05 Nov 2026 19:42:15
Last week I wrote number 7 CF and fairly definitively castigated young Neave.
Last night he scored 2 goals and could have had more in 17 mins!!
I know one game as a late sub and 2 tap ins don't make a season but 2 goals a game would do fine!
Hopefully the manager sees what the lad can do in training and will come up with the solutions required.
Number 8
WF
At the start of the season the players Wolves were playing in the wide positions were Mane and R Gomes.
2 very young players who had minimal experience.
Both were on very modest money and although Gomes had cost a relatively high fee were cheap options
Sadly both have somewhat under-performed this season for different reasons.
Gomes, after a positive start - certainly from a goal scoring perspective - suffered an injury whilst Mane - who is a marmite player - has suffered from perhaps over-expectation and the fact that he, to me at least, looks better suited to a 10 than an 11.
Despite this though I am still hopeful that both of these players have long term futures at Wolves - Mane as a 10 or possibly a 2nd striker, and Gomes either as wing or maybe - if he can improve his defensive instincts - could be a WB?
They have the rest of this season, playing at a much much lower level than the Prem, to see if that is the case or not. Obviously if Wolves don't go up the step up/development required is far less than if Wolves do go up but at the moment the jury is out on them.
The manager however is wedded to playing WFs and despite the fact that for long periods of the season he hasn't had a single viable option he has continued to select inappropriate players and shoehorned them into his preferred system.
These players include:
Armstrong - who for me is a good championship level 2nd forward but a modest CF or WF - has played unsuccessfully out there. Bellegarde who I gave a 3 out of 10 to in the last game I "rated", (which I hoped was an aberration), has by all accounts consistently been performing at 3 out of 10 levels.
Bertrand who is yet to play a minute, his signing makes Neave, even before last night's 2 goals, seem sound. Obviously as a free agent there was no fee but if he is on half the rumoured money he is on double what he should be! His injury record over the past few years has been awful and he obviously had v v few other options so why are Wolves allegedly paying him well over double what Boro are allegedly paying Lankshear. Madness!
Finally it appears that the manager's first choice is Said, the player that Wolves effectively spent their entire summer transfer budget on.
He is a player who undoubtedly has shown glimpses. In the first game I saw him he got M of M and massive plaudits on SM but for me this was hugely over egged. In that match there were 2 or 3 moments in a sea of mediocrity. Since then he has had games were he has delivered nothing but mediocrity, games were there have been moments but not much more and occasional, albeit very very few, games were he has actually delivered sufficient moments to constitute an acceptable performance.
Of a very very poor cadre he does appear to be the best suited to the role but it is a very low bar.
For me if he was 19/20 and you had paid a couple of million you could argue it was worthwhile but he is 26 and Wolves paid serious money. Surely there was better out there for less not just in the Champ but even in lower leagues. A terrible signing who also has shown little to no sign that he would be able to step up if Wolves go up this year.
05 Nov 2026 20:00:59
Said could step up provided he spends every awake moment practising his delivery from wide and his shooting. He gets himself into excellent positions but time and time again he totally wastes the opportunity. 8 goals and 4 assists last season suggest he can find the net and a teammate who's in a goalscoring position but we've seen little evidence to date.
As for Bellegarde, he's yet another who has been regularly played out of position as has Mane. Neither have the pace to be really effective out wide.
05 Nov 2026 20:29:34
Old I hear what you are saying but he is nearly 27. The chance of a significant step up now is surely slim.
I also don't want to be too negative but the Belgium league is not strong - probably in line with the Championship - and for example Tolu scored for fun there and looked fairly ordinary when he came to Wolves.