Shropshire Star

Steve Bull: Villa will face a different Wolves at home

I think the bitterest pill to swallow from Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup exit was losing at Villa.

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Steve Bull

Fingers crossed it will come back and bite them in the bum and we will get three points against them in the league a week on Sunday!

That 2-1 win could give them a false sense of security.

We still have our big guns to come when we play you at Molineux.

They came out on top this time, they put a decent side out and obviously wanted to go a lot further in that cup than we did – but they are not in the Europa League.

I think Nuno has two aims on his mind – he wants to go as far as he can in the Europa League and stay in the Premier League.

We have already played 21 games and we have a big clash at Arsenal in the league today.

So, I can see the logic behind why he made 11 changes for the tie.

Unai Emery is under pressure and hopefully we can go there, rested, and start on the front foot knowing a win could propel us into the top 10.

But I can also understand why the fans were a bit disappointed as 5,000 made the trip and they wanted to see Wolves give a good account of themselves. I think we did in a way, but we just lacked that bit of class.

The youngsters that played will have realised how far they have to go to improve and develop to step up to the plate and compete at first team level.

One player that has been involved in the first team prior to that game, Patrick Cutrone, scored at Villa.

In my eyes he is a bit raw around the edges. You can see he has talent in him but he just looks like he is trying too hard.

Now he has that second goal it might settle him down a bit and he should be a bit more relaxed when he plays next.

At the other end it will be interesting to see who gets the nod in defence at the Emirates.

Losing Willy Boly is a bit devastating because he is a such big figurehead in that back three

We will miss him badly but, for me, it gives another defender the chance to prove themselves and give him a fight for the shirt when he returns.