I think the crisis might be over.
After the no-show against Palace, Wolves needed to turn up tonight. Especially after Bruno Lage took the uncharacteristic step of verbally eviscerating one of his players.
Another dour performance would have threatened to put a dampener on what has otherwise been an excellent season.
Thankfully, this was a test that the Wanderers passed with flying colours.
Granted, Watford are by far and away the worst team we’ve faced this season. But you’ve still got to get the job done.
The fact that the feat was accomplished within less than half an hour was certainly a surprise.
What was less shocking was how much more fluid we looked with Jimenez back in the side, with reports of his demise unsurprisingly proving to be ill-founded.
Podence playing as a more traditional number 10 also aided our fortunes. The diminutive Portuguese is far more effective when occupying the pockets of space that are to be found between defence and midfield, and so it proved tonight.
That being said, our most gilt-edged chances were laid on by a player in opposition colours. Spare a thought for professional vlogger/part-time footballer Ben Foster tonight, because it’s going to be a long old journey back to Hertfordshire for him.
Joking aside, the real MVP of the evening was the man who bagged our sumptuous fourth. Neves was simply majestic this evening, his strike capping off a dominant performance in the heart of midfield.
We’ve got Neves was the cry of the Molineux faithful, but perhaps sign him up would have been a more fitting chant. As I said on Twitter earlier today, tying Ruben down to a new deal has to be top of Jeff Shi’s to-do list. It would be a huge statement of intent for us to keep hold of our best player and build the team around him. A player of his extraterrestrial talents deserves no less.
It was also great to see Boly and Jonny back in the fold. The former was a more than able deputy for Kilman, who was rightfully taken out of the lineup after some shaky displays as of late, while the latter was effervescent down the right hand side.
All in all, a very productive evening at the Molineux. The challenge now is to keep the momentum going and to try and put another of the league’s basement sides to the sword on Sunday.