Tottenham

As much as we brickhoused our way to victory, we would have lost that game under Bruno Lage.

The lack of intensity both on and off the ball is still rearing its ugly head and it’s going to take Julen Lopetegui another window and a summer on the training ground to eradicate that weakness.

But we now have a manager who is aware of the failings and is already able to influence change with cute in-game management and a powerful demeanor.

After yet another 45 minutes in which Wolves failed to understand the need to ‘earn’ the right to get on the front foot and play slick football, I certainly wouldn’t have predicted his changes. But the sign of a good manager is that you have faith in their work even when they do get things occasionally wrong.

I wouldn’t say Wolves massively improved second half but the tweaks in personnel and system and a realisation that Spurs were there for the taking, made enough of a difference.

Raul may not be the player of old, but give him enough service and the ball in the right areas and he still has plenty to offer. The same goes for Moutinho – tight games are made for João to come on and dictate proceedings. As for Adama, he fully utilised his pace. Too often he doesn’t want to take his man on, but you couldn’t say that today. He struck fear into Spurs, and that confidence led to the instinctive winner.

Looking for Brownlow Medal betting? We’ll send you to the right place.

The old guard are of course on their way out, but they made the difference today, and fair play to Lop for getting the best out of them.

Whisper it quietly, but four points from Newcastle and Leeds before the international break, and we’ll be well on the way to safety.

I understand those concerned with relegation – it can still be a pain seeing us struggle to create much – but our relegation rivals would snap our hands off with Lop’s record of 17 points from a possible 30.

As others have noted, it was good that Julen Loptegui didn’t hide away from acknowledging Wednesday’s dismal performance.

Some managers might have tried to deflect on the basis we kept them out for the majority of the contest, but he was quick to point out we should be doing better.

Standards are important and that was probably the worst performance – with the ball at least – of his time in charge.

One thing that continues to concern me is that this team seem to go through two distinct phases in games – sustained possession without creating followed by another period in which they can’t find even one good pass.

We’ve got to sustain a higher level of performance for longer and take more chances in attack.

Spurs

Losing to Sheff Utd the other night almost certainly means another season without a trophy for Tottenham.

They’re still in the Champions League but have a 1-0 deficit to overturn against AC Milan in the second leg and even if they were to progress, they don’t give you the feeling they’re capable of going all the way in that competition.

In the Premier League, getting that top-four finish is a realistic aspiration. They currently occupy the final spot and have a good run of games coming up against teams at the bottom.

That doesn’t always count for much, but they possess attacking players that can punish weak defences, so they’ll be hoping for a strong return in March and early April to bolster their position.

Lloris and Bentancour are both out, the latter for the remainder of the season.

An away record of won 5, drawn 3, lost 4, scored 20 and conceded 20 isn’t brilliant and coupled with that mini-upset in the cup the other night, shows they can be vulnerable on their travels.

Harry Kane (20 goals already this season) and Richarlison are both serial scorers against Wolves and the latter is still waiting for his first Premier League goal for Tottenham. I hope that doesn’t follow a predictable script.

Wolves

If Cunha is fit, I think Julen has to look at fielding the same attacking lineup that performed well for the first hour at Fulham.

Hugo Bueno is probably ruled out by what looked like a hamstring injury he picked up at Liverpool, so Ait-Nouri will be back in the side.

I’ll be disappointed if I see Moutinho deployed in that advanced attacking midfield role again. He works hard and is always neat in possession but we need another player that carries a direct threat in those spaces.

I wouldn’t be overly upset to see Nunes dropped, possibly for Gomes if that might free Ruben to get further forward. Matheus teases quality but I don’t feel is giving enough to the team in terms of effort or output to be an automatic pick.

Predictions

Well done to Ash k, Wokywolf, Steppenwolfe and Desert Wolf who got the scoreline spot on at Anfield.

Rich now has a five-point lead at the top of the overall table at the end of Gameweek 25. He can turn that into a ruby fortune with the right bets.

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.

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

Up The Wolves!

The narrative has to change.

More specifically, Bruno Lage has to change the narrative.

That’s now 10 Premier League matches without a victory and had that sequence not been spread across two seasons we know what the likely outcome would have been.

