Wolves get a well-earned point in a draw away from home, against Brighton and Hove Albion. The first half was below-par from a Wolves perspective, but after some tactical adjustments at the break, it was a much better second period. Wolves initially set up in a 5-3-2 formation, and as which as I feared, it left our attackers very isolated leaving us to create very little goal-scoring opportunities. After half-time, Toti Gomes and Mario Lemina made way for Carlos Forbs and Pablo Sarabia. This meant that Wolves had switched up their approach to a 4-4-2 which turned out to be much more successful than the 5-3-2 used in the previous half. Could this result give Wolves momentum for their more-favourable, upcoming fixtures?
Just before the break, Jose Sa had made an error leading to a turnover of possession just into the Wolves half. The ball is played to Georginio Rutter who drives at the Wolves defence, before playing a smart ball in behind to Danny Welbeck who runs past Craig Dawson and smartly places it into the far corner.
Carlos Forbs holds onto the ball for too long before attempting to clear it on the left-flank after a perfectly timed tackle by Craig Dawson. The ball bounces to Tariq Lamptey who drives down the right wing before cutting it back to Evan Ferguson on the edge of the Wolves box. He takes one touch with his right foot and drills it into the bottom left corner. 85th minute, 2-0, the game is surely done..
A quick response from Wolves! A corner is played into the penalty area by Pablo Sarabia which narrowly avoids Matheus Cunha who hass leapt up to meet it. It falls to Craig Dawson who controls the ball with his chest, swings a boot at it which is blocked by Tariq Lamptey. It then falls to Rayan Ait-Nouri who hits it across the floor, just to the keepers left.Â
Wolves are getting desperate, most of the team are high-up into Brighton's half. Unfortunately, Rayan Ait-Nouri is disposed leaving Tommy Doyle in a 4v1 situation against 4 of Brighton's players. After a poor pass, the chance is wasted as Tommy Doyle intercepts the ball and taps it to the side of the Brighton attacker before playing a perfect 40-yeard pass to the right-flank where 3 Wolves player are in acres of space with no Brighton players around them. Matheus Cunha picks up the ball and drives at the Brighton defence. Pablo Sarabia on the overlap, and Goncalo Guedes making a run on the inside, Matheus Cunha decides to not use either of them. He stutters before striking the ball, which deflects off of Van Hecke's boot and into the top of the net. The Wolves away end erupts, Wolves have equalised in stoppage time!
After the match against Brighton, I have come back feeling very confident and have gained some belief that we can still push for mid table and avoid relegation.
I think Sarabia needs to play more and Forbs needs to start games because of his pace.