Leicester City

This game had me thinking about A Christmas Carol.

In the first half we were given a tantalising glimpse into the future and what this team might become under Julen Lopetegui.

High pressing, winning the ball back in great areas and using that disruption to create clear chances to score.

After Lemina won it and Cunha blasted it into the corner Wolves were purring and probably should have had a second. Leicester were all over the shop and the home crowd was quieter than Tiny Tim.

Instead we over committed and got Scrooged on the counter, with Sa inexplicably digging into Vardy’s ankle having done the hard part in driving him wide of goal.

From there we were simply haunted by the mistakes of the past.

Off came Mario and with Ruben and Moutinho restored to the engine room we were back to knocking it side to side, more in hope than expectation of creating a chance.

It was a well crafted winner for Leicester but another familiar failure in not dealing with a cut back. Everyone was sucked in and nobody tracked Castagne.

There was little hope of recovery because they defended deep and the personnel on the pitch have shown time and again they can’t break down opponents sitting in a low block.

Our best chances came via long distance pot shots from the skipper, which is the same old yarn we’ve been spinning for years now.

The positive is that this game reinforced the idea that where we’re going is infinitely better than where we’ve been in the last year.

In the present, we still need a couple of points to turn that dream into reality and ease the fear of our untimely demise.

If we commit to the brighter future and don’t slip back into the errors of the past – I’m confident we’ll get them.

Is this rock bottom?

If it isn’t there are some difficult times ahead.

Soft in both boxes and weak in the middle, something has to change if Wolves are going to avoid the ultimate disaster.

Leicester were open and unsure themselves early doors, but as we’ve come to expect, nobody in a gold shirt could make them pay.

Zero goals from 21 shots to their 4 goals from 5 shots is why they don’t need to fret about relegation and we should be scared stiff.

Barnes and Maddison attack with a clear picture in their mind of what they want to do while our equivalents continue to manipulate the ball hoping that the answer becomes apparent.

And when chances arrive, they can’t finish.

We’re talking profligacy on a biblical level with the average now less than a goal every other game. Whatever happens at the other end, we don’t stand a chance if this doesn’t improve.

But, at the same time, scoring becomes harder if you’re giving the game away at the back and Wolves didn’t defend well enough to be competitive.

It was a fine hit by Tielemans – the type of thunderbolt that has a habit of going against you in the tough times – but the other three were preventable.

There isn’t enough aggression, physicality or running in either the midfield or the full-back positions to protect our centre-halves.

Moutinho’s regular presence is becoming harder to justify and Jonny turned in what might have been his worst performance in a Wolves shirt.

At Palace, the team had more athleticism with Boubacar and Semedo covering the ground and Steve Davis may lament leaving those players out when reflecting on where this went so badly wrong.

Scott Sellars has been pinpointed as the culprit for the team’s deficiencies and if the buck truly stops with him on some of the strategic errors that have clearly been made then maybe that’s fair.

If nothing else, perhaps the anger pulsating from the South Bank will serve to make Jeff reconsider the decision to defer the appointment of a new coach.

After this meek embarrassment, January feels a long way off.

We didn’t deserve the win, but who cares?

It was poetic justice for that sunny opening day defeat at the King Power where Wolves did everything but score. Today, under grey skies and driving rain, that’s pretty much all we did.

Two fantastic strikes cancelled out about five thousand Leicester passes and I couldn’t be any happier.

Kasper Schmeichel has made an unpleasant habit of tipping Ruben’s efforts around the post, so it was doubly satisfying to see that early strike hit the back of the net.

Podence’s was even crisper and I don’t think any keeper in the world would have got down to that one.

Premier League goals from our number 10 are long overdue and we need more if European football is to remain a realistic aspiration. In and around the penalty area though, he once again showed he’s capable of magic.

There are reinforcements now too and both Hwang and Neto looked sharp and ready to go in their second half showings.

Pedro in particular tore around the pitch like he hadn’t been away and looked desperate to influence the game. How important could his form be down the home stretch?

We’ll have to play better than we did today to keep picking up results but I’d argue few teams will press as high or with such reckless abandon as the Foxes.

Credit to Brendon Rodgers and his team for their intensity and movement in and out of possession. They really smothered the game for long periods.

But our defence and outstanding goalkeeper repelled everything other than that slick move that drew them level in the first half. It might not have been a trademark shutout but I don’t think that back three have been worked so hard for a long while. Restricting them to a one was a good achievement.

Ruben said after we won it with our mentality and I think that’s right. They hung in there and found the moments when lesser teams would have wilted.

And that is well worth celebrating.

Our results away from England’s recently announced host stadium have been phenomenal this season.

7 wins from 12 matches with 23 points accumulated means we have the 4th best away record in the Premier League (just a single point behind Chelsea too).

At Molineux, we’ve been distinctly average with 4 wins from 11 matches and 14 points contributed to the overall tally. That’s good enough for 14th.

Leicester, Palace, Leeds, Villa, Man City, Brighton, Watford and Norwich are the remaining home games and six of those sides have poor away records, so on paper at least, there’s an opportunity for improvement.

First up is an underperforming Leicester on Sunday.

Leicester

The Foxes are enduring the season we had last time. They’ve lost their talisman for a good chunk of the campaign, suffered a host of other injury setbacks and seen confidence in their previously revered head coach dwindle.