Even before inviting Guedes and Nunes to the party, controlled possession and good defending weren’t in short supply. The problem was and continues to be putting the ball in the net.

On today’s evidence, neither of those players are the definitive answer, despite both coming close to making a difference.

Guedes showed himself to be a willing runner, making life uncomfortable for the Spurs defence in the first half, but lacking that killer instinct when he got into the positions.

For star boy Nunes, it was a lower profile debut but he did glance a brilliant header just wide in what was probably the closest Wolves came in an impressive first 45.

Moutinho and Neves in particular were masterful at times to keep possession ticking over and the home side pinned back.

But there was always the feeling Spurs would up the ante after the break and when the chances came for Kane and co the outcome would be different…and so it proved.

We had a warning with Kane glancing a header off the bar and Son smacking the outside of the post and we couldn’t maintain possession well enough in that crucial part of the game to re-establish control.

Set pieces looked like a good route to goal for them and it was a smart bit of forward play from England’s number 9 to escape Collins and nod home the only goal.

Up to that point he’d been managed admirably by the big defender, but that momentary lapse was enough to cost us the game.

It shouldn’t have been of course. Nuno would always say if we concede 0s and 1s we can get consistent results and that should ring true were it not for our laughable performance levels inside the opposition’s penalty area.

Again today, openings were created but not converted.

Ait-Nouri got in but tripped over his own feet (a consistent and frustrating trait), Raul escaped in the box but between him and Dendoncker the ball somehow failed to make it goalwards and on the sole occasion we got a clear sighter with a man in position, Podence inexplicably scuffed it into the ground.

It’s easy to say we need a striker and I’m not arguing against that obvious point but I think players of this quality should be able to produce greater returns with the right coaching and instruction around their attacking play.

This is where Lage will now be under the microscope as pressure intensifies with each blank returned.

He can console himself with the fact we stood toe to toe with a team expecting a top four finish but will know he needs a win in the coming weeks to shift the narrative around his own capabilities.

It’s disappointing that we won’t find out if Morgan Gibbs-White could have fulfilled his potential at Wolves, but I’m satisfied the club have done good business this week.

We wanted a transfer window like 18/19 and it’s shaping up that way with a few weeks left to do business.

That summer we strengthened the spine of the team with key additions that have carried us since. In Collins, Guedes and most excitingly Nunes, we can hope for the same again.

The missing piece is a striker and if Wolves can recruit well without losing any key personnel, I think everyone would be delighted with that outcome.

In the background, there’s a difficult game to prepare for against a strong-looking Tottenham side.

Spurs

Despite their own recruitment drive, Antonio Conte has so far stuck with the same XI that carried them into the top four last season.

But in Perisic, Bissouma and Richarlison they’ve added quality, experience and depth to their squad, which will come in handy over the 38-game stretch.

Kulusevski and Bentancur were both good finds last season, giving the side a nice balance so I can understand Conte’s reluctance to make sweeping changes.

They were perhaps fortunate to escape from Stamford Bridge with a point last Sunday but the character shown in twice fighting back to get a result made it feel like a win.

That good feeling will be carried into this fixture, making it all the more difficult for Wolves on a ground where they’ve won twice in their three visits.

Wolves

Quite a few interesting selection dilemmas for Bruno Lage to ponder this week, which must feel like a luxury given the paucity of options so far.

Can Matheus Nunes go straight into the side? You would have thought so. Is Nelson Semedo ready to challenge for a start? If Moutinho is fit, should he play?

What about the front three? Persist with Hwang leading the line or bring Guedes into the team? Could Traore even be considered? Probably not but it’s possible.

When Raul returns and if we sign another striker, there will be all sorts of configurations with the midfield and attack, which hasn’t been the case for some time.

It’s not all good news for Lage though as expectations will now skyrocket. Results have been terrible since February and he can no longer lean on the fact he hasn’t been backed to build his own team. He needs to find the right formula as soon as possible.

Predictions

For the second consecutive week, nobody correctly predicted the scoreline. A handful of people had the draw though so some points were collected.

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.

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

Up The Wolves!

Things aren’t so bad after all.

Turns out, despite the apocalyptic musings of Wolves Twitter, that Jimenez isn’t finished and Dendoncker can kick a ball.

