Sheffield United

Given the abject second half performance from Wolves and their own miserable struggles to date I don’t begrudge Sheffield Utd a first win of the season.

But the nature of their victory, following another baffling VAR howler is harder to swallow.

For the second game running a player is already half way to the ground before anyone even touches him and yet the referee can’t wait to point to the spot.

Today it was even easier to see the mistake because the guy who went down immediately got up and tried to carry on playing because he realised he hadn’t been tackled in the first place.

But by then the penalty was already given and in the hands of the television gods where surely common sense would prevail?

Not a chance.

Even though it was clear and obvious to everyone else they didn’t dare suggest the referee might even consider a second look.

In the years to come they’ll eventually realise this isn’t the way to use video technology and instances like this will be consigned to history but until then we continue to suffer.

Prior to that it looked like we’d got out of jail with a goal from nothing from Bellegarde cancelling out Cameron Archer’s excellent strike.

Wolves had controlled much of the first half and probably should have been ahead having finessed their way through a few times only for Hwang, Ait-Nouri and Semedo to be wasteful with the final action.

But the Blades pressed higher and harder in the second half and the players in gold just couldn’t get out.

It was poor game management, losing the ball in bad areas and not adjusting for the monsoon conditions.

Having gone behind and somehow got it back to one all, the sloppiness continued and the penalty should have been prevented even before it was controversially awarded.

Ait-Nouri made a weak clearance, resulting in the ball coming back to force the corner. The ball across was repelled but Fabio pulled out of an aerial challenge for a bouncing ball allowing the scrum that eventually gave the ref a decision to make.

Whatever Gary O’Neil might say about the officiating he must also be seething at his players for bringing this indignity on themselves.

They’ve got to do better.

Would I have taken a defeat against Newcastle to keep Pedro fit?

Probably.

If it takes our star man longer than November to regain fitness and get up to speed again, we’ll lose more points without him.

Pessimistic maybe, but I read somewhere that every Premier League goal Wolves have scored so far has either been scored or assisted by Neto or Hwang. Some impact.

That isn’t to say I don’t think we can collect results in his absence – it will just be a lot harder.

Sheffield Utd

Most Blades fans saw the worst coming after key players departed following promotion, but I doubt many of them thought it would be this bad.

A solitary point at home to Everton is the only result they’ve managed. They’ve scored the fewest goals, conceded the most and generally had very little to celebrate.

Still, the three teams above them haven’t completely moved away and with games on the horizon against Burnley and Bournemouth, there’s a chance they could still make a fist of things.

Putting the 8 goal whooping they took from Newcastle aside, they’ve been more competitive at Bramall Lane and came close to taking points off both Man City and Man Utd.

I think a few of their summer recruits – namely Hamer, McAtee and Archer – look bright players, but clearly there are issues with the balance of the side.

Coming into this one on the back of another heavy defeat last weekend, I wonder how much respect they will give Wolves? Will they sit deep and break or look to be more proactive?

Wolves

Bellegarde is the natural replacement for Neto but I’ve seen no evidence of him training this week, which doesn’t bode well for his inclusion tomorrow.

If he’s not ready, then I think you pivot towards Sasa, with Cunha operating deeper. The Austrian has been unlucky not to get more minutes up to now, so this would be an obvious opportunity.

Central midfield is another area to keep an eye on. Any individual or combination of the four could start and I don’t think too many would be disappointed. That’s a nice dilemma for Gary O’Neil to ponder.

Predictions

Well done to Prawny, Graham from Horsham, Dirty South Wolf, DebenhamWolf and AgentCyan for correctly predicting the 2-2 scoreline against Newcastle. Repeated apologies for the lack of updates on the overall table, which still needs to be repaired. Working on that this week so will hopefully update in the next preview.

I’m going for a draw tomorrow – 1-1. That’s maybe negative given our recent upturn and the struggles of our opponents, but I’m concerned that Neto’s injury will destabilise the team and with no like-for-like replacement the opposition can look to step onto us. Hopefully Gary has spent the week cooking up a plan to combat this issue and we can pocket another big three. We could go as high as 8th with a victory and moving into the top half would be a superb achievement.

