Wolves First Three Games
brilliant performances through rapid yet efficient attacking...can they sustain a press?
Progression Podium Points
6: Neves, Saiss
5: Marcal
1: Hoever
Shot Buildup Involvement Podium Points
8: Traore
4: Neves
3: Jimenez
2: Kilman
1: Marcal
Receiving Podium Points
7: Traore
5: Jimenez
3: Trincao
2: Semedo
Turning Possession into shots
So far this season if Wolves and their opponents have 300 passes each, you’d expect Wolves to have just over 12 shots and their opponents just over 5. That’s how efficient Wolves have been at turning having the ball into shots and how good their defense has been at stopping possession turning into shots. The only team above them in this measure is Everton, who have had 37% possession. Wolves are right about par at 49% possession.
They’ve done it through long fast breaks: the 22 long fast breaks Wolves have had are 4 more than the two Liverpool squads t-2nd. This all starts with the man everyone thinks: Adama Traore.
No player has more shot buildup contributions in the entire league than Traore and unsurprisingly no one is more involved in long fast breaks than Traore.
Traore has had a couple main outlets: the most progression has come from the left sided defenders of Marcal and Saiss, nearly 60% of his progressive receiving has come from those two.
but the Neves/Adama combo is the one that pops up most often leading up to a shot
Wolves quality of counter is much different than Everton’s speculative counters where they lose the ball a ton and are very inefficient but count on their bunkering defense to hold off wave after wave of attacks: Wolves are actually good at moving the ball efficiently. Their rating is above 100 every single game, showing they gained more yardage per ball loss than league average in each game.
A variety of defenses
The frenetic and effective high press against Spurs was replaced by something much more normal and easier to move the ball against vs both Leicester and Man Utd. The Foxes and the Red Devils both racked up high progression efficiency numbers but Leicester stagnated badly just outside the Danger Zone and needed 64 passes per shot and wound up in single digit shots.
United were less stagnant outside the Danger Zone
but Wolves still found a way to stave off shots in a big way: 56 passes per shot. I’m not sure the defense they played against Leicester and Man Utd is as repeatable or impressive as the stuff they did vs Tottenham, completely destroying Spurs throughout the game. If they can keep up that kind of energy and pressure, it’s another level they can reach.
Wolves central midfield area in front of their box has been a fortress defensively so far. Maybe that’s what Joao Moutinho can hang his hat on because with the ball..
Area for improvement?
Moutinho’s stats have been ticking down for a few years. He’s a 35 year old, 5 foot 7, 134 pound central midfielder in the Premier League, each 90 he completes should be celebrated for will and work ethic. But from his first year to now he has seen drops from
-4.6 yards progressed per pass to 4.0
-285 to 260 to 205 yards progressed passing per 90
-4.3 tck + int to 3.9
-25 pressures to 19
-112 yards progressed carrying to 98
Moutinho is the small wolf in the middle alongside your Allans, your McArthurs and Freds while the Big Neves is at the top alongside Pogbas, Rodris and Kovacics.
It’s early but Moutinho’s fading influence makes you think the next big transfer will be in the center of the pitch…the sale of Owen Otasowie was a puzzling one for Wolves. Feels like there is more than just on-the-pitch reasoning for that one.
Backline Progressing in chunks
Instead of simply functioning as funnels toward the wingbacks, the back 3 of Coady/Kilman/Saiss directly move the ball to the forwards a lot.
Comparing to another 3atb team in Chelsea you can see the difference.