E&S Wolves fans' verdict on Burton beating

Chris Hughes

What's your verdict on the match? Well, that was a bit of a comedown.

Having performed so well at Anfield last Saturday Lambert gave the outfield 10 a chance to reproduce their performance in a league game. It didn't happen.

A mediocre first half display from both sides ended with us being ahead from a penalty but, in truth, there'd been nothing to shout about.

On a tight, compact pitch there was little movement to create space and our tactic was to repeatedly go long toward Dicko, who had no chance in the air against their centre backs.

The passion and energy on display last week was gone, in particular from our midfield. Where there was in-your-face pressing and biting tackles at Liverpool there was ambling and half-tackles at Burton.

Most of the game was played out to a back drop of boos for Michael Kightly from the away end and caused a few debates in the stand over whether he deserved them or not. Not that it seemed to particularly bother him as he produced a man of the match display capped by the equalising goal in a second half that was almost exclusively Burton attacking us.

Whether Lambert had set the team out to play with the long ball tactic from the off due to the condition of the pitch or whether it was something that happened because the players felt they couldn't play on it, there was little response from the bench to change things early.

After the equaliser Bodvarsson was sent on to play alongside Dicko but it made little difference other than to make us more vulnerable at the back.

Thinking we'd settled for a point, Burton snatched the win deep into injury time. Infuriatingly, the second time they've scored after 92 minutes against us this season despite having their own bad habit of conceding late goals against others.

Who played well - and who didn't impress? Very few played well. Ikeme made some excellent stops to deny Kightly on more than one occasion and to get down well to stop a deflected effort in the second half.

Other than him the outfield 10 showed little to warrant the faith Lambert showed in keeping them involved after their Cup exploits.

While the overall performance was poor, the midfield three were particularly bad. We went long quite often but on the occasions we did try to play through midfield there were far too many misplaced passes. There were also lots of missed challenges from all three when out of possession.

Both full backs also struggled to contain Kightly despite it being his debut and probably the first time he's started a game in months.

Peter Abbott (London Wolves)

What's your verdict on the match? We started with the Liverpool winning team but this was a wholly different atmosphere...think the League One defeat at Crawley or the Stevenage 0-0 and now add Burton, all small pitch grounds.

There were fewer fans in the whole stadium than Wolves even took to Anfield last week. This was a different ball game.

At times it was very scrappy from both sides and it was a match we needed to just win 1-0 and walk away - but no.

An uncomfortable afternoon and all round generally poor performance. Particularly in that, unlike Tuesday at Barnsley, defence to attack took too much time and certainly with no end product.

Plus we then had to endure the Michael Kightly show early in the second half culminating with him equalising in what seemed acres of room...where was his marker?

Hopefully nothing more than a bad day at the office. Our new togetherness of late will see us through, keep smiling Wolves fans.

Who played well - and who didn't impress? Defensively there were no real issues apart from not starting the second half well and then their goal in stoppage time.

In midfield, Evans seemed a lot busier than Edwards and, sorry, I hardly noticed Saville.

Up front I definitely saw more in Dicko. He was very energetic in the first half in a difficult role on his own and having our only open play goal effort. I felt Costa plugged away but was pretty much roughed out.

To be honest I forgot Weimann was playing, whilst none of the substitutions made an impression.

Rob Cartwright

What's your verdict on the match? As good as the last week has been, this was bad. In fact, as bad a performance as we have seen this season. Poor in the first half; dismal in the second.

Lambert made a brave but correct decision to leave Batth on the sidelines. My concern was rightly the central midfield trio. I'm unconvinced that Evans will make it at this level. I'm absolutely certain that Saville will not. To play both together is beyond belief.

There was no obvious game plan from Lambert on show here.

Continually lumping the ball up in the air towards Dicko, who must have been a good five inches shorter than their centre half, was the only tactic employed. When this hasn't worked after five or six attempts, why keep doing it?

Set pieces were wasted - not just free kicks and corners, even our throw ins!

There was a complete lack of movement, with the exception of Dicko and the midfield were not providing an outlet for the defence, or supporting Dicko, hence the ineffective long ball.

I would have expected Lambert to change this at half time but the reality is we got worse.

Both of Burton's goals resulted from poor defending - we were too static.

Who played well - and who didn't impress? No one deserves a 7+ for this game

Coady and Doherty did okay, Dicko ran and ran and his one good scoring chance was kept out by a great save.

The midfield were all woeful. Costa had an 'off' day with the exception of his well taken penalty. Weimann was anonymous on the left.

My man of the match goes to Ikeme who made two notable saves.

Of course, there is great beer in Burton. It was a good job there was yesterday!

Russ Evers (Hatherton Wolves)

What's your verdict on the match? Burton is a great drinking town but it seemed as though the players had been in town longer than we had.

Despite getting to the ground 30 mins prior to kick off we struggled to get in as the stewards refused to let us up from the concourse into the stand. Well done Showsec...not.

On the pitch it just did not happen despite Costa giving us the lead. Just a bad day at the office all round. Roll on next week.

Russ Cockburn

What's your verdict on the match? Just in case anyone was wondering, that result and performance proved we haven't become Barcelona overnight.

The same problems that existed in November/December are still very much there - the good news is Lambert has got the best part of six months to sort them out.

First things first we need a striker who can score. Dicko's workrate is second to none, but I'm bored of workrate. I want a striker who scares defences and puts the ball in the back of the net...at the moment Nouha is like a 40 year-old virgin chasing lost causes and then, on the rare chance he gets an opportunity, he has no idea what to do with it.

Defenders aren't worried about him anymore and it tells. Admittedly, he's not helped by a centre midfield that are about as creative as a Citizen Kahn episode.

Saville and Evans are fine to dig in if the opposition are pressing, but they're not the answer if you want to dictate the tempo of the game...something we should do against an out-of-form and low-in-confidence Burton Albion.

Lambert has been a revelation since he arrived, but he got the tactics and shape of the team drastically wrong yesterday. On a positive, he's learning by the game what works and doesn't work, the players that need moving on and the players we need to make an intrinsic part of the team.

Firstly, we need to pull away from the relegation zone and then we need to focus on building for next year and making sure we have momentum. That's what it is all about for me.

Who played well - and who didn't impress? Ikeme made some decent saves so I'd probably give it him, there wasn't much else to choose from to be honest.

Doherty, who has been excellent this season, was at fault for the second goal...no idea how a player can be left free in the six yard box, but he somehow managed it.