Swindon Town v Wolverhampton Wanderers Official Matchday Thread

[Ticker45]

I was not expecting anything last night based on our recent performances and got what I expected. Thought that first half Wolves were the best team playing in the same division as us I have seen for a while - full of pace and workrate. Second half was a slightly different story albeit we were very predictable and very ponderous at times but there were stages in the game when Wolves had ten men behind the ball so perhaps they were not that comfortable with the situation, a second goal for us might have made things interesting.

I have said it too many times this season but refereeing standards are getting poorer I am sure. Bad decisions, no decisions, ignoring blatant cheating, the list goes on and on and seems to be the norm at every game and very rarely do we seem to get things going our way.

On a final note am I right in thinking that Murphy has gone back to Norwich? If so what the hell was that all about as surely one of our own younger players should have been given a chance not a "premiership" player who showed very little as far as I am concerned.

[kerry red]

Didn't go last night but it sounds as if we were a bit better than when Walsall and Orient took us to the cleaners.

Walsall was the absolute low spot for me this season (so far)

[BruceChatwin]

Is Ryan Harley made of paper?

[Only Me]

Is Ryan Harley made of paper?

No. He is flesh and blood.

[REDBUCK]

But like Matt Hewlett in far too many ways. Very much a show pony

[Posh Red]

Whilst passing the ball sideways & backwards doesn't bother me quite as much as others, the thing with Harley is that he takes so fucking long to do it, and then passes it about a yard to a team mate stood next to him, who is also marked.

The only thing that surprises is me with him anymore is that he manages to put his boots on, he's so indecisive that I half expect him to be unable to decide whether to put the right boot on first or the left.

Maybe he just closes his eyes and gets one of the youth team to do it for him

[Barnard]

Harley is a waste of a shirt at the moment. His tackling is feeble and he offers nothing.

Luongo looked like a tired player trying to do too much. He seemed to give the ball away on occasions by trying to over complicate when a simple ball was on. Not sure that the Austrailia World Cup carrot is going to help our cause.

In general, Wolves shouldn't be in this division and obviously won't be next season. There wasn't a single player in our 11 that would have got into their starting line up. I can't blame the players for being simply less talented than their opponents and was expecing a worse thrashing than we actually got. I thought the second half was pretty decent and had Jay's header gone in who knows what might have happened.

Our squad simply isn't good enough in depth to maintain the position we had worked ourselves into, and the focus now needs to be getting the points on the board needed to stay up and then getting the targets in place for the summer. With the departure of Navarro, Williams, Benson etc from the wage bill, along with TAH probably moving on and hopefully some cash for Ranger, we should be able to put together a slightly deeper squad.   

[Bob's Orange]

Smith took his goal really well.

The less said about the 'defending' for Wolves goals the better. They did look so much stronger and quicker than us for all of their goals.

[suttonred]

That's what you get when you have a budget 10x ours.

[Peter Venkman]

That's what you get when you have a budget 10x ours.

At least 10x, Sako is supposed to be on £25k a week and O'Hara £20k a week in the reserves.

Clark was rumoured to be on £10k a week when he moved from Coventry, their budget is probably £20 mill+ this season easily.

[Tails]

I spoke to a guy at work who is a Saints fan and he went to the game. It's quite interesting to hear a neutrals view on the game. He was sat with the Wolves fan as well, and said they started to shit it a bit when we completely took control of the game in the second half. But the consensus was that we were actually quite a decent team, although he didn't rate Harley and Ward (shocker) but felt we were quite unlucky in the end.

It was one of those games really. Wolves dominated first, we did second, but they are much, much better than us. We could have knicked a point, but we fizzled and didn't take our chances and were punished.

If we could have that effort and play in the second half for 90 minutes on Saturday, that'd be much appreciated lads!

[Power to people]

On a final note am I right in thinking that Murphy has gone back to Norwich? If so what the hell was that all about as surely one of our own younger players should have been given a chance not a "premiership" player who showed very little as far as I am concerned.

He was another one that was forced onto Cooper by Power remember Power saying what a good player Murphy was.

But to be fair to the lad I dont think he was really given a chance here, he is a winger and was never given the chance to play that role as we dont play with wingers - a waste of a loan. I expect Norwich wont be happy taking one of their youngsters and not giving him much game time.

[RWB Robin]

I spoke to a guy at work who is a Saints fan and he went to the game. It's quite interesting to hear a neutrals view on the game. He was sat with the Wolves fan as well, and said they started to shit it a bit when we completely took control of the game in the second half. But the consensus was that we were actually quite a decent team, although he didn't rate Harley and Ward (shocker) but felt we were quite unlucky in the end.

It was one of those games really. Wolves dominated first, we did second, but they are much, much better than us. We could have knicked a point, but we fizzled and didn't take our chances and were punished.

If we could have that effort and play in the second half for 90 minutes on Saturday, that'd be much appreciated lads!

That's quite useful actually.....and I agree with him/them....Harley seems to be a mystery.  I thought on Saturday, after TAH, he was probably best of a poor bunch.  Tuesday he was crap...bottled out of tackling and even when he made a more adventurous pass, it was inaccurate.  Overall, I think people are being unkind to Ward.  No he isn't as quick, and yes he was turned inside out by the pace and movement of the Wolves strikers - but he was also left virtually on his
own too often, especially in the first half.  But playing a sweeping role, moving play forward he was certainly better than on Saturday when 90% of his passes were backwards across field to TAH...any decent centre forward would have leapt on that very quickly.  I think Branco has real promise...showed he can play with the ball at his feet, chased and covered for Nathan Byrne very regularly, but was so often out of position, so leaving Ward very exposed....  I would say that a defence of Thompson, Branco, TAH and McEverly with Ward coaching would be a very good starting line-up for next season.  Then there is Hall (if he were to stay), Smith, Barthram and Reckord as back up....doesnt sound bad to me.

[Benzel]

Reckord has gone back hasn't he? PLEASE TELL ME HE'S GONE BACK

[Tails]

Ward is decent when the ball is coming at his head, but coming towards him on the floor or with quick attackers running at him, he looks like he's wearing iron boots.

On Harley though, apparently that sort of casual approach to the game has always been his style. It obviously worked at Exeter but hasn't really since. If we're in a game where we're allowed a lot of space (a la Crewe away, where he had a decent game) he will thrive but in games like Tuesday, and I imagine Saturday, he's a passenger.