Wolves 1 Crystal Palace 3 - Liam Keen and Nathan Judah analysis
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Hello I'm Nathan Tudor, I'm here at the Wolves of Horror, it is Mr. Liam Keen, not the end
00:14to the more than you season that Wolves wanted. We wanted to be a home to Palace, look, end
00:15of the day I don't think you'll have any complaints about that result. No, look we know how dangerous
00:16Palace are, but we had to at least say it as a opponent. And Wolves started fairly well
00:17the first 10 minutes or so, 15 minutes, controlling the game, not a lot of possession, not a lot
00:34of danger really at the other end. And then all of a sudden they start to make mistakes,
00:35allowing Palace to win the ball high up the pitch, playing out in the back and really
00:36struggling to keep possession. And all of a sudden these chances start to come. Wolves
00:37get the first goal, Wolves' heads are gone, confidence is gone, second goal goes in quickly,
00:44and from there Wolves are very lucky to get through to a neutral at half-time. Yeah, you
00:55are right, and look, they were giving chances away when you've got the likes of Ese, Elisa,
00:56Mateta, I mean these are three of the forwards that are really informing this Premier League
00:57season, especially at this moment in time. There was a couple of warning signs there,
00:58you knew they were going to score, and then at 2-0, you knew they were going to score,
00:59and then at 3-0, you knew they were going to score, and then at 4-0, you knew they were
01:00going to score, and then at 5-0, you knew they were going to score, and then at 6-0, you
01:01knew they were going to score, and then at 7-0, you knew they were going to score, and
01:02then at 8-0, you knew they were going to score, and then at 9-0, you knew they were
01:03going to score, and then at 10-0, you knew they were going to score, and then at 11-0,
01:04you knew they were going to score, and then at 12-0, you knew they were going to score,
01:05and then at 13-0, you knew they were going to score, and then at 14-0, you knew they
01:06were going to score, and then at 15-0, you knew they were going to score, and then at
01:0716-0, you knew they were going to score, and then at 17-0, you knew they were going to
01:08score, and then at 18-0, you knew they were going to score, and then at 19-0, you knew
01:09they were going to score, and then at 20-0, you knew they were going to score, and then
01:10at 21-0, you knew they were going to score, and then at 22-0, you knew they were going
01:31to score, and then at 23-0, you knew they were going to score, and then at 24-0, you
01:32knew they were going to score.
01:33Is that the frustrating thing over not just this game, but the last two, three, four games,
01:37is that a lot of these goals are defensive errors. They're not genius moves, set-pieces,
01:42strikes. These are really things that you can avoid.
01:46Avoidable, exactly. That's the most frustrating thing for all four of you. You've got great
01:53goals from missing, you know how important he is to this side, and you need individuals
01:57to step up. You can't say that about anyone on the defence today. There's no-one who's
02:01played out of position as a centre-back, who struggles in that position. Killman being
02:06the aggressor struggles, Totti having to play out from the back struggles. A lot of things
02:12that need improvement, and it's going to be for me, I think we discussed this off-camera
02:16during the game as well, a big area for them to improve in the summer. It's something they
02:20have to target going into next season.
02:23Sean Williams came on at half-time, what did you make of his performance?
02:27A bit of impotence to start with?
02:28Yeah, slightly better, definitely. He's getting there, he's getting there. I spoke to Gary
02:32about it and he'll be a bit more in-depth on this in the next few weeks or so, but disappointed
02:36with how his season's gone really, and disappointed for him rather than in him, in that he's not
02:41really been able to get it all done. He's been stopped to start injuries, playing out
02:45of position, in and out of the team. He's now got a chance, hopefully, with a year into
02:49under his belt, to build from that, improve from that. There's clearly a talented player
02:54there. For me, the biggest thing to get right with him is his position. If you get the position
02:59right for him next season, I think he can flourish.
03:01He's not for appreciation at the moment, and you know, if he doesn't get to the most of
03:05the season, and really, if he finishes 14th, then that is still a very good achievement,
03:09a commendable achievement for where they were.
03:11Yeah, obviously it's disappointing because of where Wolves were, to have dropped that
03:14far down. But, considering where they were in the summer, Wolves could have finished
03:1817th this season, and it's a success. The amount of people that felt that Wolves should
03:21have gone down this season, and they were way beyond going down, way above that, is
03:25a success. Gary knows a very, very good job. The vast majority of the players have been
03:30very, very good, but they're disappointed on a quarter of the season or so.
03:34Some of it unavoidable.
03:36Yeah, absolutely.
03:38Plenty of it to work on.
03:40Plenty of it to work on, and they've got a foundation here to build for next season.
03:43It should be an optimism going into next season. Regardless of what happens this summer
03:47and how we play, there's a very good side here with a very good manager that they can
03:51build from. But, there's a lot of things that have to get right, and it's going to be a
03:55big summer.
03:56And I think you can say, and show from the appreciation of the fans, that they've got
03:59the right man in charge to take them forward.
