I was right to fear the worst when I saw the line-up.
Wolves were lethargic, disjointed, and barely laid a glove on West Ham. A lot of momentum has been lost in the last three days.
Bruno is of course privy to who need needs a rest and who doesn’t, but trying to stay in the game until the hour mark, to then unload your bench, felt like a risky and negative approach.
Wolves played at a snail’s pace which encouraged the West Ham press, resulting in us knocking it long and fending off endless waves of attack.
It was so frustrating to watch West Ham turn us and play through our midfield at will, while we struggled to get out of our own defensive third with painfully slow passing and movement.
Wolves never looked like scoring even when West Ham sat back after going ahead. It’s hardly a surprise when we were playing like strangers.
Marcal looked limited, Hoever was naïve both defensively and going forward, Trincao was completely anonymous, and while Silva has improved, he’s still lacking in strength, knowhow and confidence. Let’s hope today’s showing put to bed the ridiculous social media clamour for Silva to start instead of Raul.
And Donk’s days in the Wolves engine room must surely be numbered too. How is Neves meant to go about his business of dictating a game when his midfield partner continually gives the ball away or just passes it backwards? It’s plain to see that Wolves are lacking a physical yet technical midfielder to let Neves go about his work.
A top six place is still achievable but if Bruno sticks with trying to replicate the latter Nuno era – sitting back, offering little creativity and showing no sign of carving out clearcut chances or goals – then our hopes will soon be extinguished.