the idea into touch sooner, later or persist.

Sa, maybe distracted by transfer talk, but his distribution in our two games has never been worse. Ait-Nouri does not have the right attributes to play left back. Toti looks a much better player with two central defenders alongside him. Mosquera is on a steep learning curve on being a Premier League player.

I felt sorry for Larsen. Home debut, scored a good goal, linked up well with those around him, engaged with the crowd. MOTM.

Hard to think of any other positives.

Matt Gallimore

Another season, and here we are again with Wolves testing our emotions. After three months away, here we were, walking towards Molineux, spring in our step, and excited to see if we could once again defy our underdog status and beat Chelsea.

Kick off, and 98 seconds later, we were instantly brought back to Earth.

The half continued in that fashion. Moments of real quality going forward, but also trepidation when trying to defend. It was an end-to-end, toying of emotions, which could have led to us going ahead at the break or being out of sight. None the less, at half-time, I’m sure most of us were more positive than negative. But that was the peak!

The second half couldn’t have been much worse. Defensively, we were a total wreck, and clearly, the transition to a back four wasn’t working. The trouble is that we did nothing to stop the pressure. Constantly trying to go toe to toe with a rampant Chelsea side. There will be a lot of teams that get beat by a side that have spent crazy money to form a squad with so many options, but we made it easy for them.

Admirable from O’Neil to want to attack and be expansive, but this was naive.

As good as Ait Nouri is at left-wing-back, he is equally as poor as a left-back in a flat-back four.

Their third, fourth, and fifthth goals were like Deja vu. All down our left side, and Chelsea exploited our reluctance to fix it. Toti and Mosquera were pulled in every direction amid a defence that looked like they had lost total confidence in Jose Sa.

So, after walking away from Molineux, what is the overriding emotion? Do we take away the fact that we showed quality when attacking or the fact that we looked dreadful at the back?

We are not going to face the likes of Chelsea every week, so maybe a back four could work against the likes of Nottingham Forest. Maybe we should test it once again to finally find out, but either way, this next week is crucial to bringing in quality reinforcements in defence.

We are a Ramsdale and Trevor Chalobah away from being a very useful side. Two quality players with Premier League experience of which O’Neil is craving. Because without it, it could be a very painful season.

Over to you, Fosun!

Cameron Smith

It is difficult to put into words just how disappointing the second half was.

After putting in such a fight to get ourselves back in the game twice in the first half in what was originally a terrific game of Premier League football, completely capitulating in the second is hugely demoralising.

I mentioned last week how defensive naiveties cost us and this showing highlighted these in abundance. Not only could each and every one of Chelsea’s goals have been avoided, but all six were almost embarrassing from a Wolves perspective.

Chelsea’s third seemed to send us into complete capitulation mode and this mentality is a huge cause for concern. Multiple players seemed to carry the ‘riled’ up attitude from the first half into the second, whilst the visitors came out with a completely reset mindset.

Arguments can be made towards whether Wolves have the right profiles to compete with a back four, however, this result was down to the complete chaos mode that the side entered, combined with Chelsea’s clinical nature at every opportunity gifted to them by Wolves.

Reacting like this cannot happen moving forward, and as mentioned, it is made more disappointing when the reaction to going behind in the first half is considered.

Overall, Wolves should have entered the break in the lead, and the subsequent carry over of mentality caused us to implode from the inside whilst our visitors came out as a completely reset group and picked Wolves off each time of asking.

Liam Berry

Well, not the most encouraging first home game of the season, losing six - yes six - two against Enzo Maresca’s new look Chelsea.

There has been a lot of talk about Gary O’Neil’s switch to a back four, with many fans already calling for him to revert back to the trusted five-man-defence. For me, this would be a step back. A real effort has been made in order to make the switch, and I think we need to give the new system longer to bed in. However, I do think it needs tweaks in order to get results in upcoming games, but I think us, as fans, need to be patient and trust in O’Neil and the players to make it work.

Moving further up the pitch, more so in the first half, I was very impressed how we were able to attack with such conviction. With the first half resembling a tennis match, I think both teams could easily have scored more than what was on the scoreboard after 45 minutes. This attacking ambition is something we have to maintain, because if we can solidify our back four whilst still holding that threat going forward, there’s a lot to be excited about this season. With Cunha getting his first goal of the season, his link up play with Strand Larsen was fantastic, and the big number nine also netted to get this first goal in Wolves colours! I think this partnership is one that Wolves can flourish on providing they both stay fit and healthy for the majority of the season.

Despite the result, my expectations haven’t changed, as last season we had a very similar start to the campaign, losing heavily at home early on against Brighton. With two games coming up in the next week, let’s hope for an improvement in results!

