Wolves Fans' Verdict v Shrewsbury: Relief

Rob Cartwright

What's your verdict on the match? Great to see the magic of the FA Cup is still alive, with a near full stadium and long queues to get in before kick off. It’s been a long time since the queues were longer at the turnstiles than they were at the bar!

This was quite a disjointed performance from Wolves. Playing well in short spells, things just didn’t click into place last night. We couldn’t have got off to a better start with such an early goal. I think this shows the difference when you change the regular midfield and forwards. It’s all part of the learning curve, but it’s vital that we remain injury free in the key positions.

We normally defend as a team and Shrewsbury were allowed to put our defence under more pressure than they should have. We did look dangerous ourselves and another three goals continues our recent impressive run of scoring.

I’m a big fan of John Ruddy, but he won’t be happy with himself for both their goals. A free header in the six yard box and then a horror fumble from a long range effort which should have posed no problems. In fairness, the driving rain and wet surface would not have helped with the second. Saiss maybe should have won the header for the first.

Wolves kept going forward, but it was a bit like trying to run in treacle. We missed the passing accuracy and the usual movement, especially from the front three.

Traore had a good game and showed the most threat going forward. His overall game is improving and his passing was good. He won possession back in the lead up to the third goal.

Most frustrating was the the poor delivery from corners. We had a lot of them and did little with them, time after time. Gibbs-White was most at fault here, though he redeemed himself with a good cross from the rebound to help set up the first goal.

It was their keepers turn to fumble in added time, at end of the first half, with Doherty on the spot once more to head into the empty net. It’s amazing how often he pops up in the opposition box.

It was good to see Cavaleiro get game time and his winning goal was good. This time assist from Doherty, he dribbled past two defenders before slotting past the keeper.

Who played well – and who didn't impress? There were a couple of stand-out players, with Doherty and Traore our best players on the night.

Costa and Gibbs-White disappointed and frustrated me as they can both do so much better. Gibbs-White did have plenty of the ball and was involved in two of our goals but on too many occasions he was wasteful and not forward moving quickly enough. All part of his learning though.

Doherty was impressive again. He’s defending well and is always the first to break or provide an outlet to start an attack. Add the two goals and one assist and he has to be man of the match. Over the two games, he’s the main reason we are in the fifth round.

Overall, I’m very happy to be in the next round. Bristol will be tougher, so Nuno will have a selection dilemma for that game. I trust him to get it right.

Adam Virgo

What's your verdict on the match?

We always have to make things harder than they should be for ourselves in those type of games, however, it was largely down to John Ruddy.

At 1-0 I thought perfect, we’ll go on to score a few more in a comfortable win. We seemed to go off the pace a bit and when both midfielders were having poor games it made it harder.

They didn’t threaten us until they got the corner and then Ruddy appeared to miss his punch and an easy header them. Probably a question about the marking too but the ball was there for the keeper to claim all day.

We looked like the team scoring again, Traore causing all sorts of problems and trying to make something happen. Costa should have shot when he was in on goal but you can tell his confidence has gone.

Then one of the worst goalkeeping errors I’ve seen live happened from guess who, Ruddy again. When Laurent shoots, how on earth does he save it backwards into his own net. He just needs to let it go wide and if he isn’t sure then that’s highly questionable because he should have known.

People forget the ridiculous errors he made last season, Norwich at home and Forest away. Yes he had some very good games last season but he also made a lot of errors which are forgotten because of how well we did. That mistake yesterday just cannot happen and is unacceptable because the ball is going wide and it was a simple save.

Thankfully Matt Doherty was on hand to get us a late equaliser going into half time which took the pressure off a little bit. Never seen so many relieved fans when it went in.

The second half was better and in terms of chances we deserved to win in the end. Both of their goals were errors from Ruddy and their second wasn’t even going on target.

Cavaleiro took his goal nicely, good work from Adama and then Doherty with the assist. The ball roll from Cav on one of their defenders was naughty and then provided a clinical finish.

It would have been nice to get a fourth and kill the game but it wasn’t to be and in the end we got the job done, just. Shrewsbury made it hard for us and when you’ve got a goalkeeper practically throwing the ball into his own net, doesn’t make it any easier.

We’re going to have to be much better to get past Bristol City who are unbeaten since November and I would just go full strength or two/three changes at the most. We have a huge chance of getting to a quarter final so I hope we take it seriously.

Who played well – and who didn't impress? In terms of general play I thought Adama was the best player but Doherty deserved man of the match for two goals and an assist.

Adama was constantly wanting the ball and trying to beat players when he had it. That mazy run in the first half shows exactly what he can offer, however, in a couple of situations his final ball could have been better. Out of the front three he was the best for sure.

Doherty now has a combined 12 goals and assists so far in all competitions this season (six of each), that’s more than Paulo Dybala of Juventus. In the right place at the right time for both goals and a good ball through to Cavaleiro for the third.

Cavaleiro wasn’t too bad and he was in an unnatural role through the middle plus he has barely played this season so I can accept him not being fully on his game. Took his goal magnificently well though, the roll he did on their defender was of similar fashion to his one at Reading away last season on their keeper.

Costa looks shot of confidence, he was poor but it would have taken a lot to be worse than what he was in the away game at Shrewsbury.

Both midfielders in Saiss and Gibbs-White were well below their normal standards. Ever since that game against Chelsea, Gibbs-White hasn’t really kicked on and maybe he’s trying too hard due to all of the talk about England. He needs to just relax, forget about that for now and let his football do the talking because we all know the potential he possesses.

