Bournemouth 2-1 Wolves
The game at Molineux against Bournemouth was one shrouded in controversy.
A ridiculous red card decision, antagonising of the referee from the Cherries players and general gamesmanship from the very start ruined the game.
A cold March night at the Goldsands couldn’t be as bad could it?
In many ways it was worse.
The time-wasting and general unsporting behaviour was back in full force but in the end this didn’t really matter; because Wolves were absolutely atrocious and deserved nothing from the game at all.
A high point of this campaign so far has been the impressive away record and the attitude of the players. However at Norwich recently this was tested as Wolves never got going and were soundly beaten by the better team on the day.
What makes the Bournemouth defeat worse was that they weren’t that much of a better side, they just wanted it more.
No more evident than when they took the lead after just 10 minutes. Stearman allowed Wilson to get a cross into the box which Kermogant hit first time into the net from the corner of the 6 yard box. It was a very good finish to be fair and it was deserved for how well Bournemouth had started.
The team selection was baffling. In a game where you know you are going to need to mix it a bit in midfield, surely Jack Price is a guaranteed starter. apparently not. A game where the opposition are going to be fluid and create chances again means you need some spark in the middle or at least have protection for the back for. Wolves play 4-4-2.
The messing about in swapping full backs again for no apparent reason yet again didn’t work as neither Hause nor Doherty looked like they could cause danger going forward and looked ropey at best defending.
This could have also been one of the reasons Stearman had his worse game in a Wolves shirt for a long long time. He looked more like football geriatric than the football genius of late. Slow in reacting and lunging into challenges when there was no need to.
Elsewhere Sako had one of his bad games where he was just never going to do anything, Dicko similarly. Van La Parra had flashes but was more frustrating than anything else and then there was Dangerous Dave Edwards.
McDonald and Afobe were the only ones to come out of the game with any credit. The sole Wolves goal came from a through ball from K Mac to Afobe who stroked it past the keeper calmly.
It seemed for a while that Wolves had got away with such a poor performance with that goal but Stearman gave away a penalty by trying to slice the ball away on the the edge of the area. On second viewing it is obvious that the foul was committed outside the area.
After such a performance it is hard to see what Jackett will do next.
Until this game, a promotion push seemed a very real prospect with the performances being especially pleasing.
The manor of the defeat is more worrying than the defeat in itself.
(Image via dailymail.co.uk)
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