Traoré thunderbolt clinches pressure relieving win for Wolves

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Wolves end five-game winless run to all but secure another season of top-flight football.

Fulham squandered another chance to move out of the relegation zone after a cagey affair at Craven Cottage. In a game of few chances, Fulham were unable to breakdown their opposition and Wolves struggled to create on the counter. That was until Adama Traoré was able produce the one moment of quality needed and scored his first league goal since December 2019.

Return to the Old Gold

Wolves were unchanged after their loss against West Ham on Monday night, sticking with the four at the back that Nuno Espírito Santo has been keen to transition to over the course of this season. It is a tactical change that he believes will take them to the next level as a team, being more expansive and playing more on the front foot.

However, an injury to Pedro Neto on the half-hour mark, after a forceful challenge from USA international Antonee Robinson, meant that Wolves went back to their tried and tested 3-5-2. This is a system that saw Wolves take their first two seasons back in the top-flight by storm. On Friday night, despite losing key man Neto, it allowed a reversion to the old system and it was what secured them a much needed win.

Before the change the West Midlands side struggled to make an attacking impact. They looked a lot more structured defensively than their first half performance against West Ham, but other than a header from Willian José in the first minute, from a set piece, Wolves didn’t register a shot or even touch in the box.

However, after the change, Wolves started to hit back. By playing Traoré and Willian José alongside each other, it provided the on-loan Brazilian with more support and Traoré the chance to get into more dangerous areas of the pitch.

Fulham possess two aerially dominant centre-backs, only eight players in the Premier League this season have a better aerial duel success rate than captain Joachim Andersen. However, by moving Traoré into the middle they were able to get the ball forward more often, get into the box and create shooting opportunities. The London side have looked vulnerable when players with real pace have targeted their defence, and that rang true again.

It is a system that the majority of the squad are comfortable playing in and after José was denied his first goal for the club by an incredibly controversial VAR offside call, Wolves punished the tiring legs of the home side with a trademark counter-attack. It was a crunching effort from Traoré but Fulham keeper Alphonse Aréola will feel like he probably could have done better.

A change of system and philosophy is always going to take some time to bed in and it has been made harder by their injury problems. However, Nuno’s side now have seven games remaining and no longer will feel the pressure of relegation. It provides an opportunity to further experiment and master the new system in preparation for another season of Premier League football.

Pain for Parker

Mario Lemina was inconsolable after the final whistle and perfectly depicted how all the players and fans will be feeling. Fulham have had their backs against the wall for a long time now, having been written off after just the first three games. Parker worked hard to fix their defensive instability and deserves credit for dragging them to within touching distance of safety.

However, it was another missed opportunity and a fourth loss on the bounce. After their win at Anfield, some considered Fulham favourites to stay up and that added pressure seems to have had an impact. They’ve gone from going into games as the underdog to the side that are expected to push for a win.

However, the focus on fixing defensive errors has come at the cost of goals at the other end, and when the onus is on your side to take control of a game, that causes problems. They once again struggled to create chances, Ruben Loftus-Cheeks header that drifted wide was by far their best and arguably only opportunity.

Their approach play was once again relatively impressive. They move the ball very well from back to front, often building through their midfield and have received plaudits for the attractiveness of some of their play. However, it is in the final third where they come undone.

32 touches in the opposition area is the fourth most they’ve had in a game this season but these touches did not equate to chances. They had just three shots on target and at the moment they are relying on individual moments of brilliance or an opposition mistake in order to put the ball in the net.

Post-Shot xG (PSxG) can be thought as the ‘what happened next’ stat. Where Expected Goals quantifies the likelihood of a goal based on where a shot is taken from, PSxG calculates the likelihood of a goal based on how good the shot was. It is effectively a measure of how easy or difficult the shot was for a goalkeeper to save.

The story from this game is that from the quality of chances that Fulham created, an xG of 0.9, they had the better chances than Wolves (0.4 xG). However, Rui Patrício only faced a PSxG of 0.1 meaning Fulham’s finishing was simply not good enough to win a game of football.

This leaves Parker with a real problem, and unlike their defensive unit, it is not one he has been able to fix. The Cottagers have not only struggled to create chances recently, they’ve not been very good at putting them away when they get the opportunity.

They have scored just nine goals at home this season and failed to score in ten. Since the turn of the century, no team has scored fewer than ten goals at home in a season and there is definitely a link between struggling to score at home and relegation.

Contrasting conclusions

For Wolves and Nuno their celebrations showed the relief that this win provided. It’s been a difficult season and one that they will be keen to finish and move on from. Their last seven games provide an opportunity for experimentation and potentially much needed rest for some.

For Fulham, they’ve handed the advantage back to Newcastle and their next two games against Arsenal and then Chelsea seem a tall order. However, Parker’s side seem to thrive on being the underdog and he will still see both games as winnable.

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