As always, if you’d like to join in with the Prediction League this season, 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.

Up The Wolves!

It was a pleasant surprise to see Wolves follow the cup script for once and easily dispatch opposition from a lower division.

A professional performance in which second gear was barely engaged is exactly what I was looking for on a chilly Sunday afternoon.

Once we had overcome a sloppy start, where a better team than Sheffield United would have punished us, this was the first time under Bruno we’ve threatened to put a team to the sword, and then actually done so.

The doom-monger in me feared a host of changes, so I was relieved to see a strong teamsheet at 1pm.

I won’t go on another rant of Donk being a totally ineffective midfielder, but I was relieved to see the Belgian slot into a more comfortable role at right centre-back in second half.

I was also disappointed to see Raul not start and play his way into form, but young Fabio more than made up for it with his best performance in a Wolves shirt.

Maybe the penny is starting to drop with Silva. His assuredness pressing the Blades into mistakes and linking up with Podence is exactly what Bruno requires from his centre forward.

As for Podence, a more front-footed approach, where the midfield is dictating, suits him perfectly. He’s receiving ball into feet, causing havoc down the middle and between the lines, and showing a lethal touch in front of goal.

Unfortunately, Traore is the polar opposite. Adama’s touch is either woeful, or when he does gets into a dangerous position – lines are fluffed. That’s why he doesn’t warrant £100,000 a week. He might be a great impact sub to have (like at United), but £20m and putting that towards a new centre back or midfielder is far more appealing.

As the tie wore on, I was starting to get frustrated by our inability to kill yet another team off, but a gloriously fluid move from back to front put to bed any nerves, and illustrated the Bruno way perfectly. It was a cracking finish from Semedo, and whisper it quietly, we might be seeing the quality wing back we were promised.

Bar Fosun’s lack of ambition, there’s a lot to be excited about down the Molineux. Bruno is building an attractive playing style, we have an appealing fourth round home tie against bottom-of-the-table Norwich, and a run at the European spots could be brewing.

I shudder to think how bad that performance would have been without Adama Traore.

He was the spark, the ignition, the only race car at a drab Sunday motor show.

One superb assist for Willian Jose and what should have been another for the fumbling Fabio represented a good evening’s work for our oiled up powerhouse.

There are two years left on his contract and even if he doesn’t want to sign a new one, squeezing at least another season out of him would be wise.

Neto’s out for six months and Podence is regressing with each passing performance, so to lose Mr Muscle now would feel catastrophic.

He’s won us the last two games despite the team around him stinking out the place with an entirely defence-minded approach to proceedings.

I’m not going to moan about that because the job needed doing, but simply turning up in tight formation and frustrating the opposition can’t always be Plan A.

Championship-bound Sheff Utd dominated long spells of this game and had it not been for wasteful finishing, would have been ahead before falling behind.

Nuno would point to a textbook example of counter-attacking football and it’s hard to argue when he gets the result.

Fabio and Adama could even have added gloss to the scoreline, but I don’t think a goal or two more late on would have saved this performance from criticism.

You can’t question the organisation and solidity of that back three. However, the clueless nature of our attempts to transport the ball beyond the center circle is infuriating.

We’re clearly a body short in attack at all times and our wingbacks offer no creativity or thrust.

Both Semedo and Ait-Nouri sauntered into good positions tonight but the final ball, as it has been for most of the season, was terrible.

Creativity in wide areas and mobility through the middle are essential items for the summer shopping list to prevent performances like this remaining the norm.

And of course, retaining Adama at all costs.

Every time this season has given, it’s taken away.

No sooner had we all but secured our PL status, we learn Pedro Neto is out for up to six months with a broken kneecap.

Added to the horrible news about Jonny and the lingering question mark over what sort of condition Raul will be in when he eventually returns, the future doesn’t feel bright.

This squad needs rest and quality additions in the summer if we’re to do anything but survive next time, but in the meantime, there’s an opportunity for fringe players to step into the team in a low-pressure environment and increase their standing.

And as much as I want to see the team pushing up towards 50 points by the finish, I think it’s important Nuno gives the likes of Hoever, Otasowie, Vitinha, Fabio and a few of the others some serious game time.

