Wolves 2 Villarreal 1 – Report and pictures

Villarreal took the lead early on when Gerard Moreno chipped over Rui Patricio. The Spaniards spurned two more excellent chances in the first half, while Wolves missed a penalty when Ruben Neves side-footed wide after Diogo Jota had been fouled.

Wolves were much improved after the break and scored twice in six minutes shortly after the break, with Willy Boly heading home a Helder Costa corner before Raul Jimenez tapped in after good work from Diogo Jota.

Analysis

That's that then, pre-season done...and Wolves look in pretty good shape.

Games against Basel, Young Boys, Ajax, Bochum, Real Betis, Derby, Stoke and Villarreal have yielded three wins, four draws and one defeat, writes Tim Spiers at Molineux.

Fitness-wise Wolves look ready. Performance-wise this game, as the rest of the summer, was a mixed bag.

The first half here showcased a hitherto unknown phenomenon barely witnessed at Molineux since the 2016/17 season...a really poor defensively display.

Three times Nuno's team were opened up and they were lucky Villarreal only punished them once from their trio of one-on-ones.

Romain Saiss looked far from comfortable at right centre half but he wasn't the only culpable one – Ruben Neves (who missed his second penalty from three attempts in a Wolves shirt) gave the ball away for one of the chances and Conor Coady wasn't at his alert best by any means.

With Ryan Bennett on at half time normality resumed in terms of Wolves' familiar back line – and indeed their defensive rigidity.

Going forward there were flashes of genius from Diogo Jota and Helder Costa, while Raul Jimenez pleasingly got on the scoresheet as Wolves scored in open play for only the second time since they were thrashing Young Boys 4-0 in Switzerland on July 14.

There's plenty to work on but Wolves' shape is solid, Rui Patricio looks very tough to beat in goal (his kicking needs a bit of work, mind) and you can see improvements in the past week alone from fellow new boys Joao Moutinho, Jonny Castro and Jimenez.

Talking of new boys, the transfer window ends on Thursday. This game won't have impacted on Nuno's thinking on that front, but it's clear there are couple of holes in the squad that need filling.

With those additions, Wolves will go into the season in fine fettle.

Match report

Nuno named a first team squad, with the clutch of youngsters who'd impressed in pre-season such as Ryan Giles, Pedro Goncalves and Elliot Watt not involved.

Ruben Vinagre was on the bench for his first involvement this summer after winning the Euro Under-19s with Portugal, while Raul Jimenez got the nod over Leo Bonatini in the only change from the team that lost 2-1 to Derby last weekend.

Villarreal included Spanish international Santi Cazorla in their XI, with the midfielder training with the club after leaving Arsenal this summer. In the 'Alfred N'Diaye Derby', the ex-Wolves loanee was named on the bench.

Villarreal finished fifth in La Liga last season and they deserved their half time lead after being one of the few sides in the past 12 months to make Wolves look defensively weak.

Wolves actually started off quite strongly, enjoying a fair amount of play in the final third.

Neves was seeing plenty of the ball, although a couple of his trademark rakes were misplaced in what was a half he'd want to forget. Of he and Joao Moutinho it was Neves who was the 'midfield enforcer' of the two, in the loosest sense of the term, with the young Portuguese star looking to have bulked up over the summer.

Diogo Jota looked lively and he sent a unrewarded superb ball across the face, while Moutinho sent a decent curling effort over the bar from range.

Then in the 17th minute Wolves were sliced open for the first of three times in the next 13 minutes. Neves played a poor short pass to Coady, Moreno nipped in and raced clear only for Patricio to meet him and put him off, leading the forward to shoot wide.

He made no mistake just 60 seconds later though – an excellent through ball split Conor Coady and Willy Boly and Moreno smartly dinked over Patricio.

It was unusual to see Wolves looking so vulnerable at the back. Coady's positioning left something to be desired and Saiss again looked uncomfortable at right centre half.

Villarreal should have doubled their lead on the half hour mark – this time it was Karl Toko Ekambi who raced clear of Saiss and this time Patricio pulled off an outstanding save to deny the Villarreal no. 9.

At a quiet Molineux Wolves weren't giving their fans much to cheer but a minute late they almost equalised when a long bouncing ball over the top wasn't deal with and Jimenez prodded across goal and wide.

Costa was looking sharp and it was his cross that should have led to Wolves making it 1-1. Jota controlled it superbly and went down for a spot kick, awarded by Lee Probert. Up stepped Neves with a languid run-up and a calm sidefoot...but sent it wide of the post.

That – and a free Jota shot from 18 yards which ballooned into the North Bank – summed up an unusually slack half from Nuno's team. Yes it's a friendly, but the boss will have been unhappy with what he saw.

It was no surprise to see Ryan Bennett replace Saiss at the start of the second half and Wolves immediately got on the front foot.

Costa almost picked out Jimenez for a tap in but it was cleared for a corner and from that Moutinho found Doherty who bundled towards the keeper.

Within five minutes it was 1-1. Costa took the corner this time and rising highest was Boly who sent an unstoppable header into the corner.

Ekambi was close to instantly restoring Villarreal's lead when he met a low ball across goal ahead of Coady and fired wide.

But resurgent Wolves, no doubt on the back of some stern words from Nuno at half time, had the bit between their teeth and on 55 minutes they took the lead. Doherty, Costa and Jota combined down the right with the latter bursting to the byline and crossing low for Jimenez to tap home for his first goal in Wolves colours.

The game then entered a lull with neither team unduly concerned with exerting themselves on a warm Wolverhampton afternoon.

Moutinho, who had shown touches of class and rarely gave away possession in a tidy display, lasted 72 minutes (an improvement on 45 at Derby) before he was replaced by Morgan Gibbs-White, while Bonatini and Cavaleiro came on for Jimenez and Jota.

N'Diaye was also warmly applauded onto the field by the home fans with 15 minutes to go.

And that was pretty much that for meaningful chances in front of a healthy 19,062 crowd. Doherty did well to snuff out a late Villarreal attempt in what was the last goalmouth action of the game as Wolves ended pre-season with a win.

Teams

Wolves (3-4-3): Patricio; Saiss (Bennett, 45), Coady (c), Boly; Doherty, Neves, Moutinho (Gibbs-White, 72), Jonny; Costa, Jimenez (Bonatini, 72), Jota (Cavaleiro, 77). Subs: Ruddy, Norris, Batth, Hause, Vinagre, Enobakhare.

Goals: Boly (49), Jimenez (55)

Villarreal: Barbosa, Gonzalez, Funez Mori, Moreno, Fornals, Ekambi, Cazorla, Layun, Pedraza, Morlanes, Caseres.

Goals: Moreno (18)

Attendance: 19,062

Referee: Lee Probert

Next up

Wolves' Premier League campaign begins next Saturday at home to Everton. Kick off is 5.30pm.