Wolves fall 3-2 to Burnley in stoppage time. Here are 5 hard truths from Ben Whitehouse
1. Dire yet again…
Wolves are in a paradoxical position, trapped within an endless cycle of shocking performances and the resigning predictability of poor results. Week after week, we have the false hope of this being the fabled weekend which will turn the tide of the season and get us up and running, followed by yet another defeat – this week in more harrowing fashion than most.
I personally feel I’ve become numb to how incompetent the side is proving themselves; I usually veer on the side of optimism surrounding Wolves but even I have found myself accepting that the outcome will be detrimental to my weekend even before a ball is kicked.
There seems very little to galvanise the fans – under O’Neil, at least we were performing fairly well and were being punished by high quality teams (initially anyway), yet now, we are defending like a non-League side and attacking like a League Two side against Championship level teams like Burnley. If there is anything we have become incredibly adept at, it is making very average sides look like prime Barcelona and giving their fans something to cheer about.
2. Lack of quality
The most striking thing about the performances of late for me has not been a lack of trying or even a flawed system Pereira is attempting to instil – it is purely that the squad does not have enough individual quality to excel at this level.
I cannot fault the effort levels, all the lads look like they are giving all they can, most notably players such as Andre, Joao Gomes, Munetsi and Rodrigo Gomes, but when it comes down to needing that final pass, finish or bit of quality to get us over the final hurdle and provide some inspiration, the ball goes awry or they concede an amateur level goal.
The amount of times momentum is lost due to a loose pass going slightly behind someone, or two players not being on the same wavelength, so passing the ball straight out of play, is absolutely staggering and symptomatic of a side who cannot survive in the Premier League.
In previous incarnations of Wolves sides, we have always had at least one player to look to who could bring the level of the team up single-handedly, be it by scoring a wonder goal like Cunha, dribbling past 5 players like Neto or Adama, or playing a defence-splitting pass like Neves.
However, in this side, we have no one to look to in an hour of need, especially in an attacking sense – Strand-Larsen is the closest thing we have to that, but creatively, he needs someone else to provide for him, a hope we were hanging on Arias who has been disappointing so far.
3. How much longer?
This season appears to be the culmination of the last few years of stagnation and deceleration from the Wolves.
We are all too familiar with the cycle of a typical Wolves season since the sacking of Nuno: new manager comes in with encouraging performances for the fans to get behind and a run of good form to keep us safe from relegation; abysmal final few weeks of the season and a finish around 13th – 16th; sell the player of the season for big money and spend the money on 3 or 4 squad players; perform dreadfully for the first half of the season; squad morale and relationship with the fans goes out the window; sack the manager; start again!
This has been the story of the past 3 or 4 seasons for Wolves and we are yet again stuck in this cycle now. Whilst the whole ‘sell one player for big money to improve the good of the team’ idea is theoretically a good idea, but is so heavily reliant on substantive investments and the production/recruitment of new superstar-level players.
We have been through this process so many times that we have now ended up with a squad full of relatively good players but no standout stars – just a distinctively average side. The question was always boiling down to how long this process could repeat itself for before the club was properly damaged by it, and we seem to have finally got our answer.
4. Whose fault is it?
As I have already delineated, I do not lay the blame with the players, who I am actually starting to feel sorry for – they seem so out of their depth, especially as largely foreign players who have jumped at the opportunity to play in the Premier League who are being asked more of them than they can muster.
Pereira cannot also be solely to blame as well, he is trying different systems and attempting to get the best out of the squad. From where I’m standing, and for many of the fans, the blame lays at the feet of the owners.
Ever since the pandemic and sacking of Nuno, underinvestment and a profit-oriented attitude as opposed to a football-focussed one has led us to this position – they have become so detached from the fanbase and view the club solely as a business model as opposed to what it truly is: a club which so many throughout the city, country and world look to for solace, community, comfort, friendship and memories. Some of my most treasured moments are those with my family, especially my Dad and Grandad going to matches. Being from Kent, it often felt like a pilgrimage, travelling for hours to reach the hallowed place where I was finally surrounded by people with the same passion and love for the club I had, even being from opposite ends of the country. My first match was on my 6th birthday in 2013, a 0-0 draw against Brentford (scintillating I know…), soon followed by lifting the League One Trophy after a 3-0 win against Carlisle. These are times I will never forget and that I was lucky enough to share with people I love and who are no longer here with me to make new memories with. This is not an attempt to lament on some emotional sob story, but to point out what is the reality for so many fans with the club being a thing that unites generations and defines families, something which these owners are failing to recognise.
Nowadays, I still make the journey up, but solely because I want to support the club in sickness and in health, not because I think we are going to have any good fortunes and safe in the knowledge that, rather than creating some great new memories, they would be matches I’d rather forget.
Failure from the owners to see the club for what it is, and neglecting it to the situation it is in now merely to line their pockets further, is awfully disappointing from the same owners who gave such elation in it’s first few years before seemingly growing weary of their latest money-making experiment.
5. What can be done?
All that can be done, presuming Pereira doesn’t get sacked immediately, is for the fans to continue trying to rally behind the players and to hope that a change in fortunes comes soon and before it’s too late.
Sadly though, without it being an issue of effort or flawed tactical systems, there is very little that can be done except for support the club no matter what. And anyway, it can’t go on like this, can it…?
ARTICLE BY BEN WHITEHOUSE
I’ve been a fan of Wolves all my life, based in the South-East, making for some fairly awkward school football conversations trying to argue that Kevin McDonald was better than Bruno Fernandes with the endless supply of Big 6 fans around here, just for the fun of it! Hoping to offer a insightful view into the performances, transfers, decisions and everything else our beloved Wanderers throw at us, good, bad and ugly (but preferably good!)