As Wolves have endured a poor and pressurised start to the Premier League campaign, we’re delving deeper into the situation to find out where the main issues lie and what Gary O’Neil and his side must focus on to turn their fortunes around for the remainder of the season.
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00:00So, Charlie, starting with Wolves, obviously we've touched on their real tough start and
00:05the fixtures will eventually get easier, but that sort of puts more pressure on them when
00:09you've had such a bad start and then you have a run of games which you see on paper are
00:14more winnable, then the pressure sort of ramps up to get those wins over the line. What needs
00:19to change from what you've seen so far this season? Obviously, they've had a real low
00:23xG in terms of getting the goals and they're really not very ruthless up top, maybe down
00:30to the fact of losing Pedro Neto in the summer. Yeah, it's been a really difficult start for
00:35Wolves, obviously right at the bottom of the league standings, conceding far too many goals
00:39and then obviously the issue as well of not scoring enough. One goal a game, it could
00:43be a lot worse. We've seen in previous seasons on the Bruno Large in particular, it was a
00:49real struggle getting in the back of the net. Last season, a much improved Wolves side
00:53in terms of their attacking output and Gary O'Neill, we've seen such a positive way of
00:58playing and trying to press players high up the pitch and create as many opportunities
01:02as possible, but that just hasn't been the case. I reckon maybe it's the fixture schedule
01:06that hasn't helped on that front. It has been a very difficult start for Wolves. All six
01:10opponents so far are currently in the top half of the Premier League and the only real
01:14winnable game there was essentially Nottingham Forest away and that was a draw at a point
01:20game. So I think if you add a bit more context to it, the situation isn't as bleak as it
01:24might seem on the surface. But yeah, as you mentioned, going forward, not ruthless enough,
01:30a little bit toothless. Jorgen Strand-Larsen, I think he's had promising moments, but he's
01:34not quite been that goal scoring hero that Wolves fans would have hoped. But you've got
01:39to give him time. He's only just arrived in the Premier League for the first time and
01:42it's a bit of a change in system as well because having a bit of a target man up top, it's
01:46very different to last year when it was a little bit more fluid. So when the fixtures
01:49do improve, you'd expect Wolves to start scoring more goals. But the initial signs, of course,
01:55have been quite frustrating for fans.
01:57Yeah, and one player that's sort of missed out a number of games so far, especially just
02:03having to come off the bench is Tommy Doyle, obviously signed for a permanent from Manchester
02:08City in a great deal. I mean, on paper, he was fantastic for moments last season. He
02:13really sort of took to the fans and the fans took to him well. And he sort of embraced
02:18the culture at the club. Does he deserve a start? I mean, I see a lot of murmurs from
02:23Wolves fans, especially on social media, saying that he's certainly in the running and he
02:27certainly deserves to start in the Wolves shirt.
02:30Yeah, I think it's quite difficult because midfield is actually an area where Wolves
02:34are very strong. You might not see that from the results, but Andre coming in at the base
02:38of midfield for 21 million looks like a star of the future and already is settling in very
02:43strongly indeed. Mario Lamina, of course, the club captain, you can't drop him. You
02:46can't win matches just purely based on energy and passion in midfield. That's what Gomez
02:51offers more of. But maybe the cutting edge from Doyle is going to be a bit more evenly
02:55matched. I think it could be a good decision to bring him in.