Which positions do Wolves need to strengthen this summer? | The Keen & Judah Show
It's been a pretty successful season on the pitch for Wolves, but injuries have left the club short of bodies in key positions. Which areas are a priority this summer? The boys go through the squad in search of the answers.
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00:00 [Music]
00:05 Well hello, good afternoon and welcome. It is the Keen and Judy show, episode four on
00:10 Shots TV and Channel 3 View. Keynote?
00:14 Two, seven, six.
00:17 You got it baby. Two, seven, six. Loving this little Monday segment, thoroughly enjoying it.
00:24 We get to go into a little bit more detail about certain aspects, certain topics
00:29 and this week today pretty topical, especially after Gary O'Neill's outburst at Burnley and
00:36 the lack of signings, maybe the frustration starting to show with the results on the pitch.
00:42 So we're going to look ahead to the summer, we're going to look ahead to
00:45 positional needs within this squad and there are plenty, Liam. So let's start off with the
00:54 goalkeeper. Of course, they've got two pretty decent goalkeepers, I would say, in Sarr and
01:01 Bentley. I know there's a third, I know there's a third, sorry Tom King, but let's say the main two.
01:06 In terms of the summer, Liam, and welcome by the way, do you think that Wolves will
01:13 set a new goalkeeper as a priority? And two, second part of the question, can you see them
01:20 changing?
01:22 First question, no, let's just move on straight to the strikers.
01:25 Yeah, look, I think in the previous regime, LeJouan Lopetit, I think moving Jose Sarr on
01:35 was certainly a possibility. Obviously he's signed a new contract since then and Gary O'Neill I think
01:41 has been a lot happier with what he's seen from the Portuguese international.
01:46 In my personal opinion, I think Jose Sarr is an excellent shot stopper from his first season when
01:52 we saw someone who was brought in to replace Rui Patricio with more skills, a distribution,
01:58 better with his feet. And we saw that a fair bit in his first season, very commanding in his area.
02:04 And then last season and this season, it's not quite been the same, albeit they're still a very
02:11 good goalkeeper in there. I think will Wolves struggle to find someone of his level to fill
02:18 where they're at at the moment, potentially. In my opinion, if they were to, I mean, you can say
02:24 that for any position, you can find someone better, you take it right, don't you? But I think
02:28 it would be something I would approach, but certainly not as a priority. And that becomes,
02:35 that comes down really to the positions we're going to come onto and the numbers they have there.
02:40 And then I think Bentley is a pretty good number two at the moment behind Jose.
02:45 But he is a number two though, isn't he? You wouldn't see, you wouldn't,
02:47 you wouldn't be happy if let's say Jose Sarr went for some money and Dan Bentley became your number
02:52 one. No, I don't think so. Not because I don't think Dan Bentley is a good player,
02:57 but because I don't think we've seen enough of him. We've not seen him tested enough
03:01 at this level. And you've got to remember this is his first time at Premier League level as well. So
03:06 it's, it's, it's a tough ask. I think he was very clearly a number two when he arrived at the club.
03:11 Gary O'Neill believes that that gap has closed a fair bit between the two. And I think it has
03:16 as well, to be fair. I think Dan Bentley, it's which is one that people will pull up from early
03:21 this season. Didn't quite go to plan for him, but otherwise he has stepped into Premier League games
03:26 and done well enough to say that, right, this is a, this is a competent Premier League goalkeeper.
03:32 He's probably not what we'll need to move them forward. So if it was Jose Sarr to move on
03:37 and Dan Bentley to step up from what we've seen, you'd have to say no, but changing things have
03:42 happened in football. You never know, you might surprise us. Yeah. That distribution has got to
03:45 get better though. Doesn't it? And you do hold your breath sometimes when he keeps the ball or
03:48 turns or, or passes it away and, and, you know, hospital passes here and there. I mean, I always
03:54 worry now. I know that they like to pass the ball and the keep possession. I understand the stats
03:57 will show, you know, rather than kicking up field. But when, when the fullbacks drop and the defenders
04:02 drop deep and you have that flat back line and they pass it out, goodness, we saw it. We saw it.
04:06 We've seen it a few times this season. Your heart is in your mouth, isn't it? So, yeah, one of those
04:10 where I'll let you call it Keno, new Premier League season, 24, 25, start of the season,
04:16 game week one is A, Jose's iron goal, B, Dan Bentley or C, A another? I will go with A,
04:25 Jose's saw in between sticks. Okay. I'm going to say three, A another. I think that there will be
04:31 a new goalkeeper at Wolves next season to start. Now that is exciting. Yeah. Maybe, maybe in Mr.
04:38 Aaron Ramsdale, we shall see. That's this, we shall see. Right. Let's move on to the defence. So
04:44 in terms of defence, I think overall, Liam, it's been pretty solid this year. Yeah. Of course,
04:50 I've had some poor games, but let's be honest, Wolves played better in a back three or back five,
04:55 depends the way you want to say it. That's why they've had better results. Actually, the football
05:00 has been a lot better at times than we've seen in a back five for four or five years,
05:05 really attacking good football. And that's come from the wing backs. It's come from a confidence
05:10 as a central three, the main three, of course, being Dawson, Totte and Max Kilman,
05:16 flanked by Reinout, Nouri and Nelson Samedo. Backups, Matt Doherty on the right,
05:23 right, he plays all over, but let's say Matt Doherty mainly on the right, Hugo Bueno on the
05:26 left and you've got Santi Bueno has come in as well as that as that backup. Going into next
05:31 summer, you had Yerson Mosquera or this summer, Yerson Mosquera potentially in that mix. But
05:36 from those central defenders, from those wing backs, do you feel that Wolves need to
05:43 make one or two more additions? And will it depend on, of course, people leaving as well?
