Wolves Fans' Verdict v Spurs: A well-earned point

Adam Virgo

On the balance of everything, a very good point overall. 

No Cunha for the second half, Toti being out injured and some general fatigue or small knocks causing a couple of key players to start on the bench which weakened us and being the third game within a week, a draw is a real positive. 

We made an excellent start to the game, a very well-worked free kick and a fantastic finish from Hwang making it two in two for him and you can really see his confidence increasing. 

The last two games we’ve looked so much better from set pieces but the marking on their corner for the equaliser wasn’t good enough. Rodrigo Bentancur managed to run free and no one tracked him. We are still shaky on set pieces at times but also with Strand Larsen being on the bench, we lost an extra tall physical player to help defend them. 

Spurs looked the more likely to score after they equalised, we had a couple of ranged attempts through Cunha and we did have a five to 10 minute spell where we were putting on some real pressure but they kept targeting our left hand side due to Ait Nouri playing high up and Dawson not being able to cover like Toti has done in the last two games, probably due to his lack of pace. 

The penalty decision was ridiculous after seeing it back. I don’t know what else Andre is meant to do, him and Brennan Johnson are chasing the ball and Andre gets his leg in front to push the ball away and gets his leg kicked from the back. I don’t think it should have been a foul to us or a penalty, it was a coming together and there is no way you can penalise either player in that situation. 

It didn’t matter thankfully due to a brilliant save by Jose Sa and was a big save just before half time. 

After the penalty save we just needed to get to half time but the pressure from Spurs was too much for us. Their second goal was well worked by them but we made errors leading up to the goal. Cunha going off at half time due to an injury felt like a massive blow and I wasn’t sure how we would play. 

The players really dug in and dealt with some difficult moments very well. Spurs had chances to kill the game but they either had Timo Werner trying to assist/score or we managed to make last ditch tackles, blocks and recoveries. 

All of that massively paid off when Strand Larsen pulled out an unbelievable finish into the roof of the net. It’s poor from Fraser Forster to get beat at his near post but I don’t think he really expected it and it was a crazy finish from the Norwegian. 

Three games unbeaten under Vitor Pereira and you can see how happy the players are at the moment. The confidence is flowing, the players are really putting in the effort and we actually look like a team and not just XI random individuals on the pitch. He’s done a wonderful job so far and long may it continue.

Liam Berry

Vitor Pereira has had a fantastic start to his Wolves career, with the 2-2 draw against Tottenham making it seven points out of a possible nine. 

He has brought stability to a previously sinking ship and given a team that was lacking in confidence an identity.  A feelgood factor is back around Wolves! 

The spotlight this season has been on Matheus Cunha, and rightly so after scoring 10 and assisting four in the first half of the campaign. However, Jorgen Strand Larsen has also really impressed me. 

His brilliant strike against Tottenham took his goal count to seven, which is really impressive for a new striker in the league. For context, in his first 19 games in the Premier League, Raul Jimenez scored five, so it’s clear that we have a top talent filling our number nine shirt. 

Coming on from the bench, Strand Larsen took his goal really well, not many strikers in the league would take that shot on from that angle. So, despite Cunha’s excellent impact over the first half of the season, let’s not overlook the impact Strand Larsen has had on the team. 

Finally, I want to talk about Matt Doherty, who has been pivotal to Pereira’s start. Moving from a flying wing back to a centre back was probably not on my bingo card for Doherty this season. 

However, he has thrived in his new position. For me, the tactical change is reminiscent of Conor Coady’s positional switch under Nuno back in 2017. Against his former club, Doherty had another top game, and for me, no matter who we bring in the January window, he has earned his spot in the right side of the back three. 

With eight days between our two fixtures, hopefully Pereira can have even more of an effect on the team.