Premier League 2019/20: Wolves vs Norwich – tactical analysis

Wolverhampton came to this Premier League fixture in a need of a win amidst the heavy schedule. Between January 23 and March 1 they have to face difficult opponents, with names like Liverpool, Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, and Espanyol among their counterparts. As expected, they were struggling as they failed to score in their last two league games. However, a staggering 4–0 home win against the Spanish side in the Europa League recovered Wolves’ mentality for this game.

In the other side, Norwich City’s performance were getting better. The Canaries won three out of their last seven games in all competitions. Not only that, their only defeats in that sequence were only to big-six clubs. Yet Wolves humbled the visitors with a convincing 3–0 win at the Molineux, and so without further ado, this tactical analysis will inform you how the match unfolded.

Lineups

Nuno Espírito Santo chose 3–5–2 for his side. Rui Patrício was picked between the sticks with Willy Boly, Conor Coady, and Romain Saïss playing as the back-three. In front of them, Leander Dendoncker, Rúben Neves, and João Moutinho controlled the midfield. Beside them, Matt Doherty and Jonny Otto started as the wing-back duo. Upfront, talisman Raúl Jiménez spearheaded the attacking line alongside Diogo Jota. Wolves’ dugout was filled with names like Adama Traoré, Rúben Vinagre, and Pedro Neto.

Oppositely, Daniel Farke opted to use 4–2–3–1 for Norwich. In the goal, Tim Krul was chosen to start. Youngsters Max Aarons and Jamal Lewis were picked to play as the full-back pairing, alongside centre-backs Ben Godfrey and Grant Hanley. The duo of Alexander Tettey and Kenny McLean played in the engine room in the middle. Up top, Finnish striker Teemu Pukki led the frontline, supported by Lukas Rupp, Ondrej Duda, and Todd Cantwell. Their bench was packed with the likes of Emiliano Buendía, Josip Drmić, and Marco Stiepermann.

Wolves stout defence: prelude

In this part of the analysis, we’re going to see the defensive tactics used by Wolves. As mentioned before, Nuno set his team up in 3–5–2 with three centre-backs. With three bodies in the heart of their defence, Wolves had numerical superiority against Norwich’s sole striker, Pukki. Not only that, but having three centre-backs also had another advantage for Wolves  especially in defending counter-attacks. For example, two defenders can put their eyes on Pukki’s run, and the remaining centre-back can focus to attack the ball.

Mainly, Wolves chose to sit in a mid-block. In the less-aggressive block, Wolves’ 3–5–2 would shift to 5–3–2 with Doherty and Jonny dropping from their positions. The 5–3–2 was more visible when Wolves retreated to a deeper area. In the 5–3–2, Wolves were very compact vertically, which meant they didn’t allow any space in between the lines.

Despite not actively pressing Norwich up to the visitors’ penalty box, Wolves did defend with aggression in another part of the pitch: the flanks. Nuno instructed his ball-side midfielder to step up next to the strikers to press Norwich’s build-ups. This particular tactic was deployed mainly when Norwich were approaching the halfway line. In the process, the midfielder would try to prevent the on-ball opponent from building through the flanks. The objective was to force the opponent to make a backward pass.