There wasn’t much to dislike about that performance, was there? Despite falling behind early to a spectacular strike from Sam Gallagher, Wolves responded in emphatic fashion, slotting four past Stoke City and continuing César Peixoto’s unbeaten start with a win where Wolves hardly had to leave first gear.
Rodrigo Gomes will deservedly grab the headlines with his poacher’s brace, but it was a very complete performance across the whole team which leaves the Old Gold and Black going into Tuesday’s clash with West Ham full of confidence.
The Good
Nasser Djiga’s performance
One of the biggest worries going into this season was the Wolves defence, particularly the centre back department. With question marks surrounding the futures of Krejci and Bueno, not to mention the recent injury to Mosquera, it is an area of weakness within the squad. With that being said, the introduction of Nasser Djiga into the starting XI will surely provide a bit of optimism amongst the Molineux faithful.
The Burkina Faso international has looked solid in his recent appearances, and it was no different today. He was superb alongside Toti this afternoon, hardly putting a foot wrong and cleaning up absolutely everything that came his way. What impresses me most is how composed he looks in possession. He isn’t afraid to have the ball at his feet, and Peixoto will be delighted to have such a confident passer of the ball at the heart of the backline.
He’s made a great impact since coming in and, at such a young age, he will only improve. For me, it’s his spot to lose.
Four goals!!
It really is a breath of fresh air seeing Wolves attack so well. After a horrendous season where goalscoring was a real struggle, with our top scorers finishing the campaign on just three goals, it is a delight to see us really threatening teams again and looking genuinely dangerous going forward.
The high press is working wonders, while Fer López has been a revelation since coming into midfield, dictating play and constantly looking forward and trying to create something. What’s most satisfying is that the goals are being spread across the team. We have goal threats throughout the XI, and I was especially pleased to see Jordan James grab his first goal in Wolves colours with a tidy finish into the bottom corner late on.
A bit of competition out wide will do us some good, with Mateus Mané looking slightly off the pace so far, but the future looks bright for this Wolves side. Molineux is feeling like a much happier place again!
The Bad
Small question marks defensively…
Look, I had to find something to moan about.
We still had a couple of moments today where I thought we could have done better, although admittedly, a lot of the opportunities we are conceding are simply part of the nature of the system César Peixoto has us playing. The first goal was pretty much unstoppable, but we almost found ourselves two down when José Sá spilled a shot straight into the path of an unmarked Sorba Thomas, who unbelievably lashed his effort wide.
Against higher quality opposition, we may well have been punished for the few lapses of concentration we had today. Despite this, I am sure as time goes on we will iron these mistakes out of our game.
It wasn’t five…
I’m really clutching at straws now. Wolves were 4-1 winners, played some great football and looked dangerous throughout the 90 minutes. There really isn’t much to complain about other than the fact it wasn’t five!
We had chances to add to our tally and, on another day, we could have ended the game with an even more emphatic scoreline. That’s really about as far as I can stretch the negativity today.
Wolves look great, we’re top of the league as of writing, now let’s see what the end of the transfer window has in store for us!