They might feel like dead-rubber fixtures, but they represent an opportunity to properly audit the personnel in the context of the competition we need them to excel next season.

Sheff Utd

It could have been so much worse of course – just ask any Blades supporter.

They’ve been decimated by injuries, a disastrous loss of form and a parting of the ways with the man who masterminded their success.

With Chris Wilder in charge, I’d have backed them to make an immediate return, but now I’m not quite so certain.

They’ve got a good nucleus of players that should perform well in the Championship though, so it’s a solid foundation for whoever eventually takes over.

Playing in the second tier will help some of their misfiring strikers who’ve endured a torrid time of things.

They’ve only managed 17 goals as a team and £23.5 million summer signing Rhian Brewster hasn’t got any of them. He’ll get chances to rectify that in the remaining games though with Oli McBurnie and Billy Sharp both ruled out for the season with injury.

I’ve watched a few of their games and they have that familiar trait of all-but-relegated sides of being OK up until they concede and then rapidly falling away.

That’s exactly what happened last weekend against Arsenal in what became another heavy defeat.

Wolves

Even without Pedro Neto and Ruben Neves, we can field a side capable of winning this game. This is what I think Nuno will pick.

Fabio and Gibbs-White may be central to his thoughts having contributed significantly late on at Craven Cottage.

As mentioned previously, I’d also like to get a good look at Vitinha and Otasowie at some point in the remaining fixtures.

Hopefully Willy Boly can play out the season, as our preferred back three will give us a solid platform to bring others in and out further up the pitch.

Last time out

We uncharacteristically stormed into an early 2-0 lead at Bramall Lane back in August and saw it out with a degree of comfort despite Utd asking plenty of questions in the second half.

Last season, we drew 1-1 at Molineux when the going was better for both sides. It was the Blades who got the early goal that day before Matt Doherty rescued a point.

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Predictions

Well done to Ryan, Woodend wolf, Prawny, Aussiewolf, Marin Wolf, Brompton Wolf, winchwolf, basherbaz, GoWolves and Mosman Wolf for collecting a maximum by correctly predicting the scoreline against Fulham.

Prawny moves into the outright lead at the top of the overall table at the end of Gameweek 31.

As always if you’d like to join in, simply leave your prediction for this game in the comment section below, which is where you’ll find my best guess.

Up The Wolves!

With two new wonderkids from Porto onboard and the long-term future of The Special One finally resolved, there were already plenty of reasons to be cheerful. 

Tonight’s performance, against an opponent that proved tricky last term, gave further cause for optimism.

If our improved fortunes against bottom half sides had previously shown that this Wolves team has an aptitude for learning from past mistakes, our quickfire start against the Blades suggested their appetite for improvement hasn’t abated.

Our sluggish performance at Bramall Lane last time out was replaced with a frenetic, swashbuckling start that was underlined by yet another emphatic finish from the sensational Jimenez.

The Mexican couldn’t have been happier with the luscious build-up play engineered by Moutinho and the fleet footed Podence, though the finish was far from straightforward.

Romain Saiss may have Blades new boy Aaron Ramsdale to thank for our second, but the Moroccan should still be lauded for a commanding finish.

In fact, the man whose surname goes hand-in-hand with Vanilla Ice’s one-and-only hit ought to be commended for an outstanding display all round.

United were always likely to improve in the second half and our rear-guard had to dig deep to keep them at bay. Saiss rose to the challenge superbly, as did the rest of his defensive counterparts.

But this was more than just a characteristically dogged Wolves performance. We controlled large parts of the game, transitioning the ball from defence to attack with considerable panache.

Both Podence and Neto were a constant thorn in the opposition’s side, with Moutinho orchestrating the play in typically beautiful fashion. 

It’s the sort of assured display that Nuno will want to see become the norm as he begins ‘a new cycle’ of his feted tenure.

And while there’s still room for improvement (Adama is not a right back), it’s hard to disagree with Jamie Carragher’s post-match assertion that we are good enough to challenge for a European place once again. 

There’ll be no such talk in the Wolves camp, but the early signs are golden.