04:01Absolutely. I've got no doubts in my mind whatsoever that Gary Neal is the right man
04:04to take Wolves forward. We both had our question marks at the beginning. It was not a good
04:09start. Going all the way back to August and pretty much September, the whole of both months
04:13really, it was not a great start for Wolves. And it's been one hell of a resurgence since
04:18then. You take this final quarter or so of the season out of the way, it's been a brilliant
04:22season from a very, very good young manager, who I think is only going to get better. He
04:26learned a lot about himself and the team this season as well, not only from a player point
04:30of view. So, I think going forward into next season, Gary will be better. I think a lot
04:34of the players will be better. And you can add to that, which again, we know what the
04:38summer might be like. It's going to be a challenge, but if they can add to it and
04:42add a bit of depth, they've got a really good squad.
04:44They need some depth, they need some quality. At the same time, you look at some of the
04:47players behind us, and a few of those players might have played their last game at Molineux
04:50who are doing this lap of on and out. And it's up to Gary Neal, it's up to Matt Hobbs,
04:53it's up to Geoff Sheehan and Bozun to work out who can stay, who won't stay. Some of
04:58the end of the season awards there, Nelson Samedo got Player of the Season, Marie Lemine
05:03got Player of the Season. Nelson Samedo is probably one of those people who, future-wise,
05:07there's got to be a question mark at this moment in time.
05:09Yeah, absolutely. On very big wages, with a year left in his contract, for awards it's
05:13a decision to make. For the player as well, you've got to bear this in mind, he's 30 years
05:18old, I think he's 31, 30 years old, I think. He's going to want, potentially, another big
05:23contract elsewhere. Will he get that at awards? Probably not. Will he then look elsewhere?
05:29From the player point of view and the club point of view, it's trending towards an exit.
05:33That doesn't mean an exit will happen, it means that right now, conversations are being
05:37had about, financially, is this the right decision for us? From a footballing point
05:41of view, and Gary's made this very clear already, he does not want to lose Nelson Samedo, and
05:46for obvious reasons, he's been very, very good this season. That, for me, is one of
05:51the biggest decisions to make this season, alongside how many and who of your big stars
05:55do you lose to reinvest in the squad?
05:57The big question, I'm sure, the main footballing part of the squad, Pedro Neto, I haven't seen
06:01him today, have you?
06:02No, he is here.
06:03Oh, he is here, so he's here to say, do you think this is the last time we'll see Matt
06:05Mullaney?
06:07I think so. I think so. I'm going to go with it, I think it's a close one, because injuries
06:13are going to impact it, the amount of money we're going to want is going to impact it,
06:17and whether or not it's cool to play that, pay that, rather. But Eze and Elisa here,
06:21they've done so well for Palace.
06:22Take them.
06:24You've got to take them. Similar positions to Neto. Slightly different players, but similar
06:29positions. Do Wolves, are they fortunate enough that the big club's going for other players
06:34ahead of Neto and they keep hold of him?
06:37They've all got Eze, Elisa, Neto, they've all got their injury concerns. The problem
06:41is, and what Gary Neal said at the end of the pre-match press conference, is that they
06:45need to sell to be able to accumulate, to speculate, to get some players over the line.
06:49So, does that lend itself that they want to get this deal done early so they can get
06:53these players in, because they can't spend without getting the money in?
06:55I mean, in an ideal scenario, Gary Neal walks in on June 1st, has a conversation with Matt
07:02Hobbs, has a conversation with Jeff Shee, sits down and says, OK, we've got these amount
07:06of bids, it's the money we want, the player's gone, these players come in, it's a team sort
07:11of pre-season. When does that ever happen in Premier League football, and at Wolves?
07:16It will not happen. Obviously, Ruben Evers moved very quickly last summer, so deals do
07:20happen as quickly as Wolves would like at times, but it's very rare. Things often drag
07:26on into August. I would be very surprised if Wolves are done and settled by the time
07:30we're in pre-season. So, it's going to be one, in my opinion, that drags on, but it
07:34depends, in a buyer's market, how aggressive these big clubs are to come and coach Pedroneto,
07:39Ait Nori, Djalgos, whoever it might be. So, there's a lot of ifs, buts and maybes going
07:43into the next few months.
07:44Dan Bentley got a start today, we saw Enzo Gonzalez come on for his debut, Belagard
07:48obviously coming on at half-time, Santiago Bueno, all these players will be looking for
07:53a start, potentially Anfield. Does he start, or does he just play his full-strength side
07:56possible, and then move on to next season?
07:58Knowing a little bit of what Gary's like as a person over this last season, I'd be gobsmacked
08:04if it's anything but play your best team and go and get three points. If they fall any
08:08short of that, he'll be disappointed. He's a man who is competitive, wants to win, and
08:12he's got a team and a squad here that want to win. I don't think, obviously those individuals
08:16will want to play, but I don't think the squad or the coaching team will at any point imagine
08:20that they're going to go there and play players for the sake of it. You go there to try and
08:24win the game, and you see what happens. It's a tough place to go, it's a tough ask. They've
08:28not been able to see out the season on a high here at Monmouth, they can do it away from
08:31home, it'd be one final special memory for what has been a very good season.
08:34Wolves won Crystal Palace 3 for the post-match reaction, make sure you log on to ExpressingStar.com