Derby 0 Wolves 2 – Five talking points

It's three games, three wins and no goals conceded so far under Nuno Espirito Santo.

Barry Douglas and Ivan Cavaleiro were on the scoresheet at Pride Park but it was arguably a scoreline that flattered the hosts.

So what did we learn from the game? Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers picks out five talking points.

Moves like swagger

"To hell with it - let's get carried away.," were the words of one of the E&S Wolves fan verdicters in yesterday's match summary, which pretty much nailed the thoughts of the majority of a very excitable fanbase right now.

But with a just a week of the season gone is this unabated optimism justified?

There'll be absolutely no mention here yet of the 'P' word, or even of a decent season in the offing. It's far too early days for that.

What there will be is fulsome praise of a quite scintillating hour-long display after Wolves starting to move through the gears from 30 minutes onwards at Pride Park.

In the past three or four years Wolves have produced a few magnificent team performances, with the most memorable ones probably being against Stoke (2-0, 2017), Liverpool (2-1, 2017), Newcastle (2-0, 2016), Huddersfield (4-1, 2015), Leeds (4-3, 2015) and Rotherham (6-4, 2014).

These were victories with drama, or style, or both.

But none of those wins, or indeed any performances that spring to mind in recent years, were achieved with such swagger as we saw at Pride Park on Saturday.

The movement, the touches, the passes, the flicks, the tricks...it was all there. It all clicked. And Pride Park (well the away end, the away bench and part of the press box) purred with pleasure.

Witness the passage of play below – with Boly's audacious flick, Saiss' perfectly released pass and Enobakhare's cheeky flick – as an example of what Nuno's team are already able to produce.

It was mesmerising, it was joyful, it was...Wolves?

Winging it

The key to this 3-4-3 system is the quality of the wing backs and Barry Douglas and Matt Doherty shone here.

An awful lot is being asked of them but they both possess the work ethic to bomb up and down their flanks and both have a good grasp of their defensive and offensive requirements.

Doherty in particular ran his socks off here and essentially played as a winger.

A succession of his crosses were bang on the money, across the face of goal, but too often there was no team mate there to capitalise, much to Nuno's frustration. Should he have altered his target range or should Leo Bonatini be playing off the last man? Either way that's something to work on.

But on the whole Doherty (who should have scored) and Douglas (who did) were excellent, winning the ball back high up the field and also offering a constant outlet for Neves, Saiss and Coady (yes, really) to ping some wonderful crossfield balls out to the wings.

In fact with Neves and Saiss in support Wolves often had a front seven and overloaded the opposition, who struggled to cope at times. Without the ball it becomes a back five with Neves and Saiss sitting. Everyone knows their roles, they're well drilled and organised. Considering it's still such early days in Nuno's reign, that speaks volumes for the hard work done on the training ground in pre-season.

Everything suddenly clicked into place – Doherty and Douglas rampaged on the overlaps, combining beautifully with Jota (who is so reminiscent of Helder Costa and, like Costa this time last year, you get the impression he's only just warming up) and the excellent Enobakhare, who was given a serious show of faith by Nuno to keep his place ahead of Cavaleiro. With Neves and the rejuvenated Saiss pulling the strings and barely misplacing a pass, Wolves really did look the real deal.

Rock solid

Wolves consistently sauntered through Derby’s defence like a slalom ski champion...some of the football they produced in the second half was heavenly. The only criticism was they didn't put away more of their clear cut chances.

But, as against Boro last week, this victory was built on a rigid, solid back line that yet again wasn't breached.

In fact that was arguably the most satisfying aspect of this victory...that Wolves were presented with a stern test, but came through it unscathed.

Derby edged the first 30 minutes and produced their own scintillating football at one point, careering through the heart of the Wolves defence via Tom Huddlestone and Chris Martin.

Conor Coady saved the day with a great sliding block to deny ex-Molineux loanee Andreas Weimann (one of two crucial Coady interventions before Wolves opened the scoring).

Nuno has built this team from the back with solid foundations – and five successive clean sheets including the back end of pre-season bodes very well for the coming nine months.

That, more than an explosive forward line, is what grinds out results over a 46-game campaign. And that’s why this feels more tangible than the early-season excitement of 12 months ago.

This time around there's substance to add to the style.

Cav restores his pride at the park

This was Wolves' second successive away league game at Pride Park, with their final trip of last season also being to Derby.

You couldn't get more of a stark contrast in the mood, performance and result. And the fortunes of Ivan Cavaleiro were also wildly different.

The Portuguese winger was sent off for a petulant headbutt after only half an hour of April's 3-1 defeat. He looked, frankly, disinterested with life at Wolves.

Fast forward four months and Cavaleiro, on the back of an excellent pre-season, is a different player.

Surprisingly he didn't start here but his cameo from the bench was exactly what you'd want – a pacey, busy half an hour where he helped stretched the play and of course grabbed Wolves' second goal.

Like Saiss, Cavaleiro has more than enough ability for the Championship, but has lacked consistency and application.

If that changes this season Wolves will have two very effective players on their hands.

Feet on floor

You’d think Wolves fans would be used to setting themselves up for a fall by now, having experienced more false dawns than an Arctic winter.

Last season the team kicked off with a six-game unbeaten run and ended up in a relegation battle.

Heck, back in 2011/12 Wolves were briefly top of the Premier League with seven points from three games...and contrived to win just three more games all season in accumulating one of the worst top-flight points totals in living memory.

Three wins in a week with no goals conceded have got everyone dreaming. Going on the victories over Middlesbrough and Derby – two of the best teams on paper in the Championship – there’s very little not to be delighted with so far.

Just don’t ask Nuno – who became the first Wolves manager since Ronnie Allen in 1965 to win his first three matches in charge – if he’s ‘delighted’ with what he’s overseen so far.

The Wolves boss has his feet stuck so firmly to the floor they’d need prising off with a hammer and chisel. When an unsuspecting radio presenter asked him if he was delighted with what he’d seen at Pride Park, Nuno replied curtly: "No", instead stating he was merely pleased.

Searching questions will be asked of this team and squad in the next week, with a rather daunting schedule of Hull (a), Cardiff (h), Southampton (a) and Brentford (a) in the space of 13 days and it's at the end of that run, heading into the international break, when we'll have really seen what Wolves are made of.

Yes the new signings all look promising but we all remember Joao Teixeira's alarming fall from grace a year ago after such a scintillating start.

So nothing has been achieved yet and Wolves still have to make one crucial addition in the transfer market in the form of a goalscoring striker.

But whatever happens in the coming weeks and months the scenes in the away end at 4.50pm on Saturday are why we all love the game.