Newcastle 1 Wolves 0 - Liam Keen and Nathan Judah analysis - video Dailymotion

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Newcastle 1 Wolves 0 - Liam Keen and Nathan Judah analysis

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00:00Hello, I'm Nathan Judo, I'm here with Wolves reporter, Mr Liam Keane, where it's finished

00:14at St James's Park, Newcastle United 1, Wolverhampton 1-0. Liam, especially in the first half,

00:19especially those first 20 minutes, looked really positive, but Wolves didn't take the

00:22chances, Newcastle did, and unfortunately the game kind of fizzled out towards the end.

00:26Yeah, it did. That first 20-25 minutes or so, best Wolves have played in these opening

00:32four games in the Premier League, by some distance I think, and in a very different style. Three

00:37midfield, with Krejci coming into midfield, obviously changes all over the park, and

00:42Tolu Arakadari coming up at the top, and it really worked really, the long balls, knocking

00:47it down, and then they got an instant opportunity with Rodrigo Gomez, who manages to force a corner,

00:52he had a couple of chances, two or three really big ones, Wang had a chance from that result,

00:56and corner very early on as well, and Wolves made a really good start, they were physical.

01:00Well, I think Eddie Hattner out-thought, Newcastle didn't there, I mean, they didn't know how

01:03to handle them, to be fair, for the first 15 minutes.

01:05They did, but once you don't build on that, in this kind of stadium, against this kind

01:09of team, you run the risk of the game getting away from you, and that's exactly what happened

01:12to Wolves. Newcastle grew into it, had their chances, alongside the one they scored, which

01:18again, Agbadoo loses their man, and it's really poor. I think Andre allows the cross

01:22to come in as well, has to be better. It's a really poor goal to concede, albeit there's

01:25a small bit of quality from Newcastle's perspective. Once that goal goes in, Newcastle on top, they

01:31get a few really good chances, should have made it 2-0 in that first half easily, maybe

01:35potentially 3. Great chance, Sam Johnson as well as Tonali.

01:38Yeah, yeah. There's an opportunity in that first half, Murphy went 0-0 as well, and Sam

01:43Johnson makes a massive save, credit to him for that. But yeah, Wolves were sort of hanging

01:48on towards the end of the half, but they got through to half-time, and you were expecting

01:52maybe a little bit of a reaction. We didn't see anything like a reaction in that second

01:55half. Wolves were stale. The game was a terrible watch.

02:01The second half, yeah.

02:02The second half. First half was really good. Second half, totally different game, and Wolves

02:06didn't create anything. And even when they did try and push Winnie Quaz at the end and

02:10maybe take up a few risks, they didn't take enough risks, really, to force anything. They

02:16hardly came close at all, and that's a damning indictment.

02:19We saw Santi Bueno come in from absolutely nowhere a couple of weeks ago before international

02:23break. Then all of a sudden, you hear some mascara comes in from the cold, not very few

02:27minutes, and then comes into the centre of that defence. Emmanuel Agbadoo moving over to

02:30the right, and unfortunately, it was his area that led to the first goal, and the only goal

02:34of the game, losing his man.

02:36Yeah, he's got to do better. Andre, first of all, with the cross coming in, I think he's

02:40got to do better, definitely. It's a really good cross. Credit where it's due. It's a

02:44good run from Voltomado at the far post as well, but Agbadoo's got him. If you watch

02:49the replay, he's square. He's got him. He knows where he is. He's watching him. He takes

02:54his eye off the ball. Well, maybe literally on the ball, but off the man. And all of a sudden,

02:59like good strikers do, he's behind him. He's got a yard on him. Agbadoo's far too slow

03:03to react. He's got to be better. He's got to be touched tight. He's got to be physical.

03:06He's got to be anticipating the movement. And he's flat-footed. He gets caught. And how

03:11many times has it happened at the start of the season? We warned about it in pre-season.

03:15This is a player that was fantastic last year, and he's been nowhere near it so far this year.

03:20And it continues. Every single time it continues. At some point, he's got a decision to make,

03:26because he's got enough centre-backs there to take about the firing line.

03:28Of course he has. I mean, that's the thing, competition in places. And if you're not

03:32performing, then you've got to have someone who's going to do, especially going into next

03:35weekend, we'll go into that a little bit. Look, Tolo Okudari, I think it was a shock start

03:40from him. I thought we were going to be on the bench, but started, won everything. I think

03:43it started really, really well. We knew he was going to fade. We knew he wasn't going to

03:46last 90 minutes. And I think you could see that second half, he was struggling a little

03:49bit. But in terms of offensively, in terms of a weapon, in terms of being that, leading

03:54that line, number nine, what did you make of him?

03:55Yeah, he definitely had to come off. He was struggling a bit in that second half. I think

03:58the pace of the game in the Premier League, obviously very different to Belgium, but also

04:02he's travelled a lot with internationals. So he had to come off and he didn't make much

04:08of an impact in that second half. But when he was on it and was playing well, he was a

04:13hand-toothed, he was a nuisance. He made life really difficult for Newcastle. And Wolves

04:17got players around him. So once the flick on was won, there was a midfielder, Xao or Andre,

04:21picking the ball up. Or Rodrigo Gomez was making a run. Or Huang, who I thought did

04:25okay, actually, at times in this game. Gets close to him and picks a pass and looks after

04:28the ball. The Wolves were different. Maybe not the most exciting, but what they were,

04:35for 20 minutes or so, were effective. And that's what we haven't seen. We haven't seen

04:39an effective side. They were effective for that period of time. They've now got to try

04:42and put together a 90-minute performance that is full of threat. At the moment, I don't

04:46think they're particularly close to it. But it was better in that particular area with

04:49Tony playing.

