The Athletic’s Wolverhampton Wanderers correspondent Tim Spiers has slated Willy Boly for his role in Olivier Giroud’s goal for Chelsea.
During the midweek round of Premier League fixtures, the Old Gold hosted Frank Lampard’s Blues at Molineux and defeated them 2-1 (per BBC).
Despite Nuno Espirito Santo’s side claiming three points, Chelsea took the lead early in the second half before goals from Daniel Podence and Pedro Neto swung the contest.
When Giroud opened the scoring for the visitors, Ivorian centre-back Willy Boly was the closest marker to him.
In the latest episode of The Athletic’s The Molineux View podcast, Spiers singled out a number of players who were at fault for the Blues’ goal but focussed in on Boly.
He said: “[Ben] Chilwell gets a free run down the left, Podence and [Owen] Otasowie just watch this happen and stand still. So, nobody’s tracking him.
“[Nelson] Semedo makes a half-[bothered] attempt to follow him and then the ball comes in and, again, Boly doesn’t attack it.
“He was better than he has been [against Chelsea], but he’s still quite passive, he needs to be more aggressive and attack the ball in the box.
“It was a great finish from Giroud and quite intuitive, the way he kind of sticks his foot around Boly’s body to finish it but that’s Boly’s ball, he’s got to attack it, and then [Rui] Patricio should save it.
“So, you’re looking at five players there that should’ve done better for that goal. Nuno will be livid about it, I’m sure.”
TIF Thoughts on what Tim Spiers said about Willy Boly…
As can be seen in what the journalist had to say, while he criticised a number of players for their role in the goal, it seemed that most of his criticism was directed at the centre-back as it was “Boly’s ball”.
Should Willy Boly have prevented Olivier Giroud from scoring?
No, wasn't his fault
Yes, he was at fault
So far this season, the Ivorian has been Wolves’ eighth-best performer in the Premier League with a 6.78/10 average rating over 12 appearances (per WhoScored).
While that is by no means poor, it is nowhere near the 7.19/10 average rating which made him the Old Gold’ third-best player in the league last season.
So, it is abundantly clear that the 29-year-old centre-back is not playing at the levels which he is capable of, meaning that Spiers’ criticism is justified.