Premier League 2018/19: Wolves vs Huddersfield

Out of darkness cometh light. One of the sayings that epitomises Wolverhampton Wanderers and has been a tagline for the club for as long as one can remember. At this particular moment in time, after a fourth defeat in five, it’s difficult to see the light for Nuno’s Wolves. Now, it is a far cry from the disastrous double drop that Wolves suffered when they ended up in the third tier of English football and a million miles from when the Molineux club fell to the fourth division, however, at this particular moment in time, it’s a blip. Very much like eternal darkness. Since beating Crystal Palace in early October, Wolves have failed to find the form which got them off to such a good start this season.

Huddersfield, on the other hand, were great value for the win and while Wolves’ defensive problems will be analysed in this piece, we will evaluate the Terriers performance as well. Arguably the best way to sum up the first half at Molineux is that it was Huddersfield’s best 45 minutes of the season and Wolves’ worst (maybe with the exception of Watford). Wagner’s side pressed the home side in all the right places and didn’t let the once acclaimed ‘Champions of the World’ have any time on the ball at all. Before we get into the game itself, let’s see how the two teams lined up.

Team News

No surprises from Nuno with the Wolves starting XI. Jonny, the only absentee from the point at Arsenal, replaced by Ruben Vinagre as expected. Wagner sprung somewhat of a shock by selecting Tommy Smith in a back three rather than Stankovic who was thought to be replacing Zanka. Durm came in for Lowe, in Huddersfield’s only other change.

Much like Watford before them, Huddersfield recognised that Wolves tend to struggle if the midfield is packed and that’s exactly what happened. That accompanied with Nuno’s reluctance to sacrifice his system and beliefs ensured that once Huddersfield went into the lead, it was going to take something special for Wolves to get back into the game.

Same Old Issues Arising

Going back to Nuno’s reluctance to change the system, you could maybe attribute that to Mooy’s first goal. If we played with three central midfielders in either a 3-5-2 or 4-3-3, it would have been someone else rather than Cavaleiro ‘tracking’ Mooy. Before that, Doherty is at fault as he fails to track his man which might sound familiar and that’s because it is. Without even having to think, that’s goals against Spurs, Watford, Brighton and now Huddersfield that he’s been at fault for. As opposed to singling out Doherty, let’s take a look at the phases of play that led up to Mooy’s opener, which came inside the first ten minutes.

As we looked at in the preview, Huddersfield have a tendency to play the ball around at the back before panicking and then lumping it long. In this instance, it was no different as Lossl is pressed by Raul Jimenez. Due to the positioning of Costa and Cavaleiro, there is no pass on for the keeper as Jimenez cuts off the possible pass to Kongolo on the far side.

Nothing To See

Coady remains composed enough to play a lofted ball to Ruben Vinagre. There’s not much going wrong at this point, although this normally seems to be the case. It only takes something very small to go wrong and then the domino effect begins.