22 Sep 2026 23:28:02
I have left it a couple of days for the dust to settle and won't give ratings to the individual players as that doesn't seem to engender any response.
So I have put down, what I hope you will agree is, a balanced view of the game both pros and cons.
Pros
A win, a clean sheet, a very good performance especially in the first half, several players - step forward and take a bow Mr Toti - having their best performances for a long time!
Cons
Firstly more a mea culpa from me - again sorry Mr Lopez! I was highly sceptical when numerous posters on here and elsewhere said the Championship was extremely weak.
From what I have seen they were correct and there is a chasm between the bottom of the Prem and the middle of the Champ with about a dozen sides in the Champ who are oceans away from challenging the better sides at the top of the Champ.
As an aside despite their good start to the season it would appear Albion, who were genuinely awful, are one of those bottom half teams
More seriously Wolves created as many as double digit "moments" - "could haves" and "should haves" - in the first half alone but went in at half time at 0-0.
Whilst I accept that not all "could haves" become "should haves" - poor decision making, poor passing from the creator, poor movement and/or touch from the putative finisher and naturally defenders interventions - and not all "should haves" become goals - poor decision making and poor finishing plus as we saw this week intervention by goalkeepers and other defenders- 0 from as many as a 8, 9 or even 10 is simply not satisfactory or sustainable.
Wolves can not expect to beat even weak sides like Albion 1- 0 on a regular basis as, as seen earlier on this year, luck and or quality - WHU showed both - will inevitably mean that Wolves will concede occasionally and unless Wolves score from their numerous opportunities points will be dropped.
Although widely lauded for his work rate, Armstrong was only minimally involved in just one of the multiple "moments" Wolves created. For the main striker this is worrying but not surprising. If Raul is not able to get up to speed this shortcoming may become a concern.
Ironically Munetsi was involved in 3 "moments" in the first half alone but of course did not finish any of them - albeit their goalie made an excellent save for at least one of them.
However, although so far this season he has been involved in far more "moments" than would be expected from a midfield player and has scored 2 goals, given the paucity of his other activities - offensively he is barely involved on the ball at all although to be fair he works hard defensively - unless he is scoring very regularly like some modern day Gerd Muller, ( when he could bring a stool on to the pitch and sit for 89 minutes reading a book for all I care!), he is a passenger in the side.
Given there are 3 better options : Doyle providing control and progressive passing, slow Traore providing defensive impact and physicality and James with his all-court game - plus seemingly just as much goal threat as Munetsi - it is bizarre that he continues to be selected.
Net net though it's been a better start to the season than I thought it would and the emergence of Djiga and Lopez has been an incredible boost to the side.
Thoughts?
23 Sep 2026 07:13:49
Agree with what you write there Tfig3, scoring is our obvious flaw, (their keeper was outstanding on this occassion), Armstrong gets alot of flack and questioning, as you have, but watching his runs I wonders onetime if it's not being seen by our players, or used continuously as a ploy? We're balls played for him at the time he's beginning to move then things may be different, (although we all know the chence(s) he's spurned.
Toti, for all my moaning og him before, turned in an almost flawless performance, maybe the hype and expectancy of the Derby match drilled it into him ?
As for Fer, I thought he had a very quiet 1st, and was willing him to go further forward, that aspect resulted in the goal.
Agree re Munetsi, can't criticise his commitment or energy, but slightly as with mosquiro, it can mislead. Surely Doyler James or Traore can give us more.
One final point wrapping it all up, Tripper.
Having trips back in the the team seems to 'polish' off some rough edges, his experience was so evident to me when he put his hand on morgans shoulders and had 'a word' in his ear.
That letting the opposition know where they stand, I'm sure he gets our lads into line as well. Why his ge not the permanent on field skipper?
23 Sep 2026 10:54:04
Hopefully the club will now be looking to sign a 15 to20 goal per seazon striker in the January window.
23 Sep 2026 12:50:24
I'd welcome the signing of a 15-20 goal striker, but who should make away given that we have a full squad?
23 Sep 2026 13:10:14
Tbh I'm not sure I can agree with much you've said there future, other than that Toti had one of his better performances. It seems he performs better in the bigger games, I remember a few games in the prem against top sides where he was much better than against lesser teams.
As for the comments about the quality of teams in the champ I'd argue that Hull who were a mid table team for much of last season are proving the transition can be made in to the prem and equally most of the recently promoted teams have done quite well in the prem albeit with some money spent for most of them.
It seems to me the championship is a very competitive league where anyone can be beaten. Another example is Blackburn turning over both Millwall and Middlesbrough arguable one of the teams who are oceans away beating the upper sides in the champ.
As for some of the comments about players, for me it's not coincidence that Munetsi is scoring and being in the right place for quite a few chances. I think credit needs to go to CP for utilising him in a way that can have an impact and possible Armstrong for his runs that create space for other players. James possibly is the better option which in time I think we will see as he becomes a regular first teamer. The jury is out on slow traore for me, his energy is great and is good a breaking up play but always seems to be chasing the ball instead of being in control. And again I feel like credit needs to go to CP for the organisation and the fact we made West Brom look terrible, the pressing and break up play from Andre in particular was outstanding and often gets ignored or just put down as the oppo being poor.
23 Sep 2026 14:49:23
Armstrong Boubacar Traore Munetsi there's three for starter's.
23 Sep 2026 15:27:31
The same Munetsi who is joint top scorer?
23 Sep 2026 16:20:33
Let's see if he's still joint top scorer in afew weeks time?
23 Sep 2026 16:22:03
Deep this has been discussed before and obviously it would be Neave.
If a striker came in to replace or compete with Raul in Jan that would push Neave down to 3rd choice for the
2nd half of the season. (I don't count Armstrong as a cf but instead rate him highly as a 10.)
3rd choices rarely play and he leaves in the summer anyway so it is highly probable he would never play again so why keep him?
Rated and Goat
You can't dispute Munetsi's "moments" and indeed goals. He is much much more heavily involved than a midfield player has any right to be.
However Munetsi has 2 goals and no assists this season - given he does virtually nothing else, (he barely even touches the ball and often those touches are unsuccessful), that is not enough.
Hence my comparison with Gerd Muller.
I'm pretty sure James will have similar goal output but will also contribute to the overall game far far more than Munetsi.
23 Sep 2026 16:58:23
Goat as i said I thought the league would be of a higher standard and closer to the bottom end of the Prem but from what I have seen so far this season it does not appear to be.
But lets not look at opinions and views but analyse a few facts.
Whilst Hull have started this season well the stats clearly show, in contrast to what you say and I thought, that historically at least we were badly wrong.
Even the best sides in the Champ i. e. the ones promoted, struggle to survive more than a year or two in the Prem.
In the last 12 years more than 60% of the sides promoted have returned to the Champ within 2 years and the vast majority of them are returning in the first season.
So in reality even the top end of the champ has been well below the lower end of the Prem.
With respect to your comments about the competitiveness of the champ sadly these are also contradicted by the stats.
These show the points gap between say the top few sides - i. e. the promoted ones and those who came very close - and even upper mid table teams over the last 7 or 8 years has been massive - high teens to well over 20 points on several occasions.
Consequently it is certainly fair to say that historically the teams at the top of the champ are indeed an ocean away from the upper mid table sides let alone as i said the lower mid and below sides in the Champ.