Wolves travelled to Riverside Stadium hoping to carry on where they left off before the international break. Still, they returned home with a defeat and enough questions to fill an entire press conference. Middlesbrough claimed a deserved 1-0 victory thanks to Will Lankshear’s second-half header, while Wolves spent much of the afternoon treating possession like a hot potato. It was one of those performances that leaves supporters wondering whether the team had actually met each other before kick-off. Passes went astray, attacking moves fizzled out before they had properly begun, and Middlesbrough’s goalkeeper could have spent most of the afternoon catching up on his reading.
Wolves eventually found the opposition goal in the final ten minutes, but by then the damage was done. For the majority of the match, the attacking threat was about as convincing as a chocolate teapot. Tommy Conway also had an afternoon to remember at Kieran Trippier’s expense, repeatedly getting the better of the experienced defender. Meanwhile, Adam Armstrong struggled to make an impression up front, and Mané’s performance on the wing raised further questions about whether that position suits him at all. With Lankshear’s header separating the sides, here are the Wolves player ratings from a thoroughly frustrating afternoon on Teesside.
Wolves Player Ratings
José Sa – 7/10
Probably the main reason Wolves did not lose by more. Sá made several important saves and did his best to keep his side in the contest, despite the defence in front of him occasionally looking like it had been assembled five minutes before kick-off. He could do little about Lankshear’s header, and he deserves credit for keeping the score respectable. When your goalkeeper is one of your best performers in a game where you barely threaten the opposition goal, you know things have gone rather well.
Kieran Trippier – 4/10
Tommy Conway had Trippier on toast for much of the afternoon. The Middlesbrough forward repeatedly found ways past the experienced defender, making the contest look less like a Championship fixture and more like an individual training drill. Trippier has plenty of experience, but none of it seemed particularly useful against Conway, who appeared to have identified his favourite route to goal and stuck with it all afternoon.
Nasser Djiga – 5/10
Djiga was booked for fouling Conway near the edge of the box, giving Middlesbrough a dangerous free-kick and Wolves another reason to make life difficult for themselves. He had some decent moments defensively, but the overall performance was hardly convincing. He wasn’t the biggest problem on the pitch, though that was partly because plenty of candidates were competing for the award.
Toti Gomes – 5/10
A mixed afternoon for Toti, who was part of a defence that spent too much time dealing with Middlesbrough attacks. He cannot take all the blame for Lankshear’s goal, but Wolves needed to be sharper when the ball went into the box. Overall, a fairly unremarkable performance in a match that showed none of the fight he showed during the Black Country derby.
Hugo Bueno – 4/10
Bueno struggled to deal with Middlesbrough’s threat and couldn’t prevent Lankshear from finding space at the far post for the winner. Going forward, Wolves needed their full-backs to offer some creativity, but that was apparently asking a bit much on this occasion. Defensively, there were problems; offensively, there was very little. A difficult afternoon all round.
André – 5/10
Wolves desperately needed someone to take control of midfield, but André couldn’t get the team to play with the composure or precision required. Possession kept disappearing, passing moves broke down, and Middlesbrough often regained the ball without having to work particularly hard for it. André was not alone in the midfield struggles, but Wolves need more control from a player in his position.
Marshall Munetsi – 5/10
Munetsi at least got into goalscoring positions, heading twice wide and forcing a save with another effort. Unfortunately, getting close is not the same as scoring, a lesson Wolves have been learning rather too frequently. He offered more of an attacking threat than several teammates, but the finishing was missing when it mattered. If nothing else, he gave the Middlesbrough goalkeeper something to think about.
Tommy Doyle – 5/10
Doyle came close with an effort that drifted narrowly wide, but Wolves needed more creativity and urgency from midfield. Too many passes went nowhere, and the visitors struggled to build attacks that lasted longer than a few seconds. There were flashes of quality, but flashes were all they were. Wolves cannot expect to trouble decent Championship sides by treating every forward pass as an optional extra.
