Wolves Fans' Verdict v Leicester: A welcome slice of luck

Russ Evers

All the talk pre-match was about the chase for a European slot and didn’t the weather remind us all of the trip to Braga?!

A great win where for once we got the rub of the green. Young Ait-Nouri had a blinder but again everyone “put a shift in” and how nice was it to see Pedro Neto again, although there were 28,000 gulps as he went in for that first tackle.

So we have now hit the magical 40 point mark with 14 or so games to go. All washed down with a £150 payout on a bet to have Wolves winning 2-1 with Ruben scoring first. Happy (if wet) days!

John Lalley

If there is one team in this league that Wolves were overdue a modicum of good fortune against, it has to be Leicester. They have seemed to have the vicissitudes of VAR on a string against us and the mere sight of Kasper Schmeichel in the player’s tunnel usually indicates a blank afternoon in front of goal for Wolves regardless of how well we play with a penalty or two for Leicester thrown in for good measure.

In fact, when Ruben Neves rifled in that glorious early opener, I was tempted to telephone the Stockley Park arbitrators and demand an explanation as to why the goal had been allowed! Surely, they must have missed some perverse item of bureaucratic nit-picking designed to stymy us.

Had it slipped their analytical brain cells that we were playing Leicester? My heart sunk after the Podence winner as well; Jimenez in an offside position, Schmeichel protesting with characteristic flailing arms and self-righteous volubility surely meant that the jinx would haunt us again. Not so; and instead for once against The Foxes the dice rolled in our favour and we savoured an unlikely but immensely satisfying win.

Let’s be honest, for much of this game Leicester ran rings around us. They pressed us with real energy, swamped us in midfield and dominated proceedings with some incisive movement and distribution that was admirable when their colossal list of injuries is taken into consideration.

That said, Jose Sa was rarely, if indeed ever required to demonstrate his customary brilliance. The disappointment from our perspective was our failure to build upon the partial repeat of the same explosive start we had throttled Tottenham with last week.

For a depleted outfit in a poor run of form, Leicester certainly responded impressively; all evening we appeared to be outnumbered and gradually our attacking options diminished. It says much for the character of the team that they resolutely resisted, chasing down Leicester and limiting their attacking scope when they reached our penalty area.

One concern was a constant concession of petty free-kicks in dangerous areas after our second goal. Fortunately for Wolves, the delivery of set pieces from Leicester was uniformly awful and we were allowed to escape without being duly extended.

I freely admit that as the second half unfolded and we were increasingly being smothered by their domination, I would have settled for a point. But harassed as they were, Wolves stuck to their guns and fashioned a winner of stunning quality.

Winning games like this when you are palpably below par is invariably the indicator of a good team convinced of its own durability and professionalism.

It was a great feeling at the final whistle. It sure seemed a long time ago in those pre-VAR days when Diogo Jota scored in stoppage time to seal our last victory over Leicester. We scored four that day without any geometrically coloured lines saving Schmeichel’s bacon!

Long time too since Pedro Neto graced the Wolves’ shirt. His so welcome appearance only enhanced another special Wolves’ outing. He looked absolutely delighted to be back on the field; a feeling shared by the rest of us. Wasn’t a bad old day was it?

Clive Smith

I think it’s fair to say we have not got what we have deserved against Leicester over the last few seasons. This time the tables were turned. After a good opening goal we struggled to dominate from then on.

If winning while not being ‘on’ your game is a good trait then we can tick that box.

Leicester attacked frequently down our left where Ait-Nouri and Saiss needed extra help. Even on our other flank we struggled to prevent crosses coming in.

Throughout the game we often looked sluggish as the usual reliable Kilman and Moutinho were well below par. There was too many hit and hope balls out of defence as well.

When we could find some rhythm Ait-Nouri, Podence and Neves were predominantly involved. With Soyuncu getting a booking inside thirty minutes it was a shame we could not put more pressure on him.

Bruno made good use of the outpatients from the bench and Neto must have been humbled by the ovation he received.

Sa continues to be a key figure in the side with impressive saves in each half. Both goal scorers played well with Podence being MOTM. On the downside another Neves booking moves him closer to a two match ban, while the form of Jimenez is still puzzling with his overreaction a couple of times being strange.

Rob Cartwright

Never mind the performance, this is a fantastic result and sets us up nicely for the inevitable rollercoaster ahead. These next two away games could be season-defining.

On a day we were at full strength, for the first time in over a year, you looked at the bench and wondered what all the fuss was over the January transfer window; we were not firing on all cylinders though.

Fair play to Leicester who were attacking us high up the pitch. The short goal kicks to Ait-Nouri were frustrating me, as we were having to work very hard to get the ball into their half – successfully I would add. I thought a longer kick out by Sa would have eased pressure and leave their front three isolated.

The real issue was our midfield three were allowing them too much time and space on the ball. This was the key difference to the win at Tottenham last week. Our defence were under more pressure and we looked vulnerable, but for Leicester’s woeful finishing.

Wolves were on top in the first half. A superb goal finished by Neves, following a 12 pass move should have seen us ahead at half-time. They equalised with a rare defence splitting pass and cross which found Lookman despite six Wolves players defending in our box.

Leicester had a real go at us in the second half. We looked solid but needed to create more attacking chances. The early sub really made the difference with Hwang replacing Moutinho, after 58 minutes. His extra energy and pace turned the tide back into our favour.

Another special goal soon followed. Ait-Nouri doing brilliantly running the ball into their box, with the ball being moved to Podence who scored from 20 yards.

Podence really was excellent throughout, his running and trickery caused many problems. He just gets my nod for Man of the Match over Neves who was superb, again. Ait- Nouri and Semedo also had fine games.

The biggest cheer was saved for the return of Neto – how we have missed him.

He did enough in this cameo to show us he will have a massive impact on these final 14 games.

We were dismayed after losing the first three games 0-1 this season. We didn’t deserve to lose any of them the way we dominated play. Well, we’ve now got payback with wins against Man U, Spurs and Leicester in recent weeks. The progress has been nothing short of astonishing.

Remember, we owe Arsenal one too! Roll on Thursday.

Adam Virgo

Another massive three points, against a side who are better than the league table suggests. We probably didn’t deserve the win but football isn’t about that and the amount of times we’ve felt robbed after losing/drawing to Leicester, it’s about time we had some luck on our side in this fixture.

Two fantastic goals from our point of view, although in the second half we barely threatened until Podence scored.

Their goal was well-worked and once they got in behind our defence we were in trouble, they were looking for that type of ball a lot during the game as well. Podence was fantastic, easily man of the match. He was aggressive, causing problems with his dribbling and his goal capped off an excellent performance.

I feel like we struggled to get a real hold of the game at times, whenever we got the ball we tried to go long and that allowed the likes of Tielemans to get on the ball more and control the game.

Hwang coming on helped us a lot, we were then able to press Leicester higher up and on their full backs who were free a lot more prior to that sub.

Two absolutely huge games coming up, if we can avoid defeat in both or win one of them, I think that’ll be solid for us in terms of a European push. Beating Leicester was so important because now it takes away the pressure of feeling like we need to win them both.