00:00Hello, I'm Nathan Judo, I'm here with all sportiers Mr Liam Keane from the Bet365 Stadium.
00:14The third pre-season game of the season, the first in England, it's finished, Stoke City won, Wolverhampton Wanderers won.
00:20You know, not a classic that we'll remember for the ages, but I guess a worthwhile outing.
00:26Yeah, the first game obviously this pre-season in front of fans as well, 3,375 I think it was Wolves fans of an 8,000 plus crowd here.
00:36Really good following, but they didn't get the best game, they didn't get the best game to Wolves.
00:39Was it a great game?
00:40No, Wolves I thought, it was great with the pre-season fixture in that first half, Wolves going through the motions a little bit.
00:46Neither side was particularly dangerous, there was a moment that first half, Flair Lopez, a nice little move, plays out wide,
00:52couldn't come back to him, curls this on that left foot and looks dangerous.
00:56He had a decent enough first half, so I thought with Keanu Hoover did OK.
00:59The midfield, Andre and Jaal Gomez obviously very good, but overall Wolves not particularly great,
01:04and they conceded from a corner in pretty sloppy fashion really, just don't clear their lines.
01:09It's a sort of scuffed shot inside the box and a little flick from the Stoke player.
01:13Might have been offside, but I mean, it counts very little really.
01:16Wolves behind and probably, it's hard to say deservedly so because the Stoke weren't great either,
01:21but Wolves didn't do enough to grab the game with the stuff from there.
01:24No, and then you go into the second half, couple of changes, Sam Johnson replaces Dan Bentley in goal,
01:28Andre comes off at...
01:30Wow, so I feel as well, I want some players in.
01:33Andre goes off at half-time, Jean-Rinning Pellegard goes into the centre midfield,
01:37and on comes Hugo Bueno, who we've been waiting a while for.
01:40Yeah, and I thought he did relatively well actually, Bueno, put a couple of dangerous crosses in.
01:45Maybe a couple of them were a little bit floated, maybe he would have liked a little bit more pace on them,
01:48but he's a natural player in that position.
01:50Jean-Rinning Pellegard was playing out there, did so against Burnley when he started in that game as well in Portugal,
01:55and on neither occasion did I think he did particularly badly,
01:58but he's clearly not necessarily suited to that position.
02:01It's a slightly different, slightly specialist position, and, yeah, Pellegard's not quite suited to it.
02:06But, Bueno, I thought it became a natural thing for him, taking up nice positions in between the lines,
02:11of our club coming inside, a little bit more freedom, and I thought he did relatively well.
02:16So, it added to Wolves, I think, being more dangerous.
02:19Rodrigo did well when he came on the right-hand side as well, I thought.
02:22And Wolves actually finally got a penalty, finally got a goal.
02:25Unbelievable, I mean, like you say, we've been waiting so long, and then we hit one in bloody pre-season.
02:28Wang Yichan, it was a foul in the box, I think it was a stonewall penalty.
02:32Picks the ball up, there was only one person taking it, and, well, it was still to convert a penalty,
02:36because it was saved, decent save by the keeper, but, of course, the rebound fell to him when he couldn't miss, couldn't he? 1-1.
02:41No, I mean, obviously a replay, there was no replays here today for us during the game.
02:45It looks like, on first viewing, that it was actually a relatively decent penalty,
02:49it looks like he hit it very hard, and I think it's a very good save, from what I saw.
02:52But he's very fortunate that it lands at his feet for the tapping.
02:55Nevertheless, for Wolves not to lose, rang to get a goal,
02:59and for Wolves actually, since scoring, after scoring, being the better team in the game,
03:04and having more opportunities will hopefully bode well for a bit more confidence.
03:07Look, not the best performance, not the best result, but not necessarily important.
03:12It's about trying to get minutes in those legs.
03:13Yeah, like I said, Maskey fans obviously were a bit disappointed with the display in the first half,
03:17but they did say that Keanu Hoover and Fer Lopez looked good, didn't they?
03:20I thought they were, I thought they did play well, they're promising.
03:22Just to go back on Hoover, who actually I think has done really well,
03:25and as we've said earlier this week, he's the surprise player in pre-season.
03:29Look, we all know about the pubal deal and everything falling through,
03:32but even with Wolves signing a right-wing back, hopefully they will do sooner rather than later,
03:36you've got to start to think that Keanu Hoover could be a very useful squad player regardless this season.
03:41Look, things could change, of course they can, they could change in the next 24 hours,
03:44as we've seen with recording the podcast this week.
03:46But in terms of a squad and the way that what he's provided,
03:49remember nine and a half million pound signing five years ago now,
03:52do you think he's someone who could end up staying this season?
03:55Or at least until January?
03:56Yeah, I think there's definitely a possibility, an opportunity for him.
