Given the haphazard nature of Wolves right now, it was mightily puzzling that Andre was omitted from our starting eleven. He offers some rare quality and stability and when Bournemouth quickly breached our defensive shield in midfield, the selection seemed even more inexplicable.
The deflection was cruel indeed, but ultimately our own shortcomings had presented them with the opportunity. Confidence fragile, trailing within minutes and being forced to chase the game, things rarely got any better.
Munetsi and Strand Larsen failed to convert a couple of acceptable opportunities; openings that need to be taken given the long periods in matches when our creation of chances is barely minimal.
Bournemouth were more composed, better organised and will probably conclude that they made unnecessary hard work of finishing the job. Credit the team for not conceding after Toti’s dismissal, but there was scant evidence of any against the odds comeback on our behalf. From the outset, there was a sense of inevitability that we would lose this game.
We are a predictable outfit, too easy to defend against and lacking in flair and creativity. No single individual is able to recreate the off the cuff inspiration of the departed Cunha who could rescue us from mediocrity quite randomly.
Finally, we were indebted to Jose Sa for a brilliant save from Adams which may have scripted a more realistic scoreline to the proceedings.
Tchatchoua made a reasonable impact on debut maybe, otherwise there were few positives to take from this game. Frankly, yet another wretched start to a season is painfully on the cards. Sadly, few of us with a vested interest are remotely surprised.
Clive Smith
-----------
We didn't win any of our opening 10 fixtures last season, so losing our opening two this time around is not anything new. That does not make things any easier though. No matter which individuals you select we are not playing at the level we need to be. Everyone's form is patchy with good spells interspersed with too many unforced errors.
Inside two minutes both teams wasted decent chances, Munetsi was our villain when a long ball found him just needing to lob their keeper. We could have done with that confidence boost but instead, inside a couple more minutes, the home side had turned the ball over and a deflected shot gave Sa no chance.
Just four minutes gone and that almost sums the game up. A story of 'what might have been' and 'if only' but again we come up short despite our efforts.
The spotlight very much fell on our defence. Hoever and Wolfe were playing very advanced roles, ambitious by VP you might think, while Doc did very well against Semenyo on our right, and was our best central defender on the day. Toti was less successful, getting beaten, and booked, on halfway inside 10 minutes.