Nunes wonder strike secures vital three points
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 v Chelsea 0
Writing in the Sunday Times a few weeks ago Matthew Syed penned an interesting piece under the heading “Spare us the do-gooding chancellors who can’t help meddling in our lives”. The basic premise of his argument was that we live in an age where all administrations want to fix things in the hope that they will improve the functioning of that thing we call society. Using the Jeremy Hunt budget as an exemplar he wrote “the more they prod, poke and interfere the more they increase the complexity and unpredictability of the system”.
Whatever the noble motives the results are invariably the opposite of what was intended. And in this regard I can think of no better example than VAR. Lauded when introduced as bringing about an end to human error in refereeing decisions it has if anything achieved the complete opposite. More time now is taken up debating whether a decision was correct than it ever was before VAR was introduced. Humans are still making the decisions only now they have endless video replays to consider, with all the attendant time wasting and boredom that that engenders. Furthermore, rather than getting on with the game players now see value in lobbying officials to review a decision. Wasting even more time. The strapline “Clear and obvious” is history and the visceral joy of jumping out of your seat when your side scores a goal is incrementally being eliminated. I heard recently that fans are now being told not to celebrate a goal until VAR has done its stuff. By that measure alone it’s a dud. But on they march to footballing Eden, oblivious to the detrimental impact it’s having on the game.
And whilst we are talking about trying to fix things what about Chelsea? Back in September they sacked their Champions League winning manager Thomas Tuchel, replacing him with the rather more emollient Graham Potter, who had built an impressive side at Brighton. Potter was told that he was at the club for the long term, until results started to go south. A mere thirty-one games into his tenure and out he went, replaced within a week by …… Frank Lampard, who had previously made way for Thomas Tuchel. You couldn’t really make it up and set against that record Wolves are a beacon of stability.
Not that their manager, Julen Lopetegui, appears settled with either team personnel or tactics. Today’s starting line-up was once again a different incarnation, partly forced on him by injury and suspension. Yet it was one of those who has struggled to command a permanent place of late, Matheus Nunes, who provided the moment of brilliance that settled the tie.
The game began rather tamely with neither goal coming under threat during the opening twenty minutes. On 22 minutes Joao Gomez had a decent shout for a pentalty turned down and a couple of minutes later Mario Laminha’s volley was deflected wide. Wolves were looking the more dangerous and in the 27th minute they made it pay when Diego Costa laid the ball off to Daniel Podence. From just outside the box the diminutive striker played a curling cross with the outside of his right boot which was partially cleared by Kalidou Koulabali. The ball fell perfectly to Nunes who hit it on the volley with such pace and precision that it rifled into the net, with Chelsea keeper Kepa Arizzabalaga static. The Wolves faithful have not seen a strike of such purity in years and it provided the boost that home side Wolves so sorely needed.
One up at half time one sensed that the home support were in for a tense and long second half, with Wolves sitting back allowing the visitors to come on to them. But it didn’t really happen as Wolves harried and chased creating as many problems for Chelsea as the Londoners did to Wolves. There were a couple of scares when substitute left back Ben Chilwell’s low cross evaded everyone and not long after that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was denied by a crunching challenge by the excellent Max Kilman. In reply Matheus Cunha, who had run his heart out all afternoon, went close with a good turn and strike on 63 minutes. And that was about it.
The win takes Wolves up to twelfth in the league, albeit only four points above the relegation zone. Though they remain one of a potential eight sides who could still slide through the trap door, today’s win could go a long way in securing another season in the Premier League.
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Sa 7, Semedo 7, Dawson 8, Kilman 8, Gomes 7, Lemina 7 Sub Traore, Gomes 8, Nunes 7 Sub Collins, Podence 7 Sub Moutinho, Costa 6 Sub Hee-Chang, Cunha 7 Sub Sarabia,
Chelsea: Arizzabalaga 6, James 7, Fofana 6, Koulibaly 6, Cucurella 5 Sub Chilwell, Gallagher 7, Fernandez 5, Kovacic 5, Sterling 5 Sub Mudryk, Havertz 5 Sub Pulisic, Joao Felix 5 Sub Aubameyang
Attendance: 31,614
Referee: Peter Bankes 8
©Mark Brennand