00:00Hello, I'm Nathan Judo. I'm here with Wolves aboard a Mr. Liam Keane Carabao Cup action in the third round.
00:14It's finished Wolverhampton Wanderers 2, Everton 0 and it wasn't the greatest game in the world.
00:20I don't think we're going to remember it for many years to come, but Wolves needed a win tonight in any way, shape or form.
00:26That's exactly what they got.
00:27We're back.
00:28We're back.
00:29We're back.
00:30Not quite. I don't think we are quite back yet.
00:31The journey to Wembley starts here.
00:33We didn't start against West Ham, but carry on.
00:36Don't be like that.
00:37Look, we sat here only four days ago, didn't we?
00:41Fustrated, angry, disappointed.
00:42Yeah, just discussed a really, really poor performance against Leeds in which everything really went wrong for Wolves.
00:49And today, with maybe riding the look a tiny bit at times, but with definitely a better performance,
00:55not a thrilling performance, but definitely a better one, Wolves come away with a really solid result.
01:02Look, the first 15 minutes, and this is not for multi-performance, but the first 15 minutes were pretty dire.
01:06As a spectacle, as a game to watch, it was boring.
01:09Yeah.
01:10There was not a lot going on.
01:11Wolves were looking after the ball pretty well and started to get into their groove a little bit.
01:14And once they started to create a couple of opportunities on the break, they were definitely better than Everton.
01:19And look, Marshall Minetti, who I thought played well tonight, on an opportunity for him back in the team, took his chance when it arrived.
01:27Arias with a beautiful volley that was saved.
01:30And fortunately, Travers' parry sort of landed right to Minetti's feet.
01:34And look, Wolves take that result into half-time without really too much fuss.
01:39But Everton came back strong. The Cavalry came in. To be honest, I was surprised at Everton's team.
01:43I thought they would have gone a bit stronger than they did.
01:46And they brought the Cavalry on, Grealish in.
01:49Dye, Jusby Hall, Beto, the players that caused Wolves so many problems here only a few weeks ago.
01:53And yeah, look, Roger looked a little bit at times, hit the crossbar, a couple of small moments.
01:58But overall, I thought defensively Wolves were a hell of a lot better.
02:02So many less mistakes or no mistakes, if you will, no glaring errors.
02:07Far more composed, better on the ball, better off the ball, better in the tackle.
02:13I thought more aggressive, stronger.
02:15I thought Krejci was really strong.
02:17My man of the match for me, I thought the best player probably on the pitch tonight was Andre.
02:22Which was a great reaction from him being dropped again at the weekend.
02:25And Wolves finished it off in perfect style with a beautiful finish from Tony Arakadari for his first Wolves goal.
02:30I don't need to say anything after.
02:33The takeaways for me is that it's just an improvement on what we saw.
02:38It's not perfect by any means.
02:40There's still work to do.
02:42But it's a really good reaction from the lowest low we've probably had this season so far.
02:47And that's my biggest compliment I can pay to Vito on the team.
02:50The most important thing, I think, is that individual mistakes have cost Wolves this season.
02:54And there wasn't too many.
02:55I don't think Everton pressed Wolves too much tonight.
02:58It was a slow game.
03:00It was almost pre-season slow at times.
03:02I think that helped Wolves.
03:04It gave them a route into the game.
03:06It built up confidence.
03:07The passing was good.
03:08And like you say, someone like Andre in there.
03:10I mean, I'm sorry.
03:12I don't care whether he's playing well, whether he's playing a little bit poorly, whether he's had a bad week or a good week in training.
03:17Just start Andre and Gil Gomez every week.
03:19I agree.
03:20I mean, it's not difficult.
03:21It's not difficult.
03:22And we'll discuss more on the podcast tonight.
03:23But yeah, I thought Andre, it was no coincidence that Wolves kept the ball better with him in the centre.
03:28Yeah, 100%.
03:29Look, it was a surprise back four, wasn't it?
03:32Which came out of nowhere.
03:34I know we're going to speak to Vito very shortly and ask him about that.
03:37And it was a sort of interesting midfield three of Andre in the pivot.
03:41He was dropping very deep at times as well.
03:43And then you had Bellegarde Manezzi just in front of him.
03:46But Bellegarde I thought actually was quite lively at times, relatively tidy without being outstanding.
03:52I thought he put himself about really well.
03:54I thought he looked after the ball well.
03:56And particularly in the first half, I actually got Wolves forward really well.
03:58But Andre was the star of that show for me for Wolves.
04:01And it was because at times when there was big gaps in there, because it was an experimental,
04:07unusual midfield three, he covered every blade of grass in there.
04:11He was so quick and so aggressive to get onto the heels of Everton.
04:15On the transition, he was winning every ball.
04:17He was making blocks on the edge of Wolves' box.
04:19For all of these reasons, he was fantastic.
04:21And that, I asked Vito after the game against Leeds.
04:24He said, look, you dropped Andre again.
04:26What do you need to see from him?
04:27And he said, the second half I saw against Leeds.
04:30I'm not quite sure what he meant by that, because I didn't think Andre was bad.
04:33I didn't think he was particularly good.
04:35What we do need to see from Andre is exactly that performance.
04:37And for me, I completely agree with you.
04:39He has to play.
04:40Yeah.
04:41Total record on it.
04:42It came on.
04:43And look, nice ball through for Jao Gomez.
04:45Yeah.
04:46And look, he had plenty to do, but it was one-on-one.
04:47And there's been so many times when I've seen this in a Wolves player and a Wolves striker,
04:52and it never, ever, ever goes in.
04:54Or just about, they squeeze it in.
