Analysis: Wolves 0 Spurs 1

A closer look at the narrow defeat in Bruno Lage's first Premier League home game as head coach

Aug 25, 2021

It was a familiar tale to the previous week’s defeat at Leicester City. Dominating large periods of the game, pressing high, exciting build up play but without the cutting edge required to exploit defences in the Premier League.

You worry that this might become a pattern, as Tottenham scored with one of their few attacks (certainly in the first 60 minutes or so of the game) to take the lead.

Spurs were more than happy to sit back and defend from that point. In fact, they didn’t even really pose so much of a counter-attacking threat until right at the end of the game where Wolves were throwing more players forward and Harry Kane had been introduced for them. The xG timeline (above) for the game demonstrates that quite well.

There were plenty of encouraging signs, which we can dig into a little deeper and see where it might be further improved.

Making the most of Adama

It wasn’t really a surprise, the morning after the game, to see Spurs heavily linked with Adama Traoré. He was particularly outstanding in the first half, causing Japhet Tanganga all sorts of issues. In one v one situations, often the only way to stop him was to foul him.

[video-to-gif output image] — Catch him if you can

As Nuno found towards the end of last season, having him play on the left brings him naturally closer to goal. When positioned in the right it becomes too easy for him to drift to the touchline, where without Raúl Jiménez his crossing was less threatening. Now with him running towards goal from the left, he’s looking for cut backs far more often and still be able to clip the ball to the far post with his left foot. Wolves just need to position players in the box more often and in a less predictable way.

Wolves struggled to threaten in the box from crosses

Having three attackers to Tottenham’s seven defenders is hard enough, but you make it even harder for yourself if they are all positioned to the back post. Sure, they can create an overload against the full back but the nature of the lofted cross Traoré usually produces means Tottenham defenders can probably recover to a certain extent. Wolves need to get someone at least across the front post area more often as flicks in that area can often cause a lot of problems.

An even more interesting development in Traoré’s game more recently has been his movements behind the opposition defensive line. We saw it last week at Leicester where he should have scored, however that was from a counter attack and this week a lot of his movements were from slower build up attacks and were very encouraging.

As wonderful as he is to watch dribbling with the ball, it’s been a regular source of frustration watching him just wait on the touchline for the ball to come into his feet. It made him more predictable and allowed the opposition to set themselves up ready for him to cross from the touchline. What Bruno Lage has done well in pre-season is demand him to run off the blind side of the full back or central defender.

Neves finds Traoré for the chance of the game

Although this was immediately after Rúben Neves had just won the ball back, this is another good example of Traoré making a dangerous movement behind the defence. With his speed, no one is stopping him running onto passes like this.

Suddenly he is becoming a goal threat. He has 1.1xG so far from the opening two games, making it even more frustrating he hasn’t scored at least once from the chances he has had. His goal record in his first three years has been pretty poor (even if often his goals have come at crucial times!) but if he generates near 0.5xG per game on a regular basis, he will get a healthy return of goals this season - provided he isn’t sold in the next week!

Shooting smart

Although it’s great to see Wolves having 25 shots in a game (and 17 the week before at Leicester), it’s worth noting where a lot of these shots are coming from.

In the right half of the pitch are where Wolves took their shots from. A big problem Wolves faced last season is not creating enough high quality chances. They didn’t score a single goal in the opposition six yard area. While Adama had a big opportunity in the game, that was the only major chance you would argue Wolves had, just like at Leicester.

So far in the opening two games Wolves have generated 0.06 non-penalty expected goal per shot. Only Aston Villa have a lower rate (0.04). Although they have had the second most shots, they are not yet creating as good chances as the teams who have also had a similar amount of shots.

PL teams with more than 30 shots (Fbref)

Of the teams with 30 shots or more, we are seeing the least amount of shots end up on target and are shooting from, on average, the furthest out. It’s only two games, and both games have seen Wolves spend much of their time attacking against a team defending in a ‘low block’, but this will be something for Bruno Lage to consider against teams who do sit off Wolves, which you might expect to see more of this season.

It will be interesting in the next few games, if the game is still in the balance for longer, the type of chances Wolves create against defences that might be leaving more space.

Pressing improvements

Though the Tottenham goal came early in the game and allowed them to just sit back, Wolves were the antagonists from start to finish. Their PPDA (passes per defensive action) was 8.8 on Sunday, a significantly lower number than Wolves fans have been used to seeing in recent years.

Wolves were often set up in a mid block when Tottenham had any settled possession. This isn’t overly different to how Nuno set up for the most part at Wolves, with the difference being that Wolves were more aggressive as the opposition try to build past the half way line under Bruno Lage.

When Wolves tried to play a bit higher last season quite often the opposition were able to find the time and space to causes problems behind the defence or in wide areas due to the lack of pressure on the ball. While on occasion Wolves are still a bit too passive, what Bruno has quickly done is get our forwards and midfielders to engage their opponent earlier and more aggressively.

What we are also starting to see is our centre backs step into challenge more often. Previously, the back three were required to stay strictly in their shape and the centre midfielders would sit deeper in front of them to offer protection. Now they are being asked to follow their man and prevent them receiving in space.

As we saw in Sunday’s game, this allows Wolves to win the ball higher up the pitch and regain possession earlier but the trade off is the risk that this poses. They will need to be alert to potential danger if their opponent does manage to progress play as they are now exposed. As time goes on, they are getting gradually better at reacting to this.

The distances from front to back are also definitely smaller. This is what will allow Wolves to be more aggressive and get closer to their opponents. The obvious risk at the moment is the ball into the space behind. The front players will need to deny time and space for the long pass behind, and the defenders will need to be quick and clever enough to track any dangerous runs. José Sá will also be key to this by having a higher start position and preventing attacks by being quick off of his line.

You can certainly see why, despite two defeats from two games, Wolves fans are optimistic about what Bruno Lage has to offer. Last season was a tough watch, with Wolves often playing a more reactive style whereas the signs are that this year they will take the game to the opposition.

It’s a big week ahead with a positive result in the cup and a home game against Manchester United during the final week of the transfer deadline. Wolves are said to be working on several deals but the lack of movement so far has understandably worried fans. Centre back and centre midfield are key areas to improve in, while another attacking player would give the depth needed for the rest of the season.

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