The scoreline gave Wolves some undeserved justice, to be honest. After dominating the first 15 minutes, Matt Doherty conceded a clumsy penalty, which gave Cole Palmer the first of his two penalty goals, and the first of his first half hat-trick. From that point onwards, Wolves capitulated, with Yerson Mosquera conceding another stupid penalty, and Palmer putting away a well worked goal before half time. The refereeing was also notably shocking, which continued into the second half: it really was a classic Jarred Gillett vs Wolves performance.
The second half was uninspiring for both teams. Tolu pulled one back from a corner in the early stages and so followed a typically uncreative period of Wolves possession: the only memorable effort was Mateus Mane’s shot from outside the box that struck the woodwork. The end of the second half saw some of the worst playing out from the back of Wolves centre backs that I’ve ever seen, epitomising both the match and Wolves’ season: full of mistakes.
With that in mind, here are my player ratings.
Jose Sa – 5/10
Sent the wrong way for both penalties, Sa didn’t cover himself in glory. However, he made a few decent saves throughout when the Wolves defence switched off time and time again.
Matt Doherty – 3/10
Although it was a bit soft, Doherty gave away the first penalty for no reason and struggled to keep up with the game. More of a fault of the system than his performance – it surprises me that Edwards really thought that he would hold up in a back four against Chelsea. He was rightly hooked at half time.
Yerson Mosquera – 4/10
Again, the penalty he gave away was utter stupidity and cost us the game. However, he played better in the second half, token to the fact that he plays better in a back five as he has the freedom to venture forward. There are many lessons that Edwards can learn from with this performance.
Santiago Bueno – 4.5/10
There was dodgy defending throughout the backline, to be honest.
Hugo Bueno – 5.5/10
Once again, Hugo was the best out of the defence. He did well to hold Neto to a relatively quiet game and had the engine to keep getting forward.
Joao Gomes – 5/10
Again, the set up didn’t help, but the midfield was consistently overrun in the first half. Joao did okay, getting around the pitch as per usual.
Angel Gomes – 7.5/10
The man of the match for Wolves by some distance. Angel showed Wolves fans what they’ve been missing since Neves’ departure, playing countless long balls that gave the Chelsea defence something to think about. Despite his small stature, he battled well and as mentioned with Joao Gomes, it’s not his fault that Wolves were overrun in midfield.
Mateus Mane – 6/10
Mane did incredibly well to last the full 90 once again. He struck the post with a decent effort and did okay for the rest of the game.
Hwang Hee-Chan – 1/10
He literally did nothing right. He went off injured, to cheers, before the end of the first half, summing up the feelings that the Wolves fans have had towards him for some time. Again, playing him on the right was a weird decision from Edwards, but there cannot be excuses for his terrible performances week in week out.
Adam Armstrong – 5.5/10
Unfortunately, Armstrong spent most of the game chasing shadows as nobody could pick out his runs in-between the channels, and thus he rarely touched the ball. However, his inch-perfect flick on from the corner gave Tolu the assist for the goal, a sign of his smart play that Wolves will hopefully see more of in the future.
Tolu Arokodare – 5.5/10
His hold up play wasn’t as good as it has been previously, however, he took his goal well, which is at least something, considering the sitter that he missed last week.
Subs:
Ladislav Krejci – 5.5/10
Well, Wolves didn’t concede once he was subbed on for the injured Hwang to form a back five.
Rodrigo Gomes – 6.5/10
He did much better than Doherty, getting forward and putting a few crosses in and doing a decent job defensively.
