Wolves blog: Toon win makes it glass-half-full for Nuno's side
A week is a long time in football – there’s a reason this cliché is used so often. It was doom and gloom after that loss to Cardiff, leaving us with just a point from a possible 18.
But along came the mighty Chelsea and Wolves turned them over, before grabbing three points at St James’ Park at the death.
If you include that Arsenal draw, which was part of the winless run, as part of this new four-game run, Wolves have lost just once and gained seven points. This leaves them just four points off sixth place as we edge towards the halfway point of the season.
The win over Newcastle on Sunday was hard fought, and Wolves’ dramatic injury-time away winner was their second of the season, after doing the same at West Ham.
At half-time, when Newcastle had scored their equaliser, there were fears that the Cardiff scenario would reappear and Wolves would again squander the result from a winning position.
They were giving away cheap free-kicks, giving the ball away, and were being overrun by Newcastle without Raul Jimenez to hold the ball up.
Salomon Rondon was proving a handful for the defence, setting up the first goal after hitting the crossbar.
Christian Atsu channelled his inner Adama Traore and his dribbling was one of the reasons Wolves accumulated so many bookings in the second half. Conor Coady, Ryan Bennett and Diogo Jota now go into the Bournemouth match with the possibility of missing Liverpool’s visit the following week. Surely Coady will want to play his hometown club?
Even when Newcastle – rightly – went down to 10 men, and Wolves were dominating, we were squandering good chances, with a few foolish offsides ending attacks prematurely.
Wolves looked far more dangerous on the counter attack in the final half-hour of the game, as shown by their 95th minute breakaway.
Matt Doherty is such a vital part of Wolves’ team and appears to be our most clinical finisher. But it was great to see Jota bang on form, scoring, assisting and ‘winning’ the red card.
He was maybe fortunate to score when he hit the ball straight at the keeper at point blank range, but the power saw the ball go in, and he has back-to-back goals after a long barren spell. Ultimately, in their prior away game, Wolves led the match, conceded and went on to lose – here they still got three points despite the setback.
Our team have appeared to give up on clean sheets, but they have scored two goals in each of their last two games, an improvement on earlier stinginess in front of goal.
Joao Moutinho looked a lot fresher coming off the bench, and Romain Saiss’s form now gives Nuno confidence that he has options in midfield.
Nuno’s men will relish back-to-back Molineux games before Christmas – Wolves could easily be sitting pretty in the Premier League as Santa comes to town.
