Don Goodman: There’s no danger of the drop for Wolves

Wolves are currently 11th after 12 games and Goodman has been impressed with what he’s seen so far.

The Sky Sports co-commentator, who spent four years at Molineux, thinks Nuno’s team could be even higher if they’d been more clinical in front of goal.

“They’ve been everything I expected them to be to be honest,” Goodman said when summing up Wolves’ start to the campaign.

“They are one of, if not the, best team that I have seen in the last 12 years of covering the Championship for Sky.

The first 30 games of last season, they were without down the best team.

“They were a Premier League team playing in the Championship. They had style, panache, and they dominated teams. They were outstanding.

“I’m not surprised they are taking that exact same style in the Premier League and being successful with it.

“It’s been a really good start, had they been more ruthless in front of goal it could have been even better.”

Head coach Nuno’s mantra is that performances matter more than results.

Goodman believes that will help Wolves progress in the coming weeks and months as they look to secure their mid-table position.

“Nuno is an evaluator of performances rather than results,” Goodman, who also played for Albion and Walsall during his career, added.

“Logic tells you if you play to a very high level week in, week out, you’re going to win games of football.

“He focuses his attention on maintaining those levels of performance.

“I have no fear of them being in a relegation battle, I believe they’ll finish between eight and 12th.”

Meanwhile, a former team-mate Wolves goalkeeper Rui Patricio has hailed the 30-year-old as the biggest influence on his career.

Sporting keeper Luis Maximiano said of Patricio: “I never had a favourite goalkeeper, but one that marked me was Rui Patrício.

“My dream was always to be where he was. Even at times when he was criticised.

“I always had the dream of being like him. When Sporting were interested in me he even sent me one of his shirts. We talk a lot. Friends stay forever.”

Wolves have sold around 2,000 tickets for their trip to Newcastle next month.

The club have been given an allocation of 3,200 for the match at St James’ Park on Sunday, December 9 (kick off 4pm).

They are priced at £30 for adults, £22 for over-65s, full time students are £22 and under-18s can get in for £16.

It’s Wolves’ first trip to Newcastle since a double-header in 2016 when they won 2-0 in the Championship and then lost a Carabao Cup tie by the same scoreline a few days later.