Going back to a midfield two didn’t really work but Nuno had very little choice unless he started one of Dendoncker, Neves or Moutinho which he understandably didn’t want to.

None of the defence did much wrong although we conceded two as Shrewsbury had very little going forward in terms of chances and both goals were easily avoidable if we had a goalkeeper with hands and a brain.

That brings me to Mr Calamity aka John Ruddy. Don’t get me wrong he made a blinding save from Shaqiri’s free kick in the third round but what’s the point in saving the difficult shots if you’re just going to let in the easy ones.

Was a similar story to last season, he has got it in his locker to perform and play well in goal but he’s also got it to throw a game and if he made those kind of errors against Bristol City, we’d be out.

I had a feeling Nuno might start Patricio in the latter stages regardless anyway unless Ruddy did incredible things to warrant his place in the cup. Regardless of game time, you shouldn’t be played on sentiment or anything like that. This is his chance to prove he can do a job and he’s almost cost us the tie but Doc and Cavaleiro have bailed him out.

For me, there can be no other choice but Patricio to start against Bristol City. The FA Cup isn’t a joke and we have a great opportunity to get to the quarter final. If we play our strongest XI or at least something very close to that, we give ourselves the best possible chance of doing that.

Clive Smith

What's your verdict on the match? Well, you've got to be in it to win it, and we are.

It was not as plain sailing as you would expect after a goal in two minutes, but I never really thought Nuno's Wolves were going to lose.

Yet again we had a soaking wet pitch, which made footwork tricky at times and the ball over the top just skidded on too far. Our passing game looked stylish at times as we made Shrewsbury work hard without the ball.

The changed line-up meant our front five were not as slick as in recent league games. With our two wing-backs well advanced you were never quite sure who was playing where. Doherty had scored from close range and one cross from Costa had two to aim at in the box – Doherty and Otto.

Gibbs-White was on corner duty. Some were good, our opening goal and when Boly and then Saiss may have scored, but others failed to beat the front man. It was from one of these that saw Shrewsbury break, win a corner of their own, and score an equaliser. Just like a goal they had scored in the first tie. Not very impressive from our defending point of view.

We continued to dominate possession but could not find the right ball around the box. Traore often looked dangerous on the ball but was either fouled or he failed to find the right pass. That was not always his fault however.

All of the front three confirmed what we all know – each is better from the bench than starting games.

From nowhere we found ourselves behind when a long range shot somehow beat Ruddy. There was barely time for their time wasting plan B to kick in before we were level. A dubious challenge on the keeper by Cavaleiro resulted in the loose ball falling to our newly acquired fox in the box, Doherty, who made it all square at the break.

Following Doherty being the central figure in the first half it was Traore in the second. He seemed a yard quicker while their defence looked a yard slower. A series of crosses just needed the finishing touch to be productive.

Patience was the name of the game tinged with a little frustration that we could not get the job done. On the hour however our comeback was complete. This time a Traore assist came when he challenged to recover the ball and then Cavaleiro ran into the box.

He never looked like he had control of the ball and seemed certain to end up on the floor. Thankfully he made decent contact to stroke the ball into the goal.

We had other chances to finish the game off, Saiss and Jimenez specifically. We defended set pieces more diligently for the rest of the game and that was enough to seal the win.

Who played well – and who didn't impress? Ruddy looked at fault for both goals frankly.

Otto played predominantly as a winger and got into the box on several occasions. He contributed to our second goal and also had a goal bound shot blocked by a defender when the keeper looked beaten.

A stand-out first half for Doherty. I wonder if he'd have had the chance for his hat-trick had we been given a pen. His heat map must have had him in the final third for most of the first half. Man of the match.

Boly surprisingly missed some headers in the first half before concentrating more and looking as solid as ever after.

Bennett constantly made poor passes, both in our half and when trying to go long. A below par performance from him.

Coady looked slightly less comfortable than usual as he too made some poor passes when hurried.

Saiss grew into the game more and more. After an average first half he then looked more able to control things deep from midfield where he was very much on his own.

Gibbs-White blew very much hot and cold. Everyone wants him to particularly do well but it is just not quite happening for him. It is good experience of course and he does have that eye for a pass when he has an extra bit of time on the ball.

On another day Traore may have had three or four assists as he weaved past opponents constantly. Cavaleiro and Costa needed to take up better positions near goal to allow him to find that telling pass.

Costa put in a few decent crosses but again failed to influence the game sufficiently.

Cavaleiro was careless in possession too often, playing flicks rather than a composed pass. He often tried to run with the ball before he'd quite got it under control. When it works though.... he scores!

From the bench, after we had regained the lead, Moutinho came on to successfully calm the midfield area down. Jimenez got 15 minutes while Ennis, who was close to getting on the end of a one-two with his fellow sub, played the last five minutes.

Russ Evers (Hatherton Wolves)

What's your verdict on the match? Three goals again as we avoided a potential banana skin and move closer to the idea of a trip (or two) to Wembley.

Six changes made it less than pretty to watch but Cavaleiro and Traore especially made the most of their chances in the starting XI with the latter rivalling Matt Doherty as our most potent attacker.

In truth we gifted them both goals and they returned the favour for Doherty's second before Cav made the most of the upturn in weather to win the game.

Who played well – and who didn't impress? Time and time again Traore destroyed the full back and put in a few telling crosses only to remember our Scottish Mexican was on the bench.

Typical early February rain lashed down on a windy evening and yet we still win. How good are we going to be when they introduce the winter break for the Qatar World Cup?