Matt Maher: Contrasting emotions, but plenty to be optimistic for
When the final whistle sounded, Ruben Neves and Emi Martinez both fell to the floor. Their emotions could hardly have been more contrasting.
For Neves, this was a burden off the shoulders, the last lingering ounce of relegation fear which had weighed heavy on the Wolves captain’s shoulders for the past nine months extinguished by his team’s 1-0 victory.
Martinez, meanwhile, wore the look of a man watching a dream disappearing rapidly over the horizon.
Saturday’s defeat at Molineux did not altogether end Villa’s chances of qualifying for Europe but it did make their margin for error a whole lot thinner.
Lose again next weekend to Tottenham and it really will be over. In all probability, nothing less than a victory will do to keep Unai Emery’s men in the race. Rarely can it have been more appropriate to describe a league match as a cup final.
Villa had their chances at Molineux and Ollie Watkins and Tyrone Mings in particular will have woken up yesterday morning still wondering how they did not earn their team at least a point. But after setting a Premier League record by scoring in 20 consecutive matches following Emery’s appointment, they have failed to find the net in their last two and fallen to narrow defeats. They could not have picked a worse time to lose their shooting boots.
Then again, they aren’t the only team who have struggled to breach Wolves’ home defences under Julen Lopetegui. This was their seventh win in nine at Molineux, all of them delivered with a clean sheet. That, more than anything, is why they’re staying up.
From a January transfer window which helped transform their fortunes, the £3.3million capture of Craig Dawson from West Ham was surely the most shrewd piece of business. Few clubs can claim to have found a bigger bargain.
The 33-year-old has added vital experience and savvy to the backline and his man-of-the-match performance on Saturday epitomised the spirit of a Wolves team who snuck into the lead courtesy of Toti Gomes’ ninth-minute header and spent the remainder of the afternoon holding on to the advantage.
Dawson set the tone for what was to come before the opener when he cut out Jacob Ramsey’s dangerous low cross at the near post. Wherever Villa turned after that, he was typically in the way, denying Emi Buendia a likely leveller when he flung himself in the way of the playmaker’s toe poke.
In the second half, he followed up a clearance from a corner by then getting in the way of Ashley Young’s goal-bound volley. The spirit proved infectious. In a sequence which summed up the home side’s desire, Pedro Neto chased the ball across Villa’s backline after losing it on one wing, eventually forcing a throw-in on the other.
Renewed hunger, coupled with organisation, have been Wolves’ biggest improvements under Lopetegui.
You might occasionally quibble about the quality and question whether a squad assembled at some expense shouldn’t be capable of something a little more expansive but there is time now to work on that. When a manager who has won the Europa League describes keeping Wolves up as the most difficult achievement of his career, it’s a reminder of the mess he inherited. The turnaround really has been considerable.
Huge strides have been taken by Villa too, even though it might not have felt like it in the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s defeat. That breathtaking 3-0 win over Newcastle, which put Emery’s men on the fringes of the Champions League race, suddenly feels much longer than three weeks ago.
Perspective, as always, is required. The truth is after a brilliant 10-match unbeaten run, Villa have lost narrowly at two of the toughest venues to currently visit in the Premier League. Maintaining the momentum which sent them surging at one point into the top five was always going to be difficult yet – even if they don’t crack the top seven this term, they’ve already proved themselves best of the rest and can build from solid foundations over the summer. Saturday provided evidence of where they are likely to strengthen with neither Bertrand Traore or his replacement, Leon Bailey, providing the consistency required on the right of midfield.
Both could point to some mitigation. Traore’s start was his first in the Premier League for 16 months, while Bailey was back after several weeks out with a hamstring injury. Yet neither was convincing and the wings appear an obvious area for Emery to target in the upcoming window.
You might also wonder about Buendia, who on Saturday was both Villa’s most lively attacking player but also their most wasteful. The Argentina international is more than adept in finding space but having done so, has a tendency to wait too long before deciding on his next move. Time and again, particularly in the first half, Villa were missing the final ball to finish their promising moves.
When they did find it, Watkins and Mings were wayward with their finishes and while Jose Sa did deny Buendia with a brilliant one-handed save, it was the home goalkeeper’s only serious exertion of the afternoon.
The visit of a Tottenham team who have conceded 10 goals in their last two away matches might be the ideal tonic if Villa are to rediscover their scoring touch.
Wolves head to Manchester United, where Lopetegui can focus on finding an effective formula away from home free of relegation fears.
His team were the one celebrating on Saturday night but both have reasons to look forward with some optimism.
