Wolves in USA Day 7 - Toronto Blue Jays vs Baltimore Orioles preview plus Crystal Palace
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00:00Hello, I'm Nathan Judah, that is Wolves Report, it is Mr. Liam Keenley and we have arrived.
00:14We are in Baltimore and we've just had a delicious lunch and we are outside Nick's Fish House.
00:21Introduced the boy to crab cakes, delicious, from one of the best places in the city. What
00:26did you make of it? Top drawer, all the people on Twitter that told me to try it, you are
00:30spot on, it was absolutely amazing. Yeah, full of crab, nothing like these fish cakes
00:35back at home where you've got loads of potato and a few flakes of tuna or salmon or haddock.
00:42This was as good as you're going to get. I don't want to leave, can I forget the game
00:49tonight, forget the game tomorrow, just stay here all day. Yeah, it was beautiful, amazing.
00:53I think I'm going to have to have another one before we leave. Yeah, you've got a little
00:56bit left over as well, I've just seen you smile there, a little bit in your teeth, so
00:59you've got that for an hour's time. Right, okay, big game tomorrow. Lovely. Big game
01:04tomorrow night, well, we've got a big game later on tonight as well. We do. It's the
01:08Baltimore Orioles versus the Toronto Blue Jays, let's discuss that. We're not discussing
01:12baseball because people like what you're doing, even though Blue Jays, obviously huge, huge
01:16news that we're in town for Baltimore, but interesting development because right wingback
01:23slash right back slash left back slash left winger slash sometimes a number nine, depends
01:27what he's going to use. Matt Doherty is throwing out the first pitch tonight. Yeah, how do
01:32you think he'll get on? Look, it depends. It's one of these things, you've got to go
01:37throw to the mound, throw to the catcher, you're going to have probably about 30,000
01:41people watching you. In practice, it all looks great, your action's great, follow through's
01:47great, glides through the air, when the pressure's on, you've got one chance, can he do it?
01:53I think he said he's a bit nervous. I would be nervous as well, don't blame him. He was
01:57talking the talk a while ago, he's like, I might do a slider, might do a curveball, might
02:01do a knuckleball, I think I'm just going to wang it in first ball. As he gets creeps closer
02:05to the day, you get a bit shaky. I'd rather him than me, to be honest. I wouldn't have
02:10a clue what I'm doing. That's nice of you. I'm looking forward to seeing how he gets
02:17on, to see if he can conquer those nerves. You're the biggest, newest baseball fan in
02:21the country, aren't you? You're ready to go, you're an expert. I've always loved the
02:24beautiful game. The beautiful game, love it. It's always been for me, I grew up with a
02:29Miami Marlins scarf wrapped around me. Love it. Literally when you were delivered. Literally,
02:34as a stork flew in. I'm actually genuinely looking forward to the game tonight. Fluge
02:43is definitely going to win, I think. Not looking forward to the free food and free drink, potentially.
02:47Oh no, I wouldn't want that, God no. It could be a messy night. Let's preview the game tomorrow,
02:52the soccer game tomorrow. People won't like that, people won't like that, people won't like that.
02:57When the US win their country, you've got to say it. It's bang out, what was that? It's Wolverhampton
03:00Wonders, it's Crystal Palace tomorrow night in Annapolis, which obviously is a little bit outside
03:05the city, it's about 20 minutes, half an hour away. We're looking forward to it, the stadium
03:08looks great. And look, Wolves have got the Stateside Cup on the line here. A win, probably
03:14a draw might be good enough. I mean, that's silverware, baby. Absolutely. Another good test
03:18for this team. Yeah, it's a late one as well, isn't it? 8pm local time, which would be about
03:221am in the UK. You getting there? Yeah, my maths is spot on. Yeah, another test, absolutely. I mean,
03:29I know West Ham had a few players missing, you'd argue that that was a tougher test on paper,
03:33but Palace are a good side and Wolves have not got the best record against Palace back in England. So
03:39yeah, it certainly will be a test. But the way Wolves played, obviously you spoke to Gary Neil
03:43on the podcast, didn't we, this week? Well, yesterday, and it's gone out today.
03:47And if Wolves can play in a similar way, I know we'll be at a slightly different
03:52starting level, which we'll come on to, then Wolves have got every chance of lifting this
03:58trophy and we're going to be going home champions. Big, big opportunity. In more seriousness,
04:04Wolves are so aggressive in that first game against West Ham, pressed really well.