Defensively, they’ve been atrocious, conceding 41 goals already. Only 4 teams have let in more. In mitigation, Jonny Evans and Wesley Fofana would probably have been their preferred centre-back pairing but both have sat out most of the campaign and Turkish international Ça?lar Söyüncü has struggled for form in their absence.

An ability to score goals has propped them up and only the top 5 teams in the table have netted more than their 36. Even without Jamie Vardy, the likes of Daka, Maddison, Tielemans, Barnes and Iheanacho are all capable.

They spanked four in last night in their Europa Conference League first leg tie, but are yet to win in the Premier League in 2022 and haven’t kept a single cleansheet away from the King Power in the league all season. That’s some stat.

It was heartbreak last time out with West Ham scoring a set-piece equaliser with the last kick of the game to deny Brendan Rodgers a much-needed victory.

The away end

Some comments lifted from the pre-match thread on a popular Leicester forum.

This will be a difficult away fixture. It seemed a lifetime ago that we beat them at the KP – and kept a (since rare) clean sheet! And even then, they ran us ragged (particularly in the second half) and with better finishing could have walked away with something from that game. The bad news is that since then they have gotten better – and that they won’t have Adama Traore, as we could use a few of his awful misses, after he rips through our defence! Two ships passing each other through the night, one headed towards Europe and the other….well.

A point would be a good result here, lets just limp to 35 points and stay in the league.

I think Brendan will match them up: Kasper, Ricardo, Amartey, Ndidi, Vestergaard, Thomas (Albrighton if injured), Tielemans, KDH, Maddison, Daka, Barnes

Can we have a clean sheet, please?

Wolves

343 or 352, that’s the question. On the basis we’ve been defensively sound in both shapes, I think you have to play the extra attacker against a Leicester side that can’t defend.

I have no idea if Moutinho is fit, but I’d still be starting him despite the considerable efforts of Dendoncker and Cundle at Spurs last week. Just because it’s a different challenge at home when there’s greater onus on Wolves to make the running.

We’ve been saying it for weeks now, but it’s about time Podence and Trincao came to the party with a few goals. Podence still infuriates me in many aspects of his performance but got into great positions against Spurs and was unfortunate not to get on the scoresheet.

Hwang is another option from the bench if they’re not doing the business and of course, as always, we’ll hope that Raul can hit his stride again after getting back amongst the goals last weekend. Leicester are one of just three teams in the Premier League he’s yet to score against in any competition.

Last time out

As the Leicester fan above points out, we were unfortunate to leave the King Power with a defeat on the opening weekend of the season. Jamie Vardy got across our centre-halves to score a smart goal but we missed a host of glaring opportunities either side of that to take something from the game.

It was a stalemate at Molineux last season, which suited us down to the ground. We were scratching out the results by then, just trying to limp to the finish line.

Predictions

Well done to oldandwise, pauluswolf, spikeyboy and Jazzwolf54 for all getting a maximum by correctly predicting a 2-0 win against Spurs.

AveburyWolf leads the way at the top of the overall table at the end of Gameweek 23.

As always, if you’d like to join in, it’s simple – just leave your prediction in the comment section below using the boxes provided. Then repeat for every preview article throughout the season, making sure you always use the same email address to make your prediction. Your email is what ties you to your overall score.

You can read my prediction for the game in the comment section below.

Up The Wolves!

Polite request – when commenting in the preview article after the game has finished, can you not place score predictions in the boxes, please? It confuses the system. Many thanks.

Now that Bruno Lage’s Barmy Army has stopped ringing in my ear, it’s time to collect my thoughts.

The record book will say Wolves lost this fixture, but we certainly created enough chances for that not to be the case.

Adama Traore, so often the cause of our ecstasy and agony, should be going home the match winner.

How the Spaniard contrived to miss twice when through on goal is sure to be the cause of a few sleepless nights among the Wolves coaching staff.

But all in all, they can be satisfied with an impressive outing against one of the league’s standout teams.

It was great to be back amongst a raucous away following, especially one that was so fervently behind our new manager.

Handbrake football looks to be a thing of the past under Lage, with the gaffer evidently keen for his side to play on the front foot.

One beneficiary of the change in style is sure to be Ruben Neves, who looked every inch the midfield schemer we know he can be.

Finding a partner for him surely must be a key focus as the transfer window nears its end. Dendoncker and Moutinho didn’t do much wrong, but I’m not convinced either are the answer.

And, though I’m stating the obvious in saying so, the defence remains in need of major surgery.

Leicester targeted our high line from the off and, though we sprung the offside trap well, it was ultimately our undoing. Again, Marcal and Saiss didn’t perform poorly but neither fill me with confidence.

Indeed, you can’t help but glance enviously at today’s opponents. They had an embarrassment of riches on their bench, whereas ours was made up of kids.

Still, I’m sure Fosun know this. It’s hard to imagine Bruno accepting the job without receiving assurances he’d be backed in the transfer market.

On today’s evidence, two or three quality signings could be the difference between a season of progress or more of the same. 

Expected Goals (xG)

Leicester 0.67 Wolves 1.33

xG is a statistical measurement of the quality of goalscoring chances in a game and the likelihood of them being scored.