Righto, there’s us done. Enjoy the rest of your night. Bye.
Here’s Paul Doyle’s match report.
Theo Walcott says the point feels more like a win because Molineux is a difficult place to come and Wolves are a difficult team to play – “But so are we”. He goes on to talk about how well they press and believe in what they’re doing, and that his team expected Wolves to play with five at the back but teams tend to change their formations during games.
He says he’s really enjoying playing for Southampton, happy to play on the right but really enjoys playing through the middle, especially with another striker, and says who knows what they can achieve this season – I imagine the team think quite a lot, based on how he says it – then refuses to talk about what their target is. “Same boring answer you probably get from most players. We move on to the next one, that’s all we gotta do.”
He then discusses how much he enjoys playing for Southampton, who he reckons as “a good watch” and it’s really clear that he and all his mates absolutely love playing for Ralph. The players want to do well for him and each other – “he’s an absolute dream to work with”.
Walcott’s goal, apparently, means he has one in each of the last 14 Premier League seasons. He says he’s only 31, he feels young again, and “I just love the Premier League!”
What a lovely interview that was.
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Breaking news: not having Danny Ings is annoying for Southampton. When Wolves put it on them, they didn’t have their usual out-ball, and the usual source of their good stuff. I daresay he’d have stuck away the chance that Walcott missed too.
Wolves have Arsenal away next – goodness me, that could be hilariously tedious – while Southampton are home to Man United. If both were to lose, the league would be ridiculously concertinaed.
Wolves move above Man United into ninth while Southampton stay fifth, just three points off the top.
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Full-time: Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-1 Southampton
Both sides will feel they could’ve won that, but Southampton will be happier because they were hanging on at the end.
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90+3 min A ball down the line for Vitinho, and Vestergaard, who’s covered the while width of the pitch, comes across to boot into touch.
90+2 min But here’s Diallo, turning neatly away from Ait-Nouri, only to overhit his cross towards Big Theo Walcott in the middle.
90+1 min It’s a long time since Southampton mustered any kind of serious attack.
90 min There’ll be three added minutes.
90 min Southampton send on Diallo for Armstrong.
88 min “Over the last couple of seasons, Jimenez has definitely looked like a Champions League-calibre centre-forward,” emails Kishalay Banerjee. “Isn’t it slightly surprising that a bigger club hasn’t shown a lot of concrete interest in him?”
It’s hard to know what’s actually gone on, or what his arrangement is with Wolves, but yes, I agree - he wouldn’t look out of place in the Champions League. Maybe, though, he wants to play every week.
86 min I’m not quite sure what’s gone on with Southampton here. Maybe Walcott’s miss took it out of them or, more likely, they’re missing Danny Ings and Wolves’ best players, who are better than their best players, have imposed themselves.
85 min Another change for Wolves, Vitinha replacing Podence.
84 min Walker-Peters beats two men then tries it on with a third and is robbed, Jimenez again dropping off – this time to find Neto. His shot is blocked, but there’ll only be one winner here – Southampton are gone.
82 min Jimenez comes deep and rolls in Ait-Nouri, but his cross hits the first man. Meanwhile, Hasenhuttl is on the pitch in a tantrum after Traore ragdolled Romeu (within the laws of association football).
81 min Since March 2017, Shane Long has made 54 substitute appearances, scoring once.
80 min Wolves are by far the better side now.
79 min Change for Southampton, Long replacing Djnepo.
78 min Wolves win a free-kick on the right and Moutinho picks out Jimenez’s prodigious brow; he power-flicks a glorious, expert’s header inside the near post, but the flag is quickly up for offside.
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76 min It’s Traore who’s got Wolves going here; they might try giving him the ball more quickly and more often.
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GOAL! Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-1 Southampton (Neto 75)
Wolves have stepped it up since conceding - why it took that, who knows – and Moutinho injects pace into their attack, darting a ball into Jimenez, who’s absolutely having one tonight ... until now! He drills a low shot across McCarthy from 20 yards that’s so true it speaks the word of God in the voice of Carl Williams, and when it clatters the foot of the post, Neto snaps home the rebound.
