Wolves blog: Great to be back in the Premier League

The buzz before the game against Everton was palpable. Watching the Leicester v Man Utd and Newcastle v Spurs games on TV meant so much more than it normally would – these are now our league rivals.

The atmosphere at the match was spine-tingling. A cacophony of gold shirts and a vociferous atmosphere wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Bundesliga match.

And watching it back afterwards, Molineux looked superb on television from both outside and in. It looms over the pitch, which also looks expansive on screen.

It felt like a huge game, and Wolves probably couldn’t have asked for a better first match. A tough test against a top-half team in front of our own fans is a great place to start.

It was a week of a few firsts. Firstly a Chinese band released a single called ‘Wolves Ay We’, and then Willy Boly had a relatively poor performance for the first time.

You could probably say it was Willy Boly’s worst game in a Wolves shirt – not as bad as it sounds as he has been fantastic in virtually every match he’s played for Wolves so far. He certainly has the physical and technical ability to succeed at this level and hopefully this game will be a wake-up call. All through the team, lots of lessons will have been learned.

There was lots of potential and glimpses of Wolves’ quality, but we looked nervous. There were more misplaced passes than Wolves’ usually imperial ball retention – though they did end the game with a 57 per cent possession rate.

The wing-backs were stifled by Everton and a fear of being caught on the break, meaning they didn’t offer as much of an attacking threat as usual. We did attempt to play our way of football, but Everton were of a much higher quality than any team Wolves faced in the league last season. When passing it around the back, Wolves went one further step backwards and used Rui Patricio a lot more than they ever did with John Ruddy.

Of all the defenders in the team, who would have thought that Ryan Bennett would have performed the best. It seemed in pre-season he would be replaced with Romain Saiss – and he may yet be replaced with Leander Dendoncker, but he has put his hat into the ring with a solid defensive showing.

With Ivan Cavaleiro’s injury and the absence of new signings Dendoncker and Adama Traore, our bench was left looking a little weak – it didn’t feel as though the game changer would come from there. Once everyone is fit and raring to go and we have settled into the league, we will be a threat to any team we face.

Leicester City will be another tough match and have a well-gelled team. We shouldn’t be devastated if Wolves were to lose, as an opening of Everton, Leicester and Man City is a tough run.

But if this is what we are getting from the Premier League, I can’t wait for the next one!