5 THINGS WE LEARNT FROM WOLVES V CHELSEA

ben Whitehouse shares 5 key lessons learnt from wolves 6-2 defeat to Chelsea

1. New Look Wolves

We ought to start with the positives really, few and far between as they were. The first half demonstrated what Wolves are clearly capable of; intense, high pressing football, consistently winning the ball high up the pitch and some excellent, fluid attacking moves. It certainly sets the tone for the type of side Gary O’Neil is looking to assemble similarly to the Arsenal game prior, attacking from the off and going for a result rather than sit in and pray for a 0-0. The players clearly have more trust in themselves and their system with Gary which leaves them free to express themselves more and an abundance of driving forward runs from almost every player regardless of position. If you think back and consider previous years, our counter attacking, 5 at the back teams have often played deeply unattractive football with no goalscoring threats at all but now, we are nothing if not entertaining.

2. They're still raw

It became clear in the second half that despite how promising the side is and how dominant they can be at times, having a squad of mainly young, less experienced players can make the job look less professional. It’s very obvious that the team isn’t operating as a unit just yet which I think was to be expected. O’Neil had many first teamers away on international duty and is putting together a team of different individuals in a different system who have now lost arguably their biggest attacking outlet. For example, Mosquera had some moments of excellent defending especially a last man chase down vs Jackson, Ait-Nouri was unstoppable first half as well yet when it came to overall positioning and defending as a block, they were clearly far less effective, evidenced by the score line. This is the difference between us becoming a top, top side like Man City whose entire team operate as one and are able to maintain it for 90 minutes, rather than our mere 45.

3. We need depth

Palmer and Madueke did the wealth of damage as starters, but one of the stark contrasts between the two sides for me was the substitutions. Setting aside the fact that Chelsea have spent extortionate amounts of money, they were able to substitute on £150 million worth of Nkunku, Felix and Neto (the latter two combining for a goal) whilst we brought on an aging Sarabia and Dawson, a 19 year old Rodrigo Gomes and Podence who could be sold any day now. I feel it demonstrated that the starting 11 is excellent and can compete with the very best, but we need the players who can carry us to the end of games and offer something different for the opposition to deal with.

4. Attacking with potential

Without a doubt, our most positive aspect was our attacking in the first half; two excellently worked goals, a few near misses and a disallowed goal either side of half-time. Whilst Hwang and Bellegarde were fairly quiet, Cunha and Strand-Larsen proved that they could be a formidable strike force, shadows of Jota and Jimenez. Larsen’s ability to hold up the ball offers something that we really haven’t had for years and means we don’t always lose possession whenever we have to clear the lines. The second half clearly tailed off when the two of them started to get tired and Cunha was substituted, making it imperative that they stay injury free.

5. Molineux has faith

The performance was far from perfect, perhaps one of the worst second half performances I’ve ever seen from Wolves, yet Molineux was bouncing nonetheless, especially in the first half. The players seem to play for the badge more than they have in the past few years now and they clearly feed off the energy from the crowd. The opportunity to play at home again so soon vs Burnley on Wednesday gives the team a chance to get a stronger performance under their belts and put this weekend behind them.

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!)

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