04:09Obviously played a back four, which means they've got an extra attacking player on the pitch as
04:12well. And with all that combined, they created chances and they were exciting to watch and good
04:16to watch and obviously scored three goals. So if they can find that combination again,
04:20in difficult circumstances, obviously with the weather and the delay to the game last time,
04:23there's no reason why they shouldn't win. Yeah, look, there'll be no Mateus Cunha,
04:27we broke that news this morning and obviously Gary Neil, when he did speak to us, let us know that
04:32on the podcast yesterday. Not going to feature for the rest of this US tour, but still hopeful
04:38that he may be available for the start of the season at Arsenal. I mean, look, it's still a
04:43blow, it's a blow for the US fans, but most importantly, look, we've got to look selfishly
04:47towards the start of the season. If Mateus Cunha is ready to go 100% for game week one,
04:52then that's all that matters really at this stage. Yeah, there's no point risking him in
04:56pre-season friendlies here if he's not fit or if it's a risk. It makes no sense whatsoever.
05:03Maybe he'll be available for Ray of Alicante, obviously you have to wait and see in just
05:06over a week or so's time. And then we've got, as you say, Arsenal away first game of the season,
05:10and we've also got a tough start. So you have to try and get one of your best players, that's what
05:14Mateus Cunha is, you have to try and get him fit and available and ready for the games that matter.
05:18And it's a shame for US fans not being able to see him, but he's a very, very good player,
05:23looked very good in that first 30 minutes before his injury against West Ham, obviously scored the
05:26opening goal as well. And you need to just get him ready and available, which is easier said
05:31than done. But there are other players that will step up, I would like to think, and have got an
05:35opportunity to shine.
05:37Joao Gomez, Pedro Neto, Nelson Samedo, Jose Sarr, all back in training. What are the likelihood we'll see some of them tomorrow night?
05:45So Gary seemed to think after West Ham game that it'd be unlikely and that we would see all of them,
05:50you know, get some minutes against RB Leipzig the weekend. But we did obviously watch training,
05:57we saw pretty much the XI that finished the game lining up in training, and it looks like that's
06:03probably what they're going to go with, which makes sense, 16-13, playing those players from
06:06the start. And Joao Gomez was in that, and obviously they have got a limited number of
06:12midfielders, so it'll be interesting to see if he does get a shout. If not, it's probably Luke
06:16Rawlings who gets a shout, which would be massive for him, unless Koundelol Aminah, who did start
06:20last game, start again. But that seems like it's going to be unlikely. So you've got those options,
06:25the other option is you play Belaguard deeper again, he did obviously start there, but with
06:30Koundelol Aminah out, I'd imagine he'll go into that position, maybe Traoré along the 10 position
06:35as well. So with those options, Joao Gomez might get a chance. It just depends on where he is at
06:42physically as well after having a little bit of a break following Copa America.
06:45Yeah, looking forward to it, and look, Crystal Palace, good side as well,
06:47aren't they? They've got plenty of good players, I think Eze's back and a few others,
06:51so it's going to be a good test.
06:52Yeah, they're such a physical test every time you play Crystal Palace, and as I say,
06:56Wolves have never particularly got a good record against them for those reasons and others. But
07:01they've got not just that, it's finishing quality as well, and that's the concern. But Wolves,
07:06Gary said on the podcast, and we actually thought it watching the game, that Totti,
07:09actually in particular, but Totti and Mosquera both did really well in that first half.
07:13The other two coming on, Dawson and Santi, we're expecting will start the game, also did well.
07:19But if those defenders perform and you've got someone keeping others quiet,
07:24Mateta, I believe, will be with France at the Olympics, so you'll have to deal with that issue.
07:29But if you've got those players performing, Wolves have got every chance of winning it,
07:33and then returning to Wolverhampton with a trophy, we'll take it.
07:37Look, we have mentioned a few times on this video, Gary O'Neill spoke to the podcast yesterday,
07:42it was incredible for him to give up his time, and he's very, very busy here,
07:46you've got to understand that, and we've spoken to him briefly and post-match and pre-match and
07:51on the training field, but for him to come and sit down, to sit down with myself and Liam for
07:56what was supposed to be 20 minutes, filled us 20 minutes and we might have extended it maybe to 25,
08:01to double that, to sit down for 50 minutes for a Wolves poddy.
08:04Not just great information and news and thoughts and insight, but also a bit of comedy in there.
08:10It is available on all good podcast networks such as iTunes and Acast and Spotify
08:17and all sorts, SoundCloud as well.
08:19If you haven't done it, it's 50 minutes, make sure you listen because it is an absolute treat
08:24for any Wolves fan and just shows I think how important Gary O'Neill is to this project.
08:29We'll see you at the Toronto Blue Jays versus Baltimore Orioles game a little bit later.