Watched the extended highlights of the 2:2 draw for the U23s at Molineux. The team:
4-3-3:
------------Kelleher-------------
--------Hoever----VDB--------
Williams---------------Larouci
----------Chirivella (c)---------
-----Clarkson---J. Cain----
Elliott------Hardy-------Millar
Larouci picked up a knock early on and was replaced by Adam Lewis, who is finally back from a long-term injury and clearly desperate to get back into contention. With the exception of Curtis Jones for Millar, this could well be the team that will try to keep our FA Cup run going next Tuesday. So how did they do?
Overall, judging from the highlights, the early-season defensive issues are mostly behind us, Wolves' goals were not a result of defensive mistakes and Van der Berg and Hoever seem to work well together as a pair. Kelleher maybe should have saved one of the two goals; Adrian or Alisson would have. We still had problems with set plays, but some of it was due to Wolves' U23 inventive training-ground routines and top-notch deliveries that would have troubled anybody. Still, set plays is probably this team's biggest defensive vulnerability at the moment.
In attack, there is a new name (at least for me) worth keeping an eye on – Leighton Clarkson, who seemed to be everywhere in midfield. Really quality strike and delivery on this lad. Both Williams and Adam Lewis produced some quality deliveries from the wings and Hardy seems like a proper poacher up front. Great over-head kick goal from Elliott should give him even more confidence, not that he needs any. Overall, looks like the kids more than held their own from open play and are playing within a coherent system that suits them. With Jones plus 2-3 senior players mixed in in key positions, I'm sure they would beat Shrewsbury at Anfield; without them I still think they would be underdogs but will hopefully give a good account of themselves.
4-3-3:
------------Kelleher-------------
--------Hoever----VDB--------
Williams---------------Larouci
----------Chirivella (c)---------
-----Clarkson---J. Cain----
Elliott------Hardy-------Millar
Larouci picked up a knock early on and was replaced by Adam Lewis, who is finally back from a long-term injury and clearly desperate to get back into contention. With the exception of Curtis Jones for Millar, this could well be the team that will try to keep our FA Cup run going next Tuesday. So how did they do?
Overall, judging from the highlights, the early-season defensive issues are mostly behind us, Wolves' goals were not a result of defensive mistakes and Van der Berg and Hoever seem to work well together as a pair. Kelleher maybe should have saved one of the two goals; Adrian or Alisson would have. We still had problems with set plays, but some of it was due to Wolves' U23 inventive training-ground routines and top-notch deliveries that would have troubled anybody. Still, set plays is probably this team's biggest defensive vulnerability at the moment.
In attack, there is a new name (at least for me) worth keeping an eye on – Leighton Clarkson, who seemed to be everywhere in midfield. Really quality strike and delivery on this lad. Both Williams and Adam Lewis produced some quality deliveries from the wings and Hardy seems like a proper poacher up front. Great over-head kick goal from Elliott should give him even more confidence, not that he needs any. Overall, looks like the kids more than held their own from open play and are playing within a coherent system that suits them. With Jones plus 2-3 senior players mixed in in key positions, I'm sure they would beat Shrewsbury at Anfield; without them I still think they would be underdogs but will hopefully give a good account of themselves.