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74 min “Northern Ireland fans had a field day in the mid 90s,” says Michael Gbson, “when lanky young forward James Quinn was awarded his first international cap. He followed well-travelled former Northern Ireland international forward, Jimmy Quinn, in proudly wearing the fabled green and white shirt. We were able to serenade Quinn the younger with ‘He’s tall, he’s thin, he looks like Jimmy Quinn. It’s Jimmy Quinn, Jimmy Quinn!’ Happy times at Windsor Park...”
73 min Traore looks dangerous every time he gets on the ball, a sherman tank in ballet shoes, and he does really well to escape two men inside a phonebox, but can’t quite thread the ball onto Jimenez.
71 min I’m guessing that Traore is now playing deeper, but here he is bulldozing Bertrands and swiftly squaring for Podence, who cleverly goes one more for Podence. He might shoot first time, but instead takes a touch to get steady, only to allow Vestergaard to slide in and block. That’s the best we’ve seen of Wolves in quite some time.
70 min Change for Wolves, Neto replacing Neves.
69 min Dendoncker clatters Djnepo for no reason (other than fun and general principle), giving Southampton a chance to stick a ball into the box. Betrand looks for Vestergaard at the back post, but gives it too much well and too much air.
67 min Nice from Wolves, Neves clipping a quick free-kick over the top for Jimenez, who’s right onto it. But his touch is poor and the ball runs off it; he’s not having a good night so far.
65 min Ahem. Adams wins the ball on halfway, shakes off his man, and clips a gorgeous pass over the top for Walcott to ease onto ... he’s in! It looks for all the world like he’ll make it 2-0, but with a long time to consider the internal futility of existence, he clips wide. Miserable defending and miserable finishing, but superb from Adams.
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65 min “This Theo Walcott kid is good!” reckons Peter Oh. “Heck, England should take him to the next World Cup!”
63 min Semedo knows he dropped a gargantuan body-part there. No switching off looks like anything in a post-Basaksehir v Man United world, but believe me it was a goodun.
61 min That wasn’t part of Wolves’ plan, and they now need to force things sooner than usual. I don’t think it’ll be long before we see Neto.
59 min VAR has a quick look to check that Armstrong didn’t foul Ait-Nouri and decides that he didn’t, which he didn’t.
GOAL! Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-1 Southampton (Walcott 58)
Armstrong does brilliantly to battle for the ball down the left, keeping the attack alive and moving it to the middle, where Djenpo clips a cross-kick over the top. Adams does really well to cushion an attempted cross at the far post, but when it’s blocked he does even better to pursue the loose ball, driving a hard cut-back cross to the back post ... where Walcott taps home while Semedo grabs a quick lebowski. That’s Walcott’s first Southampton goal since 2005, in the Championship!
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57 min “In keeping with the footballers with the same name topic tonight, not technically on topic but remember that both John Collins and Collins John both wore the Fulham colours with distinction. Given my name, I have good reason to recall!” says Jonathan Collins.
55 min Back to Newcastle songs, I was recently introduced to this.
53 min Neves slides a ball to Ait-Nouri outside him and the cross is a goodun, but skids across Jimenez’s forehead when he might easily have butted it home.
52 min Nice from Ait-Nouri, dashing inside and finding Podence, who stands up Vestergaard and looks to go inside, then once the defender’s weight is shifted, drags the ball down the outside to crump a shot that McCarthy beats behind (for a corner which comes to nowt).
51 min Another flash of Traore, veering outside Bertrand, hitting the line, and digging out a cross that’s just too strong for those hitting the box.
50 min “Not quite the same I know,” apologises Jimmy, “but Liam O’Brien and Andy O’Brien have both scored in Tyne-Wear derbies for Newcastle, leading to the fantastic terrace ditty: ‘Liam O’Brien, Andy O’Brien, any, any, any O’Brien. Who put the ball in the Mackem’s net? O’Brien, O’Brien.’”
I love that. Liam is also famous for achieving the fastest red card in Man United’s history, after 90 seconds against Southampton. Sadly, YouTube is silent on the matter.
49 min Wolves win a free-kick down the right which Moutinho curls in and it’s a decent effort too, but Dendoncker can only waft it past the post. He was offside anyhow.
48 min Podence reminds me a little of Harvey Barnes, an electric ball who looks like he might, someday, become unstoppable. He wriggles between two challenges, but just as he looks to set himself for a shot, Vestergaard challenges.
47 min “I can’t be the only pedant to point out a light year is a unit of distance not time,” says Aidan Thomas. “Surely.”