05:49 But if let's say all these players are available next season,
05:51 would you like to see one more or two more additions to that defensive eight or nine players?
05:57 So the first thing to add to this is that you've got to remember when Gary Newell first came in
06:02 at Wolves, he began with a back four, didn't he? That back five didn't start until the Man City
06:08 home game, which of course went very well and it's all gone pretty swimmingly so far for Gary
06:13 O'Neill for the most part at least. So we know as well, speaking to Gary, that he's had to adjust
06:20 what he wants to do with this side. He is not currently setting them up and instructing them
06:27 the way that he would ideally like his Wolves team to play, regardless of the success that they have
06:33 found. So that means that within time and however long that takes, there will be an evolution of
06:41 this team. And to me, that screams out an evolution of going to a back four going forward.
06:47 Now, whether he does that because back five has been so successful is another question,
06:52 but let's assume that he does.
06:53 You've got to be good enough to do a back four. You've got to be good enough.
06:57 You do. And I'll be honest with you, I prefer the five. I think there's something about Wolves and
07:02 their DNA since Fosun have bought the club really and since Nuno came in that has really given Wolves
07:10 all this success, taken them to the Premier League and into Europe and look where they've come.
07:15 So there's something about the Wolves DNA in modern years that screams to me that they work
07:19 so well in the back five. But I'm sure Gary will want to make it work if he does make that change.
07:24 And let's say, assuming he does make that change, do Wolves then, I know you've spoken about
07:28 wanting or potentially you think Wolves will look at a new centre back. But do they need it if they
07:34 go to a back four? Because Jose Mosquera comes back to the club. Gary's very keen on him. The
07:40 club are very keen on him. He's done well over in Spain, which is a massive step up from his loan
07:44 in America. And it seems now like Jose Mosquera is going to have a big opportunity next season.
07:53 Now, obviously there could be departures from any of those positions. But if there isn't and
07:59 Jose Mosquera comes in, arguably you don't need to sign a centre half. And then you look at either
08:03 full back positions on the face of it as a four, Hugo Bueno and Ryan Aitnori, Matt Doherty and
08:13 Nelson Smedo. I like that as a four. To me, that doesn't scream out you have to make additions
08:19 there. However, there's a couple of caveats to that. Hugo Bueno attracted some attention
08:23 in previous transfer windows. Hasn't played a lot this season, been a frustrating campaign for him.
08:28 Clearly a very good player. Did okay at Burnley when he started that game.
08:33 There's potential that clubs will come back in for him and be interested in that player. Do Wolves
08:40 then make a massive profit? And that's not just a financial profit on the face of it, but also on
08:46 the books because he's a player that they signed for only a few thousand pounds from a small
08:52 academy over in Spain at the time. That's a massive profit. Do they make a sale there? But
08:56 there's a potential for that. Equally on top of that, Nelson Smedo is going into the final year
09:01 of his contract and he's on massive wages at Wolves. With that in mind, Wolves will have a
09:08 very big decision to make on Nelson Smedo in the summer. They have the opportunity to move
09:15 him on and save on those wages and maybe get a decent enough fee with him having a year left.
09:21 He's a player that's been so good this season, so consistent. That's the biggest question mark
09:28 there. I'm interested in what your thoughts about the centre-half situation because I know you
09:33 mentioned previously about wanting a centre-half, but my argument there is the Wolves need one.
09:37 I think so, yeah. Because I think that Craig Dawson's starting to come to the twilight of his
09:40 career and I think this season is a solid season, but as we've seen, picked up a knock. Injuries,
09:48 when you're getting a little bit older, they take longer to heal. We're seeing that at this moment
09:52 in time with Craig Dawson. I think they've missed him. I think he's an excellent player when he's
09:54 fit, but he has been found wanting a few times this season as well, lack of pace.
09:58 You get one year older, I think you need one really good centre-back to come in. I think it's
10:03 crying out for one centre-back and maybe Craig Dawson takes a step back, maybe use him and be
10:08 a bit smarter in his usage next season. Also, you've got to look at the fact that probably
10:14 two out of those of your backline in Ryan Norey and Max Killman are two of your bigger assets when
10:20 it comes to selling. If everybody talks about Pedro Neto, well, Pedro Neto's sale is potentially
10:26 in doubt with his injury situation. Wolves will probably have to fund it and probably have to look
10:32 at selling a big asset. That probably might be one of those two players. I think they have got
10:40 big market values, so it remains to be seen if and when these players are available next year.
10:46 If they are and one of them goes, then of course you've got to maybe sign one or two players. I
10:49 definitely think absolutely minimum, minimum, minimum for me, if you keep the wing-backs and
10:54 their backups, that it's got to be another centre-back, an equality centre-back at that.
11:01 We should be right back after this short break where we'll be looking at the midfields and of
11:05 course the forwards.