William Meddings

Things need to change, and fast! The first half was an entertaining one, but that’s mainly because it was a display of two teams who didn’t know how to defend.

I mentioned last week against Arsenal that there was a lack of alertness amongst the players, and that was highlighted again today.

Jackson unmarked, a quick goal kick, Ait-Nouri being completely out of position, losing possession trying to play out from the back, Sa repeatedly getting beaten at his near post; there was a real catalogue of errors that led to us conceding - and it simply isn’t good enough.

Unfortunately, we just lack the quality that is needed to play a back four. It was the same under Nuno, then Lage, then Lopetegui, and now O’Neil. We either need to invest in a new defender, or go back to a five. With that being said, we’d be conceding goals regardless of what formation we were playing if this lack of awareness continues.

It would be interesting to see what Mr. Shi has to say about our performance, especially with the empty seats due to the increased ticket prices. I’d like to mention some positives but it’s difficult to think of any apart from Larsen getting his first goal. Overall, drastic change is needed before we get ourselves into some serious trouble.

Harry Lee

If it wasn’t obvious before, it’s now crystal clear to everyone that Wolves are in desperate need of reinforcements.

Off the back of an encouraging display away at Arsenal, a first home game of the season against Chelsea was one where you’d hope to pick up our first points of the season.

After Madueke’s antics pre-match, he was always going to perform wasn’t he? It’s right to criticise Ait-Nouri for his defending, but where was the help by doubling up from Bellegarde on that side? Or Toti coming across to support with Lemina/Gomes dropping into the centre?

The most frustrating thing is Wolves worked really hard first half and deservedly went into the break level, arguably should have been ahead. Why did Gary O’Neil not then tweak things defensively to counter Palmer and Madueke?

The call for us to revert to the tried and tested five at the back will now gather pace, but after so much work in pre-season I hope we don’t bin it just yet. Putting Tommy Doyle into the midfield alongside Lemina and Gomes could sure things up.

One huge positive is the big Norwegian up top, we may have finally found the number nine we were looking for.

Matthew Spencer

That was most definitely ‘a game of two halves’; optimism followed by absolute shambles.

The first half was exciting and we felt we were still in it. We got an equaliser before half-time and so we were buzzing to take the game to Chelsea for the second half, especially at home. Instead, what followed was a complete disaster; possibly one of the worst halves of football we have had down Molineux for quite some time. Shipping four at home in one half is simply not good enough.

Surprise, surprise our defensive frailties have struck again! What do you expect to happen when you sell our best central defender and do not replace him? Toti is looking more and more like he is out of his depth, but I think the fault lies in the club forcing O’Neil to play him there.

If we insist on playing with a back four, then we need a top-quality centre-back to pair with Mosquera. If we are not going to invest our ‘subjective’ transfer budget on a centre-back, then we cannot play a back four and thus like it’s Groundhog Day, we must return to a back five system.

There are also big questions about Ait-Nouri and his defensive ability to play in a back four. The solution would be to buy a centre-back and put Toti back at left-back and then move Ait-Nouri into a more forward role to get the best out of this skill set. A back five would also allow him to move forwards more to operate as a wing-back instead of a full-back.

Molineux is not a happy place at the moment and quite rightly so.

Stephen Jackson

Molineux is one of the top grounds in the country, yet to be cast aside by a 21st century desire for more razzmatazz, it truly remains a wonderful place to play and watch football. Bad news for Wolves on Sunday was that Chelsea enjoyed themselves too much. Neto smiling too big, Madueke thinking he was in a training exercise, and Palmer just running around like he had a bib on that said “you can’t tackle me!”

But this piece is meant to be about the Wolves, and so it shall be. I was rather critical of the owners after the loss to Arsenal, and I stand by that criticism after Sunday’s shellacking. While former Wolves players were contributing and scoring goals up and down the league (MGW, Adama Traore, and Kilman come to mind), we put out a squad that was the clearest definition of what remains after you rip the core out of a team.

The decline has not been instant, rather gradual, year over year. Going all the way back to the Bruno days, post Nuno, we have discarded almost everyone who has worn the captain’s armband and talked as if Wolves meant something to their life. Sure, there were a few bright performances in the first half from the new boy Larsen up front, Cunha and Gomes doing what they do best, but other than that everyone else had a forgettable afternoon.

How do you lose someone at the back post in the first two minutes? How do you not get tight to your man in the first 60 seconds of the second half? These were basic errors that put us immediately on the back foot. Oh, and why is Podence wearing our number 10? That says it all about where our squad is.

We can not survive in this league with the current squad and everyone knows that. Wolves are in crisis, we have enough quality to remain competitive, but we are staring at a bottom six battle for survival. We need players badly or Wolverhampton will not be a nice place for football fans, no matter what Madueke thinks.