Yes, physics is not my strong point but I did know that – but it takes a while to travel one, is my understanding. I might well be wrong, though.
46 min Kilman and Boly have sapped side, so Kilman is now on the left, where you’d expect him to be.
46 min We go again.
“What about two Mous(s)a Dembeles,” says Richard Hirst. “Fulham’s claim to fame.”
I can think of a few others.
Half-time email: “The MMA moralising about cuss words reminds me of this Bill Hicks bit,” returns Niall Mullen. “Contains industrial language.”
To say nothing of the various political interests involved in things – superbly covered by the Guardian’s Karim Zidane.
Half-time: Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-0 Southampton
These sides are pretty evenly matched. Alex McCarthy has made the better saves, but Walcott and Armstrong could easily have scored for Southampton.
45+1 min Traore looks to challenge Djnepo, over-stretching and introducing studs to metatarsus. He’s booked.
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45 min There’ll be one added minute.
44 min Neves is fractionally late on Romeu and earns the first yellow card of the evening, which is ironic because Trevor Brooking didn’t get many with ‘is ‘ead the foul for which he avoided a booking was definitely worse.
43 min A few minutes ago, Sky apologised for any “industrial language” we might’ve heard, which has exercised Gary Naylor. “All these apologies for ‘industrial language,” he says. “From about the age of 7 until 47, every match I saw on TV was soundtracked by crowds singing (perfectly audibly) “You’re gonna get your *expletive* heads kicked in”.
I particularly enjoy these apologies during MMA fights, when you’re watching people kick each other in the face and choke each other unconscious, but can’t handle a four-letter word.
42 min Romeu carries it forward and lifts a ball over the top for Walcott, who frantically tries to bend his run, but it’s to no avail and the flag goes up.
41 min The game hasn’t quite sparked yet, but both sides could easily have scored a couple.
39 min “The two Gary Stevens chant reminds me that Brighton fans used to sing ‘there’s only two Kerry Mayos’,” emails Ben Mimmack, “after their long-time defender married a woman called Kerry.”
That’s excellent.
38 min “I love a battle of the ‘Hamptons,” says Niall Mullen.
37 min The corner comes to nowt.
36 min Moutinho swings in a tasty ball and Podence does brilliant to get up, contorting his body to flick a header goalwards and at pace. But again, McCarthy is right there, flicking it over the bar with his right hand.
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35 min Here we go! Traore gets on the ball and eases onto the gas, thrumming past Djnepo and Bertrand, so Vestergaard fouls him. Free-kick Wolves, outside the box, right flank.
34 min Southampton are finding it easier to pick holes in Wolves than vice-versa, which I guess you’d expect given Wolves have changed formation for the first time in an aeon, and are missing Coady for the first time in a trillion light years.
32 min That was not unlike this, save its most important aspect.
31 min Lovely from Wolves, Ward-Prowse into Adams who takes it beautifully, opening his body to slide a fine pass in behind for Armstrong running onto it. And he stretches into a shot which races only just wide.
30 min Traore filches the ball from Romeo on sets off on one his sojourns across the face of the Southampton defence, eventually firing a shot against Armstrong – who’s playing pretty centrally – and the ball runs through to McCarthy.
29 min “There’s only two Gary Stevens,” emails Simon Kaplan. “Memorable chant by England fans at Mexico 86 when both were on the field in the games against Morocco and Paraguay.”
Gary of Everton was a really good player. I was never quite sure what Gary of Spurs was meant to offer.
27 min Walcott looks to run away from Neves and is summarily hauled down. Ward-Prowse will curl towards the back-post, but Wolves clear easily enough.
25 min On this penalty thing, the law needs amending and also needs drafting properly – so says the ex-lawyer in me – but if we just altered the laws so that you only get a penalty if the infringement prevents a goalscoring opportunity, whether inside or outside the box. Anything else inside is a direct free-kick.
23 min In comes three free-kick, causing minor panic as the ball bounces about and there’s a quiet shout for a penalty when Vestergaard’s header down plays Semedo’s arm. But sensibly, the officials say no – though I’d not have been surprised if they’d said yes.
23 min Walker-Peters nashes forward, inhaling to squeeze between Dendoncker and Ait-Nouri; the former brings him down.
20 min But here comes Adams, bullocking at Kilman – he’s playing with such confidence now, and it’s great to see. Kilman, meanwhile, looks to have his body in an awkward position, but does really well to stay on his feet as long as possible before sliding in to confiscate possession.