And, while the need for reinforcements remains, results like this show that there is a method to Fosun’s (perceived) madness.

Cast your eye over the Spurs defence and you’ll see that, contrary to popular belief, money can’t buy you everything.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but their centre halves cost over £100m while their imperious old gold counterparts cost less than £10m.

Nelson Semedo cost significantly more than Matt Doherty, but nobody is doubting that he is a significant upgrade on the Irishman.

It’s a similar story in midfield, where Academy graduate Luke Cundle more than coped against January arrival Rodrigo Bentancur.

None of this is to say that our owners are infallible, of course. I just wish some people would cut them some slack.

Anyway, on to the matter at hand. We were excellent today weren’t we?

It’s showings like that which demonstrate just how astute a tactician Bruno is.

He completely outwitted Conte in the first half, with the extra man in midfield allowing us to get more bodies in and around the box.

It helped that Spurs were so porous in possession, but we were far more clinical here than we were on Thursday night.

There was more purpose to our attacking play, with Jimenez and Podence linking together superbly. I thought the latter was particularly good in the first half, regularly dropping into pockets of space that Spurs were unable to plug.

There was probably an element of good fortune to both goals, with the home side’s defending leaving a lot to be desired. But you’ve still got to take the chances when they come, and Jimenez and Dendoncker did that with aplomb.

The second half was a slightly different story, as was to be expected, but we looked pretty comfortable throughout, with Sa and in particular Kilman intervening when needed.

I’m running out of superlatives for our defensive man mountain at this point. He’s well on the way to becoming a Molineux great at this rate. Surely an England debut is around the corner?

It was good to see the bench looking in better health too. Hwang, Trincao and Silva are good options to call upon, and things are only going to get better with Neto seemingly on the verge of his long awaited comeback.

All in all, things are looking much rosier than they were three days ago. It’s a funny old game isn’t it?

The main difference between this season and last season has been not conceding the first goal every week.

Aside from the miracle turnaround at Villa Park we still haven’t looked great when chasing games.

Last night was no exception. Plenty of pressure and good intentions after falling behind but never really looking likely to pick the lock.

Leaning on our defensive resilience and catching teams out when the game is stretched is our best chance with the players at our disposal and that will again be the plan in the second leg of our North London double header on Sunday.

Spurs

It started well for Antonio Conte but an iffy January window and back-to-back league defeats have dampened some of the enthusiasm.

As it is for Arsenal, West Ham and Man Utd, none of these teams are continually excelling so it’s all very much to play for in the hunt for Champions League football.

Scored 28 and conceded 27 underlines the problem – not particularly prolific or defensively robust.

It’s all just a bit ‘meh’ and that’s the challenge facing Conte, to shape this team and give them some sort of meaningful identity.

A few more goals from Harry Kane would help and with just five on the board in the league this season he’s fallen well short of previously high standards.

Wolves

We missed João Moutinho against Arsenal and I hope he’s fit enough for consideration on Sunday.

Chiquinho probably did enough to suggest he could be worthy of a start but may be better from the bench in what could be a bit of a chess match.

I’m not sure why Marcal was suddenly in the team last night but Ait-Nouri should return for this one. It would be great to see Jonny get some minutes, even if it’s just a short cameo from bench.

I found Podence’s performance infuriating against Arsenal and he needs to focus more on the basics than always going for the Hollywood moment in areas of the pitch it’s ill-advisable. If Hwang was fit enough to start, I’d be putting him in, but it’s probably too soon even if he recovers from his back spasm.

Last time out

Deli Alli won and scored a slightly dodgy penalty at Molineux earlier in the season to give them the victory on Nuno’s return. We should have got something from that game. It was another tight contest in the League Cup but again Spurs edged it on penalties after Wolves fought back from two goals down to level the tie.

They also won 2-0 in this fixture last season and probably should have increased that margin as Wolves were limping to the finish line by that point.

Predictions

Well done to AussieWolf, Chesterwolf and Steppenwolfe for all getting a maximum by correctly predicting a 1-0 defeat against Arsenal.

Cannock Wolf leads the way at the top of the overall table at the end of Gameweek 22.

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.