"hug the touchline and try and beat 2 or 3 players" is exactly what we want and need from him to do in the RWB position.Hi, Wolves fan in peace.
I've seen a few posts that Traore has been dropped by Wolves in recent months due to his contract situation so I thought I would shed light on this.
Although it is fairly clear Traore doesn't want to sign a new contract with Wolves with the terms offered, the main reason he has been dropped is due to his goals and assists output. He's played 17/19 league games this season and has failed to register a goal or assist. For context, our goalkeeper has more goal contributions this season.
This season, we've tried to adopt a more possession style football playing slightly higher up the pitch than under Nuno. Although our attacking play in general hasn't been good this season, it's particularly hard to play a possession style approach when you have Adama playing who is constantly looking to get the ball to feet, offering no dynamic movements and taking 8-10 touches every time. One of the biggest frustrations from Wolves fans in recent years is that he seems to have the inability to make runs off the ball, in behind defenders where his pace really could be used to great effect. Instead, he will often hug the touchline and try to beat the 2/3 defenders down the byline.
As eluded to previously, the biggest problem with Traore is his goal contributions. In 121 league appearances, he has only registered 7 goals and 13 assists. When you consider that 4 goals and 9 assists of these were during the 2019/20 season during a hot phase with Jimenez, he has only scored or assisted a total of 7 goals in 2 and a half Premier league seasons outside of that.
Although I personally believe Traore is vastly overrated due to his amazing speed and dribbling ability, I do believe he could still be used effectively as an impact player or against certain opposition. For Wolves, he has often looked his best when playing against top sides who offer the space to counter attack. For context, 5 of his 7 premier league goals have come against the 'big 6' sides including a brace at the etihad 2 years ago. These games particularly benefit the team as he often finds himself deeper with a lot more space to run into. Due to this, teams often revert to tactically fouling him which often results in yellow cards and drawing fouls higher up the pitch. Being fair, these moments don't necessarily get reflected in the statistics but are very useful for getting a team like Wolves up the pitch in these games.
Alternatively to using Traore against the bigger teams, I would ever only use him as an impact sub personally when 'Plan A' isn't particularly working.
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"hug the touchline and try and beat 2 or 3 players" is exactly what we want and need from him to do in the RWB position.
Nuno tried to use him at RWB for a few games a couple of years back but he wasn't particularly great on the defensive side and left the team looking quite unbalanced.
The biggest problem using a player like this here is that due to his anaerobic style, his quick bursts will be followed by him walking/getting his energy back so he is likely to get you exposed on the defensive side.
he played RWB against City away when you won 0-2 and tore them a new right? he scored both the goals.
He played RWB for the first 65 minutes in that game. Nuno then bought Doherty on at RWB and moved Traore up front next to Jimenez where he scored his 2 goals towards the end. That was his best game at RWB for us though as he stifled Sterling effectively.
In total, he played 6 games starting RWB for us that season. We won 1 (Man City away), drew 2 and lost 3 of those games. His last game at RWB was a 5-2 loss at home to Chelsea where the team looked completely disjointed.
Totti is going to jump off a bridge after he reads this post.
Thanks.
Maybe the meat head crowd here will take it in, from an outsider who has watched such a physical build in their team regularly (Sanchez et al. here suffers similar at times, when we start getting pulled around, no idea why people can't see this! Especially the heart surgeon!!!).
Noticed this the other night, after a few runs he looked knackered out and hardly moved until he got his breath back
Interesting point. Hopefully Conte could do something about that.
The meat head crowd??
Just mean those who think this is a good build for a footballer...
That carrying that 70 yards back and forth gives a good basis for skills with a ball...
2 useless right wingersBut the football brain of Boris Johnson.
Actually I would take the punt on our limited budget, not on Boris in case you are wondering which one
Thanks I was wondering why he was not starting. I assume Wolves would still want as much as they can get for him and by your description his best position maybe a specialised bench player that plays 20-30 minutes. My worry about him id the sheer size of him would cause joint problems later in his football career which could cause him to loose some of his pace.
He will do much better at a bigger club with better players found him and it's pretty clear the contract situation/potential exit has a role in his playing time and amount of starts.
He is still better than Bergwijn and honestly I think he would keep Lucas out of the side if it came down to it on the wing.
He is still better than Bergwijn and honestly I think he would keep Lucas out of the side if it came down to it on the wing.
I like him as a player because I think we are crying out for somebody who is strong, direct and quick and he's been virtually unplayable on 2-3 occasions when we have played Wolves, so I've seen it with my own eyes how good he could potentially be.Just mean those who think this is a good build for a footballer...
That carrying that 70 yards back and forth gives a good basis for skills with a ball...
You make a somewhat compelling case for his physique being problematic but I'm no sports scientist so I would have to trust the people at our club who are if we signed him.
His lifetime stats I will admit are not that promising.
I still think he could be excellent IF the money is right, Anything north of £25m is probably too risky a punt.
You're right, I'd definitely consider him more of an impact forward player where he can run at tiring defences when the game is stretched. He wins a fair amount of free kicks high up the pitch which can prove useful too.
Part of me wants us to sign him, as I'd love to see if he can be utilised by Conte.
Agree, he gives a big burst of something we lack (Moura and Sessegnon, potentially, aside), but can't believe there isn't a better punt at £20-25M would like a 6ft 1 lean 400m runner physique RWB, rather than a 100m runner who is fucked after the first spell where he makes 4-5 runs.
Emerson looks like an 800m runner, lacking that sprint potential, as a furthering of the current analogy, Doherty a 400M runner, but a crappy one.
He will create a lot of space for players like Kane and Son, One of the things I've seen him do very well is drive into the oppositions half and draw players over to him.
He terrifies defences I've seen him do it to us on more than one occasion
How is £5m a season over a 5 year contract (maybe Wolves want more up front) risky for a 25 year old international with a unique skillset for a club like Tottenham? We bid more in the Summer and his price is coming down, considering the transfer gambles they have completely fucked for SO much money (GLC, Ndombele), they would be getting someone that knows the league and is proven. Less that we paid for Sissoko back when, Dav, Emerson etc.
Some players just click at the right club with the right manager at the right age, I've just got a feeling about him and if there's one thing about him, he can be one of the most exciting players to watch in the entire League.
Anyone got that graph with all the financial wiggle room? This should be relative peanuts and I'd think the money men will calculate the balls out of it and deem it acceptable. I've still my fingers crossed anyway.
It would be interesting to see how he would do in a better team. The biggest problem I think Traore has here is that better teams tend to move the ball around much quicker than teams on our (wolves) level. They rely more on dynamic movement and quick interchanges. Traore is the complete opposite to this, his best asset is his pace and dribbling and rarely will ever look for a pass. For instance, Semedo generally has better games for Wolves when Trincao plays on his side due to the fact they like to interplay and move for each other. Semedo isn't as effective when Traore plays as he doesn't move off the ball enough and rarely looks for the pass.