Match Thread: Wolves v Aston Villa 8.10.23 2pm KO
Toti scoring
By Ivybridge Wolf
October 7 2023
What a boost, a completely unexpected and fabulous boost, last Saturday afternoon was. A superb performance and excellent tactical effort to see off the European champions, Manchester City. With 3 (or 5) at the back, with pace in attack, it was like the good ole Nuno days had returned as Wolves triumphed to secure 3 desperately needs points. Can that performance and effort be replicated once again at Molineux, versus local rivals Aston Villa. Everyone connected to the old gold will hope so. Statistics are on our side too, in the 8 premier league matches since both being back up in the top division, Wolves have won 5, drawn 2 and lost 1. The last win, another then vital 3 points, was as recent as May 2023 when Toti scored an early header, his first goal for Wolves.
As I write, 24 hours pre-kick off (I’m going to the match), I read that Wolves have no major injury concerns, although both our Bueno’s, Santi and Hugo, are nursing minor knocks. Additionally, Bellegarde is still banned but Tommy Doyle is available again. Without question, Wolves will have picked up a massive amount of confidence from last week and therefore I expect to see and unchanged side, in the same kind of formation with Kilman, Dawson and Toti all selected from the off. Such a performance deserves a starting eleven untouched by tinkering! There still have to be concerns about Cunha up front as a player who cannot score, though his contribution last week was as good as anybody’s in securing the 3 points – take for example his sheer hard work and perfect lay off to Hwang for the goal. Hwang himself is on a bit of a run, our top scorer (who’d have believed that?!) and Neto is really showing signs of his class once again – what a player he is when on form and terrorising defenders.
Being our only derby of the season (again), this fixture will add a bit of spice for players and fans, however the objective must be to take full advantage of the Molineux crowd and secure another 3 points for Wolves. In the context of the season to date, the 3 points are everything to drive us up the table to 10 points, advance us beyond the ‘point per game’ average, achieve back to back wins for the first time this season and in so doing, create even greater confidence at the club. It literally is a win-win situation.
Nonetheless, we must be on it right from the off, this Villa side are proving to be very dangerous. Whilst the Wolves players were preparing for the fine Citizen’s defeat, Villa were already in the process of dismantling a very good Brighton side 6-1 and surging up to 5th in the table. As good as our win was last week, we can only dream of scoring 6 in a match. Villa have won 5 and lost 2 of their opening 7 fixtures and are now hunting their 4th win on the trot. They must be stopped!! Local lad Ollie Watkins (he’s from Newton Abbot, just up the road from me!), is on fire, scored a hattrick last week, has been recalled for England and signed a contract extension – not a bad week’s work. Villa are however far from a side reliant on just one player and Emery seems to have galvanised their efforts thus far, and a midweek win, albeit a late winner v Zrinjski Mostar, won’t hinder their belief either.
A few more statistics for you! Of our fine recent form v Villa, it includes 3 wins and 1 draw in the last 2 seasons, including the unforgettable 3-2 victory at Villa Park the season before last. Are we becoming their bogey side? At Molineux in 2023, we have only failed to score in one match … v Bournemouth. Good omens! Hwang has a potential historic opportunity to score in 5 consecutive top-flight home games for the first time since King John in 1973, who managed 6 on the trot, but quite an accolade if Hwang manages it …. Let’s hope! As for Villa, their 15 points from 7 games represents their second best start in the premier league era, only bettered in 1998/99. Additionally, their last 20 premier league matches have accrued 42 points (W13, D3, L4), which only Manchester City can beat and should they score 2 goals v Molineux, that would be Villa’s best goals tally in the first 8 matches since 1932.
A final word on Gary O’Neil. That win last week was massive for him and I was absolutely delighted he managed it. It’s a single victory, yes, but with the knives absolutely out in many quarters, a colossal moment in his career as a manager. I’ve always believed he needs time, not a commodity often afforded in football, and that is based on his tenure at Bournemouth last season where he demonstrated he had ability. Many have expressed concern with our squad and club direction, highly understandable and myself included, nevertheless O’Neil has been dealt a hand with no input in squad acquisition. He showed last week he can get these lads playing and with a collective spirit on the pitch …. Long may it continue. I genuinely wish him all the very best at Wolves, his success will be ours!