19 min By and large, the teams are cancelling each other out; they’re both very well-organised, the there’s not a lot to choose between the players, especially because we’ve barely seen Traore and Jimenez so far.
17 min Hasenhuttl gave his players four days off during the international break, which sounds like a smart move. The energy he demands of them isn’t easy to provide.
15 min Nice from Southampton, Armstrong appearing centrally and considering a shot, before coaxing a really good ball in behind to meet the run of Walcott, who rearranges his feet nicely. But he doesn’t quite catch the shot that he’s set up, allowing Rui Patricio to make a smart save; if he’d parried not held, Adams wouldn’t snaffled the rebound.
13 min Wolves knock it along the back four – ! – and Southampton don’t really press.
12 min “You make a good point about this Wolves team,” emails Stephen Carr. “The spine in particular is a match for pretty much any side in the league.”
They could maybe do with a bit more power in the middle of midfield, but yes, they’e got a lot going on.
11 min I’m watching this without crowd noise because I want to hear what the players hear, so if they piped noise into the grounds, I’d listen to that. Was that something they considered?
10 min Nice from Djnepo, who rushes in to win a loose ball, but Walcott can’t quite control his attempted through-pass. [Ctrl C, Ctrl V].
8 min I was encouraged by what Nuno said pre-match about matching Southampton’s tempo, and Wolves do look less lethargic than usual. If they go for it, we could not only have a game, but a team on our hands.
7 min The ensuing corner is dealt with easily enough.
6 min Moutinhi clouts straight into the wall but the ball drops nicely for Semedio, who powers a drive that McCarthy plunges left to save, but Dendncker is first to the rebound, power-clipping from close range and poised to wheel away having put his team in front, but the keeper is up quick as you like to parry over the top. Excellent save.
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4 min I love the intensity with which Southampton win games but here come Wolves, Bednarek swiping an air shot as Podence runs at him, forcing Romeu to run across his man like he’s been doing it all his life, which he has. Incredibly, he escapes a yellow card and Wolves have a free-kick 20 yards out, just to the left of the D; this is dangerous.
4 min Here’s our report from the early game.
3 min A pair of corners duly follow, the first of which causes minor panic and yields another, which hits the first man.
2 min Here come Southampton, Djnepo finding Bertrand who finds a really good cross, but Adams doesn’t gamble on Boly making a hash of it, which he does.
1 min BREAKING NEWS! Wolves are playing a back four! Semedo is on the right, Kilman and Boly are in the middle, and Ait-Nori is on the left.
1 min Away we go!
The players take a knee. Black lives matter.
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Here come the teams!
I was actually saying to a mate – yes I’m boasting – that when our team meet Southampton next weekend, I’d go with three at the back to make it easier to play through their press. My guess is that Djnepo moves inside to help.
Howe is interested to see how Southampton press Wolves’ three at the back from their 4-4-2, and recalls a game against Hasenhuttl where both managers changed their formations three times. “It was like a chess game,” he says.
Ralph Hasenhuttl says his team have developed their game and have been clinical at the right moments, and that today will be a tough challenge. He is particularly wary of Wolves’ ability on the counter, or in transition as we’re now obliged to say, and his team need to concentrate.
The battle in the middle of midfield should be an interesting one. I imagine Southampton will have Stuart Armstrong playing narrow to try and win the numbers game, and wonder if his energy, plus that of Oriol Romeu and James Ward-Prowse, will be too much for Neves and Moutinho, who are technical but one-paced.
Jamie Carragher then says that Wolves aren’t really the best team for him, and he’ll be delighted to know that I agree. I wondered if Man United might’ve gone for him if they weren’t prepared to pay for Jadon Sancho, and Arsenal could also use someone in his position.
Eddie Howe is in the studio and talking about the unique challenge of Traore. He tried five at the back, and always wanted to “take away the grass on the pitch”, never allowing him to get anyone one-on-one.
£71m for a goalkeeper?
— Francis Keogh (@HonestFrank) August 7, 2018
Back in the day, West Ham spent a world record £565k for moustachioed stopper Phil Parkes#whufc #cfc pic.twitter.com/I018N0wyHt
Nuno says it’s a big blow to be without Coady and Saiss, and that the former has been self-isolating, tested negative, already had the virus and is maybe immune, but this is one of many things that don’t make sense. “It is not a good moment for anybody.”
