CRAIG HICKEY REPORTS ON WOLVES 1-1 DRAW WITH EVERTON AND A HARD EARNED POINT
The line up: Sa, Doherty, Semedo, Agbadou, Toti, Ait Nouri, Andre, J Gomes, Bellegarde, Munetsi, Larsen.
A solid start from us, as we look so much more composed at the back, Agbadou has been missed and he settles back in alongside Doherty and Toti as if he’s never been away. A few forays forward end with a deep cross from Ait Nouri which evades Semedo at the back post. Everton start to get more of the ball but a misplaced pass from Joao Gomes causes us to back track, multiple blocks lead to a corner which is cleared for another. The next corner causes issues but Sa is quick to pounce on it, that looked worrying for a minute. We settle into our game with more possession and battle our way in the midfield, Andre and Joao Gomes are dominating the middle of the park. Andre is having a fantastic game, belying his call up to the national squad with his tigerish and energetic performance. Everton players are falling all over the place every time they are touched, the referee is falling for it every time, he forgotten his cards for their persistent fouling, especially for Everton’s Gueye.
A long low pass into midfield ball from Agbadou is intercepted and Everton play it wide to Harrison who advances and hits a deflected left foot drive into the far corner. Wolves 0-1 Everton. Its against the run of play but we need to take our chances and this Everton defence do look vulnerable when on the back foot.
A lovely pirouette by Joao Gomes, gets him away from the centre of the park, his pass to Bellegarde is perfect and Jean Ricner curls a shot just wide. Sublime for Joao Gomes, Bellegarde is a revelation in that midfield. A brilliant cross field ball from Andre is just too far for Semedo to head but he gets a corner after clipping the ball against the defender. The resulting corner finds Munetsi at the far post, his header is blocked and the following shot goes into the side netting.
Wolves play some lovely first time passes to get Bellegarde into the area, his slide rule pass to Munetsi is finished off with a sliding 6 yard finish past Pickford into the bottom left hand corner, cue the raucous celebrations. Its been coming from Munetsi, I always maintained he would get his goal as he is always breaking into the area and getting chances. We go into half time all square.
Half Time:Wolves 1-1 Everton
Wolves emerge first for the second half, with Everton making us wait for their arrival. Munetsi doesn’t appear for the restart, with Sarabia replacing him. A robust challenge in the early part of the game may have caused a back issue.
It’s a positive start; we are on the front foot, fully awake and taking the game to Everton. Jorgen Strand Larsen is playing better in this half; his deft flicks are causing issues, allowing us to play in tight spaces. A Sarabia run and pass gets Joao Gomes close to the edge of the box, and he wins a free kick. Sarabia hits a brilliant free kick, just wide for a moment. Andre gets a yellow for dissent after a debatable free kick; we thought it was in.
Wolves are pressing now; Sarabia is having a big influence on this game, linking up well with Semedo and Joao Gomes. An Andre through ball just evades Larsen; he would have been in on goal, but there was just a little too much on the pass. Larsen gets himself a yellow card for nipping at Tarkowski two or three times. The Everton defender squares up to Jorgen, who seems to laugh at him—that’s the calm side we need from our players.
We are playing with good intensity now, and this is reflected by the crowd after 70 minutes. The noise is deafening at times, with everyone in the stadium singing “Vitor Pereira’s Barmy Army.” It was pretty relentless for 10 minutes, and this seemed to spur the players on. We are taking the game by the scruff of the neck; Andre is like a magician in midfield, breaking up play, tackling, spraying balls around and waltzing his way to man of the match, in my opinion.
A rare misplaced ball by us is very nearly punished as Everton break two on two. Sa closes down the space on the left side and makes a great save. He has been excellent today, commanding his box and being in the right place each time. A Bellegarde flick into the path of Larsen allows him to get a shot across goal, and it’s saved by Pickford.
That will be Larsen’s last contribution in a much-improved showing by the Norwegian. He’s held the ball up well in the second half and brought others into the game. He’s replaced by Hwang. Andre is in the right place at the right time to cover for his defence, and he is replaced along with Bellegarde; both players have been great today, especially Andre. Guedes and Doyle are their replacements.
The last five minutes pass with us having lots of the ball but no end product. A foul on Guedes is not given by the referee; Everton break, but Toti is back to block, and the resulting shot is straight at Sa. We get a few more opportunities to strike on goal; a lovely curling shot from Sarabia is just wide, and Ait Nouri uses his dancing feet to bemuse the Everton defence, but his effort is blocked and cleared.
There’s one heart-stopping moment for us though in added time—a corner is clipped to the back post, and a looping ball seems to be drifting over the bar. It is left by Sa for a second, but he changes his mind and attempts to flick it over the bar, but it nearly drops into the net. He scoops it towards the post and gathers unchallenged. Phew.
And there it is, the final whistle goes, and it’s a well-deserved point for us. Could we have won it? Could we have lost it? It’s a fair result and puts us six points clear of the bottom three.
Full time: Wolves 1 – 1 Everton
Today was an opportunity to put daylight between us and the rest. We didn’t struggle without our talisman, Matheus Cunha, and that is a positive. Vitor Pereira had the solutions; the team played with intensity, determination, ideas and quality. You can see where he wants to go with his tactics, and we can adapt with the quality we have.
The next game against Southampton needs to have that same belief; they are poor, but we mustn’t be too complacent. Three points is a must. Well done to the players today; refresh and go again on the South Coast next week.
ARTICLE BY CRAIG HICKEY
A 53 year old season ticket holder in the Steve Bull stand. Go along with my two young lads who love the Wolves and so far, the positive times. Long may it continue.