04:50And that's the starting line-up with Ladislav Krejci playing central midfield, albeit slightly

04:55behind Xao Gomez and Andre. Where do you think that he's finished in central defence, of

05:00course? Where do you think he's going to lie? Do you think with this new formation that

05:03we're going to see Krejci, more as a midfielder and a centre-back?

05:05Well, I think they're going to use his versatility, aren't they? He played defence and midfield

05:09on two different occasions on this game today. I thought he did okay. I thought he did

05:15pretty decent, that being outstanding. I thought he was tardy on the ball, looked after it.

05:20Very much a six, but they also threw him up top at the end to try and force an equaliser.

05:25I think they'll use him in both positions, they really do. And the noises we're hearing,

05:28which was a surprise to both of us because we didn't expect it, is that maybe Vitor's

05:33going to move forward with this two up top, three in midfield formation. Again, I do think

05:37he will make changes. And I do think perhaps at home, if you have a big game against

05:41Klink tonight, you're coming up, do you play three up top rather than two up top? That's

05:44a decision to make. But I think he quite likes the options moving forward. And we might see

05:48Krejci in midfield more often than perhaps we anticipate.

05:51And where does that leave? You know, I mean, your main summer signings in John Arias,

05:56I mean, Fir Lopez, Jackson Tatua on the bench today, Wolfe on the bench today. These are

06:02all the big summer signings. And none of them starting.

06:05Tatua, I think, will play more than today in sort of hinted at. I know Rodrigo did pretty

06:13well, but I think he will play more. But Hugo Buena's performance there, for me, means

06:17he's got the shirt. I don't see any way Wolfe comes in for Hugo Buena now. I thought

06:21Hugo was actually very good today on the whole, both right and left back.

06:25But the formation they're playing now in terms of these two wide guys, these two tens

06:29at the time.

06:30And in those tens, they don't really fit the system. Arias came on and played in a

06:34front two when he came on and put one thing was still on the pitch. Okay, but without

06:38being particularly effective.

06:42Fer Lopez came on and it was really chasing the game and allowed him just to float and

06:46try and make something happen. Didn't have a lot of time to impact the game. But neither

06:50of them really fit the new system they've got, which considering you have had a whole

06:54summer to bring players in and then you make additions that now don't fit a system

06:58that potentially you've got to go on and play, really shows the lack of planning in

07:04the summer, in my opinion.

07:05Played for, lost for, Liam. Bottom of the table, of course. And I know it's early days,

07:10you're going to the fifth game of the season, but is this a huge game for Wolves in terms

07:14of their campaign? And let's be honest, Premier League survival this season, that is the aim.

07:18That's what we're looking for. We're looking for 17th and above. I know it's game week,

07:21game week five, but Wolves against Leeds United at home, these are the type of games you're

07:26going to look back on in the season and they are going to be season-defining, however crazy

07:29that must seem to some people after four games played.

07:32Yeah, it's difficult to say it when it's going into the fifth game, but it has to be

07:36a massive game.

07:37These are the games you look back on.

07:38These are the games you look back on and think, you know, we've had to have got points in it.

07:40Look, at some point in the season, Wolves will get points against teams that we're perhaps

07:44not expected to get them against. But at the moment, the way that Wolves are playing,

07:48the way that they're a bit disjointed, you know, you can't really bank on that.

07:51What you can bank on, hopefully, is a performance at home against an only promoted side when

07:56you know you need a performance and you know you need a result. And that's why, look, is

08:01it make or break five games into a season? No. Is it going to be a big game in the context

08:06of the season? Absolutely. And that's why they have to get something for next week.

08:09In terms of personality, I think you can see some changes in personnel, but I guess maybe

08:15slightly more concerning or maybe surprising is that you think this formation is here to

08:20stay. I mean, look, if we were 3-4-3 all the way with Vito, do you think you'll revert

08:23back to it? Was that just for horses for courses? Was that just for today? Was that just because

08:27they were internationals and they looked tired and he was fresh legs? There was a lot of

08:30fresh legs on the pitch today. So you've got not that excuse. Do you think we'll go back

08:34to the training test of 3-4-3 in a massive game? Or do you think this is here to stay now?

08:38I think we'll see both, to be honest.

08:39Oh, does it a lot depend on Jürgen Strand-Larsen as well?

08:41A lot will depend on him. But I really do struggle with the prediction. And perhaps later in the

08:47week when we do the podcast, we can talk about it a bit more. I do struggle with the prediction

08:50for Leeds because there was a lot of good things about the formation today at the beginning

08:54of the game. And Tolu, I'm playing with players around him, I quite liked it. But at home,

09:00do you play three in midfield and about five? I don't know. Do you go with a three up top

09:04and try and be more effective going forward with a home crowd there? A home crowd that's

09:09desperate for Wolves to be attacking and exciting and actually do something. That's a really

09:14difficult decision for Vito to make. And I'm fascinated to see what he makes. I can't

09:17call it. I didn't call that today with a front two. I was adamant he wasn't going to do

09:21it. And it's difficult to second guess him now.

09:25Newcastle won. Warhunter 1-0 for the post-match reaction. Make sure you log on to expressandstar.com.

Newcastle 1 Wolves 0 - Liam Keen and Nathan Judah analysis

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