[Albion] Player Ratings - Wolves (H)

[Eric Youngs Contact Lense]

I thought Burn's defending against Traore was OK under the circumstances. Not suggesting that he had a stellar performance ( I think he could have been closer to the CBs to close down the 1st goal), but defending against raw pace and strength is almost impossible 1 v 1 if there is space to run into. I thought he and others (Mooy for example) handled him pretty well when they were able to double up, but Wolves have clearly decided this season that his strength is to simply play high and wide so that he can use that pace. Any left-back will struggle under those circumstances in a progressive team who commits players forwards as we do. In 1 v 1 it means you can't really show him inside, into congestion, so you are really struggling to compete without constant fouling. No different to how teams like us struggle to handle Vardy.
In fact, whilst there were one or two runs 1st half, with our lads bouncing off him, I thought he only became a huge threat the more the game went on, the more we pushed and left spaces at the back - then we took it in turns to kick him!
Maupay MoM for me, Mooy close second.
Regards the Propper debate on part of this thread _ the pass he tried was exactly the right one, hence Websters gesticulating Alzate's movemnent. Just poorly executed and well-read by the Wolves player who nipped in. Had it been hot with his usual assuredness, he would have got a pleasant murmur of approval .

 

[Machiavelli]

I thought Burn's defending against Traore was OK under the circumstances. Not suggesting that he had a stellar performance ( I think he could have been closer to the CBs to close down the 1st goal), but defending against raw pace and strength is almost impossible 1 v 1 if there is space to run into. I thought he and others (Mooy for example) handled him pretty well when they were able to double up, but Wolves have clearly decided this season that his strength is to simply play high and wide so that he can use that pace. Any left-back will struggle under those circumstances in a progressive team who commits players forwards as we do. In 1 v 1 it means you can't really show him inside, into congestion, so you are really struggling to compete without constant fouling. No different to how teams like us struggle to handle Vardy.
In fact, whilst there were one or two runs 1st half, with our lads bouncing off him, I thought he only became a huge threat the more the game went on, the more we pushed and left spaces at the back - then we took it in turns to kick him!
Maupay MoM for me, Mooy close second.
Regards the Propper debate on part of this thread _ the pass he tried was exactly the right one, hence Websters gesticulating Alzate's movemnent. Just poorly executed and well-read by the Wolves player who nipped in. Had it been hot with his usual assuredness, he would have got a pleasant murmur of approval .

Good post. In terms of your last point, I think Alzate was as culpable as Propper, as he'd gone too far wide to receive it. It was poor and underhit by Propper, but Potter has quite obviously encouraged him to take risks in that part of the pitch, so not everything will pay off.