Tim Spiers debrief – Wolves 2 Cardiff 0

It was an impressive return to winning ways after the defeat at Huddersfield in midweek.

Bouncing back

It also belied Wolves’ struggles against sides from the lower end of the Premier League.

They had only beaten one team from the league’s bottom five – and even that was a struggle, against Southampton.

Two defeats to Huddersfield, losses at Cardiff and Brighton and a point at struggling Fulham have been in stark contrast to their form against the top six, particularly in terms of performances.

With a trip to Chelsea this weekend and then the small matter of an FA Cup quarter-final against Manchester United, it was important to quickly bounce back from that desperately poor display at the John Smith’s Stadium.

Bold

The fact they did so was mostly down to a bold and ingenious team selection from Nuno Espirito Santo.

To drop Joao Moutinho and Matt Doherty, arguably two of their top three performers this season along with Raul Jimenez, took some serious guts.

To bring in Ruben Vinagre for just his second league start since November, to call on John Ruddy for his first league action since last April and to play Adama Traore at right wing-back, a position he’s never featured in for Wolves before, was courageous.

Every decision worked.

In enlisting Romain Saiss and Leander Dendoncker in midfield, he quelled Cardiff’s physical threat. Between them the pair won nine tackles and 15 headers.

For all Neves and Moutinho’s beauty, artistry and creativity, this game called for roll-your-sleeves-up brawn and in Saiss and Dendoncker Wolves have two players who relish that physical battle.

The team selection also continued a trend of Nuno changing tack against Neil Warnock’s Bluebirds.

For the unofficial Championship title-decider in April 2017 he played Benik Afobe as a right wing forward, while at the Cardiff City Stadium earlier this season he went with Traore up front and Jimenez on the right.

Nuno clearly feels his team need to do something different against the Bluebirds. This time, it worked a treat.

Rockin' Ruben

There were many impressive individual performances at Molineux on Saturday.

Saiss, unfortunate to not be in the side of late after playing an important role before Christmas, came in and ran the show in midfield with a defensive masterclass. No one on the pitch won as many headers or cleared the ball as often as the Moroccan, who also registered the game’s highest passing accuracy (90 per cent).

Traore was excellent at right wing-back. Defensively he mucked in, there was no shortage of work rate and towards the end of the half he began to excel in an attacking sense, using that electrifying pace to frighten the life out of Cardiff’s defenders.

The Spaniard was pushed forward after the break and his remit was ‘just run at them’.

His finishing was wayward but it should also be noted his touch and awareness were of a much higher standard than earlier in the season. It’s clear he’s been working hard on the training ground.

But perhaps the star of the show was on the opposite flank.

Vinagre produced the best performance of his Wolves career to date combining defensive solidity with some thrilling jaunts down the left wing.

His crosses created a couple of chances and he almost got on the scoresheet twice. His vibrancy, energy and enthusiasm have been there since day one but Vinagre is now adding maturity and intelligence.

He’s also as fit as a butcher’s dog. In the 88th minute he embarked on a 50-yard dash that Usain Bolt wouldn’t have turned his nose up at, before lashing a shot goalwards that the impressive Neil Etheridge tipped over the bar.

He and Jonny Castro Otto are markedly different footballers but Vinagre showed on Saturday that a horses for courses approach on that left flank could be the way forward.

Ruddy good

Most of the pre-match talk centred around the selection of John Ruddy for his first league action of the season.

After a nervy start when he spilled a shot before gratefully gathering at the second attempt, Ruddy was solid throughout, albeit he wasn’t unduly stretched by a weak and toothless Cardiff attack.

Nuno insisted that Ruddy was playing to help prepare him for the Manchester United game a week on Saturday.

While that was part of his thinking, the boss will have been concerned about Cardiff’s aerial threat, which Rui Patricio struggled with in the reverse fixture and cost Wolves a goal when dithering over a cross.

The fact Ruddy will be back on the bench at Stamford Bridge suggests this was part of Nuno’s ambitious one-off selection to specifically cope with Cardiff.

“It was nice to be back in a league game and to top it off with a performance like that from the lads and a clean sheet is very satisfying,” Ruddy said afterwards.

“I was told on Wednesday, the manager gave me a few days to prepare for it.

“There were a few changes and I thought everyone who came in did really well.

“I want to play as much as I can, another game is very welcome.”

It’s been a frustrating season for Ruddy, but it still has the potential to end in a personal fairytale in the FA Cup. Nuno clearly trusts his back-up keeper to try and help deliver that fairytale.

A penny for Patrcio’s thoughts, though. He wasn’t even on the bench on Saturday and you wonder what his confidence levels are right now after an indifferent few weeks.

Saturday will be a big game for him.

Selection headache

It all gives Nuno perhaps the ultimate selection headache, both for Chelsea and United.

Can Saiss really be dropped after playing that well? Is Vinagre now a viable regular option? Surely Traore has to feature?

Nuno’s XI had seemed set in stone recently. That’s definitely not the case now. Squad rotation may be a more prominent feature in the coming weeks.

He has a small squad to choose from – the smallest in the league, in fact – but on Saturday his fringe players proved that it's quality over quantity.

In the 18 he has at his disposal there are no weak links.

Final word

Star man: Ruben Vinagre

The boss: Ingenious team selection

Fans: Even the quadrant lot were noisy

Magic moment: Jota's nutmeg on Gunnarsson was x-rated

In a word: Satisfying

Picture perfect: