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At what point does a relegation scrap turn into a scramble to prevent an historic crisis? Wolves appear to be answering that question this season. Sixteen games into the season they are without a win, have just two points, and are threatening to relieve Derby County of the unenviable label of the Premier League’s worst ever team. This isn’t just another bad side going down; this is a club threatening to become the Premier League’s ultimate cautionary tale.
Wolves may have already crossed that line. They became the first team in Premier League history to start consecutive campaigns with 10 or more winless matches, and now they stand on the brink of further infamy. Failure to beat Brentford this weekend would see Wolves equal Sheffield United’s record 17-game winless start in the 2020-21 season.
The broader picture is even more damning. With just 0.13 points per game, they are on course to finish the season with fewer than five points. This would not only fall short of Derby’s notorious 11-point campaign in 2007-08 but fail to reach even half of that total. Derby had six points at this stage of the season.
Wolves have become a solid Premier League club over the last few years. After earning promotion by winning the Championship in the 2017-18 season, they have enjoyed a few peaks: an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley in 2019, a run to the Europa League quarter-finals in 2020 and, perhaps their greatest achievement of all, eight consecutive seasons in the English top flight – their longest run since a nine-year streak between 1967 and 1976.
Successive seventh-place finishes in 2018-19 and 2019-20, the two seasons after their promotion, encouraged their more starry eyed fans to dream of a new era at Molineux. Perhaps some even had flashbacks to the glory days under Stan Cullis. Nuno Espírito Santo had built a side with a clear identity, one rooted in organisation but unafraid of expression.
Adama Traoré was encouraged to embrace chaos down the right wing with his lightning speed; Diogo Jota was given licence to drift and attack space from the left; and Rúben Neves, Leander Dendoncker and João Moutinho orchestrated the play. Raúl Jiménez was the focal point; the Mexican scored or set up 61 goals over those two seasons. What Wolves would do for just a fraction of that output this season.
Molineux was a theatre of goals and Portuguese flair. Fast forward to today and even their own manager cannot bear to watch his side: “I’d be angry if I were a Wolves supporter,” Rob Edwards said after their 15th loss of the season, against Manchester United. The fans protesting against the club’s owners outside the stadium for the first 15 minutes of that game would have been better off staying there as their side were beaten 4-1. The performance summed up their season: uninspiring, no attacking intent and a defensive structure leakier than a sieve.
Wolves have slipped into mediocrity over the last five years. The fans who dared to dream when they were playing at Wembley or taking on Sevilla in the Europa League have watched the team finish 13th, 10th, 13th, 14th and 16th in the Premier League. After two relegation fights, five managers coming and going, and the sale of any player who dared to show a glimpse of potential, this season felt inevitable.
The club has spent years quietly dismantling the spine that brought them success. Raúl Jiménez, Rúben Neves, Adama Traoré, Pedro Neto, Matheus Nunes, Max Kilman, Conor Coady and João Moutinho have all left for greener pastures, each departure chipping away at the team before it could live up to the promise it had shown.
The exits of Rayan Aït-Nouri and Matheus Cunha in the summer might have been the final nail in the coffin. They were directly involved in 32 of the team’s 54 league goals last season and both ranked among the Premier League’s best for take-ons, progressive carries and goal-creating actions – all areas of creativity where Wolves are now ranking near the bottom of the league. Their replacements came in the form of players with no Premier League experience, shifting that heavy burden on to the shoulders of Fer López, Tolu Arokodare and Jhon Arias.
Unsurprisingly, they have struggled to make an impact. Arias has yet to score or set up a goal in 15 appearances; Arokodare looks a ghost of the striker who scored 21 goals in Belgium last season; and Lopez may be sent on loan to Celta Vigo just a few months after he arrived for £19m. Wolves gambled on promise over proven quality and it backfired.
Wolves tore the creative pulse out of their side and tried to patch it up with band aids. It is no surprise they have scored just nine goals this season and have become the first club to enter December with no player with more than a single goal since Leicester in the 1977-78 season. Even Jørgen Strand Larsen, who Newcastle tried to sign for £50m in the summer, has delivered a solitary goal across 14 appearances.
And yet, even amid the chaos, not everything has been lost. They showed plenty of fight in their 2-1 defeat at Arsenal last weekend. Losing a game after scoring two own goals – one of which came in the dying seconds of the game – must have been heartbreaking for the players but this felt like a disappointment with a silver lining. They were a minute away from becoming just the second visiting team to take a point from the Emirates this season, after Manchester City. Players knew their roles, mistakes were minimised, the team had structure and the defence was stubborn.
Wolves showed heart and resolve; they have not given up. As Robert Earnshaw, who played for Derby in 2007-08, has warned: “You can relegate yourself based on how you think. It was almost as if everyone gave up. It was 20 games to go and it was like: ‘We’re never going to do it’.” A team can be undone as much by doubt as by goals conceded; Edwards will be hoping that the performance he saw at Arsenal will give them the hope and confidence they need to avoid making unwanted history.
This is an article by WhoScored
