Wolves vs Girona Match Report: Positives and Problems in 2-1 Loss

Following a disappointing result and performance against Lens at the Bescot the squad flys out to Northern Spain and Girona for the penultimate pre season game at the Estadi Montilivi. City Group owned Girona placed 16th in last season’s La Liga and will be looking to improve on that as they enter this season. 

 

Set to be at a similar place in their preparations as they prepare to open the La Liga campaign against Rayo Vallecano on the 15th of August. The first of two Spanish sides to test Vitor’s men with 7th placed finishers Celta Vigo to come to Molineux in just under a week to round off the pre-season matches. 

 

Immediate transfer news as the matchday squad was announced, Goncalo Guedes is excluded as it seems his transfer to Real Sociedad is moving closer to completion. In the squad (and on the bench) for the first time during this season’s preparations are Mosquera and new signing Columbian international Jhon Arias. New signing David Moller Wolfe is not with the side in Spain and will join up as they return to Wolverhampton during the upcoming week.

 

Sa, Hoever, S. Bueno, Agbadou, Toti, R.Gomes, Andre, J. Gomes, Munetsi, Lopez and Strand Larsen. 

 

Bentley, Johnstone, Doherty, H. Bueno, Arias, Hwang, Mosquera, Kalajdzic, Chirewa, Bellegarde, Lima.

 

With both Toti and Doherty playing the full 90 minutes against Lens it is to be expected Toti does not complete this today. 

As the nomination of Wolves captain remains outstanding, as Matt Doherty starts on the bench the captain for this match is goalkeeper Jose Sa. 

 

The sides kick off at 8pm local time and in 26 degree heat which will be another challenge for the Wolves side, the visitors started brightly in the opening moments with a high press forcing an error for Rodrigo Gomes to win the ball high up, Strand Larsen’s effort only to end up tamely in the Girona keeper’s hands.

 

Wolves dominated much of the opening 10 minutes without managing to create a clear cut opportunity often winning the ball back high up the pitch thanks to hard work by Munetsi and Strand Larsen rushing the defenders, meanwhile there were a couple of shaky moments at the other end where Agbadou was caught out with a couple of sloppy moments, a running theme so far during this pre season. 

 

In the 13th minute experienced Romanian international Stuani thought he had put the hosts ahead with a good one on one effort against Jose Sa finding the back of the net only for his goal to be ruled out correctly due to offside. 

 

Dominating much of the ball for the opening 30 minutes until a cooling break without creating many opportunities. Wolves players displayed nice touches and interchanges between all the front-facing players without endangering the Girona back line. Frequently involved in attacking moments during this time was Hoever who was found in lots of space on the right flank as he bombed up the wing on multiple occasions throughout the half, unfortunately for him almost all deliveries into the box to be blocked out by the Girona back line. A similar story on the other flank with Rodrigo Gomes however he often was found to cut in and then run out of options so ended up coming back enabling the hosts to put men behind the ball. A great opportunity for an overload presented itself when Rodrigo Gomes was screaming from the ball free on the left side of the box only for Fer Lopez switch to be cut out by the Spanish side’s backline. 

 

Following the pause for the players to take on fluids, Girona came very close to opening the lead after Andre conceded a set play while he attempted to recover from an error as he made a sloppy pass. The ball was drilled in low from the Girona right and ended up being blocked by Larsen, Munetsi and Hoever before Agbadou scrambled the ball away. 

 

The rest of the half after the cooling break was a lot of nothing as neither team could break through. Girona looked more likely as the half went on to break the deadlock with many crosses into dangerous positions cleared by the Wolves backline.

 

If goals are what Vitor is after, that half offered about as far away as you can get from goalmouth action, a game where wingbacks can’t cross in the air. That said, Wolves displayed the most dominant performance in any of their pre-season offerings to date. 

Opening the second half one change for Wolves with Sam Johnstone replacing Jose Sa and the captain’s armband being passed onto Toti. 

 

The breakthrough was found only five minutes into the second half when a cross from the right centre of the pitch found Yangel Herrera five yards out to tap home. The move should have been stopped at source moments before when Johnstone opted to punch away instead of making an easy catch. Nevertheless Wolves still have to defend as Santi Bueno was beaten to the ball by the attacker, he should have been stronger to prevent the forward reaching the cross. 1-0 to the hosts, moments later Girona almost made it 2-0 as this time a cross from the left flank found a man on the edge of the box for his effort to be saved down low by Johnstone. 

 

Shortly after in the 56th minute Girona did make it 2-0 via Joel Roca, who found the top corner with a stunning strike cutting inside past Hoever who didn’t close the ball down and his strike curled around an oncoming Santi Bueno into the net. Similarly to the first goal moments later Girona could have added to their lead as this time a cross from the right found the Girona striker only for a bad touch to take it away from him. 

 

Girona continued to press with opportunities spurned from a central free kick and subsequent corner, Wolves were struggling to hold the ball and get out both issues not found in the opening half. 

 

After domination of the first part of the second half from the hosts it was time for changes. Going off the pitch for Wolves was Santi Bueno, Toti, Lopez, Munetsi and Rodrigo Gomes replacing them was Mosquera, Doherty (who took over the captains armband), Hugo Bueno, Bellegarde and a first appearance for new signing Jhon Arias.

 

A great opportunity finally fell for Wolves and Strand Larsen who found his effort at point blank range saved by Gazzaniga, high pressure from John Arias pushed a loose ball to Larsen’s feet. The resulting corner presented a brilliant opportunity to Mosquera who saw his header saved. Finally something being shown from the visiting side. This short period of pressure ended as the second half cooling break began. 

 

After the pause, Wolves immediately responded, pulling the score back to 2-1. Joao Gomes tiptoed past a couple of players and slotted in Arias who couldn’t miss from close range firing into the top corner over the oncoming goalkeeper. Wolves continued to push the ball up the pitch and another opportunity presented itself to Larsen with Hugo Bueno doing well to cut the ball back only for Larsen to find a Girona shirt. Immediately after this opportunity, more substitutions were made by Wolves leaving the field Hoever, Andre and Larsen to be replaced by Lima, Hwang and Kalajdzic. 

 

Two minutes from time Hugo Bueno found himself open on the left side of the box, found by Joao Gomes only for his effort to be blasted wide. Wolves showed a lot more after the changes had been made and potentially could have found the leveller. It was not to be and Girona win the Costa Brava Trophy with a 2-1 victory. The winning goal from Roca was worthy to win any match, a touch of class rarely seen throughout the ninety minutes. 

With the exception of the15 minute horror period after the break this was Wolves best show in the pre-season games so far, that probably is damning enough. Wolves dominated the first half without creating much but equally rarely looking in danger. The last quarter of the game we dominated, scoring a well worked goal and creating a couple of other opportunities. These are the positives Vitor will be looking towards to embed into the team as new signings join the fray. 

 

The positives aside another game has passed conceding more than one goal and issues are clear to see across the side, neither Hoever or Rodrigo Gomes really staked a claim at wing back, a clear issue in the squad. The fact Joao Gomes and Agbadou this time both played the full ninety minutes two weeks out from the season does enough to display the lack of depth in these positions. The lack of chances we created in the first half when having such high possession is a worry. An evening which presents more questions and another week begging for more players before the first game against City, that said tonight’s performance you could see some improvement from Lens in midweek and this is what these matches are all about. 

 

Wolves focus now moves to the final pre-season game as we host Strand Larsen and Fer Lopez’s former club Celta Vigo at Molineux where I would hope to see more of Jhon Arias as he clearly showed quality since entering the pitch, for 65 minutes a real challenge for Wolves creating opportunities.