Rodrigo Gomes – 5/10
Gomes’ afternoon ended early with an injury, and Saïd replaced him after the interval. Before going off, he struggled to make a consistent impact. Wolves needed pace, directness and some attacking imagination, but the team as a whole offered very little of any of them. His early departure was unfortunate, although the attacking performance was hardly firing on all cylinders before he left.
Mateus Mané – 3.5/10
Mané struggled to make an impact on the left, offering little of the attacking threat Wolves desperately needed. He failed to consistently beat his man, create chances or give Middlesbrough much to worry about. At times, he looked like a player who had been handed a position and told to work out the rest himself.
A wider question remains whether the wing is the right role for him. Wolves need their wide players to stretch defences, take opponents on and create opportunities, but Mané struggled to provide any of that. On this evidence, the experiment is not exactly screaming success.
Adam Armstrong – 4/10
Armstrong had a chance to capitalise on a loose pass from Vítor Vitek, but it came and went. Beyond that, he struggled to influence proceedings, spending much of the afternoon on the fringes of a team that barely created anything for him. To be fair, strikers need service, and Wolves were hardly supplying it in buckets. However, Armstrong also needs to offer more movement, presence and attacking threat. At the moment, he looks like a player who’s turned up to the wrong party and is waiting for someone to explain why everyone else is playing a different game.
The bigger concern is whether he actually fits this Wolves squad. The connection between striker and team was virtually nonexistent, and if the plan is to rely on Armstrong to lead the line, Wolves need to find a way to get much more out of him.
Substitutes
Rafiki Saïd – 4/10
Saïd came on for the injured Gomes and offered some energy, but the overall attacking performance remained stubbornly unconvincing. He was booked for an apparent dive, which hardly helped matters. Wolves needed someone to inject urgency into the game, but nothing really changed. He cannot be blamed for the entire performance, although he did little to change it.
Fer López – 4.5/10
López was introduced as Wolves searched for an equaliser and managed an effort that went wide. He joined a late push that finally forced Middlesbrough to pay attention, but the improvement came frustratingly late. Wolves spent so long failing to create anything that the final ten minutes almost felt like watching a completely different team arrive for the match.
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde – 5/10
Bellegarde came on to bring fresh energy and creativity, but Wolves still struggled to find a way through. He couldn’t produce the moment of quality needed to rescue a point. The intention was there, and he played on the wing, through the middle, and at the back over the course of his appearance, but he couldn’t find a way to get Wolves back into the game.
Jordan James – 4/10
James came on in midfield as Wolves tried to turn the game around. He helped freshen things up but could not transform a team that had spent much of the afternoon struggling to string meaningful attacks together. He had little time to make a decisive impact, and Wolves’ problems were already well established by the time he entered the pitch.
Sean Neave – 4.5/10
Introduced far too late, Neave had little time to influence the result. It is difficult to judge a substitute on such a brief appearance, particularly when the team around him was still trying to work out how to create a clear chance.
Wolves will be disappointed with the result, but the performance was arguably even more concerning. Middlesbrough were the more dangerous side for much of the afternoon, while Wolves struggled to keep possession, create opportunities and put Vítor Vitek under sustained pressure. Questions remain about individual roles. Armstrong struggled to make himself relevant up front, while Mané offered little evidence that the wing is his most effective position. Neither player should be written off after one performance, but Wolves need more from both if they are to improve.
Ultimately, Wolves cannot keep relying on a late flurry to disguise an afternoon of uninspired football. They need to move the ball with greater purpose, create chances more consistently and make better use of the players they have. Otherwise, supporters will be left watching the same frustrating performance on repeat, and they have already suffered through this episode once. Middlesbrough took their opportunity when it arrived. Wolves, by contrast, spent most of the afternoon looking for one. On this evidence, the Old Gold have plenty of work to do.