04:56This was non-true.
04:57I mean, that finish, that ship.
04:59Yeah.
05:00The confidence to do that when you're at home, when it's the end of the game,
05:03when you're looking for your first goal, you could have snapped at it.
05:05You know, there was a couple of chances earlier on with Wang and a couple of other players
05:08where it just blazed over the bar.
05:10But that was a beautiful finish.
05:12You wouldn't score many better than that.
05:13No.
05:14It was, yeah, as you said, a really good ball from Jao Gomez.
05:16And it has to sort of add to what you were saying, an awkward opportunity in some ways,
05:21because it was just to the right of the goal.
05:23He's on the angle, wasn't he?
05:24He's on the angle.
05:25He's bearing down on goal.
05:26And as the goalkeeper comes out, he has a decision to make.
05:28He either takes a touch and he looks for a pass, or he has to be audacious.
05:31He has to go for it.
05:32He has to be creative.
05:33And we've seen a lot of players in that position in a Wolves shirt snatch at it,
05:37as you say, particularly when it's his first goal for the club,
05:40but not have the confidence, I think, to take that opportunity on.
05:43But what he does is he takes it like a confident goal scorer.
05:47And that's what Wolves need.
05:48Look, he's going to frustrate Wolves at times.
05:50He's going to frustrate Wolves fans.
05:52He's going to frustrate us.
05:53And there were times against Leeds they didn't think he played particularly well at all.
05:57Because he is a bit of a lump.
05:59And sometimes it's going to bounce off him.
06:02But when he's strong and he holds the ball up and he brings others into play,
06:05he can be effective, like we saw against Newcastle.
06:07And when he has a moment like that, when he makes a fantastic run,
06:10receives a really good ball, but has the confidence to take the opportunity on,
06:13and deliver it like that, that's where you're going to see the best out of him.
06:16So credit to him.
06:17I thought it was an excellent finish.
06:18I'm pleased that he's able to get that first goal as well,
06:20because we talk about confidence throughout the team.
06:22For him as an individual, that'll be, you know, doing the world of good.
06:25Yeah, and this team is drastically low on that.
06:27So this will have helped it tonight.
06:28Look, I mean, we've got to talk about the fans, talk about, you know,
06:31I say bums on seats.
06:32There weren't many of them.
06:33It was half empty.
06:34A lot of fans frustrated, as you can understand, with the situation at this moment in time.
06:38It still costs money to watch these games as well.
06:40A little bit of a decent amount in the stadium, I think.
06:43But regardless of the result tonight, they're going to have to get better.
06:48And that starts on Saturday.
06:50Because let's be honest, the Carval Cup is nowhere near a priority for Wolves this season.
06:53And Vitor, I'm sure, would swap a loss tonight for a win on Saturday.
06:58Of course, that's the most important thing.
06:59They've got to stay in this Premier League.
07:01They've got to build on this, don't they?
07:02Because they can't do this and follow it with a stinker on Saturday night.
07:05Yeah, that's a really good segue, really, into the weekend.
07:09But just, yeah, very quickly on that.
07:10I think it was roughly about 18,000, wasn't it?
07:13Official attendance today.
07:15And I'm not massively surprised.
07:18Look, it's the Carval Cup, first of all, it's midweek.
07:20It's not cheap to follow modern football these days for these fans.
07:24You've played Everton already.
07:25You've played Everton already.
07:26And Wolves are playing so badly, like they have been, again, against Leeds.
07:30And this is what happens when you make consistent errors at the top
07:33and you get your team into a position where they're five defeats from five
07:37and bottom of the Premier League at the start of the season.
07:39But credit to the fans that were here, because, albeit, understandably,
07:42it was quite an atmosphere to start with.
07:44As the players reacted and gave them a performance, the fans did their bit as well.
07:48So credit to the ones that were here that were able to do that,
07:50because I don't blame the ones that weren't here,
07:52and it's not easy for those that are here to try and be up for a game like this
07:55when the situation Wolves are in.
07:57And you're right.
07:58Fans, but more importantly the players, have to take this into Saturday.
08:038pm, under the lights, at Spurs, trip down to London.
08:07It's not going to be easy by any means.
08:09Spurs look decent enough this season, particularly defensively.
08:12They're going to be hard to break down.
08:14And Wolves have got to try and be as solid as they were defensively here
08:19while offering at least some sort of output.
08:21And that's going to be really tough ass for a team that's struggling
08:23at the bottom of the Premier League.
08:24But if you can take a little bit of the confidence, a little bit of the momentum,
08:27some of the performances tonight that we saw perhaps will be rewarded
08:30with a start again in the league, and I hope some of them are,
08:34then it should be, I say should be, hopefully will be a more positive result
08:39because we'll desperately need points.
08:41They cannot continue week in, week out without picking points on them.
08:44Back four, back five at Spurs.
08:45Whatever the team is, nobody knows.
08:46We'll try and speculate in the podcast tonight
08:48and try and pick Vito Pereira's team for him.
08:51But I guarantee that we'll both be wrong
08:52because I don't think anyone knows at this moment in time.
08:54And Spurs don't know either.
08:56But the most important thing, Liam, is that I was starting to get a little bit worried
08:59because one of us is departing.
09:01And I was hoping that there wasn't going to be a chance to hit a bit of a dot com.
09:06But thankfully, look, you never know, we might get to do it two more occasions
09:09against Spurs and against Brighton.
09:11But tonight, it's finished.
09:13Wolverhampton Wanderers 2, Everton 0 for the post-match reaction.
09:15Make sure you log on to ExpressAndStar.com!
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