George Lakin looks at How Vitor Pereira has transformed Wolves
In three short months, Vitor Pereira has lifted us from the depths of despair into a seemingly quite solid-looking mid-table outfit.
O’Neil will rightfully claim he wasn’t given the benefit of a player like Agbadou, and things would’ve been much different were he given such tools to work with.
But the truth is, 10 of Pereira’s 17 Premier League points have arrived without Agbadou in the side. This means Pereira has practically done most of the hard work with the same squad that O’Neil had at his behest. Ten points in itself eclipses O’Neil’s total of 9.
It leaves little room for argument and lots of room for asking why O’Neil wasn’t getting more out of this group.
If we start from the back and work our way forward, we may begin to get some answers.
Goalkeeper: Too many cooks spoil the broth
Since Pereira arrived, he has made Jose Sa his undisputed number one. This immediately settled down what was becoming a calamitous saga of chopping and changing between Johnstone and Sa. Neither could build any consistency, form, or understanding with their defence.
O’Neil clearly wasn’t keen on Sa, and it was likely expected he would leave in the summer, especially after Johnstone’s arrival. But as things happened, he stayed. The lesson is to upgrade, not merely replace.
Had this happened, it would have avoided this entire situation. The fact that O’Neil even entertained the possibility of bringing Sa back in after a few shaky performances by Johnstone just points to the similarity in quality between the two.
There’s little to nothing in it; both have their strengths where the other has weaknesses, but unlike most other positions, you can’t play them both. The indecision just compounded the matter before it sent both players spiralling further down the mire.
No good sides do this with their goalkeepers. In fact, even at the very top, there is a clear gulf in quality between their number one and two. It’s a position that relies entirely on someone being that guy.
Vitor, with all his years of experience in management, understands this perfectly. His decision to clearly instil Jose Sa as his number one was the first of many simple solutions to the needless complexity and confusion that hung over O’Neil’s reign. Clarity is the antidote.
Defence: Indecision makes way for precision
Next, we move to the back line. Another area O’Neil was guilty of tinkering with incessantly. Again, I’m sure he would argue this was forced upon him.
O’Neil didn’t get the players he needed to effectively play a back four/high press system—most could see that in the summer—but he did it anyway. The most suitable candidate for such a system, Yerson Mosquera, got injured early doors, and with that, O’Neil essentially went into panic mode: from a four to a five to a four with Lemina and back again.
Throw enough darts at a board and some are bound to hit the bull, which perhaps explains our 4-1 victory at Fulham, but, in truth, nothing stuck. Nothing looked genuinely solid and convincing. A clean sheet was a distant dream, and our set-piece record was nothing short of embarrassing.
The warning signs, however, were there for all to see last season. O’Neil began last season with a four before quickly reverting to a five and dipping back into a four on occasion. When in a five, we played a ‘hybrid’ system (of which I was not a fan). Essentially, it just gave licence to Ait-Nouri to shirk his defensive duties and isolate Toti Gomes.
No such free-pass exists within Pereira’s system. Wingbacks are expected to work hard, both defensively and to provide width going forward. I have never seen our wingbacks do so much running, and they have, to their credit, risen to the challenge—especially Nelson Semedo (who I think will be a great loss if a new contract is not agreed).
The wingbacks’ running is testament to the fitness levels that have undoubtedly risen under Pereira—pointing to a far more rigorous training regime. The expectation is clear and consistent, as is the system: a back five with wingbacks, no hybrid, no changing game by game to suit the opposition, just playing to our strengths, unapologetically, week in, week out.
I think true professional footballers appreciate that level of clear instruction, and I think that’s why defence is our most improved area under Pereira. The numbers don’t lie: under O’Neil, we conceded 40 goals in 16 Premier League games (2.5 per game—meaning we had to score at least 3 or 4 to even stand a chance, but we’ll come to goalscoring later!). Under Pereira, it’s just 18 conceded in 13 games (1.38 per game), meaning he’s virtually halved the amount of goals we concede, which, for a team facing relegation, is priceless.
Why? Because leaky defences are a surer sign of relegation than teams that struggle to score prolifically. We know this perfectly well from past experience.
Midfield: Partnership overrides petulance
On to midfield, a position wherein the solutions were genuinely already in the squad. The only issue being the ‘bad egg’ amidst our array of very talented options was given the captain’s armband and thus made ostensibly undroppable.
