Outclassed
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 v Brighton & Hove Albion 4
Back in 2002 Onora O’Neill gave a Reith Lecture in which she addressed the subject of Trust. The theme of her lecture was that in spite of the growth in regulation i.e. ever greater numbers of rules, laws, forms etc to abide by and fill out, standards of behaviour and how organisations function had continued to decline. BBC Radio 4 - The Reith Lectures, Onora O'Neill - A Question of Trust That was over twenty years ago now and if anything the slide has continued, infantilizing Health and Safety edicts, banks who treat us all as money launderers or fraudsters and an electoral commission that now requires us to produce ID before we can vote being just a few of the ways in which trust incrementally erodes.
In an effort to make football a paragon of virtue the Premier League made its own stab at trust enhancement by introducing VAR. This, we were told, was a panacea which would render poor decision making to a footnote in history. But as with all these things there are unintended consequences. Hidden behind its façade of propriety is the implication that game no longer trusts on-field officials to get the big calls right. With the result that their agency is diminished. Moreover the time taken and the lack of transparency whilst decisions are reached - by an anonymous panel of worthies sitting in a studio miles from the action - leaves fans cynical about the whole charade. It wouldn’t be quite so bad if most of those decisions were correct. But they are not, last Monday’s failed penalty award to Wolverhampton Wanderers being as blatant an example as any. I know of no one who thinks VAR has improved the game and until full agency is returned to on field officials trust in how it is officiated will continue to erode.
Though we may carp about the iniquities of Monday’s VAR decision, Wolves should have been “starting the car” – in the words of David Bumble Lloyd - long before Andre Onana clumsily clattered into Sasa Kalajdic. But as with much of last season, the Old Gold paid dearly for their profligacy in front of goal. Yes, they played fluid expansive football but they left Old Trafford with nothing and it was the same today albeit against a highly accomplished side who if they maintain this form should be vying for a top four slot.
Monday’s performance raised expectations that Wolves could at least match the side whom when they last met put five passed them. And that hope appeared to be justified when, with barely four minutes on the clock, Fabio Silva had the ball in the back of the Brighton net. Sadly hope was immediately dashed when it was adjudged offside. The non goal stirred Brighton who, for the next ten minutes dominated affairs, their fluid one touch football creating openings without really producing a clear cut chance. Step forward Kauro Mitoma who in the fourteenth minute set the game alight. Collecting the ball just inside the Wolves half he slalomed brilliantly past four opposition players before clinically slotting it home beyond the advancing Jose Sa.
Oh how Wolves would welcome such composure in front of goal as they then turned adversity to advantage by dominating the remainder of the first half, Mattheus Cunha’s strong running from deep causing repeated problems. But as with Monday’s performance at Old Trafford Wolves failed to convert a sequence of four good opportunities, Fabio Silva the biggest culprit when his week effort was easily saved by Jason Steele in the 28th minute.
Had any of those chances been converted it just might have changed the complexion of the game. But the players were still digesting Gary O’Neill’s half time team talk when in the 46th minute Brighton extended their lead. First Sa parried Danny Welbeck’s strike to Mitoma whose cross cum shot was deflected into the path of the advancing Pervis Estupinan who fired home. Lacking a cool head to calm affairs on the pitch, Wolves fell into disarray as Solly March converted twice in the space of four minutes to put the game out of Wolves’ reach.
To their credit the home side continued to strive and in the 60th minute were rewarded with a consolation goal when Hwang Hee Chan headed home Pedro Neto’s cross. But such was Brighton’s dominance that Roberto de Zerbi could afford to rest players, so much so that by the end of the game Wolves were playing a reserve side.
Brighton have now scored nine times in the last two outings against Wolves. That is almost a third of the total number of goals Wolves scored last season. And if the opening games of this current season have demonstrated anything, it is that until Wolves find a player with a modicum of composure in front of goal, they will continue to struggle.
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Sa 5, Semedo 6, Dawson 5 Sub Toti, Kilman 6, Ait Nourri 5 Sub Bueno, Lamina 5, Gomes 5 Sub Sarabia, Nunes 6, Neto 6, Cunha 7 Silva 6 Sub Hee Chan
Brighton & HA: Steele 6, Milner 7 Sub Veltman, Webster 6, Dunk 7, Estupinan 7, Gross 6 Sub Darhood, Gilmore 7, Enciso 8 Sub Fergusson, March 8, Mitoma 9 Sub Lallana, Welbeck 7 Sub Joao Pedro
Attendance: 31,317
Referee: Andy Madley 9
©Mark Brennand