Dave Edwards: Defeat puts the pressure right back on Wolves

Although I fully expect Wolves to be out of the relegation battle as the season closes out, I do think this was a chance missed to separate themselves from that bottom three.

Wolves have some tough games coming up as well, and they’re by no means out of it, meaning the pressure is back on.

It’s a shame because it was a game that was there to win. Bournemouth are very poor, despite picking up in recent games, but Wolves’ quality on the pitch was far superior.

They came to shut up shop but Wolves didn’t really have the answer to break them down.

Wolves played really well in the first half without doing enough in front of goal. Bournemouth were all over the place and on the ropes, but Wolves didn’t go up another gear.

They needed to do everything quicker and not allow Bournemouth to catch their breath. Wolves did well, without upping their intensity, and that could have been enough to get a goal.

Wolves started the second half reasonably well and then got sucker punched on the counter attack, when players switched off.

That can happen when you’re enjoying more possession, but Nelson Semedo was caught ball watching and didn’t see Tavernier ghosting in between him and Kilman. He should have seen the run.

But the biggest disappointment for Julen Lopetegui will be how Wolves panicked after that. They got a bit desperate.

There was still so long left in the game that all they needed to do was regain some control, like they had in the first half.

Wolves were too eager to get the ball forward and lacked real quality, then Bournemouth began to get more opportunities on the counter and Wolves looked rushed in possession.

Lopetegui said his team forgot to play football, which was key.

The manager has got more decisions right than wrong, so you can’t have a pop at him too much, but it did feel in the first half that Wolves were crying out for Costa or Jimenez to be in the box and attack the ball.

Adama played really well, the best I’ve seen him play in a long time, and was getting the ball in the box, but there was no-one arriving in the box.

I’d like to see Nunes do a bit more of that from midfield. Very rarely did he arrive in the box. Moutinho was the only one that got across his man for a header.

Wolves needed more physicality. When the changes did come, Adama then came off and it felt like that’s when the game went for Wolves.

If he was fine to continue, then I think it was a mistake bringing him off. Sarabia moved to the right side but Wolves were very narrow.

Semedo lost a lot of confidence in the second half so wasn’t getting forward on the outside of him.

In the first half, Adama was attracting the left-back Zemura to him, and left centre-back Senesi was naturally coming across to protect him. It was dragging him out, meaning gaps were being created when crosses came in.

As soon as Adama went off, it meant Senesi, Stephens and Mepham, who came on to make it a three, didn’t have to leave the box and they dealt with everything easily.

It’s easy to see that from up in the stands, but it did feel like a mistake to me. Ultimately, the game was gone before that though when Wolves lost their way.