04:00He's doing himself favours, I think, by his performances in training
04:03and in games that we've seen so far in this pre-season.
04:06If you're asking me would I want Keanu Hoover necessarily
04:08to be my number one starting right week back in the season?
04:10No, I don't think so.
04:12I think as a squad player, I think he could potentially be useful.
04:15He is also versatile as well.
04:16He played partly before he came off right-sided centre-half today
04:20when Doc came off the pitch and did relatively well there.
04:23Let's just get a prolonged look at...
04:25I think so, yeah.
04:26I mean also, with Mosquera not quite ready to play games as well,
04:28you want to make sure Doc doesn't get an injury as well.
04:30That's important.
04:31Doc's going to start and he should start.
04:32So that's probably part of the thinking as well.
04:34But you've seen Hoover in two different positions.
04:36I thought dangerous and good going forward as well
04:38when he was in right-wing back.
04:39And actually at centre-half as well, he got forward
04:41and overlapped Rodrigo Gomez on that right side.
04:43And he's doing himself some favours.
04:45If he can be a squad player and be around it,
04:47I'm not mad at it.
04:48I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing for Wolves.
04:50However, they very, very clearly need additions.
04:52And that right-wing back position is one to definitely bring us on.
04:55They need some fresh faces, definitely.
04:56John Harris is going to link up with the squad potentially later on this week.
04:59Hopefully we'll see him in Girona.
05:00But this needs two or three quality additions to this squad, doesn't it?
05:03And to this first team, not just to the squad,
05:05but to this starting line-up in the field.
05:06Yeah, I agree.
05:07Right-wing back, obviously.
05:08Another forward has to be in the offing.
05:11We know that Vitor wants a midfielder
05:14because you take André Jaume out of that
05:16and there's a drop-down in quality, isn't there?
05:18And players that probably don't really work in it too.
05:20I don't mind in that too.
05:21I'm not sure about Benetzi in that midfield too.
05:23I've changed my mind a little bit on that in the last few weeks.
05:25And actually, I don't think Benetzi had a particularly good game today
05:28in the forward line either.
05:30So, yeah, definitely work to do.
05:32And unfortunately, it's three weeks today that Man City come to town.
05:35So Wolves have got to get a move on.
05:37Yeah, in terms of people missing today, Jose Saar is still missing
05:41because of the eye injury.
05:42Santiago Bueno was ill, so not in the squad today.
05:44But the likes of the bench today, Johnston, Hugo Bueno, Chan, Klayjic, Gomez,
05:49Chereiro, Guedes, Mane, Lima, Lopez.
05:52You think we're going to probably see a lot more of these against Lunds on Wednesday
05:55at the best, Scott?
05:56Yeah, that is Leo Lopez, by the way.
05:57Not Fer Lopez, just for fans who might be confused.
05:59Obviously a young lad who did relatively well actually out in Portugal.
06:02But, yeah, I think the majority of those players are probably starting.
06:06You've probably seen a few that started there, probably mix and match, I would guess.
06:08Because, no disrespect to that bench, I mean, if Wolves play that 11,
06:12I mean, there's two goalkeepers, they'll be a goalkeeper on the field anyway.
06:15But if they play that 11, they're probably getting turned over on Wednesday.
06:18So you're going to have to mix and match it a little bit.
06:20But find the right opportunities for players that need a bit of minutes.
06:23I would suspect that Hugo Bueno and Rodrigo Gomez might start both wing-back side positions.
06:29And then the forward line probably picks itself as well.
06:32So, yeah, I think we'll see a bit of a change on Wednesday.
06:34But like you say, three weeks to Manchester City.
06:36Arias is going to come in, he's pretty much game ready.
06:38So, yeah, he's probably going to slot in and you can see him as a starter in that Manchester City game.
06:43But in terms of getting signings in, getting signings over the line,
06:46time's running out if you're going to be ready for that Manchester City game.
06:49It looks like Vita Pereira is going to have this squad to work with, plus Arias, at his disposable, realistically, for that game.
06:55Realistically.
06:56Realistically.
06:57Obviously, they've still got three weeks to bring someone else in.
06:59But then you've got the time to bet someone in.
07:01Yeah, of course.
07:02So, I don't think he's going to get his wish of having everything in before the season starts.
07:07I don't see that working.
07:09We know the Wolves work later into the window anyway.
07:11It's not ideal.
07:12And Vita's job now is to make sure he gets enough points out of those fixtures,
07:17enough results in those early games.
07:19And he's only three games in the Premier League before the window closes as well.
07:22So, it could be a lot worse.
07:24But he has to make sure he gets results in those games.
07:27It's City at home, it's Bournemouth away, and it's Everton at home, isn't it?
07:30In those first three.
07:31So, you've got to try and get something from that.
07:34We'll see you at Warsaw on Wednesday.
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