Liam berry shares his thoughts following wolves 2-0 defeat to Brentford
Wolves lose 2-0 to Thomas Frank in what is the fourth occasion the teams have played this season.
Gary O’Neil named an unchanged lineup to the one that thumped Chelsea 4-2 the weekend prior.
A goal in each half was enough for Brentford to seal a win at the Golden Palace, with Christian Norgaard and Ivan Toney getting on the score sheet.
Lets take a look at what we have learnt from this game.
1. Losing Cunha
After scoring a hat-trick against Chelsea last weekend, Matheus Cunha would have been hoping to follow suit with another goal or two against Brentford. However his afternoon was cut short after coming down with injury just half an hour into the fixture.
After his substitution we did not look like the same team, and really missed his direct and exciting play-style.
Let’s hope his injury isn’t too serious, and one that can enable him to come back to first team action as soon as humanly possible, as he is a huge part to what Gary O’Neil and his players have achieved this season.
2. When One Comes, Another Goes.
Our front line for so long has been unsettled, and they haven’t been able to have a set front-line that start every game. However this season it seemed like they had hit the jackpot.
Cunha, Pedro Neto and Hwang Hee Chan seem to work so well when we saw them in action together, but one of the three always seem to be unavailable, with Neto sustaining an injury in October and only coming back as of recent, and Hwang leaving for international duties. Now Hwang and Neto are back fit and ready to play, it’s Cunha who misses out, with another injury to one of Wolves’ better players.
It would be nice to have all three fit and playing together for a sustained amount of time, as the confidence they not only bring to their team, but the confidence they bring to the fans would make Wolves such a force going forwards, and would most definitely help them move up in the table at the business end of the season.
3.Time Wasting Problem
When Wolves come to play Brentford, time wasting always seems to be a hot topic.
It all stemmed from comments made by Thomas Frank and at the time Wolves manager Bruno Lage in the 2021/22 season on the issue, complaining about each over’s use of time wasting.
On Saturday it was clear that Brentford were time wasting at every opportunity they could, but that’s what we would want our team to do right? I think time wasting is an issue but all teams do it, not just Brentford. Personally more punishments should be given to players who time waste, as there isnt much in place to stop it from happening. Until that happens we will most definitely see more time wasting.
4. Failing to Score at Molineux
Wolves have scored in every game at the Molineux since we played Bournemouth at the start of 2023, funnily enough who’s manager is now our current manager Gary O’Neil.
Unfortunately, Saturday marked the day that run came to an end, with Brentford keeping a clean sheet. Wolves did have the ball in the back of the net however, with a Dawson header ruled out by VAR for a tight offside.
With scoring being a major issue for Wolves for so long, it’s encouraging to know we have scored in the vast majority of games, especially at home, so hopefully this game was just a hiccup, and Wolves can carry on with their impressive goalscoring record this season.
5. Europe Dream still on?
After breaking into the top half of the table, a few shouts of a potential European charge have been touted, with Wolves being just four points away from a European spot.
I said this on my last article, and that is that we need to see our position in the next couple of months, as there is still a long way to go. Pessimistic I know, but we have already massively over-achieved this season, and if we raise our expectations so high we may become disappointed with what has already been a good campaign, and the players and manager do not deserve this. But we are on a good trajectory despite this loss, so never cancel this group of lads out.
ARTICLE BY LIAM BERRY
I am a life long Wolves fan that is passionate for the club. I am a sixth form student who loves writing about things I love!