Wolverhampton Wanderers’ hopes of finishing in the top half of the Premier League were damaged over the weekend when they drew 2-2 with Nottingham Forest. The Old Gold have lost two and drawn two of their four games since the international break, failing to win a top-flight match along the way. As a result, they are now in 11th place in the standings.
Gary O’Neil will need to motivate his team if he wants to guide them to a top-half finish because they still have games against Arsenal, Manchester City, and Liverpool left before the season ends.
Matheus Cunha scored twice in his first start since early February, and Wolves did demonstrate some resiliency by rallying from a 2-1 deficit to claim a share of the victory.
Though Morgan Gibbs-White, who joined Forest in the summer of 2022, is still impressive, it was a former Wolves sensation who opened the score for Forest during the match. Did previous manager Bruno Lage make a mistake in moving the Englishman, even though O’Neil has lifted the spirits at Molineux this season after their 2022–2023 struggles?
When Gibbs-White was used against his previous employers in his preferred number ten role, he excelled and demonstrated what they were lacking.
He proved he was more than willing to take on a Wolves defense that had given up 49 goals before the game by successfully completing three of his six dribbles in addition to scoring Forest’s equalizer.
Gibbs-White won ten of the 17 contested duels he engaged in during the game, demonstrating his resilience and ability to cause chaos for the opposing defense in addition to his ability to disrupt their plans.
All things considered, it was a fantastic effort that keeps up his amazing run of form this term. The 24-year-old has tallied six goals and seven assists in all competitions since the season began. During the same time frame, no Wolves midfield player has contributed as many goals, and just four players overall have outperformed Gibbs-White’s 13 this season.
The Old Gold lack an attacking midfielder that can truly bring some energy to their team and contribute a fair number of goals and assists, despite players like Cunha, Pedro Neto, and Hwang Hee-Chan all making valuable contributions.
After a stellar season (2021–2022) at Sheffield United, where he scored 12 goals and provided ten assists, it became evident that Lage wasn’t quite in the picture for the upcoming campaign. It was clear Lage would accept an offer of an initial £35 million for the midfield player when it surfaced at the close of the summer transfer season, and it appeared to be a great deal.
Add-ons might have raised the entire sum to £42.5 million, making it even more profitable for the Old Gold in the event that he prevailed.
Almost two years later, even though the club’s finances were improved, it appears as though they may have regretted allowing him go, especially in light of his stellar achievements for Forest this season.
Even with his influence, might Wolves’ decision to let go of former captain and lucky charm Ruben Neves last summer have been even more foolish? It just so happens that in 2023–2024, he has contributed to goals with an even higher total than Gibbs–White. The numbers of Ruben Neves at Wolves The Portuguese midfielder, who came to the team ahead of 2017–18 from FC Porto, quickly made himself at home, scoring six goals in 42 Championship games as the team won the second division and was promoted to the top flight.
Despite making 177 Premier League appearances over the next five seasons and scoring 21 goals along with nine assists, Neves’ impact was substantial.
His best performance came from the previous season. If it weren’t for Neves, the Old Gold might have been relegated, even though they had their joint-worst season in the top flight since promotion. The former Porto star demonstrated his value to the team by ranking first for goals and assists (seven), accurate passes per game (48.8), and critical passes per game (0.9). He also finished as the squad’s top outfield player overall with a 7.23 Sofascore rating.
The 27-year-old set a club record when he signed with Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal last summer, paying £47 million. Neves has proven he is a greater loss to Wolves than Gibbs-White by living up to his price tag during his stay in the Middle East.
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