THE KEY TAKEAWAYS IN WOLVES LOSS TO FULHAM

Wolves headed into this game looking upwards, aiming to put some significant daylight between ourselves and the feared 18th position. Having picked up some form with 3 wins in the last 4 against some top tier sides (only loss coming narrowly at Anfield, in part due to a catastrophic refereeing display) whilst Fulham had been on the receiving end of a 0-2 home loss to Crystal Palace. Also, considering how the return fixture went at Craven Cottage with that 4-1 victory and vintage Matheus Cunha performance, there was cause for excitement.

 

I imagine many of you will have shared my cautious optimism going into the game, hoping that for the first time in a long long time, we could pick up an extended run of form going into some pivotal games against fellow relegation candidates. Therefore, losing in such a fashion is particularly irritating, leaving the side disappointed once again and needing to pick themselves up ahead of the next few games. 

As a Premier League side, it is a source of incredible anguish for both fans and players alike to be continuously falling victim to such a vast number of self-inflicted wounds. The nature of the goals conceded were so avoidable and just due to not being switched on enough, allowing both Sessegnon and Muniz in behind a system with three centre backs at such ease; this is without mentioning that shipping a goal after 58 seconds and then mere minutes into the second half is unimaginable for most sides at this level, yet Wolves still managed it!

 

From thereon in, it is always going to be an uphill struggle against a team such as Fulham who are very capable of managing a game. Whilst it could be blamed as individual errors on the parts of Semedo and Bueno for poor positioning (which is true) it is a symptom of a larger problem which could be seen throughout the game; poor team pressing.

 

We have proved ourselves very adept at being able to win the ball back swiftly after we’ve lost it, but in instances where we are unsuccessful at that, they resume their ordinary stance of piling men behind the ball which regularly just leads to crossed-fingers and hoping that a delivery is poor or the inevitable attack comes to nothing. Inviting pressure with a defence you know isn’t all too solid is a recipe for disaster. 

Despite the result, Wolves proved yet again that they are no longer the walkover team they were at the outset of the campaign and are more than capable of competing with quality sides and more than capable enough of staying in this division.

 

However many of us fans framed this game, Fulham are still a very good team in contention for a European spot and we gave them a real go in spite of our relative league position. I sustain that individually the calibre of player in the Wolves team ought to be far higher up the league than the table reflects and the system Vitor Pereira is operating and instilling is definitely bringing more of these elements out of the players.

 

Players such as Rayan and Bellegarde have improved massively in recent weeks, Bellegarde especially flourishing in a new role and with some new confidence and Rayan seemingly returning to his old self, full of flair and talent which he we haven’t seen at it’s best for a while. These changes can be summed up perfectly by the move leading to our goal: silky nutmeg pass from Rayan to Bellegarde who fired in the cross and finished with aplomb by Joao Gomes.

 

Gomes and Andre are also developing into quite the midfield unit, very strong at maintaining some pressure and keeping the game ticking. Overall, in all areas of the pitch, there is a definite sense of improved confidence in the system, positional strength and creativity.

If we seem like such a reinvented team, why are we struggling so massively in games like this at home. Aside from the defensive lapses we have already been over which can only be rectified really by either training them out or personnel changes (injured Agbadou had been excellent before needing to be replaced by Bueno) the most significant problem I seem to find is the lack of final ball, an issue I think has haunted Wolves sides for years.

 

Almost every single attacking play of note is due to one man; Matheus Cunha. There is a reason for this; he is one of the only players in the side who has the character and confidence to play ambitious passes and experiment.

 

Picture the scene: opposition attack goes awry and Jose Sa throws a quick ball up to Semedo who drives up the pitch on the right with the opposition trying to get numbers back. Cunha makes a run down the channel calling for a ball through to him and at last… the ball ends up being passed around the defence for the next 5 minutes before we lose possession again. The reluctance to attempt a pass for fear of losing the ball from international level football players is completely baffling – it even stops them from crossing in wide positions to a 6 foot 4 striker! The fear has to go, or new players who are willing to make those passes must take their places. I guess it will be partly contributed to by the security of having the ball for a defence that is shaky as it is and would rather the other team never have the ball, but overall it never helps anyone. If we cast it back, we were previously able to launch quick counter attacks and play more efficiently when we would switch the ball at pace with Neves, Moutinho and Coady and have players such as Jota and Traore who were willing to take risks, especially as Adama proved today.

I feel as though I say it every time, but now it really is crunch time. Our fixture schedule has dealt us a very poor hand of runs of difficult teams followed by pivotal matches essentially divided into two halves: start of the season until mid-October of awfully hard fixtures then a November and Christmas of supposedly easier sides with zero confidence and infighting; now we have January until the start of March of tricky games and from now until the end of the season are facing entirely winnable games almost every week.

 

Under O’Neil, we struggled throughout the first period and then managed to do even worse against our fellow relegation candidates, notably losing 4-0 to Everton and 2-1 at home to Ipswich, each defeat as limp as the other. Now, under Pereira, we are emerging from this second string of fixtures with 13 points out of a possible 30 against such sides, compared to the dismal 3 points under O’Neil. This tells us that the calibre the games we play now are far more achievable than they were mere months ago, not that they will be easy of course. 7 from 7 games O’Neil was afforded, now Pereira must demonstrate his mettle against Everton, Southampton, West Ham and Ipswich in a row and then still Leicester, Palace and Brentford.

 

Even the games against the supposed ‘big sides’ are against struggling Spurs, United and City (I presume City will have started obliterating teams by the point we play them.) Wins in some of these would not only give some clearance away from the bottom three, but could be some proper 6 pointers which could propel us up away from danger even further and close that gap.

 

We must maintain faith and the boys must give it their all going into the end of the season. Were we to stay up, proper evaluations of the club’s ambitions, owner’s ambitions and state of the squad will need to be made. but until then… COYW!