Liam Keen and Nathan Judah discuss the four players that they think will shape Wolverhampton Wanderers season, and hopefully help the team climb up the Premier League table.
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00:00Looking at players who can really make a difference in the second half of the season and the rest
00:11of the season, who could be key towards getting out of this slump and getting them as high
00:16at the table as possible. European positions might be out to reach I think Liam at this
00:20moment in time. Maybe just a little bit. We'll see. Craig Dawson, Mario Lamina were two before
00:25the break and we're going to go further up the pitch now and someone who I think we've
00:29both think is the best player in this side who has been brilliant and can't really quite
00:35saying this at the time with this transfer fee, but full value and more from what he
00:40has delivered.
00:41He is insane. He makes this team tick. He's a main goal scorer. He is the leader really
00:47at this moment in time for me on the pitch. There's a few issues there as well. Completely.
00:53I completely agree. I think two or three things that he could clean up in his game that we
00:56don't particularly like to see, but in terms of talent level, in terms of threat, in terms
01:00of goal scoring, in terms of winning games and getting points, Mateus Cunha is indispensable
01:04to this team going forward, isn't he?
01:06Absolutely. I mean, we could have spoken about, gives it away that he's not the fourth player
01:11we're going to speak about. We could have spoken about Andre, his Brazilian teammates,
01:15a midfielder that we've been full of praise for and rightly so, I believe. But Cunha and
01:22yeah, we'll explain why the last person's on there, but I think they also deserve it.
01:27Wolves make games. Wolves, at the moment, are not really struggling with scoring a
01:33lot of goals. They are making things happen. And Cunha is always the catalyst. He's always
01:40involved. He's always key to Wolves creating chances, scoring goals, getting assists. We
01:45saw the way he did it last season, carrying the ball forward out on that left 10 roll
01:52and massively influential to every possible Wolves attack alongside players like Ryan
01:58Aitnori and a few others. I do agree he's Wolves' best player. As with anyone, he has
02:05shortcomings, but I think I would also go as far as saying, you know, that he's signed
02:10for 43 million pounds, which is a huge outlay at the time, a record. I think Wolves make
02:18money on him if they sold him now. I think he's worth more than that. And I think he's
02:22proven that with the way that he's impacted the Premier League, which is not easy for
02:26players. And he had a difficult first few months when he arrived in the second half
02:30of that season in January 2023. But from last season onwards, and again, this season has
02:36proved to be a top quality player that I think would get into quite a few Premier League
02:43You did mention the shortcomings. I'm interested what you think, because for me, I would use
02:50it as, and he's emotional. He wears his heart on his sleeve. I've interviewed him before
02:58and he's described himself as being South American and we can't help it. This is the
03:02way we are. We're very emotional. There are some times, not all the time, but sometimes
03:08it maybe goes over the line a little bit. And maybe excellent might be the word I would
03:14use at times, which I don't think helps his game. I mean, would you agree with that? He
03:19just puts himself in a difficult position with referees and yellow cards.
03:22I think, I think exactly that. Yeah, I would. Yeah. Excellent. I would say that sometimes
03:28he's a bit whiny on the pitch. And you're right. You know, I think he's different, different
03:33cultures. And I think, you know, there's a lot of expressions there that maybe some English
03:37guys just get on with it and, you know, it's arms and it's this, it's looking to the, it's
03:41looking to the sky and referees don't like that. Referees do not like that. They don't
03:46like being shown up, I guess, at times or looking at linesmen. Yes. Very expressions
03:51are amplified, I think, on the pitch when maybe he just needs to rein it in a little
03:55bit, especially when things aren't working. Everyone's frustrated, everyone's exasperated,
03:59but he probably shows it a little bit too much at times. And I think that gets, that
04:03grinds people's gears. And when, you know, you've, you've got someone in that centre
04:07circle who's controlling that, that, that game, same with a lot of referees and umpires
04:12throughout the game, they don't like being questioned when they are. And it is very much
04:16visual. And I think that that sometimes creates an issue and it's not going to help. It's
04:24not going to help matters on the pitch.
04:25And he does sort of get himself away from his own game as well. When he, when he starts
04:29going down this road, we've seen him, um, in previous games, struggle to contain his
04:35emotion. And he does start to dip out of, of his own form. He starts to become anonymous
04:41within the game. He's quiet. Um, uh, there's a couple of bad touches in particular off
04:48the top man. I think it was the Villa one, um, a few weeks ago where there was so many
04:54bad touches that second half, he lost the ball so many times and he became increasingly
04:57frustrated with himself. Um, and in turn, didn't help himself to get back into the,
05:02you know, the player that we all know he is, but regardless of that, but what was this
05:06season if we now in May, it's a long, long time and he's going to be another player that
05:12if we wanted to do anything, he'll be at the very, very heart of it.
05:16Yeah, he is a fantastic player. I know we've said a couple of negative ish things there.
05:21That's because, you know, he is, he is going to be the catalyst going forward of, of walls,
05:24hopefully getting, you know, moving up this table and a fantastic player and, uh, someone
05:29who, you know, you pay your money to go and see we've paid our money to go and see some
05:32brilliant plays over the time you pay your money. Mateus couldn't, you as one of those
05:35players who, who you pay money to see because he is a game changer.
05:38And sometimes you have to nitpick a little bit to pick out a couple of negatives because
05:42he's so good as well. Now it is a negative that we've both spotted in individually and
05:47spoken about before. Um, and I do think it's something that he needs to address. Um, because
05:53if it spills over, I'm sure it will. I mean, it, it becomes a, it becomes a real issue.
05:58Um, but we, we have to sort of pick up on a couple of things with him because he's so
06:06good going forward. He is so good on the ball. He is so dangerous. Um, he does link it with
06:10players around him. He does make wolves tick. He's always his best player, particularly
06:14since Pedro Neto has left. I think he has that, that mantle, um, without any shadow
06:19of a doubt, or be it as one or two, Andre in different position, a couple of others
06:23that I'm sure would, uh, would argue with.