The Tim Spiers debrief – Leicester 2 Wolves 0
Wolves suffered their first Premier League defeat when going down 2-0 to Leicester City.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s team hit the woodwork three times – and went down to an own goal and a deflection.
How’s your luck?
Yes, Wolves made a few mistakes; yes, they should have scored when they were on top; and yes, they can only blame themselves for losing this game.
But come on, this was bad luck in the extreme.
Hitting the woodwork once is unlucky. Twice? That’s black cat levels. Three times – and Leicester’s two strikes come from an own goal and a deflection? Wolves must have smashed the mirrors in the King Power dressing rooms, walked under 25 ladders and been despot medieval tyrants in previous incarnations.
You can point to mistakes, tactical flaws, defensive naivety and a couple of poor individual performances all you like, the fact is that Wolves were damned unlucky not to win this football match, let alone not even earn a point.
It doesn’t make it any easier for the 3,000 travelling fans to take, but sometimes you’ve just got to hold your hands up and say that Lady Luck wasn’t on your side.
They took the game to the Foxes, who didn’t know how to cope with their pace and mobility in the early stages when Wolves regularly got joy in the final third. Overall it was a good performance.
They were punished for a slack period 15 minutes before half-time. Diogo Jota gave the ball away twice and Wolves didn’t close Marc Albrighton (who crossed for the first goal) and James Maddison (who scored the second) down quickly enough.
But Nuno’s team will play worse than this and win this season.
Welcome to the Premier League
What Saturday also showed, as if Wolves needed evidence, is the Premier League is a world away from the Championship.
Wolves got so many things right in terms of controlling play for long spells, building from the back and causing havoc in the opposition third.
Yet they – through a mixture of misfortune and profligacy, chiefly Doherty’s miss – failed to score when they were on top.
This allowed Leicester the opportunity to regroup and once they got their noses in front they rarely looked like relinquishing control.
Leicester are streetwise (as Everton were last week) and they calmly and professionally saw the game out. The Foxes proved that Wolves need to be more cunning.
As Ryan Bennett said on the eve of this game, there’s absolutely no hiding place in the top flight.
And with Manchester City (h) and West Ham (a) next up, there’s a possibility Wolves will head into the international break with just a solitary point to their name.
It’s ruthless, but this is the reality Wolves find themselves in.
Time to wise up.
Plan B
Nuno didn’t seem to have an obvious plan B last season. On the rare occasions he changed formation (usually through necessity rather than design) Wolves looked poorer for it.
Well now he does have a plan B – give the ball to Adama Traore.
With his truly phenomenal pace (or his ‘velocity’ as Traore put it in his post-match interview), balance and power, he is a true defender’s nightmare.
Marc Albrighton and Jonny Evans will be mighty pleased they don’t have to be embarrassed by Traore until the return fixture on January 19. He made fools of them and others by racing past them with the most nonchalant ease.
Traore is an express train in a hurry – and gives Wolves something completely different.
Yes, his end product was occasionally frustrating, but he also set up four chances in total (two for Bonatini, one for Jimenez and another for Gibbs-White) and completed seven successful dribbles – more than some entire Premier League teams managed at the weekend.
Traore looks like being Wolves’ not-so-secret weapon (you can’t miss those biceps, let alone the hair) and will surely start against Manchester City next weekend after the below-par performances from Diogo Jota and Helder Costa (for the second week running neither player did himself justice and Jota gave the ball away in the lead-up to both Leicester goals).
For those Wolves fans who weren’t at the King Power, prepare to be dazzled.
It must be said that while Traore’s substitution was a success, the move to send Leo Bonatini on and move the effective Raul Jimenez out wide didn’t work. Jimenez became less effective and Bonatini still hasn’t found his shooting boots.
What’s up, Doc?
While Traore enjoyed his afternoon, Matt Doherty certainly didn’t.
After missing a sitter in the fourth minute, Doherty unluckily scored an own goal and then was lucky not to break a bone when Jamie Vardy went all Bruce Lee on his leg.
The Irishman was the target of plenty of stick on social media, with many calling for him to be dropped.
Depressingly there’s always got to be a scapegoat, but directing anger towards Doherty is misplaced.
For a start there isn’t a back-up right-wing-back in the squad. Ruben Vinagre wasn’t defensively ready for the Championship last year, let alone the Premier League, so moving the effective Jonny Castro Otto to the right and introducing the Portuguese youngster makes little sense.
Doherty was third in the player-of-the-year voting last season (ahead of Jota, Boly, Douglas and more). Fans have short memories and while Doherty wasn’t at his best on Saturday, he deserves time to show he can make the step up. Which this correspondent has every faith in him doing.
Perspective
After one defeat – away to a team that finished ninth last season and contains a number of players who won the league a couple of years ago – there really is nothing to be alarmed about.
Fulham have lost both their games, Cardiff have just one point and haven't scored a goal. It takes time to adjust to playing in the best league in the world.
In the long term, Wolves’ quality should shine through. But a recalibration of lofty expectations for the season ahead is no bad thing either.
Final Word
Star man: Adama Traore
The boss: Needs to be his ruthless best now. Got one sub right and one wrong.
Fans: Never stopped
Magic moment: Traore leaving Albrighton for dead
In a word: Unlucky
Picture perfect:
