Never would I have thought that I would wake up in the morning to watch Wolves play a promoted team, without a glimmer of hope that we would win. Yet that’s how it felt today. 16 minutes in, my feelings were confirmed. I’m not sure there was a minute of that match I thought we might scrape away a point, and feeling like that eight matches in to the season is concerning to say the least. With that being said, we’re barely a fifth of the way into the season. So maybe there are some positives…
Two Positives
It wasn’t an easy task, but I think I was able to find a few positives. Overall, nobody will argue that Wolves did not have a good showing on the pitch today. However, I do believe the second half showed just that tiny bit of energy and hope we would need to survive. Shots were 13(3)-1(0) in favor of Wolves. 68-32 in terms of possession. The pitch did feel tilted towards Sunderland’s side, but they just couldn’t find the goal that was needed. I strongly feel that Wolves have the players and personnel to win matches in the Premier League, even if it isn’t coming together right now. They just need to put it together.
There is still time to put it together. Fortunately, the Premier League isn’t allowed to relegate a team eight matches into the season, or else we would be in big trouble. 30 is a big number of matches left to play, and with a season that has already shown a lot of variance at the bottom, it is still more than realistic for Wolves to survive. But some major things need to change…
Two Negatives
Tactics. What are they? I thought I used to know, but I am now wondering if they still exist. Do we have a formation? Would Vitor be able to tell me what formation we are running? Do we have bad set piece takers, or are we being told to waste every free kick and corner we have? This squad has no harmony, no rhyme or reason to where anybody on the field is located. When some teams play like this, they usually have a couple of creative players who can make something out of nothing to create chances. I’ve watched ten matches this season and I’m still not sure I’ve seen a single run that didn’t end with a backward pass or the ball going out. Vitor has to change something immediately, or somebody else needs to make that decision for him.
A few weeks ago I was able to write our player ratings, and I questioned why Vitor was given the contract at the time it was given. Here we are, with every fan wondering the same thing. He’s shown that he can win games, but how much longer can we simply wait for that to happen when survival is at stake? Two matches in a row lost by idiotic substitutions, and Wolves are stuck at the bottom with two points from eight. Will Shi bite the money lost by sacking him, or are we just going to pray we have a saving January window, same as every other year?
Overall, this club has no direction. I’m nearly 5,000 miles away, and I can see that there’s no direction in the squad, no direction in the higher ups, but hey, there’s a new coat of paint on a beat up stand! Major things need to change if there’s any hope of going back a few years to a team with young and European potential. And that change needs to happen now.
