Ben Whitehouse takes a look at the things we learnt from Vitor Pereira's first defeat as Wolves boss.
1. First Poor Performance
We had to expect new manager bounce to come to an end at some point; no manager could join a squad who had been so unsuccessful up to that point and send them on an unbeaten run for weeks on end.
This was a stark reminder to us as fans that whilst our fortunes have changed in recent times, our club is still yet to fully recover and at present remains not on the required level to compete at the highest level necessary.
Our passing was the most poignant issue I could identify, it was entirely underwhelming for most of the match; far too many passes were either going straight off the pitch or not having enough power and being intercepted with ease, real schoolboy errors.
On top of this, endless aimless crosses into the box with Strand-Larsen being the only focal point for attacks, hoping he would be able to latch onto them proved fruitless the entire game, yet were persisted with. On the topic of Strand-Larsen, he did not have his best game in a Wolves shirt but was also unlucky with some opportunities in the first half which on another day may well have turned the game on its head.
2. Credit where due
3. Still some positives
4. Need for depth
My Dad has always told me that you need two teams: a first 11 of high quality players and a second 11 who are almost equally as capable.
When we had Nuno, we were crying out for more players and more depth, proved when we had long-term injuries to players such as Raul and Boly. After that, we had almost too many players, none of whom were high enough quality under Lage and onwards.
We are now at a bizarre predicament where we have reverted back to the original issue of too few players and a very young side going hand in hand.
When we have an injury crisis such as our current situation with an amalgamation of injuries, personal issues and suspensions, we end up with a goalkeeper and 3 or 4 under-21 players to bring on rather than dynamic game changers which other sides possess.
Some of our ageing players such as Lemina and Dawson are also losing their quality, potentially lessening the experience level of the side again. In the case of this match in particular, losing Cunha to suspension was always going to make the match difficult as he has developed into the focal point of the squad and is extremely influential to our overall performances, however this will be a reality we have to get used to as it must be an assumption that he goes elsewhere for big money within the next two seasons, most likely in the summer.
5. Make or break
I remember at the initial stages of the season, looking at our fixtures and thinking that we would inevitably struggle with that hellish fixture run up until around November time when they eased up, but also thinking that it could be devastating to be the side going into matches where despite having more quality as a side, were desperate for a win and on bad form which could damage the momentum and lead to yet more losses.
Not only has that eventuality unfolded, the opening fixtures went worse than anticipated and the matches against the lesser sides was worse than anticipated as well. It did become apparent fairly soon to most of us that the system was failing too and that a change in management was necessary to change our fortunes, yet the owners seemed to be the only people in the nation to not see that. You would presume that after a comprehensive 4-0 loss to relegation rivals Everton with an embarrassing performance, owners would step in and do what was necessary. Had they brought in Pereira at that point and not waited for a couple more matches and losses against a struggling West Ham and relegation threatened Ipswich, there could well be more room for for comfort between us and the bottom three.
This run of fixtures that Wolves have now are going to be far more challenging and Pereira must prove that he is indeed cut from a different cloth to O’Neil and can pull together some results from difficult games. COYW!
ARTICLE BY BEN WHITEHOUSE
I’ve been a fan of Wolves all my life, based in the South-East, making for some fairly awkward school football conversations trying to argue that Kevin McDonald was better than Bruno Fernandes with the endless supply of Big 6 fans around here, just for the fun of it! Hoping to offer a insightful view into the performances, transfers, decisions and everything else our beloved Wanderers throw at us, good, bad and ugly (but preferably good!)