Wolves’ Struggles: Cracks, Big Games, and Underperforming Stars

Sadly in the past few weeks, the same old cracks have revealed themselves to have been truly just papered over by what can only be presumed as the fabled ‘new manager bounce.’ Where it seemed the boys were getting back to their creative bests under Pereira’s leadership, they have resorted once again to the same old same old conventions of sitting deep to invite pressure onto a defence which they know as well as we do cannot withstand it and hapless long balls towards an isolated Strand-Larsen hoping he can beat 2 or 3 Premier League defenders before starting an attack single-handedly. The players we have available to us are clearly far more capable than they are demonstrating and (as we have seen multiple times) appear to favour a more high pressing system which we had been playing initially and was highly effective vs both Manchester United (who admittedly are useless) and Leicester. 

 

Whilst it is a fairly just reason to levy for why Wolves have struggled for any sort form this season that the fixture schedule has dealt us an extraordinarily poor hand, the performances which big games elicit from this side are often very defeatist and borderline pathetic. The lack of identity also becomes far more evident as this is the sort of game which solidifies it. Under Nuno, our counter-attacking prowess would put sides like Arsenal, United, Tottenham and Chelsea to the sword routinely and with ease. We gained a reputation for being a very tricky side to face, the sort of team that opposition fans would be apprehensive towards regardless of who you supported, I lost count of how many times commentators would cite Molineux as ‘a very tricky place to go to and get a result.’ Ever since these ‘good old days’ (at least they are for me as a 17 year old!) we have never been as invigorating a side and are definitely now the pedigree of team who opposition fans will sigh with relief when they see us up next. I remember reading in Dave Edwards’ biography – my first and still favourite player – saying that back under the last year with Mick McCarthy, it felt as though it was ‘hey, we’re on a bad run of form, but we’ll stick 6 past Wolves on Saturday and get back on track!’ I am hinting deja vu…

Whilst it is easy to blame the team as a whole, many players have not been performing to the standard they ought to, today emphasising many of them. The midfield appeared completely non-existent in parts and was embarrassingly easy for Chelsea to bypass, especially dangerous considering the calibre of player that allows to roam around our penalty area like Palmer and the Neto we know all too well. Ait-Nouri has also been one I personally want to see much more from, considering how talented a player he very clearly is, but he seems to have become far less confident and creative when going forwards which only exposes his poor defensive capabilities even more. I have always been an advocate of playing him further up the field as it is clearly where he flourishes, playing link up with the likes of Cunha and Joao Gomes and I think that a left wing back with some more solid defensive traits would be a valuable investment to allow Ait-Nouri to go forwards more and play like his usual, magical best. 

Lets face it, realistically upcoming fixtures against Arsenal, Villa and Liverpool I imagine will be mainly just formalities, Villa at home looking the most favourable of the matches. However, I do still – perhaps naively – have complete faith in this side to be able to overcome the hurdles in front of them. With some improvements in performance, maybe a point or so if we can ride what limited luck we are afforded magnificently well, going into the true crunch period where relegation 6-pointers will be essentially once a week where our truest selves must prevail and not some dismally downtrodden side similar to the one O’Neil took into the games vs West Ham, Everton and Ipswich a few months back. It is vital that we enter such games with a bit of optimism and momentum, otherwise we will be resigned to relegation. COYW!