On Dendoncker, he says he has many players in his squad who can play different roles, and that Saiss is self-isolating, but he doesn’t want to give details because “It’s very personal.” He’s asked if this is a big game for Traore, but says it is for everyone, and that his players need to match Southampton’s tempo. He says his team have started the season ok, but need to try and be better every game, and that he’s pleased to be getting fans back as well as pleased the kids will be able to resume playing.
Only joking. I’d hoped to post a pic of the actual Gary Stevens of Spurs but our library is silent on the matter, so here’s a different one to enjoy. This country.
“I think you have the wrong Phil Parkes in the photo,” says Gary Naylor. “Incredibly, there were two near-contemporary players, both goalkeepers, both called Phil Parkes. One at Wolves, the other at QPR and West Ham.”
Yes, the caption was meant to reflect that but on reflection it probably wasn’t clear enough. By way of compensation, here’s Gary Stevens (also of Spurs) with Paul Bracewell.
Email! “Evening Daniel,” says Stephen Carr. I’m looking forward to this one. Hopefully it’ll be a stark contrast to Burnley - Palace game which has basically resembled a convention for big lads.”
Yeah, a fixture that absolutely reeks of Monday 5.30.
Burnley have beaten Palace, leaving West Brom and Sheffield United as the only winless clubs among the 92. Blades have more overlapping centre-backs than points.
Some back in the day fun from October 1971 – featuring, of all things, a retaken penalty!
As for Southampton, they’re still without the injured Danny Ings, an absolute boon for Wolves. As well as being their biggest goal-threat he’s so important to how they play, though Theo Walcott offers something different and is a much better finisher than many people assume. Bertrand for Stephens is the only change from the home win over Newcastle.
Of course Wolves are set up as they set up, but after 121 consecutive league games, they’ll be without Conor Coady, who’s been left out of the squad after being forced to self-isolate. In typical style, he trained alone and did everything possible to be ready, but his watch is over, six short of Phil Parkes’ club record. So Lender Dendoncker drops back into defence with Joao Moutinho returning in midfield, while on the left of the defensive three, Max Kilman plays despite having lost his father; long life, old mate.
Otherwise, the only other change is Traoré replacing Neto. He’s played nowhere near enough so far this season, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how he gets on tonight, because in the history of football there’s never been anyone quite like him.
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Teams!
Wolverhampton Wanderers (a contradictory 3-4-3): Patricio, Boly, Dendoncker, Kilman; Semedo, Moutinho, Neves, Ait-Nouri; Traoré, Jiménez, Podence. Subs: Ruddy, Hoever, Marcal, Neto, Silva, Vitinha, Otasowie.
Southampton (a hyper-modern 4-4-2): McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Vestergaard, Bednarek, Bertrand, Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Armstrong, Walcott, Djenepo, Adams. Subs: Forster, Stephens, Long, Obafemi, Tella, Diallo, N’Lundulu.
Elsewhere, Chris Wood has given winless Burnley the lead at home to Palace. There’s 15 minutes and change left of that one.
Preamble
This should be really interesting – not words said very often about games involving Nuno’s Wolves, but absolutely so of tonight.
They’re a strange thing Wolves, replete with lovely and exciting footballers, constrained by a frustratingly cautious style that, on the face of things could barely suit them less ... which in reality has bought them continuing improvement and success. Which is to say that it’s difficult: no team in the league has more clean sheets in 2020 than Wolves, but no team outside the bottom three has scored fewer goals this season and no team in the top eight scored fewer goals last season. For a squad boasting Adama Traoré, Raúl Jiménez, Daniel Podence, Pedro Neto and Rúben Neves, that is absolutely shameful.
Southampton, on the other hand, are as fun as Wolves can be dour, a harrying pack of, er, wolves, who force things to happen and refuse to let opponents settle. There’s not a chance they’ll be narcotised by slow, sideways passing, nor exhaust themselves chasing the ball to be picked off by the only goal in the 78th minute. They may still lose, but they’ll lose their way.
So all being well, we’re in for something decent, and there’s also plenty on the line. If Wolves win they leap five places to 7th, and if Southampton win they vault Leicester and Chelsea to settle in 3rd.
Kick-off: 8pm GMT
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