Wolves expert view: 'Holding station a worthy achievement'

Mike Taylor, BBC Radio WM

Eleven days before their first game, Wolves chairman Jeff Shi told supporters the club would “need to be humble with a challenger attitude, as if it was our first Premier League season all over again.”

Apparently head coach Julen Lopetegui had already concluded that such a challenge was not for him. At that point, it seemed it was not just the fans who feared - or maybe even expected - a slog against relegation.

Now, even though Wolves had recently lost a little bit of the momentum they had generated from statement wins over Manchester City and Tottenham, they should have enough of a head start over the strugglers to allow them a peaceful run through to the spring.

The owners should be grateful to Gary O’Neil and his players for keeping them well clear of trouble after such a chaotic start. Whether they can repay that in January with significant transfer funding is still in question. They surely filled most of their FFP hole in their relatively frugal summer, boosted by the high prices they commanded for Matheus Nunes and Ruben Neves.

If they can do any significant business, a striker remains a high priority. The joyous goalscoring run of Hwang Hee-chan this autumn, aided by Pedro Neto’s inspirational form until his hamstring gave out, helped to address the team’s most obvious defect in recent seasons.

Matheus Cunha has also added a welcome few goals to his tidy general work but, if Sasa Kalajdzic and Fabio Silva are only making fleeting contributions, a significant signing is needed. More widely, the squad still seems thinner than many but this may be a longer-term fix.

O’Neil is clearly still inexperienced at this level and his arrival received a lukewarm reception from many supporters. None of those circumstances were his fault, but his results and engaging manner has won over quite a few of those critics.

He aspires to take Wolves higher and, with better luck, he might already have done so. However, even holding station at their current position at the end of the season would be a worthy achievement.

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