Lemina’s inclusion prevented any partnership between Joao Gomes and Andre ever being able to form or flourish. Like a giant wall between them, all came off looking worse.
Vitor immediately saw the potential there and from his very first game put the two of them together—with no one else in the way—right at the heart of everything we do. Andre in particular has absolutely thrived, and it’s now pretty clear to see why he was touted as the best number six available in the summer.
Staggeringly, his trajectory was in steep decline under O’Neil. That is borderline inexcusable. Pereira has proven that, by and large, the quality was always there, and like many suggested, this squad should’ve been nowhere near the newly promoted clubs—such was the gulf in class.
But it just goes to show how detrimental poor man management can really be. O’Neil’s affinity to Lemina—if nothing else—indicates an incredibly poor judge of character from the manager, which, beyond all convoluted tactics (which were likely a case of flattering to deceive), was arguably his ultimate Achilles heel.
Forward line: There is no I (or C, or U, or N, or H, or A) in team
Finally, onto the front line, where it might be argued we haven’t necessarily improved under Pereira—in fact, we score less. But it’s important not to get too overly nostalgic about our ‘free-scoring escapades’ under O’Neil.
Take the rose-tinted spectacles away and you will see that a very poor Leicester side, spearheaded by a 38-year-old Jamie Vardy, had only scored 3 fewer than our own distinctly average total of 24, or 1.5 per game. We certainly weren’t setting the world alight with our goalscoring, but it is something we have historically struggled with—so, admittedly, the bar is set quite low.
In that respect, we’re an easily pleased bunch. But over half of these goals (13) came in defeats. They were utterly worthless. Only 11 mattered for anything, such was the scale of our issues at the back (as mentioned earlier, we needed 2-3 goals to stand a chance of getting anything at all and 3-4 goals for a win—totally unsustainable).
Compare this to our much more conservative, strategic, and well-organised approach under Pereira and you will see that we really aren’t sacrificing a great deal in terms of goalscoring; 16 in 13, or 1.23 per game, is our current tally under the Portuguese.
It is also incredibly important to note that 4 of those games have been without Matheus Cunha. A player who carried us under O’Neil is now a player who we have recently, quite comfortably, picked up 4 points in two games without. He is no longer an entity on which our entire future as a Premier League club hinges—a message Pereira has spelt out loud and clear in recent weeks. Nor should he ever have been.
Jorgen Strand Larsen continues to divide opinion, and it was believed Pereira did hold an interest in bringing in some genuine competition for the Norwegian in January. That obviously never happened, but I suspect it probably will in the summer.
To his credit, Strand Larsen stepped up when we needed him most against Southampton, and his clinical finishing ultimately won us the game. But frankly, we haven’t seen enough in his overall game, and criticism isn’t unwarranted. Whether he truly suits Pereira’s system or not is still something subject to debate.
Final reflections: As ever, the brightest of the our future is in the hands of the club's custodians
On the whole, Pereira’s management style goes beyond individuals. Consistency and points on the board without star players like Cunha and Agbadou point to that.
He has us playing as a team, and going forward, this is everything. When a team truly gels, they become greater than the sum of their parts. And from there, magic happens.
Under Pereira, should he get the backing from the board, I genuinely believe this could happen. If it doesn’t, and he’s not backed, the very worst I foresee under this manager is stability.
In that respect, Fosun may well have finally got their wish. But in the face of such a lack of ambition, the only question would be whether, or for how long, Pereira would be willing to guide our ship through a ceaseless torrent of self-sustained storms. For now, the summer awaits.
ARTICLE BY GEORGE LAKIN
George fell in love with Wolves the moment Colin Cameron fizzed one into the bottom corner against Plymouth Argyle on the 31st December 2005- during his first ever Wolves game as a child.
He loves digging a little deeper when it comes to Wolves, often conducting his own research to help him read between the lines and increase his knowledge and understanding of all aspects of our great club. He is keen to share his insight and findings with fans who share in his biggest love, -after his lovely wife, Amy and little boy, Tommy of course!- our mighty Wolverhampton Wanderers!
George is passionate about reaching and uniting all corners of the Wolves family, young and old, near and far. So make sure you don’t miss his weekly column exclusively for Always Wolves this season!