Wolves beat Marcos Silva’s Fulham after goals from Rayan Ait-Nouri and Nelson Semedo.
Going into the game, Gary O’Neil made three changes to his team that lost away at Newcastle the previous week, with Joao Gomes, Nathan Fraser and Santiago Bueno replacing Tommy Doyle, Toti Gomes and Craig Dawson.
This also saw Wolves switch to a back four, something we have not seen since the opening stages of the season.
Let’s take a look at what we have learnt from Wolves’ 12th win of the season.
1. "Rayan runs down the wing for me"
Under Julen Lopetegui, Rayan Ait-Nouri was left sitting on the bench, and looked set to leave Wolves in the summer. However with O’Neil, he is one of the first names on the team-sheet.
Very rarely do I watch a player’s performance in the flesh and is left mesmerised, but yesterday watching Ait-Nouri was an absolute pleasure. Everything he did just seemed to work, and he makes it look so easy. The way he controls the ball is second to none, and is most definitely one of the best players with the ball at his feet I have seen in old gold for some while.
Not to mention his goal, which was very well deserved. It was a perfect cap off to a fantastic performance and hopefully we see him contribute to more goals going forwards.
2. Super Mario
From one fantastic performance to another, yesterday was most definitely one of Mario Lemina’s best performances in a Wolves shirt.
After Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s injury we saw Lemina take up a higher role and almost play as winger, and funnily enough he made it look like he has been playing there his whole career. The power and pace he has really suits playing in more of an advanced role, so realistically speaking there is nothing our Super Mario can’t do.
In all seriousness, it’s great to see our players hold such a threat on the attack after so much years of struggling to attack with fluidity. So a very good performance from Lemina
3. INJURY WOES
Wolves were hit with two more injuries, both coming to attacking players.
Bellegarde suffered a knee injury in the opening minutes, and not long after Pedro Neto pulled up with what seems like another hamstring issue to the winger.
That now leaves Pablo Sarabia as our only fit recognised senior attacker in the squad. This is really worrying signs going into the business end of the season, however this season has been about overcoming the odds, and I’m sure O’Neil and the team will find a way to survive without some of our most influential players.
4. REACHED THE 40 POINT MARK
Wolves have reached the ‘safe barrier’ with ten games to spare, equalling their point’s tally of last season.
What a season we have been treated to, we are playing some of the best football in a long time, and what looked like to be a relegation battling season, Wolves are in the top half of the league with their sights set on Europe.
The job O’Neil has done has given the fans excitement and belief, we have the foundations to build on to do something really special in the next few years, so let’s hope the board back our manager in the summer and give us the platform to achieve big things.
5. THE UNLUCKIEST MAN IN THE STADIUM
The half time O What a Shot was finally completed against Sheffield United in our previous league home game, with the winner taking home around eight grand, which has been accumulated over the last two years.
With that the prize money went back to 200 pounds, and to every one’s surprise another contestant stepped up and won the half time game.
You have to feel sympathy for him, if he had taken his shot just over a week ago he would have been in for winning a large prize pot. He was most definitely the unluckiest man in the stadium this weekend.
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!
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