WOLVES 2020/2021
Wolverhampton Wanderers FC returned to the premier league in 2018/2019 season, after winning the EFL championship in the 2017/2018 season, performing beyond expectations for a promotion team finishing 7th with 57 points (16W 9D 13L) in the premier league.
As against the more common 4–3–3 or 4–4–2 in its variations in the premier league, Wolves prefer to use a 3 at the back system with 3–4–3 or 3–5–2. Without the ball they defend in a 5–4–1 or a 5–3–2 and mostly apply a counter attacking system.
In the 2019/2020 season, Wolves ended 7th in the premier league and were unfortunately knocked out of the Europa league in the quarter finals by Spanish side Sevilla Fc who went on to be the winners.
Raul Jimenez leads their attack and has scored 30 goals combined in the premier league for Wolves for the past two seasons (2018/2019- 2019/2020). The coach is still Nuno Espirito Santos.
Wolves 2020/2021 Season so far
In the 2020/2021 season, Wolves still favour their 3 at the back system with a 3–4–3 or 3–5–2 formation but due to injury and tactical reasons, they have used 4–2–3–1 on a number of occasions . They have also used the 4–3–3 false nine formation as an in-game formation in their 2–1 victory over Chelsea. With first team players Jota and Doherty sold to English counterparts Liverpool and Tottenham respectively and the addition of Semedo, Fabio Silva and Marcal, their attacking pattern has seen a change. After 16 games, they sit in the 12th position with 21 points (6W 3D 7L).
“Wolves should be regarded as a big six team” — Jose Mourinho before their 1–1 encounter at the Molineux in December 2020
· Without Jota and Doherty
In the 2019/2020 season, Jota scored 16 goals and registered 1 assist in all competitions (48 apps, 35 starts). Doherty scored 7 goals and registered 4 assists in all competitions (50 apps, 46 starts). In the premier league, he had the same number of goal contributions (7) with Lucas Digne of Everton. Trent Alexander-Arnold (17) and Robertson (14) were the only defenders that had more goal contributions than him. In the premier league, Jimenez had the highest shots on target for Wolves with 44 followed by Jota 26 and Doherty 16. Doherty was the defender with the highest shots on target in the league. In the 2018/2019 season, Jota scored 10 goals and had 7 assists in all competitions (37 apps, 32 starts) Doherty scored 6 goals and registered 7 assists in all competitions (44 apps, 40 starts). From the right wing back postion, he was comfortable making overlapping runs to give a cross or underlapping runs to drift into the box where he can win a header or take a shot on goal. Doherty’s aerial presence gave their attack more options. His 133 aerial duels won in the premier league was the highest for Wolves and the 13th highest in the league.
The departure of these players have a heavy impact on Wolves and Wolves will have to reinvigorate their system with the players they have.
· New additions to the starting line up
Jota and Doherty were key players to the Wolves system. With these players out, Pedro Neto and Daniel Podence have found their way as regular first team players as attacking outlets for wolves.
In the 2019/2020 season, Neto started only 17 times in 44 appearances scoring 6 goals and 4 assists. In the 2018/2019, he only had 5 appearances, with no starts and no goal contribution either. Already this season he has scored 4 goals and had 3 assists in 17 appearances (15 starts). Neto is also given corner kick duties alongside Moutinho, Neves and Podence. Podence has scored 3 goals and 2 assists in 16 games this season (14 starts)
Doherty statistics shows his great attacking presence and abilities. Semedo was brought in from Barcelona during the summer as a replacement for Doherty but Semedo may not be a perfect replacement because he does not have the attacking abilities and awareness as Doherty. On the defensive duties, Semedo is fast but he is vulnerable if isolated. He can either be easily bypassed or he can commit a foul in a dangerous area. It may take some time for Semedo to fully adapt to the system too.
Other additions include Fabio Silva, a center forward, who has scored one goal in 11 apps 4 starts and Marcal, a left footed full back to take over the left wingback role as against right footed Castro that mostly occupied the position last season. Center back Max Kilman has also seen 9 appearances with 1 assist this season and Rayan Nouri has 7 appearances in the league playing as the right wing back and he has scored 1 goal. Matheson and Otasowie from their academy have also seen appearances with the latter having 1 assist in 3 apps in the league.
· Injuries
Jimenez is Wolves star player. He has scored 30% of Wolves premier league goals from 2018/2019 season. He is not only a goal scorer. His 13 assists from open play is the second highest for Wolves in the league just after Joao Moutinho who has 14 assists in the same period with 12 of those assists coming from set pieces. He is fantastic at using his strength on the ball to hold off defenders and create goal scoring opportunities for his teammates. His aerial presence is also his strength and that is something other Wolves attackers do not have. His 87 aerial duels won for Wolves in the league last season was only succeeded by Doherty (133), Saiss (120) and Dedoncker (96) just higher than their defender Boly (86). Since the head injury to Jimenez on the 30th of November 2020, Wolves have only managed 4 goals in 6 games and have conceded 10 in the same period. Thankfully, Jimenez is already back in training after undergoing surgery.
Injury problems have also rocked their defense. First team player Saiss contracted Covid-19 early on in the season and club captain Coady had to isolate after being in contact with someone who had covid. Fortunately, these have not had serious impact on them because of their squad depth in the defense.
With teams like Everton, Southampton, Aston Villa looking more serious this season and newly promoted Leeds United, it will be interesting to see how Nuno Espirito’s men will perform this season. They have seen a rough start to the season but there is still a long way to go in the season. Hopefully they should qualify for European football again.