With the interweb signals at Molineux often pretty dire during the match, I will be unable to post on match progress, nevertheless hope, as is custom, that you are able to contribute to this thread on all things Wolves v Villa, before, during and after the match.
It’s Wolves v Villa, it’s a special one, lets gerrrin’ to ‘em – Up The Wolves!!!
Enjoy the match!
Postscript 11.45pm after Saturdays results: On top of everything else, what a great opportunity to put some daylight between us and the relegation zone.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023:11:12:21:36:25 by Ivybridge Wolf.
Villa are going well so it's going to be tricky but cmon lads , three points would be fantastic.
Wolves 0 Villa 0
Wolves 1 Villa 0
Wolves 1 Villa1
Villa showed their class at times and brought out far more saves from Jose than we did from Martinez but all in all it was quite a good game with a lot of end to end play. A draw will suit Wolves better than Villa but keeps up the progress we made last week. Bournemouth away next in two weeks.
Wolves 1 Villa 1
Villa fans saying at ft that we are now their bogey side and I said long may it continue!
Overall I think a draw was probably the right result but as usuall I thought the ref had a poor game and missed most of the villa fouls on wolves players.
Shame neto missed that great chance 2nd half think we would of gone on to win the game.
Not sure where all the injury time came from and was worried villa would get a winner against our 10 men and they nearly did at the death.
We look much more solid with 3 at the back that's for sure.
Happy with how we played especially 2nd half against a decent villa team.
Sa has had some stick lately but he made some decent saves 2nd half.
Now on to the cherries, upwards and onwards.
I also think a draw was about right. We certainly did enough to earn that point, Neto could have topped it if he hadn’t blazed over from close range after the best Wolves move of the match …. Including and inch perfect pass from Kalajdzic. Having said that, Villa could have won it with the final touch of the match when Watkins hit the post …. In the 13th minute of added time (we thought it would be about 7-8 minutes!!). What a relief that was!
I haven’t seen any highlights yet, nonetheless it was An entertaining but scrappy match where the referee was never far from the action, getting over involved in my opinion and certainly was no ‘Homer’. 1st half was very stop and start where McGinn seemed to be fouling and generally annoying on a regular basis.
I thought Dawson and Kilman looked solid throughout, very positive, Semedo continues to frustrate me … just take the last man on! RAN was okay before he crocked and the Doc was positive in the second half. Lemina was extremely good, breaking up, blocking, getting stuck in. We’ll miss him v Bournemouth. Gomez I felt was the weaker link, looked a bit on the light side. Cunha wasn’t so effective yesterday. Neto continues to show that he’s our main danger man, Villa struggled with his pace and intent, especially in the second 45, if anything, we didn’t get the ball enough to him. Great run and cross for Hwang who is developing the lovely habit of being in the right place and put the ball away! Terrific! Congratulations to Hwang for emulating King John in ‘73 ….. 5 goals in 5 consecutive home matches. Just a shame we lost concentration for a couple of vital moments, a couple of minutes later.
Of the other subs, I thought Boubacar Traore was very good, battled very well, broke up Villa moves and distributed well too. Kalajdzic was okay, Fabio Silva didn’t have a lot of time but it was a very lightweight cameo.
Haven’t seen the two yellows on Lemina close up yet, particularly the second, so unsure if deserved, though it always seemed likely that the ref would dish out a red to somebody, so he didn't disappoint.
Well fought match from both sides, no classic in terms of quality, but a decent watch and was brilliant to be back at Molineux for my first game of this season. A good point I believe. October, it appears, is the new July too … I was fully vindicated in my selection of tee shirt (retro 1983/84 Tatung Wolves shirt) and shorts.
UTW
Quote:irishwolf
Cheshire.. Was it backs against the wall stuff or did we deserve a point?? ...either way I will take that... onwards and upwards.
Hi Irish. No I wouldn’t call it backs against the wall as we made several good scoring chances, notably Ait-Nouri, Semedo and Neto, but Villa are also a good team, and Jose Sa had to make good saves in both halves. There were a few injuries in the second half plus several substitutions and two goals which is where I think the extra time came from. The only time we really struggled was after we went down to ten men, and our forward line couldn’t hold on to the ball.